Derek
“Kyra!” Derek screamed.
He yelled her name every single time. But he was always too slow. He got to her just one second too late.
He reached her just as Victor lifted his head from her neck, his fangs covered in Kyra’s blood.
Victor grinned at him, letting the blood drip down his chin. He licked his lips. “Wolf shifters taste the best,” he said.
In Victor’s arms, Kyra was limp, and he let her body drop to the forest ground.
Derek rushed to her, but she didn’t stir. “You killed her!” he screamed at Victor.
Victor stood above her with a haughty snarl. “Oh well. She would have made a poor vampire. She was always a traitor to me.”
Derek lunged at the vampire, tearing his throat out with his teeth.
Then his body jerked, and the dream started over again. Derek was trapped. He was stuck inside his body, unconscious to the world, but fading in and out. And each time he slept, he dreamed this cruel nightmare, where he had to watch his mate die, over and over.
For what seemed like an eternity, he’d tried to speak. He’d tried to get his brothers to help him, but no one could hear him. No one knew he was stuck.
Then finally, a female voice reached him.
Derek.
It’s not real.
Rest.
The dreams didn’t stop, but they were easier to handle from then on.
Then sometime later, he wasn’t sure how long, he felt a warm hand on his. He saw his mate, wearing the same outfit she’d worn when he first met her.
It didn’t matter that she’d been trying to trick him, not at all. All that mattered was that she was safe.
Then finally, after four long days. Derek woke up. Not just a little bit, but all the way.
He woke up slowly, vaguely aware of the sunlight filtering into the room.
He was lying in bed, but it wasn’t his bed. He also wasn’t in his cabin. And he wasn’t alone, not by a long shot. In fact, there were several shifters around him, including Roman.
What the hell was going on?
He got his eyes open, which took forever, and he recognized the ceiling of the healer’s cabin. Derek had never been to this one, as a patient, but he’d dragged several of his pack members in for accidents they'd had with silver, or a training that had gotten too rough. He tried to avoid it as much as possible, although he admired the healers.
They’d been literal lifesavers all those years ago during the forest fire that had claimed Roman’s father’s life.
Roman’s father… Why was Derek thinking about him?
Oh no.
Oh fuck.
All of it came rushing back at once.
Kyra, who was his mate.
The vampires.