I FELT...PAIN

**Rebecca’s story**

Today I was meeting a good friend, and it wasn’t Samantha. It was someone who had been by my side during the hard days when death had almost made its home inside my body.
Eve Adams was in my hospital days as my mother. I met her during my stay there, but briefly. In fact, I got to know her during my walks in the nearby park. I kind of kept a close connection with her. When I needed an escape, I would come to her house. She lived so close to mine. I just needed this escape because lately, Dominic’s presence had been shaking me and my entire existence. It was so hard to be around him when all I wanted to do was kiss him, make love to him, and then repeat all of that.
I wasn’t ashamed to admit it, especially after his outburst from yesterday. I couldn’t resist him.
My heart and soul ached so much for not being able to fulfill my dreams. My reality was so harsh that sometimes I just didn’t understand it. There were days when he was so present, so involved with me, and days when he was so absent or even brutal.

And sometimes he was getting so close in my personal space, invading it, taking control of it, of me, of my will. He was always disarming me immediately when he was around.
He made me lay down my weapons and surrender to him. It was such a burning feeling. And when he was stepping into my space, so close, I could inhale him. Like he could rouse my body, frozen in time, and leave me wanting his touch. That was pure torture.
“My dear Rebecca! Please come in.” I missed her warm voice so much. Not even my mother used to speak to me like that.
“Eve, always a pleasure to see you. Sorry I have waited so long to visit you. It’s just that so much has happened to me...” I didn’t see the point in burdening poor Eve with so much, especially after losing her sister, but I was going to tell her about Dominic, at least on the surface. I needed some advice and Eve seemed the right person to give it to me.
“I have all the time in the world to listen to you, my dear, but first let me serve you something. Coffee, lemonade?” Eve lived alone after her sister’s death and never told me if there had been or even if it was a husband. But something was different in her eyes now.
“Lemonade, please” I watched with pleasure as she took the jug out of the fridge and two glasses. It was like she knew I was coming.
“But tell me, Becca, what brings you here? Though I can kind of tell from your eyes. Love trouble?” Were my eyes that expressive or were they sad?
“You know me so well. You couldn’t have heard of Dominic Stone...” I got right to the point. Her face suddenly changed. Her eyes darkened a little, but her smile returned almost immediately.
“I think the entire planet has heard of Dominic Stone. I met him in the hospital. He was with you from the time he brought you in until they discharged you. Is he giving you a hard time?” Although at first, I thought she was just joking, no grimace on her face gave me the impression she was.
“Eve, I know I can’t lie to you. Something’s happened to me since I met Dominic...”
“You fell in love...” she immediately added, and coming from someone so important to me, it seemed to have a different meaning. A deeper one.
“Yes, I fell hopelessly in love. But something seems... wrong with him. I don’t even know how to explain it better...” I was getting lost in words and the more I tried to explain, the more I understood nothing. And Eve was getting stranger too. She kept rubbing her hands together, averting her eyes. “Eve, are you okay?” I finally asked, seeing her anxiety rising.
She got up from the table and walked to the window.
“I guess there’s no point in hiding anything anymore. Besides, I’m sure you’re Dominic’s Luna” There was that word again. My heart was pounding in my chest and I could hardly sit still.
“Luna? What does that mean?” Eve turned to face me. The color in her cheeks was gone. “Eve, you’re not well. Did your blood pressure drop? What’s wrong?”
“If only it were the blood pressure, my dear Becca”
“Then what is it? Please don’t scare me! I’ve heard that word before, Luna, in a conversation between Declan, the doctor who treated me, and Dominic. That conversation seemed so confidential. Dominic never answered my question. Will you? What’s your connection to him?” Suddenly her eyes turned red, just like Dominic’s. “Eve, your eyes... what’s going on here???” Fear made me take a few steps back towards the front door.
“Rebecca, please don’t be scared. I will not hurt you. I knew this time would come and I’m really glad I’m the one to tell you everything. But it all depends on how open you are to the truth.”
Just then, a jolt of electricity pierced my being, as if someone I loved was in danger. God, why was I feeling all this? Eve seemed to understand immediately what was happening to me.
“You’re already feeling it. That’s good. I’ll tell you quickly because we’re running out of time.”
“We’re running out of time... I don’t understand. Who’s in danger?” With a motion of her hand, Eve gestured for me to sit down. Her eyes had regained their natural chocolate color.
“Now let’s talk. Actually, I will do the talk, and you listen. I’ll answer every question you have, because I’m sure you will have.”
I sat down as comfortably as I could under the circumstances when her voice rang out again. “As far-fetched as what I’m about to tell you may seem to you, I won’t influence you in any way to believe me or not. It will be hard for a mere mortal like you to understand and get used to the idea.”
“For a mortal like me? I’m not following you anymore, Eve...” And how could I follow her when I couldn’t understand what she was saying? I was mortal, but wasn’t she the same?
“Okay, Becca, it all started...100 years ago, when Dominic and my late daughter, Jane, began a romance...”
“100 years??? What the hell are you talking about? Dominic is only 30 and you...” Suddenly I ran out of air and the room was spinning with me. I wanted to get up but fell back in my chair, drained of energy. Eve’s firm, warm hand touched my shoulder and, as if by magic, I calmed down. Though I still looked at her in horror. “Please don’t hurt me...”
“Please don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. On the contrary, I will help you and Dominic find each other. You have many enemies, Becca. Do you really think the attack in the forest a few months ago was random? Or that the beasts that attacked you and killed Tom, your fiancé, were just wolves?”
“Werewolves…” I saw the shock in her eyes when I seemed to utter the forbidden word.
“How do you know about werewolves?”
“Dominic told me... but I didn’t think... God, they don’t exist. They’re just fairy tale characters. They can’t be real.” I was so in denial; I could barely control my breathing. So, I pressed my hand against my chest, trying to calm my heartbeat.
“So, Dominic tried to tell you. Smart of him. The wolf in him probably can’t resist the temptation to get close to you. It’s only natural, you’re his Luna.” His behavior, the way he stood up to those huge wolves in the woods without even getting hurt, the way he treated me yesterday in the shower and when he hardly restrained himself, even the words that sometimes escaped his lips and for which he had no explanation. Now I was understanding, but understand what? That Dominic, on full moon nights, became a beast, a killing machine?
“What am I to him? You mean he’s a... werewolf too?” I could barely say that word, but to believe it? The thought of Dominic turning into such a monster filled me with fear.
And it was like Eve was feeling all my emotions.
“You don’t have to be afraid of him. He won’t hurt you. He loves you. Just like he loved my daughter, only Jane wasn’t his destined one. But you are. And the feelings you just experienced are as natural as can be.”
“Feelings? What do you mean? “God, there was so much to take in.
“You just felt a kind of lightning bolt go through your body. That’s because the connection between you and Dominic is so strong that you can feel everything he feels and vice versa.”
“But I felt... pain...”
“That’s because he’s in danger, Becca, and he needs you to give him strength.”