Nightmares and the Fae Market

Thalia's POV

My eyes snapped open. I gasped for cold air, tearing myself out of the familiar, suffocating nightmare. The image of piercing yellow eyes with vertical black slits burned into my mind, hovering over my reality like a dense black cloud. The monster who destroyed my life still haunted my sleep every single night. It had been three years since the massacre, but the terror gripped my throat like it happened yesterday.

Next to me in the narrow, creaky bed, my younger sister Maeva shifted under the thin blanket. I froze instantly, holding my breath. I didn't want to wake her. Neither of us ever got a decent night's rest anymore. Fear was a constant companion in this cabin.

Curled near her feet, a midnight-black cat cracked open one glowing eye and shot me a dark, judging glare. Nyxos. He was a strange, unnatural creature who inexplicably became our shadow.

Memories of how I found him clawed at my mind, raw and painful. Three years ago, a few days after Maeva and I stumbled upon this dilapidated, isolated one-bedroom cabin, I made the agonizing trek back to our old territory. The red-haired monster and his vicious vampire hoard had decimated the pack. I went back looking for scraps of hope, but there were no survivors. Every ounce of life had been snuffed out.

The stench of rotting flesh and decay had been stifling. It clogged my nose as I wandered the desolate streets, stepping past the drained husks of neighbors and friends. Then, I found my father. The monsters had mounted his severed head on a jagged spike right in the center of the slaughter. I dug a grave in the hard dirt with my bare hands and buried him. My mother's body was nowhere to be found, a fact that still caused a hollow ache in my chest. I dragged the remaining bodies of my fallen packmates into a massive pile. I set them on fire. A towering funeral pyre was the closest thing to a proper burial I could give them.

When I finally walked away from the smoking, bloody ruins of my childhood, that black cat followed me. Werewolves didn't usually keep cats, and cats usually despised our kind. It made no sense. Yet, he hopped onto the back of my pack and rode all the way to our new hideaway. He glued himself to Maeva instantly. She named him Nyxos, claiming he told her that was the name he liked. He barely acknowledged my existence, but he guarded my sister fiercely.

I slipped out from under the furs, careful not to jostle the mattress. The cabin air bit at my skin. I crossed the small room and stoked the dying embers in the hearth until a low, warm fire crackled to life. I woke up before the sun and forced myself to stay up late. I intentionally overworked my body every single day. I chopped wood, hunted, and foraged until my bones ached, desperate for a pure, exhausted, dreamless sleep. It was the only way I could escape the night terrors.

We had been lost and desperate those first few days after the massacre. Starving and freezing, we stumbled across this abandoned shack. Long-expired canned foods left behind by whoever lived here before had been our savior. We rationed them carefully until my eighteenth birthday hit, allowing Seryna, my wolf, to finally take over and hunt real meat.

Satisfied with the roaring flames, I pulled on my boots. I grabbed the heavy bundle of furs I had stockpiled over the month and hoisted it onto my back. It was time for my supply run in the nearby Fae territory.

I reached for our reinforced door and clicked open the first of ten heavy steel locks. It might seem excessive to anyone else, but I never felt safe.

"Can I come with you today, Thalia?"

I paused. Maeva stood by the bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her soft voice broke my heart just a little bit more.

I let out a heavy sigh, the crushing need to protect her pressing on my shoulders. "No, Maeva. You have to stay here. Stay hidden and stay safe. I won't even be gone half of the day, I promise."

Her shoulders slumped. A profound sadness washed over her young face, but she just nodded and looked down at the floorboards. She never argued with me. She was a good girl who just accepted the cage I built around her.

'Are you keeping her safe, or are you keeping her as a prisoner?'

Seryna snapped in my head. Her sharp challenge sent a familiar, biting pang of guilt straight into my chest. Sery hated the isolation, but she didn't understand the physical reality of our world. I gritted my teeth and pushed the guilt aside. I had no other recourse against the monsters hunting us. I shoved the door open and stepped out into the biting morning chill.

A twenty-minute hike brought me over the border into Frosthollow. The eclectic Fae city was already bustling with early morning trade. Magic and nature blended together in a chaotic, vibrant mess. Fae architecture reflected their mischievous nature. Massive neon mushrooms served as storefronts, their stems growing and bending in unpredictable, bizarre shapes. Enormous, ancient trees had been magically carved out to create multi-level apartments, their leaves still green and thriving despite the hollowed trunks.

Fae tricksters loitered on the corners, running cons on unwary travelers. I kept my head down and bypassed them all. I knew exactly where I was going.

I stopped outside a small wooden building with a swinging sign that read 'Twin Magic Spells & Market'. I trusted this place. When I walked in here three years ago as a starving orphan, the witches who owned it took pity on me. They always offered fair trades for my goods.

I dumped my furs on the counter, made my exchanges, and packed my bag. Flour, sugar, an array of spices, a thick block of sharp cheese, and a new wooden puzzle to keep Maeva occupied.

I stepped back out onto the busy market street, hoisting my heavy pack onto my shoulders to adjust the weight.

Then it hit me.

An intoxicating scent crashed into my senses. Fresh rain cutting through a dense forest, laced with a sharp, cool hit of crushed mint. It was the most incredible thing I had ever experienced. My lungs practically begged for more, drawing the scent in deep.

Inside my mind, Sery went frantic. She paced back and forth, scratching at my mental walls, restless and wild.

I froze in my tracks. My heart hammered against my ribs. I turned my head, scanning the dense, moving crowd of Fae, witches, and shifters.

I spotted him before he saw me.

He was the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on. He stood around six-foot-four, towering over the creatures around him. His chest and shoulders were broad, packed with a disciplined, raw muscle that showed a fierce dedication to training. A dark, suffocatingly powerful aura rolled off him in physical waves. There was no mistaking that kind of dominant presence. He was an Alpha wolf.

The crisp morning breeze caught his thick, wavy black hair, shifting it slightly across his forehead. His jaw was set like stone. His sharp hazel eyes scanned the bustling street. He was searching.

Then, he stopped.

His head turned, and his gaze snapped straight to mine.

The noisy market faded into dead silence. Our eyes locked. An electric shock ripped straight down my spine. I watched his expression change. His pupils blew wide open, instantly swallowing the hazel iris until his eyes turned solid black. Intense, raw desire crept onto his harsh features.

Sery lost her mind.

'MATE!' she screamed in my head.