Chapter 53 Colt?
Celine's POV
My feet stood outside the palace, and I smelled smoke.
Where was Lila?
She wasn't on sight, but we laid together in bed. We must have slept around the same time. I was supposed to be by her side. There was nothing to tell me how I'd left the room.
And no one was around me. No gammas. No maids. It was just me.
I smelled smoke.
“Where is this place?” I muttered as though I'd seen someone to pour out my questions to.
Perhaps someone would answer. But no one did. The smell of smoke got worse, blocking my sight, and soon, I couldn't see the houses right in front of me. Just a little more, and breathing would be impossible for me.
In just another second, the place turned dark.
There was no longer quietness.
I heard loud growls.
I saw fire. The houses were burning down, and the smell of blood mixed with that of smoke, choking me, and giving me no room to escape.
It was like a war had escalated, and I had no idea of it.
I was supposed to run, but I didn't know which direction to turn to—left or maybe right, but what if either of these paths had greater danger than the current spot I stood?
“Lila!” I managed to shout despite my ragged breath.
I heard my voice echo, but heard no answer.
But I heard footsteps.
“Tristan?”
The man came into view.
What…
“Celine.” He called.
“You… Colt.”
I doubted my eyes were seeing correctly.
“I’m here to save you.” He stopped after a few more steps, but was still an arm’s length from me.
“You betrayed me… You sold me out after everything we shared…”
For a second, I forgot about the smoke catching up against me. My eyes had started to let out tears, pointing a finger at him.
“You have to come with me,” he said. “The other werewolves would catch up to you!”
I didn't move.
From the opposite side he was standing, I saw Tristan.
“Celine… I’ve been searching for you.” He also stopped a few steps from me. “Come.” He stretched his hand at me just the same way Colt did.
Their voices were calling at me from opposite directions.
I had to choose.
The growls got louder, and I could feel the heat of the flames from the burning houses.
“Celine.” Colt and Tristan called at the same time.
The flames would consume me, and I needed to choose one of them or the flame consumed me, but I didn't know which of them to choose.
Was it the ex-lover who betrayed me? Or was it an Alpha I was still in doubt about, but feel darkness and chaos around?
“Celine!” Lila's voice got to my ears. “Wake up!”
I found myself on the bed.
It had been a dream.
“What… What happened?”
“You're cutting yourself again.”
I felt sharp pain around my wrist, blood spilling to stain the bed.
Lila rushed out of the room, and came in with a box with cross signs engraved on all sides. She opened it, and poured a bluish substance on my wrist, using a cotton wool to spread it evenly. When she was done with that, she covered it with a bandage.
“A nightmare, is it?” She asked.
I nodded. My body didn't feel like mine.
“What is it about?”
It was confusing. I didn't know how to narrate it. Seeing Colt gave me the chills.
“It’s like I found myself in the midst of war.” I started.
“War.” She sighed.
“You know anything about war?”
“I don't know. I'm not sure, but this is just a dream, isn't it?”
“No.” I shook my head. “You're a superstitious person, and I know you don't believe dreams are just dreams.”
“It depends on the content of the dream.”
“The content…”
“Yes, tell me about it… it made you start cutting yourself.”
She started trimming my nails so they weren't long enough to dig into my skin.
“I'm sure this dream is something personal to have made you harm yourself.”
“I saw Colt.”
“Your lover who betrayed you?” She furrowed her eyebrows.
“Yes… I saw him, it was strange, and… in the midst of the houses going down… in the midst of war.”
She went silent, stopped cutting my nails to observe me like the answer was engraved in my face. Maybe it was, but I didn't know it.
“What did he do? He tried to harm you?”
That would have been expected since he did it once, putting my life on the line because he thought he was carrying out a greater good.
“He didn't.”
“Then… what did he do?” Her eyes seemed to pick up flame like she could go into my dream and fight him off.
“He tried to save me.”
“How is that?” She wiped her palms across my face.
I didn't realize my eyes had started to let out tears.
“The fire, the wolves were going to get to me, and the smoke was starting to choke me.”
This same moment, it suddenly felt as though my breath was hindered just in the dream. It felt like I was thrown back into it, forcing me to make a choice between Tristan and Colt.
I wasn't going to tell Lila about this.
Telling her wouldn't change anything, but perhaps, strengthen her doubt against Tristan if she still had.
“Celine, are you okay?” She patted me. “Celine?”
“I'm fine.”
“You don't seem so.”
“I’m sure I'm fine.”
She shook her head. “But I'm not sure of that.”
I thought of ending this conversation, but I had questions to ask. She wouldn't have answer to any of them, but what if she had?
It was too unlikely.
“What if…” I started but stopped.
“Say it.”
I looked around us. We were still inside the room, so checking the surrounding didn't make any sense, except I felt I had to do it.
“Celine, go ahead, tell me what it is?”
“What if Colt is already in this pack?”