Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Tomorrow he can come inside for good. There's teaching someone a lesson and then there's just being a dick.
If I'm being honest with myself, I want him inside, too. Not because I want to chat and share stories all night long, but I sleep better when there's someone in the house with me. I had a roommate back on Earth, and my house on Risda feels too empty with just me. I'm looking forward to having a roommate again, even if it's him.
I wake up in the middle of the night to an alarm light flashing red on the panel in my room. It's a security alarm, and when I race over to it, heart pounding in terror, I see that the light is for the barn door. I flick on the feed again, even though I don't like it. Don't like spying on others or being spied on.
Zhur is in the same spot. The blankets are tangled around his legs and he's on his back, a contorted look of distress on his face. As I watch, he thrashes wildly, his arms flying out. Something's wrong.
I turn off the feed, throw on my shoes, and race out to the barn.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
MAEVE
I bust into the barn just in time to get slapped with a clawed, open hand. My shoulder stings and I yelp in surprise, staggering to the side. Son of a bitch, that hurt.
On the ground, Zhur continues to thrash so violently that for a moment, I think he's having a seizure. His eyes remain tightly closed, his face contorted, but then he shakes his head. "No. No. No." He pants. "Wait. Uba, wait."
It's not a seizure at all. It's a bad dream.
I shrug off the pain of the scratch and catch one of his arms. "Zhur, wake up."
He continues to twist, his head shaking back and forth. "Can't make me go—"
Pinning him down with my full weight seems like the best solution, because I don't want to get smacked again. His frantic cries are making the cattle agitated, and the last thing I want is a barn full of nervous, stampede-prone creatures. He needs to stop. I trap his arm between my legs and sit down on it, even as I reach out and tap his cheek. "Wake up. Wake up. This is a bad dream."
He awakens with a jerk, his eyes unfocused as he gazes at me. Zhur gives himself a little mental shake and blinks, and then comes to himself. "M-Maeve?"
"You're having a bad dream," I tell him in a low voice. "And you're freaking out the cattle. Come on."
Zhur rubs a hand down his face. He glances over at me, as if finally noticing that his other hand is trapped between my thighs. "Are you...kicking me out?"
"No. Come on. You can sleep inside." All of my anger at him has bled away because I recognize that kind of heart-pounding nightmare. I had them for a long time after I'd first been taken. Whatever happened to him was recent and traumatizing, and he'll feel better with someone curled up against his side for the night. I know I'd wanted nothing more when I was suffering through my nightmares alone. Maybe I'm projecting, but I'm going to treat him the way I'd want to be treated. I'm going to comfort him the way I wish someone had comforted me.
So I get off his arm and help him to his feet. His fur is damp and sweaty, his nose gleaming and slick, and his eyes seem hollow and exhausted. He reeks of old sweat but I've smelled worse.
Stink can be cleaned up, and right now Zhur needs a friend and not a lesson in how to be less of a jerk.
So I put his arm around my shoulder, even though he's probably twice my size and can walk just fine. He needs to be reminded that I'm with him, that I'm his friend. He holds tightly to me, leaning on my strength, and his steps are stumbling. "I...I don't have nightmares."
"I know, big guy. Neither did I before the universe came crashing down on me. They'll stop eventually."
He grunts, and we cross the distance back to my house. I walk in front of him when we can't go through the doorway together and his hand touches the small of my back. It's a quick touch, but a pleasant one, and reminds me of how long I've been truly alone, and a wave of yearning hits me. Not for Zhur, because he's a dick. But just for a companion, a partner, a lover.
I'm not the sort of person meant to go solo through life and I've been alone for more than five years now. It's the worst.
But Zhur isn't my Prince Charming come to save me. There's no saving anyone, unless I want to save myself. But I can be a sympathetic friend. So I nudge him towards the bedroom, noticing that his expression is still completely out of it. "Come on. You can sleep with me. I'm going to bet that having another person in bed with you stops the nightmares because you didn't have them that first night."