The Mysterious Dream
1138 Words
Nineteen years later…
The cool breeze drifted through the open castle window, making the curtains sway gently. The full moon shone brightly in the sky, casting its silver light over the castle and the forest beyond. Far below, tiny lights from the village illuminated the dark.
At the window, a young man stood with his arms behind his back, staring into the distance. He remained still for a long moment, lost in his own thoughts.
A soft sigh escaped his lips. He slowly turned away from the view, his gaze falling on a red knitted bracelet lying on his bed. His eyes lingered on it for only a second before a soft knock broke the silence.
“Come in,” he said, his voice calm and steady.
The door cracked open, and another young man stepped in. He wore a black leather vest that hugged his broad shoulders beneath a dark cloak marked with the symbol of the Beta bloodline. A dagger hung at his waist.
“Alpha Prince Kiel,” he called out, bowing slightly.
Kiel looked away from the bracelet.
“Not the right time to tease me, Ronan.”
He moved from the window, walking over to sit on the edge of his mattress.
“Don't tell me you had the same dream again.”
Ronan furrowed his brow as he sat next to Kiel, his eyes settling on the red bracelet on the sheets.
Silence stretched between them.
“You've been having this dream for fifteen years now,” Ronan pressed gently. “Could that little girl you see be your mate?”
Kiel looked down, his hands resting at his sides as the memory washed over him.
In his mind's eye, her gentle, silver-blue eyes surfaced—eyes enough to soothe a broken soul, shimmering like moonlight across still water. She always wore a flowing silver-blue gown that brushed the floor with every step, its fitted bodice embroidered with delicate silver threads. Translucent sleeves draped gracefully over her arms, and her long silver hair was plaited into intricate braids, framing a face as calm as the night sky. On her chest, a crescent moon pendant rested.
“A moon pendant,” Kiel muttered aloud, snapping back to reality.
“What about a moon pendant?” Ronan asked.
Kiel blinked twice, clearing the vision from his head.
“She does not look like any other werewolf. She has this... this look that I can't explain.” He paused, gripping the mattress. “If she were my mate, I am sure Kaelen would have recognized her. Even though I poke fun at him and call him Elen just to bruise his massive royal ego, he is still an Alpha wolf. His senses shouldn't be failing him like this.”
Ronan snorted, a smirk breaking across his face as he folded his arms across his chest.
“You still call him Elen? I'm surprised he hasn't locked you out of your own shifts out of sheer spite.”
“He threatens to,” Kiel admitted, a faint smile finally touching his lips before fading. “But jokes aside... I just don't know why the Moon Goddess keeps torturing us with this dream.”
Ronan dropped his arms and rested his weight on his palms.
“The Moon Goddess works in weird ways, Kiel. Maybe Elen isn't...”
Kiel's eyes flashed from blue to crimson red as his nails turned into claws, making Ronan jump to his feet with his hands raised in surrender.
“I am sorry. I meant Kaelen,” he said.
A soft groan filled the room before the claws disappeared, and his eyes returned to their ocean-blue color.
“Stop messing with my wolf, Ronan, or he might tear you to pieces,” Kiel said sarcastically.
Ronan rolled his eyes before sitting back down.
“So, as I was saying, maybe your wolf isn't reacting because she isn't a local wolf. If she is from a distant territory or a hidden pack, the bond might just be dormant until you're physically close to her.”
Kiel picked up the red knitted bracelet from the bed, letting the coarse threads slide between his fingers.
“It’s not just that he isn't reacting,” Kiel murmured, his brows knit as he looked at the token. “It's how he reacts. When I see her in the dream, Kaelen doesn't get restless. He doesn't claw at the surface to get to her like a wolf looking for his mate. He just... goes entirely quiet. It's like he's standing before a sacred altar. He almost bowed.” He shrugged.
Ronan blinked, genuinely surprised. An Alpha wolf bowing to anyone, even in a dream, was unheard of.
“Bows? To a girl in a silver gown?”
“Yeah,” Kiel sighed, tossing the bracelet back onto the mattress. “Like she's royalty. But...” He swallowed hard.
“There are no royal wolf bloodlines I don't know of, and I know every princess by name. None of them have silver hair and blue eyes.”
Ronan stood up. He walked over and patted Kiel firmly on the shoulder.
“Well, whoever she is, I can tell she is driving you crazy.”
Looking toward the window, he said, “Let's go. The midnight patrol is about to start, and Orion is already down on the training grounds.”
At the mention of Orion, Kiel shifted his attention to Ronan's face.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”
“No. I am just baffled by how you can call Orion by his name without fainting nowadays.”
“Tsk, tsk. Come on. Back then, he stomped on me because I was just nine and had yet to meet my wolf. Beta blood flows in me, and a Beta is never frightened by just anything.”
The corner of his lip lifted.
Kiel stood up from his bed.
“Says someone who almost met the Moon Goddess at an early age,” he scoffed, picking up his royal cloak and the dagger beside his bed.
“Hey! Call yourself lucky that you got to meet your wolf at five. Isn't that crazy?”
Ronan ran after Kiel, who was already walking out of the room.
Unlike normal werewolves, who met their wolves at eighteen, Kiel first sensed Kaelen when he was five. However, Kaelen didn't become active until he was eight. That was when the strange dreams began.
As the Beta's son, Ronan was supposed to stay close to Prince Orion, the firstborn. But after Orion had butchered him during one of his boring moments, and Kiel had fiercely defied his brother to save him before carrying him to the healers, Ronan and Kiel became more than prince and subordinate.
- Writer
