Alpha Peter struggled with speechlessness, as he digested what the redheaded human in front of him had just said and implied. A big black wolf with deep blue eyes? That was the exact description of his son. He had seen it first hand in the forest. If not for the other interesting factor, the phanthom and the human, he had almost gushed at the largeness of his son's wolf, and its sheer blackness; and he hadn't even turned 18 yet. He had been happy, but then the issue of the phanthom had zapped his interest.
And the human? Who and what could she be? He wondered, staring at her, not even knowing what to say. And why would her son sacrifice himself for her? Were they mates?
No, impossible. He concluded. He remembered he had asked his son, sometime yesterday, if the redhead was his mate, based on his instincts, and his son had replied in the negative. So, what could this mean? He refused to believe that the human's dream was a mere nightmare like his mate had said. He didn't think that his mate believed her lie either, she had been mute since the human dropped the bombshell which she had said wasn't necessary, earlier.
She might be a human, but there must be something else to her. He concluded, knowing that his mate wouldn't just take a very keen liking to this particular human for nothing.
Then the vampire? He didn't know if he should be more frightened about that, or about the fact that his son had died in the two dreams, and it involved both the vampire and the human. He knew that the human didn't believe in the weird creatures, and he would like it to remain that way. The lesser she knew, the better for her.
But the vampire? He had last seen those blood sucking creatures, seven years ago, during the last pack war. They had caused mayhem and catastrophe; had been invited by the opposing packs to aid them, after promising them some territories and so on. He had never had a vampire as a friend, and wasn't interested in having one as a friend. He hated them, especially for what they had done, the killings and the destruction. They had also slyly involved the humans who hunted them, the werewolves, for a living.
Taking a deep breath, he sighed. He hated remembering the event that had happened seven years ago. Apart from the fact that he had lost a lot of his people, including his mother, and had been betrayed by his brother; he had lost his first home.
Recovering himself from the memory lane, he stared at the human who was darting her eyes at he and his mate occasionally, obviously confused about their silence, and sighed again; wondering what could be going on between the human and his son, what her connection was with their pack, why his mate was so keen about her, why the witches were also searching for her, and why she was now seeing dreams or visions of them all. He needed answers, and he needed them now. He decided to wait till daybreak, so that he could speak with his beta's son. He was sure that the twins would be back from their shift by now. He wanted to know why Claire, the girl he had chosen for his son because of her agility and strongness, would bully the human.
Averting his eyes from the confused redhead, he cast his eyes over his mate. She looked to be deep in thoughts; deep in thoughts and shaken. He mind linked her, wanting her to snap out of her thinking haze, to leave it for later, so as not to rouse the human's suspicions. For if the redhead was intelligent as he thought, then she might have caught on to something weird about their present silent state.
"Mel…" He called through their mind link, causing Melvina to jerk up her head and stare at her mate and Alpha.
"We have been too silent. The human might catch on to something." He said, before reclining back on the chair, aware that his mate had understood his message. She always did.
Melvina snapped out of her thinking haze, as her mate had called out to her, mentioning the possibility of the human to catch on to something due to their pregnant silence.
Well, if she knew the human as she thought she did, she was sure that the redhead had already caught on to something. All the same, they had to wrap up this discussion and retire back to bed.
"Emma…" She called, hoping that the human wouldn't snap at her again. She had been surprised when the human had replied her bluntly, while prying away her hands from hers. She hadn't been expecting it, hadn't seen it coming. She knew that something must have happened in her absence. She already decided to ask Maya about it. This quarrel wasn't needed at the moment.
At this point, they needed all hands on deck, united the same. The dream the redhead had seen, wasn't a nightmare as she had mouthed out then, to confuse her mate which hadn't been moved by that; rather it was a vision of what was to come. The event of seven years ago was about to be repeated, and this time it had the ability to eat them all up, especially her only son. She couldn't let that happen.
Of course, the human had seen well. She was sure that the big black wolf was her son, especially since after his premature shift in the forest, and she was also sure that her son would give his life for his human mate in a heartbeat. But her mate didn't know that, at least not yet. She hoped that it remained that way until her friend comes back from her journey, until they had figured out who exactly the redhead was, and why the witches were after her.
Her son and Maya had briefed her about the break in the human's house, and about the mysterious necklace; and her son had told her about the strange presence he had felt in his mate's room. She knew that something was happening, something was already in motion. She felt that the pack war that had happened seven years ago wouldn't hold a torch, wouldn't be up to comparison with the one that was about to happen. And for that, she was scared. The last pack war had claimed the life of his mate's mother as a sacrifice. What would this one claim? She didn't want to lose her son. And what more? She had a nagging feeling that the human had the key either to stop or push up the war.
Emma turned away from looking at the man in the room, to his wife, her first friend who had also lied to her, Melvina.
From the looks that had earlier been on their faces, she knew that the dream had pricked their hearts, and had meant something to them, but she didn't know what, and she knew that they wouldn't tell her even though she had been involved in it. She thought that they still saw her as an outsider; she wasn't part of the family yet.
"Thanks for sharing your dream with us." She heard Melvina say, and shrugged.
"Not a problem." She replied, before standing up slowly.
"I will be returning back to the room." She stated, about to turn away from Melvina, so as to face the entrance of the sitting room, when her eyes collided with the painting on the wall. This time around the woman in the painting was staring at her with heated looks, like she was angry.
And this time around again, for the fourth time that night, Emma shouted, taking steps back while pointing at the picture, and colliding with Melvina in the process who had stood up sharply with her mate at her shout.
"It has moved again." She kept on muttering, as she turned away to face Melvina who grasped her by the shoulders.
"Emma, what is it? What has moved?" Melvina asked, as curiosity racked her spirit, soul and body. Alpha Peter was also standing close by to them. He had also been startled by Emma' shout. And as he ruminated on what might have caused the redhead to shout, he remembered that the scared look on her face now, was the same as the one he had seen on her face when he had met her in the sitting room earlier, all sprawled out on the floor.
"She had been this way when I had come in here earlier this morning." He said to his mate, as she held on to the scared human who was still struggling to voice out what she had seen.
"It had happened earlier? Did she say what had been the cause?" Melvina asked, not entirely comfortable with what she was hearing.
"I don't know. We had first been discussing the dream, before you came in." He replied.
"Emma, talk to us. What moved?" Melvina asked Emma who was now a little bit calm, but still wide eyed.
"The painting…" She said, pointing at the direction of the painting, but not looking at it, out of fear of what she might see. "It moved again."
"Moved??" Melvina asked, not really understanding what the human was saying.
"Yes. The woman in the painting…her eyes were moving.." She replied.