Chapter 8 Selena Memories and Nightmare

The moment I pushed open the front door, the air in the apartment shifted. At first, I thought the soft sounds drifting from the living room were from the TV. But as I stepped inside and the door clicked shut behind me, I froze.

Liam, shirtless, half-naked and Isabella were tangled together on the couch, lips locked, bodies pressed so close there was barely space for air between them. His hand was already sliding up her thigh. Hers was fisted in his hair. They were almost about to have sex. Not almost. They were seconds away. If I had walked in a minute later, they would’ve been fully at it.

They must have heard the door because they sprang apart like guilty teenagers caught by their parents. Isabella yelped and practically leapt off Liam’s lap, her face burning red. Liam sat up straight, clearing his throat, pretending and failing to act normal.

“Uh, hi,” I managed to say out loud.

“Selena, hi,” Isabella stammered, shoving her hair back and trying to look composed. She did not succeed and looked even more flustered.

“Hey,” Liam muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “You two can continue,” I said flatly, already turning. I didn’t wait for their reaction. I walked straight to my room.

The second I entered and pushed my door shut, I face-planted into my bed and groaned into my pillow. Perfect. Just perfect. Today I was ravaged by my boss in his office, on my first day of work. Caught by his childhood sweetheart. Humiliated. Mentally drained. And now I’d come home to see my two closest people grinding on the couch like a live-action movie. The universe was definitely laughing at me.

I didn’t even remember falling asleep. Exhaustion swallowed me whole.

When I finally woke, the room was dim, washed in the purple-gray light of late evening. My body felt heavy, my head aching. I showered, changed into clean clothes, and walked out.

Liam and Isabella were at the dining table eating. Isabella looked suspiciously tired. Liam looked suspiciously refreshed. I didn’t need to be psychic to guess why. They must have had sex.

“Hey, Selena,” Liam said. “Hi.” I said and didn’t bother hiding my exhaustion. I grabbed food in the kitchen, served myself, and ate quietly. My brain felt too full and overwhelmed. Talking felt like lifting weights. I ate quickly, mechanically, just wanting to return to my room and shut the world out. I finished my food and stood up, ready to escape.

But when I pushed my chair back to leave, Liam stood. “Selena, I want to talk to you.”

I exhaled slowly. “Can it wait until tomorrow? I’m exhausted. I had a rough day at work. I just want to sleep.” 

“It’s important,” he said. That word pulled me to a stop. “Fine” I slumped into the chair again and rubbed my eyes. A thought suddenly hit me. “Wait, weren’t you supposed to be abroad? When did you get back?”

“This afternoon,” he said. “I rushed back because” His tone shifted, serious in a way that made my stomach tighten. “What is it about?” I asked, yawning while still feeling sleepy.

Liam hesitated, and then spoke quietly “It’s about the investigator. They found another clue about your parents” he said. Instantly, every trace of exhaustion and sleepiness vanished. “What do you mean? I told you to stop the investigation.”

He nodded. “I know. This was the final report. It came late.” My breath caught.

“The investigator found some evidence that your parents were shifters,” Liam said carefully. “He couldn’t confirm the race, but he’s certain they weren’t human.” My heart beat faster.

“He also said you were likely abandoned because you were human,” he added quietly. “Some old fashioned shifter families see having a human child as shameful. Especially a girl.”

The words muffled, as if someone submerged my head underwater.

My mouth went dry. Shameful. Humans.

Unwanted.

“He thinks they might have wiped your memories before abandoning you,” Liam continued. “If you resisted the process, it could explain the nightmares.” I stared at him, unable to speak. Isabella quietly moved behind me and placed a warm hand on my shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “You don’t have to process everything right now.”

I swallowed hard “It’s fine,” I lied, voice cracking. “I always suspected they were shifters, and prepared myself for this day. I just thought maybe they had their difficulties. Or maybe someone kidnapped me and dropped me at the orphanage without my parents' knowledge to cause them pain.” My throat tightened painfully.

“Not because I’m human.” My voice dropped to a whisper.

Liam opened his mouth, but I stood before any word of sympathy could spill out. “I’m going to sleep,” I said. “Goodnight.”

The moment my bedroom door closed behind me, silence pressed against me like a weight. Liam's explanation hit me harder.I sank onto the edge of my bed and gripped the blanket tighter as if it could help my situation. My breath through the ache in my chest.

Abandoned. Because I was human. Because I was “weak.” Tears burned hot down my cheeks.

Why was everything falling apart at once? Why did supernatural beings keep circling my life like moths drawn to a flame? And connected to them in one way or the other. First my parents are shifters. Then Marcus, my boss who might be a leader of a race, I don't know. The pull I felt toward him was dangerous and impossible.

I wiped my face roughly. I couldn’t fall for Marcus. He’d eventually see me the way shifters saw humans, fragile, inferior. Breakable. He wouldn’t stay, no matter the sparks we both felt, and no matter the pull.

My thoughts spiraled. Did my parents really abandon me because I was human? Was I really a mistake? Or was the conclusion wrong? What if they abandoned me… to save me?

My mind tugged at memories I’d never understood, hazy, fragmented pieces of something warm and distant.

A humming voice. Lavender. Running. A door slamming. Was it real? Or just desperation feeding imagination?

I curled onto my side, hugging a pillow. A small, pathetic part of me whispered an even more painful fear:

What if Marcus thinks I’m weak too? What if the kiss meant nothing to him? My chest tightened.

I didn’t even hear the door open. I was still sitting on the floor beside my bed, hugging my knees, when Isabella quietly slipped inside and closed the door behind her.

“Selena,” Her voice was soft, the kind of softness that made the tightness in my chest crack. She walked over and sat beside me without asking, her warmth settling next to mine.

“I’m fine,” I lied. Even my voice sounded like it didn’t believe me.

“No, you’re not.” She gently pulled my head to rest on her shoulder. “And you don’t have to be.”

That simple sentence broke something in me. A shaky breath escaped before I could stop it.

“What if they really left me because I was human?” I whispered. “What if I wasn’t enough for them?”

“Then they were the ones who weren’t enough for you,” she said without hesitation. “And you don’t know the full story yet. Don’t punish yourself with assumptions.”

I closed my eyes as she stroked my hair, grounding me.

“You’re strong, Selena,” she said. “Too strong to let a past you don’t even remember define you. Whatever the truth is, you’re not alone. You have us.”

Her words wrapped around me like a blanket. Maybe she was right. Maybe the past wasn’t as simple or as cruel as it felt.

But a part of me still ached for answers, answers I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

When she left, the silence returned, but so did something else. A memory.

It rose slowly, like something long buried, finally breaking the surface.

I was small, so small I could barely reach the table. Warm sunlight spilled through an open window. Someone lifted me, spinning me gently. I laughed, a bright, carefree sound I didn’t recognize as my own.

A woman with long hair, dark and shimmering, carried me on her hip. I couldn’t see her face clearly, but her scent filled my chest with a strange ache. Lavender. Always lavender.

A man joined us, tall and broad-shouldered. His hand brushed my cheek before he pressed a kiss to my forehead. His voice rumbled deep, soft, full of pride.

“My little Moon.”

My heart squeezed.

The scene shifted. I was sitting on the ground, surrounded by flowers, blue ones glowing faintly. Someone placed a crown of them on my head. I remember tiny hands clapping. Mine. I was happy. Loved.

Treasured.

When the memory dissolved, my eyes flew open. These weren’t imagination. They felt real. They had to be.

My mind spun until exhaustion tugged at me again. At some point, sleep dragged me under again. And brought a nightmare.

I was running through a forest, barefoot, branches slicing my arms. Shadows chased me fast, silent, monstrous. My lungs burned. “Moon!” Someone shouted behind me. The voice wasn’t angry. It was desperate.

Moon. The meaning of my name Selena. The truth I somehow knew only inside the dream. “Moon” Another scream. A woman crying. Then a loud crack like bones breaking or something collapsing. 

I heard a voice, a man’s voice, shouting something I couldn’t fully understand. “Protect Moon!” My breath caught. That name again.

I stumbled, catching myself on a tree trunk. The bark crumbled under my fingertips, turning to ash. Heat flared, too bright, too sudden. Flames crawled up the trees, licking toward the sky.

And then I saw her. A woman with long dark hair, holding a child to her chest, me. Her face was blurry, like fog smudged across glass, but her voice was clear. “We don’t have a choice to forgive me.”

The ground cracked open beneath us. A scream tore from my throat as I fell, plunging into darkness. But right before I hit the bottom, a pair of glowing eyes appeared. Silver. Unblinking. Watching me with a familiarity that made my stomach twist.

“Moon…” the voice whispered, everywhere and nowhere at once.

I jolted awake, drenched in sweat, my heart pounding so hard that it hurt. I sat up trembling, drenched in sweat. My room felt too small, too dark, and suffocating.

I stumbled to the window and slid it open, breathing in the night air. Then I froze: Marcus was outside. Standing in the shadows. Facing my window. Still. Silent.

Watching me.

His expression was unreadable, neither angry nor soft, but intense in a way that pierced straight through me. Our eyes met.

For a moment, the world was silent.

Then, when he realized I’d seen him, he stepped back into the darkness and disappeared.

He Just, vanished like that. Why was he here? How long had he been watching? What did he want? What was I to him? My thoughts spiraled wildly, memories, the kiss, the spark, the nightmare, the investigator’s words. Now Marcus in the dark. Has he been following me since the office?

The questions crowded into my chest until my body moved before my mind could catch up.

I grabbed a hoodie, pulled it on, and headed downstairs, drawn by a strange, stupid need to know what he’d been doing outside my window.

I told myself it was only curiosity. That it was only to ask him to explain.

But when I stepped into the cool air, my heart was a drumbeat I couldn’t regulate.

And then Marcus stepped out from the edge of the shadows and looked at me intensely.