Chapter 15

2 days later...

Mom smiled at me while stirring a bowl of brownie mix in her hand. "Celeste, you have some flour on your face."

"Where?" I touched my cheek and mom burst out laughing. You'd think I learned from the first time when she told me I had a stain on my shirt. I looked down and she flicked me in the nose.

Trent walked past us and grabbed an apple from the table. "You are so gullible."

"Where are you going?" Mom asked him.

We both noticed that he had going-out clothes on.

"Hanging with the guys." He said. "I'll be back before dinner."

"Stay safe!" Mom called out to him before he left out the front door. Sighing, she set the oven on bake 350 degrees heat to prepare for the batter. "It feels like I just blinked for one second and all three of you are grown up." She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Aww...mom." I got up from my chair and wrapped my arms around her from behind, resting my head on her shoulder. "We may be growing up, but we love you just the same."

She rested her head on mine and caressed my cheek. "I know. But one day you will fall in love and leave. You three will eventually leave the nest--I don't know how well I can handle it." She chuckled tearfully.

"You're thinking way far ahead mom. I'm sure Charlotte will beat me to the altar." That's for sure.

Just as I said it, Charlotte's screams are heard from upstairs. We both stop what we're doing and we both run up the stairs. Each step felt like five; what felt like minutes turn into hours. Why wasn't I getting anywhere? When I looked over my shoulder to see if mom was trailing me, I didn't see her. She was gone. Looking down, my legs moved as thought I were running on a treadmill going nowhere.

"Celeste help!!!" I heard my sister scream again and this time my attention focused solely on reaching her. When I finally made it to her room, I gasp when I saw Charlotte being pulled out the window by the collar of her shirt.

"Charlotte!" I screamed.

Racing to save her, I bolt towards the window and climb through it. Déjà vu. I take one glance at my surroundings and realize I wasn't home. This wasn't the place I grew up. This isn't my house-I don't live in a house. Where was I?

"Celeste, save your sister before the beast takes her!" A familiar voice exclaimed.

"Gran?" The grandmother I've only seen pictures of screamed from another window. Her head peeking out the sill. Oh, that's right. We are staying at her house...

"Celeste!!" Charlotte screamed again. My head twisted to the direction of her voice. When I saw her, my heart stopped. Before I knew it I felt my body drain of blood and I began trembling.

Laying only a few feet from me was Charlotte disheveled on the ground; hair crusted with crimson, clothes crumpled with mud and she had purple bruises forming on her creamy skin.

How I got from the ceiling to where my sister was, I don't know, but for some damn reason I couldn't get my feet to move and help her.

"Charlotte!" I screamed. "CHARLOTTE!" No matter how much I wanted to be at her side, my feet was glued to the ground. Helplessly, I watched as the floor between us expanded and Charlotte's form moved farther away.

A figure moved out of the shadows. It was a large black wolf with bright moonlit eyes. It quietly stood behind her, blood dripping from its snout.

"Get away from her! Charlotte! Charlotte! CHARLOTTE!!"

The creature widened its jaws and too a swift bite into my sister's shoulder.

"NO!!" I heard myself cry and the sound echoed all around.

***

"Charlotte...Charlotte."

"Hey, what's wrong?" A low and husky voice broke into my subconscious.

"No, get away from me!" I whimpered.

Something touched my shoulder and my body weathered to avoid another assault. My fingers clutched tightly to the sheets under my chin. My eyes shot opened and my heart thundered through my chest. Sweat trickled down my forehead and when I turned to my side, I felt cool air blow into my damp back. Shivers trailed down I heard the sound of someone gasping for breath-I was gasping for breath.

"Celeste, are you alright?"

The bed shifted next to me and suddenly something, or someone, spoons me from behind and folds an arm around my shoulder. It fills me with a warmth I've not felt since before my dad died. For just a moment, I accept the comfort and I melt into it.

"You were having a nightmare. It's okay; you're okay."

Words couldn't come out my mouth, I was so shaken up, so I responded by placing my hand on the arm over my shoulder.

Despite having almost calmed down, I couldn't fall back to sleep. The wolf in my dream was Fluffy, there was no doubt about it, remembering those sharp bright eyes. However, that dream-Fluffy acted vicious and dangerous.

"Greyson."

I felt him raising himself by the elbow, then his face hovered over the side of my face. The weight of his arm on my shoulder increased and I felt asphyxiated by his presence.

"I'm here, don't be scared." He spoke softly, my heart ached strangely.

"No, I'm not scared anymore."

"That's good." His hand tightened on my shoulder and then he relaxed, nuzzling his face into my nape. He inhaled my scent and blew a warm breath against my neck making my heart go 100mph all over again. "You smell good." He muttered.

I'm slightly horrified, having just sweated a bucket load from that awful nightmare.

"Greyson?"

"Hmm?" He said tiredly. I think he just fell asleep on me, literally.

"Greyson!"

He wakes up abruptly. "What? What's wrong?"

I wiggled from his hold and he groans low in his throat. "Stop that." Not listening I wiggle some more, attempting to be set free from his embrace. "Stop. If you think that will make me let you go, you are sadly mistaken."

"How did you get in bed with me?"

"Easy, I walked and crawled in." He thought he was being funny.

"I thought we decided that we sleep in separate rooms! And I swear I locked the door before going to bed."

He let go and rolled into his back. "You really think, I don't know how to pick a lock? I heard you talking in your sleep and figured you were having a nightmare. My wolf became restless, sensing your distress." He paused for a minute. "Do you think you would be willing to tell me what you dreamt about? It seems to worry you still?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Stubbornly, I pull the blanket away from him. "Go back to your room."

"No. This is my room. This whole floor is mine. It's supposed to be ours, but you haven't yet accepted our relationship status." He moves his body to the opposite direction from me and makes himself comfortable.

"What is this...Facebook?"

"What's Facebook?"

"Are you kidding me? Haven't you heard of social networking?" At this point, I'm staring at him with my mouth open.

"I don't use the computer much. I'm too busy with pack business." I have to remind myself that Greyson is isolated from the world.

"Never mind, forget we had this conversation and get out of here. I appreciate that you were concerned over me earlier, but I'm fine now. Please, go back to your room."

He remained where he lay, not obeying my request. "Because of you, I had to spend a night a few feet away from my brothers."

"What's so bad about the twins? They're just kids."

Greyson snorted. "Just kids? I could not sleep a wink knowing they were a few feet from me. Those little devils are not just kids. You have not yet seen what they can do, so you can't understand the extent of how crazy they are."

"I have a younger brother too and he can be a little twerp sometimes, but I wouldn't call him a devil. You are over exaggerating."

"You'll believe me when you see it for yourself."

I roll my eyes and smack my palm into the base of his hard muscular back. "Get out of my bed."

He unwillingly gets up and faces me. "Please...you like my bed because it smells like me. You could have slept in another room."

I blush. "You're so full of yourself." His smell did kind of have a therapeutic aroma that helps lull me to sleep, but that isn't the reason why I choose to sleep in this room. "I like your room because it's spacious, the bed is comfortable and I don't have to go outside to use the restroom."

He smirks. "Okay, whatever. If you need me just scream my name."

"I'm not going to do that." I glare at him.

"Why? You afraid everyone will hear you?"

I gasp in outrage. "You need to get your head out of the gutter."

He chuckled. "Hey...I said nothing wrong. You're the one who has dirty thoughts. It's you who needs to get your head out of the gutter."

Angrily, I toss a pillow at his inflating ego. "Get out already and lock the door on your way out."

I woke up that morning groggy, because of constant reoccurring bad dreams. There similar to each other, both frightening and exhausting. Greyson left a note on the bedside table. He obviously snuck in again while I was sleeping.

C,

Have a lot of work to do.

C u later.

-Grey x.

He added an x. Was that supposed to be a kiss? How sappy, but admittedly, I thought it was kind of cute.

No one else was home. Everyone must have had something to do-even the twins were gone. The idea of attempting another escape rambled my mind but I decided against it last minute.

What was the point? They probably had the place bugged. There were picture frames in almost every room, except the bathroom. Any of them could have someone watching in surveillance just like the one in the dungeon.

By mid-afternoon, Laura came home first.

"Good afternoon, I hope-Celeste, honey, are you alright? You don't look so good?!" I guess the eyes bags are noticeable.

Laura worriedly hovers over me like a mother hen.

"She's been having nightmares a lot these past two days." Greyson rubs his hands together as he enters the room. He looks like he had a tiresome day, but he smells freshly bathed.

"Your back." I noted.

He leans forward as if trying to kiss me, but instead moves past my lips and whispers in my ear. "Missed me?"

"No." Yes. It was so lonely in this big house and I think I got lost twice as many times as I did than when I was in Gran's large house.

Laura examines me with a tentative gaze. "Dreams are a unique quality being an Alpha's mate. A few of us sometimes have premonitions in random times in our lives. More frequently when we haven't mated. They say, it's how the Alpha's mate is lead to her Alpha male. Tell me Celeste, have you had strange dreams before?"

She sets a basket full of fruits on the table and washes her hands in the sink.

Thinking back, I remembered another time in the past. "The night before my dad died. I dreamt that dad was standing right next to his dog."

"You have a dog?" Greyson asked. "Leo didn't report anything about a dog."

What kind of reports does Leonardo make for Greyson? It reminded me of Leo's phone call to Greyson the first time I met him.

"Not anymore. When I was a kid, my dad had this humongous dog, but after dad died I never saw it again. It wasn't very friendly so mom didn't allow it in the house we had before dad died. We kept it in a dog house on our front yard. It would sometimes leave and we didn't know where it went. I thought it was kind of strange for dad to keep a stray animal because mom didn't like it."

Greyson pulled out a chair for me to sit and I thank him. "You never saw this dog again?"

"No."

"Was it a werewolf?" Laura says bluntly.

"It was a large dog, but I was small then and everything looked big to me. If it did turn into a butt naked man, I never noticed."

"Funny. Did it ever interact with you?" Greyson asked.

I shook my head. "It wasn't very friendly, remember? It was always just sitting and observing from outside the house. Mom didn't want it inside the house."

"Huh." Greyson spaced out and that ended the conversation.

"Where did everyone go?" I asked Laura.

"They decided to leave the territory."

"Leave the territory, as in they went through the maze?"

"Uh-huh. Bennett took the kids for a hunt."

"I thought you're not supposed to leave."

Greyson cut in. "I'm not, but they can. However, they can't head into town. With how small Paradise Valley is, word spreads like a wild fire when strangers come and go." I noticed that. "The humans will become suspicious about the mysterious family that disappears into the woods. It will tempt them to explore the forest and into the maze."

"What are they doing out there?"

"My husband is teaching them about the world outside our territory. It's a learning experience." Laura smiles halfheartedly.

Sometimes I forget that Laura was once a normal girl, with a normal life. "Do you have a family back there? Parents, siblings?"

Greyson glances at his mother, waiting to hear her answer.

Laura's smile appeared slightly sad and I regretted asking. "My parents were actually enthusiastic about the Taking. They were paranormal enthusiasts, that's why they moved into Paradise Valley. They were hoping that I would be chosen on the eclipse. I have a little sister, but I heard she left town. A part of me wishes she misses me, but I've always known she wanted me Taken too. Our parents tended to favor me because I was molded, since birth, to be their perfect child. I often sympathized my sister for feeling so neglected. She hated me more as we got older.

"I was 21 when Bennett took me and I was terrified. At first, I thought my life would be a lot worse than it already was, but when I fell in love with my husband I realized my life was starting over and this time I was going to be happy. And I am."

Just then a group of people come barging into the room laughing and chattering.

Bennett walks in with both the twins swinging in his arms. "I told you two not to chase after that mountain lion. How many times have I told you two that it's not a toy?"

"Sorry Daddy!" The twins say in a sing-song voice.

They don't look sorry at all.

Liam is fishes into his pocket and produces a toad. "Look Lexie, Look what I got!"

Lexie looks down and her eyes bulge seeing the slimy amphibian. "Ah, dad! Get that twerp and his frog away from me!" She shrieks and that encourages Liam to shove the toad closer to his sister's face. Lexie is running away from her brother and Liam chases after her with a maniacal laugh.

Caleb, however, looks as innocent as a puppy. "Daddy, if I were a good boy can I keep my new friend?"

Bennett looks down at his son with a skeptical look. "It depends son, what friend did you make?"

Caleb reaches into his little backpack and produces a rattle snake."

Oh my god, how did he get that!

Laura screams and immediately Greyson takes action and grabs the snake away from his brother by the head. Caleb cries in anger when Greyson doesn't give his friend back.

"Greyson, give Mr. Noodles back!" He cried louder.

"This is not a friend Caleb, it can hurt you and good friends don't hurt you!" That's a life lesson right there.

Letting Greyson take care of the situation, Bennett cares for his wife. "Hey sweetheart. How was your day?" Bennett pecks Laura in the lips than nuzzles his cheek against her in an intimate manner. I look away embarrassed for having seen the private moment.

Laura kisses him back and tells him about all the fruits and vegetables that she picked from her garden. Later in the day, I am sitting with Lexie watching a movie and Greyson is god knows where doing more Pack business. Probably more paper work that Bennett assigned him.

"Looks like you've started to settle in." Lexie mutters, popping a popcorn in her mouth.

"Not really, I'm still worried about my sister."

Lexie stops eating and clasps her hand around mine. "Shit happens."

My face drops and I give her a WTF look.

"Oops, scratch that. I didn't mean it the way I said it."

"Really..." Can she be any more ridiculous?

"What I was trying to say is, things happen for a reason and in the end it will all work out. So just hang in there Celeste. Everything will piece together like a jigsaw puzzle." She offers me a smile.

I smile back and say. "You're full of shit."

She bursts out laughing and we both laugh for no apparent reason. "Ugh, I know. I can't cheer up a person to save my life. I'm so glad I wasn't born as the oldest son. Greyson has to do all those things-a leader, a peer mentor, a diplomat, etc. etc. When I watch my brother work, I get a headache just thinking about all those big words he has to read, I'm so glad I have more of life than he does, but I feel guilty sometimes that he missed out a lot with all the responsibility in his hands."

Lexie's guiltiness must be contagious because suddenly I feel like a total shrew for being mean to Greyson sometimes.

Lexie pokes my side, grabbing my attention. "At least I tried cheering you up. What's my score?"

"I give you a B for effort."

"You suck." She throws a kernel at me.

I chuckle and throw it back at her. We start a popcorn/kernel war, winner gets bragging rights. It's an all out battle until someone walks into the room and clears their throat. Lexie hides behind a pillow thinking it was her father preparing to scold her.

"What are you two fighting about?" Greyson walks around the coach and I move over to leave space for him next to me. This surprises him.

"Thanks," He says and sits down next to me, laying his arm around my shoulders.

"Hey, just because I gave you privileges to sit next to me doesn't mean you can touch me." He ignores me and leans back.

Lexie frowns. "Bro, you have a huge ass. I'm squished over here."

"Then move." He takes a piece of popcorn off the coach and throws it at her. "You two will have to clean this before dad sees it. He's going to be mad with this mess. What are you two, three? Food fights are immature."

"Says the guy who threw the popcorn at me." Lexie smirks.

NOTE: Dec 24, 2016

HAPPY HOLIDAYS YOU FREAKISHLY AMAZING PEOPLE!!! I'M BACK!!! I've graduated and I'm ready to write again after a year of constant chaos. I have edited this book again so you will find some changes to the style of writing. This book has been closed off from the public but I have made it visible once more. SO YOU BETTER BE GRATEFUL, you marshmallows! Let's make one thing clear though IF YOU COPY MY BOOK...I WILL FIND YOU.

BE WARNED. xo