The air was filled with angry howls and the sounds of slashing fangs and claws. Ophelia Danvers couldn’t focus on the faces that circled around here. Human…wolf…they all blended together. Blood clouded her left eye; it ran freely down that side of her face from the open gash which ran across her forehead. The metallic sweetness of it filled her mouth each time she ran her tongue against her lips. The smell was overwhelming and she had to force herself from gagging.

There was just too much of it.

Her right arm dangled uselessly at her side, the torn tendons healing, but slowly, and there was a bone jetting outwards at the elbow. She couldn’t Change. Not fully anyhow, she was in too much pain…

The large black wolf came at her again, and again. With misshapen claw-like fingers, she did her best to fend it off. But with little success. Thick claws torn into and down the length of her back and she screamed, a loud growl ripping from the back of her throat as she spun quickly, her limp almost like a dance as she backed away. But there it was, suddenly an opportunity….a weak spot. An opening…

Ophelia knew that she was dreaming. It was the same nightmare that continued to haunt her night after night. But try as she might, she just couldn’t wake up. Not yet anyways. She had to see it the whole way through, to the very end. She was to relive it. Over and over again…

She lunged, her mouth quickly shaping into that of her wolf form, her teeth lengthening, extending, sharpening…and quickly burying into the throat of her attacker. Her father. Blood filled her mouth, only this time it wasn’t her own. She held on, snarling, as her teeth dug in deeper still, finding that one spot. The spot that would end it all…that one artery…

She pulled…

If he didn’t know any better, Silas Harris would have sworn that he had just woken up in the middle of an earthquake…

Opening his eyes, it took him a moment to remember where he was. Of course. He had spent the night with her again. As he adjusted to the darkness of the room, he leaned up against his pillow slowly and looked across the bed to where Ophelia was still sleeping. Silas wasn’t sure how she didn’t wake herself up, judging by the way her whole body twitched and shook. As he rolled onto his side, he sighed softly, watching her silently as he waited for whatever nightmare it was this time, to pass, and sure enough, after a few moments her body stopped its shaking and she laid still, her eyes still closed. Silas’s own eyes ticked towards the clock beside the bed and he grunted. He needed to sneak back to his own room before the others woke up. He hated that he had to do that still. It wasn’t that he and Ophelia were ashamed of their relationship, the two had been together for quite some time now…but things just hadn’t been all that easy for the Pack lately and neither Ophelia nor himself felt like they should be flaunting themselves around. It just wasn’t the right time…

Besides, Ophelia had enough on her plate…being their Alpha now and all that. And Silas knew that today, of all days, she needed the least amount of stress as possible.

Giving his head a tiny shake, he reached up and ran a hand through his dark brown hair, letting out a tiny huff. These nightmares of hers were starting to bother him. They had been a reoccurring thing for the last two months. Ever since Ophelia had killed…

“You know I can feel you watching me, right?”

Blinking rapidly, Silas jumped slightly, having been too lost in his thoughts and hadn’t even realized that Ophelia’s eyes were now open and she had even sat up a little, tilting her head to the side as she stared sleepily up at him. “I’m just saying…if you had heat vision, I’d have a hole in my head right about now…”

“Don’t you already have a hole in your head?” he countered dryly, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.

“Hey, now. That’s not nice…I’m your Alpha.” Grunting, Ophelia rolled onto her back and glared at the ceiling, her hair spilling out against the pillow in all directions, and he had to fight the urge to lean down and run his hands through it.

“Forgive me your Majesty…” he teased gently. “Are you going to tell me what that one was about this time?”

“Are you going to pretend like we don’t go through this practically every morning?”

Sighing softly, Ophelia rolled her eyes and sits up fully, the covers falling against her stomach. Her body still shakes slightly, but she ignored this, instead giving her head a tiny shake before running a hand through her dark hair, fingers finding and pulling at the tangles there. After a beat, and another glare in Silas’s direction she leans across him for her phone from the nightstand. As she moves, some of her hair falls in his face and he blows it away, leaning up to press his lips at the base of her neck. His arms go to circle her waist as his kiss turns into a bite and he feels Ophelia stiffen above him as he pulls her body over on top of him.

When he pulled away, Silas realized that her usual jade-green eyes have gone a bit golden, a tell-take sign when a werewolf’s emotions were heightened and his smirk widens as looks up at her innocently. “Oh, I’m sorry…was I distracting you?”

With a huff, Ophelia pulls up and away from him, stumbling slightly when her feet react to the coldness of the floor and without skipping a beat, grabs a pillow from the floor, tossing it at Nick’s smug face. “You…are an ass, Harris.”

“And you can’t keep dodging these nightmares forever Danvers…”

He can hear her growl softly in response from under the pillow and just lays there silently as he listens to her move about the room, opening and closing drawers as she fusses with her clothes for the day. He wanted to tell her how much it bothered him, how she insisted on him sneaking back to his room every morning. It wasn’t as if the others didn’t know what was going on. But keeping up appearances sake, he knew why they did it. Peeking through a gap between his face and the fabric, he watches as Ophelia slipped a tank top above her head, admiring the view from the back, and the way her hair falls back down into place about her shoulders. His gaze lingers for a moment on the long and jagged, but fading scars that run down from her upper back to her hips, and after a moment, he sits up, the pillow once again falling to the floor and clears his throat.

“Happy Birthday by the way…”

Shit…

Ophelia tensed and looked over at him clearly horrified. “Is…is that today already?” Her voice shook, and he was taken back for a moment. Had things been that bad that she had completely forgotten? “Did I get the day wrong?” he asked, knowing he hadn’t.

“I probably just got it wrong…”

“No…no…I just…” Ophelia trailed off, her lips pressing into a thin white line as she went back to getting dressed. Silas sighed and buried his face momentarily in his hands, wishing that he hadn’t said anything.

Letting out another grunt, he rolls his legs over and sits up, running both hands through his hair, pulling at the ends. He needed a haircut, it was getting a bit too shaggy for his taste. Things had been so busy lately that he sometimes forgot he had to show face in town, keep up appearances. Rubbing a hand along his jaw, he noted that a shave would be in order too, eventually. He knew Ophelia didn’t mind the stubble though…he liked hearing her giggle when it rubbed against her cheek whenever he kissed her…

Ophelia began humming softly as she moved about the room and the sweet sound brought him back to reality. He didn’t say anything, just watched as she continued to get dressed, enjoying the way the sunshine coming in from between the shades made her hair glisten.

“So…you sure that you’re okay?” he murmured softly

Looking over, she shrugged and simply gave him a thumbs-up. Silas rolled his eyes and chuckled, standing up slowly. He moved away from her, shaking out from the bedsheets and grabs for his black t-shirt, sliding it over his head and smooths his hands down his sweats as he walks up behind Ophelia, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulls her against is chest, resting his chin on top of her head. He could feel her tense as his chin rests on top of her head.

“I’m fine Ace…I promise.”

She only called him that when he was really annoying her, or whenever she wanted something. In this case, she just wanted him to drop the subject.

Ophelia turned sharply in his arms to look up at him and he chuckled softly at the way her mouth had turned up into a pout. She hated lying to him, hated it even more because she knew that he must know it was all lies. Either he would see it in her eyes, hear the way her heartbeat quickened…something must give it away to him. She could feel the growl in his chest as he struggled to hold it in, how his arms tightened. One day, maybe, she would be able to better explain it to him. Why she clung to the images of what she had done. Maybe when she better understood why she couldn’t get the whole thing out of her head. Her father, he had been so awful, and what she had done…no, what she had been forced to do, was for the good of the Pack. But the guilt just refused to go away…

“I should probably get going back to my room…” His voice was soft, and it broke her free from her thoughts. The images of her claws against her father’s throat quickly faded away, and she forced a smile onto her face, leaning over to brush a hand against his face. His hand rose to meet hers and he returned her smile with one of his own. Silas knew that hers was fake, and it broke his heart. “I’ll see you downstairs?” he asked her softly.

“Downstairs? Oh right, breakfast. Yeah, um, I’ll be down there in a bit.“ Ophelia still had a hard time eating, the internal damages that had been inflicted that night recovering slower than others. Sometimes just the thought of food made her feel sick. But she couldn’t tell her that, couldn’t tell any of the others that. She had to appear strong…

Silas seemed satisfied, he nodded and quickly leaned down to plant a kiss on her cheek. As she moved, he quickly caught her chin between his fingers and gently pressed his lips against hers, not breaking away until he felt her relax beneath his touch. Rewarded with a disappointed sigh when he finally pulled back and headed for the doorway. Silas paused, looking back at her for a moment. Ophelia could tell that he wanted to say something, and she offered him a tiny smile. There wasn’t much that could really be said that would ever change what happened. Silas nodded as if reading her mind and quietly slipped out into the hall.