"There you are." A strong male voice shouts out, as I open my eyes into another one of the dreams. Shock fills me when I see it isn't the normal one I have had for years, but it feels just as real. The same girl is here but different, older maybe. She is sat with her hair in a tight bun, filled with braids; it must have taken forever to get her hair just like that. I notice straight away that she is wearing odd clothes, which I don't recognise, they just about cover her. It’s done in layers of purple satin that are wrapped around her body and flow out into a big skirt at the bottom. There’s a beautiful crown, which lies on her head, it is made of little gold flowers and vines. There is a large white oval stone in the middle, and it glitters from the streams of light, through the thin curtains in the room. Am I dreaming about a queen? 

"Leo." she exhales, with her face filling with joy at the male outside the room. I grimace to myself as I look around the room we are in, it's nothing like I ever seen and I’m not sure how I’ve made it up. There is a massive white bed in the middle of the room, on a kind of altar and there are several archways to the outside, with thin white curtains that sway in the breeze. The floor is white marble and there isn't anything else in the room to help me know where I am but all I see is white. My thoughts are distracted as a man pushes though the curtains and my jaw drops when I look at him. He looks just like Jaxson, the same black hair but his eyes are light blue and there is a little difference in his face that shows me it’s not him. His face looks older than Jaxson’s  and full of love for the woman in front of him. He is wearing a black toga with a badge in gold in the middle, with some kind of symbol on it that I can't see from where I am.

"Elissa, are you ok?" He asks the woman. Ah ha, at least I know her name. I’m not sure if that makes me crazier, the fact I’m happy my made up dream women has a name or the fact I have these dreams in the first place. Elissa makes no move to go near him, as she stands in the middle of the room, facing an empty door.

"I keep seeing her, the war, all of it." She whispers inside my head, the same way she talked to in the other dreams. The feeling is peaceful and tranquil just like she is.

Leo face fills with sympathy as he walks over and pulls her into a hug, that she doesn’t resist.

"What have you learnt?" He says gently, it's clear this man loves her dearly.

Elissa pushes him away and starts to pace right in front of me, so close I can almost touch her but I can't move as usual. 

"He will find me, find us. The end is near and her future isn't safe. He will hunt her and all them until the prophecy is no more." She mutters as her eyes start to glow a bright blue.

"She is safe; I have made sure of it." The man states.

"Our deaths will guard her and her children. I can't change it, I can't save you." She wails, falling to ground. 

The man falls to his knees in front of her pulling her to his chest. The man gently rocks her as she cries. 

"I wouldn't change anything. I love you." He says.

"And I you." She whispers to him, before she looks up over Leo shoulder, looking directly at me.

"There will be a time, a time you will understand and it is closer than it has ever been now." She whispers in my mind.

 

I gasp waking up with a start, feeling myself covered in sweat head to toe. 

The thoughts of Elissa and Leo run through my mind, as I look at my phone and see its midday. I must have slept a hell of a lot longer than I wanted but thank god it's the weekend. 

How can those dreams be so real, it's like I was there next to them as she cried. My heart goes out to her, like the women in the romantic movies I used to watch. Maybe that's where I'm getting my strong imagination from. These dreams are certainly imaginative. 

I flick though my phone for a minute before seeing a text from Wyatt,

Wyatt: I will pick you up at 7. Can't wait to see you x

I lie back in my bed, as I stare at the white ceiling. Why do I feel guilty for going on a date with Wyatt when Jaxson has made it clear nothing can happen between us? My feelings for Wyatt aren’t as strong, but I haven’t really got to know him. I know from his kiss that there could be a good thing between us.

It's because I want Jaxson just as much as I want Wyatt. I know having dreams about a romance that's clearly not allowed is my mind trying to tell me something. That's why I need to give Wyatt a chance. He is a nice guy, a little intimating and scary the first time we met, but there is something about him.

I text Wyatt back saying okay and take a shower. 

When I come out my room with my sweats on and a tank top, I find a note on the fridge from Alex, saying she is staying at Drakes for the weekend.

Lucky girl, I smile to myself at the thought of how happy she is. She never let anyone close, other than me and my mom growing up, so every boy had no chance. Until this one.

I spend the rest of the day painting my toes and nails red, and then watching silly movies. By the time seven comes around and there's a knock at the door, I've gotten myself into black skater dress with black high heels. Grabbing my purse and keys, I open the door to Wyatt and seeing him leaning against the door frame, looking way to attractive for his own good. His blonde hair has been styled lightly, making it look more soft than usual. I take my time to look at him, wearing stylish black trousers and a button down dark blue shirt. His dark brown eyes regard me with humour as he knows I'm checking him out as I meet them eventually. 

"You look beautiful, as always sweetheart." He comments, checking out my outfit before stepping into my personal space.

"I like your hair like this, it suits you." He says as he runs his hand though my straight hair. The top part is put up in two plaits that join in the middle and the rest falls nicely over my shoulders. 

"Thanks." I say, feeling my throat going dry at the enticing smell of him now he is so close. 

"Shall we?" He asks holding out a hand, which I accept with a shy nod. I lock the door, while he waits and then he leads me to his car. Once I'm seated in, he starts to drive and he says, 

"It's a bit of a drive but the place is worth it."

"I don't mind." I reply looking out at the woods. My thoughts flicker to Jaxson holding me in that cave with his glowing eyes and the need for him to kiss me so bad, it hurts thinking of the reasons that he didn't. My gaze goes to the extremely attractive and nice guy I'm on a date with and guilt fills me. Is it wrong that I want them both, two people who don’t know each other and most likely would hate each other. Jaxson hates humans; I doubt he would be okay with me kissing one. The bad problem is that I couldn’t give either one of them up.

"Are you okay?" Wyatt asks, like he can actually feel my guilt. 

"Yeah. So what have been up to this week?" I ask to change the subject. Wyatt frowns at me before letting it go and answering,

"I've been working with my father and Drake has been helping. There is some new information that's come to light and we are planning a take-over." He tells me, his jaw is clicking as he talks and I get the impression it’s not what he wants.

"A take over? Like acquiring a new Business to help yours or something?" I ask.

"No, we will take it apart so it can’t hurt anyone else. The group is bad and they are going to do something terrible. I might get in trouble for stopping them but it’s the right thing to do." He says, I get the feeling he didn’t mean to tell me that when he looks at me.  I’ve always got the feeling Wyatt isn’t telling me something, and I’m not sure how to ask him about it.

"Why?" I ask.

"It's not us being evil, Winter. They would do the same to us without a second thought and it’s better to take out the threat before they become a bigger one." He says without a hint of emotion, one of his pale hands reaches over and takes mine. I let him hold my hand for a while, neither of us saying a word.

"Doesn't make it right." I say finally, as he looks at me oddly.

"Your right, it doesn't but we don’t all have a choice. Sometimes a wrong can make a right." He smiles with a sadness, which I don't understand.

I yawn, feeling how tired I am from last night, when I have nightmares; I don't get sleep and usually feel more tired than usual. They started when I was ten and I used to wake up screaming. My mom took me to the doctors after I started getting one every month but they didn’t help. I eventually learnt that they aren’t that scary, they just feel very real. I told my mom I didn’t get them anymore, when I couldn’t stand her looking at me in worry all the time. Alex knows and usually would help me, but the dreams aren’t all always the same. Sometimes I dream of fire covered demons and beautiful people who glow different colours, but some of them are so evil that they scare me into not sleeping for days. Thankfully I only seem to get those dreams once a year now.

"You look tired, a rough night?" He asks, watching me front the corner of his eye as he drives.

"No just bad dreams keeping me awake." I tell him honestly.

"What are they about?" He asks gently.

"Of the usual, strange people I don't know arguing and wearing odd clothes. It was a nightmare but it didn't feel good. It doesn't matter." I mumble looking away, I can’t tell him how I think it’s my subconscious trying to tell me I have feelings for someone who is just a friend.

"Maybe you need a hot blonde man in your bed to protect you from bad dreams." He says seriously, I giggle when I see the small twitch in his lips.

"You need to work on your chat up lines buddy." I grin. This makes us both start laughing.

"I don't usually need them but that was bad." He chuckles as he takes my hand and brings it to his mouth. Wyatt places a gentle kiss on the back of it before letting go to change the gear. 

"We're here." He says and I can see how excited he is from his eyes. I get out his car to see we are parked outside a very small restaurant. It looks like a cottage in the middle of nowhere with a few lanterns on the windows. I look over the car at Wyatt in confusion. 

"You should never judge a book by its cover, hasn't anyone ever told you that?" He chuckles when I don't reply and he comes over, taking my hand. Wyatt leads me to the entrance when a man opens the door nodding to Wyatt as he leads me in. The room is practically empty, except from a staircase lit up by fairy lights on the big banisters. The staircase leads down into the ground but I can’t see where it goes. There were a few cars parked outside, so there people must be down here.

"After you sweetheart," Wyatt whispers in my ear, as he pushes my hair over my shoulder. I smile walking down the staircase and I could swear my jaw drops open. 

There is a massive room under the small restaurant, with tables filling the middle. The ceiling has hundreds of different lights filling it and the walls are filled with bottles of wine on a display. Wyatt gently nudges me down the staircase with his hand and the man at the end dressed all in black smiles at us. The staircase looks like it’s been carved out of one piece of wood and little twirls are craved into it. It makes me wonder how the hell they got the staircase into here. It must have been a hell of a job.

"Mr Allerton and your lovely guest are very welcome here tonight. It’s been such a long time since I have seen you. The usual table?"  He asks with a small bow. The man is dressed all in black; a small red crown is stitched into his pocket on his chest.

"Yes please Albert." Wyatt answers. I scowl a little inside, as we are lead to a nice table in the corner, thinking about how many girls he has brought here. A wave of jealously hits me as I imagine Wyatt with anyone else but I push it away as Wyatt looks through the drinks menu. I can’t be jealous of people who come before me but for some reason I know I am. The way Wyatt looks at me, suggests that he isn’t seeing anyone else, so I should relax.

"I will have my usual red wine and what would you like?" He asks me and I ask for a glass of any white wine.

"That's no problem. I can choose something for you." Albert nods before leaving. 

"The lobster is really tasty here, it’s a favourite of mine but anything here is. The chef is known around the world for his cooking talents and has won many awards. I wouldn’t stop eating if that man cooked for me all the time." Wyatt says as I skim though the menu.

“I do like fish, it sounds really good.” I reply, wondering how expensive the food must be here. The menu doesn’t have any prices, which makes it expensive. I don’t know if I like Wyatt spending that much money on me, I know he must be well off because of his car. It’s still something I’m not sure how to get used too. We wasn’t poor by any means growing up, we had a lovely two bedroom house in a nice neighbourhood and my mum found enough to take us on a few nice holidays over the years. I’ve just never been to a place as expensive as this, and honestly I think I’m a little intimated by it all. I don’t want to ruin tonight, so I force myself to act comfortable.

I decide on the mixed fish food plate they do and as the waiter brings us our drinks, I order my food and Wyatt has the same as me. 

"How did you find this place, it's almost magical." I inquire as I look around. The walls look like they are polished brown stone and there are a few couples on the other tables who look more interested in the room than their partners. The thoughts of what Harris said about other supernatural flutters to my mind as I look around the place. It's really a very magical place with the lights that look like they are hovering above us, too bright for me to make out what kind of lights they are. The table even has a rose in a vase, which looks too perfect to be real.

"This place was created by my mother. I actually own it now but it always feels like hers, rather than mine. My mother was just like this place, unique and stunning." He looks around the room as he talks; his eyes are distant with a lost memory.

"Your mother had beautiful taste in things," I comment. 

"She did. She was a magical person inside and out, you could say." He smiles and I'm reminded how handsome he is when he does. We chat about normal things until our food arrives and Wyatt was right, the bit of lobster I had was amazing, as it all was. 

"Would you like desert, sir?" Albert asks as we come back.

"Yes, a chocolate pudding to share please." He says and Albert nods before he leaves.

"How did you know I wanted desert?" I ask with a slight smile when he grins at me.

"Well, a little bird told me of your weak spot for chocolate." He says with a wink.

"Alex." I groan and he nods, laughing. She is right; I have a serious addiction to chocolate. I really believe the stuff should be banned because it’s the main problem for my hips and ass. No, actually I don’t want it banned, I would have to buy it illegally and then end up in prison on a chocolate overdose.

"What else did she say?" I ask, feeling my cheeks going red.

"I'm afraid we discussed you’re running around the house naked phase at seven, and my favourite memory is the time you tried to save a cat in a tall tree and got stuck for a whole night, while everyone searched for you." He laughs with me as I chuckle. I put my hands on my red cheeks trying to hide them.

"The damn cat betrayed me,” I say with a pout as Wyatt laughs.

“How did the cat betray you?” He manages to say between laughter.

“The cat climbed down, once I got up and walked off. I had to have firefighters use their truck ladders to get me down." Wyatt laughs harder as I add,

"The whole neighbourhood, who had looked for me, had to watch as I was thrown over one of the men shoulders and my trousers fell down, flashing everyone my kitten knickers," I say with a slight grumble that makes Wyatt laugh more.

I can't help but laugh with him, as I plan ways to get back at my revealing friend later.

The waiter smiles as he hands us the chocolate pudding cake with only one spoon. 

Wyatt calms down enough to break off a bit of mouth-watering cake and smirks at me.

"Try this," he whispers as he leads the spoon to my mouth, and slowly feeds me the cake. I can't help the small moan that escapes my lips as I taste the amazing flavour of the cake. 

I look up to see Wyatt eyes almost glowing black before he looks away. 

"You can have the rest if you want." He says gently.

"We can share," I say and we take turns feeding each other. It became way too much of a turn on every time he licked the spoon that I had to go to the toilet to calm down and get away from him for a second before I do or say something embarrassing. I finish in the bathroom and when I come back to the table, there is a man in my seat.

I can only see his back and he has a lot of shiny white hair, it’s tied loosely at the nape of his neck in braids and meets his middle back. There are odd bits of silver in it, must be a really good dye job. When I get to the table, both the men stop talking and Wyatt looks up at me with a slight smile. The white haired man is even more impressive up front. He has a handsome baby face, with white eyebrows that I wouldn’t think could look hot on a guy, but it does for him. His purple eyes are big and bright as he stares at me; I notice he is wearing some kind of white tunic with what looks like white trousers underneath that showcase his massive build. I would guess he as big as Jaxson, or just a tad bigger than Wyatt but who knows. When he smiles at me, two perfectly placed dimples appear.

“Wyatt, where have you been hiding this gorgeous one?” He asks and I watch in slight curiosity as he stands and offers me my chair back. I was wrong about his height, he towers over me and I feel tiny next to him. I take the chair and feel his large fingers slide across my back as he tucks me in.

“Dabriel this is Winter.” Wyatt introduces with a friendly smile on his lips. I’m a little surprised he didn’t take offence to this guy calling me gorgeous but maybe they are just good friends.

“Nice to meet you, that’s an unusual name you have,” I comment and smile up at him from my seat. I watch as Dabriel gets another chair from a nearby table and moves it next to ours, before sitting on it.

“So is Winter. Were you born in winter by any chance?” Dabriel winks at me and I laugh.

“Nope, my birthday is in May. I asked my mum about it once and she said she just loves winter. It’s odd actually because when it’s cold at home, she hates it.” I say and we all laugh a little.

“How do you guys know each other?” I ask, Dabriel looks the same age as Wyatt, so maybe they grew up together.

“We have been friends for a long time, Atti will want to meet you, and he is our other friend. It’s a shame that Jax won’t speak to us still.” Dabriel says and I briefly panic before realising that they couldn’t mean Jaxson. That would be possible; I couldn’t imagine the big bad wolf having friends that are human. No, it’s just a coincidence.

“I bet he would and one day Jax will stop being an idiot.” Wyatt shakes his head.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Dabriel laughs.

“Can I call you Dab? I like it.” I say randomly.

“You can call me whatever hot stuff.” Dabriel winks,

“That was bad. Winter said I was bad at hitting on her but come on. He is worse.” Wyatt waves a hand at a laughing Dabriel.

“Ok, I'll admit your both bad. How do you get dates?” I laugh at their pouting faces.

“Must be the good looks.”

I think and realise too late that I’ve said it out loud. Both of them grin at me.

Men and their egos.

“I have to leave, but I will see you again Winter,” Dabriel says as he gets to his feet.

“Dabriel,” Wyatt warns in a low voice.

“It’s true; it’s not the right time but soon.” Dab tells Wyatt and them both stare each other down before Wyatt nods. He looks at me and eventually smiles.

“Soon Winter.” Dabriel says before walking off, I watch until he leaves the restaurant up the large wooden staircase.

“Sorry about Dabriel, he is different and well not usually this friendly. Honestly, I’ve never seen him come out with such terrible pickup lines before.” Wyatt apologies.

“I thought he was nice,” I say, not wanting to tell him that I actually thought he was hot as sin, wrapped up in a tight package. I wonder what colour his eyes are usually; I think he must have worn some cool eye contacts. I remember when Alex brought some pink ones and she looked really creepy for a while. It kind of suits Dabriel.

“Nice is not a word I’m sure Dabriel has ever been called.” Wyatt chuckles to himself, his dark eyes meeting mine.

“How did you meet him?” I ask, breaking the building tension between us.

“Our fathers all hated each other, when they were all alive at least. We all protested against them by being secret friends as kids. Atti was the first to come to us all, he found a way without anyone knowing and then we all used to meet once a week. As we got older, they became like brothers to me. We all have our own family issue’s and it was great way to escape.” He says.

“Sounds like most kids, tell them not to do something, and they will go straight ahead to do it.” I chuckle.

“I enjoyed tonight, spending time with you is relaxing,” Wyatt tells me.

“Me too,” I whisper with blushing cheeks and he runs his fingers across my hand on the table. We leave not long after and on the way home I look over at Wyatt.

"Thank you for tonight; I had a really good time," I say and I mean it. Being with Wyatt had become relaxing. Jaxson is so intense that I feel like I’m going to kill him half the time, whereas being with Wyatt is fun. It doesn’t mean I’m not intensely attracted to him because I am but being with him feels right.

"How about next week, the same time? I’m free Friday if you are and I could invite Atti to meet you," He asks. 

"I would like that, I like getting to know you and meeting your friends," I say gently, placing my hand on his arm. 

Wyatt stops the car on the side of the road, ignoring my questioning gaze. I let him undo my seatbelt and pull me onto his lap. 

"It's so hard to be around you all night, and not beg you for a kiss." He says before his hands cup my face and his cold lips meet mine. My hands curl around his neck and into his hair, as he kisses his way down my jaw and to my neck. I lean my head back to give him more access but he pulls away looking at me, his hands tightly holding my waist.

"You’re beyond temptation, you know that?" He groans, kissing my forehead before lifting me and clipping me back in my seat.

"Am I?" I flirt a little, as I check him out with his messy hair from my hands. I like the relaxed look on him.

"If you keep looking at me like that sweetheart, I will end up showing you in my car how much of sexy temptation you are." He says as smirks at me. 

Wyatt drops me off home with a sweet kiss, not letting the kiss go any further as I scowl at him. 

"I don't want to rush this, us. There are things I haven't told you and I need you to know before we become serious." He says rubbing my arms, as he pulls me into his chest for a hug. I wonder what he needs to tell me? I mean I have the feeling he is a good guy, well I hope he is. My thoughts go back to when we first met, how scary he was to me and how much I wanted to run. I can’t understand what changed my mind other than he seems like a different person to who he was when we first met. He seems warmer.

"No rush," I whisper back confirming his thoughts. My feelings rush to Jaxson and how different it feels to be held by him. Wyatt feels relaxed and safe in a way. Jaxson feels wild and untamed but safe in the same kind of way. 

"Goodnight Winter." He whispers as he kisses the top of my head. I walk into my apartment locking the door behind me with a large grin on my face.