I was still in my bed. Not released from the hospital yet, but nevertheless, it was just a dream anyway.

“Hello?”

At last, I was finally home. I heard a faint knocking on my door as I rolled over in bed. I checked the time on my alarm clock: 4:52 am. Who would be calling for me at this hour?

“Ashlee, I’m so sorry. But have you seen your mother? I’ve been calling for her and she never showed up for our meeting. I’m in urgent need of speaking with her. My name is Charlotte and it is an urgent message that I must relay to her.”

“Meeting?” I groggily answered, not sure if I was more surprised by this unexpected caller or the fact that my mother had somewhere to be.

“Yes, I’m sorry for disturbing you at such a late hour. But I really was expecting her, and I came to check in, just to see how she was.”

Fumbling around nervously, I found myself at a loss for words. “I’m sorry but she’s asleep. May I take a message?”

“Well, like I said, I’m just checking on her. She usually calls or at least answers my calls. It’s quite unlike her to completely avoid them altogether.”

Scrambling quickly, I noted, “Yes, she’s fine. Just asleep, but I’ll be sure to pass along the message that you called.”

And with that, I hung up. My heart was pounding vehemently inside my chest.

Shortly thereafter, however, I was woken again by another call.

“Hello, Ashlee. My name’s unimportant, but I’ve been sent by your mother. She’s been delivering messages to me concerning your whereabouts and updating me on your status as a witch quite consistently. So if you think that you are performing privately, then you’re wrong. I’m aware of every move that you make and mark my words, if you make so much as one wrong move, you and your little friends will be dead.”

And with that, the person hung up the phone, and left me sitting there in my bed trembling, all alone. I couldn’t think but to call anyone but Cecilia at that point, but when I called, she didn’t pick up.

I paced my floor endlessly, knowing that I had nearly no one else to turn to. All I could think was, who was this woman, and why did she want me dead? How could she possibly know about me and my powers?

***

Later that afternoon, I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to find a strange man on the other side.

“Ashlee, we need to talk,” he urged. This strange man practically invited himself in as soon as I opened the door. “I know things about you. I know you don’t know me, but we are destined to be together.”

Hanging my arm loosely, prepared to attack if needed – out of self-defense more than anything – I said, “May I help you? Honestly, I have never encountered such rudeness in all my life! You’re the second person today who has tried to jilt me without so much as explaining yourself.”

“Listen to me, Ashlee. We are fated mates. I’m part of your dreams. This isn’t real.”

“No.” I pointed to the door half-heartedly. “I have more important things to worry about anyway. Like honestly, who do you think you are? What in God’s name is this?”

“It’s a vision. A vision of your future. For as lame as it sounds, it’s the true. I’m part of you, and you are part of me.”

“Fine. Fine….” And then, that’s when I felt it. The irresistible pull of attraction. It was too surreal for me to begin to describe.

“What’s up with you and Cecilia, anyway?” he asked suddenly.

“What do you mean?” I retorted defensively. If there was one thing that irked me the most, it was when people began prying into my personal life, especially my friends or family or love life…

“I mean – oh, well, never mind. I just wasn’t completely sure…”

“Why are you here?”

In spite of the physical attraction that I felt, I stood testily still by the door, making it evident that this mystery man was clearly trying my patience.

“I already told you. We are fated mates, and this is simply a dream that you are having that is all too surreal for your eyes to behold.”

“Please” I sighed emptily once more. “Okay, fine. Just…what is your name?”

“That’s the thing. I was hoping you would know.”

“Do you really think that I would know? Just tell me.”

“Really, Ashlee? Are you sure that you don’t? I’m the man of your dreams, the wolf of your future. The beast of your desires. I’m Christian.”

Scowling fiercely at him, I realized that even though I was clearly attracted, my patience had run out. “You have some nerve coming to me after you probably know everything about me, everything I’ve done, every bad deed I’ve ever committed from my past.”

And then, turning against him, I pulled out a knife and said, “You’d better leave before any more blood is spilled for a sacrifice that you wouldn’t want to be a part of.”

That must have been the last straw for Christian, so I realized, because he went running out of the room, slamming the door shut, upon seeing my knife in hand.

Sighing deeply, I realized that I could only seek solace from the company of my own self.

The onset of another day caused me to feel nothing but pain… guilt, at my abrupt reaction to this new man Christian (even if it all was a vision or a dream), and fear that the woman looking for my mother would come back for me.

So, to cover my feelings of walled-off pain – the humanity in me that had abruptly shut itself off – I slept for what seemed like days.

***

A loud knock at my front door woke me once more. Sheesh, how many interruptions can one person face?

“We know you’re in there. There’s no use hiding from us anymore,” a voice carried itself from outside, destroying any barriers between myself and the outside world.

My eyes opened and I could feel the grogginess setting in. I slowly woke as their voices entered my consciousness.

“I can see right through your mind, to the heart of who you are. Jealousy, agony, pain. You are composed of such strong human emotion that you might as well not even call yourself a witch.”

“Who are you?” I called out, fully waking. I felt my body trembling with what little composure I had left. “And I thought that being a witch was more than merely accepting fate as it is? I thought that witchcraft had its own type of cadence to it, a sort of rhythm that one can’t deny. Emotions that reeked of pain. No?”

I bravely found myself fighting against this wolf spirit, more than likely, another vision of Christian. In spite of myself, I desired to prove that he couldn’t have any power over me.

“Stop your crying. You’re far too loved for that. I love you with everything that I am in spite of what I know you to be. Your secrets are all safe with me.”

“Who are you?” I growled. “Show yourself!”

And as the door slammed open, seemingly of its own accord, a tall and beautifully ethereal being greeted me. He defied expectation, yet he seemed so ordinary, when it came down to it. Wrapping his dark hair around his fingertips, he said, “Now do you know who I am?”

Staring at this figure still in complete confusion, I gasped as realization hit me. This was Christian, in true wolf form. He was a wolf shifter, albeit from my dreams, nevertheless.

“Why are you here?” I pleaded in stunned desperation. “I never asked for you to come here.”

“Well, it looks like all your wildest, most secret, suppressed dreams are about to come true now, aren’t they?” And with that, he shot up his hand, and I hurled over as my body began to explode with pleasure.

“Ohhhh… my God!” I moaned. “Wow.”

Christian smiled darkly as he put his hand down. “You see, babe, this is only the beginning of what I can do to you.”

The pleasure growing insurmountable, even after Christian had stopped his sex magic, I shuddered deeply, hoping that I could at least talk some sense into him.

“You do realize the dangers of revealing your wolf magic to humanity, don’t you?” I gasped, still writhing helplessly on the floor. Although it was pleasurable, and I recognized the benefits, I barely knew this man. And that, to me, was a problem.

“Of course I do. But whoever said that I had to, or that I was in the first place?”

“No one.”

For a moment, we both gazed at each other, and at last, Christian scowled at me in pure fury and wrapped his paws around me in a warm embrace.

“You weren’t supposed to know about any of this. I didn’t know you worked with magic too.”

“I didn’t. I just know it when I see it… Now let go of me…” I choked on my very own words as I fought to suppress my fear. But I could tell the pure loathing in his eyes just from the way he looked at me was also laced with romantic attraction.

“Why do you not want me?”

“Look, I don’t know – let me go!!!” I huffed, unable to catch my breath for more than a few seconds. Christian was squeezing me so tightly that I could barely breathe.

As Christian released his grip on me a bit, it was my turn to show him who was in charge. In a fit of rage, I snapped and turned from him quite forcefully.

When Christian turned to me again, I wasn’t quite the “innocent” witch he had initially greeted.

“Stop. You are beautiful. I refuse to believe that you are anything dark or bad or evil. You and I are fated mates, we are going to be so perfect together. I wish you would just believe me… But it seems as though you have already made up your mind about me.”

“Look. I don’t have time for this. But since the cat’s out of the bag and you already showed up here, will you come back to me sometime later when I have my head together a bit more? I’ve been going through a lot of sh*t lately.”

He shook his head fervently. “Of course, Ashlee. Of course. You will see me again, I promise you. I promise that this is going to be dealt with accordingly and that you will see me again sometime distantly, perhaps again in your dreams. I do assure you.”

“Thank you. I just need time to process this, but… I won’t be able to do it overnight.”

“Okay. Well, until next time, my beautiful, dangerous girl.”

He then winked at me charmingly and left.

I was stunned, needless to say.