Always on alert when Max turned beast, Richard stood by on the ready, gun in hand.

Not much later, Max returned and the howling from beyond the property diminished.

Richard jumped in one of the trucks while Max took the passenger seat. Together they headed out in search of the man who shot Kate, and the beast he served.

****

Sweat poured off her brow in the hallway to her apartment. Dreams and hope suffocated in the confining walls of the building. She walked with caution toward the door to her home.

The door lay open. Panic gripped her chest.

She dropped her bag of groceries. Joey’s name erupted from her lips. Instead of a loud yell, her voice was hardly above a whisper. She cleared her throat and tried again. This time no sound emerged at all.

Kate ran through the door, certain to find something amiss. Certain Joey was in harm’s way.

She stopped at the door. In the middle of the room, Joey sat next to an enormous dog with piercing blue eyes. Joey noticed her. As did the dog, which snarled while the hair on its back stood on end.

“Back away,” she tried to scream. But the warning went unheard. Joey stroked the fur of the animal and smiled.

“It’s okay, Mommy. He won’t hurt me.” Joey leaned down next to the animal’s huge teeth.

Viciously, the animal turned and sunk his teeth into her son’s neck.

Kate screamed.

****

Richard heard her from his room. He bounded to his feet and was at her side in seconds. Her body drenched with sweat. Her screams grew frantic. Thankfully, she was asleep and not in danger. It was only a nightmare.

“Kate,” he shook her shoulders in an effort to wake her.

“Joey,” she cried.

“He’s okay. Wake up, Katie.”

By now, Joey stood at the door rubbing sleepy eyes. “What’s the matter?”

Richard glanced at the boy then turned back to Kate and shook her again. “Katie, wake up.” Her panicked eyes opened wide. Their smoldering depth spooked him. “It’s okay, Joey is right here.”

“I’m here, Mommy.” Joey moved toward the bed and accepted her desperate hug.

“Oh, Joey, thank God you’re okay.”

“Did you have a bad dream?”

Nervous, fearful laughter tumbled out of her lips. “The worse.”

“Do you want me to sleep in here?”

“No, it’s okay. Mommy’s okay.” Kate met Richard’s eyes from over the top of Joey’s ruffled hair. Something had scared her half out of her skin.

“You should get back to sleep.”

Joey yawned, tugged out of his mother’s arms, and hobbled back out of the room.

“Come on, let’s get you back to bed.” Richard took him by the hand, led him to his room, and tucked him in.

“Is my mommy okay?”

Richard smiled at the concerned expression on the child’s face. “Yeah, she’s fine. Just a bad dream.”

“I’d have bad dreams too if I was hurt like her.” Joey’s eyes started to close before Richard snuck out of the room.

Richard returned to Kate’s side and sat on the edge of her bed. Some color had returned to her face, but her breath was still rushed.

“I’m sorry I woke you.”

“Don’t be.” He took her hand in his. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I never have nightmares. Now I’ve had two in a row, one yesterday when you picked up Joey and now this.”

“Was it the same dream?” Richard asked.

“No. The first one I was being chased, by what I don’t know. But I knew if I stopped it would kill me.” She took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “This one was different.”

“How?” She was probably experiencing some type of posttraumatic stress from her ordeal. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe one of those scratches were bites. Or that her dreams would clue her into the changes that would happen if she had been turned.

“It was just a stupid dream, it’s nothing.”

“Sometimes talking about them helps.” He didn’t know if that was true, but it sounded good.

Kate shrugged her shoulders. “Joey was in our apartment. There was a dog by him…” she broke off.

Richard felt her pulse quicken as her hand squeezed over his. “The dog ripped into his throat. Then I woke up.”

Richard jaw clenched. “Did the dog in your dream resemble the one from the restaurant?”

“Not really.” A pensive smile met him. “I guess it’s normal to have a few nightmares after being shot. Don’t you think?”

“I’m sure it is.” But are they memories? Or Premonitions?

“You should get back to sleep,” he said. He rose to leave but her grip tightened.

“Richard, umm…” She caught her lower lip in her teeth. “Will you stay here until I fall asleep? I know it’s childish but…”

“Stop, you don’t need to explain.” In fact, he couldn’t think of a better place to be than by her side.

He dimmed the light and lay beside her. To his delight, she curled up next to him. Her cheek rested on his chest. If she noticed that he still wore the clothes he had left the house in hours before, she didn’t say.

She, on the other hand, wore a thin cotton nightshirt. On its front, a teddy bear wore a hat, fuzzy slippers, and stood holding a cup of coffee that said ‘I don’t do mornings.’

Funny, most of the women in his life wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something like that to bed.

Their usual attire purchased out of a fancy lingerie magazine or store. Either that or they wore nothing at all.

Some of the tension left her body. Her tremors diminished and her breathing evened out. He

detected the fresh smell of strawberries and cream from the shampoo she’d used in her hair. He leaned back and stroked the silky expanse of her tresses.

Her sigh sounded more like a purr.

“Where do you live?” she asked.

“Below Malibu. I have a home on the beach.”

“Why didn’t you take us there?”

“I told you. This house is set up with a security system. Mine is less secluded.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“No. I also thought you’d like the safety of other people around.”

“Hmm…”

Her lids fluttered shut, her breath evened to deep silent waves.

“Richard?”

“Yes,” he whispered.