Wind buffeted the sides of the house, the slate covers slapping against the siding like drums, joining the horrible orchestra of monsters baying for blood outside. The devious ensemble clattered, roared, and caterwauled, making their hatred of Golden Fields defiant walls known to all within.

  Looking out the window, Luke jumped as a streak of lightning burned across the blackened sky.

  The sudden flash left him blind for several moments. Stars danced in his vision; only the afterimage of the lightning bolt was clear. Once Luke had managed to regain his focus, he sat up in bed and sighed.

  He could not sleep. It was not that the storm scared him or anything so childish, no, it was simply so unbelievably loud that Mister Sandman could not find him.

  Tonight, that entity’s task would be like echolocating through the battle of Verdun. It was simply impossible, not with the storm raging against the house like that.

  As he righted himself, another flash of lightning illuminated the door leading to the hall. Standing proudly in the portal were two small figures. A pair of familiar silhouettes—though their uncanny timing still baffled him.

  Ember, the ever-present and stubborn barn cat, beside her sat the most misanthropic bunny to ever grace the earth, Button. Even in that little flash of light, the sheer unwillingness to deal with anyone he did not wish to was apparent in his brown, bitter eyes.

  “What do you two wanna sleep here?” Luke asked, pointing at his bed, acting like they could genuinely reply.

  Luke doubted the pair could do so. But at this point, he was doubting everything he knew about the pair's potential. They had already proven clever enough to herd the other rabbits; overthrowing Morel as rulers of the farm felt like their next scheme.

  Instead of the preternaturally sharp animals confirming or denying their mutinous desires to force Luke from his bed, they stared at him long and intently; the lightning flares allowed Luke only glimpses of the statuesque pair.

  Feeling odd, not quite scared, more perturbed by the strange situation, Luke shuffled out of bed and toward the ajar door, ready to nudge them out and shut the door. The whole scene felt more like a ghost story than midnight on a quiet farm.

  But as he neared the door, instead of remaining stock still in the hallway, Button and Ember started to move. They sauntered down the hallway, toward Morel’s room. Light poured out from her cracked door, letting Luke clearly see as the pair turned to look back at him.

  Ember looked between Luke and Morel’s room, his desire obvious to Luke. The kitten did the same thing in the mornings when she wanted food. She would look at Luke with annoyance, then back to her empty bowl.

  That objective action would repeat until Luke addressed the issue.

  Understanding that the cat demanded he attend to some issue in Morel’s room, Luke followed. Inside the well-lit room, Luke was at a loss for what Ember wanted.

  Morel, concealed beneath the covers, tossed and turned, the only indication of distress showing its head when thunder drummed, causing the large woman to yelp and curl in on herself beneath the blanket.

  Her bunnies huddled in the corner, watching as Luke tentatively approached the bed. He cast his gaze toward the nightstand and raised a brow, seeing powerful sleeping meds sitting in a bottle. If he took any medication that potent, he would be asleep for days.

  If she took a regular dose of them and was still tossing and turning, Luke could hardly imagine what terrors were accosting her dreams.

  As the distance closed, her words became no more intelligible. She babbled, muttered, and whimpered, her pained voice carving into Luke’s mind like knives.

  He reached out for her and touched her shoulder through the covers. “Hey, Morel. Are you---“

  As he asked the question, Morel’s unconscious reflex took over; her hand shot out from the blankets and hauled him in before he could react. Darkness enveloped him as Morel cradled him like he was some kind of life-sized teddy bear.

  Before Luke had even fully realized what had happened, Morel clamped down on him, squeezing him tightly. Her heart hammered against his ear, racing faster than he had ever known, its powerful beat drowning out the rolling thunder.

  “Let me go,” Luke wheezed, squirming against her iron grip.

  He struggled and thrashed like a cat stuffed into a burlap sack. Against any human, Luke would have swiftly freed himself, but when it came to Morel, each motion was only sinking him in further.

  After nearly a minute of pitifully attempting to free himself, Luke stopped, shifted slightly, and looked up from the soft swell of Morel’s chest toward her eyes.

  They were closed tightly, as if she were in pain. Now that he had stopped battling her, Luke could make out the words she was saying while in her drug-induced coma.

  Morel spoke about how the monsters in her closet were going to get her, kill her bunnies, and, to his shock, she even cried about how he was in danger as well.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  That a demon hiding in the rolling hill was readying itself to descend and carry him off into the distance—leaving her all alone again.

  Luke’s heart broke at the sight of her like this. He stopped fighting her altogether and shifted to hug her back. It was difficult because of how tightly he was being held, but Luke did manage to reach all the way around her, holding her and rubbing his hand up the soft fur on her bare back.

  This had the desired effect. Morel's worried cries lessened, and even her heart rate dropped. It was as if his touch cast away the needle-fingered beast digging into her dreamscape.

  "It's alright," Luke assured in a voice only reserved for one paramour. "You're safe."

  As his fingers splayed within her velvet fur, a realization welled up in his mind, one that was confirmed when Morel moved her leg and cast her plush thigh across his waist. Morel was completely naked beneath the blankets. His face heated as he became suddenly aware of her warmth pressed against him, her body soft against his; the only thing separating them was his painfully thin shirt and boxers.

  Luke shifted his hips back, his own body reacting in the way any red-blooded man would to having such a beauty pressing herself against them. He felt awkward enough being held like this; his hard-on pressing into her only made it more embarrassing.

  That effort was pointless, as Morel simply flexed her leg, forcing Luke’s crotch back against hers. He stiffened as her weight pressed him down into the pillows, both hers and the actual bed.

  Luke did not sleep that night. How could he? Morel was breathtaking, and his head was spinning as her warm almond scent wrapped around him, rich and overwhelming.

  Despite the lack of sleep, Luke did not feel bad about this. Morel needed him right now, even if she was asleep and did not consciously know she was snuggling him and not a pillow.

  Throughout the night, he was careful about where he touched her, doing his best not to cop a feel.

  The last thing Luke needed now that they were finally starting to have a stable relationship was to have Morel think he was some kind of disgusting pervert who touches women in their sleep.

  There was enough about his past that made him an enigma to Morel. Having to explain why he struggled to open up, and the vile acts of his family, were enough of a struggle. Adding needing to clear his name as an upstanding man, who did not gallivant around molesting women, was something he desperately did not need to add to his troubles.

  By the time the sun's first beams trickled in through the window, the storm had long since passed. The yowl of the local fox could be heard, breaking the sound of the birds singing their jubilation at having survived nature’s siege.

  Morel’s awakening was slow and drawn out. The effects of her self-medication make her recovery sluggish. Her eyes creaked open, her emerald gems struggling to focus.

  “Oh,” Morel breathed, smiling slowly, “this is a much better dream than the last one.” She pushed the covers down to her waist and ran her hand along Luke’s flank. “I didn’t think I would have this dream after those nightmares.”

  “Uh..this is not a dream,” Luke admitted, doing all he could to not look at her chest. But even with all his power, he could not fully resist and stole a glance.

  Morel was blessed with massive breasts, twice the size of his head, capped with perfectly pink nipples; nipples that stiffened now that she was uncovered.

  “Even better,” Morel replied, leaning in and kissing Luke’s cheek. “Thanks for keeping me company during the storm.”

  “I didn’t have much of a choice,” Luke replied, “you kinda abducted me, after Button led me here.”

  “Well. Would you have stayed if I asked you instead?” Morel replied, rubbing a hand over her hip in a slow, teasing gesture. "I do have trouble with storms."

  “Yeah,” Luke swallowed his spit.

  “Perfect,” Morel said, gently embracing Luke once again. "Sorry if this made you feel awkward."

  "It's fine. I hated seeing you upset like that."

  "Well, ain't you just a gentleman," Morel replied.

  Silence fell over them as neither moved. Both enjoying the warmth of the other. Luke was the first one to break the calm.

  "Hey, so why do you have so much trouble with storms?"

  Morel sighed and looked over at her bunnies, waiting for her to get out of bed and feed them. They could wait.

  "Well. I was always terrified by them as a kid. I never really grew out of that." Morel admitted. "I even went to therapy for it. But the doc just gave me those."

  "I see," Luke replied, looking over at the pills. "Do they work?"

  "A bit, but I have to admit, having you in bed gave me a much better sleep than what they give."

  "Glad to be of use. But, I do need to go get some sleep myself...you kept me up." Luke said, squirming slightly away.

  "Alright, sug."

  They separated, and Luke was allowed to leave her arms, but doing so made him feel cold, like he’d stepped away from something he wasn’t quite ready to leave; like there in her embrace, and at her side was natural.

  Morel stayed in her bed, while Luke left her room. He had requested that she do so, wishing, in his mind, to leave her with some modesty. Morel smiled as he paused at the door and looked back at her. His gaze softened with something like awe as he lingered in the doorway, taking in the gentle curve of her beneath the blankets.

  “You know, you can just stay here and sleep some more,” Morel purred, “I won’t bite.”

  “I know, but I doubt we would sleep much.”

  “Maybe. But, I would not mind that,” Morel replied.

  “Yeah,” Luke said awkwardly, before turning toward his room, leaving Morel so he could take a nap in his bed; all he had to do was push Button and Ember to the edge of his bed. The pair had claimed the dead center as their bed for the night.