CHAPTER 2

I can't breathe!!

I can't breatheeeeee!!!

I could feel myself in a basket, rushing fast through flowing waters.

I opened my consciousness to birds' whistles and lights so bright from the sky that I was temporarily blinded.

This must be what death feels like. Peaceful and serene. I thought as I lay quietly in the basket, waiting for it to stop.

All I can remember is walking through a foggy gate and here I am.

"Ana…" I called. I wonder if our inner Wolves still stay alive here. I hope they do because I wasn't about to make friends in this foggy gate.

"Ana..??" they don't? I panicked slightly.

Well, maybe they don't.

"Yes!" I was starting to give up when she responded. Her voice was stiff from something I couldn't exactly figure out.

"Are we there yet?"

"Where?" she sounded amused and I wondered why.

What's so amusing about losing the love of your life? At the thought of that, a sharp pain pricked my heart. Which didn't make sense to me.

Why am I still hurting?? I am dead. I saw myself walk through that foggy gate, so why am I still here, thinking of Damon and having my heart hurt like a newly sharpened knife passed through it?

"Are we at the place this eternity basket is supposed to pack?"

"Eternity basket?" she gave a short laugh. "Hmm, I don't think so. Not yet. Nah"

"How much longer?" I groaned.

"Tsk! Stand Lily?"

I rolled my eyes. "I can't. I don't want to."

"You actually would love to. Stand Lily" Ana persisted.

"Why?" she sounded way too excited for an inner Wolf that had just died and it made me curious.

"Can you just stand please?"

"Urgghh!" I groaned as I reluctantly stood up.

There were the chirping birds. The bright sky. The rushing water. Trees. People. Wolves.

I stood and looked around uninterestedly, taking in the scenes before me and not taking them in at the same time.

God damn! Ana!! What's the big deal??

I could feel my head throbbing.

"Ana!" she's probably running crazy. This is probably what being dead does to your inner Wolf.

She started running around in circles and it wasn't long before she started wagging her tails.

"Ana?!" as she ran, the throbbing in my head increased and I felt dizzy.

"Ana??!!!" I fell with a thud inside the basket. I let out a yell as it capsides. I throw my hands out, grasping for water and air all at once.

Who dies again after being dead?? Nothing felt like they added up in my life anymore

I was still struggling to breathe when I began swimming.

I haven't swum a day in my life. Maybe death makes you have unique powers.

I swam to the other side and stood. Looking around and at the basket, nothing looks foggy.

The sky was clear. I could see everything and anything.

"Ana??" I was lost. "What's happening? Are we still dead? Where are we?"

"Nah, I don't think we are" She was starting to wiggle again

"Easy Ann, when you do that, it hurts." I held my head as I looked around the environment before me.

"I am sorry." She stopped but I could feel her excitement.

"What's going…"

I was interrupted by someone who brushed past me, looking at me weirdly. I looked at where she was coming from.

"Come, Lily. Let's go" Ann was pulling me towards the giant black gate at the end of the river we just swam out from.

"Where's this?? What's that?" I was completely lost.

"Real life, Lily. You are alive - we are alive!" She squealed happily.

"Huh??" I blinked confusedly.

If this was true, I needed to find Damon.

I was about to turn around when the lady that had brushed me came out of a bend with a few other persons and they looked at me like they were seeing an apparition.

"Ariona!" One called out. They exchanged looks as I stood looking strangely back at them.

"Let's go to Damon," Lily said and before I could even think about it, I was on my heels to the man I love.

***********************************

"Ah!" I gasped at the sight in front of me, my hands shaking as I placed them on to my chest as it felt like I was dreaming. As I hid behind the big oak tree that separated the Wildfire pack from the forest, I couldn't stop my heart from beating fast.

"Is that Alicia?" Ann snarled.

"Is that a mating ceremony?" Blinking severally in confusion, I was lost.

"We need to stop this!" Ann was already pulling me forward, taking control.

"Stop, please. I need to know what exactly is happening." I tried clearing my head by shaking it.

What if I was just hallucinating? What if this is how people who are dead think ….

"We aren't dead, Lily!" Ann stated so matter of factly that my head reeled so much.

"Let's go to Damon…"

Without stopping to give it a proper thought I ran into the mating ceremony.

"Damon!!"

"Damon!!"

My voice pierced through the voice of the enforcer carrying out the mating rite

"Ahh!!"

I could hear gasps from people as some began standing to see what the commotion was all about.

"Hi…" I smiled deliciously at the most handsome man I have ever seen in the history of the wildfire pack. He stood watching me in that attire we decided he was going to wear at our mating ceremony.

"Damon??" I couldn't believe I would be able to see him again. This can't be real. Did he come to visit me in the world of the dead or did I come? Did he die also, again? Not waiting to get an explanation for my confusion I lunged towards him, wrapping him in a very big hug.

I felt him stiffened and struggled to go out of my grip.

"Who are you again?" His voice thundered, authoritatively and in confusion.

"Damon??" I looked at him and Alicia. "It's me. It's me, Damon" he moved away from me as I moved closer to him. "It's Lily. It's your Lily, Damon" I was swirling around so he could see me.

"I know, they said I was dead. I died…" I laughed at the look of confusion and shock in his eyes. "But I came back. I thought of you, of how distraught you'd be and come back. I don't know how but I am here. You should be grateful…"

"You must be out of your mind!" He turned around irritated and bellowed "Guards!!!"

It was my turn to be confused and shocked.

"Damon??"

Every time I move one step towards him, he takes several back.

"Who are you, miss?"

It was Alicia. She was walking towards me, trying to read me.

"I am Lily." I snarled.

"Bitch!" Ann cursed.

She took one swipe at me with her eyes and burst into laughter.

"Lily? Lily is dead" She said it so strongly I could swear she sounded.

"No…" I began shaking my head. "She isn't. I am Lily and you are getting married to my mate" and then it stuck. "Alicia, it was you?"

She gave a small jump, clearly taken aback at the mention of her name.

"Well…" clearing her throat and regaining composure, "I am Alicia, the soon-to-be Luna to the greatest pack ever. Lily is dead and even if you were Lily, you are probably someone else cause you look nothing like her" She walked towards Damon and stood at his side.

"Leave me alone!!! I yelled as I struggled to get out of the grip of the guards.

"You are lucky, I feel generous." I turned to see Damon, snarling down at me. The look of unrecognition was very evident. I felt stung. "…You would have been thrown into a dungeon"

I didn't even know any of the guards who bundled me out. When did they change guards and why? I was dead like yesterday.

"AND DO NOT COME BACK HERE. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME"

I turned around one more time to see the man I once shared everything with but he didn't even show a sign of remorse

"Wait Lily…" Ann sounded like she just discovered something. "Do you feel differently? Like your body? I think we may have a problem, Lily"

She said just about the time I was thrown out the gate of the pack I had known and cherished all my life into the forest.