*Danika*
My eyes cracked open, wondering who must be knocking in such uncouth fashion by this time of the night. Slowly I sat up from the bed, noticing the knock had become incessant and on my own part of the door.
For a start, I was awed to discover there was actually a door that led directly to my room, because I never detected last night when Lance and I came in.
“I’m coming,” I called back, locating my flip-flop and trudging sleepily to the door.
Unlatching the locks, I pushed the oak open to be greeted with the presence of a woman. Someone I have never seen before.
“Hy,” she said, pushing in without my granting her access.
Somehow, my subconscious was at alert. It felt like I have seen her before. Like I knew her personally. There was this connection I couldn’t fathom. Gently I closed the door and strolled after her, with the question of who she was, at the tip of my tongue concerning.
“Who are you?” I stopped a few feet from her. She was standing in front of the mantelpiece housing the firehouse.
She reached out and touched the tulips and shortly retrieved her hands to perceive.
“This smells lovely,” she rasped out, her back still to me.
I huffed out in exasperation, getting quite appalled by her inconsiderate behavior. This is midnight and everyone was asleep. Why would s-
“If only you put in that effort in trying to get back your mate, believe me, it would pay off,” she uttered acidically, slowly turning to meet me, her eyes somewhat animated.
“Excuse me? Who are you and what are you doing in my room by this time of the night?”
She shifted on her feet, and for a moment I could swear I saw something remorseful flit through her visage before it was swiftly gone. She angled to the chair by the side of the firehouse and plopped down on it.
I was getting more confused. Then she looked up and I became more uneased when I saw tears gather in her eyes. “I am your mother, child,” she said, as tears slid down.
I staggered back, my eyes by instinct finding the adjoining door, but to my consternation, there was no door.
Am I dreaming? Is this some form of joke or what? Am I dead?
“You are not dead, my child. I had to look for a way to reach out to you because I couldn’t bear watching you suffer anymore. I couldn’t even bear a minute of suffering before I died, not to mention you having to bear it for so long. I am the cause of all this.”
“I. Am. Still. Trying. To. Comprehend. What You. Are. Saying,” I detailed the words because I still couldn’t believe it.
But somehow, it was there glaring back at me that she wasn’t lying. The hair, the eyes, the lips, they were all similar to mine.
“I’m sorry, child. I shouldn’t have left. I shouldn’t have let them do all they did to you back there. I am so disappointed in my mate, your father for all he did to you, with your sister.”
She still said it. Yeah, now I have gone nuts to add to the equation. Who wouldn’t go nuts after all that I have been through?
She stood abruptly, coming to my side. I jumped away from her, yet, she drew me close and embraced me. That was what did it. I let out all I have been holding back. I cried so hard on her shoulder more than I have ever cried in my entire life.
“It was all my fault,” she kept saying.
“No, it was not. I killed you,” I reciprocated.
“No, you didn’t. It wasn’t your fault in any way.”
“But you died giving birth to me.”
“That was because I was weak. I couldn’t bear the pain of childbirth. I had to do a cesarean with Bianca but I thought I could prove to my husband that I could bear you on my own.”
I froze in her shoulders. “Was that what happened?” I mewled out in astonishment.
She bounced her head, ripping me aside by my both shoulders and looking me in the eyes. “I’m sorry.”
I was nodding my head, but my mind went to my father. He caused all this. His obsession with power made my mother die. It wasn’t my fault. If only my mother wasn’t trying to prove herself to him, she would have still been alive.
“I’m sorry for everything he did to you,” my Mom mildly said.
“No, mother. I’m the one that should be sorry. I am sorry for being the bait that you had to use to prove to him how powerful you can be.”
We hugged once more, several thoughts still cascading through my head.
“You have to stand up to your mate. You have to accept who you are and own up to it,” she said to me after a while, when our emotions had abated.
“But how?” I queried. “That man is very powerful, cruel and domineering. I can’t even stand steady on my two feet around him, to mention challenging him,”
“That is why he is still dominating you,” she flipped away her red hair like I do anytime I’m nervous. “Your father used to be that way towards me when we were first mated. But I soon showed him my powerful side. I was a good warrior, but when it came to him, I was always shying away. Then I learned my lesson.”
I snorted inside. That was my father. This man in question would bury me alive or probably sell me to the highest bidder if I dare to cross him.
“That is what you think.”
“How come you read my mind so fast?” I finally asked, after ignoring it for a while.
She grinned, showing off a gorgeous dimple I was unfortunate not to retain. Bianca’s luck though. “I am a spirit. And a powerful warrior too. I am designed to be telepathic in order to fish out an enemy,” she shrugged.
“Oh,”
There was silence for a while and then she scooted closer to me on the bed that we were now reclined on, and she said, “Promise me you will stand up for yourself henceforth.”
I searched her eyes as tears stung mine.” I don’t know if I can anymore. I have had to endure suffering for so long that… suffering and agony is all I know. I am now immune to it.”
Her tears matched mine as she drew me into her and cried more. “I have to go now, my time is up,” she said.
“Now?” I ripped away to ask. “Can I come with you? Please, Mom.”
“No, my dear child. You have a lot to attain on earth. You are a powerful hybrid. Always remember that. I fought for my freedom while I was alive and died foolishly trying to please a man. Never end up like me.”
“Mom,” was all I could say as like magic she started dissipating before my eyes.
“Mom,” I kept saying until it she became foggy. Then in the twinkle of an eye, the door swung open and at once smacked closed, the after sound thunderous to my ears.
“Mom!” I let out a heart-wrenching cry and jumped up as I heard another voice calling out my name.
A very familiar voice.
“Danika!”
I shot off the bed in alarm, my eyes registering my immediate environment. That was when it all dawned on me that it was all a dream.
The bed dipped beside me, following a calm hand resting on my forearm.
“Danika, it’s only a nightmare,” he cooed breezily.
I was still regaining my composure and therefore couldn’t speak. I glided to the edge of the bed to sit down properly, taking cognizance of my profuse perspiration.
“I saw her,” I finally made out.
“Saw who?” Lance asked in a tranquil disturbed tone.
“My mother,” I returned, exhaling as I recalled everything she said to me and her presence in the room as though she was real. It was all a dream.
“She is dead, Danika,” Lance spoke up as if in reminder.
“I know. She… she said so many things to me, Lance.” I looked up to meet his concerned eyes. “She told me I wasn’t at fault for killing her,” I croaked out, becoming emotional. “This is the first time I got to see her since I was born, can you imagine that? My own father took away everything that concerns her from me, including telling me that it was all his fault she died.”
“She told you all that?” Lance took my dainty hand in his and started making light strokes on it. I couldn’t tell if it was deliberate or his form of consolation.
“Yes, she said all that and more.” I resolved, going ahead to tell him other things my Mom had said to me. At the end of it, he was equally in dismay.
“He must have been a very cruel man. What manner of man resents his own blood like that? And that hood rat Derrick saw it and kept quiet?” Lance sounded very mad.
I retrieved my hand to wipe away a tear. “I was weak and useless to the pack. How do you expect my Alpha to stand up for me, when there was nothing beneficial I had to offer?”
“Danika stop saying t-”
A knock came from his part of the chamber and his focus went to it.
Who could be knocking at this odd hour? I thought, recollecting that was the exact way it had occurred in the dream.
“I will be back soon. It’s the butler, he said there is a messenger from the Alpha,” he said, tapping my shoulder.
“Why didn’t the Alpha link with you, then?”
“I’m wondering too.” He hedged, standing to trudge to the adjoining door.
My eyes went to check if I had a door and noticed there was indeed an entrance in my part of the room. I sighed and fell back on the bed, my eyes landing on a nude colored lingerie laying there. Someone must have dropped it there while I slept.
Lance appeared, his face looking awry.
“What is it?” I quizzed sitting up on my hinges.
“The younger brother of the Alpha just returned after so many years.” I could sense a wry undertone as he relayed that.
“Oh,” I cooed, I was amazed with the piece of information. “I never knew Alonso had another brother.” I hedged.
He chuckled dryly, still standing at the adjoined door, leaning on the hinge, with his arms folded on his chest. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about Alpha Alonso. Catch some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be hectic.” Then he left to his room.
The remaining of the night I couldn’t sleep. I tossed till dawn, thinking about my dream, and now the return of a younger brother I never knew existed. Not like I knew anything about my mate anyways. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel restless.
…