Nightmares of the Alpha

SIX

Aria’s POV

You. Are. Mine. He growled into my mouth before crashing his lips on to mine and finding my tongue with his own. My arms intertwined around his neck and my legs tightened their grip on his waist, pulling him closer than I’ve ever been to another human being. Something was building inside of me; a fire, a need. A mighty growl rumbled in his chest and vibrated against my opened mouth. My lips were dripping with our shared spit. When I brushed them against his neck to dry them off, all I saw was red.

He pulled away from me then, smirking as he had in the coffee shop, and his mouth was smeared with blood. More gory mess dripped from the sides of his luscious lips. Suddenly I could sense the metallic taste of blood gathering in my own mouth, pouring out in liters past my teeth. His eyes flashed black and he laughed darkly, leaning down for another kiss.

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I woke up tangled in the sheets with a sick feeling in my stomach. That... that was... ugh, what was that? Besides all that blood at the end, it definitely was the best nightmare I’d ever had. As disgusted as I felt when I woke from the shock of that gory kiss, my body was still tingling, my undies slick with my arousal. I hummed softly to myself, running my hand across my belly. I would have to see Seth again.

My nightmares were always creepy and disgusting. At least now that he showed up the endings have been getting much better. My face flushed as I remembered the ending of this particular nightmare. I closed my eyes, trailing my fingers down past the waistband of my pajama pants and visualized my body pressed against his, the boat rocking beneath us.

My plans were soured when the sound of my alarm rang out into the semi darkness. I groaned, rolling over on my side and squinted at the soft light starting to come through the window. Well, there’s another difference. I can’t remember the last time I was able to sleep through the whole night. It’s been years. Since before my parents died, before the nightmares started. This Seth character was definitely going to have to stick around... for more reasons than one. I pressed my thighs together and chuckled to myself. “Maybe we‘ll just have to finish this in person,” I whispered, half joking. I’d never even kissed a boy before. Heck, I’d never even held hands! Here I was planning on sexy time with a stranger... these nightmares were really starting to mess with my brain. I was beginning to sound like Jess!

Wait... Jess! She was still downstairs! “s**t, s**t, s**t!” I exclaimed as I practically fell out of bed and starting hopping around the room frantically grabbing my clothes from yesterday and trying to get dressed and tie my hair at the same time. I almost fell over three times, and I knocked my elbow hard against the corner of my dresser, but I managed to be ready only two minutes after the alarm had sounded. It took a special talent to be so clumsy and efficient simultaneously, but what could I say? I had to get rid of Jess before the aunts woke up and found her there! For some reason, they’d never approved of my best friend and they certainly wouldn’t be happy about her spending the night in their precious cafe alone.

I raced down the stairs, already smelling that first pot of coffee brewing, fingers crossed that somehow my lazy friend managed to get up before the sun and get out without being detected. When I pushed open the door to the Stitches Brew, it seemed like my wish had come true. “Hallelujah,” I whispered, lifting my hands to the sky as I made my way behind the counter to get some coffee. I whistled as I poured, a huge smile on my face. This day has barely started and it keeps getting better and better.

“Have a party last night, did you?” Aunt Eleanor sneered, lifting an empty bag of Doritos from the trash bin. I rolled my eyes, sighing, I guess I spoke too soon - I should have known I wouldn’t be able to get away with enjoying myself that easily. Not if my nutty aunts had anything to say about it.

“Not a party, no. Just a few snacks, it was my birthday. 18. It’s a pretty special number, you know. I just wanted to...” Before I could finish my rambling answer, I was interrupted by a shrill voice calling out from the back room. My aunt Teresa.

“I hope you didn’t stash that little hussy friend of yours up in your room again. You know how we feel about her!” Unreal. Still, neither of them acknowledge my birthday. Only worried about themselves, as usual! Wait.. how did she know Jess had been here?

“First of all, her name is Jessica,” I retorted. 

“Sure it is, dear,” Aunt Teresa countered impatiently. What was that even supposed to mean? Shaking my head in disbelief at how utterly out of touch they were, I continued. 

“Second of all, why on earth would you think Jess was up in my room? And for the millionth time, she’s NOT a hussy!” I spat back, annoyed at how they were always accusing me of stuff when I tried my best to follow all of their ridiculous rules.

“Watch your tone with us, young lady!” Aunt Eleanor stuck her pointer finger square in the middle of my chest as she spoke. “Unless you’ve forgotten who has taken care of you for the last fifteen years after your dirt bag parents offed themselves with drugs! We SAVED you from sharing their fate and this is the thanks we get?!” She bellowed right into my face, punctuating her rant with a poke of her finger into my chest at each word, getting harder every time.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” I answered softly, my eyes filling with tears at the mention of my parents. “I was just confused about why you thought Jess was upstairs, is all.”

“Well, obviously because her car is sitting right outside our doorway, dear,” Aunt Teresa said as she appeared from the back, wiping her hands on a dish rag.

“What?!” I exclaimed more to myself than either of them. I ran to the front door and peered outside. Sure enough, her car was there. Something was wrong. She should have been here, asleep right over there in the knitting corner. Where would she have gone before sunrise? And without her car no less?! My head snapped to where she had been snoring earlier and I caught a glimpse of a smile dancing on Aunt Eleanor’s usually stern face. She probably thinks she caught me in a lie. I swear, that woman only takes pleasure in watching me suffer. I’m sure she was making a mental list right now of all of the most dreadful punishments she could conjure up in her sick, demented imagination.

“Look, she was here. She’s the one who brought all those snacks, ok? But I left her sleeping right there. I was going to get rid of her before you guys came down, but I overslept. I’m sorry.” Heat crept through my insides and brought a warm glow to my cheeks at the reminder of where my nightmares had brought me, why I hadn’t been able to avoid this mess. Pressing my thighs together once more to relieve the growing tingle, I was glad this blush could be mistaken for my guilt and embarrassment.

“That’s certainly strange, dear. There’s no sign of her here. Are you sure you’re not hiding anything else?” Aunt Teresa quirked an over plucked and drawn on brow in my direction.

“Positive,” I huffed. “She knows she’s not your favorite. Maybe she went to sleep in her car, so I wouldn’t get in trouble.” Re-energized with hope that this would turn out to be a good day after all, I unlocked the front door and burst out on to the sidewalk. What I saw made my blood run cold and stopped me dead in my tracks, frozen in place with one foot still lifted.

I was standing in a giant puddle, but it wasn’t just rain water. It was thick and deep burgundy and already soaking into the canvas of my sneakers. This was blood.

My aunts were calling for me from inside. Hassling. Wondering why I was stopped. Asking where in the world that Jessica was. My mouth opened to answer, but only a guttural scream came out. My whole body was shaking and suddenly I was flashing back to last night. In my nightmare, there was so much blood pouring from my mouth, from his mouth. Was there more to what I was dreaming than just nightmares? Could I be having premonitions?

“Not possible...” I whispered to myself as I nervously fingered the business card that was still in my back pocket.

This time, when I thought of Seth and that kiss we shared in my dream, my stomach didn’t fill with butterflies. It flipped in dread. Something bad was going on. Something really bad. I was starting to get a creepy feeling that it had something to do with my nightmares... And that Seth was part of it. Maybe even the cause of it.

“Well, hello again...” A chill shook my entire body as I looked up to see him standing smack dab in the middle of the puddle... Jessica’s puddle?!... smirking down at me with those cold gray eyes.