His Nanny Mate - Season 3 Episode 23

Moana

“Moana, wake up!” my wolf’s voice suddenly said. That wasn’t a dream… It was real. The rain was real. The wind beating down on me, whipping my hair into my face, was all real.

I opened my eyes, and shrieked at what I saw.

I wasn’t in bed. Iwas standing on the balcony, up on the ledge in my nightgown. I felt my stomach drop as I stumbled backwards and clung to the rail, heaving in my chest as the feeling of fight or flight kicked in. Every fiber in me screamed to get away from the ledge, and I scrambled away and back to my feet, sobbing loudly. Nothing could be heard over the sound of my own racing heartbeat and the sound of the wind and the rain; for all I knew, I was really on that cliff from my dream, and Michael very well could be standing behind me with the knife in his hand.

The door behind me stood wide open with the wind blowing the curtains aggressively. I ran inside to safety, and as I did, I ran straight into not Michael, but a petrified Edrick.

“Moana?!” he said. “What happened?!”

I couldn’t speak. I could only sob and shake violently as he gathered me into his arms and carried me back to the bed. He held me there for a long time, just rocking me while I continued wailing.

“The knife,” I said, “Michael has the knife. H-He’s going to kill me—”

“Shh,” Edrick said, stroking my wet hair as his wide eyes stared unblinkingly at the open balcony doors. “Just breathe, and then you can tell me everything.

For the longest time, Edrick just held me and rocked me back and forth until no more tears would come and my chest was too sore to sob anymore. I kept feeling as though I was still inside of a nightmare, like I would suddenly wake up and everything would be okay. But I was awake, and the fact that I sleepwalked straight out onto the balcony in the pouring rain and nearly fell to my death was completely real.

I didn’t know what was going on… I didn’t know if the dreams were visions, omens, or if they were just bad dreams as my mind descended into madness. Either way, it felt as though something inside of my mind wanted me dead. It felt as though my entire body wanted to kill me, like I couldn’t even trust the very fibers of my being to keep me alive. If it weren’t for my wolf suddenly calling my name and waking me up, I most certainly would have fallen to my death.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I felt calm enough to speak. Edrick left me for only a few minutes to make some tea, and when he returned I clutched the warm teacup in my shaking hands like my life depended on it. I was shocked by his calm demeanor, but I was incredibly thankful for it at the same time.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, stroking my leg as I sipped my tea.

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “But I was sleepwalking. One moment I was having a dream about Michael with that knife, and the next moment I was standing on the ledge on the balcony, like I was about to…” My voice faltered. A sob got caught in my throat, and Edrick let out a curse under his breath before he took my teacup, set it on the bedside table, and pulled me into his arms again.

“I don’t know if that knife is real, or if I’ve just imagined it,” I said between sobs. “But I’m terrified. I’m terrified that Michael might have it; I think he knows I’m the Golden Wolf, and I think he’s coming for me.”

Edrick was silent for a long time, thinking. I chanced a look up at him to see that his jaw was set hard, clenching and unclenching, while his eyes burned silver. He stared coldly at the wall in front of him, as though he was almost in a trance. I half expected him to do one of two things: either he was going to send me away to a mental hospital, or he was going to go after Michael.

But thankfully, he did neither of those things. Instead, he retained his calm and collected Alpha demeanor, although there was no denying the bright silver glow to his eyes.

“Let’s just get you to bed,” he said. He set me down and then stood. He walked over to his dresser and pulled a white t-shirt out of the drawer, then handed it to me. “Put this on. Your nightgown is soaked.”

I nodded slowly. But as I stood to take my nightgown off, my hands shook too much. Edrick let out a soft sigh and helped me, and as his hands lingered on my waist, I wished that this could be different. I wished that we could be undressing each other in a romantic way. I felt his gaze on me as I put the oversized t-shirt on, which I practically swam in once it was on all the way, then climbed into bed. He said nothing as he retrieved two of my sleeping pills and held them out for me.

There was fear in his eyes. He didn’t seem to want to let on that he was terrified, but I could tell that he was. He wasn’t terrified of me, but rather he was terrified for me. And I was, too. If my dreams really were prophetic, then Michael was out there looking for a way to kill me. We had no tangible evidence to take to the police, and they wouldn’t believe me anyway after the way that I passed out in the station. They would just think that I was really nuts.

“W-What if I sleepwalk again?” I asked nervously as I took the pills from him.

Edrick just shook his head soberly. “I’ll stay awake,” he replied gently. “Don’t worry. I’ll be here to watch over you.”

I bit my lip as I stared down at the pills in my hand. It was comforting to know that Edrick would be right by my side, watching me for the rest of the night just in case anything else happened. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would have more nightmares, only this time I would stay in the dreams instead of waking up due to the effect of the sleeping pills. I couldn’t decide what was worse: waking up from the terrifying dreams or staying stuck in a dream where I was violently killed over and over again.

I took the pills, though. I needed to sleep, if only to keep my body in one place so that I wouldn’t have an episode while I was awake. And besides… I supposed that being stuck in the nightmare was better than plunging to my death off of the balcony.

And as I slowly began to drift off into my artificial slumber, all I could feel was the sensation of Edrick’s hand wrapping around mine. And all I could see were his glowing silver eyes watching me like my guardian angel.