85

Eight five
*Freya*
I was lost in a wondrous dream, playing joyfully with a beautiful baby girl in a lush garden. The little girl giggled delightfully as I tickled her tummy, her curly ginger locks bouncing.
“Mama!” she squealed, reaching her chubby little arms up to me. My heart swelled with a profound love like I had never known as I gazed into her sparkling brown eyes – my eyes. This perfect little being was mine. My daughter.
We sat together in the fragrant grass dotted with wildflowers, the warm sun bathing us. I never wanted this blissful moment to end. If only I could freeze time and live in this dream with my precious baby forever.
Suddenly, a sinister force ripped through our perfect world. Invisible hands began dragging my little girl away from me. “No!” I cried out, scrambling to my feet.
I ran after her desperately, my legs pumping, but it felt like I was fighting against quicksand. The faster I tried to run, the more I sank into the ground opening up beneath me. Sheer terror seized my heart.
“Come back! Please!” My voice was strangled with panic as I reached for my baby. But the invisible force kept pulling her farther and farther away. I thrashed against the unseen entity holding me back, but it was far too strong. Helpless tears streamed down my face.
In a blink, my baby’s image dissolved into mist right before my eyes. I stopped struggling against the invisible bonds and stared at the empty space where she had been just moments ago. Cold realization washed over me – I was utterly alone. There was no baby. She had been nothing more than a figment of my imagination, a beautiful illusion.
A sob tore from my throat as I collapsed to my knees in the grass. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks as an ache bloomed in my chest. Why did I keep having these recurring dreams of a child I didn’t have? What did it mean? Was my subconscious taunting me with my deepest unfulfilled desire?
As I wept, a shimmering light coalesced in my peripheral vision. Sniffling, I turned my head to see the luminous, translucent form of my mother materialize before me. She was magnificent in a flowing, shimmery pink gown that seemed to emit its own soft glow. Waves of her honey-colored hair cascaded over her shoulders and her dark eyes, mirrors of my own, radiated warmth and love.
“Mom,” I breathed, a watery smile washing away some of my anguish. Seeing her again in my dreams never failed to bring me solace and comfort, even in my darkest moments.
Some hidden reserve of strength surged through me and I pushed myself up, running into her open arms. Though I could hardly feel it, her embrace enveloped me with a soothing balm.
“I’ve missed you so much,” I whispered into her hair, breathing in the familiar scent of gardenias that always clung to her.
She squeezed me tighter. “I’m always with you, my darling girl. Any time you need me, you only need to think of me as you have now. I’m never farther than a thought away.”
I clung to my mother desperately, pouring out my confusion and fears in a jumbled rush. “Mom, I saw a little girl who looked just like me, but something invisible dragged her away before I could reach her! What’s happening to me? Why do I keep having these dreams?”
My mother stroked my hair soothingly as she listened. When I fell silent, she pulled back to look into my eyes, her expression grave. “My darling, this vision is a warning. Someone seeks to harm your future child.”
I stared at her, uncomprehending. “But… how can that be? I’m not even pregnant yet. Rafe and I have been trying, but…” I trailed off, a dull ache throbbing in my chest. The lack of a baby was a constant worry these days.
“The future is not always clear, but the signs cannot be ignored,” my mother said cryptically. “You must be on your guard. Trust your instincts.”
A thousand questions swirled in my mind. I needed to know more – who was trying to hurt my baby? Why? How could I protect a child who didn’t even exist yet?
I opened my mouth to demand answers, but to my horror, my mother’s shimmering form began to flicker and fade at the edges like mist under the sun. Panicked, I grabbed for her hands. “No, Mom, wait! I don’t understand! You can’t leave yet!”
“I’m sorry, my love,” she said sorrowfully even as her body grew more transparent by the second. “I cannot stay long in the realm of dreams. You will be waking soon.”
“But I need you! I need your guidance!” Hot tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.
Her voice echoed faintly as if from a great distance, nearly swallowed up by the encroaching whiteness hazing my vision. “Be careful, Freya. Danger may come from those you least expect… both friend and foe. Trust in your love. Trust in yourself…”
With a last glimmering spark, my mother vanished, leaving me grasping at empty air and choking on a strangled cry. “Mom!”
But she was gone, and I could feel the dream slipping away like gauzy cobwebs as wakefulness intruded on the edges of my consciousness. As the scene dissolved into white nothingness around me, my mother’s parting words rang in my ears, an ominous warning that filled me with icy dread.
Gasping, I jolted awake, my mother’s cryptic warning still echoing in my mind. Heart pounding, I blinked rapidly to orient myself, the bedroom swimming into hazy focus around me. Slowly, my ragged breathing calmed as I processed that I was back in the familiar comfort of my own bed. Back in the waking world.
I shifted onto my side and found myself gazing at Rafe’s peacefully sleeping face on the pillow beside mine. In slumber, his chiseled features were relaxed, making him look years younger, almost boyish. Tousled waves of midnight hair tumbled across his brow. I yearned to run my fingers through the glossy dark strands.
Hardly daring to breathe lest I rouse him, I ghosted my fingertips along Rafe’s stubbled jaw, marveling at the feeling of his rough bristle and satin skin. Touching him soothed my unsettled nerves, anchoring me to reality. This beautiful, strong male was my mate. My heart. My home.
But a flicker of unease knotted in my stomach as I studied Rafe’s handsome face. We’d been together for about a month and half since the bomb blast had happened, and though I knew he loved me with a fierceness that shook me to my core, I was yet to get pregnant with his child. As his intended Luna and queen, it was my duty to provide an heir to secure our werewolf kingdom’s future. Already, I could feel the weighted gazes of the Kelly and Jessica, I had heard their whispers with some other women through gilded palace halls like insidious snakes.
“That silly girl has still not conceived?”
“Could she be barren?”
“That is what he gets for wanting an unbreedable wolfless girl…” I had tried not to feel immense shame as they laughed at me.
My womb remained stubbornly, shamefully empty. And now these dreams, these visions of a child–my child–in danger… Was it an omen that I would fail in my most vital task as Rafe’s Queen? Surely the kingdom would turn against a queen who could not perform her sacred duty. Hot tears stung my eyes at the thought of disappointing Rafe, of being found unworthy.
“No,” I whispered fiercely to myself. I refused to succumb to despair. Rafe and I were destined, our souls entwined. The Moon Goddess would bless us with a child when the time was right. I had to trust in that. Trust in us. And I would protect that child with my life.
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