I wake up faster than a cat drenched in ice-water, every sense urging me to claw my way to standing.
Drowsiness get's people dead, fast. Only the paranoid survive.
Wait, what? Where the hell did that come from?
Shaking my head, I blinked a couple of times before sitting on the edge of the bed, the same bed I woke up on the first time after Liam bit me.
However, the more I blinked, random images bled about my mind. Sharp flashes blinded my vision as each scene passed but the only thing that was clear in each scene was me. The others in each passing imagery had a blurred face and muffled voice, almost as if they were speaking underwater.
I continued to sit there, letting the segments of a life I didn't know anything about flicker across my vision, blinding me further before it began to slow.
Inching forward, I saw a woman holding a small child in front of a fireplace as she slowly swayed about, lulling the childling to sleep. The faceless man that continuously appeared before my sight, sat in the corner of the room, appearing to be watching the woman as she sang.
The sky is dark and the hills are white,
As the Alpha speeds from the north tonight;
And this is the song the Alpha sings,
As over the world his cloak he flings:
"Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep."
He rustles his beard and gruffly sings,
"Sleep, little one, sleep."
On yonder mountainside a vine,
Clings at the foot of a mother pine,
The tree bends over the trembling thing,
Only the vine can hear her sing:
"Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep.
What shall you fear when I am here?
Sleep, little one, sleep."
The Alpha may sing his bitter flight,
The tree may croon to the vine tonight,
But the little pup upon my breast,
Liketh the song I sing the best.
"Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep.
Weary thou art,
A-next my heart,
Sleep, little one, Sleep."
What I was seeing was beautiful and warmed by heart greatly until the woman turned around and looked right at me.
Well, it felt like that even though I knew she couldn't actually see me but the whole thing caused me to choke on the very air I was breathing because the woman holding the now sleeping childling, was me.
Just when I thought I couldn't tear myself away from the sight, the sound of yelling and footsteps could be heard.
Everything that I had seen began to fade away until I was left sitting there, my eyesight readjusting and no sooner had it, the door to my room was kicked open, splinters of wood flying in all directions.
Startled, I jumped up as I stared at the man who seemed frantic, his eyes flickering from a faded green to blue, the cyan being incandescent yet they were dismal.
When his sights fell on me, he rushed me quicker than I could comprehend and embraced me in a tight hug.
What the fuck is happening right now?
The man's weight bore down on me, bringing us both to our knees as he held my face to his shoulder with one hand on the back of my head and his other clinging tightly to my back, suffocating me.
"I'm so glad you're alive," he spoke, his grip becoming tighter.
"Fath—," a voice broke through the spectacle that was happening giving me the extra energy to push against this confused man and free myself.
The moment I was dislodged out of his grasp, I breathed in as much air as my lungs could hold, gasping before shooting up and scuttling to another part of the room, utterly confused.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I looked like a scared animal cornered.
I only assumed this when Liam appeared in the doorway behind the man who was in the meeting with us before my fainting spell. When he seemed to have assessed the situation, he forcibly pushed passed the man in the door and slowly approached me.
"Who the f—," a voice came but it was interrupted.
"Noir...," Liam spoke softly, slowing his steps towards me.
"Who is that," I asked, not moving before my eyes flickered to the man that destroyed my door and then trapped me in an unwelcome embrace.
"No one," Liam began as he inched closer.
"What do you—," a voice was cut off.
"No one. He just got the rooms mixed up," Liam interjected as he continue to make his way towards me.
"I'm her FATHER," a voice boomed before the man in the doorway growled.
Before I could even process what happened, I heard the shredding of clothes and bones snapping as Liam launched himself forward before a clawed hand grabbed his shoulder and flung him across the room.
What the—
"LIAM," I shouted but the similar noise hit me again and when Liam stood, it wasn't Liam but Grænn.
Three lycan's were now in my room. Grænn being one, followed by a midnight black lycan and one that was identical to Faelen.
They all stared at one another, canines growing to an unworldly level before the two charged Grænn who managed to evade them.
The black lycan and the Faelen look-alike crashed into the wall behind where Grænn once stood only to shake their heads.
Grænn looked at me for a brief second with perked ears before bolting from the room only to be followed by the other two lycans, neither acknowledging my existence as they vanished.
"If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, these boys and their pissing contests," a voice spoke, breaking me out of my stupor.
When I didn't say anything, the man nodded before excusing himself.
I blinked in confusion as noises caught my attention, forcing my legs to move towards the window.
What I saw caused my body to ignite.
Looking down into the courtyard, there was three lycans, one becoming cornered by the opposing two.
Grænn.
The black lycan strikes first, both he and Grænn yipping, biting out tuffs of fur and clawing at one another as they rolled across the ground.
Grænn didn't even have time to recover as the black lycan backed off and the ashen lycan took his place.
The ashen lycan launched forward, taking Grænn by surprise as he latched his massive jaws onto Grænn's shoulder and snapped them repeatedly.
This continued for a moment before Grænn jerked back and held the ashen lycan at a distance, his massive mouth opening to release a blood curdling, bone chattering growl.
Before I could even blink, the black lycan slammed into Grænn, knocking him back and away from the other.
Regaining himself, Grænn crashed into the black lycan, his massive jaws snapping over the other's muzzle.
When I thought I couldn't watch anymore, my body began to shake uncontrollably and heat up to the point where I thought I might vomit.
It was then, my body moved on its own, backing away from the window until I was standing with my back facing the still open door.
I didn't even have time to question myself as I began to run, sprinting across the room until my body crashed through the window.
Shards of glass rained down like frozen water, shattering all around as I shifted, landing on four paws in front of the three lycans.
Four paws?
As I began to question Faelen's choice in stance, a growl came from her that I didn't recognize. It was a low, wet, warning growl that formed behind ivory fangs.
All three of the massive lycans stared at her, Grænn being the only one to seem bewildered, his enormous head tilting to one side like a intrigued yet confused pup.
The ashen lycan was the first to approach, ears perked and movements slow followed by the black one.
When Grænn yipped, Faelen's head jerked in his direction and snarled, further confusing him.
"You would think these idiots would know what a wolf looks like when they see one," Faelen piped, laying down beside me, ears perked as she watched the scene before us.
I hummed in agreement before jumping up and stumbling over my own feet which caused Faelen to look at me as if I was mad.
Shaking her head, Faelen seemingly rolled her eyes.
"Come now, you didn't think I would be the one to make a sudden dramatic scene, do you," she asked flatly, snorting and shaking her head.
What the fuck?
I didn't even have time to process what she was saying before I felt my body becoming heavy and whatever ounce of self control I possibly had of this situation, stripped from me entirely causing my body to fall forward and onto Faelen's side.
This seemed to catch her attention as her head snapped up and back in the direction of the lycans.
Faelen started to shake, barking and shouting things I couldn't understand; my mind becoming hazy and my own eyesight struggling to stay focused.
The sounds of bones crunching briefly cleared my sight as I saw the three lycans shift. The one I heard called Bjarke and the other— the lunatic that stormed in my room earlier, were speaking, holding their hands up in a surrendering manner.
I couldn't understand them.
A movement from the right caught "our" attention causing "us" to look in that direction but before anything could be processed from me or "heard" from Faelen, "we" lunged forward, catching Liam so off guard as a finely honed clawed paw raked down the right side of the man's face forcing him to scream something and fall onto his back.
I tried to shout something, anything but nothing came. It was almost as if I was a mute trying to speak knowing good Gods' damn well I couldn't.
I struggled to sit up as I forced myself to focus on what was happening but each time I blinked, the scene before me got darker and seemingly further away.
Liam bloodied and injured.
Blink.
Liam struggling to keep "us" from harming him further.
Blink.
"Us" clawing at his chest and snapping at his face.
Blink.
"Us" making such animalistic sounds that I'm positive the noises alone are going to haunt my dreams.
Blink.
This time, from what I could barely see now, someone had tossed "us" off of Liam and away from the others as well.
Recovering from the unwarranted pitch, "we" looked towards the trio only to see another man staring at "us" with milky eyes that illuminated against the darkness.
He shouted something causing "us" to hunker low to the ground but back up slowly, putting further distance between "us" and the men.
I don't know what happened next entirely because when the man with ivory eyes shouted something, "we" growled then tucked tail and ran in the opposite direction.
My sight was completely gone now and my hearing wasn't far behind. I could hear shouting but I couldn't understand anything that was being said until one word stood out and rang in my ears repeatedly.
"River!"