*****CHAPTER 44

DRAVEN'S POV
 
At first, the muffled struggle felt like it was coming from my own dreams. Later, it sounded like my own noise. And later, it sounded more distant from the dream. It sounded like a noise coming from the room. No matter how hard I tried to shut my eyes and deafen my ears, I couldn't stop the noise from penetrating into my sleep. Finally, I tore my eyes open, and as my eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light of the room that emitted from the lantern, I could hear the sound even more clearly. Slowly, I turned my head in the opposite direction, where Alcot's bed was, my eyes peering through the curtain unsuccessfully to catch a glimpse of him. I could see his silhouette toss and turn as low whimpers escaped from his lips.
 
He was the one making those sounds. Was he having a nightmare?
 
At first,I concluded that it was just a regular nightmare and tried to ignore him, but my body couldn't relax one tiny bit. His whimpers were nonstop, and I just couldn't watch him suffer that way. I wondered what was causing him nightmares. Perhaps the blood of the people he had killed because of his cruelty?
 
I finally rose up from my bed and carefully threaded myself towards his side of the room. With greater caution, I pulled the curtain aside to see him clearly. He was covered in sweat, and his shirtless body caused my breath to hold in my heart for what seemed like an eternity. My eyes widened in puzzlement, and I stared long and hard at his body.
 
Scars. There were scars all over his body. Scars that looked like mine. Rough and jagged.
 
I felt tempted to reach for the scars and feel them with my hands. To confirm that my eyes weren't playing any tricks on me and that indeed, those scars bore a strange resemblance to me. But I was careful enough not to touch him, lest he wake up and find me standing in this awkward position around him.
 
My eyes again squinted as I caught another scar on his body. Only, this wasn't really a scar. Rather, it was a mark. I leant closer and peered closer at the mark on his right side of his belly. A mark that looked like a full crescent of the moon. A rare mark. I had never seen anyone else with such a mark.
 
Except him and me.
 
My hand slowly felt the same spot on my stomach where the exact mark of Alcot was. Slowly and carefully, I lifted my shirt up a little bit, and my heart beat even louder to realize that I was right. It was the mark of a full moon, exactly the same as Alcot. Why was I sharing the same scars and marks with an enemy? Was this just a mere coincidence or...
 
"Archie." Alcot stirred again in his sleep and whimpered, a tear escaping his closed eyes. "Please don't go."
 
Archie. The same name as the little boy in my dreams. What in the name of the bloody gods was going on here?
 
 
………
 
Throughout the ride back to the castle, I was quiet. Reminiscing over the previous night: the nightmare, the scars, and the mark on Alcot's body I wondered if I was beginning to get delusional and seeing things that were never there, or if all that I had seen and experienced were real. Did he experience those nightmares frequently? Were they in any way the same things I saw in my own nightmares? What was the name Archie doing on his lips?
 
"You are oddly quiet today for an annoying talkative." Alcot said to me as we rode in the carriage. "Tell me, Cat's got your tongue today?"
 
I turned my head to look at him. In place of the frightened, vulnerable man I had seen last night, there was a tough and cold-looking Lycan king and Alpha. I wondered how he would react if he ever found out I was right there beside him when he was having his episode last night.
 
"I'm fine." I faked a smile. "Just tired."
 
"I think I like the version of you that is tired." He replied and looked away again.
 
If only he knew.
 
When we finally returned to the castle and alighted from our carriage, Alcot's mother was already waiting by the gates of the Alpha Quarters to welcome her son, her arms spread wide and welcoming. Alcot's lips lifted in a small smile, and he sank into her embrace for a brief moment that felt like an eternity to me. I watched them closely, feeling envious and sad for myself. Alcot was one lucky man. Having a mother who cared for him and watched over his back, having a pack where he was in full control and taking orders from no one.
 
But then again, the scars, the scars...
 
"Greetings, Alpha Draven." Alcot's mother turned her attention to me now, and I bowed my head briefly to reciprocate the greeting. "How was your visit to the village? I hope you had a wonderful time."
 
"Yes, my Luna." I replied with another fake smile. It wasn't an easy task to fake a smile. I had done it ever since I started to breathe.
 
"That is wonderful." She said this, walking up to me. When she was standing very close to me, her hand reached for my collar, which I didn't know was slightly askew, and arranged it neatly.
 
"There." She patted my back, raised her eyes to meet mine, and gave me a small motherly smile. "All done."
 
For the first time, I couldn't think of a proper reply to give her. I felt dumbstruck, and my brain was somewhat frozen. Her eyes. Her eyes were sterling gray. Exactly the color of mine. My head yelled at me to stop making assumptions, but my heart couldn't just stop.
 
I had Luna's color of eyes. Alcot's nightmares. Alcot's scars. Alcot mark. Something wasn't just right. Something just wasn't adding up. And I swore to myself right then and there that I would find out what it was before I stepped foot out of this pack.