Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

The trees rustle as I giggle and run through an otherworldly dream. These feelings of happiness and excitement aren’t mine, yet the body is. It’s been a while since I’ve dreamt like this. Being aware of my body slumbering but my mind wandering back to the place of solitude. Back to him. I’ve never known his name. Only his touch, the one that always vanishes from my body when I wake up.

When he catches me at the shimmering waterfall, he takes my hand and drags me to his chest. His calloused, warm fingers play across the plane of my cheek. His eyes wander over my face, memorizing it for the terrible day we may no longer be together.

“I have never loved like this before.” His voice is husky and I want to bathe in its refreshing tone

This is where it always ends. These dreams have saved me from many a nightmare. They always end with a kiss that takes my breath away and bars me from ever wanting anyone other than the man I dreamed up. But instead of leaning in for a kiss this time, he places my hand on his chest and presses his forehead to mine.

“Tell me you feel it too” His words are full of thick emotion and his eyes glisten with hope. A promise of his protection, comfort in his arms if only I utter the words he seems to need to hear.

“I do,” I whisper back, unable to control my own swirling emotions that are drowning me with the acceptance and need that I have craved all my life.

It’s at this moment that I recognize that I’ve fallen for the man in my dreams. The one I created but crave. But right now I can’t pull myself away with logic or coherent thoughts as his lips descend towards mine and I ache for them to touch. 

He is soft, like a wisp of breeze on a cool summer night, tickling across my skin. The kiss turns urgent, and hungry, as he tangles his hands in my hair and tugs me closer to him. My heated body pressing hard against him as I roam my hands over his muscular back, memorizing every dip and groove. All of me is on fire from my hair to the tips of my toes as he pulls away and lowers me to the ground. Not once does he remove his piercing caramel eyes from mine. 

His fingers roam over my collarbone, causing me to gasp as the hair on my arms stands on alert. Then at a painful, slow rate, he drags his fingertips lower and lower to my buttons and deftly unhooks them. I am left panting as he drops my gaze and looks down before trailing kisses over my exposed skin.

“Is this ok?” he rasps out. I nod, but he isn’t looking at me. “Use words, my love.”

“Yes. Yes, Lach… I am yours. I will always be yours.”

“In every life?” he snaps his eyes back to mine and I tilt my head, feeling like I am spinning out of control. I am saying things I shouldn’t say, feeling things I can’t possibly feel… yet…

“In every life, I will be yours, if you’ll be mine” the words fall from me but they feel foreign and so unlike myself. When I pause, he fades away like dust in the wind.

I jolt upright with a shocked gasp and find myself alone, my sweatshirt still in place, and no glorious specimen of a man in front of me named Lach. These fucking dreams are getting more intense. I chuckle at the thought of thinking I am in love with a man I created in my mind.

Or perhaps he is someone I once saw in passing and used to further my weird-ass fantasies. A girl like me doesn’t easily find people she can trust. Nor do many boys or men want anything to do with someone who sleeps in abandoned warehouses hoping for some solitude from the shitty weather.

I grab my bag and yank it open, pulling out a protein bar. After running at full speed for hours, I stopped for a brief break. Or what was meant to be a quick break, but now that I am looking at the sun, I realize that it’s leaning more towards setting than I’d like. When I spontaneously turned into a wolf, I lost my phone, which makes short naps difficult to manage without an alarm clock.

I take three heaping bites of the chalking chocolate wannabe bar and shove it back into the bag before I stand and load back up.

With the possibility of vampires not only existing but after me, sleeping during the day seems like my only wise choice. I know nothing of the mythical creatures I’ve seemed to fall into, so instead of following normal protocol, it’s time to mix things up. Since they can’t cross that meadow until the sun sets or shadows descend, so I need to advance as much as possible. 

I tear through the woods, my eyes darting through the trees above, a keen eye on the sun as it drops lower and lower in the sky. My skin prickles with awareness, and I press my legs on harder. By the time I even think about taking a small break, the moon has replaced the sun. It's strange the comfort the moon seems to bring me as I feel my body speed up and my lungs dig deeper for air. It’s almost like I am better under the moon’s quiet gaze.

I miscalculate a distance over a small creek and land with a solid oof, my body bouncing onto a rock that was hiding beneath the tall weeds. I can feel the rock protruding into my ribcage. The pain hits me like a semi going full speed on the freeway. I try to gasp but my lungs have already expelled all the air as I struggle to breathe. It feels like the little barely moving creek grows louder, angrier in my ears as my senses come at me in bursts, then wane away.

Everything in me is screaming to get up and keep moving. There is even a whimpering in my head pounding away at my mind. Yet, all I can focus on is the fact that it wasn’t vampires who killed me. Nor was it the strange naked men in the woods. It was nothing but my clumsiness. I press my hands into the embankment and push myself up, gritting my teeth as the rock grinds against my rib bones that I know have to be broken. 

Tears stream down my cheek, as I roll to my back and stare up at the moon. The pain seems to fade away, replaced with a tickling and itchy sensation. I chance a look and watch my gruesome wound knit itself back together. It’s like my skin was just unzipped and needs a proper re-zip.

I gently graze the area with my fingers. It’s still very much tender and painful, but the bleeding has stopped and the wound has now become nothing more than a large jagged scab. 

I take it as my body and wolf encouraging me to move along so I gingerly push myself up, gasping at the ache in my side. Shit, I may be healing, but fuck, does it still hurt. I grit my teeth and find a steady footing before slowly walking forward, taking care not to jostle the bones that I know I broke.

The more I attempt to speed up, the more I realize my body is not done doing whatever the hell it is doing. My consciousness and energy are draining damn fast as well. It’s not until I hear a stick crack somewhere around me that panic and the thought of actually dying drives me into a full-out sprint. Fear replaces my pain as I crash through the brambles and trees. The branches reach for me tearing at my clothing and exposed flesh taking their toll in my blood, but I couldn’t care less.

I have nowhere to go, just the hope of surviving to see the sunrise. After a moment I chance a weary glance over my shoulder and see nothing, but I can feel the weight of the air. Be it a vampire or a naked man, I don’t know, I just know I need to keep moving. 

The branches before me give way and I see the trees alight by a dancing flame before me as I try to stop myself from barreling forward. My stupid feet refuse to respond as I curse, jolting forward and falling with my palm in the flame. I scream out in pain and jump up.

“Fucking shit! Ow! Holy Hell!” I hiss. I lift my hand looking at it as it magically, and slowly I might add, heals as my other wound had.

“Uh…” I hear a confused deep voice stutter, and I hold my hand up triumphantly.

“I’m fine, see? I heal… fast…” I say. My voice tapering off as the massive figure stands and moves toward me. The shadows of the flames dance along his strong jawline and unruly hair. But the moment he looms over me, I know I’ve found my destination. Something in me snaps as calmness washes over me.

“Are you lost?” He asks. His voice fading away.

“Not anymore,” I say as my consciousness fades and I fall into the arms of the man I have spent years dreaming of.