A Secret Alpha Mate

(1sla)

I need to wake up, I can't breathe. f**k I can’t breathe, why can't I wake up?

“Baby?” Jackson's arms were around me. Why did they feel so real?

This was a dream. This was a dream. It had to be a dream.

I open my eyes and see the soft gray light through the thick curtains.

it wasn't a dream. I was awake.

Babe, those are your memories

No 1 said both to Andraste and out loud.

“Isla, tell me what's wrong, you're shaking” He brushes hair out of my eyes and I realize it's damp, matted to my face, “You're okay," He pulls me towards him, “You scared me there, I couldn't get you to respond for a few minutes.”

Normally, his touch would soothe me, his scent would calm me down, but it felt like too much. I felt constricted. 1 felt hot Overwhelmed.

I moved my body out from his grip and scooted back. He looked hurt but I couldn't do anything but shake my head at hin tears leaking down my face. I opened my mouth to talk but nothing came out.

I remembered something, I had to check, the only way to know if this was real.

I shot out of bed and raced down the hall. I hesitated to touch the door. Reaching out and pulling my hand back. I didn’t know if it would be worse if it was still there or if everything was changed.

jackson was by my side and I stopped thinking and grabbed the handle and tried to push it open. It wouldn't budge.

“I need the door open, Jackson. I need to open the door” Why wasn't he moving, he looked scared, “Jackson! Open the door!” I shout, taking a few steps back clutching my stomach.

Jackson takes one step back and kicks the door open. The door shoots through the frame and years of dust is disturbed, making Jackson cough.

I peer around his tall frame and a sob gets stuck in my throat. My legs buckle out underneath me but Jackson catches me He looks more worried than I've ever seen him, “Isla? Please tell me what's wrong. What is it?"

I ried to talk but nothing was coming out. My stomach felt heavy, turned to lead. No words could get past the lump in my throat. Wide-eyed, I shook my head.

I tested my foot and stepped one step into the room, “Careful, there might be splinters” I didn't register what that meant A white bed with pink painted flowers sat under years of dust. The room untouched by time, preserved under dredge. I to my eyes away from the bed reluctantly, scared that if I took my eyes from it it would disappear.

The only validation that this was real. This was real wasn't it? Was it?

I looked back at Jackson, standing in the doorway, looking like I'd gone crazy.

Oh, was that was this was? Years of torment as an orphaned slave, only to be almost raped by rogues and found by my Alpha mate. Too much for any one person to handle, and I was only eighteen. Everyone said that I handled things well, bt didn't, I guess.

I snapped.

I took a short circle of the room, inhaling dust, so this was real. Unless I've slipped so far into delusion that it felt real. There was a bookshelf of my favorite books, a chair that was too big for a toddler, but the perfect size for my mom or dac to sit while I snuggled into their lap.

A dollhouse. My dollhouse. I walked over and touched it, it felt real. I took a deep breath before opening it. The scene wa: set just as my mommy and I had last played with it. The prince sleeping waiting for a princess to come save him, somethi that my dad insisted on.

The Queen and King sitting out at the little garden sharing afternoon tea with the Princess until she decided she could carve out some time to save the prince. I smiled, touching the little figures.

Dolls, stuffed animals, I couldn't look at the rest. I felt the overwhelming urge to cry but I didn't think I could.

What did this all mean? I knew what it meant but it couldn't be real. It couldn't be real. It couldn't f*****g be real.

“Isla. Please, you're scaring me. Tell me what's wrong and we can work through it," Jackson takes a hesitant step into the room, kicking up dust on the floor, dancing in the thin stream of light coming through the curtains that weren't fully shut “What is this place?” He looks around, scared to take another step.

I swallow the lump in my throat and try to speak, “T-th-t I take a deep breath but it's shaky, “This is my room." I get out at once.

jackson takes a step back looking over me.

Goddess, I did lose it, didn't I? But it felt so real. The memories, the dollhouse, the pink flowers painted on my new bed that my daddy just built for me. He could see it too, right?

“Isla.” He says. I put my hand up.

“I need to be alone.”

is"

Please.’ I beg, the weight of my emotions in that one word.

He nods and ducks out of the room.

I shook off the blanket on top of the bed, the one coherent thing I could manage, and got under the covers, curling up in ball, hugging myself.

I couldn't think, couldn't wrap my mind around this. I could only feel, and the feeling was a pain so great ripping through me, leaving me completely empty.

I wasn't the Luna of Moon Stone right now, I was a four-year-old girl that just lost her parents.