The Lycan King's Second Chance Mate: Rise of the Traitor's Daughter-Chapter 221: Nightmares

Easter~

I don’t remember falling asleep. One moment, I was curled up in Jacob’s arms, wrapped in the warmth of his chest, his scent anchoring me to something that felt like safety. The next, I was sinking—slowly at first, like drifting into a pool of sleep.

Then the screaming started.

Blood.

Everywhere.

My bare feet slipped on the cold, wet floor. I looked down. The red was pooling, thick and dark, like it had been there for hours, maybe days. Bodies lay strewn across the room—people I didn’t recognize, faces contorted in fear or pain, limbs at impossible angles. And in the middle of the horror, I stood, frozen, shaking.

"Mommy! Mommy, please!"

My baby’s voice cut through the air like a knife. I whipped around.

"Rose!" I cried, heart in my throat.

She was there, curled in the corner, her little fists rubbing at her tear-streaked cheeks, her tiny body trembling. She was still in her favorite pink onesie with the yellow ducks. Her curls were sticking to her forehead, and her big eyes looked up at me, pleading.

But I couldn’t move.

I tried to run to her, but my legs wouldn’t obey. The more I struggled, the deeper I sank—into the blood, into the bodies. The smell was unbearable. I screamed and screamed—

And then I woke up.

Gasping. Soaked in sweat. Screaming like my lungs were ripping apart.

"No! No, no, no—Rose!"

"Easter!" someone shouted.

Hands were on my shoulders, firm and grounding, shaking me, holding me like I was about to fall off the edge of the world.

"Easter! Wake up, please—wake up!"

I blinked wildly. My chest heaved. My fingers clutched at the air like it would keep me from drowning. I blinked again, and the room came into focus.

Tiger.

He was kneeling beside the bed, his green eyes wide, more alarmed than I’d ever seen them. His strong arms wrapped around me without hesitation, pulling me into his chest.

"You’re safe," he said softly. "Easter, it was just a dream. You’re safe. I’m here."

My fingers curled into his shirt, and I sobbed, trembling like a leaf in a storm. "It felt like I was still trapped in that house... it was real—I saw her! I saw my baby crying—I couldn’t reach her—"

Tiger’s hand ran slowly up and down my back, firm and calming. "It wasn’t real. You’re here now. She’s okay."

As if the universe wanted to test my sanity, a tiny wail cut through the quiet.

Rose.

I shot up, heart slamming against my ribs. "Rose!" I scrambled out of the bed, my legs wobbling beneath me.

"Easter, wait—" Tiger called, but I was already running.

I burst into the next room, my breath catching in my throat. The nightlight cast a soft amber glow, enough to show my little girl twisting in her sleep, her cheeks glistening, her lips trembling.

"No, mama, no—mama, where are you?"

She was crying in her sleep.

I fell to my knees beside the bed and scooped her up into my arms.

"Shhh, baby, it’s okay. Mommy’s here," I whispered, rocking her gently. My lips pressed to her forehead as I tried not to fall apart. "It’s just a bad dream, sweetie. Mommy’s here. You don’t have to be scared anymore."

But I was scared.

I was terrified.

Tiger appeared behind me, quiet and steady. He knelt beside us and placed a large, grounding hand on my back. "She’s dreaming what you dreamt," he said, voice low. "She must have seen more than you thought she saw."

I looked at him, horrified. "She saw that? All of it?"

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

And then Jacob appeared.

He was suddenly there in the doorway, eyes darting from me to Rose, to Tiger, and back to me. His face was etched with concern, his jaw tight with something that looked like guilt.

"What happened?" he asked, stepping closer. "Are you okay?"

"I—" I swallowed, hugging Rose tighter, who had now calmed into a whimper, her face tucked under my chin. "It was just a nightmare. I’m fine."

"You’re not fine," Jacob said gently, his eyes narrowing as he studied me. "I can see it all over you."

And he was right. I wasn’t fine.

For the next five days, I didn’t sleep.

Not because I didn’t want to—but because every time I closed my eyes, the nightmare came. The blood. The bodies. Rose crying. The paralyzing fear.

Jacob was always there. Every time I screamed, he was by my side, holding me, whispering that I was safe. He never complained. Not once. Even when Rose would wake up screaming too, he’d come to her room, sit by her tiny bed, and soothe her with that voice of his—low, warm, steady.

Tiger tried too. He and Jacob worked together, doing everything they could think of. They used herbs, crystals, enchanted oils. They placed protective symbols around the house and chanted things in old languages I couldn’t understand. Jacob even used a dreamcatcher carved by Tiger himself (The earth and forest spirit)—something he said was blessed by the stars themselves.

None of it worked.

Jacob sat at the edge of my bed one night, his eyes red from lack of sleep, his fingers gently brushing the hair from my forehead.

"We’re going to fix this," he whispered. "I swear it, Easter."

But it was affecting me—worse than I admitted. The pregnancy, I hadn’t told anyone yet how the nightmares were affecting it... it was being strained. I could feel the tension in my body, the constant tremors, the headaches. It was too much.

So Jacob did something unexpected.

He took me and Rose back to Paris.

Not just any part of Paris—this was a secret place, hidden deep within a forest no human could find without supernatural help. The Magical Carnival — the same one he’d whisked me away to when I first moved in with him. Back then, it felt like stepping into a dream ripped straight from the pages of a fairytale.

This time, it was even more magical.

Rose squealed as she rode a carousel of glowing moon-horses, their manes made of stars. She giggled when a fairy painted her face with golden dust. She and Jacob shared cotton candy that sparkled like snow, and I watched them, my heart full and aching at the same time.

Jacob held my hand when I wasn’t holding Rose. He smiled more. He laughed with her. He bought her tiny stuffed animals and taught her to say "merci" to the fairies. He was gentle, present, and... if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought we were a family. A real one.

At one point, Rose had fallen asleep on his shoulders, and I looked up at him, my heart thudding like a drum.

"You’re... really good with her," I whispered.

He turned his head slightly, giving me a soft, almost shy smile. "I care about her. And you."

I looked away before my emotions betrayed me.

That night, we stayed at his Paris house. It was always warm and quiet here.

I thought maybe, just maybe, the nightmare wouldn’t come.

But it did.

Worse than before.

This time, I screamed so loud I scared myself awake.

When I opened my eyes, Jacob was already there, rushing into the room, his chest rising and falling hard, his face pale.

"Easter—"

"I’m sorry," I whispered hoarsely, pressing my hands over my face. "I ruined it. I ruined everything."

"No," he said, crossing the room in two strides. He sat on the bed beside me, his hand reaching for mine. "You didn’t ruin anything."

Tears spilled again. "I just want to sleep. I want to stop seeing it. I want Rose to stop seeing it."

Jacob was quiet for a long time.

Then he said, "There’s one thing... one thing that is nearly impossible to cure, Easter. Even for beings like me. Even for gods."

I turned to him slowly.

He looked heartbroken.

"Trauma," he said.

The word hung in the air like smoke.

He continued, "There’s nothing in the universe that can erase the damage trauma does... except one thing."

My breath caught.

"I can take the memory away," he said softly. "Not just from you... but from Rose too. That day. The blood. The terror. I can erase it all."

My lips parted.

"What?" I asked, my voice a whisper.

His eyes locked with mine—ancient, haunted, heavy with unspoken pain. "But... because this is tied to trauma, there’s a chance you’ll lose more than just that one memory.