The Wolf in His Dreams

The scent of the prey. The thrill of the hunt. The comfort of the pack. Lance had been dreaming about wolves for months, but they'd recently become more vivid, more real, more intense, taking a toll on both his sanity and his relationship with boyfriend Matt. As Lance struggles to make sense of it all, the lines between dreams and reality begin to blur. For adults only! 9623 words.

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Excerpt:

Lance woke up. He was breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating in panic. Matt instinctively woke up next to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked. No answer. "Lance." Matt grabbed his arm, but Lance shook it off. "Lance, what's wrong?"

"They're coming..." Lance muttered.

"Who's coming?"

"The wolves." Lance took a deep breath. "They're coming to get me."

Matt looked at him, almost in pity. He once again put his hand on Lance's arm softly. This time, Lance didn't shake it off.

"It's all right, Lance," he said. "It's just a dream."

"No!" Lance raised his voice suddenly. "It's real. I'm telling you, Matt..." he turned to face him, his eyes almost tearing up, nearly on the verge of a breakdown. "They're coming, I can feel it. I saw it happen. I was there with them. As if I was hunting myself."

"Lance, just relax. Breathe." Matt rose up and began to massage Lance's shoulders, trying to soothe him. "We can get you some sleeping pills or something, you don't have to be going through this. And you've got the appointment next week, it'll be okay."

Lance shook his head. "No," he said, "this is something else. It's not just dreams. It's not just a disorder. There's something seriously wrong, Matt." He breathed deeply again. "I don't know what it is, but there's something wrong. I've never had nightmares that were so vivid before. It was almost like an out-of-body experience. I was a wolf."

"But you're not a wolf, Lance." Matt, though doing his best to support him gently, was getting a little exasperated. "You're a man, trust me. And you're not out there, you're here with me. Indoors. In our bed."

Lance couldn't shake the feeling. Even Matt's touch couldn't help calm him down. He shook his head again. "I'm a wolf, Matt. I'm a fucking wolf. That's what it feels like."

"No, you're not. You're a person, all right? These are just dreams, and we're going to take care of them."

"What if I am, though?" Lance suddenly turned to face Matt, the expression on his face that of utter desperation, as if his greatest fear had just materialized. "What if I am a wolf?" He could hear his own mind, his brain, his reason, mocking him as he uttered the words. Here he was, legitimately going insane. "How do we know what's real and what isn't?"
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