Chapter 10 The dream

XIMENA

The convoy had been moving for what felt like forever.

No one spoke.

The only sound inside the SUV was the steady hum of the engine and the occasional crunch of tyres over uneven roads.

I sat as far away from the Supreme Alpha as the seat allowed. Not once had he looked at me. Not once had he acknowledged that I existed.

I preferred it that way. Every now and then, I caught his reflection in the darkened window. Silent, yet terrifying.

I kept my eyes lowered. Eventually, exhaustion began creeping over me. My eyelids grew heavier. Just for a second, I closed them.

---

Blood.

There was blood everywhere.

I stood in the middle of an endless field. The sky above me was black, without stars, without moonlight, without mercy.

Bodies stretched endlessly in every direction. Wolves. Men. Creatures I couldn't recognize. Their broken limbs twisted at impossible angles while their empty eyes stared up at nothing.

My breath caught as a cold wind swept across the field. Then I heard it.

The sound of someone crying.

The sound was so broken that my chest tightened painfully. I turned toward it. Mist covered the ground, thick and dark, but through it I saw a figure kneeling beside a body.

It was a woman.

Her shoulders shook violently as she bent over the man in her arms. I couldn't see her face. I couldn't hear her words. But somehow, I felt her grief. It tore through me so sharply that I staggered when pain suddenly exploded in my chest.

I gasped. Slowly, I looked down. A blood-covered hand had emerged through me. My heart beat once inside someone else's grip. Then the hand began to pull.

A scream tore up my throat—

The field vanished, and I was back inside the SUV when something slammed onto the hood and the windscreen shattered.

A creature stared through the broken glass. It looked...

Wrong. It resembled a wolf. But only barely. Its limbs were stretched unnaturally long, its claws curved like black hooks against the metal. Its mouth split far beyond where it should have. Black veins pulsed beneath grey skin stretched tightly over its skull.

Its eyes were completely black. Then another landed beside it and another. They tore through metal like paper.

One of them turned and looked directly at me. Its jaw opened impossibly wide—

My eyes flew open as a sharp gasp escaped me. For one disorienting second, I didn't know where I was. My skin hummed. It was the same impossible warmth that had surged beneath my skin when he touched me...

It was back. Only this time, it was stronger, much stronger. Like something beneath my skin was trying to wake up.

I turned my head, and blue eyes met mine.

For a brief moment, neither of us spoke. He had woken me. My pulse jumped beneath his fingers. Then the words left my mouth before I could stop them. "We're going to get attacked."

The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror. The man in the front passenger seat looked over his shoulder. His gaze narrowed. "What did you say?" I swallowed. I didn't know where the certainty came from. I didn't know how I knew. I just did. My heartbeat quickened.

"We need to stop. They're here. We're going to get attacked."

Before he could respond, the convoy screeched to a violent halt. Tyres screamed against asphalt, and the SUV lurched forward. My shoulder slammed painfully into the door.

"What happened?" the man in the front demanded.

Everything happened at once. The vehicle in front of us lifted violently as something massive crashed into it. The windscreen exploded. I screamed and threw my hands over my head as glass sprayed across the road.

Men shouted outside; doors flew open while someone yelled an order.

Then something landed on the hood of our SUV. The entire vehicle rocked. Slowly, I lifted my head, and my blood turned cold.

The creature from my vision stared directly at me. Only this time, it wasn't a dream. It was real. The thing let out a piercing shriek and lunged.bNot toward the driver, or the Supreme Alpha. But toward me.

I scrambled backward instinctively, but there was nowhere to go.

A blur of white exploded past me.One second he was human, and in the next…

The SUV shook violently as the massive white wolf slammed into the creature and tore it off the hood.

They hit the ground hard. The creature shrieked as the white wolf's jaws closed around its neck. I knew what was coming next, and so I closed my eyes.

Outside, chaos erupted.

More creatures poured from the darkness, their twisted bodies leaping over vehicles and crashing into the men who had rushed out of the convoy.

The other guards shifted instantly. The creatures screamed. Then the battle began.

I pushed the door open and stumbled out before I could think better of it. The moment my feet touched the road, the white wolf turned sharply.

His golden eyes locked onto me and a growl tore from his chest. He moved immediately, placing his body directly in front of mine. Then he began circling me. Slow and controlled.

A brown wolf landed beside me, large and powerful, his amber eyes sweeping over me once before locking onto the creatures surrounding the convoy.

The man from earlier. The one who had escorted me..I knew it without knowing how.

My breath shook. They were protecting me?

Another creature lunged toward us. The brown wolf intercepted it midair. They crashed into the side of the vehicle with enough force to dent the metal.

The creatures attacked again. He tore through them with frightening precision, faster than my eyes could fully follow. One creature lunged at my left and he ripped its throat out before it touched the ground. Another came from behind and the brown wolf crashed into it, driving it into a tree hard enough to break the trunk.

But more came. Too many. And they weren't attacking randomly. Every single one of them...

Was trying to reach me. My throat tightened. What did they want with me?

A creature slipped through the gap between two fighting wolves.It ran straight for me.

I stumbled backward..The white wolf saw it. He moved instantly, but another creature threw itself at him from the side.

Claws sank into his shoulder..The white wolf roared and the sound ripped through the night. Something inside me snapped.

"No!"

The scream tore from me with a force that didn't feel like my own. Heat exploded beneath my skin. The air changed. Every hair on my body lifted. For a single second, everything went completely still.

Then power burst out of me. A violent gust of wind slammed through the road.

The creatures were ripped off their feet. Cars rocked and tree branches snapped overhead as the wind spiraled faster and faster around me.

I couldn't breathe, couldn't move or stop it.

The storm circled me like a living thing. Dust, leaves, glass, blood—all of it lifted into the air. The wolves closest to me dug their claws into the ground to remain upright. 

I looked down at my hands in horror..What was happening? I tried to step back, but my body wouldn't listen. It felt like watching myself from somewhere far away. It was like something had woken inside me and seized control.

Then warmth wrapped around me from behind. Someone was touching me.

"Ximena." His voice cut through the chaos, wrapping itself around me. It was the first time he had said my name and all I wanted was for him to never stop.

"Stop. You'll hurt yourself."

Myself? Not others? 

I wanted to tell him I couldn't..I wanted to tell him I didn't know how but I couldn't. “Ximena." He called my name once again.

Slowly, the wind began to weaken and I felt myself returning. My breathing became my own again.

Relief flooded me. Then, something inside me snapped.

My body moved. Not because I wanted it to but because I couldn't stop it. My hand shot forward and wrapped around the Supreme Alpha's throat.

Horror crashed through me. No. No, what was I doing? I tried to pull away, but my body refused. 

The Supreme Alpha went completely still. I could feel his pulse beneath my fingers. 

A furious growl erupted behind him as every wolf in the clearing tensed.

He simply stared at me. Then his blue eyes slowly shifted to gold. And the realization slowly settled over me…

The warmth I felt whenever he touched me was because of one thing and one thing only…

Mate.

The word echoed through my mind. No, that wasn't possible. 

I didn't have a wolf.