Mira couldn't quite place what her dream was about; whether it had been a good or a bad one. Though, if Rumi gently but urgently nudging her awake with her snout was any indication, Mira presumed it was the latter.
"Mira? Mir, hey, you're okay. Can you get up for me for a moment? Please?"
At first Mira only groaned quietly, but ultimately complied, repositioning herself so she was half-lying now. Her mind felt hazy and her vision bleary, half formed remnants of her nightmare already slipping away by the time she managed to properly focus her attention on their pack leader.
"Rumi," she breathed the lupine's name drowsily. She got a tender nuzzle to the throat in response.
"You've been twisting and turning," Rumi spoke in a hushed tone in order to not wake their youngest who continued to snooze on from between them in their warm cuddle pile. Mira automatically–naturally–readjusted. "Figured you weren't having the bestest of dreams and thought you'd appreciate having it cut short? Maybe? Hopefully??"
The clear worry and care that laced the purple furred's tone was more than enough to draw out a small but fond chuckle from the bigger wolf.
"I do. Thanks for saving me the misery."
Rumi nodded insistingly. "Of course. Anytime." She then paused for a second before she pulled away slightly from Mira to look at her, gaze searching. Mira wasn't given the time to mourn the loss of contact before her mate spoke again. "Was it... Was it that dream?"
Mira thought for a silent moment, then shrugged. "Honestly, I can't really remember anymore. But I'm feeling the way I'd always do when it was, so I guess..?"
With that she meant she'd always wake up confused and disoriented. Shaken up and bordering on panic but somehow managing to save face regardless. Phantom touches would trace her collar, that damned thing. Hands that Tugged and pulled and choked.
Most days she'd pride herself with it because it told a story, because it had a meaningful history. Other days she'd consider abandoning it in a far away place, hidden from prying eyes.
Sometimes, on the rarer occasions, she'd seek comfort in it for reasons she hated thinking or remotely talking about.
Right now, though, they simply felt a tad too tight around her throat. Suffocating. And despite Mira maybe masking it well enough, she wasn't sure if she was breathing right just yet. It was hard to act like she was and she hated that fact.
But it was fine. She'd be fine. She wasn't a stranger to the feeling, she could handle it. She just had to focus. She can focus.
It's just that Rumi hadn't stopped staring at her since she answered.
Mira didn't know if there was something about her expression that betrayed her true unease, but before she could even ask, their leader was already speaking.
"You're safe, Mira," she soothed with nothing but gentleness in her tone. "You're not back there anymore. You're here, with me, with us. Your family. Your pack."
"We love you, always and forever," Zoey suddenly chimed in with slurred words from inbetween the two canines, succesfully startling the pair.
"Zoey–" Rumi laughed quietly in surprise, "Sorry, did we wake you?"
"Naahh, I'm just attentive like that," the baby blue furred drawled before shifting to huddle closer to Mira. "Smelled glum vibes. Can't have that now, can we?"
Mira opened her mouth to argue but Rumi, once again, was faster.
"Agreed, 100%" Rumi nodded once, twice, before she got up and rounded them, only to then plop back down on Mira's other side. "Tonight you stay in the middle."
"Wait what?" Mira spluttered, her head whipping to look at Rumi wide-eyed. "But–"
"There's no use arguing, Mimi. Just accept your faith," Zoey hummed lazily, her words muffled with the way she tried to talk through the bigger's thick coat of fur.
There was a moment of silence that hung over them in which they expected Mira to try and dissuade them again. So when she didn't it surprised them both.
"You guys sure?" Mira had eventually asked them instead, her voice barely there, "This is really fine..?"
Her tone sounded so unexpectedly small and vulnerable that it didn't just tug but aggresively yank at their collective heartstrings. She maybe won't admit it herself but Zoey and Rumi knew.
"Of course," Rumi leaned into the wolf's side with a soft but resolute whisper. "We love you," Zoey had added as she somehow buried her face even deeper into the pink furred's chest.
Warmth. That was all Mira could feel as she silently lay between her mates. Their love. Their care. Their devotion. All of it, just for her.
Mira didn't think she deserved them. More often than not she'd have a hard time believing so.
Still, despite that, she was but a selfish and greedy wolf who reveled in them anyway.
She allowed her body to calm in their presence.
She allowed her mind to slow its pace.
She allowed her consciousness to drift at last.
And soon she was lost to the land of dreams once again, this time feeling the slightest bit lighter.