Chapter 8: The Awakening

Chapter 8: The Awakening

(Myra's POV)

I woke up with a start, gasping for air, my heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. The sheets were tangled around my legs, clinging to me like a memory I couldn't shake. My body was cold, drenched in sweat, and I didn't know where I was at first. The dream was still so fresh—too real.

I blinked, trying to clear the fog from my mind, but as I looked around, everything seemed so… normal. My room. My bed. The faint light of the morning creeping through the curtains. It was all too quiet, too peaceful.

But my pulse still thrummed in my ears, and the heavy weight of the dream lingered, pressing down on me like I was still trapped in it. I could almost still hear the howling wind outside, feel the cold bite of the night air on my skin.

I ran a hand over my face, trying to wake myself up fully. It had to have been a dream, right? Just a nightmare. There was no wolf, no blood contract, no storm. And definitely no Jenna standing over me, her cold eyes saying everything I needed to hear.

But even as the thought tried to settle in, the images of it—those sharp, unnerving details—clung to me. The way the blood contract had felt in my hand. The eerie sense of fate tightening around me. And Luke…

No, I couldn't think about him.

I shook my head, forcing my legs to swing off the bed and plant on the cool wood floor. The dream still clung to me, too vivid to just let go of, but I had to. I had to know it wasn't real.

I grabbed my robe and pulled it on, walking through the house with the weight of the dream still heavy on my shoulders. Everything felt slightly off, like I was seeing the world through a haze. My breath hitched as I passed the staircase, and I found myself wondering if I was still trapped somewhere—half in the waking world and half in a nightmare.

The living room was silent when I entered, the morning light spilling softly through the windows. Jenna was standing by the window, arms crossed, her back to me as she stared outside, unmoving.

"Jenna," I said, my voice more fragile than I intended.

She didn't turn immediately, but after a moment, she slowly shifted to face me, her gaze sharp and piercing. Her expression was calm, almost too calm, but I saw something else in her eyes—a flicker of something that I couldn't place.

"You're up early," she said, her tone almost casual, but there was an underlying sharpness there, something I hadn't heard in her voice before.

"I… I had a dream," I started, my voice sounding small in the quiet of the room. "It felt so real. I don't understand it. There was a wolf. And the blood contract. And Luke. Jenna, I—I can still feel it."

Her face didn't change. If anything, her lips tightened slightly, as if she had heard this all before.

"It was just a dream, Myra," she said flatly, almost too calmly. "A nightmare. You're stressing yourself out over nothing. You've been under so much pressure lately—this prophecy, the whole situation with your father, the engagement to Luke—it's getting to you."

I shook my head, not willing to let it go. "No, it wasn't. It wasn't just a dream. It was too real. I—Jenna, I felt it. I felt the contract. I saw the wolf. It's not just in my head. It was too vivid."

She stepped closer to me, her gaze now narrowing. "You're overreacting. The mind plays tricks when you're under stress. You're imagining things. That's all."

I could hear her words, but they didn't feel like the truth. It was like something inside me was screaming that she was lying—lying to me, or maybe just trying to protect me from the truth.

"I saw it, Jenna," I whispered, my voice trembling. "I felt it. The pull, the bond, the storm. It wasn't just a nightmare. Please, tell me you understand."

For the first time, something flickered in Jenna's eyes. A flash of uncertainty, of something I couldn't read. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. She gave me a long, almost pitying look, and then her expression hardened again.

"It was a dream," she said, her voice cold. "Nothing more. The way you're reacting, it's like you want to believe it was real, but it wasn't. Whatever you felt, however real it seemed, it's not true. Understand?"

I stared at her, my chest tightening. I wanted to scream, to shake her, to make her tell me the truth, but the cold, unyielding look in her eyes stopped me.

I swallowed hard, trying to steady my racing heart. "But… the ring. The contract. Luke. They were all there, Jenna. I know what I felt."

She sighed, like she was explaining something to a child. "It's all part of your overactive imagination, Myra. You're seeing things that aren't there. The bond is something that's been manipulated in your mind. You're reacting to the pressure of your engagement, your father, everything. It's not real."

"But how do you explain…?" The words died in my throat. I wanted to ask about the wolf—the creature that had seemed so alive, so dangerous—but the look in Jenna's eyes silenced me.

She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Myra, listen to me. It was a dream. The bond you felt, the wolf, Luke—it's all in your head. This… this thing you think you saw, it's just your mind playing tricks on you. I promise you, it's not real."

I could feel my legs wobble beneath me, the dream and the reality mixing together like oil and water. It felt so real. Too real to be ignored. But there she was, standing in front of me, telling me it wasn't.

"I don't believe you," I whispered, my voice shaking.

She smiled softly, though the expression didn't reach her eyes. "You will, Myra. In time."

The room seemed to grow heavier, the air thick with unsaid words. For a moment, neither of us moved, the silence between us stretching out like a void.

Then, without warning, there was a knock at the door. My body tensed, every nerve on edge.

Jenna's eyes flicked toward the door, and a fleeting look of something—something like fear?—crossed her face. But it was gone before I could blink.

"I'll get it," she said, turning away from me.

As she walked to the door, I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. Something was about to change. And just as the door creaked open, I heard a voice from the hallway—one I'd never expected to hear again.

"Is Myra here?"

It was Luke.

And my heart dropped into my stomach.