Dark Awakening

Dark Awakening

T. A. Grey

Chapter 1

Alison Bennson
walked through the disaster in her living room with slow, heavy steps.
The cushions from her
micro
suede
couch
lay
in strips
among the
cottony pieces of filling
on the floor
. Her fists tightened and she fought a wave of hot tears that threatened to spill down her flushed cheeks. It
took
her eight months to save
up
the money to buy that couch and now it was nothing.

T
he mess in her apartment made it look like she owned more than she did.
Shards from her plates
and glasses
were the only thing
s
left of them
. The sight of her expensive collection
lying
in sharp shambles almost
brought her to tears.
Her mother had bought her that for her
birthday two years ago.

With heavy step,
she walked down the hall to her bedroom. The door was
halfway open. The
black
shadows
beyond the door
waited
like a nightmare
wanting
to suck her in. She closed her eyes
, sucked
in an uneven breath
,
then flicked on the light
.

What little
courage
she had crumbled like a stack of bricks.
The
glass cabinet
with
her most precious tokens,
snow globes
from her mom,
gifts from friends over the years,
and souvenirs
from the trips she took
were destroyed
. Her hand trembled as she reached into the cabinet and picked up a picture of her with her best friend Sarina. The f
rame was cracked, the
glass shattered into a
web. At least
the picture underneath was still intact.

The first tear slid down her face and it felt cold against her heated cheeks. She surve
yed the rest
of her room, trying to keep a wall around her to protect her. She froze as her eyes tracked over the bed. At
first,
she just thought the
bedsheets
had been messed up, but now she rea
lized the pattern was specific
not random.
Besides, she’d made her bed that morning.

Her red down comforter
was
pulled back as if someone was about to go to sleep. She squinted at the strange
color
on her
bed sheet
. She stopped short of her bed, her heart slamming to a stop in her chest at the sight of the white
matter
on her sheets.

"Conlin." Her hoarse whisper was like a shout in the quiet room. Her heart resumed beating with hard, driving slams in her chest. She
dropped to her knees
and cried.

* * *

It took her longer than she would have liked to regain her composure. She walked on wooden legs to the phone and called Sarina.
Only she would
understand,
wou
ld
even
care.
Her family had stopped speaking to her after the incident with Conlin.

Sarina
answered on the second ring.
"Hello?"
Sarina’s
perky voice didn't make her smile as it usually did.

"Sarina, I'm in trouble." She hated the tremble in her voice, but couldn't help it. "H-he was here. He was in my house."

"What do you mean? Who was in your house? Tell me what happened." Gone was the soft excited voice, replaced instead with alarm.

"Conlin was here. Please, I need your help. I'm scared." Tears slid down her face in wet streaks.

"Vane and I are coming right now. Just hold on
we’ll be right there, honey
."
Alison
didn’t say
goodbye, just
hung up like a robot
going through the motions
.

When
Sarina and her
truemate
Vane came through the door, Alison had managed to straighten up most of her living room. She swept shards of glass, wood, and torn cushions into a corner and righted the knocked over
side table
and coffee table.

Sarina rushed to her, giving her a
hard
h
ug. "Tell me everything. Oh my G
od, I can't believe he came into your house."

"I'm going to check out the rest of the house." Sarina nodded at her husband and made Alison sit with her on two of the unbroken kitchen chairs.

Alison couldn't meet her friend's gaze. "It was like this when I came home. He must have done it while I was at work.
H
e was in my
home
. And that's not the worst of it."
Her voice was hard with anger
.

Vane came into the room, gave his mate a speaking glance, and nodded at her to come with him.
"I'll be right back, ok
ay
honey? Just stay right here."

"What is it?"

Vane waited until they were in Alison's bedroom to speak. "That," he said pointing at the bedspread. Sarina couldn't hide the disgusted gasp that left her.

"That son of a bitch. Is that...did he
jerk off
on her bed
?"

"Looks like it. Help her to pack a few of her
belo
ngings
. I think it's best if she comes and stays with us
for a while
."

“
Oh thank you, Vane." Her mate caught her in
a bear
hug and kissed her gently.

"Hurry up now."

Alison packed enough clothes to last her a few days and left everything else. Any items that meant something to her were ruined. At the last
minute,
she snatched the picture of her and Sarina
out of the cabinet.

The car ride to Vane and Sarina's was mostly silent. She thanked Vane for carry
ing her bag into the house.
Sarina and Vane's wed
ding was the last time she'd been in there. The
cabin felt different now, warmer. Sarina must have used her creative touch to brighten up the room since
there were now colorful rugs, budding plants, and pictures on the walls.

"How about some tea or coffee?" Sarina wrung her hands together, biting her lips.

"Tea, please." Sarina looked relieved to be doing something as she left for the kitchen.

"Have a seat. I'm going to make a few phone calls," Vane announced and went into the study, closing the door partway.

Alone again.

Alison took a few deep breaths and tried to
comprehend
what happened today. She didn't want to think about it, she wanted to shrink back into a dark corner and never look up again. But then that would mean the bastard won, and her hatred for him far outweighed her cowardice. She heard the
teakettle
whistle and Vane hang up the phone, and suddenly didn't want to see either of them.

She
ran
to the bathroom,
collapsing
against the wall
trying to catch her breaths
. The walls were closing in on her.
There wasn’t enough air
in the room, she gasped
then doubled over as a hard pain jerked in her stomach.

She
collapsed
before the toilet and gagged roughly, her stomach
coiling
, rolling
. She gagged
repeatedly
, but nothing ever came up, just empty chunks of jagged air.

Oh G
od, he's going to kill me, she thought. She wanted to burst into tears, but held back the urge. She wouldn't
breakdown
in front of her
friend.
Didn’t
want her to know just how scared she was of him.
Just a little longer and then she could curl up and cry.
A brisk knock at the door, had her blinking back tears.

"Just a second." She flushed the empty toilet
out of habit
and washed her hands, splashing some of the cold water on her heated face. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

For the second time that day, she felt like the air was ripped from her lungs, except this was
for an entirely different reason. A reason that made her heart flutter in her chest and her mouth
go
dry.

"Rome."

His grin was masculine and
absolutely sinful
. He leaned nonchalantly against the doorjamb as if this was always his usual hangout spot.

"Ms. Alison Bennson, it's a pleasure to see you again." His ey
es were bright, the color a mixture of blue and gray
.
T
hey
perused
over her body in open admiration. "I'm sorry that we had to meet again under these serious circumstances, I would have much preferred something more intimate." The way he said the last word was as if he was picturing doing something intimate with her in that moment.

"
Rome, it's nice to see you too. Excuse me." Ducking her head to hide her blush
red-
gazed
eyes
, she dashed back to the living room. He followed her, his low laughter trailing after her.

She took a seat and thanked Sarina
for the
tea. The smell was strong, the color black. She was about to sip her tea when a large body took the open seat beside her.
She didn't need to look to know it was
him
.
She could have smelled him anywhere. He smelled like
earth
and sex.
She flinched at the thought and looked away
. He probably did just finish having sex.

She went to take a sip of her tea again and was startled
when
a strong hand
touched
her shoulder. She jumped, nearly spilling her cup. She turned to glare at him. She ignored his full lips, devastating smile, and dancing eyes.

"Sorry about that," he said, looking anything but. Sarina glared at him like he a petulant child.

Vane took a seat beside his wife and said,
"I've alerted the
sentries
about Co
nlin. No trespassers will dare cross Kategan
land. You'll be safe while you're here. Tomorrow we'll
contact the Justicars."

Alison set the tea down and crossed her arms. "I don't think that's a good idea." Everyone turned to look at her with shocked expressions. She cleared her throat and looked away. "It's just that he's very powerful, and if I make him angry then..." She shook her head, unable to finish the words.

Rome leaned forward and grabb
ed her hand. The touch sent warmth and
pleasure pulsing through her.
And she was so very cold.
His hand was big and warm, slightly
callused
and so much darker than
hers was
.
Worse of
all her stomach did a cartwheel. Why did she have to act like a fluttery
schoolgirl
around him?

"
We will protect you
. I’ll make sure of it
, Alison
,
"
Rome said.
She tried to pull her hand back, but he held it tighter.

“But we still need to notify the Justicars,” Vane said.

"
We can do that later. Let’s give her some time to recover from today
.
" Sarina
smiled
encouragingly
at her friend.
“
Besides you have some evidence at the apartment that he was there.”

Alison tensed and flushed. Rome
didn’t miss
the movement. "What is it?
Did something else happen
?"

She shook her head no, but the movement was too quick.

"Something else
did
happen. Oh
,
Alison
, tell us. That son of a bitch will pay, I promise." Sarina knelt
in front of
her friend looking like a knight ready to take a quest to save the fair maiden from a tower. Alison
almost
laughed, would of if her throat didn't feel like it was closing in on her.