Spirit Wolf - Darkness (Book Three)

July REI’S POV: ‘Welcome back, my dear.’ I heard the nice soothing voice welcoming me once again in my dreamland. I didn’t know who was that or why this voice was here, but it reminded me of the summer morning wind with its softness. ‘Thank you.’ I replied to the voice. This was my dream for the past few weeks now, at least I guessed it was already a few weeks since we came back to our burned home. I knew Calen was working hard to rebuild everything as it was before. I could see them from my window, but until now I was still refusing to leave my room and face them. I could not even face myself at this moment. ‘You know, you have to leave the room one day.’ The voice told me. ‘Stop reading my mind.’ I complained about what he just said. ‘I can’t stop reading your mind because I am in your mind.’ The voice said playfully, laughing right after.  ‘Very funny.’ I said. I was laying down in the middle of the small garden I had built for myself here. The garden was small, like a floating island in the middle of the dark area, where everything was possible. There was no pain, no voices, well except that one from my mind, and memories nothing. I could smell the scent of the flowers and blooming trees around me with the fresh morning air playfully swirling around me.  This whole place was like my heaven, and I wished to stay here forever. ‘I wish that too, but you still have to go out one day.’ The voice insisted again. ‘I know, but maybe later, not yet.’ I said, closing my eyes. The moment I closed my eyes, I felt a hand touching my cheeks. I knew if I would open my eyes right now there would be no one and the sensation would disappear instantly. I had tried that before just to find out there was no one around me so I had kept my eyes closed, enjoying this sensation and hoped that it would never finish, but my mind was right. I should finally go out. Calen had stopped coming to my door to talk. He stopped trying to take me out. There was still food behind my door, but other than that they were forgetting me. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe I should let them forget me and then simply leave. ‘That’s not a good idea and you know that.’ The voice told me. It was strange to be arguing with myself, so this comment actually made me laugh. ‘It is not funny. I mean it.’ The voice said right after. ‘I am not laughing at what you said, but it is funny to argue with myself.’ I replied to him.  ‘What do you mean?’ The voice had asked me, confused. ‘Well, you are in my head and this is my dream, sure my subconscious created you so technically when I am talking to you, I am talking to myself and when arguing, I am arguing with myself.’ I explained, still laughing that I even had to explain something like this to my own subconsciousness. ‘I think you have misunderstood something.’ Voice said, and this conversation was suddenly really weird.  ‘What do you mean?’ I was confused. I had opened my eyes so the sensation of someone fondling my cheek disappeared and I was sitting on the grassy carpet of my little garden, still alone. ‘It is true that I had said I am in your mind, but that doesn’t mean I am not real.’ The voice said, and the explanation startled me. If he was not part of my subconsciousness, then who was he? ‘Who are you then?’ I asked him, still fully confused. ‘Friend.’ He replied simply, without further explanation. ‘And how did you get here?’ I wanted to know. ‘That is not important. I just hoped you had enjoyed the garden I had created for you, but now I guess it’s time for you to go back to your real life. Anyway, we will meet again one day, I can promise you that.’ Those were the last words I heard before I felt the power pulling me out of this place. I didn’t want to leave, but it seemed I had no control over this place at all. I woke up startled. What was this? I had asked myself, but I had no answers, no explanation for what had just happened. The whole time I thought those were my dreams. I thought that I was the one who created that garden, but it seems I was wrong.  I put on my clothes, did my hair and finally, for the first time in a few weeks, decided to leave my room. I opened the door and went down to the kitchen. There was no one in the hallway, which was understandable based on how early it was. I reached the kitchen and went straight to the coffee machine to get myself a cup of coffee. I didn’t know why I felt this morning so differently, but the stone that I had on my chest for the past few weeks was gone. I could finally breathe and I felt so fresh.  Don’t get me wrong. I still remembered what happened. I still remembered the smell of death that hit my nose the moment we entered our burned home, but for some reason, I could breathe without feeling this pain in my chest that was crippling and almost unbearable. “Who are you?” I heard Tamara’s voice behind me when I was filling the cup with the coffee. I turned around, confused by her question. “What do you mean who am I? I am Rei, your friend Tamara.” I replied to her, but she made a step back and seconds after I heard several footsteps closing to us.  “How do you know my name? And how did you get here?” She asked me and I didn’t understand what was going on. “Are you alright?” Zack asked her, pulling her right behind him to protect her. I shook my head in disbelief hoping that this was just another nightmare which I had a few times since we came back and I tried to wake myself up.  “Who are you?” Zack asked me strongly with a hidden threat in his voice. “Zack, stop joking. This is not funny.” I said pretending to be alright but deep inside I started to have a strange feeling that something was terribly wrong. I really wished I could just wake up because this was weird.  “What is going on?” I heard Calen’s voice. He joined them seconds after looking right at me. I tried to mind-link with him, but I could not reach his mind. “Stop that.” He ordered me with his Alpha tone, but it did not affect me. My wolf was stronger than his, which he already knew, so I don’t know why he tried to control me like this.  “Calen. What is going on? Are you all mad at me for staying in the room for so long, or what is this all about?” I tried to reason with him to stop this theater, but he looked confused by what I had just now. “Take her to the dungeon until she starts to talk and we find out how the hell did she get to the house with all the patrols around our territory,” Calen ordered and two of the warriors split from the group and was heading now towards me.  “Calen, you can’t be serious. Look, I am sorry I was locked in the room for so long, but this joke is going too far. I am your mate. You can’t just lock me in the dungeon.” I tried to argue with him. When I said I am his mate those two warriors stopped moving and turned back to him confused. “I said take her to the dungeon. I am sure I would know that I have a mate, don’t you think?” He was talking to his two warriors and was really getting nervous. What the hell was going on? I had asked myself, not understanding this stupid situation.  “Enough,” I said, putting my power into my voice. Those two warriors froze the same as everyone else on the other side of the room. Even Calen was surprised by the power in my voice, which was stronger than his. “Who are you?” He asked me one more time. “I told you. I am your mate.” I said, and the anger was literally dripping from my words. I didn’t know if this was also a game prepared by Isaac, but I was seriously getting enough. Yes, maybe I had said in my dream that it might be better for them to forget me, but I didn’t seriously think that they would.  “You, me, your office. Now.” I said, and I saw Calen’s eyes widening as he realized he could not resist or fight against my order. Zack, Andrew, and all the warriors turned to him with also widened eyes as they realized their Alpha had to listen to me. I knew it was strange for him and until now I never used my commands against him this way, but this situation was already strange enough and I didn’t understand what was going on. I moved to pass those standing around and followed Calen to his office. I closed the door behind me while he took his seat. “What is going on?” I asked, still with the command in his voice. Whatever happened here was confusing enough and sure they were not aware of that. “You tell me. You the hell, are you? How can you command me this way?” He answered me with a question instead of explaining what was going on. It meant that whoever did this was not controlling them, so at least I knew this was probably not Isaac’s work. At least, I hoped.  “I am your mate, as I said,” I told him, and looked at me from head to toes. “You don’t look like a wolf at all. More like a witch.” He said almost spitting out the word witch. “Hey. Since when are you so disrespectful about witches, especially since we have Rosie on our side?” I asked him and he opened his mouth as he tried to argue, but then he closed it and was deeply thinking about it. His face held an expression like he just remembered something, but he could not properly distinguish what it was.  “Who is Rosie? I feel like I know her, but I can’t put the face to that name. I…” He was seriously confused. Whatever happened here not only erased memories of me but also the memories of Rosie, which was strange. “What do you remember, Calen?” I asked him, trying to understand what was going on.  He told me everything he knew from the past few months and it seemed like most of the memories were intact except those where I was and Rosie. Those were altered. Someone was playing pretty dirty tricks on me.  He was looking at me also, not understanding what was going on and what made me more concerned was the fact that this spell, or whatever it was, was stronger than the mating bond. I had c-cked my head to reveal the mark on my neck and he instantly stood up from his chair, rushing to me. He looked completely lost. He recognized his mark, but I could read in his face that he didn’t remember giving it to me.  “That makes little sense.” He said, and I nodded. I needed to speak to Rosie. Maybe she could put some light on this. “I am not your enemy, Calen. I don’t know why you don’t remember and why actually no one in the pack remembers me, but trust me, I am not your enemy.” I said before I turned around and left the office. He had to inform his warriors about me because they didn’t make any problems while I was leaving the pack and headed to the town to meet with Rosie. Whatever this was, I had to fix it and I had to fix it fast.