Chapter 7

Mikalina

Ihad the strangest dream, although I couldn't remember the details. But it stuck with me all morning. And no matter how hard I tried to recall it, it was fleeting like mist.

I scrubbed a hand over my eyes as I sat at the table, my breakfast of fruit and tea mainly unconsumed. I pushed the plate of fruit away and stood, walking out the front door because I was too anxious to sit still. I saw Mini working in the garden and lifted my hand in a wave, although she wasn't even looking at me, too focused on her work.

From last night, I knew Andrei lived out of town in one of the larger cities. He worked as a computer analyst—whatever that entailed—and came once a week to see Mini. Although he'd given me his number in case I needed a translator or anything else, I knew I had to figure out what I was going to do.

What am I going to do now?

My mind was calculating how much money I still had saved versus when I expected to go home. I cringed internally. Going home. Why did that feel so… wrong?

I didn't know what kind of job opportunities I could possibly have here, what with not speaking the language, not even being a citizen, and not having a vehicle.

God, was this all one huge mistake, even if it felt like the very best thing in the world?

I found myself walking toward the woods, but something had me looking over my shoulder. Mini was standing and staring at me, and then surprising the hell out of me as she lifted her hand and shooed me along. Was she telling me to keep going? Was she telling me to move away? I didn't know, but my feet must have, because I kept walking forward.

There was a small footpath at the edge of the tree line, and I made my way along it, the sun streaming through the leaves, the sound of birds overhead almost a lullaby.

I didn't know how long I walked, but the sun felt good through the breaks in the trees, the breeze felt nice on my skin, and the sounds and smells around me had me closing my eyes and just... feeling.

I felt this lightness, but then that easiness kind of dissipated as something tighter, harder, stronger settled within me. I slowed and then stopped, looking around, unsure what I was feeling, but knowing it was... intense.

Seconds passed. Maybe minutes. And then it hit me.

This feeling. The intensity. The thickness all around me.

Someone's watching me.

I'm not alone.

My heart started to pound harder as I looked to my right. My left. In front of me. Behind me.

I spun around. Around and around. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. On my arms.

I panted.

God, someone's watching me.

The flight instinct was running rampant inside me, so I turned and started heading back toward the village, telling myself not to run. And with every step I took, I continued to tell myself that maybe this weird feeling was just in my head.

I'd been thinking a lot about Mini's story from last night, picturing what these Lycans looked like, what their fire felt like under my skin—you know, things a crazy person would ponder.

Would I fear one if I saw it in person? Would I run from it?

I shook my head at the ridiculous thought. See one? As if they were real.

And then there was my dream, the one I couldn't remember but felt like was right there at the surface of my consciousness. It was a strange and confusing feeling, and as I slowed to a more reasonable pace, I tried to reason with myself that's all this was.

An overactive imagination—my body making something in my mind physical.

I forced myself to stop and look around, telling myself over and over again that it was nothing. There was nothing there, no one watching me. I gave a nervous laugh, but still I walked toward the village. I ran my hands up and down my arms, trying to push the chill away even though it wasn't cold out.

But the strangest thing out of all of this was… I wasn't afraid.

I felt like someone watched me, that there was something out there I couldn"t see, yet I felt no fear. I just felt… awareness.

I stepped through the tree line and headed right toward the front door of the cottage. I'd call my mother. I shook my head and snorted internally at that thought. I must've really been freaked out if I was resorting to making an expensive, overseas call to my mother.

Before I went into the house, I stopped and looked over my shoulder, scanning the tree line once more. I saw nothing, but I still felt as if I wasn't alone. A shiver moved along my arms, and I forced myself to go inside. I closed the door and leaned against it, shutting my eyes and telling myself it was all in my head.

All. In. My head.

Yet why did it feel so real and make me feel... alive?