*Evelianna*

When they finally got back to Jorrvaskr, some Companions were already eating breakfast and all the other members of the Circle were awake and waiting for their return. The young woman could feel some nervousness emanating from the group on different level depending the person. Skjor and Kodlak seemed to be the less nervous, if there was any nervousness at all, while Aela and Farkas... But the latter was the most nervous. They must have sensed their arrival because they didn't seem too surprised when they came through the doors... That is, until they saw the bloodied bandages on Vilkas' chest. His twin was the first to come to them, almost running, with a worried look for the both of them.

"Are you two ok? What happened to you?"

"Calm down" Sighed exasperatedly Vilkas, looks like he was sick of hearing about those injuries of his. "I'm alright. I don't feel anything anymore, no need to make a fuss about it... Just a wild wolf that took me by surprise." Evelianna tried not to blush at his answer but still looked away. Her eyes caught Aela's who was observing them from where she stood in the back. The young woman felt like her friend was evaluating her and Vilkas, as if she was searching for something. Maybe she wondered what their current relationship was, or maybe she was wondering if the beast blood had served it's purpose. It is true that she hadn't tensed or crisped when Farkas had approached so close. Even him was glancing hesitantly at her... The truth was that she had no idea if her fear had vanished or not either. But right now, she felt strangely safe. Still, for Aela... more than evaluating, she looked like she was unsure if she should come to them like the others were now doing or not and Evy didn't understand what made her hesitate so much. She smiled to the huntress and it seemed to relax her a bit as she smiled back too.

"By the way, where do you two come from so early in the morning? I hadn't even noticed you leaving yesterday. Gone on some failed date or something?" Asked Athis with a smirk as he leaned on a column. The both stared at him as if he had said mammoth could fly. And then he reminded her why she would never consider going on a date with him!

"A date with the pup? What kind of mushroom did you eat this morning?" Grr this man and his damn names... But Athis was unfazed by his reply.

"It's not like anyone would be surprised you know. We're already making bets on the time it will take you two to finally get together" Continued Athis, his smirk not at all weakening. She crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow. What she liked about the dunmer was that he got so easily on her nerves that it didn't even leave place to feel flustered.

"Ooooh is it like the one about you and Njada?"

"What the hell me and Njada!? Are you stupid?" He gaped and she wasn't sure which would win on his face, disgust or embarrassment. "How could I ever want to-"

"Hey! Watch your next words stupid elf!" Shouted the new subject of the discussion. Athis turned to glare at her.

"Me? Watch my words? I don't take such warning from the most big mouthed bitch in Whiterun."

"What did you say!?" And there went yet a new brawl. Farkas looked at Evy with mischief twinkling in his eyes.

"How about we move away from the flying-tankard zone?" He said with a grin and the young woman answered with one of her own.

"Yeah, I don't feel like training my dodging skills this morning." They laughed and Vilkas looked at them with a quizzical lift of the eyebrow.

"Mind to share the joke?"

"Ah it's nothing brother" Farkas passed an arm around his shoulder and directed them toward the stairs to the sleeping quarters. "Just referring to our first encounter." He said, still grinning. "Anyway, right now, there's some important new arrangements to make."

"Huh?" Came their simultaneous answer and Farkas laughed.

"Wow, you both been mending things real good huh? You're even in sync now!"

"Shut up." Groaned Vilkas.

"Rubbish" Grunted Evy at the same time.

"Right~" Said Farkas, just laughing more and the girl tried to change the direction this discussion was heading.

"Anyway, you talked about important arrangements?"

"Yeah! You see, now that you're a member of the Circle, we can't have you sleeping in the shared quarters."

"What?" That was a surprise for her, but it didn't seem as much for Vilkas.

"Oh right... But, where is she going to sleep? There aren't any more private quarters available."

"Well, Kodlak said that his study was previously the bedroom of another Circle member. Tilma has already begun the rearrangement, but since it'll be your room" He looked over at her, still a big grin on his lips "Would be best if you decided how you'd like it don't you think?"

"B-but it's Kodlak's study... I can't possibly..."

"Now now child." Interrupted the Harbinger as he came out of the said study and her future bedroom. He smiled warmly to her. "The last Harbinger had made it into a study since it had been years since the last time the Circle got more than 5 members. We're just turning the room back to it's original purpose. Furthermore, it was inconvenient since there is no door to link the room with my quarters." He looked at her and Vilkas. "I'm glad to see things have settled between you two. Now, both of you, I suggest you go freshen up and maybe eat something and then come help. There's much to do if we want our newest member to have her own bedroom tonight and we can't have Tilma do it all by herself. Farkas, go give her hand."

"It will be my pleasure!" With that said Farkas went to help Tilma who gave him orders on what to do. As for Vilkas and Evelianna, they also did as Kodlak had told them. The day went on and other people came to help when they had nothing else to do. By the time the sun had set, the books and documents had been transferred and rearranged in Kodlak's bedroom by the older man with Vilkas' help and a bed had been brought to the study that looked a lot more like a bedroom. There were still bits of changes and settings that needed to be done here and there, but all in all, she finally had her own bedroom!

In the evening they had celebrated her entering the Circle, but she didn't drink as much as their last celebration. Not really because of what had happened last time as much as the fact that she feared what would happen if she let herself loose too much and her wolf got out. What if Athis or Njada ticked her off so much while she was drunk that she wouldn't be able to keep her wolf under control? No, she didn't want to take that risk. Fortunately, since she hadn't actually slept the previous night, she was exhausted and Farkas had suggested she go try out her new bed. She had smiled thankfully at him and went on to sleep... But she didn't. Once she had gotten to her room, an old fear had come back to her this time. What if when she went to sleep she got caught in another nightmare? There wouldn't be anyone to wake her up like before. Not that she woke every one up every night. At first it seemed that she had screamed during one of her nightmares and did wake the others. How she had felt guilty that time! But after that, Ria who had been sleeping on the cot next to hers had woke her up each time she had began to stir too much in her sleep. Her friend had said that she didn't mind, that she preferred to help her escape her dreams then to just ignore it and let her inside them. But from now on, she would be sleeping alone. Oh she liked to finally have some privacy, but still... She got pulled out of her thoughts by a knock on the door and she went to open it. It was Aela.

"Hey... I was just wondering if everything was ok and..." The huntress looked uncomfortable a bit "Well, I wanted to apologize. About what happened last night." This surprised the girl, but she made her come into the room so they could continue the conversation without risking others to hear.

"Why would you apologize?" She asked while closing the door. She invited her to sit on the chair near the bed while she sat on the latter. Aela settled down with a sigh.

"Because I was supposed to watch over you, to make sure nothing bad would happen and to help you once you'd return back into your human form. But I failed. I could prevent you from going into the city, but I wasn't able to follow you out of it. When I lost you I didn't even try to search for you. I was worried about Skjor that still hadn't woke up and-"

"Wait. What do you mean 'Skjor still hadn't woke up'? What happened to him?" He seemed alright from the glimpse she had seen of him... Though he did seem like he was keeping his distance from her, well, more than usual that is.

"Oh, that's right, you must not remember much huh?" The girl shook her head and sighed.

"The last thing I remember before waking up in my human form is that you were in your wolf form, I drank a bit of your blood and the next moment my entire body was hurting like hell. I think I fell on my knees, but after that it's complete darkness until I woke up. What happened?"

"You reacted strongly to the beast blood, we had never seen such a reaction before. Your transformation was faster then we had expected and though new werewolves tend to be stronger on their first night, yours was just... way more powerful than we had predicted and the wildest we ever had to handle too." She explained, an impressed look on her face at the end. "I must say, even Farkas' transformation couldn't compare to yours, and he was one handful to deal with!" She laughed a bit, but Evy was just looking at her with wide guilty eyes.

"I'm so sorry! I never thought-"

"Don't apologize girl. You have nothing to feel guilty about. If anything, we're the one to be blamed. We should have known better than to try handling just us two the werewolf that came from a Dragonborn. And a traumatized one at that! We should have prepared better. Really, you have no reason to blame yourself about what happened. We brought this upon ourselves."

"Still, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. After all you're the one supposed to blame us for what happened." The huntress offered her a smile and she smiled back faintly.

"And after my transformation?"

"Ah that... Like I said, we should have known what could happen. After all, it's not like taking the beast blood would instantly erase the current effect men have on you." She sighed "Skjor was the closer to you after your transformation. The moment it saw him, your wolf lashed out at him and he got thrown onto the wall. He hadn't had the time to turn into his wolf yet so the blow to his head knocked him unconscious. That's when I made my first mistake. When I saw Skjor fall to the ground, I snarled before I could stop myself. Because of that reaction, I was seen as another possible enemy. I was able to get you to take the secret passage out of the city, but when your wolf saw that I was following behind, it just turned and lashed out again before running away. As I said, you have one powerful wolf. Knocked me off my feet! By the time I got up, it had disappeared. I'm ashamed to say, my worry for Skjor got the better of my worry for you... In my mind you were strong enough to deal with whatever threat came your way. I still hadn't thought about the after, when you'd transform back. Fortunately Vilkas did... So yeah, I'm sorry for letting you down." She finished, looking at the ground.

"It's okay, don't worry, really. Nothing happened to me, if anything I'm the one who hurt everyone else." She grimaced and then smiled sheepishly. "If you don't blame me for what happened, you can't blame yourself either. Ok?"

"Thanks..." She smiled a faintly and then looked around the room "So, you finally got a room of your own..."

"Yeah..." That reminded her of the thoughts she had just before Aela knocked on the door. Her concern must have shown on her face because put a comforting hand on her arm.

"Still afraid to go to sleep huh?"

"A bit..." She grimaced.

"Don't worry, you have the beast blood now. Don't you feel it's strength running in your vein? I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Yeah... You're right. Anyway, I think I'm too exhausted to actually be able to dream about anything right now" She said, laughing a little. Aela smiled and nodded, standing up.

"Good, I'll let you go to sleep then... Good night." Evy went to the door with her and smiled.

"Thanks, you too." She closed the door behind her friend and decided to do as Aela suggested and just not worry about it. She changed in some lighter clothes and blew the lit candles before slipping under her covers. Like she had thought, it didn't take long for her to fall into a dreamless sleep... at first.

She woke up with a start to find herself surrounded by darkness. The only thing she could see were gloomy smiles from faceless men hovering over her, their creepy laughs invading her ears. She tried to stand up, but cold filthy hands kept her pinned down, stripping her, ripping her clothes, touching her body in a rough and disgusting way, and the more she tried to fight the hands away, the more the laughs intensified. She tried to get away, again and again, but they always caught her and she couldn't escape the filthy hands. Even though she knew she was in another of her nightmares, she still couldn't get away from it. Why!? She had taken the beast blood! It was supposed to make her stronger! Why did she still find herself trapped in her nightmares!? She screamed out of frustration and despair as she kept fighting against the hands. Why couldn't she escape!? Why! The laughter was becoming louder and louder as her fear was just increasing. Where was that new strength she was supposed to have? She felt completely defenseless, a mere toy for the ruthless hands surrounding her... Dammit why was she so weak!

"Calm down." Came a soft voice, piercing through the laughter. "You are strong." It continued, still as soft but with assurance, as if what it said was a fact. Really? But she couldn't calm down. They were everywhere, she feared if she let her guard down, they would overpower her completely. "It's your fear that gives them power. Calm down and look again. They're not as many as you think. You can take them down." The laughter had begun to die down, there weren't as many smiling men now, but there were still too many hands on her. Could she really take them down? She had never been able to. It hurt so much everytime she tried. The hands came back onto her at full force and she couldn't keep the slight calm she had regained. No, she was too weak. "You. Are. Strong. You worked hard to prove me so. Don't let anyone and certainly not a dream say otherwise." Said the voice firmly this time. What? "I know you can do it. It's your dream. Your fear controlled it, now it's your turn lil' pup." Lil' pup... Vilkas... Suddenly everything seemed to slow down, as if in a momentum. Vilkas was there... The momentum was ending, the hands were coming forth, the laughter too, but now, somehow, a small part of her mind didn't focus on them as much while irritation was pushing it's way through the fear.

"Don't call me that." She growled, now wasn't the time to tease her dammit! The momentum had ended but there seemed to be less hands and not as much laughter.

"Beat them up and I'll think about it." She could hear the smirk in his whisper and it made her frown as her irritation grew. She didn't know how he did it, but he was so irritating that she almost forgot her current predicament. Strange... For a second there, she distinctly felt fingertips brush her forehead and the side of her face. It wasn't one of her assailants' disgusting hands. It was a warm and gentle touch. "I prefer that look." She heard him whisper again. "Now go kick that nightmare's ass." She opened eyes she didn't remember to have closed and realized she wasn't suffocating anymore, nor was she blinded by fear. She could now see that there were only two men before her. They were still laughing, but somehow it wasn't as creepy or terrifying as before. That's right. They were just two cowards who could only catch a girl by attacking from behind! She had killed freaking dragons, there was no way she would let them win against her.

* Vilkas *

A muffled scream woke him up in the middle of the night. Cursing, he shot out of his bed and rushed to the door. How many nights had they been woken by her nightmares... Though no one ever dared to make a comment to her, not even Athis or Njada, surprisingly. Well, what was being woken up from time to time compared to not being able to wake up from your own nightmares... Still, even if he didn't approve of her taking the beast blood, he had hoped, like Aela and Evy, that after taking it her subconscious would finally feel safe. In the hallway he saw some Companions who had also been woken up by the scream, but he told them to go back to sleep. As he was opening the door where it came from, Aela had began to protest and he just glared at her.

"We tried your way. Now you let me handle it." He snarled and just shut the door behind him.

Going to the bed hastily, he crouched beside it and looked at the girl who was crying in her sleep, her face twisting in fear and helpless frustration as she gripped her bed's sheet, struggling against invisible enemies. Guess subconsciousness were harder to convince then they had hoped. In that case, he would just have to convince it himself.

"Calm down... You are strong." He whispered to her softly. If he spoke too loud it would wake her and although a part of him did want her to get her out of her nightmare right away, he knew it wouldn't help her in the end. Until now waking her hadn't kept the nightmares from returning night after night and he could only reach her subconscious while she was asleep so they would have to endure it some more.

"I can't... they're everywhere... I'm too afraid they'll overpower me..." She answered and he almost sighed in relief when he saw they could communicate, though she was still asleep. Even if he didn't like what she was saying, it would be easier to guide her like this.

It was hard, her subconscious was as stubborn as her, but he somehow managed to make her overcome her fear... although at some point it appeared to be because she was more irritated at him than anything else. He didn't care, as long as it decreased her fear, she could even punch him when she'd wake up, he didn't give a damn. As long as she managed to escape with her own strength. And she did, a few minutes that felt like an eternity after he had told her to kick that nightmare's ass... He had sat down on the ground, waiting, searching for clues as to what was happening in her nightmare in case she needed him to guide her again. She had stopped struggling but her tension still hadn't subsided. He knew the moment it was over when her body relaxed. He didn't know if she would wake up. He hadn't always woken up when Kodlak had done it for him in his childhood. But before he could decide whether to leave or not, her eyes fluttered slowly open and met his.

"Vilkas...?" She whispered sleepily. He smiled and couldn't resist for his hand to caress the side of her face.

"Yeah... I'm here." He answered softly while gently pushing strands of hair away from her face. Before he could take away his hand though, she put her own over his, pressing it against her cheek. She closed her eyes for a moment and he thought she had gone back to sleep.

"Thank you..." She whispered. He smiled at that and got up on one knee so he could kiss her on top of her hair.

"Goodnight lass. Sleep well now." He whispered back and he began to stand up to leave. He gently slipped his hand from under hers, but she caught it back before he got out of her reach and he looked back down into the young woman's opened eyes.

"Stay..."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea... You still have a hard time around men."

"Not around you anymore... My body recognize your scent." He blinked, but with his hearing, he couldn't have heard her wrong. 'Her body recognized his scent'? How the hell was he supposed to react to that!? Her mind was clearly too asleep to actually realize what she was saying. She tugged lightly on his hand. "Please." and then he sighed.

"Just this once." The small happy smile that lit her face when he complied was just so... irresistibly cute. She moved back a bit to make him space, still not letting go of his hand, and he did as she wanted. Once he was laying beside her she came back against him and he just couldn't put up a resistance anymore as he wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her hair. He heard her sigh contentedly and her body relaxed as she fell asleep, just like that night, so many months ago... And like so many months ago, only one thought came to his mind "She really is going to be the death of me..." He sighed and closed his eyes to try going to sleep. For the first time in a long time, he slept well. In fact, the last time he slept so well, was a certain night, when he had held a certain stubborn woman in his arms...

When he woke up the next morning, she was still asleep in his arms. They hadn't moved at all. He hadn't moved, he hadn't turned, he hadn't searched in his bed for something that wasn't there, he hadn't woke up with mysterious feeling of deception lingering in his mind. He finally understood what that something he was always searching actually was. This time, he hadn't searched because that missing thing, or rather that missing someone, had stayed in his arms for the rest of the night.

"Stubborn woman... Even when you're not there you find a way to drive me crazy..." He muttered against her hair and she stirred, making him tense. Had he just thought that out loud? Had she heard?

"Hmm..." She nuzzled her face against his bare chest and that didn't help him relax, nor did the feeling of a sweet smile against his skin. "Love this smell..." She mumbled sleepily and he wondered if she was still asleep. "Smells like forest after a storm... Hmm just like Vilkas... huh?" Seemed like realization finally hit her because she tensed, though it didn't seem like a frightened tension like before, more like one of shock or something. He felt her eyelash tingle his skin as she blinked her eyes open. She moved away from his chest with a gasp but not from his arms, as if her body didn't want to get out of his embrace and she just looked up at him with confused eyes.

"... 'morning sleepy head." He said, as if this whole thing didn't bother him at all... It didn't, except for the awkwardness her confused stare was trying to bring.

"You... I..." Gods this reminded him a lot of a certain cursed morning... Her eyes appeared to notice the room behind him and she began to look around, seeming disoriented for a second as she blinked again. "Where..."

"Your new bedroom." Her eyes came back to him. "You asked me to stay..." And like that 'cursed morning' he saw dots connecting in her eyes as memories seemed to come back little by little.

"I heard you in my nightmare..." She finally said as she began to remember.

"Yes."

"You said I was strong"

"You are." Without a doubt.

"And that I needed to calm down."

"And you have." Eventually.

"Why didn't you just wake me?" She asked, though it wasn't accusation as much as curiosity.

"Because you would never have fought your fears if I had... I also told you to kick that nightmare's ass." He said softly and tucked the rebellious strand of hair out of her face before adding "And you did." Not able to think rationally and pull his hand back yet, he caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers.

"Thank you..." She whispered as they were loosing themselves in each other's eyes.

As if some force was pulling them toward one another, they slowly moved closer. It was like time was stopping as their lips brushed tentatively, as if both afraid to break the spell and realize what they were doing. But neither pulled away, neither seemed to want to pull away, and their eyes closed as they were finally leaning in to kiss. And reality came crashing the spell into bits as knocks on the door made them jump away from each other, before their lips actually met for real. They both paused, farther away now but still with their arms around the other while realization was making it's way in their head. Knocks were heard again. Evy looked at the door and then at Vilkas who just lifted an eyebrow. It was her room. She decided what she wanted to do. She seemed as embarrassed and as frustrated as she seemed unwilling to move out of his arms and this made the situation a little less frustrating and a little more amusing.

"Evelianna?" Was heard behind the door. Great. Aela. He groaned inwardly but was surprised to hear a small growl coming from her too. It would have made him chuckle if she wasn't trying to scramble out of the bed and away from him... He sighed and sat up on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face as the pup was cracking her door open to speak with the source of their interruption. The source of his growing irritation. Damn that woman. Couldn't she sense he was there or was she doing it on purpose?

"Yes Aela?" Asked the girl sheepishly and he could hear laugh in the huntress' answer.

"You don't need to act like that, I can smell him in there, no need to hide it." Then why the hell did she knock!? As if reading his mind she added, annoying amusement seeping from her voice. "I thought you might need some rescuing." What the heck 'rescuing'? She laughed a bit and he could imagine the face the pup was showing..."No really, I just wanted to talk to you about a mission. But did I perhaps interrupt something?" Yes!

"No no! Don't worry, you didn't interrupt anything" Except a kiss that didn't seem to be one-sidedly longed for since an eternity! After all, she leaned in too dammit! Why did she act like nothing happened!? That was beginning to annoy him more than the interruption itself. "Hum, you said you had a mission?" She ran a somewhat nervous hand in her hair and he caught a glimpse of a reddening ear. Good, this meant she too was thinking about what Aela 'didn't interrupt'... Damn woman. She was most probably laughing at him in her head right now.

"Oh don't worry, we can talk about it later." Then why did she- his wolf growled in frustration and he tried to calm down. It would be stupid and absolutely childish to give so much control to his wolf for such a dumb matter as the damn woman keeping him from kissing his lil' pup on purpose! "No, calm down, you said it yourself, it'd be dumb to outburst just for that. There'll be other occasions. After all she leaned in too, so she wants it too. Even after knowing my wolf wants to mark her as my mate." He thought...

Or did she really understand? This doubt came to him while he glanced at her yet again while eating breakfast in the mead hall. They didn't eat together since he had come up first and the huntress had caught the pup as soon as she had entered the room, bringing her to a table in the farthest corner from him... Damn woman... But what could he do? Their relationship wasn't one where he could go to them and claim the seat next to the pup as his... In fact, he didn't think any relationship gave him such rights without making him feel foolishly childish. Even in a case where she officially became his mate he wouldn't dare to do that... Then again, if she was officially his, she wouldn't have gone to sit so far away but would have invited the huntress to sit with them as she would have wanted to settle next to him. And that is how his wandering thoughts of 'what ifs' brought back the memories of the discussion they had, or more like their questions and answers session... And that made him realize just how little reactions he had gotten from her about the subject of mating and marking and even his admitting of being jealous... In fact, he was beginning to doubt she even realized he had plain told her he saw her as his mate! First she had appeared so confused about the jealousy thing and he didn't understand what could be so confusing. Was there really more than a way to interpret 'the stench of a man on you made me so jealous I almost went berserk'? Sure, him previously avoiding her and everything wasn't that convincing of him wanting her for himself... But anyhow! If she was so confused, why didn't she ask him for an explanation? It's like she just brushed the jealousy part aside and only focused on the 'couldn't think straight' part. And the following exchange just made matter worst. Really, why did he have to pause at that moment of all thing? Damn his perverted wolf and his perverted thoughts. "I would never ever willingly make you cry... Except make you cry of pleasure as I..." He coughed, almost choking on his food and averted his eyes from her to drink a bit. "Yeah... better not go back on that trail of thoughts right now." He thought once his cough had calmed down. Going back to his memories of that night, he decided it was wiser to just skip to his memory of the 'mate' subject, trying to see if that talk should or should not have at least made her suspect anything about his feeling... Of course when he had admitted to have marked her, he had actually feared she might make the connection with the 'when a wolf finds it's mate, it marks it as his' and that it might make things awkward between them again... But what was with the complete absence of reaction from her? There was no awkwardness and he thanked the Divines for that, but now that he thought about it there was just no reaction at all, neither good nor bad, there was nothing! Didn't she have even the smallest hint of what marking someone meant?

"What's troubling you this time?" Came the amused voice of his brother as he settled beside him. He quickly chased his last thoughts away and looked at him with a neutral face.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not blind you know, I saw that frown of yours." Laughed Farkas and he rolled his eyes, but what his twin said next... "What is it? she kicked you out of her bed came morning?" Vilkas' frown came back.

"What are you talking about now?"

"Oh come on, I saw you get out of her room!"

"Shut up." He muttered, turning back to the last bits of food left on his plate and his brother just laughed more. That's when he noticed he couldn't smell her in the room anymore. Lifting his head, he saw that both women had left the mead hall. Damn...

"Don't worry, they're just going to take care of some bandits' camp not far from here. Should be back tonight at worst." Vilkas looked at him.

"And how do you know that? Aela made sure that I wouldn't hear them across all the noise." Farkas just shrugged at that.

"I walked beside them when I came to see you. Heard them talk about it. Like I said, you don't need to worry about her. I'm sure she'll be back in time to cuddle against you tonight."

"Where the hell did that come from!?"

"Don't tell me you stayed in her room all night without even trying something" Farkas said with big unbelieving eyes.

"She's uneasy around men remember?" Well... apparently not around him but saying that wouldn't help him get his twin off his back.

"She didn't appear that uneasy beside you... In fact, I'd say she wasn't uneasy near men only when you were near her."

"Your point?"

"She feels safe when she's around you. That also means that you're probably the only one against who she'd cuddle." He was grinning from ear to ear and Vilkas groaned.

"Non sense." He finished his breakfast and went to train some whelps, not wanting to listen to anymore stupid things his brother had to say.

He only saw the pup again late that night. He had been searching something in his bed while sleeping and not finding him had ended up waking him. He was thirsty and there wasn't any water left so he got up to fetch some. He didn't even bother to put on a shirt, just went out with his pants loosely tied and hanging on his hips, the water pitcher in his hand. He might have missed her if he hadn't smelled her in the kitchen. She was sitting at a table, eating while lost in her thought as she stared into space with a blank look. It didn't take long though before she blinked and looked around to finally meet his eyes.

"Vilkas..."

"Didn't know you had returned." He went to fill his pitcher with water.

"We returned about an hour ago or so."

"And Aela?"

"Went directly to bed."

"But you decided to have a midnight snack." He glanced at the plate in front of her.

"Yeah... was a little hungry." she said with a little smile.

"And...?" He push forward and she grimaced before sighing in defeat.

"And I don't feel like going to sleep yet."

"Still afraid of your nightmares?" He had seen her many times try to exhaust herself with training and such until late, obviously in the hope that when she'd go to sleep she would just collapse and avoid dreaming.

"A little. Last night was the first time I was actually able to face my fears and escape them, thanks to you... I regained a bit of strength and I now know that I can actually win against my dreams but..." She sighed, raking a hand through her hair as she continued "I don't know what'll happen this night around. I was lucky you heard me and decided to guide me then, but..." She paused and blinked, as if realizing something she had just said, though he didn't see what could have made her pause, and then she turned to him waving her hands in front of her with an embarrassed look. "I'm not saying this to make you feel like you'd need to watch over my sleep again or anything like that! I'm sure I can take care of myself this time. After all you showed me the way." While she had been going on about how she didn't mean whatever she thought it had sounded like, he had just walked silently to her until he was in front of her and gazing down into her eyes as she trailed off "Really, you don't have to bother with this at all..." When she seemed to have calmed down a bit, or at least finally decided to shut up, only then did he speak.

"Don't worry about me and just tell me: would you like me to stay with you tonight. And whatever other nights that you might need until you can vanquish your nightmares on your own." Her eyes widened and he suspected she wasn't thinking only about her dreams so he added. "I won't try anything on you unless you show interest for it. I can even sleep on the floor if you'd like-"

"How could I possibly make you sleep on the floor?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Would you prefer I sleep with you in bed? I don't mind either way but if I sleep in your bed, I can't promise you of the position we'll be in when morning come..."

"I-I-I never asked you to sleep in my room in the first place! It's a really kind offer, I appreciate it, but I'd be more than embarrassed to ask you-"

"Well, you're not the one asking. I'm the one proposing it. But it doesn't matter to me whatever you choose." He shrugged but his hand was itching to caress her face or run into her ebony locks. "If you change your mind, don't hesitate to come knock on my door ok?" He couldn't bear the itching anymore and allowed one finger to stroke her cheek before he forced himself to step away, taking his water pitcher to head back.

"Wait!" Well, it had taken him the time to reach the kitchen's door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Hm?"

"Maybe... just for tonight? Just to see if I really have managed to kick the nightmares ass for good..." He doubted it was that simple, that is why he had proposed to watch over her sleep for the time being. He nodded his head toward the door, inviting her to follow him.

"Come on, let's go to sleep." Was all he said and he was rewarded with a shy but relieved smile that graced her lips as she stood up to go back with him.

He really must have a masochist side to him to even think of proposing such an arrangement to her. He suspected it even more when he realized he, in fact, didn't give a damn if he'd have to suffer not doing anything to her as she nuzzled into his chest, safely wrapped in his arms. As long as he could make her feel safe and help her with her nightmares, he couldn't care less about the incoming boner he'd have to ignore throughout the night... And anyway, it was better than waking up searching for her in his bed... Yeah... May the gods help him, he truly was becoming a masochist.

A/N: Ooook this kind of feel like an interlude or something when I think back on it. After all there doesn't seem to be a lot going on in this chapter, but I was kind of in a pinch of inspiration as I didn't see myself just jumping right into the Silver Hands mess coming up. And I had this idea of Vilkas helping Evelianna overcome her nightmares so she can begin moving forward... So yeah, I just went with the flow and from there came a little bit of hurt, a little bit of comfort, with a whole lot of messing with Vilkas' mind and some sweet moment too. Kind of sooth a bit more all the heavy things that happened in previous chapters. And it did help me prepare the grounds for the Silver Hands mess...

By the way, I apologize if there are more mistakes than usual, I wanted to upload this before going away for the weekend. I hope there isn't too much mistakes even though I really tried my best to find them all during the small time I still have before leaving. But I must admit right now the words I read don't even register in my mind. Aaah I really should go get some sleep... So yeah, hope you liked the "interlude"! ;)