Song: "Dark Paradise" by Lana Del Rey
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Stone knew he was dreaming. He knew because his heightened senses were muted, making him feel vulnerable and weak, like a newborn pup.
It had been a long time since his last dream. Most of his dreams were of nothing but an empty, black abyss. He was always wandering through nothingness, finding nothing and feeling nothing but the emptiness in his soul.
Since finding Aubree, that had changed. Glimpses of her face appeared in his dreams and he knew it was her soul reaching out to him.
This time, the endless sea of nothingness led him through a forest, one that he recognized from long ago.
His heart began to race as he picked up his feet—no, paws—and ran through the dense woodland known as Schwarzwald, the Black Forest of the Holy Roman Empire, or Renaissance Germany.
The Germanic tribes for centuries feared the forest for it was silva nigra—dark, murky, and almost impenetrable. Many tales told of werewolves, vampires, and sorcerers living in the woods—all of which were true and founded from first-hand experiences, despite the twists that had been added after years of being passed down from generation to generation.
The humans feared the woods, as they should because it belonged to the creatures of the night. Creatures like him and her.
Roots snaked out of the earth, tangled together in twisted knots as low gnarled branches reached down to brush against his shoulder. His long arms and legs enabled him to run at breathtaking speeds with huge claw-like hands to dig into the soil, grip roots, and make sharp turns without so much as slowing down.
He was fast, but his strength was unmatched in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire and southern Denmark for a lycan under five hundred years of age.
In his heart, he knew that he would find her here and it leaped with joy, even if it was a dream. For this was the same forest that he had first met her.
Adelaide.
He couldn't smell her, not like he had some four hundred years ago, but he could feel her. The pull was so magnetically strong that he pushed himself as fast as his long legs could carry him. His mind raced with only one word repeated over and over.
Mate.
He knew she was near and he tumbled to the forest floor where there was a narrow strip of tall grass along a winding creek. The sun shone down through the gap in the trees, making the ripples in the creek and the morning dew on the grass sparkle. A gentle breeze blew the cattails that lined the riverbed as small swarms of insects hummed soft minnesang over the gentle trickle of the water between rocks.
Or perhaps it wasn't the insects humming the love song, but rather it was her nearby? He thought he could make out the words under her breath.
Dû bist mîn, ich bin dîn:
des solt dû gewis sîn.
Dû bist beslozzen
in mînem Herzen.
Verlorn ist das Slüzzelîn:
dû muost immer drinne sîn.
You are mine, I am yours:
thereof you may be certain.
You're locked away
within my heart.
Lost is the little key:
and you must ever be therein.
He had shifted back to his human form without noticing. Such was the nature of the dream world, but he didn't mind. He knew it was because his mate was near.
It was as he remembered it all these years later.
Hot and thirsty from his long run, he bent down along the creek's edge and washed the dirt from his hands. His long blond hair fell over his shoulders and in his face. Brushing it back, he proceeded to splash the cold water on his hot face. Scooping water up into his large hands, he heard a rustle in the bushes across the creek as he drank. He froze as the water dribbled between his fingers, his heart pounding in anticipation because he knew it was her.
YOU ARE READING
Heart of Stone (Parts I & II)
Werewolf[COMPLETE] Some bonds can't be broken, even in death. -- He couldn't endure another heartbreak. "Accepting her would be a mistake," he said. "She's a human. I can't afford to have her blood on my hands." Gwen looked away, and he knew she saw the ima...
