Chapter Ten
Bre was quiet when they got back to their room at the farmhouse.
No one had lingered when they’d walked through, and Jonah had a feeling he had Tony to thank for that.
Jonah kept hearing Bre say how she didn’t like to be touched, and every possible reason why kept running through his head.
She stood by the foot of the bed, looking lost, and he hated it.
This was her sanctuary. It had been from the day he’d carried her inside and stayed with her.
“What do you need?” he asked.
“Will you hold me?” She sounded lost and broken. When she glanced up at him with eyes already spilling tears, she ripped out his heart.
“Always,” he whispered, sitting on the mattress and pulling her onto his lap. “Forever.”
“I don’t know why I’m crying.” She seemed gutted.
“Crying is healthy,” Jonah said. “There’s no shame in tears. I imagine tonight brought a lot of emotions to the surface.”
“I love my brothers, but a part of me can’t let go of the feeling of abandonment. I know we were all kids. I understand there were threats to my life. It still hurts. They had each other, and I had no one.”
“Of course, it hurts. You were used to keep Murphy and Finn in line, and I’m sure they were used in some manner to make you feel like everyone had walked away from you.
These purist groups are great at mind games.
They dismantle and destroy. Mentally, physically, emotionally.
” Jonah used his thumbs to wipe away some of her tears. “Give yourself time.”
“I’ve been here almost a full month now,” she stated.
“Which isn’t as long as it seems. The body takes time to heal.
The mind and soul even longer. A month, a year, ten years.
There’s no set time for processing trauma.
Take the time you need. None of us are going anywhere.
I’ll still be here by your side every day.
Murphy and Finn will be here, too. We can’t change the past, no matter how much we want to, but we can ensure a future where we’re in charge of our fate. ”
“I want to know them. I see their mates’ love for them. Finn’s son, Sean.” She rubbed her chest. “There’s another baby. I don’t… I hate not remembering. I hate almost remembering even more.”
“Do you think there was a baby being held with you?” He wouldn’t put it past those who’d kept her captive to use a child to further manipulate her. That was another common theme with hunters. Give the shifter a friend or sibling or child, let them bond, then use one to control the other.
“There were others,” she offered, squeezing her lids tightly closed as if trying to see something on the back of them.
“Here or in Ireland?” Jonah asked.
“Here,” she answered without opening her eyes. “I was in the ground. Trees and sky then nothing but stone floors and walls. Voices. Screams. It echoed.”
Jonah sat silently, trying not to move as Bre spoke. She was remembering something, and he didn’t want to pull her away from what she saw. She shuddered and didn’t say anything else.
“You were in the ground?” he finally asked.
“They had a cloth over my head. It was weighted and coated in something to mess with my senses. Everything was muffled, and the smell of it overpowered everything else. I tripped and fell hard. I fought when they forced me to my feet, and for a moment, the cloth shifted enough for me to see the trees reaching toward the sky. Then I was jerked back to my feet and shoved forward. We went down. There were steps, but mostly, it was a worn path that kept leading down. I fell several times. They laughed.”
Jonah had to swallow down the anger that filled his throat. He wanted to find every one of the bastards and ensure they died slowly and painfully. A knock on their door interrupted their conversation.
“You okay?” Jonah asked and rose after her nod, though he had a feeling he knew who was at the door. Tony. Still, he wasn’t prepared for who was with him.
“Oak. Tony. What do you need?” Jonah asked and turned immediately to move to Bre’s side.
“We’ve found you or record of you, anyway,” Oakley said without preamble. “In Ireland and maybe, where you were kept stateside.”
“What? How? Where?” Bre demanded as she clung to Jonah’s hand.
“Are you familiar with the term watcher?” Tony asked.
Bre shook her head.
“They’re a group of people, humans, who watch over and keep records about shifters,” Tony answered.
“Keep records? That’s not very helpful. I’d rather someone help me than just keep track of how often I’m tortured and how I finally die.” Bre looked furious, and Jonah tugged her close to his side.
“Many watchers have lost their lives stepping in to protect those they watch. Not all, but many. There are good and bad among them, just like in every other group,” Tony told them. “Even shifters.”
Jonah had known several shifters who’d betrayed family, friends, and other shifters, so he knew Tony wasn’t lying.
“In Ireland, you were kept in a secure facility. From what we were able to find, shifters taken there were all for experiments and most were kept isolated,” Oakley shared.
Bre nodded, shadows filling her eyes. Jonah hated it. Even if she didn’t have solid memories, she knew. Her animal side knew. “How? How do you have this information?”
“There’s a shifter with the pride named Calloway Meyer.
His mate, Darby, is a watcher, just like her father.
When Darby and Calloway were on their way here, her father, Andrew Kline went to Ireland at the request of a group there.
They weren’t able to uncover a lot while he was there, but they were able to get their hands on some records.
All of them were encrypted. They lost some while they tried to decode them, learning the hard way the files were set to delete when there was a failed attempt to access,” Tony said.
“They’ve continued to work, slowly, trying to salvage every bit of information they can. ”
“The most common studies were on how to completely separate the bond between the shifter and their animal side,” Oakley informed them. “It was the sole purpose of the facility where you were taken, Brenna.”
“Your dreams,” Jonah reminded his mate.
“The operating room. The gurney and lights. The man staring down at me. Let’s begin,” she whispered.
“It’s why you don’t like to be touched,” Jonah said as it clicked in his head. She’d been kept alone, only allowed human touch when there was pain involved. Another way to control her if anyone ever did get in and try to rescue her.
“They hurt me,” she said and rubbed her hands up and down her arms.
“That’s what they do,” Oakley said. “In any way they can. The more painful, the better.”
“They hurt you, too?” Bre asked.
“They hurt any of us they can get their hands on,” Oakley said. “Murphy was rescued just before you were dropped on the pride’s doorstep. He was close to death when I found him.”
Bre shuddered.
“He’s better now, but he has his own nightmares of what he lived through.
The same as me, Finn, Laura, and every other shifter who’s found their way to this pride.
We’ve all been through hell. I don’t say that to minimize anything you went through.
More to let you know you’re not alone. No matter how much it feels like it.
You’re not. When you’re ready, there are so many people who’d love to meet you.
Who want to offer you all the support you want or need,” Oakley said.
“Why? I don’t know any of them?” There was confusion in Bre’s voice.
“They know Finn and Murphy and that you’re their sister,” Tony said. “For them, especially their alpha, that makes you family, and they take that seriously. Whether you accept them or not, you’re already a member of the pride as far as they’re concerned.”
“I… I can’t think of that now. It’s…” Bre paused and shook her head. “Overwhelming. Go back to this watcher, Kline. If they’ve been working slowly on recovering data, how have you suddenly found answers?”
“They’ve managed to uncover things here and there as they’ve worked,” Oakley said. “The problem was nothing made sense. Dates, times, file notations. Document numbers.”
“That’s where Oakley comes in,” Tony added with a look of pride for his cousin.
“She created a database from the records of the most infamous doctor who worked with the hunters, Victor Talbot. She’s continued to improve on it over the years.
It was her suggestion to see if we could use what Kline found in Ireland to cross reference the records already stored in her system. ”
Oakley waved Tony’s praise off. “My best friend, Travis, and I put it together, with some help from Styles, one of my team. When we fed in some of the information Mr. Kline managed to get his hands on, we found records. Of you, Brenna. Records that were sent to Talbot. For him to review and give input on.”
“Records?”
Jonah caught Bre in his arms as her legs seemed to give out.
“Do you know what they did?” she asked.
“Better than that. We know the formulas of the drugs they used on you and what we need to do to flush them from your system,” Tony told her.
“Will it help my memory?” Bre whispered.
“That’s the goal, but we can’t make any promises,” Tony warned.
“All I can guarantee is, we’ll do everything we can to help you.
” He paused and moved his gaze to Jonah, holding it as he continued.
“But I won’t allow anything that might put you in harm.
You have a mate now. A family. Not just the pride but this group.
Me. No matter what, Bre, your life comes first. For all of us. ”
Jonah had never loved Tony more than he did at that moment. They often joked that Tony put information before people, but Jonah finally saw just how inaccurate that was. While Tony might make hard decisions others seemed incapable of, he always put people first. Especially those he loved.