Rescued (a paranormal Wild Beast MC romance #1)

6. Hallucinating

Frontera Springs, 30 miles away from Seattle - Miranda's house

Leyna

I am aimlessly running in a snow-covered valley surrounded by nothingness, dressed in a light white shift and barefoot, but I don't feel the biting cold. As my feet pound the packed powder, the snow is slowly replaced by grass. This warmth feels good on my soles, and I speed up, leaving the cold behind me. As I turn back to survey where I came from, I see two snow leopards stopped at the line between white and green. Their posture is of defeat. Their eyes cast down. Their shoulders slumped. They beckon me with their minds, sending ribbons of energy (or is it love?) my way, trying to reel me in, back to the snowy valley. I feel pierced by the lines connecting me to these two beautiful wild animals.

An internal battle rages within, one that I am not the mistress of. I stare at their blurred shapes, but then I turn around, back to the green edge where a huge white tiger with ice-blue eyes is pacing, his tail swishing in the air, his ears picked up.

I can see the muscles hardening under his beautiful coat, his massive paws carefully resting on the ground. I can hear his low non-threatening growls, more on the moaning than on the aggressive side. As my eyes connect with his, I feel grounded, stuck in place, and invaded by warm energy coursing through my body. I sense there is only one way: Forward. I can't go back to the white valley, to the leopards, and I am possessed by a never-felt before need to go to this tiger, throw myself at him, and hug him tight.

Torn between the twin leopards and the white tiger, I stop moving—one foot on the snow and one foot on the grass. Something is bothering me on my left wrist, burning even. The bracelet! The beautiful silver piece I woke up with at the hospital. I touch it, and the world stops spinning. My feet leave the ground, and I am propelled into another dimension, outside of my body, surrounded by powerful invisible threads, which lift me in the air and pull me in all directions. I close my eyes and let my body be controlled by those outside forces. It feels so good to not have to decide and be like a leaf carried around by the winds of Fall.

I hear voices, words, and incantations. I hear my name "Leyna" (Erik & Reyker), injunctions "come back to us" (Erik & Reyker again), promises "I will cherish you like the queen you are meant to be" (Ragnar), a revelation "I am a witch" (Miranda), and an avowal "I will find you" (unknown).

All these words clash in my mind, I don't know where to turn to. Too much pressure, I assume. I cannot decide what to do, where to go, and whom to trust. My heart speeds up, my skin tingles and sparkles with a myriad of minuscule diamonds that have sprouted out of nowhere.My head gets heavier, and I feel like I am going to pass out. I slowly fall into oblivion when a white light obliterates everything with a deafening roar, and I wake up, my skin clammy, out of breath, with my window open while a storm is raging outside.

My pajamas are drenched in sweat. I feel dizzy, and my room is spinning like a wild dreidel. As I stand up to close the window, I see a large white cat roaming in the backyard. Wait! Not a cat. Bigger. Way bigger. With stripes. A tiger! I must still be sleeping. I am losing my mind. Scary. I close my eyes, tight, super tight, to a point where I see white stars. But when I reopen them, the tiger is looking at me with such an intensity I feel I'm going to self combust. I am in a trance, stunned, and I can't turn around.

The tiger roars. I flinch and scream.Barging in my room, Miranda engulfs me in a tight hug whispering, "It's ok, don't worry, go back to sleep, my dear angel. You had a bad dream. Shhhhhhh".

I wiggle out of her embrace, not wishing to be treated like a child. I know what I saw: A tiger, a white tiger actually in THIS backyard. This is not a dream. I realize as I think about those words loud in my mind that I must sound unhinged. But again, I know what I saw: A huge beast prowling in the backyard and looking at me. Yes, at ME.

"Miranda, I swear I was having this crazy dream-slash-nightmare, and I woke up with my window open. I tried to close it, and that's when I saw it: A huge white tiger. I understand it sounds crazy, but I swear it's the truth. What's happening to me? Am I losing my mind? Is that why you took me in? You took pity on the crazy comatose Jane Doe?" I scream and cry at the same time, collapsing on my knees, sobbing and wishing the images of what I just witnessed to go away.

I feel so lost and lonely. I feel crazy, strange, and possessed while also loved and torn between men I don't even know. I slowly let myself slide in a welcomed torpor where nothing can reach me, raising protective shields around my fragile mind.

A knock on the door and my shields disappear as fast as I rose them.

Without waiting for Miranda to invite him in, a shirtless, breathless and angry Ragnar bursts in, almost shattering the heavy door, looking at my landlord, shooting her down, and berating her without a single word. His ripped muscles are imposing, and tribal tattoos swirl around his bulging biceps from his neck to his hands. His eight-pack is beyond shredded, and his obliques take my glance down into his jeans with their top button undone. 

Oh boy. Geez....I'm back to being a hormonal teenager again. Miranda returns his stare without moving one muscle, and a silent exchange seems to be taking place. After a long while, Miranda lowers her head and exposes her neck as if submissive (though I can see the beginning of a smirk on her face), and Ragnar comes closer, looking at me expectantly waiting for a sign from me to....to do what exactly? Our eyes meet again, his dark, smoldering, and glinting. My bracelet starts burning again, and I feel good. Yes, simply blissed, anchored, and in the perfect place with the ideal person. I step in his direction as he opens his arms and hugs me hard, crushing me against his muscular pecs. 

"Are you okay?" he whispers in my ear. I barely nod because the sensations are so great I am scared to break this magical moment just by moving. He kisses my forehead, but all I can think of is his naked body, his strong hands on my thighs, his fingers hooked into my panties, and our orgasms.

"Hold your horses, Ragnar! I don't know what just happened, but I demand some clear explanations. I am not crazy, and you are maybe not who you seem to be. I sense strange things here so please if you care for me like you seem to, answer me "what are you?" I whisper as I back up two steps leaving the comfort of his protective arms.

At these words, Miranda turns around and spreads her hands towards the window, closing it from a distance, witch-like. Images from my dream come crashing back in my mind, and I remember her voice, "I am a witch," I remember the white tiger with eyes the shape of Ragnar's, and I recall his saying, "you are my queen."

I stand my ground. Shaking. Expecting. Waiting for answers.