The Lycan Prince's Huntress

Invading Her Dreams

Bella was back on the forest floor, her life force slowly bleeding out into the show with the dead rogue beside her. Her dagger impaled into his chest with dark veins protruding from his skin. But this time, she could feel another presence in the forest. She shifted with her eyes scanning around the snowy environment for any sign of movement. A shadow moved behind the trees in a flash that she almost missed it.

Her heart's beat accelerates as she tried to follow the shadow with her eyes. But it moved with inhumane speed, making it hard for her to track it. She could only hear the crunching of snow beneath its feet and the rustle of leaves.

Bella blinked once, and everywhere suddenly turned dark. The moon's glow reflected on the earth's surface, and she heard the howl of a wolf in the distance. She abruptly checked beside her to see the rogue's body gone, shocking her. Where could he have gone?!

Noticing she wasn't feeling any pain, she stared down at her injury to see the large gashes. But she felt fine. So she tried standing up and found she could, properly with no pain. But blood still soaked the area beneath her shirt.

Standing on both her feet with her eyes, adjusting to the darkness and scanning the forest, her heart began thumping faster in her chest as cold sweat trickled down her back. Someone or something was out there in the woods. She could feel it. But she didn't think it was friendly.

The snow made a crunching sound behind her, and hurried footsteps could be heard, causing her to twirl around rapidly. But Bella missed it by a second. She heard another sound beside her, and this time, it was closer. Her breathing turned heavy with her chest heaving up and down. She glanced around for her weapons with fear clouding her mind. But there wasn't anything on the floor. Her bow and arrow were gone, and her dagger had disappeared with the rogue.

Was it the rogue? Maybe she hadn't gotten him in the heart, and now he's playing games with her before killing her.

Hearing the snow crunching behind her again, she twirled to still find the place empty. Irritation mixed with her fear as she despised the situation she was in now - a sitting duck, that's what she was. Unaware of her enemy's next move with no weapon to defend herself. And her predator was probably having fun playing games with her.

How was it even dark already? Didn't her father or any of the werewolf hunters realized she was missing?! And why the hell is her wound numb and not making her writhe on the floor with pain?!

All these thoughts clouded Bella's mind, but there was no one to answer them.

"Come out, you coward!" She yelled out in the dark, frustrated with whoever was taunting her. She felt like one of those animals in documentary shows being monitored by a predator before being devoured. She could even feel eyes on her, boring into her back. But whenever she turned, she found no one.

"Where the f**k are you?!" Bella called out once more with her eyes darting around the forest. Just then, she felt something in front of her, hiding behind the shadows. She stopped to squint her eyes as she could suddenly make out a figure in the dark. It looked like a man. And was he crouching? She wasn't sure. Or maybe it was an animal.

Just then, two glowing golden orbs snapped open and settled on her, causing her heart's beat to spike up. No, that definitely wasn't human, she realized. It slowly stood up to its full length, and Bella discovered how big its frame was. It stood on its two legs as a human would, but it didn't look anything like one.

She recognized the thing immediately to be a Lycanthrope - another breed of werewolves believed to be much faster, stronger, and deadlier than the average werewolf she was used to hunting. It couldn't even be harmed by the usual wolf's bane, and this was one of the many frights werewolf hunters had. A beast that couldn't be harmed or tamed, roaming free in this world was a huge scare.

She had never seen one face-up until now, only in books or photos, werewolf hunters usually acquired. And it was just standing there in front of her right now without moving. She was frozen to her spot as dread washed over her. Was this it? Is she gonna die by this mythical beast?

Its eyes were fixed on her intently, not once blinking or turning away. And for a second, she thought maybe it wasn't going to attack. But as she took a step backward, it growled and took two forward, causing her breath to hitch up in her throat.

After a while of it not doing anything more than staring at her, she finally relaxed, taking in a calming breath. It could smell her fear, and she didn't want that. She didn't want to show how terrified she was to the beast and give it a sick satisfaction. If she was going to die, she would do it with a brave face.

Cocking her head to the side, Bella asked, "What are you looking at?" She thought it arched an eyebrow at her question and shook her head. But then again, it was a human who had turned into a beast. He must be capable of understanding and responding to her.

"You're not gonna hurt me." She declared cockily to hide her fear. Now that she even took a closer look at it, she realized it seemed harmless, but at the same time seemed dangerous. It was a weird combination that unnerved her.

 "Are you?" She added with her eyebrows furrowing.

It walked closer then into the light and darted out its tongue to lick its lips. Her eyes widened when she took in its full height, and in a flash, it lunged at her. She remained rooted to her spot in shock, with her life flashing before her eyes as she gasped out loud. Its body smashed into hers and drove her to the snowy ground, which cracked underneath her. And she was plunged into an icy cold sea. It all happened so fast before turning slow like how she had seen in movies. The shining gleam of the moon on the surface of the water is the last thing she saw before landing on the surface of a soft king-sized bed.

Bella abruptly sat up, coughing out water and her clothes drenched with the icy water. She was shivering from the cold but soon felt warm from the fire burning in the furnace of the room she was in. She stared around in awe at the unfamiliar surrounding, taking in the red curtains, the white-painted walls of the massive room, and the red Bergere armchairs about the room. It was dimly lit, but her eyes immediately focused on the silhouette of a man in the corner.

He was sitting in a lazy posture on one of the red Berger armchairs in the corner with both his legs spread apart. Bella could make out that he had a suit on with his left elbow leaning on the arm of his chair and his fingers supporting his temple. His searing gaze was fixed on her without blinking, and she suddenly felt conscious of her body. Her wet clothes were also clinging to her body and soaking the red bed sheets she was on.

She squinted her eyes further to get a better look at the man's face when she saw his lips moved, "Come to me, my Belle."

And just like that, Bella woke up, back on her full-sized bed, in her medium-sized room with painted Prussian blue walls and floral curtains - nothing like where she had been in a few seconds ago. Her eyes dart around her dark room for any sign of life, only to see a figure sleeping on the same bed beside her. Her heart's beat spiked before she recognized it immediately as Dylan, her long term boyfriend. Oh yeah, that's right. He had climbed up her window late last night to see her.

Letting out a loud sigh, she buried her head into her hands before running her fingers through her hair. It had been a disorienting dream she had, and she couldn't even make sense of it. Maybe it had something with the incident she had in the forest with the rogue werewolf months ago that almost cost her her life. She had been having vague dreams like this after then, and sometimes, she couldn't remember much of it. But she always remembered that a man is lurking in the shadows, either trying to ambush her or calling out to her soul.

The full moon's glow passed through the curtains into her room. And since she couldn't get any more sleep, she walked over to the window, standing directly under the light of the moon as she draws back the curtains. Behind her room was a forest that she loved to peek at. But as she did right then, she instead saw a figure lurking in the shadows. She squinted her eyes to get a closer look, and if she guessed right, he was staring straight at her without moving from his spot. It was the same man she saw in her dreams every night. How was he then outside her house? Was she being stalked? She thought. Or was she dreaming once more.

A lump formed in Bella's throat that she found hard to swallow past with her heart beating a fast rhythm. Her eyes were locked with his, and a shiver ran down her spine at their intensity. Her eyes narrowed, however, when she thought she saw a smirk grow on the man's lips. Was he playing a prank on her and enjoying it?

There was only one way to find out. Balling both her fists beside her, she turned towards her bedroom door when someone stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

Bella stood rooted to her spot when she found Dylan awake and behind her. She hadn't even noticed when he moved because she had been so distracted. And for some reason, she felt like she had been caught committing a crime.

"Dylan!" She finally regained her composure. "You're awake." She breathed out, forcing out a smile.

Dylan arched an eyebrow at her. "Yes...I am."

Suddenly feeling awkward with the whole situation, Bella turned back towards the window, but to her surprise, saw no one there anymore. She rushed back, gazing outside at the woods with her eyes darting about, but apart from the trees and plants, there was nothing or no one there anymore.

"Is everything alright?" She heard Dylan's worried voice, who was now closed behind her and also watching the woods over her shoulder. He was curious as to what stunned her but also found nothing outside.

After a while of searching in vain, Bella sighed in defeat. "Yes. Just a bit tired."

Meanwhile, deep in the woods behind Bella's house, the figure from earlier stalked through the forest with his hands in his suit pants pocket. Even though not going to a formal occasion, he still dressed in formal attire as he was already so used to it. With all the responsibilities weighing on his shoulder, he always has to be ready for any occasion.

Ahead of him, a limo waited by the dirt road for him, and he easily slides into the back seat. Another man sat in the back seat, scrolling through his phone and not once looking at him as he settled in.

"Invading her dreams once more, brother?" The man murmured the question without looking up from his phone.

"You know me, Reagan." Logan sighed, loosening the tie of his suit and unbuttoning his cuff links. "You know me." He added with a longing look out the window as the car started and drove them away.