Chapter 54 Nightmares

Chapter 54 Nightmares
Thallyne's POV
I woke up the next morning with a start. I subconsciously touched the side of my neck and glanced around the room to ensure that I was truly in my room and not elsewhere like I had seen in my nightmare. I wiped away the tears on my face and the sweat that had pooled on my brows.
I can still vividly recall the dream I had.
I found myself running through the woods, away from the alpha who had tried to claim me but the more I ran, the faster he gained up to me.
“Run little minx, there's only so much ground you can cover with your legs. I hope you remember that I'm Alpha and I enjoy a very good chase.” He chuckled like a maniac behind me.
At some point,I realized he was just messing with me, he would gain up on me one minute and the next, he'd give me enough gap to believe that I had exhausted all his energy and this brought the promise of safety until he gained up on me again.
“You can't run, you just have to accept your fate- now games over!” He simply reached out with one hand and grabbed me by my shoulder. As soon as I got close enough, his fangs elongated and he sank them to the side of my neck where his mark would go.
The pain felt so vivid, I screamed, cried and begged but he still kept his fang in me, drinking up my blood like it was juice. After a few seconds he lets go. “You are finally mine.”
At that moment, I lost all the will to fight. The bite mark in my neck closed up and I felt something like a thread connecting me to the man behind me. I realized that I was already marked and bound to the man whose name I don't know.
“I hate you.” I spat out with a hateful voice, glaring at him and wishing that he died on the spot.
He only laughed at me and tapped the side of his head. “You know I can hear your thoughts now, so you should stop trying to murder your mate.
The next minute, Axel seemed to appear before me, his face that was usually soft and gentle when facing me was cold and expressionless as he stared at me.
Before he could pass on his judgement, I suddenly woke up. I felt a lurch up my throat, I immediately rushed out of bed, into the bathroom and towards the toilet bowl where I heaved up everything I ate the previous day. I continued dry heaving until I calmed down, while I flushed the toilet, I used that chance to stare at myself in the mirror.
Overnight, it seemed like I had lost a lot of weight, my cheeks had sunk in, my skin pale and my eyes haggard. “What do I do?” I softly tugged my hair, tears threatened to roll down my cheeks and I didn't try to stop them.
Why didn't I stay and talk to Kael-? Why did I choose to follow Blair into the woods? If I had known, I would have just remained in my room.
I couldn't help but blame myself, and wallow in self pity. I was attacked in this way once and now I couldn't sleep anymore since I'm also being haunted down in my nightmares too.
What a very good way to start the day.
I needed to find a solution and fast.
I hurriedly took a bath, got dressed in jeans and a shirt, I applied a lut make-up, making sure to hide the dark circles under my eyes. The last thing I really wanted was to run into Sylvia and be forced to tell her what happened.
And after what I saw in the woods, I wasn't sure which side she was on.
Because I was lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice the strange glance I got, the sneers and the whispers that began as soon as I was out of earshot.
“Where do you think she is going?”
“Do you think she is going back to him?”
“She is so shameless and come to think of it, I believed that she was an innocent girl.”
In that confused state, I walked out of the maid quarters, and walked towards a path that would lead to the abandoned cabin in the woods.
At the start of the path, I paused, took a deep breath, and surveyed the area. There was nothing but what if I ran into him halfway there.
“You can do this, Thallyne.” I self monologued to make myself feel better and to also convince myself that the paranoia was all in my head and the faster I could get to the abandoned cabin, the higher chances of me feeling safer.
“Here goes nothing.” I stepped into the path, looking ahead and behind me consecutively to ensure that I wasn't being followed and someone wasn't waiting to abduct me.
The more I walked, the less fearful I became, apart from the trees on both sides of the paths, there were butterflies and birds singing up in the sky so I didn't feel so scared anymore
Before I could completely let my guard down, I heard the snap of a twig behind me. I froze, afraid to turn around and check. “Who is that?”
But there was no response.
“Is anyone there? Can you please not hurt me? I am so sorry about what happened yesterday and I hope that you would not hold it against me-” I began to ramble, stealing glances at both sides to confirm if it didn't come from a rabbit stepping on a branch.
“Please don't get mad at me, I already promised to myself and besides, the alpha would not allow any maid to be forced to be with a mate.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” A cold tone of voice came from behind me, when I thought about it, I remembered why I found it familiar.
“Luther?” I turned around and met his angry gaze. “What are you doing here?” I was surprised to see him but at the same time, relief washed over me that it wasn't him who had appeared instead.
“That's not important, what were you talking about? Who are you in love with? And who tried to force you to be his mate? Wait, is it that Beta? I knew it!” He stumped his foot angrily on the floor. “I knew that we should have tried to convince you to follow us back, but it's not too late. Come with me-” He grabbed my wrist, not giving me a chance to speak or explain myself and began walking down the path I just came from.
“Stop, just stop!” I pulled my hand from his anger, glaring at him at the same time.“A little context if you care to listen, the Beta didn't force me to be his mate, it was someone else and no I don't know who he is.”
“Could it be that Alpha Dexter?” Luther's eyes lose focus for a moment. “I don't think he would be bold enough to force a maid from Alpha Axel's pack to be his.”
“This isn't about whether or not he's that bold. I don't know how this Alpha Dexter is, all I know is that someone tried to forcefully mark me last night.” I blurted out angrily.
The blood on Luther's face drained, and his face was filled with anger… no it was rage. He stepped closer to me, pulled away the collar of my shirt to check my neck. “Do you know what this son of a bitch looks like?” The anger on his face drained away like it was never there, it was replaced with calmness.
“Of course, I can recall what he looks like but right now, I don't want to think about it. I just had a scary nightmare and would very much like to relax.” With new found boldness, I continued through the path. I heard Luther silently follow behind me but I didn't try to stop him or acknowledge his presence. In fact, I was glad that he did, at least my attacker would think twice this time before approaching me.
My steps were much faster and very soon, the cabin was before my eyes. “Finally.” I let out a deep breath. I rushed to the entrance, took the key from a broken flower pot on the porch, opened the door and got in. “Home sweet home.” I whispered underneath my breath before falling down on the clean soft bed
“I want to get some more sleep, I'll feel much safer if you don't leave.”
“Don't worry, I'll be here when you wake up.” He crouched down, gently stroking my hair.
His actions began to lull me to sleep, but before closing my eyes, I whispered. “Ask Lucas to bring breakfast, I'm hungry.”