Alpha Princes Hidden Mate

8- Nightmares

Arin woke up with a start to find herself inside a dark cold room covered in sweat. Though the room was the one she fell asleep in along with Eros, it did not feel like it. She looked beside her to gain the attention of Eros only to find no one sleeping besides her. She was confused and scared. It felt like the dungeon all over again.

She was about to call out for Eros when a deep rumbling laughter made her hitch a breath.

"Oh princess, are you looking for your savior? " the creepy voice said just beside her ear. 

"He is not going to come save you this time" the voice said in her other ear.

"Did you think he would take care of the likes of you, A PATHETIC WEAK LITTLE HUMAN?" the voice screamed behind her and then the maniacal laugh started again.

She tried to block the voice with her hands but to no avail.

Her breathing was getting ragged with each passing moment as the room kept getting darker and darker. Slowly the room started spinning and she shut her eyes close trying to keep the scary thoughts out of her mind. Few minutes later when she could not hear any sound, she slowly opened her eyes to find herself back in the dark gruesome cell.

"Welcome back, doll. Did you miss me" a man said suddenly coming in front of her, making her cry out loud in fear.

A loud cry woke up Eros and others inside the cottage. Eros quickly turned around to watch his mate convulsing and whimpering in her sleep besides him. 

"Wake up little one, it is just a bad dream, just a bad dream. " 

When Eros saw that she was not about to wake up from the hell she was trapped in, he shook her a little while caressing her head. The proximity made Arin relax a bit and she abruptly stood up from her sleep.

"Easy there little one, easy" Eros immediately caught a hold of her trembling figure and cocooned her in his warm embrace.

It's okay, I am here." Eros said, stroking her head and back to help her relax. He did not know why he was doing all this or why he felt the need to protect tis human girl but all in all it felt so right to held her this close.

"Shh......." he said as he heard her whimper again.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"The Master.......he came.....he always finds me, he will come for me, he will...." Arin said in a small voice, feeling safe in his embrace.

"Nobody will take you away, Arin, he can't claim or take you back. You are mine now little one, I will keep you safe" Eros tried to console the now sobbing girl.

Andrew, Beta and Gamma supreme were all standing at the door looking at the duo. They were in agreement with Eros that they would not let anything happen to Arin. They did not know how it happened but their wolves got attached to the little human. It had only been a few weeks since the auction, since the day they bought her and brought her here, but she became one of them now, something never heard before.

The first of those weeks were the first for all of them. It took them time to make Arin realize that she was not a slave, she was not there to pleasure them or do household work.

It was the day after the auction when Eros woke up to the sound of  water running in the bathroom. Sun was filtering in the room through windows as curtains were pulled apart. He looked  towards the bed to find it already made up. his thoughts went to last night when he had a hard time convincing Arin to take the bed while he took the couch.

He assumed Arin was taking a bath when the bathroom door opened. Although Eros was not at all prepared for the view of Arin walking out in just her undergarment that she wore at the auction. The filthy garments did not do anything to hide her from his eyes. 

A lowly growl left his mouth which Arin took as the sign of disapproval and quickly kneeled before him. 

"I am sorry master..... I have...prepared the bath for you and......will help you wash..... I...." Arin didn't know what to say more, in fact she got more terrified as realized she had spoken out without permission. She started to whimper expecting a thrashing from her new master.

Eros sighed listening to the whimpers emitted by the girl.

"Why would you scare her like that be gentle with her you imbecile"  said Amarok shaking his head at his stupid human.

"Don't blame this on me you horny perverted wolf" Eros replied irritated at this whole incident and that too, so early  in the morning.

"Stop talking and go to mate" 

Eros slowly stood up but as soon as he took a step forward, Arin scrambled back till her back hit the wall.

"I am sorry... I am sorry... I am sorry" she kept on repeating while saying this.

Though Eros was still skeptical to accept her as his mate, he still did not want an innocent to suffer. He quickly left the room and came back with a robe and a glass of water. He put the rob around the trembling figure and felt her go stiff under his touch. He ignored that and tried to talk to her as softly as he could.

"There is nothing to be sorry about, little one. You did nothing wrong. You just, what you were wearing"

"You don't want me to wear clothes?" though asked in a timid voice, Eros could detect a hint of defiance behind them.

He had to force himself not to smile at her.

So, you are not an entirely broken little one. You have spirit and fire, they are just buried inside you, thought Eros.

"No, that is not what I mean. I meant that you are not a slave here. You will wear whatever you want but just cover yourself properly. We brought you some appropriate clothes. See if you like them?"

"I can wear whatever I want?" Arin asked for a little courage to speak more firmly.

"Yes" Eros replied while pushing the glass of water forward towards Arin.

She took the glass suspiciously from Eros and took a few sips before putting the glass down.

"I am not your slave even though you paid a huge amount to buy me?"

"No you are not a slave and that amount, well you can say that it was just a small part of  us saying sorry and making up to you for taking you away from your family."

"So I can go back to Mimi and Sophy and you won't hurt them?"

"Well, I don't know who they are but if they are your family, you can surely go back to them and I will keep them safe too."

"Really?"

"Really"

"You are too nice today. You weren't this nice yesterday." she said under her breath but Eros heard it clearly with his wolf senses which made him laugh out loud.

Hearing him laugh caused Arin's heart to skip a beat. She liked to hear him laugh, he looked more handsome, more welcoming and his laugh made her  join in too. This thought made her giggle a little.

Hearing the soft melodious giggle, Eros immediately froze and looked at the angelic face of his mate.

" Sorry " Arin quickly apologized. " I didn't mean to giggle, it just happened. I swear. "

Eros snapped out hearing her apologizing again.

" It was a melodious sound, little one. Don't apologize for being happy and matter of fact you should do it more. You looked more beautiful. " 

Arin blushed, her cheeks getting a faint red tint hearing Eros' words.

" So will you try not to say sorry and do things you were taught in that dungeon? " Last word was growled out by Eros. He always gets angry when he remembers that wretched place.

" I will try "

" And that is enough for now. Now freshen up and come downstairs for breakfast "

From that day, Arin did try to act as she was before she was taken by the rogues but it was difficult to go back. She was jumpy at every loud voice and sudden movements though the other four werewolves did try to help her as much as they could. Another problem was her constant nightmares, their intensity kept on increasing day by day and one time she clung to Eros.

Eros was sleeping a little uncomfortably on the couch which was too small for his large bulky figure when he heard some whimpers. First he thought he imagined it but soon those whimpers turned into screams causing his betas and gamma to come crashing at his door.

The sudden movement woke Arin up. She was hyperventilating and was on verge of having a panic attack. Eros rushed towards her and took her hands in his.

" Deep breath Arin, take deep breath. Everything is okay, it was just a bad dream. Take deep breaths, little one "

Eros could clearly see that his words were not having any effect this time. So he did the only thing he could think of at that time. He quickly took her in arms, pulling her close to his chest, to let his heart beat sooth her. Tingles were flying wherever their bare skin touched but he could no longer concentrate on them as his sole attention was on making his mate calm down.

His wolf also came out to watch through Eros' eyes as he was also worried as well as to provide extra warmth to their mate.

" Breathe with me Arin. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. "

Eros guided Arin through the entire process, calming his own racing heart to a soothing pace for her till she was calm enough. Eros tried to pull away but Arin clung on to the warmth and safety he was providing.

" Please stay. Please. Don't leave me too. He would come to get me. Please. " 

Her whimper and please were enough for Eros to melt and hold her tight to him. That night, for the first time in his life Eros shared the bed with another person just to hold them and sleep. The one night turned to two, then to a week and slowly it became usual for them to sleep in the same bed as according to Arin, Eros tended to chase away her nightmares enough for her to get some decent sleep.

Now just Eros needed to understand where he stood as his feelings for the little human were going out of his hands and his mind was telling him to pull away fast. 

However Eros did felt that nothing was in his hands anymore, only time as well as fate could tell.