3

CHAPTER 3

Alpha Armand rushed over to the palace warlock's quarters and he banged on the door as loud as he could to wake him up at once.

"Draven. I need to talk to you so open this door at once. It's urgent" He yelled in the dark and the door swung open at once. A man who looked his age watched him with sleepy eyes and alpha Armand frowned at him.

"We could have this conversation when it's dawn. Does it have to be now, alpha?" Draven asked his friend and alpha who was now scowling at him.

"Something happened and I think I will lose my mind if I wait until the sun is out. I just hope you have a solution," He retorted and Draven opened the door wider so alpha Armand made his way inside.

"So what happened that's made you lose your mind?" Draven asked him as they both sat opposite each other and alpha Armand ran his hand through his hair. He looked anxious and it made Draven wonder what happened.

"I met this girl who snuck into my room tonight while the festival was going on. I found out she was my mate and I rejected her on the spot because I have Valerie and I plan to make her my luna. Well, the weird thing is, I had this dream and it was about this same girl that snuck into my room.

I wasn't in the dream, Draven. It felt like I could see through her eyes and I was speaking through her. Only that it wasn't my voice, it was hers and I didn't feel like I had any control over her body. it was like it was just my consciousness that was there inside her and it was weird as hell because it felt so real. You have to make it stop, Draven" alpha Armand explained in a rush.

Draven had never heard of anything like this before so he knew he had no solution but he could find out what was the cause and maybe find the solution too. He leaned toward alpha Armand and held his hands out.

"Give me your hands… I'll summon the coven and find out what to do," he told him and alpha Armand held his hands out. He placed them on Draven's and they both closed their eyes.

Silence followed for a while and they still had their eyes closed before alpha Armand began to have a vision.

There was only a bright light at first but then the light vanished and he was back at a memory that he wished he could forget. He wanted to open his eyes but Draven held his hands tighter and he knew it was a warning to not do that. So he kept his eyes closed and endured the torture.

It happened ten years ago when he was eighteen.

His father was just appointed as the new alpha of their pack and had been too busy. So to make it up to him and his mum, he took them out for a family day but it ended tragically that night.

They got into a fatal head-on collision with another car and it was also a family that occupied the second car.

He couldn't remember it all but he recalled saving the daughter of the family. His father managed to crawl out of the car before going unconscious but his mum died on the spot.

As he watched everything unfold before him again. He suddenly recognized the daughter of the family he saved to be Mavi and he froze.

Then the vision stopped. Everything went blank and he opened his eyes while the realization slowly seeped in.

He had met Mavi before. He saved her life the night they both lost people dear to them while having a close escape from death.

"What the hell was that? She was the girl in the other car that night but what does that have to do with my dream?" he asked Draven.

"You are both connected beyond just a mate bond, alpha. You both had a close-death experience that night and when you saved her, you used your blood to heal her wounds so you both became connected from that moment. Now the two of you are shadow kissed and meeting each other again triggered the bond" Draven explained to him.

"So all I have to do is avoid seeing her again right?" he asked, thinking that was the solution but Draven shook his head.

"It's way more complicated, alpha. These dreams will only become more frequent and the more you're both apart, the higher the chance of the bond getting triggered. You will keep on seeing through each other's eyes and feeling like your consciousness got swapped"

"Then what the fuck do I have to do to make it stop? I can't be with Valerie while being connected to another girl like that" he asked in a frenzy and Draven sighed.

He had no idea what to do to make it stop either but he knew one way to reduce the bond from getting triggered.

Alpha Armand had to have Mavi closer to him. He had to bring her to the palace.

**********

Mavi couldn't sleep. She didn't know how many hours it had been since she returned from the palace along with her friends but while the rest of them were deep asleep already, all she did was stare at the ceiling inside the room the four of them shared in the orphanage.

With a sigh, she turned to the other side of her bed to check the time on her phone but it wasn't there. So she opened her bedside drawer and searched for her phone for a while but she didn't find it.

Then she remembered she had left it on the floor in alpha Armand's room when she was running away and she gasped.

Dread filled her and her face paled as many scenarios played back and forth in her head.

Now that he had her phone, he was going to know where she lived and he would send his guards to have her arrested for sneaking into the alpha's room. He was going to torture her until he was satisfied and then have her locked up for life.

The thought of that made her heart fall and fear filled her up.

After a while, she closed her eyes to try and lessen the fear and worry that was consuming her, then she opened them and looked around the room. She still had to check the time so she went to Cindy's bedside to use her phone.

Quietly, she tiptoed until she was there then she turned the phone on and she saw it was five minutes past three in the morning. Cindy immediately turned to face her and she was half awake.

"What are you doing?" she asked and Mavi smiled at her.

"Just wanted to check the time. I forgot my phone at the palace" she replied and Cindy's eyes widened. She was now fully awake so she sat up.

"Oh shit! That is bad. There is no way you're getting that phone back… except he comes here for you" she exclaimed and she gasped when she said the last part.

"What if he comes here, Mavi? We are so dead if that happens," she began to panic and Mavi had to place her hands on her friend's shoulders to calm her down.

"Even if he comes, I'll make sure nothing happens okay? Don't worry too much about it Cindy" she told her and Cindy nodded hesitatingly. She wasn't sure if she could trust her words but she had to. She was the one who met the alpha.

"Now go back to sleep. it's still a long way to dawn" she said as she laid Cindy back in bed and with that, Mavi turned to return to her bed.

Suddenly, her eyesight went black and she couldn't see. She began to whimper as she panicked while rubbing against her eyes.

Then she missed a step, tripped over and fell. Hitting her head hard on the tiled floor, she immediately passed out and she saw that she was back in alpha Armand's room.

This time, she wasn't there in person. Instead, it felt like she could see through his eyes and she was staring at a lady who was sitting on his bed.

The lady was holding onto his wrist while staring at him lovingly and she could feel her touch. It was like she had possessed his body and could feel and see everything that happened around him but she had no control over the body.

Still stuck there, she figured the lady was his so-called girlfriend and she had to admit to herself that she was very pretty but Mavi knew that she was also pretty so her look wasn't the reason why alpha Armand rejected her.

She could tell that he genuinely loved this woman she was looking at and she was relieved that he severed their mate bond immediately.

She still couldn't understand why she was seeing through his eyes though because she wasn't his mate anymore.

Nothing was connecting them any longer so what could be causing this?

First, it was the dreams she had of his room since she was sixteen and now this was happening on the night that she met him face to face. Did something trigger this to happen?

Without warning, she regained consciousness back in the orphanage and when she woke up, she saw that she was surrounded by Alicia, Frida, and Cindy and they all looked terrified as they stared at her.

Frida helped her sit up and Alicia handed her a glass of water which she emptied immediately. She was relieved to have her eyesight back.

"You suddenly fell and fainted and I was so frightened. I hope you're okay now?" Cindy asked her worriedly and Mavi nodded so they wouldn't have to worry over her anymore.

She was still trying to figure out what the hell just happened to her. Her head was reeling with so many unanswerable questions and she knew she couldn't tell her friends what happened to her because they wouldn't understand.

Morning came and everyone woke up in the orphanage to do their morning chores.

Mavi and her friend's duty was to wash the curtains and bedsheets in the orphanage so they started early and two hours later, they were done so they went out to have them spread.

Suddenly, they heard the matron of the orphanage gasp out loud from where she sat and they all turned around to see what happened.

Cindy shrieked when she saw the convoy of palace cars parked in front of the building and Mavi froze while she watched. She was too scared to move or even breathe as she realized she was doomed.

Then they watched the guards come out of the cars before the door to one of the cars was opened and alpha Armand stepped out.

A crowd had gathered a few feet away from the orphanage to watch and Mavi knew the news that the alpha was at their orphanage was going to spread so quickly like wildfire and everyone was going to know what she did.

She could see her life falling apart already. All because of a dare that she was too stubborn to decline.

Her eyes met with alpha Armand's from where he stood and he gave her a once over like he did the previous night in his room. She was just in her night dress this time so she felt exposed and she wished she had worn a jacket.

"Mavi Darwin, come over here" he called for her and she heard their matron gasp again. She looked at the poor woman who was in her fifties and she felt sorry for causing such trouble for her.

Reluctantly, she made her way over to him and his gaze was so piercing that she felt her throat run dry. She hoped she wouldn't hiccup this time.

"Are you here to arrest me for what I did?" she asked him and that made him smirk as he shook his head. It was crazy to think he was connected to this girl who stood before him and he wondered if she was aware of it.

"You… are coming with me to the palace. I'm giving you five minutes to pack your bags" he replied and she frowned.

"Is this a joke?" she asked him immediately and he shook his head again.

"I wish it was Mavi Darwin, but this is beyond the two of us. You will be living in the palace from now on and your time is ticking already" he ended their conversation and all Mavi could wonder was if he was arresting her or if this was because of the weird dream she had while she was unconscious.