Chapter 9: Part 9

I craned my head, blinking at the person hovering above us. My lips twisted, lines marring my face as I tried to place the omega in front. She looked familiar, but I was having difficulty remembering her.

"Excuse me?" Naya cleared her throat, pinning her with a glare, the coffee cup hanging in mid-air. "Who are you?"

"As if you don't know the prettiest omega in this university!" The female scoffed, her arms coming to cross against her chest.

My lips pressed together at her response, unable to take my eyes off at the narcissistic reply. Wow. From my peripheral view, I noticed that Naya wore the same expression.

"Umm...Who is that?" Naya whispered.

"Me! Of course."

"W-We genuinely don't know you."

"Sure!" She rolled her eyes.

I breathed, finally recalling the face sitting in front of Abel's lectures. She is always there, with her book open, unlike others working on laptops. Bree. Yes! That's her name.

"Bree, right?"

Naya nudged my side, her eyes widening. "You know her?"

"No." I shook my head.

Bree clicked her tongue, tilting her head to face me, cutting off before I could start. She reeked an aura of arrogance, impatience—as she kept tapping her feet against the floor. "Yes, that's me."

"Umm...hi?"

"I am not here to make friends with you, loser." The omega sneered at me, straightening, her hands dropping by her sides. Leaning down, she pointed an index finger in my direction, eyes narrowing into slits.

"Well, then what are you here for, weirdo?" Naya flared her nose, almost getting off her chair when I wrapped my hand around her wrist. We already gathered some attention with tables around straining their ears to listen in on this ridiculous conversation.

"How dare you!"

I put a hand in the middle, effectively swivelling my chair towards Bree and letting out a sigh. "Please stop. Why are you here?"

"To remind you of your place."

"Oh?" I blinked at her. "I wasn't aware I had a place. How interesting!"

"Don't get smart with me, you freak! I see how you are always following Professor Abel like a lost puppy. Give it up! He is mine!" She raised her voice, face turning red, teeth-gritting together.

Something shifted inside me at those words, my stomach churning, but I swallowed the lump. Why does it matter to me anyway? Good for him that he has someone like her adoring him. They suited each other.

"Does he know that?"

Naya snickered from my side, a hand clamping over her mouth to stop her from bursting out in laughter. I felt my lips twitch at that.

Her face paled for a second before she glared back at me. "That's not your business to worry about! Stay away from Professor Abel." With that, Bree stomped her feet, the omega turning and walking away from us, leaving us gaping at her.

"What a weirdo!" Naya exhaled as soon as she was out of earshot, her hands still firmly wrapped around the mug.

"I know, right!"

"I suddenly pity our professor for having someone like her obsess over him."

I shook my head, eyes still fixated on the way Bree left, chin resting on my folded hands, "I don't about it, Naya. They seem pretty compatible."

"You are horrible." My friend huffed.

***

The backdoor opened with a drawn-out creak, and I stilled, turning my head to the left just as a cold gust of wind hit my face. Quiet, familiar footsteps echoed over the floorboards, leaving a trail of black soil. Fear curled in my belly as I could feel the air go thick and heavy, sizzle with something I had become far too familiar with. My shoulders tensed, head bent down as I tried to read the book in my hand.

"Are you reading again?” An icy, solid body, like stone, pressed to me the next moment, muscular arms coming to encircle my frame. I held my breath, the grip on the edges of the book tightening.

“Y-Yes.”

“Why don’t you listen to me?!” The voice got louder, foot coming to kick at the table, making me jump all of a sudden. In the midst of that, my grip loosened on the book, and it clattered on the tiled floor. Tears burned my vision, a lump forming in my throat as the sound echoed around.

“I-I am sorry I’ll do better. Please...” I noisily whimpered, hearing the loud thumping of my heartbeat. A lone tear slid down, breathing turning uneven. “Forgive me.”

In a second, I felt lips, even colder, touch to my cheek, sucking all air out of my body. My body went rigid with it, vision swimming, and my chest starting to tingle and ache. Clenching my eyes shut, feet pushing tightly against the ground as I held on to the seat.

“You know how much I hate these kinds of apologies, don’t you?”

“Y-Yes. I’m sorry.”

I barely realised that from one beat to the next, claws pierce into my skin, and something started to trickle down. Blood. A sob tore through my chest, hand coming to cradle the arm as the nails dragged through my flesh.

“Emma!”

Someone was jostling me, gripping my shoulder as if trying to pick me up. I stirred, my limbs heavy like lead. In a slow and reluctant manner, I blinked my eyes open and groaned when the light hit my eyes and made a stinging pain explode behind my head.

“Emma? Can you hear me?” I heard a familiar voice call out again, a voice laced with panic. There was some shuffling in the background, heavy footsteps making the floor creak.

Blearily blinking against the light falling on the side of my face, I squinted. Holding a hand in front, I slowly opened my eyes, only to see Allie in front of me. Her hands were pressing to my shoulders, eyes wide and frantic as she leaned.

“Moons, are you okay?"

“Mhm?”

“Here…sit up!” My best friend rushed to fluff the pillow against the head board, her lip in between teeth. “Do you want something to drink? Hot milk?”

“A-Allie.” I croaked, placing my palms flat to the side and pushed up into a sitting position, vision swimming for a moment, black spots dancing in front of my eyes and obscuring her face for a few seconds. With a heavy sigh, I bought my hand up to wipe the cold sweat off my face. My throat still stung, mouth feeling dry as sandpaper as I tried to talk.

Like I had been screaming.

Immediately my eyes looked down at my body, ignoring Allie’s eyes, and noticed that my sheets were tangled around my legs, clothes soaked and clinging to my skin. My chest started tingling, the exposed part of the neck feeling hot.

“Water…” I managed to whisper, eyes roaming towards the nightstand.

“Here!”

“Thanks.” I mustered a weak smile at my friend, toes curling as I gulped the entire glass in one go. A relieved sigh escaped my lips, hands awkwardly clutching at the glass. If Allie was standing in my room, it meant that I have scared her with my screams.

“Hey…” She tried again, sitting on the space in front of me, the mattress sinking under our combined weight. “Do you want to talk about it?”

My head twisted at the question that hung in the air. Three in the morning. It's three in the morning, according to the red glare of the clock on the table, my vision blurring in his vision as the first wave of tears break through. I tried to fight against it, but I could do nothing to stop them. So I choked out the first sob, a shudder wracking my entire body as wetness spilt down my cheeks.

“I-I am sorry….” Every sound was like it's been pulled from deep within my lungs, raw and strangled and pained. They're not quiet either - loud and ugly sobs tearing through my parted lips, almost never-ending.

“Oh, Emma!” Allie pulled the glass from my grasp and abruptly tugged me in for a hug. My face smushed in her neck as she rubbed her hands down my back. “Breathe! Do you want to talk about it?”

I let out a strangled sound, taking a step back, cheeks burning. “It’s same old one. What’s the use of talking?”

“I thought you were not having those dreams anymore.”

“Me too.” I sighed, my hands folded in my lap, “But I suddenly had one today.”

“Should I call Marie?”

Marie was our pack witch and also a huge blabbermouth. It won’t take long for my father to know that I still suffered here. That’s the last thing I needed right now.

“No!” I winced at my tone. “I mean, it's alright. My medications are with me.”

“Shall I bring them for you?”

“I’ll manage.” I twisted my lips, still not meeting her eyes. “Sorry for waking you up.”

“Shush you! I was awake anyway. Working on my new novel idea.”

I rolled my eyes at yet another one of her unfinished projects. Allie has some decent ideas, but she got around to completing them.

“One of these days, you should finish your drafts.”

“Sure!” She huffed, standing up. “Good night. Call me if you need anything, got it?”

“Yeah. Night.”

***

I will be updating from tomorrow on a daily basis. Keep an eye out hehe