The Alpha's Second Chance

Chapter 2- Nightmares

Lyra POV

I jolted awake, the Terror that filled me in my nightmare continuing to overflow and fill me in my awoken state. I lay in my bed just staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, trying to comprehend the emotions that are filling my body and soul; while logically I know what I just experienced was just a nightmare, yet the dream itself felt so real.

The horror of watching a man and woman kill another living person in front of me fills me. I wanted to scream at the man on the ground and tell him to get up, to run forward and protect him. Yet all I could do was watch from the tree line as the two people killed him right in front of me.

But then, to my horror, the two people turned around and looked right at me, or rather through me. I remember screaming and running away, trying everything to avoid being caught, but then I heard the tearing of bones followed by a growl. Within seconds, my escape route was cut off by a huge, brown wolf growling and moving forward towards me.

Just as the wolf reached me, extending its claws and slitting my throat, I jolted awake. The dream felt so real, almost as if I had lived another life and was reborn, but I know that is not possible.

I lay with sweat covering me, the bedsheet a mess around my feet, as I had clearly tossed and turned during the nightmare.

After a few moments, I have managed to get my breathing under control and slowly sit up, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. Even this normal motion does nothing to calm my erratically beating heart or the lump that I cannot swallow in my throat.

I look around the room and try to ground myself, telling myself that it was simply a nightmare. But it is as if something deep inside me knows that it was something more, almost as if it was a warning sent from someone or something, but I do not know what the warning could be about.

I slowly get up and head to my bathroom, jumping straight into the shower to try to shift this feeling of unease that remains.

I turn the shower on and up to hot, hoping that the heat and the steam will relax my mind and muscles, but I give up after a few moments when nothing changes. I quickly wash and get back out of the shower, sighing heavily as I realise that I forgot my towel.

I walk back into my room, grateful that I live alone, and grab a towel and some clothes.

A few moments later, and I am dressed in black jeans, a light blue tank top and a white see-through shirt over the top, finishing the look with a black ribbon tied loosely around the collar of the shirt.

I then spend half an hour on my makeup and hair, wanting to take extra time today in an attempt to steady myself, but I find that even these tasks are not enough to distract me from the nightmare.

I head to work and do the late morning to afternoon shift, distracting myself with the mundane monotomy of taking orders, making coffee, wiping down tables and trying anything to distract my mind. It works the most part, but a small part of my mind keeps replaying the nightmare and emotions in my mind. It all felt far to real to me.

After work, I head to my best friend Noah's place, maybe he can help me to clear my mind and understand what the nightmare meant and why it keeps clinging to me.

I knock on the door, and as soon as Noah sees me, he pulls me inside and sits me down at the table. Before I can say anything, he heads into the kitchen, and I hear the click of the kettle.

For a few moments, I sit there in silence until Noah enters the room again, but this time with two cups.

"I had a nightmare," I say.

"What was it about?" Noah asks me curiously.

"About two people I have never seen before killing a man, then hunting me down, and a wolf killing me," I explain, Noah's eyes going wide at the mention of a wolf.

He nods his head.

"What did they look like?" he asks me.

"The woman was small and slender; she had a vulnerable vibe to he,r but I felt like that was fake. She had long blonde hair with green eyes. The man was muscular, with shoulder-length black hair in a half-up, half-down style bun." I describe them the best that I cannot remeber, I didn't really focus on them in my dream, but I am surprised at how much I do remember about them. Yet the man on the ground, I do not remember what he looked like, other than being covered in blood.

"Maybe the nightmare was a warning?" Noah says to me, handing me a hot cup of coffee and sitting down opposite me with his own cup.

"But what could the warning be?" I ask, wrapping my hands around the mug.

"That something or someone in the near future is either going to be your undoing or salvation."

"What do you mean by salvation?" I ask, confused. How does witnessing someone being murdered in a nightmare equate to salvation? I wonder to myself.

Noah must have seen the look on my face because he chuckles before he explains. "You saw the person being killed, yet you do not know them, and the two killers chased you, right?"

I nod my head.

"Then that tells me that you have not met those people yet, which is impossible because your mind cannot make up faces. Every face you dream of is one that you would have seen throughout the day, at some point. Therefore, there are two possibilities: one, that you have met them but forgot, or two, that you are going to meet them."

"But you just said that it is impossible." I remind him.

Noah nods his head, "But there are many things out there that we cannot explain. One being how this village's owner sounds similar to the man in your nightmare being killed, yet you have never seen him. None of us has. And the other two you described, I am sure that we would have remembered had we seen them, afterall the second man totally sounds like my type, so there is no way I would have forgotten a specimen like him." Noah smirks at me.

I shake my head, a smile creeping onto my face.

"THERE IT IS! There is the famous Lyra Smile." Noah says over the top, pointing and smiling widely at me.

"So, what do you think it is? A warning or a salvation?" I ask, taking a sip of the coffee.

Noah takes a sip of his coffee before answering. "Potentially both. Maybe there is danger coming, but with the right person or people, you will survive it. Then again, it might just be a nightmare that means nothing other than you are exhausted and need a good night's sleep."

Noah smiles reassuringly at me, yet I cannot dispel the feeling of unease that has been within me since waking from the nightmare this morning.

After a few more hours and cups of coffee, the light has gone outside, and the wind is banging against the windows.

"I think it is time for me to head home. Thank you for today. I really appreciate." I say to him.

"Anytime, honey," Noah replies, smiling at me before his phone pings.

I grab my coat and head towards the door, but notice a slight shift in Noah's' presence as he jumps up from his chair and follows me quickly to the door.

"Stay here for the night, after all, there have been a lot of attacks in this village at night lately," Noah says, stepping in front of the door.

"I don't want to intrude," I say, pausing while putting on my coat to turn to him.

"You are not, plus I have a bad feeling for some reason. Please, Lyra, just stay here tonight."

I look at Noah, and for the first time, I see real fear in his eyes. I slowly nod my head and take my coat back off.

"Okay," I say, letting Noah walk me to the guest room.

"Thank you, sleep well." He says, closing the door behind me as the darkness feels both welcoming and cold at the same time.

I stand by the door for a while, looking at the moon outside the window. There is something always so calming about the moon; no matter where I am or what I am going through, I always look up at the moon and feel at ease.

I turn to the bed and climb into it after washing my face and getting changed into some pyjamas that Noah had brought through for me while I was standing and staring at the moon.

I quickly fall asleep as soon as my head hits the cool and fluffy pillow, once again consumed with the nightmare from the night before.