The Alpha's Omega Mate-Chapter 161: Once upon a dark night.

~Dahlia’s POV~

The sun set quickly in the sky, casting a reddish yellow hue across the horizon. I stood breathless as I watched it lower even more into the clouds and I sighed dreamily because for some reason, this felt familiar.

It felt like something I’d seen before.

Something I’d lived in before.

It took me a moment plus a wracking headache to place why this all felt familiar, and soon enough my heart felt like it had been forcefully pried out of my chest.

My body pulsated with a million raw emotions, and I shook violently as several strange images breezed across my mind’s eye like in a loop.

My mother.

She was the one I’d seen this with. The one I’d lived this moment with. I could remember how we would always watch the setting sun whenever we had the chance, and whenever my father wasn’t there to tell us interesting stories.

But how...?

For the first time since forever, it felt like I could vividly remember the face of my mother. I could remember her fiery ginger hair that was just as long and wild like mine, her beautiful plush skin and her smile that always seemed to light up my world like a million stars.

"Urghhh!" I groaned, holding my head in my hands as the headache intensified. But for some reason, I couldn’t stop the images playing in my head nor the voices—foreign yet familiar— that now called out to me in hushed tones.

Tears slipped down my face due to the raw pain wracking through my entire body, especially my skull, and despite the hot climate, a shiver ran down my spine.

I was cold. Insanely cold.

Blood streaked down my nostrils as I staggered weakly, but before I could fall to the floor, large arms wrapped themselves around my midriff, steadying me and the scent of my mate— a rich blend of pines, vanilla and an obviously expensive cologne wafted into my nostrils.

Alpha Kai.

I moaned in delight... or was it relief when he held me against his chest and with his arms now wrapping around me protectively, he whispered; "Are you okay? Is something the matter?"

Then cursing under his breath, he hissed; "You’re cold as fuck!"

Something about the worry in his voice made me warm all over. I nodded my head quietly, feeling too shy to look into his eyes as I said; "Yes I am."

"Yes to what, to me asking if you’re okay or to complaining about you being cold as fuck?" He asked playfully, making it impossible for me not to smile.

I rolled my eyes. "To both."

"You’re lying." He stated simply, and then wiping off the blood from under my nose with a piece of cloth, he muttered; "you’re bleeding through your nose, and that isn’t ’you being okay’." He drawled, and for a moment, I contemplated telling him about what I had seen. I contemplated telling him about the weird visions of my mother and my former pack. I wondered if he would try to force me into seeing more or if he’d just be passive about it all.

Shaking my head against these thoughts, I simply said; "I saw things but I can’t make sense of what they are."

A lie, but a white one regardless.

Kai seemed to think about my words for a moment. He appeared deep in thoughts as he unconsciously chewed on his lower lips. Then after a moment of silence, he finally looked at me, a bright smile threatening to split his face in half. "I could get you to the doctor. Or one of the mages." He said, but as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth, I instantly panicked.

Kai had no idea about what I and my child were. He doesn’t know the extent to which our powers ran, and that in itself was scary.

Deciding that I couldn’t let him take me to the hospital or anywhere in general, mostly because I didn’t want another person to find out about my secrets, I rushed out; "No need. I am fine."

"You don’t look like it."

"But I am. It may just have been me hallucinating. It happens to anyone:"

Kai looked like he had something more to say, but probably deciding to let it go, he clamped his lips together and turned away, in the direction of the almost fully set sun.

And I hated that.

I hated that he was no longer looking at me.

I hated how quiet he suddenly was.

A fleeting thought crossed my mind and without fully thinking it through, I blurted; "did you ever know my mother’s name?"

At the sound of my words, Kai froze. He turned slowly to look at me and I smiled. At least now he was back to looking at me.

"Dahlia?"

"Was my mother’s name Dahlia?" I asked now, genuinely confused, and almost chuckled when Kai shook his head frantically, a bright blush staining his cheeks.

"No. No..." he stuttered, looking away. And I didn’t miss the way he swallowed heavily. "She was Luna Nina."

Luna Nina.

The name sounded strange yet familiar... like an exotic wine. One tasted once but never forgotten. But one which unfortunately, you never get to taste ever again.

And ironically, that was the case with my mother. She’d been in my life for a period of time... a time I could hardly remember but miss with everything in me. A time I would never get to witness in my life ever again.

My heart felt heavy at the thought. Tears burned at the corners of my eyes. I turned to the now almost dark cloud, my voice coming out hoarse. I asked; "How did she die?"

"She died in a fire. It was an accident. You both were together in her chamber, but somehow, you had miraculously survived."

That felt familiar... felt like something I’d seen somewhere.

I nodded one but didn’t dare to speak. I couldn’t trust myself to speak.

"That was the same fire Elodie was talking about the other day right?" I asked softly and he nodded. "Then maybe I want to see her." I drawled, "maybe I need to see her."

It felt as though he soon understood what I was implying as he frowned, stepped away from me and turned away. "I’m not letting her return here."

"But I need to—"

"Then maybe you should go to her." He snapped, interrupting me. "Maybe you should go to Shadowfang pack yourself but I’ll not let you bring her back here."

Silence.

"Is that understood?"

"Yes." I muttered; and with that, he walked away, leaving me wondering how someone could be so hot and cold at the same time.

How one minute, he could be so sweet one minute, and as stubborn as a mule the next.

In annoyance, I turned away from the darkened clouds and stepped into the house, cursing under my breath as I made my way to the one person who wouldn’t frustrate me so much.

My daughter.

—

That night, I slept like a baby, that was until my room faded into someplace else. Someplace darker... more fancy... more ancient. The sound of my mother’s soft chuckle rang over and over again in my head, filling my heart with a wholeness that made me smile and a warmth that made my body feel full.

I turned in the direction of the sound, my breath hitching when my eye snagged on the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life, and I wasn’t even exaggerating.

She looked a lot like me— but a more refined version, draped in a loose purple dress with a woolen shawl hanging loosely around her shoulders. Her round stomach looked very pronounced, signifying the late stages of pregnancy and her wild ginger red hair floated around her small frame like a cloak.

She was the epitome of beauty. The literal queen. "Luna Nina,"

"Come here, Nyx’ara, I know you miss your papa, but worry not because he’ll soon come back to us." She cooed softly, spreading out her arms in a gesture that warmed me even more than I already was.

I scrambled to my feet as if in a daze and into her waiting arms, and as she pulled me into a hug, I sighed in content, tears streaming down my face. My heart felt so full I feared I would burst.

I wanted to stay longer in her arms. I wanted to be here forever, but I couldn’t— not when she seemed uncomfortable. And definitely not when this position made my back ache tremendously.

"Mama, will you ever come back for me?" I asked sorrowfully, but she wouldn’t respond. She simply held me close.

My eyes fluttered shut when her sweet soft voice flitted into my ears... whispering sweet nonsenses into my ears, but when they snapped back open moments later, all I saw was fire.

A fiery blazing fire.

And it was everywhere. Engulfing everything. Pushing tons and tons of smoke into the air.

And in the midst of it all was my mama; burnt to crisp with nothing but a few strands of her ginger strands acting as a means to identify her heavily charred form.

I screamed, thrashing wildly against the floor— the bed.

My eyes snapped open when I felt something wrapping around my midriff and in panic, I nearly flung it away until I smelled it... Until its familiar scent assaulted my nostrils.

It was my daughter; Amara and she was sobbing uncontrollably, shaking as she chanted;

"Open your eyes, mommy. It’s only a dream. It’s a dream. Wake up."

—Over and over again until her voice was hoarse, and until my heart was fully shattered.