The same nightmare, again. I woke up screaming, shivering, the cold sweat clinging to my skin. Mommy, ever-present, pulled me into her lap, her gentle rocking slowly calming my frantic heart. It was always the same: a man’s frantic shouts, a woman’s desperate pleas, and the suffocating darkness of a tunnel as someone carried me away.

“Better?” she asked, her voice soft as my breathing finally steadied. I nodded, leaning into her warmth, trying to push the images of terror from my mind.

Just as I was drifting back to a fragile peace, the doorbell chimed, a harsh intrusion. Mommy sighed, a familiar weariness in her eyes. “That’ll be the Alpha and Luna. They brought the triplets.” My stomach dropped. “Go wash your face and get dressed. You can all play together.”

“But I don’t want to play with them,” I grumbled, already picturing Colton’s sneer, Clayton’s smirk, and Carrington’s ever-present agreement. “They’re mean to me!”

“They’re just rambunctious thirteen-year-old boys,” she said, swatting my behind. “And they are our future Alphas, so try to have patience, okay?” She nudged me towards the bathroom, leaving me to groan at the thought. Boys were dumb, especially those three. All I wanted was to be alone to think about my dream, about the faces I couldn’t quite see, the voices that felt familiar yet unknown. Who were those people? Who was that little girl? Why did it feel like I should know them?

As I came out of the bathroom, still wrestling with the lingering dread of my nightmare, Colton was already there, blocking my doorway. “Hey, brat!” he taunted, a smug look on his face. “Heard you woke up crying from a silly nightmare again. You’re such a baby!”