Chapter 107: A premonition

"What is this?" Alyssa whispered, staring at her hands in horror. She blinked rapidly, praying her mind was muddled from sleep and playing tricks on her.

But even after blinking several times, the strange red runes on her skin didn’t vanish.

They crawled across her arms, spreading to her chest like webs of liquid fire, warping and distorting as they moved. They pulsed beneath her skin, embedded deep within her bloodstream.

She looked up into the mirror, a cold shock hitting her as her bright blue eyes morphed into a deep, bloody crimson. The runes etched around her eye sockets, taking over her face entirely.

She tried to call out to Dorian, but her throat felt clogged. She couldn’t utter a single sound.

Then, through the quiet, a sharp crack echoed round the bathroom. Her red eyes snapped to the mirror, following a violent fracture tearing across the glass.

​It’s happening again, she panicked. The shattered glass... my powers are surging...

She recoiled, throwing her hands over her face for protection as the mirror suddenly exploded into shards. But when the silence stretched without the sound of glass crashing to the tile floor, she opened her eyes.

Another gasp caught in her throat. All around her, the mirror shards floated in midair, quivering violently as if anchored by an invisible force.

She reached out to touch the one closest to her face when something else caught her attention. On the wall, where the first mirror had just shattered, was another one. Only this time, she couldn’t see her reflection in it.

A shadow moved, stepping slowly into the light. It was Dorian. He stared straight out at her, his eyes hollow and glassy. His clothes were shredded, soaked through with blood, and the hollow expression in his eyes chilled her to the bone.

"Dorian?" she whispered, reaching through the hovering glass shards toward him. But he looked right through her, unaware of her presence.

Suddenly, another male figure materialized behind him. He closed the distance silently, and the light caught the sharp flash of a steel blade.

Her eyes widened. Before she could open her mouth to warn him, the figure stepped up behind Dorian and severed his head in a single, brutal slash.

"NOOO!" she screamed.

The hovering glass shards exploded, tearing across her skin violently. Screams echoed loudly in her skull, pounding harshly until she thought her head would burst.

Then, all of a sudden, someone was shaking her and calling out her name repeatedly.

​She opened her eyes, sucking in a frantic breath as she came face-to-face with Dorian. He was holding her firmly, a mask of raw worry on his face.

"What’s wrong, my love? What is it?" he asked, shaking her gently.

Her hands trembled uncontrollably as she reached up to touch his face, checking to see if he was real. He was warm. He was real.

"Dorian... I..." she trailed off, her voice sounding choked, unable to articulate her words.

She turned to the mirror, astonished to find it completely intact. There were no cracks, no levitating shards of glass hovering in the air. The figure she had seen inside the mirror was gone, and her pale reflection stared back at her, blue eyes back to normal.

She looked down at her arms and chest. The runes were gone too, as if they had never existed. Everything seemed like it had all been a wild imagination.

"What happened, my love?" Dorian asked again, his worry deepening. Her scream had woken him up, and the first thing he thought of was that an intruder had broken into the room.

"I... I don’t know," she whispered, her voice shaking. "I saw these runes... glowing red runes burning into my skin. And then... the mirror shattered. I saw you inside it..."

Her eyes flew to his, her hands trembling as she cupped his jaw. "I saw you, Dorian. Someone killed you. Someone murdered you... and you were covered in blood and..."

She broke down in tears, her entire body shaking from the aftermath of what she just witnessed.

Dorian pulled her against his chest, holding her tight. He gently stroked her back in slow, grounding motions, murmuring soft words against her hair to calm her.

His eyes swept the bathroom silently; nothing was out of place. So what Alyssa saw was either a dark trick of her mind, or something else he couldn’t explain. Whatever it was, it clearly left her terrified.

"It wasn’t real, my love," he murmured. "I’m right here. I’m right here with you."

"It felt so real," Alyssa sobbed into his neck. "So real. Like a premonition." Her arms tightened around him as she sobbed.

Dorian kissed her hair and pulled back slightly. He thumbed away her tears, gently stroking her cheek.

"It wasn’t a premonition. Don’t think about it, okay? Nothing is going to happen to me."

"But Dorian, it felt real," she pleaded softly. "Promise me you’ll be careful. Please. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you."

Those words melted his heart, the raw, desperate devotion in her voice breaching every layer of his composure.

He leaned down and kissed her, one hand curling gently around her jawline. It started as a fierce reassurance, his lips parting hers to claim her completely, tasting the faint salt of her tears.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulling her against his chest so she could feel the steady, undeniable rhythm of his beating heart, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was alive, that he was right there in her arms.

Alyssa let out a soft sigh into his mouth, her hands moving up to tangle in his hair, clinging to him as the terrifying cold of the vision finally melted away, replaced by his consuming heat.

He deepened the kiss, caressing her gently until he felt every last trace of tension drain from her trembling body, leaving her completely relaxed and anchored in his arms.

Then he slowly pulled back, breathless, and leaned his forehead against hers.

"You won’t lose me. I give you my word, as your husband, and as your Alpha. I’ll always be with you. Always."

She nodded quietly, closing her eyes as he kissed her once more before taking her hand and leading her out of the bathroom.

Back inside the room, he lowered her gently on the edge of the bed. His eyes fogged briefly as he mind-linked one of the servants to bring up a hot cup of tea.

Alyssa wrapped her arms around herself, letting out a soft sigh. "Why would I see something like that?" she whispered. "I’ve only ever had dreams."

Dorian didn’t answer immediately. When the servant arrived with the cup of tea, he collected it, slammed the door shut and walked back over to Alyssa.

"Here," he murmured gently. "This should calm your nerves."

"Thank you," she smiled and accepted the cup.

Dorian lowered to the bed beside her, one of his hands resting reassuringly on her thigh, just beneath the hem of her nightgown.

"I think what happened has something to do with your Hybrid powers," he said finally. "We still don’t know what your other half is. Maybe once we know, we will get answers."

Alyssa took several sips of tea before dropping the cup on the nightstand. "Should we tell Anthony? Or Nina?"

"No. We’re not telling them."

"Why?" she frowned. "At least, let’s tell Nina. She’s an ancient healer. Maybe she has knowledge of things like this."

"We can’t tell anyone yet, my love," Dorian said in a tight, rigid voice. "Because they won’t take the news calmly like I did. You’d be surprised how fast a loyal friend can turn into a foe with just a few words."

Her frown deepened. "What do you mean?"

Dorian contemplated his next words carefully before speaking. "There used to be Hybrid creatures in the realm, decades ago. These Hybrids were vicious, evil-minded creatures who tormented the realm with chaos and bloodshed. I wiped them all out during the last war. How do you think people would react if they discover that my wife, the Luna of Wintercrest, is a Hybrid?"

It never struck Alyssa that she would one day pose a threat to his people. "But, I’m not vicious. I would never hurt anyone."

"I know that," Dorian nodded softly. "But until I’m sure the news of your identity won’t cause an uproar, we need to keep it between us. Do you understand, little lamb?"

She nodded slowly. Of course she understood. When people came in contact with something they didn’t understand, something they feared, the next thing they did was to try and destroy it.

"Okay," she conceded.

Dorian already suspected what Alyssa’s other half was. The signs were getting increasingly hard to ignore, and he knew he couldn’t keep denying it.

But he clung to the hope that maybe, just maybe, it would turn out that she was something else.

He was still lost in thought when Jake’s voice came through the mind-link.

[Alpha? There’s someone at the gate demanding to see you.]

[Who?] Dorian growled back instantly.

[It’s your Uncle Conri. He said it’s important, and he won’t be leaving until he has an audience with you. He said it concerns the Luna.]

Dorian’s jaw set in a dark scowl. What game was that bastard playing now?