Seth woke scant hours after curling up with his imprint. Usually he woke slowly and in stages. Now he jumped immediately to the alert. It was Anne's screams that had roused him and he reached out with every sense to find whatever was attacking her. But the house was empty and Anne was fast asleep.
A nightmare. The strong, silent, utterly stoic Anne - who refused all help and denied there was every anything wrong - had nightmares. Seth wanted nothing more than to shift into his human form and wrap her in his arms. Instead he put his nose under her ear and whined. She shifted and moaned. Seth licked her face until she gasped and sat up in bed, her breath coming in ragged bursts.
Seth stuck his nose in her ear and licked her until she started breathing normally an ran her hands through his fur.
Amaya woke up not quite sure where she was. Still half in a nightmare of being chased and beaten, she couldn't catch her breath as she stared desperately into the darkness. A very cold wet nose was pressed into her ear. A warm tongue licked her neck and ear and cheek.
As her eyes adjusted to the dark and she recognized Bear's warm bulk beside her, Amaya controlled her breathing. She slowly came back to reality and dug her hands into the wolf's thick fur.
Bear whined and sniffed her for signs of harm. "I'm alright. Sorry I woke you. You don't need to worry about me." After all, it was a very familiar dream for her now. Her dreams hadn't altered much in the time since she had started running.
Amaya was strictly in control of herself when she was awake. Her mind released the fears she stored up when she was defenseless against them. Amaya got very little sleep any more.
She reassured the whining wolf once more as she stretched and headed for the living room. "Do you need to go outside?"
Seth had realized about the time Anne stood up that he would need to relieve himself and was happy she brought it up before he did something stupid like using the toilet. He jumped up and led the way to the front door. Anne let him out and stood in the doorway for a minute before she shivered and retreated into the house.
Seth did his business quickly and with thanks that Anne had gone back inside rather than watching where he went. It was late and everything was quiet but Seth ran the perimeter with his eyes on the ground and his nose to the wind. After he made sure Anne's home was secure he returned to the porch and pawed the door.
Anne opened the door and let him in. Seth followed her into the kitchen where she doctored a cup of coffee before heading into the living room. Seth watched Anne curl up on the couch with her coffee and a book and he wondered what evil had plagued her dreams and chased her from a full night's rest.
Seth whined and looked back at the bedroom. He saw that Anne had made the bed and changed into warmer clothes. Anne sighed, "Sorry Bear, you may want to find someone else to sleep with. I'm up for the day." Seth sighed as he wandered over and settled at Anne's feet and tried to pretend he was comfortable.
Anne trailed one foot off the couch and absentmindedly ran it across Seth's furry back as she read. Seth was happy to see her relax. He was even happier to notice that Anne seemed to prefer to be touching him. Every time she repositioned herself she made sure Seth's giant furry body was a foot stool, brushing against her leg, or one of hs ears would be in one of her small, delicate hands. He was in heaven.