Always With Me (Book 2)

[1]: Haunted

        I am running through the forest towards my pack house.  Leilani draped over my shoulder, laying limply.  Her dangling arms hitting my back like a pendulum on a clock with every step I take towards my destination.  I can feel the stickiness of her drying blood on my shoulder as it seeps from her open wounds.  The train of her black jeweled dress wrapping around my legs as I run, and run.

        As I see the house, I notice as Alex is running towards us.  His eyes glassy from tears.  Hysterical once he realizes it is his sister I am carrying.  I watch as he drops to his knees, pulls at his hair, and screams silently.  It is as if the pain he is feeling has consumed his voice.  But I didn't have enough time, I run past him.  Leaving him there a teary mess.

        I kick the front door to open it, causing the door frame wood to splinter at the force.  I take Leilani off of my shoulder and carry her like a baby towards my bed.  I roar for Steven, our pack doctor.  As I am placing her on my bed, Steven comes running in.  Out of breath, I see his eyes widen taking in Leilani's condition.

        I watch as he frantically cuts off Leilani's dress, her body naked besides her black lace underwear and her own blood.  My wolf going into possessive mode instinctually because another male is seeing what is only his.  I quickly stomp his reaction down, knowing that Steven had to access her wounds.  I watch as his meticulous, steady hands assess her wounds.  I look up to his face, waiting expectantly for him to tell me if she would live or die.  And I see him there, his mouth moving, but hearing nothing.  Everything is mute.

        I keep staring at him, and the moving on his mouth becomes more animated.  It isn't until he grabs my upper arms, shaking me, that his words are able to finally pierce the fog in my head.

"Damien! Go to the room I was staying in, and get my bag!  I need it, go!"

        I bounce into action, and run and grab the bag.  As enter my doorway again, I see the doctor as he lifts the sheet over her face, and turns around with sad eyes.

"I am sorry, Damien." He says.

And my world stops.

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        I shot up in my bed, sweat pouring off my face.  The sheets surrounding me, drenching and damp from sweat.  My breathing coming out in shallow breathes, panting.  I could feel my heart beating so hard, it felt like it would explode out of my chest.  My stomach tense, their muscles cramping and spasming under my sheet.    I take my hand and scrub it down my face, taking deep breathes.  Trying to calm myself down.  I laid back down in my bed, and stared at the ceiling of my bedroom.  Looking at wood of the open rafters above.

         These nightmares, I have had them for the last three weeks since the incident in the meadow.  Three weeks since Rachel's death at my hands.  Three weeks since I nearly had lost Leilani.  These dreams haunted me, eating away at my soul.  Every night, the same dream repeats, always ending with me not saving her on time.  Worse yet, some of the dreams I watch as I couldn't get to Leilani on time, and Rachel plunges the knife into her.  I would watch her die, every night in my dreams in one way or another.  Sometimes, I would watch her life seep away from her eyes, making them dull with death.

        Even-though I knew that these dreams weren't real. They felt real.  I knew Leilani lay in her bed less than a hundred feet away from, in her own room.  She was the living, breathing testament to me getting her back in time to save her.  But sometimes, when I woke up, I would believe the dream for several seconds, and the guilt I felt caused me to falter.