The Mermaid Stole My Alpha

Chapter 12

•••Arrissa Forrest•••

Tonight, I woke up at the end of a terrible nightmare. My mother was on a beach near our pack house. There was a horrible storm overhead. Lightning ripped through the dark black clouds. Strikes of silver slashed through them like knives. The mighty thunder roared so loud and so powerful, I was surprised that the Earth hadn't split into two and crumbled yet. Waves crashed violently, twisting and turning in every direction.

My mother was still standing on the beach, motionless. For a moment, everything stopped. I was seeing things in slow motion. She starting talking, but I couldn't hear a word she said. I couldn't hear anything.

She desperately reached out her arm to me like her life depended on it. But I was on the weed raided hills of the beach, to far to do anything.

Suddenly, a figure appeared a few yards away from her. The waves opened, leading entrance to land from the sea. The figure was merely a girl. A teenager at the most. But she looked vaguely familiar. Her skin shone the color of silver and burnt gold. The dress she was wearing flowed down to her barefeet and reminded me of the waves crashing back and forth. The dress fit her body perfectly and was the color of the most beautiful hues of blue. Her hair flowed down to her waist in small blond and red ringlets. The most bizarre part of this girl was that her lower arms were mermaid fins, but her eyes burned bright green like a wolf's.

She stepped out to reach for my mother. I knew I couldn't let the girl have her, so I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me toward them. As soon as I even had the chance to hold out my hand, fire spread all around me. Smoke engulfed me with suffocating gases. I fell hard to my knees coughing and choking. The girl reached out her hand for my mother while giving me a devlish grin, but before my poor mother grabbed it, she mouthed out the words, "you could have saved me." That is when the waves submerged the girl and my mother under their immense fury. I woke up in a cold sweat.

"You okay?" Cam asks, he faces me laying down on the bed rubbing my arm.

"Yeah just another nightmare. Sorry I woke you."

"It's fine," he mumbles and goes back to sleep. I on the other hand, stay up all night, terrified of the experience.

••••

It's afternoon, and I still haven't gotten up. I just lie in my bed, starring at the ceiling with my arm over my head like I have a major headache. In this case I did. My window is open to let the cool forest air in, but even that didn't sooth me. I try to fall asleep but the memory from last night made it impossible to even close my eyes. I just decide to manage the throbbing by taking a walk near the ocean far from the pack house.

As soon as I get there, the recollection of my nightmare begins to emerge from mind. But today there is no storm. My mother does not exist on this Earth. And as far as I am concerned, neither does the strange mergirl.

Everything is errily calm. The tide is low, as is the wind. There are no seagulls or crabs making their soft chatter. Not anywhere I can hear.

I begin to walk on the shore, then start into a slow jog until the water softly splashes my ankles. I tread farther, only stopping when the water reaches my hips. I stand for a few seconds inhaling the sea air sharply. My focus blurs as the wolf paw on my necklace glows brighter then it's ever glowed before. Then it begins to burn. Sharp and bitter. It burns so badly that I take it off and throw it in the water, only stopping to realize what I have done.

I just threw the only piece of my mother I have into the ocean, where the current is taking it out to sea.

I scramble on my hands and knees, head submerging under the water to try to locate the gold necklace. My hands hastily search the sandy floor, but all that's been found is rocks and broken sea shells.

Then I spot it. Drifting away about twenty feet in front of me, the sun reflects of the paw and into my eyes. I dive into the water after it, thankful that the tide is low.

All I hear is the quiet music of bubbles rising against my body. Determination for the necklace makes me quickly forget about my nightmare. All I want is the piece of my mother back.

My necklace is carried fast out into the open, venturing further than I'm comfortable with.

But now I have to take a breath. So worried that I'll loose sight of the precious piece of jewelry, I let my lungs burn. Moving my stomach in the way I was instructed to, so that the trapped air is always flowing, I manage to save a few minutes of time.

I swim faster after it with my arm extended. It keeps glowing, burning so hard I can feel the heat. Im relieved when I grab it.

What horrifies me is now it is ice cold, glowing blue. And that's when I looked up.

Face to face with a creature that is only suppose to exist in my imagination.