Tangled Hearts - The Alpha's Baby Mama-Chapter 268: The strange vision...

Selene POV

For someone who has not slept for the better part of this week, I was wide awake until it was dawn.

I hadn’t slept a wink. I spent the night, tossing and turning, my mind racing with too many questions and no answer. By the time it was dawn, I felt restless. I had sat at my window facing the east of the Moon Whisper pack land until the sun came up. I couldn’t think... I was too numb to process anything. I couldn’t feel either. For the first time, there were no answers to all of my questions.

Pushing myself away from the window, I decide to go for a walk. The pack house was still quiet, the usual hustle and bustle were yet to begin. Except for a few omegas going to the duty posts still looking sleepy-eyed. I needed fresh air, a moment to clear my head, to escape my mind working on an overdrive.

I dressed quickly in warm clothes and slipped out of the pack house before anyone noticed.

The morning air was crisp and the sky was still a soft blend of pink and orange... it was a brief moment of peace before the activities of the day would start. I strolled through the pack lands, loving how quiet it was before the chaos. I met a few soldiers returning to their houses after their night shifts or going to replace the other soldiers who had been there all night.

I continued aimlessly. There must be something that I was missing... a puzzle... more like.

My feet carried me along the familiar paths of Moon Whisper. I passed through a small, quaint forest, mostly used for farming rare fruits and herbs. It was owned by the Pack Healers community and eventually found myself at the children’s park.

It was deserted, as I had expected this early, with only the faint chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves to keep me company. I spotted a bench under the shade of a large oak tree, its wooden surface looked shiny and new and it was facing a small lake.

Gratefully, I sank onto the bench, letting out a deep breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. My body felt heavy, my mind fogged with exhaustion. As I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, I only wanted to rest for a second... recover a bit and then resume.

I strolled towards the direction of the children’s park and finally spotted an empty spot facing a small lake. I dropped on the pack bench, wheezing, trying to catch my breath.

I was just going to close my eyes for a few minutes, recover for a bit and then start back for the pack house but...

That moment was fleeting...

When I opened my eyes again, something strange happened. I wasn’t at the park anymore. The bench, the trees and the morning sky had disappeared. Instead, I found myself standing in a dimly lit room, the air was thick with tension. In front of me stood my father, , his expression was stern but conflicted. Beside him was my mother, heavily pregnant, with tears streaming down her face as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Mother? Father?" I whispered, my heart pounding in my chest. I tried to move towards them but my feet felt heavy, like they were stuck to the ground.

My father stood stiffly, his hand resting on my mother’s trembling shoulder as if he was trying to console her but he couldn’t. My mother clutched at her swollen belly, her sobs growing louder, more desperate. They were facing an older woman; someone I had never seen before. The woman had long silver hair and a weathered face, her eyes were hard and unfeeling. She wore a flowing black gown that shimmered even in the dim light. It was a sharp contrast to the sorrow radiating from my mother.

"Please," I called out, my voice breaking. "What’s happening? Mother, what’s wrong?"

But no one responded.

The air around us felt thick with something I couldn’t place, something ominous. I watched as the older woman raised her hand, gesturing to my parents with a commanding presence that unsettled me. My father nodded grimly, but my mother shook her head violently, her sobs turning into wails.

"I can’t! I won’t! she cried, her voice echoing painfully in the room. "I’d rather give my life than have this life taken away from me."

The words made no sense to me, it was as if they were speaking in a language I didn’t understand, something ancient and foreign, like whispers from a forgotten time.

My father tried to calm her, speaking softly in the same language but his words, too, were lost on me. I strained to understand, to catch even a fragment of their conversation, but it was as if their voices were muffled, distorted by some unseen force.

"Mother, please!’ I begged, stepping forward. "You have to speak loudly? I can’t hear you. What are you talking about? What’s going on?"

I reached out to touch my mother but my hand passed right through her, like I wasn’t there. Panic surged through my chest. It was as if I was trapped in a drama, watching a memory that didn’t belong to me but was still painfully familiar play.

The old woman spoke now, her voice was low and commanding, and her eyes flashed with exasperation as if she was tired of talking about the same thing over and over again. But to me, it sounded like some alien language. My father responded to her with another curt nod, his face etched with guilt while my mother shook her head again, screaming in anguish.

"Don’t do this! You can’t!" her voice cracked as she fell to her knees, clutching her belly. My father knelt beside her, whispering something that seemed to calm her momentarily but there was still sadness in her eyes.

I watched, helpless, unable to do anything, unable to understand them. I wanted to scream, to demand answers, but I couldn’t. I hadn’t been speaking all along in my mind. I could form words; I couldn’t make my mouth speak. The sense of despair in the room was overwhelming, almost suffocating me.

Without warning, the old woman moved toward my mother, her hand outstretched as if she were about to do something. But before I could see what happened next, I felt a sudden jolt – a firm hand on my shoulder, pulling me back.

Startled, I blinked and the vision dissolved, thrusting me once again to the park. I gasped, my chest heaving as I tried to gather myself. The lake in front of me came back into focus, the bench was beneath me the towering oak tree but the memory of what had just happened felt too real to be a vision.

"Selene!" a voice called softly, pulling me fully back into the present.

I jerked and turned, my heart still racing. Kneeling in front of me, his expression etched with concern was Lucius.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his brows were furrowed in worry.

I blinked at him... when did he come here? "Lucius?" I breathed; my voice still shaky.