The Alpha's Soul

02

Waking up was the worst part of every morning, even if you were waking up next to your soulmate. For Tan, it was even worse waking up next to Luke, because more often than not, his poor mate was having a nightmare.

This morning was no exception.

Tan awoke to Luke whimpering in his sleep, tears streaming down the sides of his face. It had shocked Tan the first time it happened, but now he was used to Luke crying and panicking because of the dreams that plagued his mind.

"Luke, get up," Tan whispered, trying to soothe his mate, but Luke just kept crying and squirming helplessly.

Tan would shake him, but the last time he tried that, Luke fell into a full blow panic attack and it took a half an hour for him to snap out of it. Ever since their pack defeated the North River pack, Luke's nightmares had increased and gotten worse, but he refused to tell Tan what they were about.

Sighing, Tan scooted closer to his mate and gently laid his hand on the center of Luke's chest. He rubbed the bare skin there and tried to speak with Tiberius, Luke's wolf.

"Tiberius... can you hear me?" Tan asked in a soothing voice, and he could feel Luke's wolf trying to connect with his own. "Is he able to communicate with you, Mika?"

His own wolf, Mika, whined. "No, he's too far in his own head and he's afraid."

Tan racked his mind for ideas of how to calm Luke down. He'd been trying to learn from the first time they slept in the same bed together, but he usually had to wait for Luke to wake up screaming since he couldn't wake him up without sending him into a full blown panic attack.

Honestly, Tan didn't know which option was worse.

He grabbed Luke's sweaty hand with his own cold one, rubbing his thumb over the back of his palm as his mate jerked around and cried.

"Wake up, Luke," Tan whispered, knowing he wouldn't get through to him but holding hope anyway. "You're safe, I have you. You're safe, Luke."

Luke whimpered, squeezing Tan's hand like a lifeline. As if he knew his mate was outside his dream world, trying to protect him, but he didn't know how to break through.

Mika was losing it, panicking and trying to reach his mate, but he didn't succeed. "What if he's stuck like this forever? I don't want our mate to be in a frozen state! What do we do, Tan?!"

Tan pushed his wolf's words away. He knew that he was prone to anxious spells because Mika was a big over thinker and it projected onto Tan's personality. However, he tried to shove the irrational worry away for the time being so they could focus on Luke.

He ran his cool hands down Luke's chest and continued to squeeze his hand, hoping that it would bring some relaxation to Luke. Tan was pleased to see that Luke relaxed slightly, but he was still crying and jerking around.

"Come here," Tan whispered, even though Luke couldn't hear him. He wrapped his arms around Luke and sat up slightly so Luke could cry and shake against his chest.

Luke, even in his fractured asleep state, managed to identify his mate and clung onto him. He sniffed Tan's neck and buried his nose there, squeezing Tan so tight that it was almost harder to breathe.

"Wake up, Luke," Tan pleaded, kissing Luke's forehead. "I got you, baby. I won't let go."

After a few minutes of coos from Tan and sobs from Luke, his eyes opened and revealed red, puffy orbs from his tears.

"Hey," Tan said, rubbing Luke's back.

Luke sniffled and wiped his eyes. "Sorry, I just had a weirdly hot dream about your mom," he said, forcing a laugh and trying for a weak sex joke.