SWNOVELS Chapter Nightmares
Run!
Run faster!
You have to run Ember!
Leaves were crunching behind me but the faster I ran the louder and closer the noise appeared. I pushed harder making my lungs burn from the lack of oxygen, my chest heaving, my heart pounding in my ears. "I can't stop, he'll get me." I repeated the chant over and over until the sounds behind me stopped. Not wanting to turn around for fear that it was a trick, I continued sprinting through the forest as fast as my human legs would carry me, begging my wolf to take over but she refused.
The brush was so thick I couldn't see anything further than a few feet in front of me so when I broke through the hedges I nearly fell over the cliff as my feet skidded across the rocks, nearly sending me over the edge. Luckily my shirt snagged a tree limb, ultimately saving my life.
I stared at the vast openness ahead of me trying to catch my breath when I felt the ground shake from his heavy paws hitting the dirt behind me. The dust from his heaving breaths clouded around me blurring my vision, but his presence was enough to make me die a little inside.
"What's wrong? Scared of me?"
His voice wrapped around my throat figuratively, constricting my air supply causing me to gasp when he took advantage of my surprise and lunged at me, shifting mid air and knocking me off the cliff...
My body jerked, causing me to wake from the terrible nightmare with sweat dripping down my face falling onto the sheets that were already completely drenched. I fought to catch my breath while my heart raced wildly and tears poured down my cheeks.
(Inhale) It was just a dream! (Exhale) Just a dream! (Inhale) Just. A. Dream. (Exhale).
I finally calmed down but the image of those tortured eyes were burned into my memory forever. I know it was just a dream but it felt so real and the lasting effect that was coursing through my body was proof. I was so tired but too shaky to sleep and the longer I sat there the worse I felt. I needed to go for a run to let off some of this nervous energy.
I made my way downstairs and out the front door as fast as I could, craving the fresh air in my face and the Earth under my feet. If there was one thing that would always make me feel better, it was being outside in nature. It could cure any bad mood or brighten my darkest day and kept me tethered to reality.
Once my wolf had taken over, we sprinted for the woods, since I wasn't completely familiar with the area just yet, I chose to stay on the safe side and only run along the North ridge. The trees were starting to lose their leaves, which had already turned rich colors of oranges and reds, and scattered the ground like a beautiful rug created by nature. We ran through them, sending them flying into the air behind us. The wind was crisp, signaling a change of season coming and soon the trees would be completely bare. Hopefully we would be blessed with a white winter this year.
Once I reached the creek, I shifted and stepped into the water, letting my feet touch the sharp, rocky floor beneath me. Chills ran up and down my body from the drop in temperature but I didn't mind, the cold never really bothered me. We never really had this type of weather in Georgia so when I came to Tennessee I treasured the winter months as long as I could.
I found a log and sat down, looking up at the moon, remembering how simple life was when I was a child and not expected to run my father's pack. Thinking back to the times with granny Lily and how hurt I was that she left so quickly without saying goodbye but I was never mad at her, I was angry with my father for listening to his cowardly pack elders and kicking her out. They were scared of her for some reason but she never did anything to anyone which is why I never understood her sudden departure.
Sitting there I caught a glimpse of something in the brush slowly moving towards me. Sickly yellow glowing eyes wickedly stared at me with a look that I couldn't quite decipher peeked through the brush. My mind told me I should run, but I couldn't move. My feet felt like cement, glued to the ground like the roots of an old tree that had been attached to the dirt for hundreds of years.
Our eyes remained locked together, sending a tremor of fear down my spine and making my stomach churn. My pulse accelerated when the massive creature took another step towards me and just before he broke through the bush, a loud growl came from the right of us causing us to both turn our heads when a humungous grey wolf came into sight, ramming into his side, sending him crashing into a tree.
I took off as fast as I could back to the pack house, hoping the nightmare that I had just woken up from wasn't about to come true. When I reached the front porch of the main cabin, where my cousin and his family stayed, I heard a hair-raising scream followed by a sinister growl. I turned towards the direction of their sounds, cringing at the thought of what just happened and anticipating more gruesome noises but all I heard was the rustling of the leaves in the wind and the chirps of the crickets in the grass.
I stood their far longer than I should have contemplating whether or not to tell Chase when the wind picked up and I caught the most intoxicating scent of burnt oak and birch wood with a hint of spice. I felt my body heat rise with the fire that escaped from my core making my claws lengthen and my canines elongate as my wolf stirred in my mind.
I shook my head trying to make sense of the sudden overwhelming feeling and turned around, heading into the house. With every step I took, my wolf aggravated me, making me reconsider entering the cabin in the first place. I thought about going back outside and following that sweet smell that sent my entire body into a frenzy of things that I'd never experienced in my life and yet here I was ignoring my instincts and instead trudging my way back to my bed.
After my exciting excursion, all I wanted to do was fall onto my mattress and get some much-needed sleep. But that smell was invading my senses, sending my wolf spinning with turmoil. She had been trying to get me to follow it, always being the curious little mutt she was, but I didn't think I could handle any more trouble tonight so I ignored her incessant pestering.
Once I wrapped my naked body with the sheets she seemed to calm down some and I was finally able to shut my eyes. But rest was the last thing on her mind, and even though she was curled up in the corner of my head, she was still sending reminders of how that smell made her feel.
Who could she have been dreaming about? Was it possibly a threat of some kind?
I think this girl is too impulsive. Little Miss Ember almost got herself attacked! Who could it have been?
And why about that other wolf? Could it have been the elusive, crazy Alpha that she was warned to stay away from???