by Alexis Davie
But the psycho wouldn’t. Thinking about it now, Mia realized she didn’t know Aaron at all, she never had. He could have turned into a wolf that day and just ripped her to shreds. There was still hope in him for them. That was the only reason he hadn’t killed her back then.
Even though he had appeared to be completely broken, she knew now that he had just been doing that for show. He’d really thought that she would get over it and take him back. When she didn’t, he had begun to spiral off the deep end.
Mia laid back down on the bed and closed her eyes. According to the clock on the nightstand, it was still only four in the morning, and she really needed some extra sleep after all the physical activity of the previous day. As she drifted back to sleep, she was startled by a strange sound.
It was a creaking noise, immediately followed by the sound of breathing. The only breathing she had heard was Jack’s and her own in the dark bedroom. This one was neither. These thoughts processed through her mind in a fraction of a second. She quickly shot out of bed, bolting upright.
Mia flipped the lamp on the nightstand on, and she was instantly frozen with horror.
Standing at the foot of the bed was Aaron, holding a gun. His face was unshaven, his eyes were wide and unfocused, his body was shaking slightly, and his brow was furrowed. He looked… confused—crazed, like a cornered animal ready to fight back at any moment.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said.
Jack woke up immediately. He leapt to his feet but froze the moment he laid eyes on the gun Aaron was now pointing directly at him. Mia felt her insides coming apart with fear. She wanted to vomit, scream, and run all at once. But she didn’t dare move. The psycho had a gun pointed at the man she loved.
All doubts she’d had about loving or being in love with Jack were gone from her mind. In that precise moment, seeing Aaron pointing a gun at him, she was sure. She wanted to protect him the same way he had protected her, even if it meant having to take his place in front of the weapon.
“What are you doing?” Jack demanded.
Aaron laughed. “Oh, I was out for a stroll and thought I’d pop in to chat.” He raised the gun higher, aiming it at Jack’s head. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Please don’t!” Mia pleaded.
Aaron turned to her, glaring. “Don’t what? Don’t destroy the man who thinks he can take my woman?” Then he turned to Jack and shouted, “She is my mate!”
“You don’t need to do this,” Mia said. “This isn’t right!”
“Do you think I care about right and wrong anymore?” Aaron cried. “You destroyed me! The both of you have taken all I have to live for away from me, so I’m going to take all you have to live for away from you. That seems logical to me.”
“What’s wrong, Aaron? You know you can’t take me in a fair fight? You have to use a gun?” Jack taunted.
Mia gasped. What was he doing?
“Jack,” she murmured, “don’t…”
Aaron chuckled. “Well, being alpha has its perks, right? Maybe I could take you, but maybe I couldn’t.” He gestured to the gun in his hand. “The silver bullets in this gun will damn sure take you out with minimal effort, though.”
“Wow, silver,” Jack said, and Mia wondered if he had a plan to stop Aaron. Why was he still taunting him? “Sounds like you came prepared. I’m surprised you were able to think of that through your drunken stupor.”
“Don’t test me!” Aaron yelled.
“Test you? You came here to kill me. I say you do it. Just get on with it!”
“Nah,” he said. “I think I’ll let you and Mia squirm for a bit.”
“Why are you doing this?” Mia screamed. “Why can’t you just accept that you are not who I want to be with?”
“Because I love you!” Aaron shouted. “You love me! You are mine!”
“No, I don’t!” Mia replied, shaking her head. “I don’t love you, Aaron, I love Jack!”
Jack locked eyes with her, and by the serene way he smiled in their desperate situation, she knew he felt the same way.
Aaron’s eyes widened in shock. He paused for a moment, and he looked down at the ground as if he were considering his options. Mia braced herself for what he was about to do. She thought about lunging at the weapon, but there was no way she’d be fast enough. Jack was an alpha wolf, and even he hadn’t tried to take the gun away from Aaron yet.
“Well, then,” Aaron said, his voice strangely calm after how desperately he had been screaming just a few moments before. “That just makes this so much easier.”
He pointed the gun at Jack’s head again. Then he pulled the trigger.
Time stood still for Mia as she waited for the gun blast that would surely end Jack’s life. How had this happened? Wasn’t there anything that could be done? Was she about to watch the man she loved die in front of her?
But the blast never came. In its place was a soft metallic click.
Aaron glared at the gun as he continued to pull the trigger. The gun, however, wasn’t responding. He quickly shook the weapon, as though the bullets were simply stuck, and tried again.
Mia looked over at Jack in disbelief, tears of relief stinging her eyes, just in time to see him transform into a wolf, leaping at Aaron in the blink of an eye. Aaron’s body crashed into the wall across the room. Jack didn’t give him any time to respond, or even take a breath.
Jack was on him in a second, punching, biting, clawing, ripping, and slamming the other wolf’s body against the floor and the ceiling. Hell was being unleashed upon Aaron, who tried in desperation to fight back. His efforts were futile, though, as Jack threw him across the room, where he slammed into the opposite wall.
A moment later, Jack jumped on Aaron’s back, grabbed him by the neck, and jerked.
Mia winced as she heard the crack of Aaron’s neck. He collapsed onto the ground, his body slumping against the wall.
Jack was breathing heavily, gasping for air.
“He’s gone,” he said slowly, walking over to Mia.
She fell into his arms and allowed her tears to fall down her cheeks. It was over. Finally, it was all over.
9
This is it. Don’t panic. You know what to do.
Mia smiled and started to walk as the music began to play. It was surreal. Everyone in the church was all dressed up and staring at her as she made her way down the aisle. She’d never been the focal point of anything like this, but now she was. All eyes were on her. Even though this was her special day and everyone was here to celebrate her union with Jack, it was still nerve-wracking, but in a beautiful way.
She had to keep it together and remember that everything was going to be perfect. It was perfect because that beautiful, caring, wonderful man who had chosen to spend his life with her was right at the end of the aisle, waiting for her to come to him. He was the only thing that mattered—not the flowers, not the beautifully decorated cake, and not the thousands of dollars that had gone into the wedding.
Jack looked striking in his black tuxedo, standing in front of the minister. He had the sweetest look on his face, with soft eyes and a half-smile spread across his lips. His eyes were filled with love and happiness.
Mia reached the end of the aisle and took her place next to Jack. Her heart skipped a beat—she had never been so happy.
Mia had dreamt of her wedding day since she was a child, and everything had gone just the way she’d imagined. Jack had told her that money was no object, and every time she’d try to cut corners, Jack would smile and talk her into getting exactly what she wanted. The man was going to spoil her rotten, and Mia was not one to complain.
* * *
The next morning, Mia and Jack boarded their international flight to France for their honeymoon. Jack had let Mia pick the destination, and she couldn’t imagine a more romantic place than Paris, the city of love.
That night was going to be extra special, and Mia was both nervous and excited.
After a wonderful dinner, the newl
yweds headed back to their hotel room. Neither one of them spoke as they contemplated what was about to take place.
Jack closed the hotel room door behind them and locked it before slowly sliding the straps of Mia’s dress down her shoulders. Her dress fell and pooled at her feet, allowing her to step out of it.
As she stood in only a pair of red stilettos and red lace panties, Jack’s eyes traveled from her face to her chest, down to her abdomen, and finally to her legs, taking in every inch of her.
Mia stepped towards Jack and unbuttoned his shirt. Then she helped him to remove his pants and boxers in one quick motion. His hard body was warm and inviting, and she couldn’t wait to feel his hot skin pressed up against hers.
But first, they had something else they needed to do.
“Are you sure?” Jack asked as he gently stroked the side of her face with his hand.
Mia swallowed. “Yes. I’m definitely sure.”
“You can’t take it back once it’s done,” he reminded her.
“I know. I want it,” Mia replied.
Jack leaned forward to kiss her, and he laid her down on the bed while he climbed partially on top of her, his lips still pressing against hers. He worked his kisses from her mouth over to her neck and then onto her shoulder, where his mouth lingered for a moment.
He kissed her shoulder sweetly, lovingly. Then he took a breath, opened his mouth, and bit deeply into her flesh.
Mia gasped with the pain, though it only hurt for a second. After that, she didn’t feel anything except his fangs moving inside the wound, but the pain she expected was just not there. Instead, an overwhelming peace came over her, and she was able to breathe and relax into it.
Jack had just given her a gift. He had always referred to it as a curse, but in that moment, for Mia, it was a gift. She would be like him—she could better understand his wants and needs, and live a longer life in her youthful body alongside her husband.
When the next full moon after Aaron had bitten her came and went without the change coming over her, Mia and Jack had both breathed a sigh of relief. Jack had explained that her dream regarding her relationship with Aaron might have come from him biting her, but the wound had not been deep enough to make her a werewolf.
As time went on, Mia found herself regretting that the bite hadn’t been enough, that she would not be a wolf like Jack. It meant that she would die one day, and yet Jack would continue living. He would watch her grow old while he slowly aged.
After Jack had proposed to her, Mia had made up her mind, realizing that she wanted to be with him forever. It took some convincing. At first, Jack refused. He did not want anyone burdened by the secret he’d had to struggle with his whole life.
But she had finally made him realize that it was her decision to accept the change, and she never wanted to leave his side.
As Jack pulled away from her, she saw a smile on his face. Mia looked at the wound he’d just made on her shoulder. She expected to see blood pouring out of it, but to her amazement, her skin healed within seconds.
Mia kissed Jack softly on the lips, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you,” he replied.
“You’d better, because you can’t get rid of me now,” Mia joked.
Jack kissed her once again. “You’re the only thing I want in this life.”
She pressed her lips to his, grinning into the kiss. At last, Mia was exactly where she was meant to be.
* * *
The End
The Dream
1
There they were again: the glowing red eyes amongst the darkness surrounding Penelope, the only light in the seemingly never-ending abyss. Penelope crawled back, just as she always did when she saw those glowing red eyes—she had only tried approaching them once before, thinking that they would be her way out of the surrounding blackness, and she had quickly learned that getting away from them had to be her priority.
A few seconds later, she heard the growling, and in the blink of an eye, the giant wolf had already materialized in front of her. It stalked towards Penelope. Its lips were curled in a snarl; its fangs showing the size of its terrifying maw, big enough to swallow her whole if it so desired.
Two other wolves showed up soon afterward, following the giant wolf as though it were communicating with them, like they could hear the gargantuan beast call out commands to them and they were simply obeying its orders. They were all growling viciously, their snarls echoing in the infinite darkness in which Penelope found herself. Blood was dripping from their fangs, as they slowly closed the distance she had managed to put between herself and the horrifying animals.
And there was nothing Penelope could do about it.
She tried calling for help. She tried to keep crawling back. She tried to find some sort of weapon she could use to defend herself, but she was absolutely paralyzed. The glowing red eyes of the giant beast were still on her, almost as if those eyes were the ones keeping her in place, the ones preventing Penelope from moving even an inch.
The three wolves lunged at her, and a scream tore its way out of her throat.
Just before the wolves reached her and ripped her to pieces, Penelope jolted awake with a cry that seemed to echo throughout her room.
Her room. Her bedroom. She was in her bedroom.
The four blue walls she was so familiar with stared back at her through the blackness of the night, and she was able to barely make out the shapes of the posters and pictures she’d duct-taped onto them in the early months of her twenties. She could see the bedside table and her alarm clock and phone on it, the latter still connected to its charger. The window was covered with bits of frost, even though the weather forecast had said it wouldn’t start snowing until next week. Penelope’s French bulldog, Rex, was sleeping on the edge of the bed, curled up in a ball and peacefully snoring away on top of her duvet.
“Oh, my god,” Penelope silently moaned to herself, pulling her legs to her chest so that she could wrap her arms around them and rest her forehead on her knees. “Oh, my god.”
It had all just been a bad dream, nothing more than a nightmare to make her insomnia even worse.
And I’d been doing so well! Penelope chided herself. One of her co-workers had given her some tea to help her deal with her insomnia, and she had been having less and less trouble falling asleep every night. For some time now, Penelope had thought she’d gotten over it; she had thought her mind had decided to finally stop messing with her. Alas, it seemed she had been wrong.
And that nightmare, she remembered. It looked… it looked so REAL.
Then again, that nightmare in particular always had.
She didn’t know why she’d had it again tonight, and quite honestly, she didn’t want to find out. She wasn’t in the mood to spend the next hours questioning the inner workings of her brain, especially because she had a double shift at the coffee shop tomorrow. Or later today, if the display on her bedside clock, which read 4:52 a.m., was actually right.
Rex was suddenly awake, stretching and yawning before he sat down to scratch his ear. Then he walked up the bed until he had reached Penelope and headbutted her knees. Penelope smiled at him, reaching out her hand to scratch his chin. It was almost as though Rex had sensed her anxiety and wanted to give her some comfort and reassurance. At least, Penelope felt like she could breathe a little easier now that she had Rex beside her.
“I’d better make a cup of that miracle tea Alana gave me,” she said out loud, as if she could convince her mind to shut down and let her rest by stating what she planned on doing next. “Maybe that’ll help me go back to sleep.”
Penelope reluctantly forced herself to get out of bed. The last thing she wanted was to go to the kitchen and make herself a cup of tea—especially with how cold her entire house felt. However, she knew that if she just stayed in bed and closed her eyes, images of her nightmare would flash before her, rendering any attempt at
going back to sleep completely useless. She hoped that at least having a cup of tea would calm her down long enough to rest for a couple of hours before she had to go to work.
Rex followed her into the kitchen, trailing behind her. Then he lay down onto the bed Penelope had gotten for him when he was just a puppy—which he usually ignored in favor of sleeping on Penelope’s bed with her and which was much too small for him now anyway—while Penelope took out a kettle from one of the cupboards and filled it with water to boil.
As she waited for the whistle of the kettle, she sat down at one of the chairs of her tiny kitchen table, and despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stop thinking about her dream with those wolves. It wasn’t the first time she’d had that exact same nightmare, but it felt as though the beasts kept getting closer and closer to her each time she did.
She wondered if, one of these days, she wouldn’t be able to wake up on time.
Penelope shook her head to herself. Her life wasn’t one of those movies or video games where, if you died in a dream, you also died in real life. So what if the wolves managed to get her in her next nightmare? Plenty of people had dreams in which they died, and Penelope was almost sure that they were still alive and well.
But it’s not the same, Penelope thought. At least, I don’t think that all those people who dream about dying can tell the future through their dreams.
Rex’s barking brought Penelope back to reality, and she turned to the stove to see the boiling water overflowing the kettle. As carefully as she could, and using some oven mittens, she cleaned up the mess she had caused and then removed the kettle from the stove, gently pouring the water in her favorite cup before she reached into another kitchen cabinet to get the “miraculous tea” Alana had given her. It was just regular chamomile tea, but this particular brand had helped Penelope with her insomnia like no other tea had before, and so she and Alana liked to joke that it was some sort of magical beverage.