Surreptitious

Chapter 33: Ricochet

When Hope opened her eyes it was dark, but the moon was high in the sky and, even though not full, provided enough light for her keen eyes to see by. She knew something was different – something that had been missing was now present. She moved from her sleeping position and realized she was on all fours.

No, she was on all paws. She had wolfed out!

A sudden surge of exhilaration filled her from the tip of her tongue to the tip of her tail as she immediately started running. It was intoxicating – the way she could feel the soil between her paw pads every time she kicked up dirt as she ran, or how she could taste the sweet and humid air all around her as her tongue lolled out of her mouth, or how she could pick up the scent of every stray creature or nearby plant or tree. Hope was in her element as she weaved between the trees, like a needle and snow-white thread.

She picked up speed and thundered through the woods until her muscles ached and her chest heaved and she was panting heavily from trying to catch her breath. She slowed down as she tried to sniff the air and find her way around; point herself in the right direction. Something was strange about her surroundings.

Before she knew what had hit her, she was thrown onto the ground with great strength and rolled over a few times before she came to a stop. She had barely opened her eyes or moved a limb in order to jump up and protect herself against her attacker, when she found herself pinned down by a large, black wolf with shining copper eyes.

Josie?

Hang on…

Hope whined in confusion as Josie growled threateningly at her, not yet willing to move to let Hope get up. The white wolf continued to lay perfectly still as she tried to piece everything together. She idly glanced around them again and realized why the woods she had been running through were both familiar and unusual to her at the same time.

She was in Josie’s subconscious. Which meant that this was a dream. A very lucid dream. Hope knew that twin flames could share dreams, as her and Josie had proven before and not too long ago while they were in New Orleans. But that meant Josie was asleep and dreaming with her, was she not?

Why would Josie’s wolf attack Hope’s?

Looking closer at the glowing copper orbs, it seemed like the wolf was not recognizing Hope at all. In fact, the longer she studied the black beast, the more dazed and confused it seemed with who either of them was. Josie seemed almost completely feral and was most likely attacking Hope simply to protect her territory.

Josie wasn’t lucid, Hope figured. She had to get Josie lucid.

Josie growled deeply again and Hope pushed past the threatening snarl in a show of courage as she carefully sniffed at Josie’s muzzle, then slowly licked at her mouth.

Josie whined at the motion and licked her lips, and for a moment she looked like she wanted to pin Hope down again, but finally opted to move back and off of the white wolf. When Hope moved to stand up once more, the look in Josie’s eyes had changed. They glowed brighter now and sparkled with recognition.

The black wolf then leapt forward, immediately brushing tightly up against the white one, ducking her head beneath Hope’s chin to rub up against her chest and throat, then nuzzled contently into her neck. Josie then spun around once or twice in excitement, yipping and barking enthusiastically, before backing up onto her hind legs in order to pop her front paws over Hope’s back playfully, swiftly nipping and tugging at one of her ears in further displays of affection.

Hope wasn’t sure how much of what she was experiencing was Josie’s wolf, or how much of a lucid and conscious Josie was inside of the animal, but it allowed Hope a potent moment of realization as she returned all of the other creature’s affections in equal amounts of loving and playful enthusiasm.