Chapter 3: Dreams

RIEKA

I was in the woods alone at night.  I kept hearing something and glancing around, but there was nothing I could see.  Just trees and bushes, and silver moonlight peeking through the branches illuminating patches across the forest floor.

A thin layer of mist also covered the ground.  It reflected the moonlight, and made it easier to see my surroundings, but somehow it also added the eerie feel of the area.

Another noise caused me to quickly spin around to look behind me, but the only thing I could see was a massive tree.  It looked like it was at least 100 years old and strong.  It would be a perfect tree for the kids to climb if it wasn’t in the middle of this creepy forest.

The branches split and stretched out in every direction beginning around 4-5 feet off the ground, but every branch was thick and strong.  Aleksandr could climb this tree without any fear of it breaking under his massive muscular form.

I was suddenly captivated by the tree and moved closer to get a better look.  The branches appeared to be two different types of wood, and there wasn’t any apparent pattern to how or where they changed.

While I was admiring the unique beauty of the tree, the dream shifted and suddenly I am standing in the kitchen of my old house in Riverview.  I begin briskly walking through the house, searching for my children, but I can’t find them anywhere.  I step outside and I see shadowy figures that look like my children, but they are facing three other shadowy figures that look like adult men.

I take a step to run to my children and help them when the dream shifts again.  This time I’m sitting in a car with my aunt Meri.  She was my mom’s sister and I’d only met her once when I was very young, but I recognized her from pictures my mom had around the house when I was growing up.  Aunt Meri doesn’t appear to see me.  It’s like I’m not really here.

She seems stressed and she’s driving fast.  I glance behind us, and I don’t see any cars, but she doesn’t slow down.  Suddenly, we’re standing in a vacant house.  She seems happy and relaxed.  She’s talking to a young married couple with a little girl.  I can’t make out any of their faces, but the little girl appears to be about 3 years old.

There’s a loud bang and I turn to see the front door open and a large man standing in the doorway.  The bright sunlight behind him makes it impossible to see his face, but the dad scoops up his daughter as Meri and the young family all turn and run for the back door.

My heart is racing, and I want to follow them, see if I can help, but everything fades to black as I realize this is just a dream, there is nothing I can do.

“Rieka, sweetheart, wake up.” Aleksandr’s voice is gentle but urgent, “It’s just a dream.  You’re okay.”

I open my eyes to the very concerned face of my loving husband.

-----

ALEKSANDR

After way too long, I’d finally fought my wolf back enough that I could relax with my mate and get some rest myself.  I pulled her in closer to my chest as I drifted off to sleep, but less than an hour later I woke up with my wolf on high alert as if he knew something was wrong.

I quickly realized that what I was feeling was stress and tension from Rieka.  I leaned back just enough to get a good look at her face.  Her forehead was wrinkled, and her brow furrowed with concern.  She must be dreaming.

As I watched her, I could see and feel her emotions intensifying until she began shaking.  I tried to wake her, but she suddenly calmed down.  Unfortunately, it didn’t last.  A couple of minutes later she was shaking and crying as I tried to wake her without scaring her more.

When her eyes opened, I could see the fear in them.

“It was just a dream. You’re safe.” I tenderly reassured her as I swept her bangs away from her face and stroked her cheek with the backside of my fingers.

She nodded that she understood, but the haunted look in her eyes didn’t go away.

Since we didn’t have a habit of sleeping together before the wedding, I had no idea if this was normal for her.  Did she have night terrors that I was unaware of?  I wanted to give her some time to fully wake up and calm down before I questioned her about it, so I just did my best to sooth and comfort her.

When her heart rate returned to normal, I started asking her about her dream.

“What were you dreaming about, love?”

Rieka wouldn’t look at me.  “I’m not entirely sure,” she mumbled as she buried her face in my chest.

My fingertips danced up and down the back of her neck, and I could tell that it was helping her relax.

“Do you have bad dreams often?”

She pulled back and looked into my eyes with a fierce determination “No, never anything like that.”

I gave her a minute to think as she chewed her lower lip before her eyes snapped back to mine with a hint of the panic that was there when she first woke up.

“Do you think we’ll all be safe?  Maybe we should go back home!”

“Everyone is safe.  It was just a dream.”  I reminded her again. “My mother confirmed before we left that we have nothing to worry about and everyone would be safe during this time.  She wouldn’t have said that to me unless she was absolutely certain.”

My mother understands the weight of her words as a seer.  When her gift first presented on her 20^th birthday, she quickly learned that everyone scrutinized every word that came out of her mouth.  She no longer had the luxury of being able to share her opinion.

It took her a few years to get a handle on how to talk to others without unintentionally misleading them, and even longer before she learned how and when to share a vision or prophecy that she had.

Rieka seemed to relax when I told her that my mother said we would all be safe, but I could still sense the underlying tension.  I wanted to keep questioning her about the dream, find out what had her so stressed out, but instead I decided to let it go hoping that if I didn’t focus on it, she wouldn’t either.

-----

RIEKA

When I first woke up, my heart was racing, and it took me a few minutes to come back to reality and stop focusing on the dream.  As my mind calmed down, I realized that there was one face that became clear in my mind.  The little girl in the house with her parents and my aunt Mari.

I’m not sure why her face was clear to me now.  I was sure all the faces were shadowed or blurred in the dream, but the longer I was awake the more clearly I could see her in my mind.

As the flight continued and Aleksandr and I began reminiscing how beautiful our wedding ceremony and reception were, I was able to stop thinking about the dream, but the face of the little girl was still clear in my mind.  I buried it far in the recesses of my memory and focused on my husband.

My mother’s heart was already aching from being separated from my children, but I was at peace knowing they were safe with Lis and the pack.

A few hours later a flight attendant came back to let us know that we needed to buckle back in, and we began our decent.  Butterflies erupted in my stomach knowing that we were almost to our destination.

All the windows were covered, so I couldn’t see where we were, or even tell if it was light outside or not.  I’m sure this was all a part of Aleksandr’s plan to keep everything a surprise for as long as possible.

The plane finally touched down and I felt like a kid on Christmas morning.  I couldn’t wait to see where he brought me.  I’d done such a good job of not thinking too much about it until now but knowing that we were finally here really had me amped up.

As we began to deplane, the first thing I noticed was how humid the air was the minute we stepped outside of the plane.  Glancing out the window of the loading bridge I observed that it was still dark outside.  I guess that makes sense, since we’d been on the plane so long.  Back home it had to be around mid to late afternoon, but I had no idea what time it was here, considering I didn’t even know where here was.

Upon closer examination, I noticed there were palm trees, no surprise there, and a few other planes, but nothing that would give away our location.

We walked off the loading bridge and into the airport and a blast of cool air made me shiver.  Aleksandr wrapped his arm around my shoulders to share his body heat and keep me warm while the gate attendant asked us to wait here for our bags.

I guess that is another perk of having your own private plane.  You don’t have to wait for your bags at the baggage claim carousel.

Less than ten minutes later a tall lean young man, a wolf, came through the doors carrying our bags.

Aleksandr removed his arm from around me to take the bags, and I was disappointed at the loss of his touch.  I just wanted to get out of here and to wherever we would be staying.

Although I’m an extrovert, I was done with being around people.  The only person I wanted to be around now was my amazing, sexy, new husband.  He smiled at me, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, and then we turned and made our way to the exit of the airport.

As we walked through the terminal, I caught sight of a sign that said, “Welcome to Thailand!”  I guess that answers one question.  The moment we exited the airport, the weight of the humidity in the air hit me, and it felt like a warm blanket.  I was actually warm enough to remove my sweatshirt.  Then it hit me.  I’m certain Aleksandr chose this location to ensure my comfort, but I was suddenly very aware of how this must feel to him. 

He’s basically a human heater, and always runs hotter than any other person I’ve ever met.  I hope he isn’t making himself too uncomfortable on my account.  After all, this is his honeymoon as well.  I want him to enjoy it.

Once outside, Aleksandr turned to the left and approached a shiny black Jeep Wrangler.  A woman was standing there holding a set of keys.  Her eyes never left Aleksandr as he walked to the back of the Jeep to load up our luggage, and a sudden surge of possessiveness overtook me.  I wanted to claw her eyes out for looking at my husband like that.

Startled by my sudden change of demeanor, I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and focused back on my husband.  He obviously saw her, but he didn’t pay her any attention.

As soon as the bags were loaded up, he flashed me another boyish grin before leading me to the passenger side of the Jeep and opening the door for me to get in.

I watched through the window as the smiling she-wolf handed the key over to Aleksandr.  I could hear that they were talking, but I couldn’t make out their words through the closed door and over the sound of the blasting A/C.

I quickly reached out to turn it down, both for my own comfort and in an attempt to hear what she was saying, but Aleksandr was already walking around the front of the Jeep to the driver side.

A part of me wanted to glare at the she-wolf, but I was unable to take my eyes off of my husband.  It was as if I was watching him in slow motion.  The way he moved as he walked around the front of the car was nothing short of poetry.

His muscular arms stretched the sleeves of his t-shirt, and the sway of his gait had me transfixed on him.  I noticed that he already had beads of sweat gathering at his temple, but he didn’t appear to be uncomfortable.

The trance was broken when he opened the door and climbed behind the wheel.  Another gorgeous smile spread across his lips, and I realized that I’ve never seen him smile this much.

Suddenly filled with pride at the idea that I was the reason for all his smiles, I beamed back and him.

“Where to now?”  I question.

“It’s not far.”  He replies before pulling the Jeep away from the curb.