Chapter 8: SLEEPTALK

MILDRED’S POV

SLEEPTALK

The mirror threw back a stranger’s face.

Brown hair, chopped blunt at the shoulders, clung damp against my cheeks. It was too light, too sharp, and it felt…just wrong. The shade made my skin look thinner and my frame more fragile as though I had been carved down to fit a role I didn’t choose.

And those eyes. My hazel eyes now looked honey-brown, soft, betraying. I mean that was the eye color of the main culprit in all these you know. She gets to change my life most cruelly and I'm also forced to wear her appearance? Make it make sense! Her eyes stared back at me as if they were mocking me and I couldn’t hold the gaze for long; the pit of my stomach heaved in protest.

I gripped the counter until my knuckles whitened, bile rising with the weight of it all. This wasn’t me. This couldn’t be me. How had I let the goddess twist my life into this shape?

The nausea surged higher. I stumbled to the toilet, retching until there was nothing left. My body shook as I flushed, then leaned against the wall for strength. By the time I brushed my teeth and stripped for the shower, the water sluiced over me, burning, scalding, and cleansing nothing.

I crawled into bed at about past eight. Hayden’s bed. Even the sheets smelled of him. Sandalwood and smoke, earthy and sharp. The scent wrapped around me, pulling him into my head whether I wanted him there or not.

I told myself not to think of him. Not to hope that he would change or fall for him. But the more I resisted, the stronger he pressed in, his words from the altar clawing at me. No love. No affection. Nothing.

And still, I waited all day. Lingering through lunch, sitting through dinner, hoping for him. But he never came to me and strangely, I wanted him around. This is my life now, I thought bitterly. A hundred days of silence and coldness. And then what? Oblivion?

My chest ached as my mind replayed the day; the near slip before my family, Molly’s narrowed eyes, Hayden’s humiliating non-kiss at the altar. That cruel gesture stung more than a slap. It was rejection carved into my bones.

I was pathetic.

The thought clung to me as sleep dragged me under.

The dream came quickly; I walked down a narrow path lined with sunflowers, their golden heads bowing as though to comfort me. For a fleeting moment, their brightness soothed the hollow ache inside me. Then the sky darkened, heavy clouds spilling cold drops that speckled my skin.

“Mildred!”

I spun.

She stood there. Brown hair, warm eyes, a smile I had memorized from a faded photograph. My mother. My heart leapt.

“Mom!” My feet carried me to her desperately, hungry for her arms. But the closer I came, the more her smile faded.

“Don’t leave me, please!” My voice cracked, raw. I reached out my hand but she was already pulling away, vanishing into the storm.

Rain lashed down, drenching me, weighing me to the earth. Alone. I was always alone. “Please!” I screamed, chasing after her with my throat tearing with the force of it. The ground trembled. It wasn't rain, or thunder. Just violent shaking. Then a hand grasped my shoulders. Pulling me back…

My eyes flew open.

A blurred figure swam into focus with water dripping and a towel knotted low around his hips. He had broad shoulders, every muscle looking like it was cut from stone.

Hayden.

I froze, air locking in my chest. His hair was damp, sticking up in jagged spikes. Drops traced rivulets down the hard planes of his chest, catching the lamplight as though carved from bronze.

I couldn’t stop staring. My lips parted soundlessly, my throat went dry. Heat coiled low in my belly.

His lips curved in a smirk when his eyes caught mine. He leaned closer, close enough that the sandalwood on his skin mixed with steam and breath. My pulse thundered. His mouth hovered inches from mine, the world narrowing to that single point… his lips, so close I could taste them without touching.

Every nerve screamed for me to close the distance. To touch him and to surrender. For one dizzy, traitorous moment, I thought he might. Then his voice shattered it.

“Don’t you ever talk in your sleep here again.”

The venom in his tone hit harder than a slap. He had the faintest curl of mockery that lingered at his mouth.

My chest heaved. I scrambled for composure, clamping my thighs together under the sheets to steady the betraying heat inside me.

“I…I was…” The words broke on my tongue. I silenced myself before I could dig my grave deeper.

He straightened, disgust flashing across his features. “I won’t tolerate your… weirdness. It’s bad enough I let you stay here, snoring like a pig.”

“I don't snore!" I retorted. The words gutted me. The way his gaze swept over me, hollow with warmth, made me shrink into the duvet, wishing I could vanish entirely.

“Don't yell at me, dirty, snoring pig." He shot back and turned instantly dismissing me and stalking out of the room.

I yanked the covers over my head, squeezing my eyes shut.

My body still hummed, wild and burning, even as shame smothered me. I had never felt desire like that before. It was raw, consuming, and humiliating. It terrified me.

And worse, I knew it wouldn’t stop.

Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not until this hundred-day nightmare ended.

I sank back into the pillows and my mind slipped into the dream.

My mother’s face. Her brown hair. The same eyes they said Ximena had. Was she my sister? No. She can't be. If she were, I would have known her or Father would have mentioned her. I was the only child my mum had before she died. This is just some cruel coincidence.

The resemblance clung to me, and the emptiness of Hayden’s mansion only sharpened it. Not even a portrait or a sketch. Nothing of the woman he was meant to wed.

“Cold bastard,” I whispered.

The maids bustled in almost immediately with steaming water and soft towels, crowding me but I remembered their chatter and it made my stomach turn.

“I’ll handle it,” I said quickly, lifting a hand. “Just… leave one of you.”

They hesitated, eyes darting at one another, until I added, “Vanessa stays. The rest of you can go.”

Then they bowed and filed out.

Vanessa stepped closer, her hands gentle as she washed me, steam curling around us, the warm water sliding down my skin and easing the knots in my shoulders. She worked quietly, almost reverently, as though she feared breaking me with a rough touch. If only she knew what I have been through.

When she reached for a towel and murmured, “I’ll help you dress, my lady,” I shook my head.

“No. I’ll do it myself.”

She paused, frowning. “It’s my duty…”

“I said I’ll do it.” My tone was firmer than I meant, but it made her still. After a moment, she bowed her head.

“As you wish, Mi'lady.”

She lingered a heartbeat longer, then left me alone in the room,

I huffed.

All I could find in the closet were Hayden's collection of shoes, jackets, shirts, and a bunch of other outrageously expensive outfits that anyone as wealthy as Hayden could think of owning.

He wasn't thoughtful enough to at least consider my outfits. My gaze fell on the white crisp crew-neck shirt in the drawers.

I couldn't prance around the mansion in such outfits, I was a Luna now and a dress was the ideal piece of clothing for a woman of my standing.

So what was I going to wear?

As if summoning an answer to my question, Vanessa came back into the room with a nice dress on a hanger and a broad smile on her face.

I quickly changed into the dress Vanessa brought and with my short hair brushed and my face tended I was transformed into the woman I was the day before.

"Alpha Hayden wants you in this dress," Vanessa mumbled with a soft smile on her face.

"He does?" My eyes regarded the girl helping me with the finishing touches to the dress.

Hayden was at the table when I joined the table for breakfast. Displeasure was etched on his face at my tardiness but I didn't realize he was waiting. I would have doubled up everything.

"Hey!" I mumbled softly with a smile.

Hoping my smile would work some magic on his hardened gaze but it didn't. Drew, his assistant, helped me pull out a seat and I settled in offering him an appreciative grin.

Silence stretched between us and in no time, Hayden pushed aside his plate, gulped down the water before him, and left the table.

I lingered around the dining area after breakfast watching the domestic staff clean up.

He didn't bother to say a word to me. That stung more than the resentment in his eyes.

"Luna," Drew called and I looked up at him, "I will need you to please come rehearse your speech. The elders might want your opinion at the Full moon rituals a few nights from today."

I stared blankly at him. My words were now going to be scripted, analyzed, and scrutinized before I said them.

He led the way out of the dining area and I quietly followed him.

As we crossed the living area through Hayden's home office. The minute Drew stretched out for the doorknob, the door swung open and Hayden was before us.

His face widened in shock as he glanced from where I stood behind Drew to the company he had behind him.

My eyes met them before they could recover from smiling into each other's faces.

Alpha Bruce and his wife Navaeh.

What were they doing here again? What business did they have running with Hayden? Did they suspect it was me? Did they imagine I was fooling the Alpha?

Instinctively, my legs turned from the door with my back against it. In a steady but hurried stride, I scurried away from his home office.

"Our Luna?" Navaeh's voice rang behind me.

But I moved away as smoothly as I could go with the need to get away from that wing clouding my vision.

I turned the corner towards the living room and... bump! I ran into a wall that wasn't supposed to be there.

I lost my balance toppling forward but I felt an arm hold me in place.

I looked from the arm tracing it up to his face to see a drop-dead handsome dude towering above me with his electric blue eyes on me and his blonde wavy hair dropping halfway through to his shoulders.

I gawked at him in a manner that was supposed to offend him. I just bumped into him and now I was ogling at him. What was happening today?

A smile broke from his face and he looked charming.

"This is the very last way I expected to meet you, Luna." He chuckled beautifully, releasing me from his grip.

I released my breath and took full control of myself. But my eyes never wandered from his face.

"I am Chase Lann, Gamma of the Moonlight Pack."

I nodded with sheer strain as I continued my ogling session. I was flattered by the thoughts of a man as preppy and as hot as Chase was to know who I was.

Okay, not precisely. But at least the attention was a die-for. He looked beyond my head and searched the hollow space behind me.

"For a second I thought someone was after you?" His husky voice filled my ears.

It was my cue now, but my tongue was tied and the words were trapped.

Okay, I needed to say something. I needed to speak before things dragged on an awkward edge.

"I was just wandering," I said when I finally found my tongue.

"Now how about I show you around?" He leaned in and whispered, "Hayden is never the considerate one."

A laugh escaped my mouth at his grimace. "Yeah, sure!" I said instead.

"The garden?" He arched a bushy brow and I nodded. He started towards the terrace and with that, we were out into the sunlight towards the garden.

"You were not at the wedding ceremony?" I began as we walked casually down the pebbled path.

"I had a few assignments to take care of." He shrugged, sliding me another grin, "I so much wanted to see Hayden at the altar."

"He was charming." A smile twitched on my lips.

"You sound convincing." The smile left his face.

"He was, trust me."

He halts in his tracks making me glance up at his face. The playfulness on his face was discarded like a cloak and his eyes were now inscrutable.

"I'm impressed with the work going on so far. With a lot of eagle eyes around here, I would implore you to do whatever it takes to keep your true identity a secret." He stepped oddly closer to me, leaning into me in a manner that I thought he was going to kiss me.

"I, I," I stuttered in my defense.

"Hayden could turn into

a vicious monster if you grow reckless and have this pyramid cave in on us."

I watched his blue eyes in riddles, not understanding the emotions gleaming in them or the words he was saying. What pyramid?