All at once

Lilian's POV

It was all happening so fast. Everything, I could no longer keep up. One time and Kaiden was yelling at me and the next time?.... The next time he was grabbing me and kissing me so passionately that I simply couldn't keep up.




I had wanted to refuse him. To fight at him to let me go. But then I realized that I wanted this too. I too wanted to feel him in my arms. I wanted to kiss him too.



That didn't make me a bad person did it?
Soon he broke the kiss and I was able to breathe. I wanted to hold him tight to tell him to not let me go.


I wanted him to apologize to me, and that was when the tears began to fall freely from my eyes.



They didn't need me to bid them, they just flowed freely from my eyes.



Kaiden held me in his arms while I went full blown into sobbing in his arms. The loneliness had just been too much. I was honestly praying that this was the last. It just had to be.


...............
Afterwards reflecting on the activities of the day. The things that happened before I got back to the pack house.

Jael.
Jael and Yuria.
...............
“You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind, Lilian. Something is bothering you?”



Jael had asked me.
I met his eyes. I felt a sudden urge to tell him everything—to ask him who he really was, why he had appeared in my dream, and what all of this meant.




But I held back, I was too unsure of how to even begin.


“It’s nothing,” I said and I brushed it off with a wave of my hand. “Just... a lot to think about.” I said instead. Even though my mind wanted me to say more than that.



“Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m a pretty good listener,” Jael offered, his tone sounded sincere. “Sometimes, talking to a stranger can help.” he added and I watched him.




Stranger...
“Thanks,” I replied, though I wasn’t sure if I would take him up on that offer. There was still so much I didn’t know about him, and I wasn’t sure if I could trust him just yet—no matter how kind and familiar he seemed.





Yuria was beginning to sense the tension and she chimed in with her usual bright energy.



“Come on, Lilian. Jael’s just messing with you. He’s harmless, I promise.” she said and I chuckled, though the unease still lingered in the back of my mind.



“I’m sure he is.” I muttered.
We spent the next few minutes talking, Jael shared with us stories of his travels and Yuria filled in the gaps for me with her usual lively banter.




But still, I tried as much as I could, no matter how hard I tried to focus on the conversation, my thoughts kept drifting back to the dream and the strange feeling of fate’s hand in all of this.



I desperately wondered what this was all about.



Eventually, Yuria had excused herself to run an errand, and that had left Jael and me alone. The silence that followed was heavy, it was filled with unspoken questions and a terribly inexplicable tension.



“So... Lilian,” Jael began when he broke the silence. “Do you often go hunting alone in the woods?” He asked me.


Shit!


What?
I looked at him, startled by the question. It was exactly what the man in my dream had asked. What was this? Is he some sort of being or something?


I was curious and my subconscious was even more curious.



“Sometimes,” I replied cautiously. “Why do you ask?” I asked him, pretending to not want to talk about the elephant in the room- the dream.



He smiled, but there was something in his eyes that made me uneasy.


"Just curious. You seem like someone who prefers solitude over company.” he said.
I inwardly scoffed at that.


At least he didn't get this one right. I preferred company to solitude.


“Is that what you think?” I tried to keep my tone as light as possible.


“Just an observation,” he replied and shrugged. “But I think you’re more complex than that,” he said.



“Maybe,” I said, unsure of where this conversation was heading.



Jael had stepped closer, his expression had turned serious.

“Lilian, there’s something I need to tell you,” he said.


My heart skipped a beat, the tension between us had begun to thicken and I swallowed before I spoke.


“What is it?” I asked with wide eyes. I was suspicious about the way he was looking at me.


He hesitated for a beat, as if he weighed his words carefully.


“There are things happening—things you might not fully understand yet. But you will, soon.” He told me.


And rather than explaining things, that further got me bothered.


“What do you mean?” I asked, my voice was barely above a whisper.


Jael looked at me with an intensity that made my skin prickle.


“Just... be careful. There are forces at work, and not all of them have your best interests at heart.” he told me.



It came off as more of a warning than a tell tale.


What was this about? I thought as I felt a shiver as it had run down my spine, but I forced myself to remain calm. Or at least act like I was calm.



"What are you talking about?” I asked in an almost shaky voice.



Before he could answer, Yuria had returned and I looked away instantly and blinked my eyes. For a start I was beginning to get scared.



“Sorry about that! Ready to go?” she asked us and I glanced at Jael, but his expression had already shifted back to its usual calm demeanor, the serious moment was long gone as quickly as it had come.



And that further piqued my interest about this Jael guy.


“Yeah,” I replied and eyed them. “Let’s go.” I said.


We walked away and I simply couldn’t shake the feeling that my life was about to change in ways I couldn’t predict. I had just got that feeling.



And at the center of it all was this mysterious man who had appeared in both my dreams and my waking life.


Jael... Who are you really?
And why do I feel like you’re hiding something from me? My subconscious wondered.



The questions swirled in my mind, but one thing was certain—I needed to find answers, and soon.


Even as I thought about it, I realized that there definitely was something about this Jael and I wanted to find out who he was and why he was appearing at the Blue Moon pack just after he had appeared in my dream the previous night.