AFRAID OF THE DARK

CHAPTER 13

I yawn as Aidan runs his hand through my hair. I am finally laying on one of the beds in the infirmary. I hate this room and feel on edge from being back in here. This had Aidan's wolf on edge and become protective of me. It had taken Cedric and Adam time to calm Aidan's wolf to let the doctor check on me before he gets thrown out again. Aidan is now trying to calm me and and my wolf as the doctor does his examination. Aidan's soft voice is causing me to grow tired. I yawn again and close my eyes.

I open my eyes again when I feel as if I'm being watched. I look at the beds across from me and see a girl about my age. She looks beaten and malnourished, but she is still beautiful. I give her a small smile, but she narrows her eyes. I want to tell Aidan the girl doesn't like me, but my eyes become heavy again. I let the sleep consume me.

I feel as if I'm flying again and jumping from tree to tree. I look back to see that the others are getting further away. I smile at the feeling of the weightlessness in my body. I feel free and as if I can do anything and go anywhere. Then things become dark and a feeling of upcoming danger makes me want to stop and at the same time run for my life. I'm jumping to the next tree when something catches my eyes. I almost miss the branch and have to hold on tightly. That thing is hovering below my feet and I can feel the evilness it exudes.

"Aidan!" I sit up in a panic and all of the air leaves my body.

"Cami, what's wrong." Aidan wakes from next to me and rubs my back. "Doc!"

The doctor runs in wearing a blue robe. They both help calm me and regulate my breathing. Tears run down my face and I clutch onto Aidan's shirt. He lifts me slightly and holds me on his lap as I cry. My body is shaking uncontrollably and I know it's scaring my mate.

"Don't let it get me. It wants us dead." I cry. "It's out there, Aidan."

"What is, baby?" He wipes my tears.

"The Dark." I sob with more tears.

"Shh, it's okay." He holds me tighter. "It was only a dream."

"No." I shake my head. "It was real. I saw it, Aidan. It's out there watching. It's hungry."

Aidan holds me and lets me cry on his shoulder. I know the doctor, Adam, Logan, and that girl are watching. Especially, the girl. I chance a look at her and I again see narrowed eyes of jealousy in her eyes. She clears her expression for that of fake concern when others begin to follow my gaze towards her. Aidan lays me down on the bed and they disperse to their own beds.

We, my mate and I, stare at each other as he talks to me in his soft voice. Every so often he will reach up to wipe one of my tears. I feel my eyes grow heavy, but I startle myself awake at the darkness and become scared again. I don't want to see that thing in my sleep. After an hour of fighting my sleep the doctor comes to my side with a glass of water and a pill. I shake my head already knowing what it is.

"No. Aidan, I can't sleep. Please. Don't do this." I jump up and run to the other end of the room.

"It's okay, baby. It'll help. You need sleep. Your body needs sleep." He moves up to me slowly.

"No!" My scream echoes throughout the room making the walls and windows vibrate. A crack appears on one of the walls and a window shatters with the force. Everybody in the room submits to my stronger wolf, including Aidan. "Aidan, I'm sorry."

I run to him and hug him, but he remains stiff in my arms. I didn't mean to yell at my mate and I know his wolf cowered at the power over him. I can hear Logan saying I practically made his wolf piss himself, but I ignore him and look at Aidan with worry. I'm scared he will hate me for having a stronger wolf. It's my childhood all over again. My pack had protected me, but feared me. I had no friends. I had to learn how to control my wolf and we had kept that part of me hidden.

"H-how did you do that?" Aidan stutters.

"My wolf. I had my first shift when I was three months old. My parents had been surprised when they walked in to see a white wolf pup in the crib instead of me. My parents were killed a month later. Those rogues had wanted me. That monster is the one that controls them." A tear falls from my eyes. "My power terrified my pack and my existence had placed them in danger. My grandfather had to show me how to keep my wolf under control. She wanted to come out to show her strength when Alyssa had me in the cells. The wolfsbane and the drugs weakened my wolf, but the powers kept me from dying the way Alyssa had wanted. A normal wolf would have been killed."

Aidan growls and pulls me closer. "Mine. I will not lose you."

"I-I think I saw it, too." Adam's strong voice shakes. "We ran right past it and I saw it at the corner of my eyes. It made my heart skip a beat and I felt as if death was among us, but when I looked back there was nothing there. I thought maybe I was hallucinating too, but it put the fear in me and I ran harder to catch up to my Luna. It was a black wolf. All of it. Including the whites of his eyes. I only saw him for a second, but it remains in my mind like a nightmare. I was hoping it was an illusion."

"It's no illusion. That thing exists and it is right out of nightmares." A new voice says from near the door.

"Lucas!" I release myself from Aidan's hold and run to my cousin.

"Cami." He hugs me tightly then moves me back. "You scared the crap out of all of us! We thought something happened to you...again. Don't put us through that again."

I chuckle when he pulls me back to his arms again. Brother and sister are a lot alike. I huff and let him punish me with one of his tight bear hugs. I feel Aidan's aggravation towards it. He doesn't like me being in another male's arms. I assure Lucas I'm okay before leading him back to my mate and introducing them.

"Wait, you can't come in here claiming you know all about this monster that has everybody scared. How do you know about it and I don't?" Locus raises her eyebrow towards her brother. "We never heard about it before."

"Actually, we have been told about it. I didn't remember the stories until Uncle Reg repeated the story. He was worried when you never arrived. He told me that thing still haunts the woods near their pack. We decided not to say anything when you called and said you were okay. We're still not happy you didn't tell us they had Cami locked up in a cell though." He growls.

"Alyssa promised she would heal Cam and thought it best we didn't worry you." She frowns from the memory. "Anyway, what do you know about the wolf?"

"Uncle Reg calls it The Dark. Cami's grandpa used to tell us stories about it. The Dark was once one of the most strongest Alphas in his time. He let the power get to his head. He started attacking other packs so that he could rule over all. Then he made a fatal mistake. He cheated on his mate. She left him and remated. She told the other packs all of his secrets and helped them take him down. His wolf was too strong to kill completely. Now his soulless wolf roams the woods searching for sins to keep his evil powers alive. He uses their sins to gain control of their bodies. He absorbs their souls. He's getting more powerful."

"So now he's after Cami for her wolf's power." Locus snuggles into her mate for his comfort.

"Honestly, we don't know. We know he is haunting Cami, but we don't know why. He's the one that killed her parents and her grandmother. He's had his chances to get to her, but he leaves her untouched."