"Why have you stopped?"
She realized my hesitation to let her inside.
"It's my bedroom."
I looked back over my shoulder at her. I really did not want to explain rules to her. She better not break anything while she is here. There was priceless things inside this room. I even had possessions in there I had from being with Emmett. I did not exactly want her seeing those things. I should fix her up in the guest suite and it will be the end of things.
"Wait here and I'll go get what you'll need." I am sure there will not be anything she would want to wear here but I could grab her it just in case. Does she even sleep? Does she even need a shower? I slipped into the bedroom and shut the door in her face fast.
My bedroom was not anything special. All the bedrooms were quite spacious. Mine especially. It came with being on the right hall. My ceiling was decked out in tiny lights and painted black. It looked like a stary night sky. I had thick curtains over my windows that trapped light from coming in. I had always enjoyed the night life more than daytime.
The style of my room appeared divided when it came to the floorplan. There was a bed on the left side with a gorgeous leather headboard. It was white sheets and a black quilt I inherited from my mother's side of the family.
It was "manly," something my sister called it before. So, it was mine when mom passed it along. There was an area rug with floral prints. The rug took up most of the area. Alongside my bed was one night stand even though the bed needed two. It was for my side only. I refused to buy a matching set. In case I wanted the bed against the wall. My bedroom closet and bathroom were off on the side my nightstand was not a part of.
Across the room was the real entertainment. I had built in shelves with lava lamps featuring the shelves along with tons of books I read over the years. Every textbook from school was there, borrowed and never returned. I had a semi-circle couch on both sides of a centering coffee table. The table was oval shaped and made of an oak. Behind one of the couches was my desktop set up, where I used to take my college classes. The couches were center to a mounted TV and gaming system resting below it. The room remained in dark tones to go along with the ceiling theme.
My heart raced like a teenager's; it was weird. I rushed to my bathroom and looked around it frantically for things to grab for her. I should have just took her to bed and settled this whole thing. I grabbed a few things I imagined would be agreeable for her and wrapped them in a towel. I went back out towards the door but froze up when I saw it open. I glanced around for her when it clicked, she came inside without permission.
"Why did you come in here?" I asked as I searched for her. She was strangely getting into my bed and throwing the blankets over the lower half of her body as she set up against the headboard and pilled pillows up against her back. She revealed a book in her hand that I recognized was from my bookshelf, an old classic- Frankenstein. "Lamia- that's my bed!" I huffed as I realized my attempt was all for nothing. What pissed me off more was she took my side by the nightstand.
"Everything is new to me. It is nice to see something a little old," she said as she held up the book. I cannot believe she did any reading. Did she do any reading? I raised an eyebrow as I took the stuff in my hands back to the bathroom to sit on the counter. I went back out to her and made my way over to the bed.
"You didn't get out much, I'm guessing?" She must had been too stuck up to leave Dragavei and explore modernized towns. I suppose staying here is fine. My curtains are the thickest in the house. I took my pillow and was going to head to the couch, but she reached out and took my wrist.
"I miss having company. Stay just for the day," she begged me as she yanked me across the bed and forced me half in. Her, miss anything? Is it because she's missing Eder? Did they share a bed? I miss Emmett... It would be nice- just once to have someone asleep beside me in my bed.
"We won't make a habit out of this," I growled out to her. She let my wrist go in an agreeing manor and I got into bed and under the sheets with her. I sunk low as I patted my least favorite pillows out to try to get them as comfortable as my own. I glanced up as she flipped through the book as if finding the first chapter to read. Is she going to sleep?
"Good night," she said quietly to me. "Get some rest." My heart swelled as I hated every second once again of being near her. It was a cold hard reminder I would not see my family if she were here. I turned over to face away from her and look at the bathroom light I left on from my rude habits of never turning a light back off. I groaned slightly but refused to get back up. It would just have to stay on.
I was drifting to sleep with my eyelids getting heavier by the minute. But, a dark thought in my head prevented me from falling asleep with that monster only a few inches from me in bed. What is the matter with me? Why haven't I tried to kill her? Am I under some kind of hypnosis?
Anxiety fueled my insomnia.
---
"Cole," I heard a sweet voice call to me. I opened my swollen eyes. I must've been crying because they weighed down so much. I glanced around for who was calling me to find Emmett's beautiful black wolf sitting beside me in a meadow. It was bright and daises littered the air with their scent. Dandelions blew in the wind and small patches of lavender relaxed my senses. I was dreaming, I knew it. The sky was bright and the air was warm from a summer's day. I could hear a stream nearby as salmon fish jumped from the water to thrill my ears. I felt my soul at ease being here. "I love you, Cole. I missed you." He was shaking his tail but he suddenly transformed naked in front of me as he leaned forward to cup my face in his hands. "Didn't you miss me?"
I took his hand and threw it back from my face. I glanced down at the ground as I shook. I trembled. I was suddenly angry at him but I was struggling to remember why I was so mad at him.
"You love me, don't you?"
He pushed toward me and took my shoulders as he threw me back on the ground and got on top of me. I could see it. The sky darkened behind him to a bloody red. His face was full of briar scratches. His face was falling off and his neck had a gash wide open from the last fight of his life. I reached up and tried to stop the blood from falling on me.
"Help Lamia avenge me!" He yelled as he lifted my head up to shove it back down on the ground. "Help her! Or I will haunt you for the rest of your days!"
His threat left me trembling. He leaned down to my ear to whisper to me.
"This is all your fault, Cole. If you had never tempted me, I would have never died at my mate's hands. Vivienne did this to me."
"She's dead! She died, there is nothing I can do for you."
"You will assist her until you die, Cole and when you die you will be with me forever. The moon goddess will never allow you into her badlands when you pass over as a spirit. You will stay with me. We will be together soon. Tell me you love me. Say you will help Lamia."
"I-I don't know, I don't feel right doing that. I don't want to keep betraying my family. I want to go home to them. I miss Nena. I don't want to keep this up, Emmett. I never wanted to betray them the way I have. I can't do that."
"I don't care what you want. This has never been about what you want, Cole. You belong with me, so please Lamia. Or, spend eternity damned by my teeth crushing your skull over and over every night you close your eyes and come here to sleep. Lamia will make you one of them, a dead hearted blood sucking monster. Your family will never accept you again."
No, that wouldn't happen. She wouldn't- would she?
"Tell me you will help Lamia!" He yelled as he leaned in towards my lips to hesitate to kiss me there. I looked away from him in disgust as my mind wandered to Lamia's beautiful frame in the back of my mind. Her lips were delicate but at the same time held deadly weapons inside.
"No," I whispered. If I want to help her it will be of my own will! "You're not here. Go away, I am dreaming!" I should wake up now before this ridiculous nightmare finds its way to my consciousness. "You're not real. I'm going to wake up now. Don't come back to my dreams again." It was insanity to think of how awake I felt while dreaming.
---
I woke up feeling completely alone. The bed was cold and I tilted my head to look for Lamia. The bed was too light for her body to be on top of it. As I thought she was missing. I sat up and rubbed my head. It was a strange dream. I haven't dreamed of him in a while. He certainly didn't tell me to join Lamia's side last time I met him in my dreams. So, what was going on with that one? I had better matters to focus on right now. I got out of bed as I looked around for the missing bloodsucker.
"Lamia?" I asked as I sniffed the air. "Down the hall," I grumbled as I knew where she had gone. She was down the halls, her scent leading straight outside of my bedroom with the door remaining open. I suppose she forgot to close the door for my privacy. As if I needed any. I slipped out into the hall quietly and sniffed the air to track her down. I found her outside of Malakai's bedroom and looked inside with a deep looking thought on her mind.
"Where did he go?" She wondered simply.
I walked up to her side and raised my eyebrows as I investigated his open room. What was on her mind? Why was she wondering about the special prince of my family? I shrugged as I couldn't care less where he went. I was still pissed he took Vivienne's side of all the last time we smoked the last of my weed.
"Who would care about that bastard?" I snarled as I shut his door in her face. "He's probably dead. He's a weakling. He probably died," I told her as I shrugged. His scent here meant he was long gone from here before the rest of my family. I knew he went missing sometime before Lamia's people invaded the packs.
"You have so many bastards living here, they're all bastard children's scents. You don't smell anything like them except for your twin." Her eyes lingered on Lena's bedroom door. "Your father must've slept with half the pack," she laughed out as she shook her head.
"He did get around," I mumbled as I wondered how much she really knew about my family. How much did Niall tell her? "But we all grew up together so it doesn't matter who their mothers were. Our mother will always be Romona since she's the one who raised us all."
"Niall said she was a good stepmother, which made it harder for him to hate her," she said with a small smirk.
Why would I help Lamia?
"Why did you bring me here?" I asked her as I grew suspicious of her. What is going on here? She should have already came through here before to find any hints she might want for looking into her husband's whereabouts. That bastard probably ran away from her himself and took Niall as some souvenir dead blood bag snack. I felt my nose wrinkling in disgust. "There isn't anything left here to see, Lamia. If you want to find your husband you should track him down yourself. You would have better luck out there with your own snout to the ground tracking every muddy boot print." She raised her hand like she was going to slap me but her head tilted to the end of the hall and someone's shadow emerged, their throat was cleared.
"We found traces; you will not like it. It is of the mutt you asked us to track down," he announced. Meynard's crooked smile came through the shadows as he stepped out of them. "Shall I take you there straight away?" I widened my eyes and saw Lamia's eyes brightening with hope.
"Is there any evidence Vivienne lived?" Lamia asked him as she looked my way with a devilish smile like she had something to do with me in mind.
"Much more. We believe she was revived by Brendon, the Alpha of The Scarlet Nightwalkers."
Lamia's hand suddenly punched a hole in the wall as she roared in anger.
"Him?" She asked in clear disappointment. "That bastard was supposed to be dead. You're saying he took her and that's where she's been all this time? Probably living in forgot of me? ME! You might as well say my dear husband was behind it all too. What is the situation in finding him? Have you all not looked?"
"I believe we will discover it only after finding Vivienne."
Lamia looked towards me suddenly. Her hand reached out with bloody knuckles that were healing fast with a pale color in them. She snatched my chin as she forced me to come close to her.
"You will come with us to meet your sister and see her last breath take place, how is that? Maybe then you might remember you're my mutt and you'll lick the blood off my heels when I finish squishing her lover's head."
"You're going to stomp Alpha Brendon's head in?" I asked in disbelief as I dared show her my doubts. She exposed her fangs with anger as she threatened them by bringing them near my neck. "Go ahead," I begged for the sweet relief of this life. I hated being here. I hated being near her. I hate this place. "Do it... Kill me."
"Oh, shut the fuck up," she hissed as she walked away from me and headed toward Meynard. "Meynard, get the knights together and let's leave. My husband could be expecting us," she said in hopes. I think she was hoping to find him there, waiting for her with obedience. Some sort of sickening side fantasies she was having. I don't think she's fully coped with the fact he's left her all alone here.