Page 2 of What Haunts the Heart
1
Oakley
Ijerked awake, gasping for breath, the sheets wrapped like a noose around my neck. I fought with them, finally yanking them away from my sweat-drenched body. I flung them to the floor and sat upright in bed, one hand clenching at my chest.Breathe, Oak,I told myself.It was just a nightmare. Just another nightmare.
I pinched my eyes closed on a shuddering sigh. Dreams couldn't hurt me. I knew that, but what the dreams represented? The end of my life as I knew it? That was enough of a trigger to make my inner-wolf growl and pace through the murky depths of my mind.
Ever since Father had demanded I marry the Omega he'd set me up with—the same Omega my own brother refused to wed, right before he fled the pack and his duties as Alpha-Heir—my dreams had gotten progressively worse.
At first, they revolved around the wedding our parents had planned for us, but as the months went on, they became more and more violent.
Visions of my pack tearing me apart, shredding me limb from limb, as my father proudly watched. My blood smeared across the marble flooring, pooling from my slit throat as I fought for every last breath. The sound of Claire's frantic screams as they turned on her as well, hunted her down like a lamb at slaughter. Her whimpers fading out as I lost consciousness, never to wake again.
A growl rumbled through me, unbidden, filling the silence of the dark bedroom. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I blew out a breath and wiped the clammy sweat from my brow.
Our parents couldn't wait to have us married off, but I was miserable just thinking about it.
Don’t get me wrong, Claire was an amazing person and she'd become one of my closest friends, but I could never love her. What we'd have would never have anything more than a partnership of convenience. I knew she felt the same. We were being forced into this marriage if only for the betterment of our packs, to bear strong-blooded heirs to the Everwood and Arlia thrones.
That was it.
Our happiness didn't matter. Ourlivesdidn't matter. The fact that we would never be truly loved didn't fucking matter to anyone but us, but I couldn't begrudge Claire for that.
How could I, when she was the one who would suffer the most? At least I was bisexual. Claire was gay. We would sleep together only to create the offspring our packs demanded of us. It would be a loveless marriage with zero intimacy. That's what we had to look forward to for the rest of our lives, and it ate at me.
But maybe that was because my heart was far away from here, in a magical little town called Vale Valley.
Simply the thought of Eden Elric had my blood pumping. I'd met the sassy, teal-haired twink of a peacock shifter at my brother's wedding. I was Kinsley's best man and Eden was Chester's “maid-of-honor” and damn, did he wear that dress-suit like a god. They'd decided on a pastel rainbow for their wedding colors, which was fitting. I wore a slate gray tux with a rainbow tie and cufflinks, and Eden?
Let's just say he nearly outshined Chester, at least in my opinion.
He was absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't help myself. We ended up spending the night together at the inn. Okay, several nights together, but who’s counting?
I knew it wasn't the wisest thing I'd ever done, seeing as I was promised to another Omega, but we couldn't keep our hands off each other. When I left Vale Valley, I had every intention of coming back to stoke those flames—and I had, several times.
Now I was in too deep.
With the wedding less than two weeks away, dread choked me. There would be no more visits to Vale Valley. No more passionate nights spent with Eden.
The day I married Claire would be the end of me.
"Shit." Panic gripped me in a headlock, my stomach churning. No, no, no. I couldn't do this. I couldn't go through with this. I couldn't live with myself if I did. There had to be another way.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and with both hands, pushed myself up. My knees felt weak, like they were made of jelly, as I scrounged around in the dark for a pair of pants.
I hiked yesterday's jeans up over my hips and zipped them, then yanked open the bedroom door. I made a beeline for the staircase. My bare feet thumped over the polished hardwood, loud in the quiet of night, but not as loud as my heart pounding away inside my chest.
I needed to get out of here. This place was suffocating me and I couldn't breathe!
I flung the front door open so hard it smacked against the wall and bounced off. I didn't care if I woke anyone up. I didn't care about anything but the crisp, autumn-rich air that beckoned me outside.
Escaping onto the wide wrap-around porch, I sank down on the front steps. My throat burned and my eyes ached.Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. This isn't the end. It can't be.
I dropped my head into my hands and pressed the pads of my thumbs against my eyelids. Each unsteady breath I took was a soft gasp of sound, my lungs fighting one another for air.
My heart jumped into my throat as the outside lights flipped on, flooding the porch with bright yellow light. The door creaked open and footsteps shuffled over the wooden planks. Too soft to be Father, thank god.
Before I had the chance to turn around and see who was there, a whisper of scent reached my nose. It was sweet, like lilies and chamomile, and its familiarity calmed my frantic thoughts.
