Falling In Love With The Trio

5. Nightmares

Ian’s POV:

The light streaming through the windows was enough to burn my retinas even with my eyes shut. I groaned painfully before turning on my side, I could have sworn that I had pulled the curtains shut the previous night, but from the warmth I could feel on my bare back I knew that I didn’t. I couldn’t remember the last time I had slept till the sun was up.

A throbbing headache had formed behind my close lids and I winced when even the slightest movement disturbed the ache in my head. I stretched out my fingers towards the other unoccupied part of the bed and when I felt the cold, empty sheets on the other side, I felt a stabbing pain form in my chest and move throughout the rest of my body.

A single tear dropped from my eyes but I refused to move a finger to wipe it off. It had been two weeks since her death and just last night, I had completed all the rites required to finally lay her to rest but I still couldn’t handle the pain.

I couldn’t handle the emptiness, the coldness all around me, I could still smell her around me, every time that I closed my eyes, it was her smiling face that I saw behind my lids. I couldn’t believe she was gone, ripped from me like I hadn’t sworn to protect her with my life from the very moment I had met her. I couldn’t handle it, I had hoped that it would get better with every morning that came but it didn’t. Every morning that I woke, I struggled to breathe knowing that the most important person in my life had been taking away from me so suddenly.

We had our entire lives in front of us, we were going to start a family and lead as Alpha and Luna of the seven packs for a very, very long time, have beautiful children and continue to live our days in beautiful harmony but all of it had just been taken away from me and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t accept it.

I remember coming back from my hunt to meet her dead body in the center of the room, torn apart from the inside, I could still feel the rage that had consumed me the very first time, and two weeks after it had happened and every night that I went to bed, I still saw her bloodied body in my dreams, I still saw her open but dead eyes and the way her lips had parted slightly.

I still woke up every night, with sweat dripping down my back and my forehead from nightmares that were filled with the various gory ways my mind came up with as to how she had died. I still had no answers to that one, even with how tirelessly I had been working to find out who had done it, but it had all been fruitless, there was no one and that fueled my nightmares even more every night.

Well, every night except last night. Explained why I had slept in for this long.

I sat up quickly on the bed when my last dream came back to the front of mind, instantly regretting my decision when my sudden movement worsened my migraine. My last dream was strange, different.

I didn’t have the time to think more on it because a gentle knock came on the door, I squinted my eyes at the door wondering who could be there, no one had really bothered me in the last couple of weeks and I was more than grateful for it. My eyes fell on the blinking red lights of the small alarm clock on my bed stand and it widened when I caught the numbers.

Almost noon.

“Ian? Are you okay?” Ethan, my brother and second in command, called from the door.

“Come in.” I responded.

The door was pushed open gently and Ethan stepped into the space with a tray that no doubt held breakfast for me in his hands. I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t think my stomach could handle any food but I knew what Ethan would say and the conversation that would follow after and I wasn’t prepared for neither of them, so I accepted the tray from him, forcing a smile to my face while muttering my gratitude.

Ethan pulled the seat by the dresser and brought it closer to the bed and as much as I wanted to scream at him to not touch it, as that had been her chair, but I refrained from doing so, knowing that he meant no harm.

“How are you feeling?” He asked and I swallowed the piece of toast in my mouth, taking a swig of water before responding.

“Good enough, I have a splitting headache but other than that, I think I’m fine.” I said and Ethan eyed me suspiciously.

“I wouldn’t use the word fine to describe you at all. You still don’t look really good but at least you look like you got some much needed sleep and I was happy to not see you in the office early this morning, but maybe you slept in on the wrong day?” Ethan said and I paused in my chewing, furrowing my brows in confusion.

What was he talking about?

“What do you mean?”

“Aha, I know you forgot. Today is the summit, you know the meeting you called for over a month ago? The venue was moved to the Blood Moon Pack about two days ago because Micheal called and explained that his pack couldn’t host the meeting as originally planned. I know it’s been really busy here for you and you have not been… well, you know, feeling too good but I’ve made sure that Harley put in the right arrangements especially in so little time and I think it’s all set for us to go, but it’s okay if you don’t really feel up to it right now. I’m sure everyone would understand and I can cover up for you. I’ll bring you back the best repo-“

“Nonsense. I can’t believe I forgot it was today. I had been really looking forward to this meeting. I’ll attend it, don’t worry. Looking at the time, I think we should be on our way soon. Harley’s pack is a long distance from us.” I said, placing the tray on the nightstand beside the bed before moving out of the bed to sit by the edge of it.

Ethan stood up and looked like he was about to leave but then he paused in his steps once before turning around to face me once more. I raised a brow in question and he cleared his throat before speaking.

“I know it doesn’t mean a thing coming from me and I’m not trying to make it a big deal or anything but tonight was the first night you weren’t screaming from a nightmare and for every time that I came here to check up on you, you were sleeping really peacefully and I’m so happy about that, you have no idea. I’m grateful to the goddess, for whatever she’s doing to help you deal with this pain. We all know how much she meant to you and how much it hurt but I just want you to be strong, it’ll get better, I promise.” Ethan said

His words went straight to my heart and I could feel the tears sting at my eyes, but I blinked rapidly to make sure they didn’t fall. I had never known my brother to be sentimental but these last couple of weeks had shown me a different side of him. I couldn’t believe he had been coming to my room to check up on me.

Which reminded me.

“I had a weird dream last night.” I suddenly said, frowning as the dream came to the front of my mind again.

“I saw Aurora, but she wasn’t dead. She looked like she was held captive and just looked really scared. I couldn’t reach her no matter how much I tried and when she looked in my direction, I had been hoping she would recognize me or something, but she just looked away, like I wasn’t even there. There was no recognition in her eyes. I can’t explain what it means but I keep thinking about it.” I said.

Ethan frowned at my words but said nothing for a long while.

“It’s probably nothing. There’s nothing I can think about that explains what this could mean. Probably your subconscious playing tricks. You should prepare. We’ll leave in an hour. Do you want me to force Zayn to tag along?” Ethan asked and I quickly shook my head.

“You know how much he hates these kind of meetings, he’ll be grumpy throughout and I can’t deal with a man child on this trip. I just want this over and done with, no extra drama.” I responded and Ethan chuckled quietly, giving a nod before completely exiting the room.

Zayn hated being in one place for more than was necessary. Only the trip to Harley’s pack would be enough to drive him crazy and my headache was already starting to flare just thinking about how he would complain from the start till the end of the trip.

He was strong and liked to be out fighting or training, or indulging activities that allowed him move his body or get his hands dirty and this particular summit held nothing of the sort for him so it was best I saved everyone the headache of bringing him along.

With a sigh, I stood up from the bed, stretching as I made my way into the bathroom. One good thing was, I had gotten a very healthy amount of sleep, one that was much needed and I felt relaxed enough.

Something that my nightmares usually robbed me off, although I still couldn’t decide if the dream I had was better than my usual nightmares.