Alec’s

A freezing, wet, and hard surface is underneath me. This isn’t like the soft mattress I slept on a couple of hours ago. I want to continue sleeping for a little while, but it’s unbearable. I try to shift, hoping I will get comfortable, but it doesn’t work. Small, hard things press into my skin, increasing my discomfort.

Giving up, I reluctantly open my eyes. Is a little bit more of sleep too much to ask for?

The moment my eyes are open, I jolt upward. This isn’t my f**g bedroom? Where the hell am I?

I scan the area in confusion. The sight of trees shrouded in fog greets me. It’s early in the morning. Maybe around six in the morning, but I couldn’t be sure.

I know that I am still in pack lands because I can sense the patrolling team. I just don’t know which part of the forest I am in.

The chilly morning wind blows, making me shiver at its coldness. It’s only then that I realize I am butt naked.

On unsteady legs, I get up, my mind swirling in confusion. I clearly remember going to sleep right next to Aspen after our talk, so what the hell am I doing here?

I rack my brain trying to find the hidden answers, but I come up empty. I have no memory of what happened or how I got here in the first place.

My heart starts racing at the possibilities. Did I sleepwalk here? But I don’t have a history of sleepwalking, and I doubt it starts suddenly out of nowhere. That also doesn’t explain why I am naked in the first place.

I am a bit disoriented as I try to get my bearing, I mean, it’s not every day you go to sleep and wake up naked in the forest.

I stumble as I begin to walk while trying to get my s**d brain to function. Sniffing the air, I smell the scent of the pack and use it as my beacon. I could use my teleportation power, but I am afraid that, with how disoriented I am, I’ll end up somewhere else. It is better to avoid it.

“Nyx?” I call her, but she doesn’t respond.

She’s been MIA since yesterday. I tried getting in touch with her after Raven’s revelation, but she wouldn’t answer me. Even when I did more training in the afternoon, she was still not present.

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I was beginning to get worried. She does do a disappearing act once in a while, but usually she tells me when she wants time away from me.

“Nyx,” I call again desperately. “Come one, I really need you.”

Once again, I get no answer, which just frustrates me more. I’m confused and scared, and for some weird reason, I feel like crying.

I feel like a failure. Like I failed someone or some people. My heart feels heavy with

i feelings I can’t describe. I was okay yesterday. Sure, I was stressed and worn out, but that was the extent of it. I didn’t feel like my heart was weighed down like it was right

now.

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The feeling of helplessness and hopelessness engulfs me. Washing over me. Drowning me in its tight and unwanted embrace.

What the hell is happening to me? Why the f**k do I feel this way?

I continue stumbling through the forest, my mind completely focused on getting to the pack house.

I keep going, using the trees to hold myself up. My head was killing me, but that was the least of my problems. Finally, I break through the forest, stumbling into the field just behind the pack house.

I heave a sigh of relief, knowing I wasn’t that far. Now that I am in trouble, I see the urgency Nyx had. The urgency for me to learn how to use my powers. It would have been so easy to fly back here. Hell, it would have been easy to teleport had I completely mastered it.

I increase my pace. The urge to get to my room, a familiar space, is riding me hard. I’m careful not to stumble and fall because that would only push me behind. Maybe Raven can help me figure out what the hell is wrong and what happened between the time I went to sleep and woke up.

I bump into a brick wall. I almost fall, but a set of iron grips catches me before I do. “Woah! Careful,” his voice startles me.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I push my hair out of the way and look up, only to find Alec’s green eyes staring at me in confusion.

I jump away from him when I feel the bond start to pull me in and draw me to him.

Big mistake. I forgot I was naked.

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His eyes move from my eyes to my body. They start from my shoulders, then move down. They linger a bit on my chest before moving further down.

I am frozen as his eyes hungrily take in my naked body. I see it in his eyes. I see the heat that is hidden there. The struggle in them as he fights for control. This is what the bond does. It makes you lose

your senses.

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Alec is fighting it’s push. It’s craving. He is fighting to stay in control. He’s fighting to stop himself from pulling me into his arms and f**u*ng me like the bond demands it does. The bond is designed to make him dominant while making me submissive to him as my mate. The first time between mates is usually the male dominating the female into submission by f***g her till both of them are unable to walk properly.

His fists clench and unclench. His jaw tightens as his eyes keep shifting colors. He’s struggling, and his heated gaze is starting to affect me.

I start walking back. Trying to put as much space between us as possible. This can’t happen between us. One, because we don’t really want each other, and two, because it would be a big mistake.

“Sadie?” his voice calls me, stopping me in my tracks.

He starts moving, closing the distance between us. I am just about to turn and flee when

head. a sharp pain fills my

The dream I had at night fills my head. It felt so real. So f**g real.

I drop to my knees as a scream is torn out from me. Tears fall down my face as the weight of loss settles inside me like lead. The anguish of failing and failing everyone that depended on me shatters me.

The pain intensifies right before everything goes black.

It was just a dream, a nightmare, so why did it feel so real?