Chapter 34 Eiden
Eiden's POV
“Your condition is getting worse, Alpha.” Beta Serena walked behind me toward the main door of my house.
We had just returned from the hospital. I wouldn't have gone there if Beta Serena hadn't grabbed my hand and threatened to tell the elders about what I'd been going through for the past three months. I didn't like their excessive attention.
“You haven’t slept in three days.” Beta Serena clicked her tongue twice. “No wonder you almost fainted.” She chattered nonstop. “Don’t you realize your body is begging you to rest?”
I don’t know when she became so talkative and bold with me.
“Alpha.” I gasped in surprise when I saw Beta Serena running fast, standing in front of my office door and stretching out her arm. Her annoyed gaze was fixed on me. “You should rest. You don’t need to think about work.”
“I have to check my email—” she cut me off.
“It’s dinner time.” Beta Serena pointed to the omegas who were setting out my food in the dining room. She looked at me again. “You need to eat and then take your medicine.”
“This email is very important.” I put on a stern face, signaling that I didn’t want to hear any more of her voice, which was only making my headache worse. Beta Serena nodded and let me into my office.
I sat down in my chair and turned on my laptop to read an email from my business partner.
Without realizing it, I was immersed in my work. My headache was no longer there; this was my way of healing myself.
'No. You’re not healing yourself,' my wolf said. 'You’re torturing yourself, idiot.' He glared at me and growled. 'Stop working now if you don’t want to die.'
I snorted. There was no way I was going to die just from not sleeping or eating.
“Alpha.”
My eyes widened, and I lifted my head when I heard Beta Serena's voice. I didn’t realize she had followed me to my office and sat down on the couch.
“You’ve been here for almost an hour.” Beta Serena pointed to the watch on her wrist. Her concern for me made her bold enough to reprimand me.
“You need to eat, take your medicine, and then get some sleep.” Beta Serena was like a mother scolding her stubborn child. “You’ve never tried sleeping with sleeping pills, have you? Who knows, maybe you won’t have nightmares.”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, unconvinced by her assumption.
“You won’t know unless you try.” Beta Serena pointed at the low-dose sleeping pills I’d gotten from the doctor, lying on my desk. “You should try them.”
“Okay. Okay.” I nodded irritably.
We had dinner together. Beta Serena didn’t trust me until she saw me take the pill with her own eyes.
"Alpha, I was serious when I suggested you ask your ex-mate for help. She's a rogue now. If she doesn't know, she can ask her friends or acquaintances." Beta Serena spoke again after we finished eating, and I had swallowed the drug.
“I don’t want to bother her.” I shook my head slowly. Celeste was already busy working and caring for her two energetic sons.
“She’s just a civilian,” I said. “Even the rogue intel couldn't find someone who could stop the nightmares that were attacking me.” I didn’t give up, even though I wanted to.
“You shouldn’t underestimate civilians, especially women.” Beta Serena wagged her index finger in front of my face. “Those rumors aren’t 100% reliable, but what’s wrong with listening? We can always find out the truth later.”
I nodded, my brows furrowing as dizziness and drowsiness invaded my body. “I’ll think about it.” I yawned, my eyelids growing unbearably heavy.
"That's good, Alpha." Beta Serena grinned broadly. "Now it's time for you to sleep." She looked at me questioningly. "Can you walk to your room?"
"Yeah, I can." I got up from the chair.
I hardly felt my legs as they staggered toward my room, my vision blurring until the sound of the door slamming behind me startled me, and I collapsed onto the bed.
Everything went dark. The sleeping pill worked frighteningly fast, stealing my consciousness away.
After three days without sleep, I was completely powerless.
Maybe Beta Serena was right. I won't have nightmares because of the sleeping pills.
The sky was a clear blue. Some parts were filled with clouds.
The sun shone brightly, but it didn't sting my skin.
A cool breeze brushed against me. The sound of rustling leaves soothed me.
From where I lay, I could see trees stretching both below and above me. A misty mountain crater sat to my right. This rock gave me a perfect view of everything around me.
I didn't want to know if I was alone here. The scenery around me had banished all my worries, and my wolf was my true friend.
I put my hands behind my head, and my brows knitted together as I watched the clouds and sky above, and my right side slowly turned black as if a great storm was about to hit the world.
I turned my head to the left when I heard the sound of a flock of birds. I squinted to clear my vision. They were flying toward me, as if they were about to face the storm.
"Vultures?" I muttered in disbelief.
I jolted in shock when a flash of lightning split the sky, the thunder deafening my ears. I scrambled down from the rock, keeping my distance from the trees while searching for a cave.
I looked up, wide-eyed, to find the flock of vultures surrounding me, staring intently at me as if I were a corpse they had been hunting for a long time.
“Hey, I’m still alive!” I shouted at them. “I’m not dead.” I tried to shoo them away. “Even if I were, I wouldn’t let you eat my corpse.”
The vultures ignored me. Damn it. I felt like a madman talking to animals.
I snorted.
A few steps away from them, I looked back to find them chasing me and pointing their beaks at me. They attacked me indiscriminately.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I parried their attacks with my bare hands. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.
“Damn it.” I winced as the vultures’ beaks cut into my neck and arms.
I ran downhill without caring about the sandy ground, crashing into rocks and vegetation. My body was battered.
As I fled from the vultures, I strained my mind trying to figure out how to escape them.
“Moon Goddess.” The words slipped from my mouth as I fell into the ravine, my head slamming against the rocks below.
"Damn it," I grumbled, touching the blood on my head. The dizziness blurred my vision.
“Damn it. I’m not a corpse. I’m still alive.” I raged, ignoring my pounding head, to chase away the vultures.
"Are you so stupid that you can't tell the difference between the dead and the living?" I growled in annoyance, throwing dry leaves, stones, and anything else I could find at them.
More vultures kept circling in. I couldn’t handle them anymore. Even the relentless lightning failed to deter their intent to kill me.
No. I couldn't give up. The next second, I gasped in shock, my head lowered, as I realized there was no wolf inside me.
Am I dead? This flock of vultures has come to torment me. This is hell.
I stopped groaning in pain and let the birds tear me apart.
'Eiden,' the voice echoed over the thunder. 'Wake up, you idiot. You're not dead. You're not in hell. You're just having a nightmare.'
I frowned. Was what that person said true?
'Eiden!' he shouted, jolting me awake. 'Wake up, you idiot.'
Somehow, I found the energy to fight off the vultures and shout, “I’m still alive, damn you.”
I woke up gasping for air, sweat soaking my body. My heart pounded violently in my chest. My hands clenched the sheets as my eyes stared wide at the ceiling.
'Drink,' my wolf ordered. I sat down weakly and grabbed the glass from the nightstand, downing it. 'I agree with Beta Serena. You should try asking Celeste for help.'
Sleeping on sleeping pills didn’t stop me from having nightmares. What was wrong with me? I was sure I wasn’t stressed.
'You don't have to be embarrassed with Celeste.' My wolf shook his head. 'This isn’t something to be embarrassed about.' He looked at me seriously and intently. 'You should ask everyone who could potentially help you, shouldn’t you?'