Half-Blooded | The Dark Child Prophecy Series [✔️]

Chapter Two: The Strays

He was back again, waiting in my dream's meadow as I came walking out of the trees and into the clearing. I pushed my nightgown's hem further down my thighs and then adjusted the straps across my shoulders. I felt my heart flip in my chest and I paused, smiling. "Were you following me?" I asked as I approached.

He grinned and shrugged a shoulder. "I can't follow you through your own subconscious. I've been waiting for you here, when you were done running." As I got closer, he held out his hand and I took his fingers hesitantly. He yanked, pulling me down onto his lap and I squealed in surprise.

Laughing, I shoved my hands against his chest and squirmed, but he held on to me. "Let go!" I giggled, struggling for the fun of it. I straddled his lap so I could steady myself. "I don't even know your name."

He laughed, taking a firmer grip on my arms. "Yes, you do. Just like I know yours."

I stopped moving, staring at him as we locked eyes, and suddenly I was sober from the thrill of our game. One inhale of his scent and I knew he was a wolf, a familiar one. "I know you, but I don't," I whispered, "and it's so strange to me. I know you. But I've never met you before in my life."

"I know," he answered me, releasing my arms to skim down my back. I shivered at the feeling of his fingertips against my skin. "And I promise I'll explain it all. But not right now."

My eyes closed when his mouth brushed over my cheek before he pressed his nose against my neck. I was suddenly very aware of our bodies touching and I shuddered. He didn't kiss me, but the intimacy of touching him was enough. I shivered when his bottom lip caressed my collarbone. "It's like I know your name, but it won't come to me. Like a word I've forgotten before it reaches my tongue," I whispered, my voice going hoarse.

His hands stroked up my back, making me instinctively arch into him. He nuzzled against my neck, sighing softly. "I know," he said again. "I've been waiting for you for so long," he added. He gripped my waist, his fingers digging into the supple muscles there and I made a soft whimper in satisfaction.

I held onto his shoulders, keeping my torso arched into his. I wanted him to never stop touching me. It felt electric, wild, and filling; like we were two strays lost to everyone else but each other. "What happens when I wake up? Will I see you again?" I asked softly, leaning my cheek against his temple.

"We just have to find our way back to one another, to this place. I'll always be here when you want me to be."

I pulled back slightly to look at him. My fingers ran through his thick dark hair. "What if I don't want to wait?"

He sighed, his purple eyes rising to meet mine. "I don't want to either... But not yet."

I sighed heavily, giving him my best impatient expression.

"I know," he chuckled. "I've been growing restless, looking for you. And here you are, finally." He dipped his head again to brush his nose along my shoulder, making me shudder. "God, just your scent is enough to drive me wild. It's like I know exactly who you are, what you are... But there's this lingering feeling that you are so different than what I know."

Leaning away from him, I studied his face for another long moment. He was handsome, but there was some boyish quality of wonder in his expression. "I don't smell like a wolf?" I asked.

He grinned, his hands beginning to absently wander across the blue nightgown I was wearing. "It's something more than that. You are Wolf, but there's more to you. I don't know what it is. It's something different... Something I have never smelled before."

"I am different," I whispered, hesitant to tell him my dark little secret, about the flaw in my design. I wanted to tell him. It wasn't as if he would tell anyone else; he was only here in my dreams. His presence was so strong that I had sensed him when I was awake. And knowing that someone else could know my flaw, accept it, and not constantly remind me of how wrong I was... It was a relief that I wanted to always have.