A dream

Aidora

I still couldn’t stop shaking minutes after he left, and I stared at the necklace as though it would unravel and become something else. My parents are dead, that is the truth. They wouldn’t disappear on me for so long.

“This is a lie,” I said as I picked up the necklace, but I couldn't even believe the words that left my lips. Tears blurred my vision as my fingers lightly traced the necklace. It looked and felt too similar to be a copy, but I couldn't pick up a scent from it.

Burying my face on the bed, the tears I'd been holding back soaked into the pillow, wetting it. Everything I knew was being tested right now. What do I do if it turns out that my parents were in fact alive? What becomes of me? Of what I have believed my whole life?

I curled up on the floor, the pain etched in my bones completely overshadowed by the thoughts roaring in my mind.

A soft knock on the door made all my muscles knot as I raised my head. He was back again? So soon? My hands closed around the necklace and I wiped my eyes, bracing myself for whatever he was about to say to me again.

But when the door opened, it wasn’t Hadrian that walked in. A young girl, wearing a maid’s costume walked in, holding a tray.

“The alpha ordered this be brought to you”

She pulled away the covers on the tray, and the sweet aroma of the meal hit my nose, my stomach immediately growled. 

The maid raised a brow and my cheeks colored instantly. I wrapped a protective arm around my stomach and moved back.

“I'm okay, I do not want to eat.” My stomach protested the second I said that. I hadn't eaten in days, but that doesn't mean I'll let myself eat poison.

“Are you sure?” She dropped the tray before me and the scent of the meal drifted into my nose. Making me salivate even more. “Your stomach is giving you away.”

“I don't want the food”

“Too bad, the Alpha ordered that you must eat everything in here.”

“Excuse me?”

Was he trying to kill me by poisoning? Did he think that would spare him from facing the consequences as well.

I was still lost in thoughts when the maid opened the food and took a bite of it. My eyes zeroed on her mouth and I salivated even more as I watched her chew and swallow the food.

A whole minute passed and nothing happened to her. 

“The Alpha has ordered that you eat, it is important for your recovery. I'll be back in 10 minutes to clear the rest”

My eyes zeroed back to the food once she left. My mind continued to come up with worst case scenarios but my stomach growled even harder. 

“To fight, I have to be strong,” I muttered.

Swallowing, I took a spoonful of the food. I squeezed my eyes shut and shoved it into my mouth, but the second the taste exploded in my mouth, my eyes widened and I grabbed the plate.

In a matter of seconds, I'd cleared the entire plate. Tears formed, threatening to spill, I couldn't recall the last time I had a proper meal. A filling meal.

Burying my face on my knees, I let the tears fall freely and when I heard the door open, I was too embarrassed to face the maid. Only after she left did I raise my head, this time around, I got off the floor and into the bed that I avoided like a plague.

I ran my fingers through the necklace once more before I clasped it around my neck. I would worry about it later, my body was desperate for sleep after having a proper meal for the first time in ages.

Just as I was drifting off into slumber, the wall that had been present in the new bond shifted slightly and pain slammed into my chest, making me recoil.

It left as soon as it came but I knew without a doubt that he was still in pain. The pain was his, and the thought of that had my hand balling into a fist, and my wolf?

She started pacing and itching to go comfort him as soon as possible, but we couldn't, and even if we could, Hadrian would rather kill himself. I tried to stay awake to make sure he was okay, but my eyes shut despite my resistance and soon enough, I drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

Not long after shutting my eyes, the sound of heavy footsteps rushing towards me instantly made them open. The scene before me made my heart drop and my instincts screamed at me to find a place to hide but my feet were rooted to the ground, I couldn't move.

Fire surrounded me, people ran in every direction possible, screaming. Just a couple of feet away from me, a child's slipper lay haphazardly and I couldn't seem to take my eyes off it.

What happened to that child?

“Aidora!” A familiar voice screamed my name and I flinched. I dragged my eyes away from the slippers and turned around in search of my mum. 

“Aidora!” She screamed again, her voice laden with panic. I instantly identified her in the crowd. The second I made eye contact with her, I was back in my childhood room. 

My heart pounded and I kept forcing myself to draw a breath in. My parents weren't calling to me or talking to me this time, they were exchanging words with a person shrouded in darkness. 

I couldn't make out their face, but I caught a glimpse of their outfit.Purple silk. Whoever it was, they had to be from the alpha family.

I tried to take a step forward to see the person’s face, but I couldn’t move. When I wanted to try again, the scene before me made me freeze.

The stranger wrapped their hand around my mother's throat, lifting her off the ground with ease. The hand was heavily tattooed and the second it touched my mother, black ink began to spread. 

My father tried to fight back, but he too was lifted off his feet with ease. I tried to rein it in but a gasp left my throat, I heard a snap as their attention was turned to me, bottomless dark eyes stared at me.

“Leave! Right now!” My mother managed to scream, and somehow her words returned mobility to my legs and I took off.

I didn't have to turn to tell that the person was hot on my heels, I could feel the menacing aura. I pushed myself to run faster, but I was quickly losing strength, my lungs were struggling to take in any more air and the adrenaline I was running on had long faded.

I should have continued running without turning back, but I gave into my curiosity and turned. An ear piercing scream left my throat when I made contact with those dark eyes again.

“Wake up!” heavy and persistent taps accompanied the voice that seemed so far away. “Aidora wake up!”

I immediately sprang up from the bed, drenched in sweat, eyes wide and panting. What was that dream? My hand reflectively went to the necklace. I hissed the second I touched it. It was burning hot.