To Kill a Mate

Chapter 27

Dawn's POV

"Hey." Will greeted as he stepped onto the back porch, gazing at me wrapped up in a blanket in a rocking chair. "What are you going out here?"

"I just woke up and couldn't go back to sleep." Looking out at the night sky, I couldn't help but have the urge to explain everything to Will. I wanted to tell him the real reason why I couldn't sleep or what had happened the night before when Simon grabbed my shoulder.

"You slept almost all day." Will chuckled, plating himself in the rocker next to me looking out at the stars that twinkled in the sky. "Why did you come out here?"

"I've been out here most nights lately." I tried to explain further, wanting to tell him everything but I couldn't bring myself to elaborate.

"Why?"

"I just haven't been able to sleep much lately." I paused, taking a deep breath. "I've been having nightmares." I said truthfully.

"About what?" Will sounded concerned but I didn't know how to tell him without bringing up Simon.

"You." I stated making him look over to me. "You die. In every one of my nightmares, you are always killed." My voice cracked, forcing my eyes to look away from him and up at the stars again.

Will stood from his chair and paced over to kneel down in front of me, placing his hands on my knees as our gazes locked.

"Dawn, I'm not going anywhere." He moved his hand to brush a piece of hair out of my face and behind my ear. "I'm not going to leave you."

Tears began to well up behind my eyes once he said that.

'We have no choice.' My wolf tried to console me but nothing she could say would make me feel any less guilty. 'We're only doing this to protect him and the pack. He has to understand that.'

'We have to tell him about Simon.' I chided my wolf, trying to build up the courage to speak.

'We both know that doing that will only hurt him more.' My wolf countered inside my head. 'Don't make him suffer any longer that he has to.'

I felt the tears in my eyes begin to break, rolling down my cheeks from how torn I felt.

"Please don't cry." Will whispered, placing a kiss onto my forehead, using his thumbs to wipe away my tears. "Everything's going to be ok." He promised, pulling my chin up to meet his eyes. "I promise."

"Will." There was a voice from the door, pulling us both out of our thoughts.

Turning to look, Tara stood in the doorway with a sad smile on her face once she saw the tears falling down my face.

"There are finishing details that need to be worked out for tomorrows attack." She informed Will, making him stand and nod to her.

"I'll be back in a little bit." He said softly down to me, kissing the top of my head. "I love you."

"I love you too." I said towards his retreating form while Tara padded over to stand in front of me.

"What's wrong?" She asked as I wiped the rest of the tears from my face, sniffling as I pulled the blanket tighter around me.

'Don't do this.' I told myself. 'Don't break down.'

'Someone has to know, Dawn.' My wolf interjected. 'She can help you.'

'I don't want help.' I stubbornly tried to quickly rebuild the walls.

'No, but you need it.'

That was it.