The Alpha’s Substitute Mate

Isabella

It was already way past noon. The sun had dominated the sky already. I was in my room packing and stuffing my clothes inside the bag. I felt a banging ache in my head, I shut my eyes sucking in the pain in my head. I could feel my body burn like I was literally on fire.

I sighed and plopped on my bed. My gaze stares up at the blank air. I stayed rooted in that position for a while as several thoughts grazed through my mind. There was this strange feeling that churned within me, a stinging pain in my chest. I don’t know why but it felt like something strange was about to happen. I couldn’t help but wrap my hands around my arms at the sudden coldness I felt.

I couldn’t understand why I felt so uneasy. My mind constantly kept going straight to Malcolm. I felt my eyes sting with tears from the pain I felt in my chest. It felt like a sharply pointed sword was pushing its way into the deepest darkest part of my soul. My bones felt so weak, my body held so much pain, and the burning heat within me kept growing.

Something was definitely wrong, my heart was thudding in an unfamiliar rhythm, showing the intensity of the fear that dwelled in my soul. Even the air around me was charged with a burning heat. I had felt like this before, and it was on the day Arden was murdered.

I fell on the bed and I didn’t know when I fell asleep but I knew this was a dream. It just had to be.

Something was incredibly wrong, I don’t know why my heart was pounding so loud and there was something about the dream that terrified me. I was covered with blood. But it wasn’t mine.

Hell, I wasn’t even bleeding, at least not physically. But my heart was in pain. It was as if a better half of me was missing. I kept walking in darkness as only the moon’s rays followed my trail. Blood was everywhere, and lifeless bodies of dead rogue wolves littered around.

I couldn’t understand what was going on but from the look of it, it seemed like a war had broken out here. My heart hammered more as I began searching through the bodies on the ground for someone in particular. Malcolm.

I released a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding when I couldn’t find him among the scattered dead bodies on the ground. My heart began to thud at an increasingly insane speed and there was a sickening chill that stalked my spine. I began racing through the woods without direction when my legs stopped abruptly in a large meadow and I felt like my life had come to an end. The sight before me made the air in my lungs vanish.

Malcolm!!!

He was lying in the middle of a meadow. My legs hastened towards him, my heart was pounding hard in my chest. He was wounded severely but the wounds were not healing and his body was drenched with blood. I forced my shaking hands to touch him, but he was completely cold. I was motionless. I couldn’t move. It was as if time itself had paused, stopping every motion around me. I gasped weakly, I felt a heavy thud in my chest. My legs suddenly went weak and I collapsed against the bloody smeared earth. The blood in my body went completely cold as it dawned on me. He was dead. Malcolm was dead. I didn’t know when a tear rolled down my cheek.

Noo!!!! I released a painful howl that pierced the core of my soul.

And I jerked awake. My heart was racing incredulously fast. I scanned around and I was still in my room. I placed a hand on my temple, feeling my entire body become so weak. I was weak. Very weak. My eyes were stinging from the exhaustion that washed over me. I could feel my entire body on fire while every bone in my body ached with pain.

I groaned, dropping my head on the bed. It was a dream, but it felt so real. I could still feel the pain in my chest from seeing Malcolm in such a state. There was this growing restlessness and fear that enveloped my heart, with each passing second it kept increasing.

The only thing I wanted at the moment was to be next to my mate. He was the only one capable of soothing this pain away. As if he read my thoughts, the door pushed open and Malcolm stepped in.

Immediately I jerked up from the bed, falling into Malcolm’s arms that were ready to receive me. He pulled me into his arms, trying to calm me but I couldn’t stop the fear within that made my body tremble. I gripped him tightly, trying to breathe him in to calm my unsettled emotions. I shut my eyes, inhaling as much of him as I could, and his scent was calming.

Malcolm cupped my face, gazing deep into my silver orbs. “What happened, love?” His voice was shaky with concern. He could see the chaos within me and just wanted to make it stop.

I wish he could. I wish he could stop this fear within me.

I shook my head. “I had a bad dream.”

Malcolm brushed back the locks of hair falling on my face, “It’s just a dream, and nothing more.”

I stared deeply into his eyes. His voice and scent were exactly what I needed. It calmed me deeply, but unfortunately, the fear rooted within me remained.

The warmth that formed from the tingles calmed me and I leaned into his touch. I pulled closer to him, my head leaning closer till I felt my lips on his. I kissed him gently.

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me back with the same passion and want.

Even in the heat of the moment as our bodies were against each other, somewhere deep in my chest, I couldn’t shake off the fear in my heart. I could feel it, a bad storm was heading our way.