Mending the Beast (Awakening Pride #10) - Lacey Thorn

Chapter One

Ariel knew she was dreaming but once again, was helpless to do anything to fight the pull the nightmare had on her. She’d prayed they were gone, but lately, they’d come back with a vengeance, twisting and turning as the past bled into her present. It was to the point she fought sleep with all she had. To the point where she questioned what was then and what was now.

God help her, she might be losing her mind. Had she been awake, she would have laughed. There’d be no help from that corner. She’d prayed to God once. Prayed while she’d been torn apart and left to bleed out on the ground. There was no God for her. Maybe, the omniscient being found her unworthy also. Maybe, as she’d once been told, she deserved the hell that tormented her even in sleep.

Sleep. What a laugh. Lately, it was merely another form of exhaustion that briefly sucked her under only to spit her out more tormented and broken than she’d been before. Why wouldn’t the nightmares leave her?

Fog shrouded the ground. Clouds obscured the moon, leaving the night painted in darkness. It was wrong. All wrong. Wrong time of day. Wrong setting. Wrong emotion. Ariel hadn’t been scared that day. She’d still had hope then. Optimism. She’d still believed in happiness and love and joy. Pure joy. The kind that had laughter spilling from the heart onto the lips then echoing into the world. That had been before her world had burned down around her, leaving her shattered into more pieces than could ever be patched back together. Broken. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally.

The nightmare clawed into her, bringing back the emotions that had overwhelmed her in the aftermath. Hell, the ones she still felt eating away inside her. The changes to psyche didn’t change the outcome.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, and still, she felt what was coming like a cloying scent that coated a person until it was all they could feel, smell, or taste. Her feet became lead, and no matter how hard she struggled to turn and move, the dream kept steadily plodding forward.

“Run!” she screamed at the girl she’d been. “Please! Don’t go with him. Don’t trust him.”

Sobs caught in Ariel’s throat. She didn’t want to relive it again. Didn’t want to wake up screaming for help that would be years too late. Yet, she was helpless to do anything but watch.

“Ariel.”

That…wasn’t the voice of her nightmares. That was the voice of a future she was incapable of living, unworthy of grasping.

“Daniel?” Her voice was soft, timid, and so damn hopeful it was a knife to her heart. She’d never spoken to him in that tone of voice.

“I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, lifting useless fingers as she fought to stop the barrage from echoing around her. This hadn’t happened. Daniel hadn’t been there that day. He’d been nothing more than a girlish dream of happy-ever-after, of love. He’d been the person she’d prayed to God to send to her. A mate to save her when she’d been unable to save herself.

“I’m so sorry, Ariel.”

“No! No, damn you! Don’t say that!” she commanded. “Not that. Anything but that. Not that.” She ended on a whimper, falling to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks as she fought to breathe. Fought the claw of unseen hands as they tore at her flesh, ripped at her hair, bringing to vivid life a horror she’d never truly left behind. She wanted to die. Just as she had that day.

The younger version of her turned and stared, and for some fucking reason, there was still hope in that gaze. Her lips moved, words whispered but swept away before they reached Ariel’s ears. The harder she strained to catch them, the greater the distance between them seemed to grow. The younger version of her reached out a hand then slowly began to fade away until only darkness surrounded her.

“Help me.”

Daniel’s voice echoed around her. Ariel surged to her feet, spinning in a circle as she tried to locate where his call came from. She moved in one direction only to hear his plea again and swear it came from a different place.

“I can’t find you. Daniel! I can’t find you. Where are you? I can’t find you.”

She was sobbing. There was pain in her chest, her side, her thigh, and her right arm. It made her nauseated. Made her want to collapse under the weight of agony. She refused. She fought to stay on her feet as