I heard a male whine, then a metallic click sound—it was one that I was familiar with. It was the sound of the hammer of a gun being pulled back.

I swallowed down the bile that threatened to spew up my throat at that moment.

“Keela?” a familiar female voice whispered from behind me. “You have to help Alec.”

Alec?

I spun around, but like before, there was no one there.

“Alec?” I called out.

“Keela!” his voice screamed.

I felt myself fall into a panic when I recognised it was Alec's voice I'd heard earlier. His voice was the voice filled with pain and fear that was calling out to me for help minutes before.

“Where are you?” I screamed.

“In there, you have to help him,” the female voice whispered in my ear as I turned to the door that lead into darkness. Without a single thought I began to run towards the dark room, but no matter how fast I ran, the room never got any closer to me.

I screamed and jumped back with fright when a shadowy figure appeared in front of me. I fell onto my behind and screeched in terror when the figure shot forward and got in my face.

I could only see glowing silver eyes, no face or features.

“Alec will die unless you stop her,” the figure before me whispered.

“Stop who?” I screamed.

The figure faded away to nothing and I once again had a view of the darkened room, only it wasn't dark anymore. It was lit up, and Alec was in the middle of the room on his knees reaching out for me, but his head was bowed. I blinked and when I focused my eyes the shadow figure re-appeared, but it was now standing behind Alec.

“Stop her, Keela!” the female voice screamed at me from every direction. “Fight to save him!”

I gasped when the figure lifted its arm and pointed the object in its hand at Alec's bowed head. I squinted my eyes to see what it was and when the silver barrel of a gun caught my eye I jumped to my feet. I screamed for Alec to watch out as I ran towards him. This time when I ran towards the room it got closer, but even at my fastest sprint I still wasn't quick enough.

“Alec!” I screamed when a loud noise ripped through the hallway and rang in my ears.

The gun went off and Alec's body fell limp to the floor at the same time the door of the room slammed shut. I reached the door a second later and crashed into it. I felt no physical pain as I bounced off the door and fell back onto the floor. I could feel nothing over the gripping pain in my chest, and the tears streaming down my face.

I got back to my feet and tried to open the door, but the doorknob wouldn't turn. I slapped on the door with both of my hands and kicked it with my feet, but to no avail. It was locked tight.

“Keela?” another familiar voice spoke to me from behind.

I turned around and gasped.

Nico, Ryder, Damien, and Kane were stood before me.

“You have to help—”

“Why didn't you save our brother, Keela?” Damien cut me off.

I blinked. “I tried—”

“You let Alec die. You let our brother die,” Nico cut me off as he glared at me.

I began to pant as I took a small step backwards, however I bumped into the door I'd ruthlessly tried to open only seconds before.

“I ran. I tried to—”

“You let him die because you don't want him, you don't want his life,” Ryder cut me off.

His voice was a growl.

“No!” I began to whimper. “I love Alec, I want him. Please, help me help him.”

Kane clicked his tongue at me. “He loved you, Keela. He wanted to marry you, and you let him die. Why?”

I closed my eyes.

“Why didn't you want our brother?”

“Why didn't you save him?”

“Why didn't you love him?”

“Why, Keela?”

I placed my hands over my ears and screamed to block out the voices of the Slater brothers, but I heard each of them clearly in my head.

Why? Why? Why? Why?

I opened my eyes and screamed even louder when the four brothers rushed at me with extended arms. I dropped to my knees and bowed my head and waited for the pain of their attack to come, but it never did. I hesitantly looked up and cried out when the hallways dropped away along with the brothers. Everything had been replaced by a large room with a huge circular platform in the centre. Two faceless males were fighting up on it, and crowds of people surrounded the platform screaming and cheering them on.

I got to my feet as I looked around the room and took everything in. The platform, the people, the dance floor, the booths, the bar... I knew where I was… I was in Darkness.

“Keela? Come here, darlin'.”

I spun around and stared at my uncle Brandon.

“Why?... How?...”

“Shhh,” my uncle Brandon murmured as he walked over to me. “It's all goin' to be okay. I’ll make everythin’ better.”

I turned to him and hugged him, but pulled back when his hands pressed against my back and the feeling of wetness struck me. I stepped away from my grinning uncle and placed my hands on my back. I brought my hands back around to my front and stared down at them.

They were stained with a thick red liquid.

I whimpered when the metallic twang of blood filled my nose. I looked back up to my uncle, but screamed and stumbled backwards when the person in front of me was not my uncle. It was the ghost of a devil from my past.

“Marco,” I whimpered.

Marco Miles evilly smiled at me, and looked down to his hands.

His blood covered hands.

He clicked his tongue and lifted his gaze to meet mine.

“Well... isn't this interesting?”

I tried to back away from him, but multiple hands clamped down on my body and forced me down to my knees. I looked up, then to my left and right and wailed.

Nico and Damien held me down on my right, and Ryder and Kane held me down on my left.

“Now,” Nico growled. “Make her pay for hurting Alec.”

“I didn't hurt him! It wasn't me!” I screamed. “It was the shadow!”

The familiar click of a gun being cocked infiltrated my mind.

I felt the shock of a cold metal object being pressed against my forehead. I was hyperventilating with sobs as I lifted my head and stared down the barrel of a handgun. I screamed in terror when the culprit holding the gun wasn't Marco, but the shadow figure.

“You!” I bellowed as tears flowed down my cheeks. “Why are you doin' this?”

The shadow figure solidified and became a person. The person was dressed in a long black cloak with a large hood covering their face.

“Answer me,” I screamed and struggled against the brothers’ hold on me.

The shadow person lifted their free hand and tugged back the hood.

I froze as I stared at my own reflection.

It was me.

I was the shadow figure.

“You don't deserve him,” the shadow version of me said and pulled the trigger.

I awoke with a jolt, panting and covered in sweat. I needed to sit up so I could breathe, but I couldn't.

I was being crushed.

Crushed to death by a muscular sixteen stone male.

It wasn't Storm either.

My fiancé, the bear who was crushing the life out of me, easily had seventy percent of his large body spread out over me, pinning me to my mattress. I was used to this—Alec rarely let go of me when we slept, but at times when I had to wee so bad I could have cried, it was horrible.

Right now was one of those times.

I didn't want to wake Alec because he needed his full eight hours of sleep, otherwise he reverted back to a grumpy toddler. I also didn't want him to see me in my current state.

I was always a wreck after having the nightmare.

I tried to press myself back into my mattress to create a dent for some space so it would make slipping out of the bed easier. When I moved though, Alec's arm only tightened around my body.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

I had to get up.

“Alec,” I grunted.