Chapter Three
Brenna was dreaming again. It was different.
She was lying on the ground. Still and silent.
A little girl wept over her, screaming and begging for her to wake up.
Across the way an older man and two younger men were beating a boy with fists and well-placed kicks.
Another boy tried to intervene. The attackers kept knocking the second one away, but he wouldn’t stay down.
He was screaming, pleading. Murphy. That was the name he called, over and over again.
The men didn’t stop, and Brenna knew they would kill the boy.
Seeming to have enough of the interference, the two younger men turned on the other boy. He fought, but he was no match for them. Brenna screamed again when she heard the snap of bone. They tossed the boy aside as if he were nothing, as if he were something to discard.
Finn!
That was her voice. Her scream. But Finn didn’t move. That was when Brenna began screaming in earnest. One phrase over and over again. Stop! Make it stop.
Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.
The older man turned to her then held up his hand to the other two.
“Get them out of here,” he ordered as he came to her, kneeling before her. “Shh, my little Brenna. You’re okay. Da’s got you.”
She shook her head, horrified as she watched them toss Murphy in the back of a car. He wasn’t moving, and he was covered in blood. Then they went for Finn.
“Finn!” she screamed, and he turned his head toward her. Pain. She felt it as if it were her own.
“Brenna!”
“Leave be, girl,” her father warned. “They’re not for you.”
“Don’t leave me! Finn!”
“Brenna! I’ll come back for you! I promise!”
She’d collapsed into sobs as her brothers were taken from her. She feared she’d never see them again. That her father was only having them taken elsewhere before he killed them. Another glance down at the woman on the ground, and she realized it was no longer her. It was her mother.
“You’re not like them, my girl. Da’s here, and I’m going to take care of you.”
The promise wrapped around her throat like fingers, squeezing tighter and tighter.
He lifted her into his arms and turned to carry her away from the woman.
Brenna glanced back, and the woman’s eyes opened.
A chill went down Brenna’s spine as she watched her mother’s lips part.
It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t real. Even knowing that, she couldn’t control the fear that seized her as the dead spoke.
Remember!
She shook her head. She couldn’t! Every time she tried, her head hurt.
They need you to remember!
A sob left her. Who? Who needed her to remember?
You’re stronger than they think. Remember, little lamb. Remember, and you’ll save them all.
She blinked, and everything changed. Gurney. Hall. Lights. That voice above her that brought terror.
Let’s begin.
She woke with a blood-curdling scream. Silent no more, her cries seemed to echo around the room.
She couldn’t shut them off, couldn’t pull herself fully out of the nightmare that still clawed at her with the razor-sharp slash of a scalpel.
Jonah launched from the bed, slapping something on the bedside table before landing in a half crouch, positioning himself to take on any threat present.
There wasn’t one. At least, not outside her mind.
“Bre,” he called, his gaze still skating around the room as he took everything in. “Hey, I’m here. I’ve got you.”
She crawled into his lap as soon as he sat on the bed, wrapping around him so tightly she wasn’t sure if he could breathe.
Jonah didn’t complain. He never did. He held her, running his hands up and down her back, doing his best to soothe.
She heard the thunder of footsteps then their door was being shoved open.
She glanced over and took in Tony, Mitch, and two others.
She burrowed further into Jonah as she forced herself to swallow down her screams.
“You hit your emergency call,” Tony said then looked pointedly around at the room that obviously held no threat.
“Sorry about that. It was instinctive,” Jonah bluffed. She knew he’d done it because she’d scared him. She’d scared herself. She’d never been locked so tightly in her dream that she couldn’t tell when she was no longer in it. Never screamed the way she had earlier.
“You guys okay?” Mitch asked. Jonah’s best friend. No judgement on his face. She thought she might like him. Maybe.
“We’re good. Just a bit of a dream gone wrong,” Jonah murmured.
“No worries,” Mitch said. “We’ll head back up.”
Mitch and Tony shared a look before Mitch nudged the other two out then followed them.
“What was the dream about, Brenna?” Tony asked.
“Finn.” She shocked them all when she whispered her twin’s name. Her voice was husky. From lack of use or the screaming or maybe, it had always been that way.
Jonah smiled down at her. “Now, that’s the most beautiful sound I’ve heard in a long time.”
She turned her face back toward his neck, her lips brushing over the strong column as she hid. Not a kiss exactly but close enough for now.
“That makes sense,” Tony said. “You had an altercation with him today. It’s only natural he’d be on your mind. Want to talk about it?”
She turned back cautiously, meeting Tony’s gaze before shaking her head.
“You don’t have to,” Jonah swore, and Tony sighed.
“Eventually, you do. We can’t help you until you do, and we want to help you. Jonah, me, my team, your brothers, and the pride they’re a part of now. We all want to be here for you, but you have to let us in. Talk to us.”
She wanted to but not yet. She didn’t remember. Why couldn’t she remember? She shook her head again, tapping a finger against her forehead.
Tony nodded as if he understood what she said, but he didn’t stop questioning her. “Do you know if they drugged you?”
She thought for a minute, saw images in her head where needles were forced into her veins. She shoved away the memories before they could pull her into a dark she wasn’t prepared to face. Then she met Tony’s gaze and nodded.
“Okay. I can take some blood from you,” Tony offered.
She shook her head frantically. Her mind raced with panic. She hated needles. God, she hated the sting of it entering her skin, the pain when it was yanked out.
“Okay. We’ll put that on pause for now, but I can’t be sure of what’s been given to you without that,” Tony told her.
She shook her head again, burrowing into Jonah’s embrace.
“No bloodwork,” Jonah growled, wrapping her tighter against him. She knew he felt her trembling.
“You said your brother’s name. Want to tell us about the dream?” Tony asked, moving back to her dream.
She kept her face buried in Jonah’s throat.
“You’ve spoken. We all heard you even if it was one word. There’s no going back now,” Tony warned.
“Leave her be,” Jonah said.
“I can’t. This is the first she’s spoken since we found her and brought her home. Look at me, Bre.”
Tony’s order was the direct opposite of Finn’s when he’d pleaded with the same words. She’d been unable to look at the brother she couldn’t remember but felt emotionally overwhelmed around. Still, she turned her head and met Tony’s gaze.
“I’ve spent my life working to rescue and protect shifters from the hell they’ve been subjected to, and I’ll continue to do that until I take my last breath.
I’ve saved lives, but it never erases the ones where I was too late.
I don’t know your story or the scars you hold internally, but I know others.
I have my own. And I can promise you, the only way to heal is by talking to us.
Let us help you. Whatever you dreamed about, tonight and all the other nights, talk to us. ”
She couldn’t smother the little voice of warning in her head that urged her to keep quiet.
She couldn’t give them what they needed.
Not yet. Her brother’s name had spilled out as if it had slid past a barrier no other words could breach.
She leaned into Jonah, anchoring herself to him, knowing without doubt he’d protect her. He didn’t disappoint.
“She’s done for tonight,” Jonah said. “If you’ll take your leave, maybe, we can all get a little more sleep.”
She glanced back and found her gaze captured by Tony’s. One look and she knew. He wouldn’t wait much longer. Fear fluttered along her spine. How far would he push her to get what he wanted?