From Eden.

Pulling into Brian’s driveway, I noticed that another car was here. It was either Matt, Jimmy, or Johnny, and due to what happened the other day between Matt and I, I secretly hoped it was one of the other two.

To my relief, it was Johnny. He was sitting in Brian’s living room when we came in, our arms loaded with bags. I shot him a confused look, wondering how he got into Brian’s house when I remembered Brian had told me earlier that he left a spare key under the mat.
Michelle and I carried the bags to my room, setting them on the bed. She muttered something about having to go home. A wave of disappointment hit me; as much as I loved the guys, I wanted another girl around.

She said her goodbyes as Brian offered to drive her home. We had agreed on pizza for dinner and Zacky left to pick some up after making sure Johnny knew that under no circumstances, he could leave me alone. Despite the confused look on Johnny’s face, he agreed.

“So what is that all about?” He asked once Zacky, Brian, and Michelle had left. He had noticed how protective Zacky was of me.

“It’s a long story,” I sighed, sitting down on Brian’s couch and pulling my knees up to my chest.

“So, do you like Zacky?” He asked.

I was debating whether to tell him or not. Johnny was the one who told me to go out and talk to Zacky on that fateful day that started all of this, and he was the one who told me that Zacky thought about me all the time—I now knew how he knew what Zacky was thinking, thanks to them being apart of the same pack and all—and how Zacky was supposedly crazy about me. I looked at Johnny, and I could see the sincerity in his eyes, telling me it was alright to tell him. I shrugged. “It’s kinda mixed emotions right now.” I lied, of course. I wasn’t going to tell Johnny that I flat out loved Zacky, not yet, anyway.

Johnny nodded, and let things get silent. I had a feeling that he wasn’t going to let this go until he got some answers. “So, you know that we're all a pack, right?” he asked, breaking the silence.

I nodded, looking at him for a split second, then going back to wondering if I should put away all of the clothes I had bought earlier. “Yeah,” I said, surprised at how quiet I had gotten all of the sudden. It was eerily silent in Brian’s living room, but I didn’t mind it. “That’s how you knew that Zacky wanted me to talk to him, right?”

Johnny nodded, impressed that I had remembered the fact that he had told me what seemed like so long ago, when it was really just a few days ago. “Yeah, and apparently Zack doesn’t realize that I'm listening to him the majority of the time. I know it sounds kinda weird, but I want to hear him say something about you.” he admitted.

I raised my eyebrow at him, resting my head on my knees. My blonde hair fell into my face. I brushed it back, suddenly cursing myself for not buying dye earlier. The easier I could conceal my appearance, the better. I was thankful Michelle had dragged me to the Mary Kay store in the mall and we had found a foundation to cover my Imprint marking.

“Why?” I asked, hoping to get some answers.

Johnny shrugged, “well, to be honest,” he began, “I never cared for Gena. I was so happy when he caught her cheating on him.” He said, waiting for my reaction.

That did surprise me. I thought everyone got along with everyone in this little group? They all seemed to be happy with each other’s company, could it be that Johnny really didn’t like his best friend’s - now ex - girlfriend? That sort of made sense now of why he was so quiet, maybe it was because of Gena that he didn’t want to show his true feelings for her while his friends were around. “How come?” I asked.

“I don't know, to be honest. I just never have.” Johnny admitted, “it’s like, the minute I met her I knew I wouldn’t like her. I feel kinda stupid now that I’ve realized why I don't like her.” He chuckled, toying with Brian’s television remote.

I looked at Johnny as his words seeped into my mind and I couldn’t make out what he was trying to tell me. “What’s that mean?” I asked.

Johnny understood, and smiled slightly. “Well, you know that all Lycans are born with gifts, right?” I nodded, and he continued. “Mine is seeing the future, I’m a clairvoyant.” My eyes widened, causing Johnny to chuckle slightly. “Yeah, Del, I saw you coming a mile away. I knew that you were made for Zacky.” I nodded, hanging on to his every word.
“I knew that Zacky would absolutely adore you. You see, I got that vision of you about a year ago around the time Zacky met Gena.” I started to see where he was going with this. “When they started dating, I became furious. It’s not that I hate Gena, but I hate the fact that Zacky actually started going out with her while I knew he hadn’t met you yet, the perfect girl for him. Once I saw you, I was determined to make this vision come true. Gena’s nothing of his type, and you fit everything in his criteria.” I could tell that was the end of his story, but there was still one question that was running through my mind.

“When you got the vision of me, what was it like?” I asked, a bit curious to know what exactly Johnny’s visions looked like.

Johnny opened his mouth to answer, but was stopped short by the sound of Brian’s front door unlocking.

We’ll finish this later Johnny said, giving me a smile as he got up from the chair he was sitting in to help Zacky bring the pizzas in. Brian was still with Michelle, and his presence was missed. It felt weird to be in his house without him.

I closed my eyes, sighing slightly as I felt the cheese melt in my mouth and the grease from the pizza cover my fingers. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was and at that moment, I was more in love with Zacky than ever for bringing me food.

“This is the best,” I mumbled through the pizza that was inside of my mouth, just waiting to be swallowed to send the fats throughout my body that it would take me two months to get rid of when I'm thirty-five. Zacky, Johnny and I were sitting in Brian’s living room, eating pizza and watching cartoons on the television. It was hours later when Brian returned. The sun was beginning to set and Johnny had to head on home. We all said our goodbyes, and he even gave me a hug. I wanted to desperately finish the conversation we had earlier, but I knew it had to wait.

By the time the clock had struck ten p.m., I was yawning and fighting sleep. Grabbing clothes of out my new room, I made the announcement that I was going to shower and was thankful Brian had provided clean towels and a clothes basket that had a piece of paper with my name taped on it for my dirty laundry. Brian really did care about me - as did Zacky and Johnny, and I was beyond thankful to have them in my life.

When I was done with my shower and ready for bed, I was startled by Zacky sitting in the chair. His watch had begun. He watched me crawl under the covers, yawning just about every time I blinked.

“Good night Zacky.” I said into the darkness of my room.

“Sweet dreams, Del.”

----

The smell of smoke filled her nostrils as her eyes opened up. Smoke burned them, and she wanted to go back to sleep. The smoke was choking her, making it hard to breath.
Smoke burned her nostrils. She could taste the soot on her tongue.
Smoke. Fire. The flames licked at her feet. She cried as the smell of burning flesh filled her nostrils. She was burning. The flames licked at her skin, searing her flesh as she cried. Screaming at the pain that engulfed her. She cried out, asking for help to no avail. The sound of a dark chuckle made the ground rumble as three words filled her head with the most pain she'd ever felt.

“Welcome home Delilah.”

----

“Delilah!” a voice yelled, causing me to shoot straight up in my bed. I was panting heavily as the beads of sweat rolled down my face. I kicked off my blankets, wiping my forehead with my hand. Once I had gotten out of the shock of being taken out of the burning flames so unexpectedly, I looked to see Zacky sitting down on my bed, looking at me with worried eyes as I looked back at him with wide eyes. “Are you okay?” he asked softly after he realized that I was awake.

I nodded, too afraid to speak. Before I realized what my body was doing, I was crying. Tears rolled down my cheeks as a sob escaped my chest. I could still feel the heat of the flames as they lunged toward me, I could still feel the pain as they burned my flesh away.
I felt a pair of arms wrap around my shoulder blades, and I cried into Zacky’s shoulder as the tears became more frequent. “It’s okay, it’s okay, you just had a nightmare.” Zacky said soothingly, rubbing my back with one of his hands. He pressed his lips to the top of my head, slowly rocking me back and forth.

“I don't…want to…burn. I don't want to die.” I sobbed even harder, soaking Zacky’s shoulder that was covered by a shirt with my tears. I felt Zacky’s arms leave me for a second, and then I felt a pair of warm, rough hands on my face. Zacky lifted my head up to where we were facing each other, his eyes staring right back into mine.

“Please don’t cry Delilah.” He whispered, his eyes boring into mine as the tears continued to seep through them. “I hate it when you cry.” He wiped his thumb across my cheeks, brushing away the tears. “Do you want to talk about it?” Zacky whispered, his thumbs not once stopping the rhythm they were playing on my cheeks.

“I-I was burning,” I gulped, pulling away from him a little. “I was on fire. Burning alive.”

“I'm such a fucking idiot.” Zacky said, taking his hands from my face to smack himself in the forehead. My brows furrowed at Zacky’s words as I gave him a slightly confused look. “What are you talking about?” I asked, my voice rising with concern - and fear.

“He knows you're alive. That dream wasn't just any dream, and he wants you to know that.”

“Who?”

“Your father,” Zacky barked out a forced laugh, “he thought you were dead, it’s not like he cared if you were or not. He got what he wanted out of you and Jael. He got her pregnant, and you started the war. That’s all he wanted to be done. But now that he knows you're alive and well aware of the person you really are, who you can really become, he'll stop at nothing until he finds you. They've all changed their minds about you now that they saw what I'm doing for you - protecting you. They all want you dead.”

Tears began to creep up my throat once again as the overwhelming feeling of fear and dread hit me. “I will do everything in my power to make sure you're not hurt, or worse. I’m not sure how, but somehow I'll manage it.” Zacky said, and I took his words to heart.

He held my hand, squeezing it to reassure me. My heart began to beat faster as he pulled me closer to him, to where I was all but sitting in his lap. Before I even knew what was happening, his lips were pressed against mine. Our lips held one another in a friendly hug, only to be turned into something more serious as I held the sides of his neck with both of my hands as he placed his hands on both of my sides about where my ribcage is supposed to be. I leaned back a bit, taking Zacky down with me, and I felt his tongue tracing my bottom lip. I let him in without a second thought. My heart felt as if it was going to beat out of my chest as Zacky slid his hands down my side. I didn’t want this to end. Even though we could’ve held our breath forever, making our kiss endless, we had to pull away before we both did something that would cause chaos.

I fell back against the bed, breathless and wanting more. Wanting him more than ever.

“We can’t Del,” he whispered into my ear.

“I don't like sleeping alone.” I whispered back.

Zacky understood and shifted to where he was laying beside of me. He extended his arms as I cuddled up against him. I rested on my side so I was facing Zacky as he draped one arm around my shoulder blades, the other placed on my hip that was exposed to him. I buried my face into Zacky’s neck, I felt his grip tighten on me.

A few minutes ticked by as Zacky and I both rested on the twin bed in the guest room of Brian’s house peacefully. I draped my arm over Zacky’s middle in an attempt to snuggle closer to the god sleeping peacefully beside me. It was silent as we held each other in our arms, unaware of what was coming to us.

Notes

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