Tynan: My Nightmare Is My Mate

Leora

Fear...

So much fear...

It hits me like mad tide waves, one after the other, not giving my mind the chance to calm down and think about my next move. Hell, I can't even think about my current one, all I can hear inside my head are the sirens urging me to run faster, despite the pain in my feet and the fire inside my lungs. I hear them loud and clear, believing in them with every sane cell I still have, for I know that they are right, I must push through my pain and exhaustion and keep running for dear life, focusing on nothing else but the fear I can’t surpass.

As my bare feet make contact with the dewy grass, a small part of me nudges me to stop and turn around, still hopeing that I might be able to fix everything right. That maybe now that I am gone they have realized their mistake and everything will return to how it was before, but the moment I dare to slow down the sirens go off again, telling me that the moment I stop running will be the moment I die, my fate has already been sealed, I can’t go back there, I can’t even look back to check if they are still behind me because I know they are, the once I once considered as my family, with their hateful stares and bare canines.

I don’t dare to look back where I know the hunters are, nor do I dare look forward where all the monsters are lurking, and fuck my weakness but I can’t even close my eyes because then I will be met by darkness and darkness is where the nightmares of my past reside.

Therefore, and for the first time in my life, I am thankful for my tears as they blur my vision and I can't see anything as I ran aimlessly in the night forest, unable to stop myself from wondering…

Was love such a horrible crime for me to deserve such a cruel punishment?

All I did was fall in love with the wrong person who was right in every single way, and because of this love that I still carry inside my every cell, because of this stupid heart of mine that refused to surrender when fate said its last word, here I am...

An innocent found guilty, charged with a crime that I have committed only in my darkest thoughts, the crazed ones that I refuse to accept as mine, making me the first and only suspect, as well as making everyone turn against me, as if they never knew me, as if I wasn’t there in their lives all these years, sharing their food and their lives.

My life has never been an easy one, I have been through some bad shit alright, but nothing felt worse than having all the fingers pointed at me accusingly, feeling once again like the outsider I have always been, completely on my own without a single voice to speak up against me, there were none, just angry shouts that labeled me guilty and demanded my head.

Those were the same voices that greeted me every single morning and asked about my day, no longer warm, not even cold, just poisoned with loath and rage.

They have always hated me, and it was proven by the way they all cursed me, humiliated me, tortured me, starved me, and then clapped approvingly when the alpha spoke the punishment.

They must be very pleased with the way I am meant to die, for after torturing me for weeks, the Alpha decided that I was going to die like a traitor, banished from the pack to the northern forest with the pack’s most notorious hunters at my track, they wanted me to die like a dog, ripped by claws and canines then left for the other monsters to feed on my remains.

And it was the alpha that decided my punishment, my alpha, Axel Silvermoon, my childhood friend, my savior, my only loves.…

Once my mind conjures his picture, his handsome face, and kind smile, my legs give up, unable to carry me as well as the weight of my agony, all strength leaves my body, I just can’t run anymore, not from his grey eyes, not while they keep on hunting me, his eyes had looked like a steal when he spoke a sentence, something I wasn’t used to, his eyes has always been warm, loving, and gentle, alas, the last time they were filled with nothing but hatred and betrayal.

He thinks that I have betrayed him, he thinks that I have tried to hurt him in such unspeakable way as if I can ever hurt him in any way, and it is that look in his eyes that managed to do what the torture and humiliation couldn’t.

Break me.

And as much as it hurts, it is that break that sends energy in my legs again to resume running, especially with the growls getting closer because I know that if I didn’t resume running that I will be dead before my next thought, and I don’t want to die, not yet, not before I prove my innocence to him.

I can’t allow them to catch me, ignoring the pain and exhaustion, I just run and run, not sure of the direction I am going for, taking random turns here and there, going further inside the monsters den, I know I should be more scared of the things I might encounter in this forsaken part of the forest, but for now, all I concentrate on is getting as far as I can from the hunters who won’t stop howling just to remind me that they are still behind me, luckily their howls seem a bit further now which relieves me for a second before I stumble on a bulging root, the cold bushes welcomes my shivering body as I fall and bump my head on a salient stone, causing an ugly wound to form on my already wounded forehead, I feel the warm blood gushing out of it to cover my face but I don't even bother to wipe it off my eyes, instead I pick myself up and force myself to run faster than before as realization hits me.

I am bleeding.…

The scent of my blood is spreading in the forest as I run, notifying all the possible predators about my existence.

It is not just the hunters now, it is all of them, all the monsters…

And just like that, dying by the claws of the warriors becomes the least of my worries, because I know what is out there, I know what will happen if any of those monsters got to me, I have to get out of here fast...

I must live...

I can't die!

I don't want to die!

Not yet...not here!

"Well, well, well! What do we have here?" I halt in my steps as I hear the angelic feminine voice, the words were spoken with so much meekness and softness, but none of that made me feel at ease, if anything, it made the hair on my body stand as I scanned my surroundings, I was no fool to hope that anything kind and pure lived here, at first, all I see is trees and bushes, but then my eyes land on the slim figure that appeared from behind a large tank...

The woman was gorgeous in her silky white dress, her hair resembled gold strings shining even in this moonless night, her smile soft on her fair complexions, reminding me of a certain girl I hated, the one I was banished because, I took a step back, knowing exactly what this woman was...

A white witch...

"Now, now, don't be afraid, Child, we will not hurt you!" A second woman appeared from my side, and just like the first one, her whole appearance radiated with light and warmth, speaking of deceiving appearances, I knew better than to trust a witch, any witch, and the white ones were no exception…

"Stay away from me!" I say through gritted teeth, trying to sound as menacing as I can even when I know for a fact that I had no chance in defeating a single, let alone two witches, I wasn't a werewolf even though I lived in a pack, I wasn't human either, I was just an ordinary person with some unordinary abilities that were of no use in my current situation, I know I can’t fight them, which leaves me with no choice but to escape…

And that is what I do, I turn around swiftly to make a run for myself only to be thrown back by something, it feels like a blow of wind but more solid, the attack causes me to fly back and land right under the first witch's feet, and that is when I realize that I have failed to notice the third witch who was behind me all along.…

A fatal mistake, I think as I glare at the witch who was looking down at me with a soft smile on her face, refusing to let her see the fear in me, especially when she looks so much like the bane of my existence…

Ciana…

"You can't leave us now! Not after all of our efforts to find you!" The third witch says with a hint of blame and sadness in her voice as if she is talking to a long-lost friend, these leaches, hiding their disgusting selves and intentions behind that polished facade of theirs...

"You must come back with us, dear, to where you belong, your fate is waiting for you and you have been hiding from it for so long!" As I hear those words, I can't help but shiver in fear, my body betraying me while the meaning register in my mind, I know where she is planning to take me, and I would rather die than go back there, to the hell that was my past, however, what I do not understand was, what did the white witches have to do with it?

"You can't fight fate, little one, nor hide from it, It will always come back to find you..." The witch on my side steps forward, a chain in her hand and an evil glint in her eyes, I try to stand up but the first steps on my head, pushing me down against the dewy grass, holding me in place while her sisters circle me...

This can't be it!

I can't die here!

Help!

Someone, please, help!!

Axel! 

I close my eyes as I plea for the love of my life to come and save me, but instead of his delicious scent, I smell a beasty one followed by a horrifying growl, one that breaks all my resistance and leaves me sobbing in fear...

I know that growl, It always hunted me in my sleep, but right now, It feels much more frightening, much closer, and much more realistic...

This all just feels like a never-ending nightmare that keeps on getting worse, with my face pressed on the ground, I sense the angry and vicious steps approaching us, the air around us changes as it is suddenly saturated with a metallic scent, the atmosphere becomes heavy with the threatening aura of the predator...

I take my words back, I no longer wish to survive, I want to die before the creature gets here, I want the witches to kill me instead of being butchered by it...

Please, Moon Goddess, you have been so cruel to me so far, so just this once, please end my suffering…

I close my eyes and don't dare reopen them, not even when the weight is lifted off my head and I hear the screams and curses of the three witches that quickly fade, but when so much time passes and the voices die, I open them slowly to see it, my worst nightmare, standing in front of me...

All I remember after that is fear, and nothing but fear as darkness took over...