Chapter 46 Nightmare
ZORA
Is he asleep?
I listened if his breaths were even.
It was.
The bond wanted to be closer to him than this, it wanted to feel Ryker's warm skin under my fingertips.
Ridiculous.
I had set a condition, and here I was, about to break it even before I fell asleep.
I peered over the pillow I had set as a barrier to look at Ryker. In the dim light of the room, I tried to see if his eyes were open. There was nothing interesting about the ceiling, but if they were open, I could tell if it was asleep or not.
I turned to my side, playing with the tip of the pillows and considering if I should fling them across the room and snuggle into him.
The bond was active again and was yearning for him. It wanted proximity and being prevented by a pillow, and my weak willpower wasn't helping. I turned on my back and puffed air out of my chest, exasperated, annoyed and restless for no reason.
I had my pride to defend.
I mean, I was the one that told him not to fucking touch me. It would be low of me to crawl back to him because the bond wouldn't stay still when he was near. I turned on my side to face the world.
"Quit tossing and turning! It's making it difficult for me to fall asleep. Keeps pulling me out." He grumbled in a deep voice that vibrated off his lungs.
"I can't sleep."
"Not my problem. Cast a spell or something."
"I'm not a witch!"
"Whatever you say, meiga" That tone of someone who'd rather agree than argue with an idiot pissed me off even more.
I switched sides and yanked off the pillows one by one and flung it super far away from us. So hard that it bounced off the wall across us. He'll have to get up to get it. Riker propped himself on his elbow, and even if I couldn't currently see his face in the dark, I could tell he was giving me that look.
"Did you skip out on the lunar suite to torture me? Was that your real intention?"
I shrugged and smiled, enjoying it. "If I can't sleep, then you shouldn't."
"Why?"
"You told me to play Luna since I'm here. Why should my alpha sleep when his luna is finding it hard to?" I scoffed out in an annoyed tone.
"That's your problem. Fix it."
He laid back on the bed, his back turned to me.
"Alright," I smiled and scooted even closer, latched onto him from behind in a hug.
"What are you doing?" He asked, his tone husky.
"Fixing the problem just like you suggested." I rubbed my cheek against his back and breathed in a sigh of contentment.
I waited for him to argue, it didn't happen.
The bond purred in content while I drifted to sleep instantly, holding on to him.
I was back in the palace house. Ryker's palace house, moving from one hallway to the other.
Why? I didn't know. The palace house was empty. It appeared like not a single soul lived here. Even Ryker's quarters. Each door I opened creaked and echoed so loudly, and there was not a single draft of air floating in from an open window. The curtains didn't sway, not even the slightest, and everything seemed fixed, like the silver goblet on the round dull golden table. It looked so stiff and rigidly fixed that if I should tilt the table, I could bet it wouldn't slide off.
The entire palace house seemed dead. Where was everyone? I wondered.
"They're not meant to be here." Something or someone suddenly responded.
It was an eerily gentle voice. I froze at a spot, darting my eyes around to see what it was that responded. There was no one. There was nothing, not even a dust particle floating about idly or a fly aimlessly buzzing. There was a curtain-less window, but I couldn't see through it. That was weird.
Clearly, the glass it was made of wasn't the opaque type. Yet, I could not see outside. I took a step closer to the window, mainly to satisfy my curiosity.
"You won't find what you're looking for out there, Zora." I whisked around on my heel and strained my ears, but I couldn’t pick out any sounds.
Was I hallucinating?
I knew I had heard something. I turned away from the window only to have a dark hallway appear before me out of nowhere. It was pitch black in there, but at the other end, the hallway spilled into a bright room with checkered floors.
"Come, Zora."
I heard the voice emanate from the darkness, beckoning. "I'm in here."
"Who are you?" I questioned into darkness.
"I'm someone you'd like to know.”
I shook my head and backed away from the hallway, but slammed against a wall that initially wasn't there.
"I'd step into the darkness if I were you. It's safer on the other side," It spoke again.
I considered, but refused the idea of stepping into the dark hallway.
"Don't you want to find out?"
I ignored it. Perhaps if I said nothing to it, it would leave me alone.
But....
Is the house shrinking in, or is it just my fear? I took a look around, it was smaller than when I first stepped in. Shit, what if I get crushed in?
Or...
What if it's crushing me as a way to force me into a hallway? I look around again and realize that the room just got smaller.
Shit! It is.
Suddenly, I saw a figure float past the hallway from the other room with a checkered cloak. I tilted my head. She looked familiar. Her posture, her height, her hair...
She floated past again, this time a little bit slower. And this time, she stared and glanced my way.
Grace!
She disappeared. Without thinking, I dashed into the dark hallway, intending to catch up on her. I had questions she had to answer.
Like, why was I in this house that about to get crushed in? Why did she trap me in here? In the pitch-dark hallway, unseen hands seemed to aid me forward faster as if it wanted me to get to her before she disappeared again.
As soon as I stepped out of the hallway, a door closed on its own accord behind me in a loud bang. I stumbled forward, but I didn't fall. When I regained balance, the room had transformed into another section of Ryker's house palace.
I was at the mouth of a staircase, and where the dark hallway once stood was the large mirror. I couldn't see my reflection, but I could see her, slightly hovering over me. I couldn't tell if it was because she was taller than me all of a sudden, or if her feet was off the ground. Her powder-blue gown was long enough to have its hem drape all over the floor.
"What do you want?" I demanded and turned around to look at her over my shoulder, but saw nothing. However, in the mirror, she was still there, staring keenly at me. The mirror was the only way I knew I wasn't alone. I ran down the stairs but heard no footsteps behind me. But at the foot of the stairs was another mirror, and there she was again, hovering over me. I frowned. She was a nuisance back then, and she still was.
I tried to push her away, but she didn't budge. She only moved back, like an annoying bug, only to hover again. I stared at her through the mirror, perplexed over key details that were missing.
Where was the glare she was accustomed to giving me? Where was the harshness that made her wrinkles appear even more defined? Why wasn't she saying nasty vile things to me? Why??
"Meiga, wake up!" Someone yanked me away from the mirror. Ryker's face, blurry at first, popped into view. I frowned at him in confusion
Then I heard it, the noise outside the door. It was a commotion. "What is going on?" I asked Ryker.
"They hate that you're here, obviously." Ryker straightened and grabbed a thin white shirt, shrugging his arms into it.
"What?" I murmured, still feeling a bit disoriented.
" Letting you sleep here with me."
"How's that a problem?" I grumbled, even if I understood the reason. Alphas were supposed to sleep differently from their Lunas since it was a tradition.
"Is that why you woke me up?" I added.
"No." He said firmly without any hesitation, "you were thrashing in your dream, maybe a nightmare?"
"Ohh,"
"They don't matter, though. No one can tell me what to do. If I want you to stay with me, then so be it." He did the last of his shirt buttons and started approaching the door.
"No!" I jumped off the bed and stopped him, just as he was about to open it.
Making go against them will only make things worse and making staying here unbearable. Soon, either of us would be an outcast.
"I'll go to the Lunar quarters. One night, with them can't be that bad, can it?"
I turned away and started to get dressed. "It's probably better than one more night with you." I added.
It was a filmsy lie! And I knew that he saw through it.
I mean, I had cuddled him all night. If anyone who was going to be better off, it was him.
But he didn't ask any more questions. Nor did he make any attempt to stop me.
Also, maybe the other Lunas might warm up to me and tell me anything about Grace.
After I was done dressing, he stepped aside and watched in silence as I left his room.
The people outside were a group of men and women who stared at me with disgust as I moved past.
"Took you long enough." One of the spat.
"You can't think because you are Ryker's fake Luna, you are above exception. You aren't special, you hear me, you are nothing."
I ignored the people talking and tuned out their voices, focusing on the sent of people leading me back to the Luna suite.
Knowing more about Grace was worth it. I chanted in my head over and over again as I bore the angry stares and glares.
The luna suite was designed with floral colors and pastel tones. I had my room details in hand but never made it inside.
"Look who decided, showed up!" One of the lunas, brunette hair and pale-skinned with grey eyes snickered. "An undeserving low life."
"How is she even here?"
"Is she a Luna?"
She probably got her brains fucked out to be here."
"We should teach her a lesson for trying to defy orders in the first place" Someone shoved me from behind.
I swallowed, seeing that I had been clearly cornered into their midst. Dread spread from my chest to my body.
This is going to be a nightmare.