HIS FORBIDDEN LITTLE WOLF

Chapter seven

Annie

I froze for a minute, listening to what I knew was happening next door. It didn’t slam a second time, and I knew what it meant. Lena did too, because she looked at me with sympathy in her eyes.

Sympathy that I loathed.

“Annie…”

“No, Lena,” I sighed, moving away from the door. “It’s fine. It’s just like you said. He’s not mine. I have no right to…”

“I never said that,” Lena muttered. “Okay, I did, but you know how important it is that you understand it. Daemon is… he can never be…”

“I know.” I moved towards my bed, even if I was still fully dressed. “I’m exhausted, Lena. I’d love to go to bed.”

She regarded me like she was about to say something else, but perhaps the look in my eyes stopped her. Lena nodded once, stepping out of my new room and blowing the candle on her way out.

Tears burned the corners of my eyes, but I couldn’t let it drop. Instead, I buried myself deeper underneath the quilt, wide awake, waiting.

I knew Daemon wouldn’t come back tonight. A huge part of me believed that. Yet, I still waited, my ears trained to the sound of his footsteps in the hallway, to the grunt that echoed in the walls when he tried to push his door open.

To the soft breath that washed through my door before his soft knock.

Those didn’t happen.

But something else did.

I was asleep. This time, I was certain of it. I was no longer in the pack house. I stood at the edge of what looked like a deserted town, staring at the dying plants. Something kept pushing my limbs forward.

I tried to fight it hard, pressing my feet to the ground. Yet, nothing I did could stop my body from moving forward. Twigs snapped underneath my shoes the further I got. I saw the embers of flame flickering from the back of a building.

I was wrong. It wasn’t deserted.

And in that split second, I heard it – a sharp scream echoing through the space. I stopped at once, my head darting around. I still could see nothing.

I followed the sound of the scream, past the house with the smoke, until I arrived at a clearing. My mouth hung wide open when it stretched out before me. The sound of hooves hitting the hard earth, the cries of wounded people, the smell of seeping blood.

I was yelling. I didn’t know it until I felt my throat dry up, with nothing else to produce. It hurt so bad that my eyes watered, so bad that I dropped to my knees, my hands clawing at my throat.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a woman racing towards me. For a moment, I forgot all the pain that clouded my being. Instead, every inch of me focused on her.

Her eyes were wide with panic, and she had one hand stretched out to me, even if she was still in the middle of the clearing. My lips fell open when I took in her features. Long ginger hair, green eyes, pale skin, just like me.

Too much like me.

She was close now, her lips moving, but no words coming out. I stared hard against the loud noise in the clearing, reading her lips.

“ANNIE.”

She knew my name. She was calling me.

“RUN.”

Maybe it was the urgency in her tone, or the way she looked at me like something bad would happen if I didn’t move, I got up with the speed of lightning, bolting away. There were heavy footsteps behind me, and fear crept up my spine the closer they got.

I heard it before I felt it. The loud swosh in the air, before hands connected with me. A scream from my gut escaped my lips as the pain shot from my arm straight to my legs. I was falling, and I could do nothing about it.

The ground shook underneath me suddenly, and everyone around me started shaking as well, falling to the ground. I tried to hold on to something, but there was only air all around me.

I heard something clang to the ground in the distance. Something that sounded like metal. Or tin.

And the thought came to me. “So, this was my great end. No one would be able to find my body. Daemon… would he mourn me?”

“Annie!... Annie! f**k! Annie!”

The voice sounded too far away. I tried to reach it. I tried hard. Firm hands touched my skin underneath my neck, shaking me repeatedly.

“Annie, wake up! Can you hear me?”

My eyes shot open in another second, and I jerked out of bed, taking in my surroundings. It was dark, but the smell was familiar. The rose rose from the vase.

I was in my room.

“Annie?”

When I turned to my side, I met Daemon sitting next to me on my bed. He stood out in the dark, his chest bare and dark pants hanging on his hips.

“Daemon,” I cried, running into his arms. “I was so scared, Daemon. I was so scared.”

“I’m here,” he murmured, pulling me even closer to him. “I’m here, Annie.”

He felt so warm, a sharp contrast from the terror that I felt only a few seconds ago. It had felt so real.

Nestled in his arms, I closed my eyes, letting Daemon rock me, letting his soothing words travel through every inch of my body.

He got up after a few minutes, the bed moving with him. I pulled away from him for a fraction, regarding him from underneath my lashes.

“Don’t leave me,” I whispered. “Please, Daemon.”

Something pinched between his brows, and I was so certain he was going to ignore me again. But he grabbed the sheets from atop me and nudged at me to scoot over.

I held my breath as Daemon lay down next to me, pulling me into his arms. But the next time I opened my eyes, the space beside me was empty.

Daemon was gone.