My Alphas' Dark Desires novel Chapter 399

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~Valerie's POV~

Darkness swallowed everything surrounding me. It wasn't the empty kind, but the kind that seemed alive..

I was eight again, standing in the forest clearing of my family's mansion, the night air cold enough to burn.

My little hands trembled as I clutched the torn edge of my mother's dress. Her moonflowers and rain scent still clung to my fingers.

"Stay behind me, sweetheart," she whispered.

I remembered this night. The night everything broke.

The shadows moved first. A vicious growl shredded the silence.

My father shifted in front of us, his wolf form huge and white under the moonlight. He snarled at the figures slipping between the trees. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Dark cloaks, red eyes. Smirks that promised only one thing… Death.

My mother screamed my name. I turned too late.

A burst of unnatural flames, witch-born, hit her square in the chest. Her body arched, then collapsed into the leaves, her hair fanned like a silver halo around her.

This wasn't how it all happened but that was the least of my worries. My brain was gibing me versions of fear… and I was too weak to change anything.

The next second I watched both of my parents, the life draining from them. "Mom. Mama, please, wake up... please." My tiny voice cracked, drowning in its own terror.

Another flash of magic hit my father. His wolf staggered, his cries shaking the ground.

Then, silence. Both my parents lay still, unmoving. They were dead. The forest swallowed their last heartbeat.

I ran. I screamed. I begged for them.

But the nightmare didn't let me go. It snapped into another memory—another nightmare.

This time I stood outside a familiar mansion… Dominic's.

Memories from that firs meeting and that night seemed to overwhelm me. His smirk. His hand in my hair. His knife glinted under dim light.

"You obey, little wolf."

My wolf howled, my vision drowned in red. I saw my own hands—small, trembling, wrapped around his throat.

His eyes widened. My wolf surged. There was a crack, a wet snap, and Dominic's body hit the floor.

Blood dripped onto my skin. I wasn't sure whether it was his or mine.

I stood over his body, chest heaving, heart splitting between freedom… and horror.

The smell of iron filled my lungs. His dead eyes stared at me.

"You killed him," a voice whispered behind me. I spun, but the nightmare twisted into a blur of fire, screams, and shadows reaching for me.

My lungs burned. I tried to push my body away from the flames but my feet refused to move.

My heart slammed painfully agaisnt my chest, and I jerked awake with a gasp.

My sheets stuck to my skin, soaked with sweat. My breath came in short, sharp bursts. I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to calm my fast beating heart while chanting, 'it's a dream. It's a dream' when a voice rose from the corner of my room.

"You okay, princess?"

I nearly screamed and jumoed off my bed. Instead, I whipped around, heart in my throat, narrowed nmy eyes at the spot in the corner.

"Who's there?"

No sooner had I asked, than Axel stepped out from the shadows, hands raised in peace, eyes filled with worry.

"What—what are you doing in my room?" I choked out, still shaking.

He stepped closer, carefully. "I was worried," he said softly. "We all are. So, I came here. You've been distant and avoiding us. Pulling away. And I just…" His jaw tightened. "I feel like you're going through something you're hiding."

I swallowed hard. "Did they send you?"

"No," he said immediately. "They're worried too, but I came here on my own accord."

My eyes narrowed, my chest still panting. "So what if I had been naked?"

Axel shrugged with a crooked smile. "Would've been a dream come true."

He barely dodged the pillow I threw at his head. His laughter loosened something tight in my chest.

Without waiting for an invitation, he sat on the edge of the bed, gaze softening. "Speaking of dreams… You had a nightmare?"

I looked away, staring at the moonlit window. My arms wrapped around myself before I realised it. I could still feel the forest. Still smell the blood.

Axel noticed.

He moved closer. "I sensed something through the bond when I was taking a walk. Panic. Fear. I knew it was you. So I came."

"I see…" My voice cracked. I sighed and looked down. "It was just a bad dream. Nothing more."

"You sure?" he asked quietly.

He scooted close, close enough that our knees brushed. His hand hovered, then gently cupped my cheek as he tilted my face toward him.

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