Lucas sat straight up in bed when Azura started thrashing next to him, hitting him as her arms flailed around uncontrollably, sweat coating her trembling body as her movements got more and more frantic. As she got increasingly entangled in the blankets, Lucas swiftly got out of the bed and moved to her side. Grabbing the erratic woman by the shoulders, he pushed her down onto the mattress and immediately she started fighting him, pushing back and clawing at him with her nails. The more pressure he applied the more she started grunting and shrieking. Lucas pushed her further back into the mattress, hoping to calm her by immobilizing her while ignoring her screams which only became louder. He gritted his teeth as she got stronger and fought back harder.

"Azura! Just cut it out already and wake up!"

When pushing her down didn’t seem to work, he pulled her upright into a sitting position and put his arms around her, hands on the back of her head in a tight intimate hug. It seemed to be working as Azura eased up on her struggling. He pressed her ear against his chest and tried to calm down his own racing heart as he gently stroked the back of her head and spoke to her softly in a hushed voice. Her mouth was open, still panting heavily with her chest moving at a much faster pace than normal.

His fingers trailed from her head to her naked back and slowly moved up and down the skin. She was reacting to it even though she was still sleeping, goosebumps formed on her flesh and her breathing seemed to hitch for a moment. He avoided touching the scar on her back and kissed the top of her head. He let both of his hands softly touch her now hoping she would relax further and would actually be able to continue sleeping without the nightmare. She was relaxing and her breathing became a bit less erratic as one of his hands caressed her sides and trailed past her ribs. Following his movements, she moved her hands around his chest and started doing the same thing he was doing to her.

She pressed him tighter against her. He could feel every inch of her body. Her soft small breasts against his own chest, the smell of her hair, her fingers trailing across his back, and her nails raking across his skin.

Her nails...

Lucas felt her tighten up too late, distracted by his thoughts. Every muscle in her body tensed and he had to hold back a painful grunt as she dug her nails into his skin. It lasted only for a short moment before she emitted a loud scream. Lucas flinched and the movement made her react by suddenly pushing him away from her with a force he hadn’t expected. He was pushed off the edge of the bed and landed on one knee on the floor. She jolted again, lost her own balance, and toppled down landing on her back, feet still partially on the bed entangled in the blankets. Azura gasped and opened her eyes staring at the ceiling, her chest rising and falling faster than normal. Lucas got up and knelt down next to her flashing her a small smile.

"Good morning, Firestarter. Rough night?"

Azura just raised her hand and flipped him the finger as she untangled her legs and dropped them onto the floor. She just stared at the ceiling for a little bit as she tried to calm herself down. Lucas stroked her arm and removed some black strands out of her face before offering her his hand to help her get up. For a while, she didn’t move but eventually, she took it and he pulled her back up to her feet. Holding onto his arm, she grabbed her head with the other hand and bent forward a bit trying to overcome the lightheadedness.

Muscles seemed to have a mind of their own as her fingers and eyelids twitched faster than the beating wings of a hummingbird. She was slightly flailing around and she dug her fingers into his skin trying to steady herself. Without a warning, her body started to convulse from her toes to her head. She let him go and covered her mouth with both hands as she pushed past him to the door in a hurry. Walking in a straight line seemed impossible. Sometimes she would lose her balance and had to correct herself by sidestepping but she was still quite fast and threw the door open to stumble into the hallway towards the bathroom.

"Oh, that's a rough night alright," Lucas muttered softly to himself while he put on some boxer briefs and a t-shirt.

Grabbing a pair of hipsters and a t-shirt for Azura, he followed her to the bathroom. He’d seen her in this condition several times now and it didn’t affect him as much as it had the first time. She was often barely aware of what was happening and reacted more out of pure instinct than human reasoning.

Azura was hunched over the toilet breathing heavily and spit out the last remnants of saliva and stomach contents into the bowl. Lucas sat next to her and gently started rubbing her back as her middle contracted itself once more. Nothing came up though, her gut already being empty but her body still made her gag. Tears streaked her cheeks and snot came out of her clogged nose as she tried to ease air into her lungs instead of stomach acid into her mouth. In between it all, she tried to ease her sobbing and calm her erratic heart.

When her body seemed more stable, Lucas handed her some tissues. She wiped her mouth and face clean before throwing it into the toilet and flushing what had remained of her dinner the night before. With a heavy sigh, she let herself topple over against his body and curled herself up against his chest, safely enclosed within his arms. She didn’t utter a single word and was glad Lucas seemed to know exactly what she needed.

Several minutes passed by where she just sat in his lap, her head resting against his chest while his rested on her. Her heartbeat calmed to match the warm body that had her in his arms. Once her breathing had gone back to normal too and the urge to throw up had left, Azura started moving again. Slowly, she got back on her feet and stepped to the sink.

"Feeling any better? A bit more human maybe?"

She grunted in response as she bent over the white porcelain and threw some cold water in her face before taking a big sip to wash the foul taste out of her mouth. Lucas passed her a towel and she dried off before handing it back to him. After taking another moment to recollect herself she finally turned around to face him. Her voice was hoarse and cracked as she spoke up.

"I really wanted to believe the nightmares would have stopped completely by now." She took her t-shirt that Lucas handed her and put it on, covering her naked torso before putting on the black hipster panties.

"Why? Just because they hadn’t appeared for two weeks?" Lucas opened the bathroom door and let her out first before following her downstairs to the living room. She didn’t answer him till they were down in the spacious living area where they sat down on the black leather couch. Lucas pulled her in so she was between his legs, her back resting against his chest. He could feel her trying to fight her own trembling body.

"Somewhere in my mind, I was hoping they would be gone after accepting the Phoenix and getting together with you. Wishful thinking. Life is not like those stories you read where all problems are solved in an instant after kissing the love interest."

Lucas snickered softly and pulled her in for a tight hug.

"Well, life is no fairytale. It was to be expected, you know. Coming back to the place where it all happened was bound to trigger some nightmares. At least look on the bright side; you were nightmare-free for two weeks. That must count for something." He loosened his grip around and she wiggled around, making herself a bit more comfortable.

"It does. This nightmare was a lot different than normal as well. Although, in the end, I still accidentally kill you on purpose. That part is still there."

"Accidentally on purpose..." Lucas repeated thoughtfully. "You will have to explain that to me one day. What was the nightmare about?"

The main light in the living room turned on making both Lucas and Azura cover their eyes and groan.

"Still having nightmares? And what are you guys doing here in the dark?" Andreas's loud voice made them sit upright and squeeze their eyes almost shut.

"We could see perfectly clear without the light on, Andreas! And what are you doing up at this hour?" Azura blinked a couple of times as her eyes adjusted to the bright light.

"Getting up to patrol the perimeter. Plus I heard you scream and some other ruckus. Thought I’d come down to check up on you." Andreas walked into the living area and sat down. He was fully dressed ready to go out just as he said he was.

Lucas sat up a bit straighter unsure of how to act. He had talked to Andreas over the phone multiple times without any trouble but being around the Alpha was a different matter. The man oozed power and it was hard to ignore the submissive feeling in his underbelly. It gripped him tightly like a snake coiling around its prey. The same feeling had been there the day when they arrived but not as strong. The male snow leopard shifter had dismissed the power radiating from Andreas as something that had happened due to Floyd.

When he glanced at the thin woman in his arms, she seemed completely unaffected by it. Could an Alpha project his power on one single being and let the other know nothing about it? Lucas doubted it but Azura really seemed at ease.

The surge became stronger and it felt like the snake had wrapped around his chest, squeezing the air out of his body. Lucas started to lose focus of everything except Andreas but there was something tugging his brain and stopping him from submitting to the Alpha. He didn't dare to look him straight in the eye, but he was the only thing that Lucas could focus on to the point it was beginning to feel painful.

Next to him, he could feel Azura's body temperature rising. The tug was becoming stronger, pulling him away from his focus on Andreas. Being mentally pulled in two opposite directions caused a headache to form, one he tried to ignore but it was persistent. Azura didn’t seem to notice the stiffening of his body. She was still partially leaning against him and wherever her skin touched his, a soft burning sensation started to form.

Relief, distraction. It pulled him out of the hypnotic state he was feeling. The snake around his body left, the urge to bow slipped away and Lucas managed to look back up and his gaze met that of Andreas.

He felt it too.

Straight away Lucas could feel the power of Andreas slip away and Azura's body heat reacted by going down as well. Lucas let out a soft sigh of relief as he felt he was able to properly fill his lungs with air again.

"I'm sorry." Andreas leaned forward and looked a little bit pained. "That won't happen again. I let out more power than I thought. Must have been subconsciousness. Why don't you two go back to sleep? We'll talk about this later."

Azura got up from the couch and shot confused glances between both men.

"What just happened? Why are you both looking at me like I just destroyed the world? And what do you mean about letting out power, Andreas? I didn't feel a thing!"

"We'll talk about it later, Azu. Together with Professor Sloan and Andreas. Short version, you were reacting to Andreas and I bet Andreas was reacting to you making me the victim of a short power outburst without you guys even knowing it."

It was something they had agreed on the day before. The three of them would pay Professor Sloan a visit so she would only have to tell the story once. Being a druid, the professor was like a walking encyclopedia and he had always been supportive of her when she attended college. In her mind, Azura had often compared Sloan to Startrek’s Spock. Knowledge was everything and emotions were far less important. He was always objective and honest, sometimes a bit too confronting but still a good voice of reason.

Azura stared at Lucas in disbelief before she turned to Andreas. The Alpha placed a firm hand on her shoulder gave her a smile.

"He's not lying. For a moment I didn't even know what was going on until I saw his pained expression. Azura, I can feel things have changed with you. There’s something powerful about you, something not there before and this just confirmed my hunch. I have a thousand questions but it will have to wait until we're with the four of us. So go back to sleep and I'll see you this afternoon."

"No, no, and no! Hold up!" Azura grabbed hold of both of them and pulled them closer together so they were standing shoulder to shoulder facing her. "I know I'm slow with these kinds of things, especially at this time of night but you guys seem to suddenly know more than I do even though you," Azura turned her attention to Andreas. "Don't even know half of the entire thing!"

"Azu, you're losing control." Lucas lowered his voice and pried his wrist loose from her hold. She automatically let go of Andreas. Lucas noticed she was starting to tremble as he looked at her hands hanging next to her body. She clenched her fists and turned her back to the two of them.

"I can probably move the meeting forward. It's probably for the best. I'll see you guys at ten at the college." Lucas nodded to Andreas and mouthed a thank you to the elder Alpha who proceeded to walk over to Azura. He gave her a hug and softly whispered in her ear.

"I love you like a daughter, Azura. I know this is frustrating but please try to keep your cool. There's a lot going on, my wolf can sense it which is unsettling for me as well since we don't know what it is yet. But I think you do know what it is, yet I'm not asking you to tell me right now. I ask you to do the same. Now please, try to get some more sleep." Azura gave him a hug back to let him know she understood and let him go.

As Andreas headed out the door Lucas headed towards the stairs. She meekly followed and headed to the bathroom first.

"Feeling like being sick again?" Lucas poked his head around the corner smiling from ear to ear.

"No! But I do feel like brushing my teeth and entire mouth. So stop smirking like that. There's nothing funny about this whole thing."

His smile was contagious but she tried to fight the urge to laugh. She had no reason to. She actually would have preferred going to the roof and screaming her lungs out but she felt her muscles working against her and the corners of her lips slowly started smiling.

"I can see that. You're trying not to laugh so hard your whole face is disfigured."

Lucas winked at her and she turned on the cold water splashing him before he could get away. He laughed as he closed the door and made his way to the bedroom. Frustrating as his diversion tactics were, he always did manage to lighten the burden a bit but as soon as he was gone the effect it had released its hold on her.

She closed the lid on the toilet and sat down, burying her face in her hands. She blinked away the tears that started forming and focused on her breathing while murmuring softly to herself.

"Don't you dare cry right now. Don't you dare break down. It's just another thing you didn’t know about yourself. Just another new piece of this puzzle that is named Azura. Add it to your list of new things underneath the rest and go with it.” She paused, taking a deep breath before lifting up her head. A hint of confidence found itself in her voice as she spoke up again.

“I am Azura, a blue-eyed snow leopard, a Phoenix, a girl, a woman, someone who has returned from the dead, a killer, a lover, a destroyer, a... Protector?"

She stopped and cocked her head to the side. Could she really protect?

"A protector or a destroyer?"

Why not both?