"What the fuck are you talking about?" I told my father as he crouched like an animal about to attack, Oliver growled next to me, baring his fangs. "Who do you mean by 'best friend'?"
"You know who I'm talking about," he growled. "You were there. You saw him dead in the living room. Tell me exactly what happened."
And then I remembered the warlock I found dead in the room when I went looking for Sam during his first shift. I hadn't had time to think about him at all. At that moment the only thing that was going through my head was to look for Sam, I didn't ask myself who this guy was and why he was in my house. In fact, when I saw blood and gore, I thought the body I would find would be Dad's. I was a little disappointed when I saw that he wasn't.
I looked at my father. "That warlock was your friend? Is that why he was in the house?"
"That's none of your business. Answer me. Tell me what happened."
I frowned. "That's not of you business."
He growled fierce and angry, bared his fangs at me, and his claws grew rapidly from his fingers. I saw out of the corner of my eye how Oliver did the same, getting closer and closer to me and pushing me behind him. I took his arm and pulled him aside.
He growled at me but he didn't look at me, his eyes were fixed on the imminent threat.
"It was Sam," Dad said. "He went wild on his first shift and killed him. He killed the first thing he found. That's what happened, didn't it?"
Didn't answer. I would never expose Sam to him.
"Damn fucking kid," he muttered. "It wasn't enough for him to kill his mother, now he had to kill him," he looked at me. "Where is he?"
"Fuck you."
"Where is he?" He yelled in anger.
Oliver growled louder and stood in front of me. Dad reacted by lunging at him, claws gleaming in the moonlight. I took Oliver's arm and pulled him back, I stood in front of him and raised my hand to Dad. The raven screamed a war cry, and the branches of the trees waved furiously. With my open palm I flexed my wrist downward and my father crashed to the ground as if some invisible force had pushed him down.
I kept him there, glued to the ground unable to move. I saw how he did everything possible to stand up but everything was useless, he would never take his body off the ground until I decide.
I crouched in front of him and looked down at him. "You will not touch Sam. If you want him, you will have to go through me."
"Through us," Oliver added, standing next to me. "Sam and Gia are part of our pack. They are ours. They belong to us. You want them?" He reached down too, grabbed Dad's hair and pulled him up, forcing him to look at him. "You'll have to go through us." And he growled in his face, baring his fangs.
And then we heared the howl. It was an Alpha wolf, but it wasn't ours.
Dad started laughing and looked at me mischievously. "So now you have a pack? Good for you. But you know what? I have one too."
In a few seconds we were surrounded by at least six wolves, including the Alpha wolf. A white wolf with red eyes was coming towards us growling.
Oliver scrambled to his feet and stood behind me, facing the wolf behind me. I also stood up and took my father with me. With a flick of my wrist, Dad floated next to my clenched fist. I raised my fist to the sky and my father rose into the air next to it.
"If you touch us, I'll kill him," I looked at the Alpha. "Maybe your wolves will be fast and take my head off, but I'm sure as hell taking this asshole with me," I turned my wrist slowly and Dad whimpered in pain, the wolves growled louder around me. I glared at the Alpha. "Move your furry ass out of my way."
The Alpha's eyes gleamed even more and it growled louder at me. It began to move to the side slowly. I nudged Oliver with my elbow. "Go. I'm right behind you."
"No way. I'm not leaving you behind."
"I told you I'm right behind you. Call Jasper and the others."
"Gia," he looked at me with his eyes shining. "I won't leave you."
I sighed. "Do you forget who I am? Do you remember what I can do?" I gave him a knowing look. "They won't be able to touch me a hair."
It seemed to work because his expression softened and he shifted. Already being a wolf, he ran into the forest and waited for me among the trees. I walked towards him slowly taking my father with me, the Alpha growled at me and stood in front of me.
"Oh, don't worry. I have no intention of taking him. I've been trying to run from this skum my whole life," I looked over at Oliver and he was growling, wagging his tail, crouching down a little. I shook my head. I looked back at the Alpha. "Let him go and I'll give you this jerk."
The Alpha narrowed his eyes and turned to Oliver. It barked at him and Oliver growled at it.
"Ollie, run!" I screamed.
I threw my father onto one of the wolves closest to me. I let the magic of the raven and the moon take over me. I felt the feathers, the claws, the beak, the wings. I rose up and danced in the air, the magic protecting me from the wolves' attacks.
And I am a raven.
I am flying. I fly into the sky and into the forest.
I see Blue.
Run Blue. Run to the forest.
Blue runs and I fly with him.
He calls the Alpha.
Blue howls and calls the Alpha.
He runs, the wolves are chasing us.
I fly fast next to him. I ask my friends for help.
Ravens, raven friends.
Help us.
Help me.
Help Blue.
They are coming. The ravens are coming.
They fly by my side.
They fly next to Azul.
They protect Blue from the wolves
Wolves attack. Raven sting their eyes and gouge them out. They dig their claws into their eyes and faces.
A howl.
My Alpha howls.
He is on his way.
The pack too.
They are coming for us.
They come to help us.
Bad Alpha. He gets very close to Blue.
I swooped down towards the bad Alpha.
I took out one of its eyes. I tear it off. I eat it. I swallow it. Delicious. Very. I want more.
The bad Alpha screams. It hurts. Good. It suffers.
My Alpha arrives. My pack arrives. They face the bad wolves. Blue joins them.
I go down to my pack.
And I am a witch.
I am a raven.
I'm Gia.
I spun in the air and landed softly on the ground.
I was a little dizzy. Disoriented. The enemy wolves shifted and were human. I had remains of something in my mouth, blood dripping from the corners of my mouth.
The Alpha was a she. A young woman with blond hair. Blood trickled from one of her empty eye sockets. She glared at me but she turned to my father. "You were right, Mark. She sure is a fucking monster."
I smiled at her. "Thanks for the snack." I licked the remains of blood on my bottom lip and her wolves growled at me.
Mine growled back. They shifted and at that moment I knew I was going to have to get used to nudity because everyone around me was naked. I felt a hand squeeze my arm, it was Sam.
"Are you OK?" He told me.
"Yes don't worry."
I saw him look at the Alpha and then look at me. He frowned. "Did you eat her eye?"
I winked at him.
He made a disgusted face and I laughed.
"Samuel."
I saw how Dad's voice brought back unpleasant memories in his mind the moment he heard it. I took his arm and pushed him behind me. "No," I yelled at Mark, my father. "Don't talk to him. Don't look at him. And don't even think about touching him."
"He won't," Jasper said. His voice sounded deeper than usual, he was furious. "I'll rip his head off before he takes the next step."
The Alpha advanced on Jasper and my wolves lit their eyes and bared their fangs. "Your…" she glared at me with disgust and fury, then looked back at Jasper. "…thing did this to me." She aimed at her own empty eye socket.
Jasper's eyebrow twitched. "I hope you're not referring to my witch in that nasty way. I don't like it when my pack is insulted, Celia." He moved even closer to her and faced her, turning his eyes red and growling. "And I like it even less when they are attacked."
"She threatened one of my own. The boy killed my warlock. Don't you think I'm within my rights?"
I felt Sam's grip on my arm tighten. I opened my mouth to speak but Oliver beat me to it.
"Gia and Sam's father. That one over there," he pointed at Mark. "He attacked us first. We only defended ourselves."
Mark growled at him and looked at me. "You'll pay for what you did. You and the child."
"Yeah? I'd like to see you try." Oliver said.
Jasper held up a hand, stopping Oliver who fell silent. He turned to me and I instinctively hid Sam further behind me. The raven moved his wings and opened his beak. Jasper closed his eyes softly and turned back to Celia.
"I don't care what happened. The siblings are mine. If you threaten them, you threaten me. Are you ready for the consequences?"
Celia growled and bared her fangs at him. "So be it."
And I knew what was going to happen. There would be a war, and it was all my fault. I wouldn't let that happen.
"Fight." said the raven.
And I felt the branches of the trees in my arms rustle. I raised my hands, opened my arms and everything around us rustled with my branches. The ravens surrounded my pack, the wind creating an impenetrable barrier around us. I walked forward, Sam walking behind me. I stood next to Jasper, I felt his red gaze on me.
I felt the magic, the feathers, the claws. The raven was flying everywhere, down my arms, my legs, my back.
I looked at Celia and reveled in her horrified look.
"Touch my pack, and I'll rip your head off." I said with a strange voice, distorted by magic.
I swung an arm like a saber to the left as one of his wolves ran towards me. A fatal cut tore open his chest causing him to bleed severely.
"No!" Celia yelled. "You will pay for that!"
I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you understand the point of doing this. Let me clear that up for you. If you don't go now and leave my pack alone, I will kill you all."
"Be careful," the raven said. "Don't take too much, it will hurt you."
"This isn't over," Celia said to Jasper. "You think you're the only one with a monster on your side? I have one too. I'll make you all pay."
And the fury lit a fire burning inside me and made me ask for more.
The magic grew inside me and reached my chest, my neck, my fingers. The wind grew stronger, the crows multiplied and the magic felt so intense inside me that it made me shudder.
Celia and her wolves cringed at seeing all that was happening. I reveled in it.
"You shouldn't have said that." I put one foot behind and steadied myself with it as I pushed a wind and black feathers barrier into the enemy pack.
The werewolves were thrown backwards, some crashing into trees and others falling hard to the ground. And when they landed, Jasper howled a bone-chilling war song. I saw how the enemy wolves shifted and ran away.
Then the raven's magic slowly left me and my vision began to blur. The world began to spin and I heard Sam's voice calling me from a place far, far away. I fell to the ground and everything went black.
______________________________________________________________
I dreamed again.
I was in a dark place, with no ceiling or floor. Everything was black and infinite.
"Don't take more than I give you." Said a voice very similar to mine.
I turned around and gasped at the sight of myself. But this version had eyes as black as obsidian marbles. Dark magic dyed her veins black and raven feathers framed her face. I saw her raise a hand, she had the claws of a raven. She put her claw on my shoulder and looked into my eyes.
"If you take more than I give you, I'll bench you." She said seriously.
"What?"
"You can't take anything from me. I let you take from me. If you take any more, your body will collapse and you will die."
I opened my mouth to protest but the guilt was bigger than my pride at that moment.
"I'm sorry." I whispered.
"I love you." Said the raven.
And I woke up.
______________________________________________________________
I woke up again in the same bed as a few hours ago, the only difference was that the night had passed and the morning sunlight was filtering through the windows.
Oh, and also the fact that there were two people lying on either side of me. One was Sam, wrapping an arm around my abdomen. The other was the black-haired werewolf my of age, the one who had shown the pack the video where I was seen sending two cops flying. She slept next to me with her head on my shoulder.
I also felt other presences there with me. I raised my head a little and saw how the werewolves of the pack were sleeping on the floor around my bed. I heard someone behind the bedroom's door, this person opened the door slowly and came in taking a look. It was the human woman. She brought with her some blankets and pillows. She put them on the floor near the bed.
She smiled when she saw me awake. "Good morning," she said. "I hope this fainting-after-using-magic thing isn't an everyday thing. You worried us a lot."
I moved as slowly and gently as possible so as not to wake up either of the two people clinging to me. I sat up in bed and looked around me, at all the people sleeping on the floor tangled in blankets and some clinging to some part of the nearest person's body.
"Is that why you all slept here?" I asked for.
She nodded. She looked a little unsure of what she was going to say, her expression softening a bit. I could see that she was worried. "You bled this time."
I was surprised. "What? I bled?"
She nodded. "Blood came out of your nose and out of your eyes."
"Of my eyes!?"
"Like blood tears," said a voice with a British accent next to me. I turned to the werewolf that woke up rubbing her eye. She smiled slightly at me, still sleepy. "I'm Lily, by the way. Big fan."
I raised an eyebrow. "Fan?"
"Of course, girl. What you did with your magic was spectacular, even though it almost killed you. Which I'm still upset about, by the way."
"Me too," Sam said, waking up. He looked at me with one eye open. "Don't do that again. I don't like it when you bleed. It makes me wanna kill things."
I don't know why but I found it a bit funny and I had to swallow the giggle that was building in my throat. "I'm sorry."
"If you're already awake, why don't you come over for breakfast?" Said the human, who gave me a motherly smile. "I am Grace. And as you know, I'm the only human in the pack."
"How is that possible?" It got away from me.
"It's best that we have this conversation in the kitchen," Lily said as she got up from the bed. "I'm hungry."
Sam followed suit and walked to the door without looking at me. It would take a while for him to get over his anger. I followed him.
______________________________________________________________
The kitchen of the pack house looked like one of those kitchen models out of a luxury home magazine. Marble countertops, state of the art appliances, a luxurious and modern atmosphere that made you feel like a billionaire Hollywood star.
Grace had made coffee and an American breakfast. Sam and I didn't eat American food for breakfast.
"It looks delicious," Sam said. "But I don't usually eat breakfast so… greasy."
"We are fine with coffee and toast ." I told Grace.
Lily and her exchanged a look, then smiled. Grace turned to me and smiled like a mother. "Right away."
I sat at the bar next to Lily. Sam sat next to her as well.
I felt Lily's icy gaze, I looked at her and she looked at me with sparkling eyes. "What kind of breakfast do you usually have?"
"Don't mind her," Grace said as she poured a cup of coffee in front of me. "It's just that no one asks me for a special menu because they think it's too much for me. I think it's stupid and I'm happy someone finally asked me for something."
"We always have this for breakfast," Lily said. "I don't like it very much either, Americans eat shit for breakfast."
"Rude." Grace said but still smiling.
"If you don't like it, why didn't you say anything?" Sam said.
She shrugged and poked a piece of bacon with her fork. "Not too bad once you get used to it."
And I started to feel a little bad about asking Grace to make a separate menu for just me and Sam. Grace seemed to sense from my expression what I was thinking.
"Don't even think about it," she said. "I like that my pack depends on me. I'm more than happy to be able to do something especially for you too and not just for my son."
"You have a son?" I said looking at her.
"Yes, in fact you know him. He is the only puppy in the pack besides Sam."
"His name is Leon," Sam said from his place on the other side of Lily. "We were playing together. He is nine years old, I am the eldest so I take care of him sometimes."
I knew that he was saying that with a hidden message: "Look, I have a friend. Don't worry anymore."
I smiled. "That's great."
Grace put a plate with four pieces of toast in front of me and a jar of jelly with a small spoon, she did the same for Sam. I thanked her with my look and she seemed to understand because she nodded and smiled even more than she had before.
I didn't ask Grace why her child was so young and she was so old, because if you do the math, Grace was too old to have a child at just nine. It was none of my business, or maybe now that we were in the same pack I had been given the right to know. But, to be honest, I didn't feel comfortable asking these things. Not when it comes to other people's lives.
"So," Lily said, breaking the silence. "Is there a story behind the toast-only breakfast?"
"She's being curious," Grace told me under her breath, as if she were commenting on Lily's true intentions. "She likes you and wants to know more about you."
Lily glared at her. "More coffee." She handed her the empty cup and when Grace filled it Lily said "I love you" with the same angry expression.
"There were times when Mom and Dad weren't home for a long time," Sam began to tell. "They were gone for months. So grandpa would come and take care of us, he would make us Argentine breakfast every morning."
"Argentine?" Lily looked at me curiously. "You are Argentinian?"
I shook my head. "Our grandfather was. He came to America many years ago and met our grandmother in Washington."
"Grandma was a werewolf," Sam said. "Grandpa said that when he found out about her he fell in love with her even more because he found her the most interesting person in the world."
"Aw that's so cute." Lily said smiling as she stuffed another piece of bacon into her mouth.
I also started eating. I took a piece of toast and spread jelly on it.
"So, coffee and toast is an Argentine breakfast? Isn't it universal?" Lily said with her mouth full. Grace chided her for it.
"It's actually 'mate' with 'facturas'." Sam said. " I prefer toast tho."
"What's that?" Grace said this time.
"It's herbal tea with sweet rolls, or something." I said.
Lily groaned before swallowing what she had in her mouth. "It is similar to my country. There we drink tea and eat rolls, but in the afternoon. Or maybe in the morning… I don't know, I've been living here for too many years. Maybe things have changed."
"How many years have you been here?" I asked for.
"Five years. I was a wolf without a pack when I came to America. I met Asher and Henry at a club and they told me they were looking for people for their pack. I was basically recruited to be here."
I raised an eyebrow and looked at Grace who smiled with a shrug.
"Actually, we were the only teenagers and we wanted a female our age in the pack," a voice said from behind us, and I turned to see three guys in their twenties walking into the kitchen. "Imagine my disappointment when Lily told Jasper that she was thirteen."
"At that moment I looked fifteen." Lily said in my ear.
"I'm Henry," the boy from earlier said, holding out his hand. I took it and he smiled. "These two in the back are Asher and Jamie."
Asher was the guy who brought Dafne and Lana to the Base the night before. He had green eyes and dark blonde hair. He nodded to me in greeting.
And Jamie was the brown-eyed white-and-brown wolf who had jumped high branches with me on the full moon. His hair was dyed a hot pink. He smiled at me and winked at me. "We have met before. It's so much fun running with you." He said a bit shy.
"Hey, turn down the pheromones dude," Henry scolded as he imprisoned his head with his arm. "Oliver will cut off your penis and make you swallow it, and I'm not gonna stop him. In fact, it would be quite fun to watch."
I watched as Jamie struggled to break free of Henry's grasp and then Asher sat down next to me. He eyed my breakfast curiously, then turned to Grace with hopeful eyes. "Can we change the menu now? Can I order one of those?
Grace was already pouring coffee. "First: You can always change the menu, it's just that Gia and Sam were the only ones with the guts to do it. And second: Right away, honey.
I saw out of the corner of my eye how Asher smiled a little.
Henry had already released Jamie and they sat down at the table, complaining that they also wanted to be at the bar with us but there was no more sits. At that, Sam took his plate of toast and his cup of coffee and went to the table where they were. He sat next to Henry without looking at him, but I saw a slight blush creep up his ears. Henry hugged him tenderly and Sam let him do it. Jamie beamed.
I smiled too, but stayed where I was.
After a few moments, the missing wolves joined us in the kitchen. Oliver appeared disheveled and yawning, looked up at me and brushed his arm across my back as he walked past me to ask Grace for a cup of coffee. He sat at the bar in Sam's old place next to Lily.
Jasper and the redhead werewolf appeared minutes later. They sat down at the table after touching my hair in greeting, I guess. I found out that the redhead woman is Jasper's twin sister, her name is Annabel.
"Like the evil doll." Henry said.
"And they both look alike." Jasper added, pulling away from his sister when she made to throw a fork at his head.
"I'm in a pack full of male hormonal jerks," Annabel said, then she looked at me, Lily, and Grace with relief. "It's good to know that I now have three angels instead of just two."
"Annie is a predatory lesbian," Lily told me under her breath. "She will always try to kiss you or touch you too much, be careful."
Grace hit her head with a tea towel as punishment. "Rude."
"Very rude." Sam agreed as he ate toast.
Lily looked at me expecting support from me, but I shrugged. "It was rude, yes." I told.
Lily raised her hands in surrender and stuffed the last bit of bacon into her mouth.
Annabel looked at me and smiled at me. "You are my new favorite."
I smiled back.
Little Leon arrived half asleep. He walked over to her mother and made her lean down to kiss her cheek. Then he saw Sam and smiled widening his eyes. He sat in the empty chair next to him and waited for his mother to bring him breakfast.
Owen was the last to appear. He was dressed in his usual shirt and black dress pants, but this time he wasn't wearing a tie. He looked at me and gave me a friendly, almost professional smile. "Good morning."
"Good morning." I replied.
"I see you're feeling better," he said, reaching for the cup of coffee that Grace handed him. "Don't scare us like that again. We have to find a solution if that becomes a habit."
"Stop berating her, idiot," Annabel told him. "Shut up and sit down."
He looked at me alarmed. "I didn't mean to berate you, it's just… we were worried."
"It's okay," I told him. "I understand. I'm sorry I worried you."
Owen smiled kindly and touched my arm before going to the table.
Minutes after, I looked over at Jasper and saw a satisfied look on his face as he watched his pack eat their breakfast in peace. I felt extremely guilty knowing that I had brought chaos into their life. He noticed that I was looking at him and he also noticed the guilt on my face, his expression towards me became almost paternal.
"Whatever happens from now on, we'll deal with it together," he said to everyone but staring at me. The others fell silent and looked at him. "So get that look off your face. You are our family, no matter what. You and Sam belong to us and we belong to you. That will never change."
And I felt the love, the support, the relief, the happiness, all those warm and welcoming feelings that the pack was sending to me and to Sam. I watched as Henry and Leon stuck to Sam who was staring at his empty plate trying to stifle the tears in his eyes. I watched as Annabel, Jamie and Asher glanced at me with a loving smile on their lips. I felt Lily take my hand and I felt Oliver's blue gaze fixed on me, always protecting me.
I looked back at Sam and caught him looking at me, he looked away reflexively but then looked back at me again. A tear slipped down his cheek and my heart broke.
I took a breath to speak. "Sammy, none of this is your fault." Because I knew, I knew that Sam was the more miserable of the two of us. He'd killed the warlock, he'd started the wrath of Celia's pack. Or at least that's what he thought.
"Of course," he said breaking into tears, Leon took his hand. "I… killed someone…" He buried his face in his hands. Henry put an arm around his shoulders and rested his head against his.
"You had no control over yourself," I told him. "You were in primitive mode. You had no idea what you were doing. The warlock entered the house by himself, he shouldn't have done it."
"It's not his fault," Sam said, a bit calmer now. "If it wasn't him, it could've been Dad," he was silent for a second, then made a horrified face. "Or you. I would never forgive myself if I did something to you."
I felt that I was getting desperate, I hated with all my being to see him suffer like this and more for the idea of hurting stupid Mark. Sam is too nice to people, and sometimes that works against him. I felt Lily's hand tighten around mine again. I had forgotten that she was still holding my hand. "You are not going to harm me. You're not going to harm any of us."
"How are you so sure?" He asked.
I smiled at him fondly. "Because you love us too much, Sammy. Even if you lost control, even if it was me who entered the house and found you first, you would've stopped."
"You can't know. I couldn't control myself… I couldn't stopped… and I didn't." More tears fell from his eyes. Henry tightened his embrace.
And then Jasper spoke. "What did you think when you saw the warlock in your house? You remember?"
We all look at the Alpha, including Sam. "I think…" He took a minute to think, then he said, "Threat," he fixed his gaze on Jasper. "I felt like there were strangers in the house…he smelled like magic but it wasn't Gia."
"How did you know it wasn't Gia?" Said the Alpha.
"It wasn't Gia's scent, her scent is more…relaxing."
Jasper smiled. "What does she smell like?"
Sam looked at me. "Like… herbal tea and toast. It smells like morning, like breakfast."
A smile escaped from me and a fleeting memory of my grandfather laughing and lifting me up in his arms flashed through my mind.
"What did the warlock smell like?" Jasper asked.
"To dirty water and deodorant." He made a disgusted face.
"So, if you had smelled Gia's scent… what would've happened?" Then Sam looked at him with wide eyes, as if he had discovered an important truth, and somehow he had. Jasper smiled fondly at him. "You see? You reacted to protect your territory by sensing the scent of a stranger. It's not your fault."
Sam looked at me and more tears fell from his eyes, but I felt they were more from relief than fear. He gently released Henry's embrace and Leon's hand. He stood up and walked towards me, he hugged me. He inhaled my scent and I felt him tremble in my arms. I placed a kiss on the top of his head and looked at Jasper gratefully. He winked at me.
The pack watched us, smiling. Oliver was smiling too, I liked his smile.
So when Sam pulled away from me and I wiped the tears from his face with my thumbs, it happened for the first time while I was awake.
This time they weren't dreams.
This time I was awake.
I had Sam and the pack around me.
I could feel their presence, our bonds vibrating.
My eyes were open.
I was awake.
My eyes were open, but she I staring at nothing. I saw nothing.
I heard someone gasp, but couldn't care less at the time.
My body tensed, my arms stiffened, my legs gripping the chair I was sitting on.
I felt my head go up to the ceiling and my mouth drop open.
I couldn't breathe, I was under water.
And then I saw it.
A boy. Asian.
A tiger.
He does magic. Dark magic.
Like me.
He is with Sam. He is helping him.
He is with Mark. He is helping me.
A woman. Caucasian.
A swan.
She does magic, dark magic.
Like me.
Mother. She is Mom.
She is alive.
She comes to me.
She tells me: "Come, my daughter, it's time to go back with your kind."
A wolf. Hispanic.
Dad. Mark
He is bleeding.
He is dead.
And I have his heart in my mouth.
I am eating it.
It feels good.
And I came back.
I took a deep breath when my sight returned. I felt like I had been fighting the pressure of the ocean to swim to the surface, my lungs craving oxygen.
I felt a pair of hands take my shoulders firmly but always kind. I saw Oliver's blue eyes searching mine, and when he met them I saw his tense face relax. Sam was still hugging me, he looked at me with terror. I stroked his head trying to relax him. "I'm fine." I said.
Everyone was standing around me, their eyes glowing yellow. Jasper's were red as scared fire.
"What the fuck just happened?" I said more scared than I would've liked to admit.
"A vision." Said a whiskey voice from the kitchen entrance.
We turned and there was Theodora, the consultant witch. Owen called her while I was in a trance.
"You were out for a while." She told me.
"How long?" It cost me more to talk than I thought. I was still getting my breath back.
"Half an hour."
"Half an hour!?" I exclaimed.
"It's not good, the visions shouldn't take so long," she studied me with her eyes for a few seconds and added. "But you're not a normal witch, so I'm not sure which rule applies to you."
I tried to pull myself together as well as possible and think. "This is the first time I've seen things when I'm awake," I told her. "I always do it in my dreams."
She was surprised. "So you're a seer too," she said, but then her expression turned serious. "We seers have visions in dreams when they are warnings, things we have to prepare for. But when we have a vision while awake... that's never good."
"Why?" I asked a bit desperate. "What does it mean?"
"It means that the vision is not a warning. It is a catastrophic fact. Nothing good. "
And before I could process the information, Jasper approached me.
He asked Oliver to move, he was still in front of me holding my shoulders. I heard a soft growl escape his throat, but he jerked away from me. Jasper didn't ask Sam to let me go, didn't seem to want to any time soon.
Jasper searched my disoriented gaze, and when he met it he spoke to me calmly and kindly, "Can you tell us what you saw? Do you think you can do it?"
His eyes glowed red, he touched my hair and conveyed calm and security to me. I had to suppress my urge to turn my face towards his hand to seek the caress of my Alpha.
I nodded when I calmed down, told them everything I had seen.
Silence reigned between us for a few seconds and then Henry spoke.
"Well this is fucking great. And I was getting bored of peace and quiet, " he looked at me and smiled savagely. "G, you're the best."