Garret heard something fall to the floor, and the moment he heard it, he was out of bed. Instantly opening the door, without knocking, he sees Emerald's body on the floor. If it had not been for hearing her heartbeat, he would've assumed she was dead by how pale she looked.

He instantly got on his knees, screaming her name. Regardless of how many times and how loud he screamed, she didn't wake up. Cradling her body in his arms, he brings his hand to the back of her head, becoming confused as to why it was wet. Had she hit her head when she fell?

Moving her hair from her neck, he sees four holes, aligned in a straight row, on the back of her neck. Growing confused as to how she got it, it being fresh, he instantly mind linked his father and the pack doctor to come to his room.

He knew that they heard him through their sleep and he began to carry Emerald to the couch that sat in front of their bed. Gently placing her down, he began to run his hand through her hair. HIs mind was racing and he didn't know what to do. He wasn't sure what was happening and he wanted to be able to protect her but with this newfound mark that he had no idea of how it came to be, he wasn't sure he could.

The door swung open and his father walked in, looking tired but alert.

"What is it?" he exclaims. He looks down to see Emerald unconscious on the couch and grew even more concerned. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Garret responds, trying to sound calm but his voice wavered. "We were sleep and the next minute she was having a nightmare. I woke her up but then she rushed to the bathroom... she collapsed and there and I just found her. I don't know what's going on."

The pack doctor having arrived with his father, he came over to Garret and kneeled down in front of Emerald. He overlooked her face and took her pulse to find that everything was normal. If it had not been for the paleness he would've thought that she was sleeping.

"She has holes... on the back of her neck," Garret says when he noticed the confusion on the doctor's face. "I don't know where she got them, for what I know, she's been in this bed this whole time."

The doctor quickly moved her head to the right and moved her head to see fresh puncture wounds. They looked to be two centimeters wide, deep enough to reach the bone. No human did this. But no one was here to have done it either.

"The borders are secure," Daryl says. "We would've been alerted by the patrols if something had come across the border."

Garret became uneasy. "Unless it didn't cross the border."

"What do you mean?" Daryl and the pack doctor asked the same time.

"Emerald didn't cross the border either. She teleported in."

"Teleported?" The doctor said confused, having not known about Emerald's life.

Garret sighs. "I'll explain that later but if she was able to do, maybe whoever did that to her did as well."

"We'll have to watch over her," the doctor says. "Make sure that these marks don't have any effect on her. From what you described though, she may have just fainted. Maybe from seeing them, only she can tell us that."

I felt the pain of my neck before anything else.

I had felt that I had been a black hole for days. I hadn't dreamt of anything, hadn't thought of anything, just was in the stillness of nothing.

My body began to awaken and I soon became aware of my surroundings behind my closed lids. Everything was still and quiet. I felt warm underneath the covers of my sheets.

Slowly opening my eyes to a somewhat darkly lit room, I overlooked it. Everything seemed fine. The curtains were drawn, possibly hiding the brightness of the sun outside. I didn't feel nor sense Garret in the room so that made me assume that he was possibly working.

I felt a pang of guilt of having known that he had found me knocked out and whatever happened to me happened. I knew he was concerned and confused and I wanted to be able to explain it all to him but I couldn't even come to terms with it myself. I wasn't sure what happened. I wasn't sure why a dream that felt and looked real wasn't, but yet I was left with this mark on the back of my neck.

I was in the presence of that thing? Did it somehow come into my new home, into my room, and punctured me. But yet with all these questions, the fact that I wasn't bruised like I was in my dream remained. How was that not real but the four markings were.

All the confusion was leaving me with a headache. Easily getting out of bed, my feet meeting the plush antique carpet. Deciding that a shower would be in my best interest, I make a beeline to the bathroom.

Starting the shower and waiting for it to warm up, I go to the mirror as I begin to strip out of my clothes. Slowly taking off my shirt, wincing at the pain of moving my neck, I eventually stand in front of the mirror, naked. I looked tired and slightly pale. Moving my hair away from my neck, I notice a big bandaid covering it. The water from my shower shouldn't be able to penetrate through it.

Easily stepping into the shower, I let the warm water hit my back and I let out a sigh. I could feel my bones relax and, for a moment, feel at ease. All the confusion and stress I had felt moments ago started to fade as the water ran down my body.

For this moment, I refused to think of what had happened to me and all the questions that I had. I couldn't make sense of them yet and I knew it, I would need time to figure it all out. I didn't want to drive myself insane yet.

As I turned towards the shower head to get my front wet, I ran my hands through my wet hair, itching my scalp softly. As I was about to reach for my shampoo, warm hands met my hips. The tingles of a mate's touch racked through my body so I knew it belonged to Garret. I just wasn't expecting him.

"You know, I am naked," I say, still facing the shower head, my back to him.

"Nothing I haven't seen before," he says, stepping closer to me, his lips meeting my shoulder. "Nothing I won't see once I make you officially mine."

I smile softly. "I know you have questions," I say softly, turning towards him as his hands grazed my hips softly. "And I want to answer them but... right now I'm trying to make sense of it all myself. I don't know what happened, I don't know what is happening. But I'm sorry that I worried you."

He overlooked my face. I could tell he had a lot of questions. I could tell that he was concerned about me and that all he wanted to do was protect me from whatever this is. I could tell that my request didn't sit entirely easy with him. But yet-

"Take all the time you need."