Chapter 35: Thirty Five

Darkness and fear filled Cassidy's mind. Her lungs burned and her body felt as if it had been running for forever through a forest of shadows and burned out trees. Something or someone was chasing her and every step she took whatever was behind her was gaining ground. The presence was ever and all powerful and she feared if it did catch up with her, she would never get out of this forest.

As if right on cue, the shadowed lands she was running through changed and she found herself falling towards the ground, landing on her feet. The scene before her was familiar to her as she looked on in complete horror. Samuel her brother was there, holding her by the shoulders, telling her something that was muffled as if the words were coming through water. Her childhood home was up in flames behind him. For the first time, Cassidy didn't run in her nightmare as calming peace came over her and she stepped back a few steps from her elder brother while everything seemed to slow down to a crawl and a white wolf trotted by, unaffected by the slowed down, nearly stopped passing of time.

~You are meant to see, little wolf. Your birth was blessed. You will never escape the emotional tide, but you can travel and see. Come.~

Cassidy was unsteady and unsure, feeling as if she was moving in someone else’s body as she stepped away from her brother to follow the white wolf obediently without question and without any control of herself or what she was being shown. She walked past Samuel and the rogue what was coming right for him, right into the fray that was frozen in time.

The white wolf seemed familiar and it took a few minutes before it clicked in her mind that it was her own wolf that was leading her though the dream. “What do you mean I was blessed?” she asked as she followed, carefully stepping around bodies that were engaged in an all out war.

Her wolf sat in the middle of it all and gave Cassidy a patient look before looking around. ~The gods have blessed your birth and have given me to you when you were in the most need of me. I.. We.. Are their blood. We are here to keep the balance between the wolves. Your mother had promised the moon and sun anything to save her first born. The sun and moon took you.~ the wolf said quietly into Cassi’s mind in an almost bored tone. ~You have been blessed with DreamWeaving, you can walk within the worlds of your dreams and see what you could not see with your eyes.~

Cassidy looked a little taken back as the knowledge the white wolf was giving her was starting to sink in. It wasn't only just sinking in as if she was hearing it, but it was already there in her mind as if it had always been there and she just needed the key to unlock it. She took a sharp breath and closed her eyes as information she had learned from this dream alone became a part of her. All the sights, sounds, smell and emotions were all together overpowering and she started to panic, holding her head and shaking it in an effort to get it to stop. “I don't want this!”

~You do not have a choice. The decision was made for you long before you were born. Now… focus. You must learn how to control and separate everything you see and feel. I cannot do this for you. Until you learn you will always drown in your dreams… or worse a witch could ensnare you.~

Cassidy hissed between her teeth and glared at the other half of her, the white wolf she was certain she had been cursed with and not blessed. “There is no such things as witches. They are all extinct!” she snapped.

~Or are they?~ the wolf responded in a cool tone. ~White wolves do not exist, but here we are. Learn how to control yourself and your dreams Roan. We can see great things, even the future if you become talented enough. To get there, you have to try.~

Cassidy wasn't sure if this was how any other wolves dreamed or not with their wolf spirit sitting there scolding them in the middle of nightmares and just as Cassidy thought it, the wolf snorted obviously offended by the thought. ~We are one you and I. You are the human half. I am the wolf half. Dont get too worked up about it.~ the she-wolf said haughtily.

There were a few minutes as Cassidy struggled to contain herself and everything that was happening around her before she looked up slowly. There were tears of grief and emotional pain on her face, feeling everything her pack had been feeling at this moment frozen in time. So many were dying, familial bonds were being broken. Family members being killed one right after the other in the ambush attack. She looked around, feeling vulnerable as she started to walk through the rogues and pack members and witnessing the destruction she had run away from as a child, the wolf following after her.

She came to a stop when she spotted her parents in the middle of it all. Her mother had been a decent fighter, almost as good as her father. But what she seen she had never expected to see. Rogues by the handful had been fighting against her father while a scarred, massive black wolf held her mother down to watch the carnage. Cassidy covered her mouth and took a step back. “Wake me up… Please… I cant go through this. I don't need to see it.” She asked desperately and as if she had commanded it herself, the dream came back to life, moving in slow motion first and then speeding up to natural time. It wasn't what she wanted. She felt her brothers connection break all over again as he was taken down by a rogue, the shock that went through her parents was evident at their screams of rage and pain from losing a child. She turned and ran blindly, unable to handle witnessing the death of her parents or any more of her pack, but each time she thought of them she was snapped right back to them as they were being murdered, the scene never ending in her mind.

It was nearly four in the morning when something disturbed James’ sleep. He startled awake in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. The night looking for any more signs of the rogues was unproductive and they had all returned home empty handed around two in the morning. He had wanted to check on Cassidy, but Max had assured him she went to bed safe and sound. He didn't want to wake her up after the day she had. He came to his room, showered and fell into his bed and right into sleep. Except now, something was off. His pack links were quiet, no chatter amongst his warriors or brothers. James thought for a moment maybe he was just being paranoid and started to drift off again.

Just as James was drifting off, he heard it again. The sound was so muffled and so soft, for a second he scowled thinking his parents were up to late night shenanigans in their room above him on the top floor but that wasn't it. “Damn it.” He growled a little and forced himself up out of the bed just as a cry of distress was heard from across the hall. There was no mistaking where the noise came from and he felt his heart leap into his throat at the thought that Cassidy was hurt, or someone was hurting her. He flung open his door and took the space of the hallway in two lengthy strides before he reached Cassidy’s door. Knocking never occurred to him and he opened her door straight away, rushing in ready to take down anyone that had been upsetting her.

What he entered into however, had him looking around in confusion. There were no scents of anyone else in the room. All the windows were closed. It was just Cassi, tangled up in her sheets and clearly having some kind of bad dream with the way she was breathing and whimpering on the bed.

James closed her door behind him and headed over to her bed. Whatever it was that was troubling her in her sleep had brought tears to stream down her cheeks and her to thrash herself in her bed, most of the blankets wrapped around her legs. She was quiet when he had come in, and as he sat down on the bed, the never ending repeat of a night terror was making her panic even in her sleep. “Cassidy…” he said quietly, reaching over and touching her cheek to try and wake her. When it didn't work and she became more upset, he moved, kneeling up onto the bed so he could take her by the shoulder to wake her with a gentle shake. “Cassidy, Wake up!” he commanded.

Golden eyes snapped open instantly and Cassidy froze, looking up at the dark shadow hovering over her in her equally dark room, hands gripping her shoulders as if she was being pinned to the bed. It was only half a second of stillness between the two but it felt like forever before she snapped out of it and screamed as loud as she could and began to fight the shadowed figure off of her. She got in some well aimed kicks and scratched the face, even going as far as to bit the arm connected to the hands that were holding her. She found herself almost completely covered after that bite. Firm gripping hands had grabbed hers and pinned them above her head and a heavy body was laying on top of hers to keep her from moving more. “That fucking hurt… Cassidy.. Calm down. Its me!” James growled at her, leaning over and flicking the switch to the bedside lights on.

Cassidy looked shocked when the soft lights came on, she panting under James, breathless, seeing him there and not some demon from the nightmares. “James?”