Orion

Forty Five. Relief.

Nightmares for me were an uncommon occurrence for me.

Of course I had them, but I hardly ever remembered them, so on the rare occasion that I had one and actually remembered it, I usually woke up terrified; just as I did that night.

I shot up, jostling my mate. One of his strong arms was thrown over my waist, his hand gripping my backside . My right leg was thrown over his hip, and though we were both naked, I was covered in a film of sweat, scaring Orion as I screamed, not yet awake enough to realize that I was only dreaming.

I kept my eyes shut tight, too scared that I would open them and Jeremiah would be standing at my bedside.

It all felt wrong.

The dream was only that, but I knew who gave it to me.

While I was still asleep, I saw all seven of her fingers curled around his shoulder as he walked toward me. Jeremiah's feet had been barely taking him forward, an inch at a time, but I had been stilled, my brain and body not connecting as I stared in terror as he slowly approached.

I'd stood like that for an eternity, swallowed in the doom of whatever unknown thing he was coming to do to me but unable to flee. My heart felt like it was about to break my ribs with how fast and hard it was pumping.

Orion shot up with a curse. I felt his hands on my shoulders. They were gentle and there was only four fingers and a thumb. Unlike hers they were warm, they large, firm, but not forceful.

But his voice wasn't. It was loud and panicked, yelling over my sounds of fear, "Hoggie. Hoggie, baby, it's okay! Wake up! Mahogany, breathe!"

The intake of breath sounded like a noise that would leave a dead body.

"Open your eyes."

When I did, I couldn't even see, and not because the room was almost pitch.

Tears completely obstructed my vision, though not for long. The pads of his thumbs were rough even with as gentle as he was being, and he shushed me like my mom did.

My face crumpled again at the feel of his hand resting over my heart.

I was still scared.

"Oh Mo, baby. Stop it, please. C'mere."

I dove into his arms immediately, a bag of sobbing, dead weight as he turned me sideways in his lap and rocked up, telling me softly that everything was okay, that it was only a bad dream.

It took me a while to calm down, and when I did, Déjà vu washed through me when Orion used the corner of the bedsheet to wipe my face. His blue eyes were dark with worry, "What happened?"

The breath that I took was interrupted by a hiccup as I stared at him, then took another deep breath, "I was stuck in the woods, just standing there. He was far away, but I could see the Moon's hand on his shoulder, guiding him while another one help me so that I was stuck standing in the same spot. He walked weird like there was something wrong with his legs or his hip, and he was going so slow, I could only watch as he got closer. It took forever, and he stank, Rion."

I shivered as the smell invaded my nostrils like he was standing in front of me; shut my eyes so I didn't have to see him, but I still saw him behind my lids, closer this time, so I opened them again.

"Who was it?"

"Jeremiah."

Orion was a pretty quiet guy, but this quiet was not the usual one. It seemed to scream as he just stared at me, his worried face giving way to a hell of a lot of confusion.

"He was rotted. He had the air around him that I felt when the Moon sent me out into the woods my last day here."

Orion pulled me tighter against him. He was calm. His heard was the normal sure lub-dub that I heard. He breathed in slowly, let the breath out slowly.