The blond soldier screams as I attack.
The dream is more detailed this time. The soldier holds a black zapper weapon in his hands like the Maelstrom soldiers. I go after the weapon first, clamping down on his wrist and forcing him to drop it.
As soon as it hits the ground, I change direction and attack his midsection.
“Are you okay, Wild?”
Chance’s voice is in my ear, pulling me up out of the dream.
I hear myself panting in the night.
The dream is about a Maelstrom soldier. Which means I’ve fought these people before.
I shiver from snout to tail, shaking the dream away.
A moment later, Chance slides in behind me. He pulls the blanket over us and wraps his arm around me, tucking himself against my back.
I breathe slowly, resisting the instinct to fight or flee.
“Were you having a bad dream again?” Chance asks.
“Again?”
“I’ve heard you barking in your sleep the last two nights.”
We’ve never been this close. He squeezes me tighter, burying his face in the fur on my back.
“Do you think we’re going to be okay?” he whispers.
“I know we are.”
“I don’t want to go home.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
I sigh and settle in, allowing myself to relax in his embrace.
“I have to get you back to your mother,” I say. “You need each other.”
“That’s true,” he says. “But I need you, too.”
I snuggle closer. His breathing deepens and he falls asleep, snoring lightly in my ear.
I close my eyes and feel Chance’s body against mine. My breathing falls into rhythm with his, and I drift back to sleep.
The dream does not come again.
But something else does.