"I thought you used to be a rogue? Can't you sneak quieter?"

Anabel muttered, "Had we been in the forest, you wouldn't find me. I can't help it that the floorboards in this hallway creak."

I believed her, mostly because I had never been in the forest alone, nor had I gone far from the packhouse. Even the side garden had special fencing and netting strung high above to keep aerial predators out. It was the only place I could enjoy the outdoor air and plants without company and still be safe.

"Are you sure the Enforcer won't catch us?"

"There isn't an Enforcer in this pack. So far, the Alpha, Beta, and their mates keep the peace. A travelling fighting trainer usually stops by a few times a year to help with training."

Enforcers enforced the law and helped keep the peace in a pack, especially when the Alpha and Beta were away. It wasn't possible to train an average fighter for that position – an Enforcer was born with their rank. Oddly enough, their strength and fighting abilities weren't hereditary. Much like Comforters, runts, and some Omegas, some children were occasionally just born with the rank, with no discernible pattern to help predict their arrival.

"If you are trying to tell me that I might have the Alpha coming to learn the source of the upcoming commotion, I'm backing out of this madness."

"Nah. He and the Luna went out for a run. They'll be gone for at least another hour or so. Besides, Mazie has never seen these mice yet!"

"I am beginning to regret agreeing to this more and more by the second."

"Good news is that we only have twenty seconds until we reach their door."

"Considering they are outside, why are we sneaking?"

"Because I always do when I'm about to cause a disturbance. Can you please open the door?"

She slowly turned the knob and opened the door. To my inner glee, the hinges didn't even creak. I trotted inside and went over to the bed, gazing up at the blankets I would never be able to get on top of by myself.

"She always sleeps on the right side. If you lift me up, I can explain the best way to do this."

With misgivings tinting her emotions, even with my toned-down aura and the direct contact, she set me on the bed.

"Use the safety pin to attach the fishing line to the edge of the blanket. Yes, just like that. Now, tuck the mice under her pillow. Tuck the blankets in like before and spritz the linen spray twice to remove your scent."

"What about your scent?"

"I'm known for sneaking into the laundry baskets for a free ride upstairs. If my scent is missing from a single room in this place, then I need to rectify that."

She sprayed the mist. "Now what?"

"Now, we leave before we get caught."

Anabel scooped me up and darted out the door, eager to get away from the scene of the crime.

"Let's go inside," Mary said. "The sun is setting, and the mosquitoes are becoming a nuisance."

I yawned, fully in agreement. I hadn't had a single nap all day, so I was ready to find someplace to curl up. Preferably one of the spots I rarely used in case Mazie came looking for me.

The others also seemed to think it was a good idea since everyone vacated the porch and went inside. Once more, I was carried inside in style, still awake, unlike Darren, who was already fast asleep in his mother's arms.

"If you want, I can carry you to your room," Anabel offered.

"I don't have a room," I replied. There was no point in having a human bed when I couldn't remain in human form for more than a handful of seconds. "Someone almost always invites me to sleep on their spare pillow. There are also a lot of small beds hidden around the house for me to use as well."

"My mate is on patrol from sundown until midnight," Mary said, "so you can sleep on his pillow, if you want."

The offer was perfect – Mazie wouldn't barge into her mother's room since her mother would probably toss her right back out.

"Sure," I replied, knowing I could curl up between the two pillows once he came back. I would probably be gone before they got up in the morning.

Anabel passed me to Mary, who carried me upstairs. The first stop was the bathroom, and there were several along this hallway. I picked one with a shower curtain for a door, then used my paw to push the red tile under the edge of it to mark it as being in use.

The curtain bathrooms were designed for those in wolf form, although most people preferred to use the traditional toilets. Here, two metal planks were suspended over a long tray of water, much like an elongated toilet. One end even had a second set of planks that were close enough together for a Comforter or a pup to use.

Once I finished, I dipped my paws in the bowls of soapy water and disinfectant by the door and wiped them dry on a rug meant for that purpose. After pushing the red tile back inside, I went to wait outside Mary's bedroom door, thankful that Mazie was on the third floor.

Mary arrived moments later and placed me on the bed. I jumped on a pillow, creating a nice depression in the soft material for me to curl up in. I watched Mary slide a footstool by the end of her bed and a folded blanket on the floor. It would allow me to get down from the bed without assistance.

Without warning, a flare of fear hit my senses; at the same time, Mary jumped, looking at one corner of the ceiling. The exact direction her daughter's room happened to be in. The fear quickly morphed into realization, grudging admiration, and a lot of vengeance.

With the impressive insulation in the rooms, I didn't even hear her shriek. It also meant that no one other than the Luna or some of the Omegas with strong emotion sensing abilities would have noticed, assuming they were nearby and didn't have their mental shields up.

After several very long seconds, Mary smirked and lifted an eyebrow at me. "Toy mice? Really?"

"I bet Darren will love playing with them."

"If they were a gift for him, then how did they end up under Mazie's pillow?"

"I can honestly say that I didn't put them there."

"But you told someone else to."

"Perhaps."

With quiet laughter, she turned off the lights and climbed into her side of the bed. I snuggled up into a ball of fluffy brown fur, knowing I would have to keep an eye on Mazie tomorrow.

Another wave of fear and terror woke me, although it was from a different person. The haze of sleep still cloaked her mind, but the nightmare was one of the nastiest I had sensed in many years. So vivid, that she was practically reliving whatever had caused it.

This wasn't the sort of nightmare I could ignore. Easing off the pillow, I tiptoed to the edge of the bed and slid down the blanket onto the stool, then down to the floor. When I reached the closed door, I glanced back, checking if Mary was still sound asleep. She was.

It was best if I only shifted when others couldn't see me – it ensured that they only thought of me as a puppy. If they started thinking of me as a human, it raised some mental barriers and limited how much I might be able to help them.

Closing my eyes, I willed myself into human form. It was uncomfortable to shift, but within moments, I was standing on two legs, wearing faded blue jeans and a pale green shirt that the Omegas had probably given up on ever locating. Almost all my attention was focused on keeping my human form as I turned the doorknob and pulled the door open.

The faintest creak of the hinges made me pause, and in that split second of distraction, a wave of heat rolled over me as I shifted back into wolf form. Shaking my head at my inability to shift for long, I used my paw to pull the door open far enough for me to squeeze out.

Taking a deep breath, I shifted once more and quietly closed the door, turning the knob so it didn't click. The moment I stopped fighting to hold my shape, I was once more the size of a cat. I scampered in the direction of the nemesis of my clumsiness – the staircase.

With small hops at an angle, I managed to get up the flight of stairs without tripping or stumbling once. I was panting by the time I reached Anabel's door, which was – predictably – closed. The former rogue had undoubtedly locked her door as well. I had a master key to any door in this place, but it wasn't wise to break into someone's room if they were having a nightmare.

"Anabel? Please wake up."

Her emotions shifted, but the dull haze of sleep remained.

Plopping my rump on the floor so I could concentrate better, I shoved my calming aura far enough to reach her and threw all my strength into it. My aura strained under the flood of emotions, slowly smothering them into an enforced tranquility.

"Anabel?"

Her mind brightened, indicating that she either had woken up or was waking up. The dredges of the remaining terror, sleepiness, and confusion dominated her mind.

"I'm outside your door. Can you let me in?"

Recognition finally crossed her mind, both at my voice as well as how her nightmare had ended so suddenly. Her need was great enough that I could actually sense her presence as she came to the door. When she opened it, she immediately picked me up and closed the door again.

My aura's strength was already fading slightly since the nightmare was now over. Even with my calming being much more powerful than usual, her muscles trembled from the memories.

Instead of going to the bed, she went to a corner and sat on the floor, holding me against her chest as if I was the only thing keeping her from breaking down. It was true – my aura was pushing the horrors of the nightmare back while she struggled to regain her composure on her own.

Slowly, I let my aura fade a bit more, keeping close tabs on her mind to ensure I didn't go too fast or too slow. Even though it was possible for my abilities to alter her emotions to remove the inner pain, it wasn't a true long-term solution. The mind behaved in strange ways, and people often had to work through their emotions and situation to truly heal from the damage it had caused.

As a Comforter, one of my duties was to make that transition easier and less painful.

I purred, although the rough sound was a far cry from a cat's purr. As far as I could tell, she wasn't ready for words yet. Hugging a puppy was probably the best thing for her right now. Even if the puppy was several years older than her.

Her eyes were glazed over, as if still watching her nightmare. A shudder ran through her muscles, followed by fresh terror. I intensified my aura's effects once again, ready to scale it back once the pain lessened.

I had to be careful that my abilities didn't interfere with her attempts to recover from her nightmare. There was a fine line between offering comfort and forcing it on someone. As much as I wanted to ease her pain, she would have to ask me to increase the effects of my aura in such a fashion. After her talks with Mazie and her other friends, she knew it too.

My aura eased her mind back to its previous state, and I reduced its power slightly while shifting it to remove the sting of old memories. Her emotions and my aura increased and decreased in reciprocating waves that slowly settled until my aura was almost at its regular level.

I remained curled up in her arms, still feeling the old echoes of the nightmare in her mind, although they weren't overwhelming her anymore. Underneath, I could feel a faint calmness and acceptance that hadn't been present before – the smallest indicators of someone who could finally begin to move on.

She had gotten past the 'bump', so to speak, although she still had months or even years of struggle before the memories no longer crippled her.

"Thank you for coming." Her voice was barely audible.

My mindvoice was barely a murmur and didn't interfere with my purring. "You're welcome. If you want to talk about it, I keep secrets really well."

She hesitated. "Thanks, but I'll pass. I don't want to burden you with it. Once I get back to the packhouse, I think I'll go in search of one of the counsellors."

Her response didn't overly surprise me. My puppy-like appearance made people trust me more than they realized, but they also tried to keep the darker things away from me, just like they would their own young children.

As my purring slowly ceased, I curled up in her arms and drifted to sleep, still tired from my busy day.

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