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~Valerie's POV~
Darkness swallowed everything surrounding . It wasn't the empty kind, but the kind that seed alive..
I was eight again, standing in the forest clearing of my family's mansion, the night air cold enough to burn.
My little hands trembled as I clutched the torn edge of my mother's dress. Her moonflowers and rain scent still clung to my fingers.
"Stay behind , sweetheart," she whispered.
I rembered this night. The night everything broke.
The shadows moved first. A vicious growl shredded the silence.
My father shifted in front of us, his wolf form huge and white under the moonlight. He snarled at the figures slipping between the trees.
Dark cloaks, red eyes. Smirks that promised only one thing… Death.
My mother scread my na. I turned too late.
A burst of unnatural flas, witch-born, hit her square in the chest. Her body arched, then collapsed into the leaves, her hair fanned like a silver halo around her.
This wasn't how it all happened but that was the least of my worries. My brain was gibing versions of fear… and I was too weak to change anything.
The next second I watched both of my parents, the life draining from them. "Mom. Mama, please, wake up... please." My tiny voice cracked, drowning in its own terror.
Another flash of magic hit my father. His wolf staggered, his cries shaking the ground.
Then, silence. Both my parents lay still, unmoving. They were dead. The forest swallowed their last heartbeat.
I ran. I scread. I begged for them.
But the nightmare didn't let go. It snapped into another mory—another nightmare.
This ti I stood outside a familiar mansion… Dominic's.
mories from that firs eting and that night seed to overwhelm . His smirk. His hand in my hair. His knife glinted under dim light.
"You obey, little wolf."
My wolf howled, my vision drowned in red. I saw my own hands—small, trembling, wrapped around his throat.
His eyes widened. My wolf surged. There was a crack, a wet snap, and Dominic's body hit the floor.
Blood dripped onto my skin. I wasn't sure whether it was his or mine.
I stood over his body, chest heaving, heart splitting between freedom… and horror.
The sll of iron filled my lungs. His dead eyes stared at .
"You killed him," a voice whispered behind . I spun, but the nightmare twisted into a blur of fire, screams, and shadows reaching for .
My lungs burned. I tried to push my body away from the flas but my feet refused to move.
My heart slamd painfully agaisnt my chest, and I jerked awake with a gasp.
My sheets stuck to my skin, soaked with sweat. My breath ca in short, sharp bursts. I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm my fast beating heart while chanting, 'it's a dream. It's a dream' when a voice rose from the corner of my room.
"You okay, princess?"
I nearly scread and jumoed off my bed. Instead, I whipped around, heart in my throat, narrowed nmy eyes at the spot in the corner.
"Who's there?"
No sooner had I asked, than Axel stepped out from the shadows, hands raised in peace, eyes filled with worry.
"What—what are you doing in my room?" I choked out, still shaking.
He stepped closer, carefully. "I was worried," he said softly. "We all are. So, I ca here. You've been distant and avoiding us. Pulling away. And I just…" His jaw tightened. "I feel like you're going through sothing you're hiding."
I swallowed hard. "Did they send you?"
"No," he said imdiately. "They're worried too, but I ca here on my own accord."
My eyes narrowed, my chest still panting. "So what if I had been naked?"
Axel shrugged with a crooked smile. "Would've been a dream co true."
He barely dodged the pillow I threw at his head. His laughter loosened sothing tight in my chest.
Without waiting for an invitation, he sat on the edge of the bed, gaze softening. "Speaking of dreams… You had a nightmare?"
I looked away, staring at the moonlit window. My arms wrapped around myself before I realised it. I could still feel the forest. Still sll the blood.
Axel noticed.
He moved closer. "I sensed sothing through the bond when I was taking a walk. Panic. Fear. I knew it was you. So I ca."
"I see…" My voice cracked. I sighed and looked down. "It was just a bad dream. Nothing more."
"You sure?" he asked quietly.
He scooted close, close enough that our knees brushed. His hand hovered, then gently cupped my cheek as he tilted my face toward him.
"I don't want to hear 'I'm fine' or 'I'm just tired.'" His thumb stroked my skin. "How are you… really?"
I swallowed, the answer catching painfully in my throat. "Honestly… I don't know."
The words trembled out of . "I feel out of sync with everything. With the bond. With myself. And then the dream…" My voice died off.
Axel didn't push. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly.
I shook my head. "No."
He didn't argue. He simply wrapped his arms around and pulled into his chest.
The second my body touched his… I lted.
His warmth, his heartbeat, and the way his hand stroked my back, unravelled . We stayed like that for a long ti, maybe minutes.
"Are you asleep?" Axel murmured into my hair.
"No."
He lifted my chin gently to make sure I wasn't, until our eyes t. My breath hitched at the tenderness on his face.
"We're here for you, Val," he whispered. "All of us. But you've got to let us in. Stop being afraid."
My chest tightened painfully. "Promise?"
"I promise," he said without hesitation.
His thumb retraced my cheek, then drifted lower, brushing the corner of my mouth. His gaze flicked to my lips before returning to my eyes.
"You're beautiful," he murmured. "I'm sorry… for being a jerk back then."
My brows creased. I didn't quite get what he ant until he added, "in the past with my… "It's in the past," I whispered.
One thing bled into the next, and soon I found Axel's hand on my waist. My fingers curled around his shirt as I drew in a deep breath.
Similarly, Axel's breath brushed my lips, a little, as though he was scared I wouldn't let him, and then I shocked him with a kiss.
Soft at first, then deeper, a release of every fear and longing and ache I had buried.
"Stop blaming yourself," I whispered against his mouth. "If anyone ran… it was . Because of my own insecurities."
"Val…" His voice broke a little. His forehead pressed against mine. "Don't worry about anything. We'll take it slow. Together."
Then he kissed back, hungry in a way that lted every rational thought out of .
Astra purred within , urging to claim ur mate. Following her ush and letting my own body react, my legs slid around his waist as Axel's hands tightened on my hips.
Our breaths grew uneven, tangled.
Axel's lips trailed down my throat, and a soft sound slipped from before I could swallow it.
"Axel…"
"Valerie…" He groaned my na like it was a prayer.
And in that breathless mont, nothing existed except his hands on my skin, my pulse racing under his touch, and the unmistakable fact that I wasn't running anymore.
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A knock tore out of sleep.
I jolted up, heart thudding, only to realize I'd fallen asleep wrapped in Axel's scent, the faint warmth of where he'd lain beside still lingering in the sheets.
My cheeks must have flushed just from the thought of how wild we let our making out go.
He was gently kissing and barely touching through my nightie.
None of us took things further, but that alone told I was beginning to open up.
Goosebumps prickled my skin.
Another knock landed on my door, followed by a voice.
"Valerie?" Solstice's voice filtered in, muffled but alert. "You slept in. We were getting ready for school and didn't hear anything from your room. Just checking if you're okay."
I rubbed my eyes and forced my voice to steady. "Yeah… I'm fine."
A pause followed. "Sure?" she pressed.
I nodded, even though she couldn't see it. "Yeah."
I got up, headed for the door and opened it before I realised that I did not open the door fast enough to get rid of Axel's scent.
Solstice stepped in anyway.
She scanned the room once—once was all it took for her wolf senses to pick up everything. She walked toward the bed and sat on the edge casually, but her nose twitched in that way that ant trouble.
"Your mate ca over?"
I froze mid-step, then turned around with what I hoped looked like an innocent smile.
"No."
She stared blankly. "Lies." She sniffed again, this ti sharply. "I know that scent. It's…"
Her brows rose higher. "It's Axel, isn't it?"
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