Asra was staring into my eyes with concern, and I exhaled shakily, holding his gaze. His nostrils flared, but he didn't look away from scanning my expression.

"What do you mean?" His voice was soft.

I licked my lips nervously. "I had a bad dream."

"Is that why you woke so suddenly?"

"I guess so," I muttered. "I dreamt I was with my dad."

"Your dad?"

"Flynn. I know it now. He is my dad. I can feel it in my bones, Asra." I shook my head, squeezing his shoulders.

He frowned; eyes narrowed. "Are you certain?"

"Yes." I breathed.

"Then we need to go to him and ask some questions." He grunted, moving to get out from under me.

I pushed him back, not letting him go anywhere. "That's silly, and you know it."

"You deserve to know why he faked his death." He stated, before adding. "Plus, he abandoned you, and I won't allow it."

My heart softened, and I smiled tentatively. "I appreciate your concerns, Butterscotch."

He didn't scowl at the nickname like he always did, and I awkwardly cleared my throat when I received a smile instead. That was new.

"Okay, tell me what happened in your dream." He smiled.

"I was swimming." I stated, and he didn't interrupt. "At first, I wore my favourite dress."

He blinked, listening quietly.

"I was walking through the forest, toward the lake, and went for a swim in my dress." I explained. "When I got out, I felt heavy, but I didn't think about it. I was thirsty, but instead of getting a drink, I bent down at the lake and drank from my mouth. Then I saw I wasn't me, but I was a wolf."

Asra blinked, eyes narrowing slightly. "A wolf?"

"A full-on furry beast on four legs." I nodded.

"How strange." He muttered.

"Then I heard my dad calling me, and I ran to him on all fours. He made me change back, and we went home and had dinner." I shook my head in disbelief. "It was so confusing."

"That was it?"

"That was it." I agreed.

"Unusual." He stated. "But not unexpected."

I frowned, staring at him with confusion. "It was highly unexpected! I am not a wolf, Asra!"

"On the contrary, Ailia, you are."

I scowled. "I am not. I have no wolf-y traits."

"Do you know how you got to bed?"

"I went to sleep." I shook my head.

"No, you didn't. You've been in asleep for four days, Ailia."

I blanched, staring at him with utter confusion. "What?"

"It is September in five day's time."

"It's what?" I screeched.

Asra chuckled, showing me his phone. "It's true."

I blinked down at the numbers glaring back at me. He wasn't lying, it truly was the end of august. Why was I asleep so long?

"What... What happened?" I whispered.

"What is the last thing you remember?"

I blanked, trying to rack my brain for my past events. I remember the dream because it felt so real. I was a child, with my dad, and it seemed only a few hours had passed since waking up.

Wait, Eve, I remember Eve. She tried to make me lie down and then I fell asleep.

"Eve put me to sleep, didn't she?" I grumbled.

"She had to. You were fighting your mind."

Shaking my head in disbelief. "What? Why? I don't understand, Asra."

He sighed, sympathetically staring at me. "You went for a walk in the forest, and you came across a sandy wolf..."

I grimaced. A sandy wolf? Where would a sandy...

Gasping, I remembered. "Nikolai!"

He nodded, smiling. "You went into his house and asked him some questions."

"I did." I nodded in return. "I remember."

"Do you remember what he told you?" He wondered, cocking his head.

"Yes, I remember all of it." I sighed, my shoulders sagging.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing that would require me to fall asleep!" I stated.

"That is for another reason entirely." Asra grumbled.

"What is it?"

"He made you food."

Nodding, I remembered the rabbit and potato. "He did?"

"If you were a wolf, you would've noticed something was off about it."

I felt dread burn at my insides and I held my breath as I waited for him to continue.

"He poisoned you."

I shook my head in disbelief. "He wouldn't!"

"He did, Ailia!" Asra snapped. "My murderous fucking father put something in your food that made you go unconscious."

I felt tears build in my eyes. He had tricked me.

"I don't... He's not... He's not that bad..."

"He is a murderer, Ailia. If I did not arrive in time, who knows what he would've done?"

I shook my head again, pinching my eyes closed. "N-no!"

"You passed out." He sighed, grabbing my head in his hands. "I rushed you to the hospital, and they did blood tests that showed chemicals and magic in your system."

"Magic?" I whispered.

Completely sidetracked, I wondered if this magic caused how the book came to me.

"Who's magic?"

He shook his head. "Enough about the magic, Ailia. He tried to hurt you!"

"Where is he now?" I wondered.

"In the cells where he belongs for harming the luna."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, my hands shaking. "Asra..."

"It's okay, we are starving him for a while before we get answers." He grunted. "Food is a good bargaining tool."

Answers?

"How do you feel?" He wondered.

"I..."

"Do your limbs hurt? Your head?" He cocked his head, staring intensely at me.

I took his hand in my own, squeezing them softly. "I felt achy, but that's probably from being laid down so long."

His chest rose and fell with relief, and he leaned forward to kiss me on the forehead. "I'm just glad you are okay, Ailia."

I hesitated, my mind suddenly pausing in the moment. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Saying what?" He frowned.

"My name."

He chuckled. "I can say nothing if you prefer?"

"You rarely use my name." I insisted.

"You just woke up from a four-day coma. I am concerned."

Rolling my eyes, I leaned into him. "Thank you for looking after me."

"Of course." He murmured into my hair. "Always."

Closing my eyes, I inhaled the complexity of his scent. I wasn't sure why I could suddenly smell him so vividly, perhaps a side-effect of whatever drug Nikolai gave me.

I still wasn't certain.

Why would he drug me?

He seemed genuinely concerned about his son and I. His mate, Asra's mother, needed protection that she didn't get, so why would he get rid of Asra's? Did he want his son vulnerable? If I was his protection, what did that mean for me?

Why do I feel so strange?

It was like I could taste the uncertainty in Asra's voice, the strange feeling making me want to question everything. From the way he was holding me, to the way he blinked.

It didn't feel like four days had passed, so perhaps I was just discombobulated from the sleep.

Hopefully, by next week I would feel better.

***

Yeah, totally did not feel any better.

Instead of growing out of whatever these weird side-effects were, they only seemed to worsen.

From the aching in my limbs to the heaviness of my jaw, I felt like I needed to do some serious yoga to pop all my joints out. If it wasn't the desire to go for long walks or runs, it was the weirdness going on with my senses.

I could smell Asra when he wasn't in the room.

That wasn't normal, was it?

He says I am a wolf, but I cannot be.

My father is a wolf. I am just a result of a good night with his mate. I still did not know who my mother was, and I still do not understand the strange dream I had.

Why did I have that dream? Was it real or fake?

I cannot remember much of my past, and the dreams seemed to only worsen.

It was now September, and after having lunch with Eliza and bonding over her fastly growing bump, I was slowly losing my mind.

"I can't wait to get out of these shoes." Eliza muttered.

"I don't blame you." I laughed. "Your bump has grown ten times since last week."

Instead of a laugh, Eliza was staring at me with wide eyes. I hesitated, recognising her expression to be a bad one. Did I insult her?

"What?" I wondered, self-conscious.

She shook her head. "Nothing, nothing, I just... I didn't say anything."

I blinked, confused. "Of course you did. You said you cannot wait to be out of those shoes."

Her eyes dropped to the sandals on her feet before meeting my gaze again. "I-I didn't, Ailia. I didn't speak."

Feeling uncertain, the hair on the back of my neck prickled up, my skin pebbling with unease.

"What do you mean?" I whispered.

"I said that to myself, you know, in my mind?" She frowned, cradling her half-way baby bump. "Are you feeling okay?"

Okay, completely weirded out now. Was this a prank?

"I'm not joking." She insisted.

Laughing nervously, I quickly waved her off with indifference.

"Maybe we just had the same, though. Sympatico!" I grinned.

She eyed me strangely, so I was fast to laugh and say goodbye before running out of the living room.

I swear I heard Eliza speak.

Why did I hear her speak?

Worry creased my eyebrows, so I decided to go for a walk. Maybe I just needed to clear my head, too full of thoughts. I kept thinking about Nikolai, and how strongly I felt about the situation. I was adamant, to the point it made me sick with nerves, that he wasn't intentionally hurting me.

What was in the magical poison?

Why did everything suddenly feel so vivid?

Since mating Asra, my sense of smell had grown, but lately it was phenomenal.

I couldn't be a wolf, as I didn't feel an instinct.

I didn't feel anger or hunger whenever I saw something juicy.

I didn't feel the need to shape-shift into a beast or cover myself in orange fur.

But I felt on edge. Like somebody was watching over me, constantly. I had blocked Asra from my mind most of the time; the male insisting everything was okay, and I would not turn into an orange dog.

But in my dreams...

They grew worse.

More and more memories of myself as a child. Running through the forests, swimming in a stream, having a small talk with my dad over lunch.

Nobody else was ever in the room, but even in my dreams, I felt eyes watching me.

I remember what the witch, Evangeline, told me. She claimed I was raised in a district before Evermore, but with Arabella and mother. She had said I was born somewhere else, and now, thanks to Nikolai, I knew it was on his old pack's grounds.

Pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming into my grasp, and I greedily clutched at them. I needed to know where I was raised, why we were separated, and why we moved to Evermore. Why did my father fake his death, just for my mother to abuse me?

Arabella came away mostly abuse-free, and I now realised it was maybe because they were blood-related. Was I the target because I was a burden? I used to think it was because I looked like my father, but the more I saw and understood, the more I realised she never truly loved my father.

How could she when he was betrothed to somebody else? A widow, a partner-less man raising a child.

Who was I?

********

want to read ahead?

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Also....

Think you guess this plot right?
You most likely didn't
It's not as obvious as it you think it is ...

Is she really a wolf? 🤔 or is she just a human?
Is she just insane?
Man, wouldn't it be crazy if this entire half of this book was a dream?
What if she was actually dead this whole time?
What if it wasn't poison but an antidote for a poison?
What if Asra really is the bad guy?
Why is the father not feral?
What even is life tbf

Guess you'll never know

....

Heh
Soon