The Powerful Wolf

Chapter 9

Opening my eyes, I scan my surroundings. In small clusters, people stood unmoving in different positions. Some parts of their flesh were covered in blood covered fur matching the rest of their bodies. People glared across the way from each other with their faces contorted in a half yell. Trees surrounded the area creating an accidental battle ground. Standing on one side were my friends and united as one to stand against an unknown force. Walking over towards them, I go to see who they are fighting against and see my mate leading the charge. He had a massive scar running from the top right corner of his face to the left corner of his plump lips. His facial expression reflected the conflicting emotions running around inside his head.

Walking over to him, I place my hand against his cheek. "Oh mi amour, what have you gotten into now." Out of the corner of my eye, I spot movement.

"Hello," I called out to see if the mysterious movement spoke. "Anyone there." The movement still.

"Hello?" I exaggerate. A white wolf dashes out from the bushes and rushes straight towards me.

Screaming, I sit up straight in bed. Frantically I look around for something to stabilise me and bring me back from dreamland. The door bursts open and Liam is standing there looking for any threat that might come my way. He goes towards my closet and wretches it off its hinges. Once looking through and finding nothing he looks at me and finds my panicked expression.

"Natasha?" He asks like he has never seen a person panicking before. My chest rapidly lifts. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. "Shit." In the back of my mind I could hear his feet moving against the floorboards as I try to calm down. It doesn't work, and I turn to him with a panicked expression.

"Hey, hey, hey," he starts, blocking my vision from anything else besides him. I search his face for the familiar sights that I just looked at that afternoon. His blue eyes with the little golden flecks that I love. His chocolatey scent, that wafts in my direction.

"Breathe. In, out. In, out. In, out." he continues. "Tell me what you like about your friends."

"What," I breathe out, my mind still rushing about.

"Tell me about your friends," he repeats.

"Well, there is Alex, he is my best friend. I can always count on him even when I do not know that I need it. He has Ice blue eyes with dirty blond hair and has a great fashion sense," flashes of him at the party show up with him beating the random guy. "He will do anything for me, if I so ask and he is really protective of me, although not as much as Hugo. While Hugo isn't my best friend we just have a connection. I don't know where it stemmed from but we have had it for as long I can remember. He will also do anything for me much like Alex. He has brown hair and matching eyes. Next you will have his half brother Charlie. Charlie is like a big brother. He gives the best advice and is there if you need to talk or just chill. Generally we talk about anything and everything from marvel, to F1 racing. He is goofy and always knows how to take a dark mood and make it better." I laugh at a memory that popped up of him falling off the table at lunch and going on the ground complaining as he goes. Everyone was concerned until it was found out that he was going to be ok and then people started laughing about it.

Another memory surfaced, this time with everyone sitting around our iconic table opening our Christmas presents from each other. We were doing Secret Santa, and I had Charlie for the third year in a row.

A tear slips out of my eye and creates a path down my cheek for more tears to come. Gently, Liam lifts his hand and traces his thumb against the path, breaking the way for any more tears to follow.

"I miss them," I croak out.

"Why don't you go back to them then," Liam's face contorts as if that was one of the hardest things to say.

"I wish I could," I reply. "It's just that they have been lying to my face for ages. And it wasn't just a small lie either. It was a huge one. I cannot face them for a while, not after that."

"I know that we haven't known each other for a long time," he says, "but from an outsider's perspective, it looks like they were trying to protect you in whatever form necessary. I mean how would you react if they told you this secret in the middle of nowhere? How would you feel? What would you even say? You have got to consider that they are coming from a place to protect not destroy any trust that has been building for years."

"I am aware of that," I say. "But I hate that they have been lying to me at all. They are my friends, having been friends for several years with all of them. By now you would think that they would know that I hate liars and going on the guise that they are 'protecting me' is just making it worse. I need time to process not only the secret that they told me but the fact that everyone has kept it from me for years and not once have I noticed something amuck. I am not saying that I will never go back to them, but for now I need space and I am not going to get that by going back."

Liam nods his head after my long rant. "I understand, and I will respect your wishes. Just tell me and I will pack our things and we will be gone."

"Thank you for understanding," I say.

"No problem. I will be here for you," he replies, leaning in to hug me, "Always". We both stand still for a minute not daring to move from the comfort that only a mate could bring.

"Distracted you," he says playfully. I huff out a laugh.

"Yeah you did," I reply. "How come you came running?"

"What would you have done in my situation? Your mate is screaming from the other side of the corridor and you have no idea what is going on in there. There could be an intruder or something else entirely. I am not taking any chances though. What were you dreaming about anyway that made you wake up screaming like that?"

"You are going to laugh at me," I reply, Liam shaking his head no. "It is ridiculous. Silly even. Nobody would wake up screaming like I did from it."

"Well," Liam starts. "Silly or not I want to know. The love of my life was panicking at it, I do not care if it was silly or down right the most absurd thing in the world, what matters is that it woke you up screaming and I do not want you to wake up that way again."

"Ok but don't laugh," Liam makes a cross over his heart. "In my dream, I was standing in between two opposing sides. One led by my friends back home and the other was led by you. Everyone there had blood on them and in parts of their fur. People were half shifted and were yelling at each other. I woke up screaming because a wolf bounded up to me and pounced. It made me have a panic attack because I was not expecting anything like that. I am sorry that I woke you up though."

"Mi amour," he replies. "I would never sleep again if that means that I would be awake if you ever woke up from a nightmare. Sure, I would be sleep deprived but I would give it up to make sure that you are ok, no matter how silly you believe it to be." I sit there speechless.

"And besides," he continues. "It isn't like something like that is going to happen anytime soon anyway. It was just a dream."

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