One Thousand Lives And You

1

Water and Blood

The water was cold against my body as I splashed into it. It rushed to swallow me, dragging me down into its depths, staying me like a stubborn child. I closed my mouth shut and flapped my hands and legs.

I was well versed in swimming and all I had learned rushed to the front of my mind like magnets to metal. I flapped my hands and kicked my legs but the currents were too strong. The waves threw me about like players kicked balls in a field and there was nothing I could do but let my body be trashed about violently by the waves.

Once in a while, I was able to look up and find the moon there shining in the sky like a bacon whole. I saw the bubbles rise from my mouth – which I struggled to keep close – and knew instinctively that I had swallowed enough water to fill a lake.

Although I kept struggling against the tides, trying and failing to reach for the moon, I knew my attempts were futile, yet I could not just give up. Something told me I needed to find a way out of the water and make it to shore. It told me someone waited there for me. Someone important.

But as the water burned through my eyes making it close shut and my legs stopped struggling, I knew I would never make it. In all my lives, I never made it.

I wake from the dream with a start. It is always the same dream and I have been having it for as long as I can remember. Most times, I think it is telling me of what is to come, a future that is yet to happen and other times, I’m not really sure.

I blink my eyes and get out of bed then check the clock – Aaron, my father and our Alpha had given it to me on my eighteenth birthday – and realize I have woken up late again. As usual.

Lazily, I push myself out of bed and saunter into the bathroom. I check myself in the mirror and wince at my reflection that stares back at me. My cloth is drenched in sweat and my red hair – which I inherited from my mother – is like a mare’s nest on top my head.

Signs of drool runs from both sides of my mouth to my ear, carving my face to look like that of the joker. I immediately turn in the tap and splash water on my face then stare at my face In the mirror for another thirty minutes before moving on to other things.

Once I was done, I put on a dress – nothing fancy – and make my way to our living room to wait for my parents. They were going to visit Silver Crest pack and I would have gone with them except for the fact that I had developed a phobia for large bodies of water. What was it called again? Thalassophobia my brain reminded me and no I am not making this up and yes, I know it is a mouthful.

I also have mild aqua phobia which is the general fear of water and any activities that involved water and I am working on it. All of these phobias which I have developed is as a result of that dream which I keep having.

Every single time I am drowning in the dream and then I die and every single time I approach water of any kind – even pools – I get the feeling that I am about to die.

Anyways, that’s the reason why I am not going on this trip with my parents. I’ll go with them next time though. Any year they decide to use flight, I just hope I don’t start having dreams where I’m on a plane and it crashes before then.

I smile as my father descend the stairs. He looks regal and way younger than his age. Alpha Aaron is about three hundred years old or more – I stopped keeping counts – and could pass for a thirty-year-old thanks to his athletic build, jet black hair with hints of silver and his startling blue eyes like the summer sky. He holds a cane in one hand but he doesn’t really need it. It is just for the fashion and I know he owns many of those, changes them as much as he changes his cloths.

His lips curl into a smile as his eyes fall on me to reveal perfect white teeth.

“Crystal.” he mutters and stretches his arm towards me. I take his palm and plant a kiss as is our way of greeting.

“You look like you are going to charm all the ladies on the ship.” I smile and he rolls his eyes.

“I am looking to charm no one but your mother and possibly the Luna of Silver Crest into signing the deal with us.” He winks.

I raise a brow. “What deal?”

“Just, you know boring politics things which you have no interest in.” he says dismissively and moves to the bar to pour himself some wine.

It’s true. I have no interest whatsoever in the politics of werewolves and I try to stay away from it as much as I can but I have a feeling this one’s going to interest me so I follow him to the bar.

“C’mon, tell me.” I whine. “You know I’m going to have to take over the pack one day.”

He pours himself a scotch and sips from it. “Not if you’re planning to kill me soon. I know I still have a lot of years to live.”

I frown. “Then I’ll just ask mum. She tells me everything.”

He smiles slyly and takes another sip of the drink. “Does she now. Did she tell you of that dress I got her from Evans last summer and that she’s wearing it on this trip.”