Within you I found home

Bonus pt. 1

THE NIGHTMARES STARTED shortly after your mating ceremony.

Flashes of a strange man haunted you. He called you a liar, a fraud. He spat words of hatred and anger you didn't understand the root of. But worst of all, he hurt you. The pain was so intense it felt real, like the monster of your nightmares was hacking at you in your sleep, slashing at your flesh; bruising the skin of your face and stomach with his iron fist.

You tasted the blood on your tongue.

Felt the cracks and splinters in your bones.

You'd wake up on the verge of screaming with Nico hovering over you, concern painting his features.

On those nights, you'd tell him you were.

Because it wouldn't take a few weeks of shifter marriage to change a lifetime of taking care of yourself—of not being able to let yourself go with someone else and place your burden onto them.

Nico never believed you. You hated how worried he was, but there was something else in his expression which ate away at you—guilt.

Why would he feel guilty for your dreams? They weren't his fault.

This was why you didn't go into detail about them. It would only trouble him.

Especially when they morphed into something more. Something which burned at your chest like acid on your heart, melting agonisingly through your organ, festering and painful and lingering with you for the rest of the day.

The monster of your nightmares shifted, and it was Nico hurting you.

It was him screaming at you to tell the truth. It was him coming at you with a small, pointed object which winked in the light of the dark, cold room. It was your blood smeared on his chest. Him. Your mate. Your husband. Those dreams were the worst.

"You okay, Mom?" Mithun asked like he did every morning since your collapse, but his tone grew more urgent and anxiety-riddled as the days passed.

You'd suspected he heard your nightmares, too.

"Of course, baby." You threw him a soft smile whilst sipping at your morning tea. The taste of it didn't agree with your stomach nowadays. Food didn't, either. It was like your insides were as raw as your nerves, sensitive and frazzled. "Now, go get ready for your lessons."

Reluctantly, he did, his gaze lingering on your form with a frown before he left the room. You sagged onto the seater, your head hanging over the back of it. Your eyes fell shut, head aching from regularly interrupted sleep.

It had started shortly after your ceremony. You and Nico had come home, happy as newlyweds could be. He'd carried you inside and placed you on the seater before promising you a nice meal, bath, and a pleasurable evening. You couldn't wait despite your body feeling a little strange.

But it had been a long day, and you were heavy with exhaustion. Ever since your collapse, fatigue had followed you around like an unwanted smell. Whilst the doctor had said there was nothing wrong with you, you wholeheartedly disagreed. None of this was normal—the dreams or weighted feeling of your body.

You and Nico had yet to have sex. Partly because of your dreams, the lingering effect of them left you feeling touched-out, your flesh sore and irritated at the thought of hands on it. And Partly because your body didn't feel right. Like it wasn't yours anymore. Like you were out of sync with it, a feeling which only grew worse with your nightmares.

For a moment, you drifted off. Nico was in a meeting and Mithun was getting ready for his training lessons. He'd jumped at the opportunity to join them when the enrolment came round. He wanted to learn how to fight like his father, to be strong and join Nico's ranks one day. You hated the thought of him fighting but liked the idea of him knowing how to defend himself.