“Ca—Caleb?”
“Yes, I’m right here. You are not alone.”
She started crying again, and he did the only thing he could think to do: he gathered her into his arms and settled into the bed, holding her close to him. “It’s okay. You aren’t there. It’s just a bad dream.”
“It was horrible.”
Someday, he and Janek were going to have a face-to-face meeting, and he’d kick his fucking ass. Show him what it was like to be the one living in fear. “It’s over. It was just a nightmare.”
“You don’t understand.”
He whispered against her hair as tears soaked his chest. “You are safe here.”
“It’s—” she hiccupped. “It’s not just a nightmare,” she whispered, “it’s part memory, but it changed. Now it’s worse than before.”
“You’re safe here with me.” He’s going to find fucker and rip him limb from limb. He’d enjoy every damn second of it too. He shifted them on the bed so he could reach the bottle of water he placed on the bedside table while she was in the shower and poured some from the bottle into a glass. “Sip this, baby girl. You sound hoarse.” There was no way he was telling her he suspected she was hoarse from screaming. It was enough that he knew it. She sat up, and he adjusted the pillows behind them. She sipped the water when he put it to her lips.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Her eyes filled with something he couldn’t describe.
She settled against him again, and he didn’t care if it was wrong or if he had crossed some line or other that he didn’t know about. He hugged her close to him, smoothing his hand down her back. “I’m here. I’m here.” Every time she sniffled, it clawed at him. He was a protector to his soul, damn it, he wanted to fix this for her if she’d let him. “Do you want me to stay with you?”
“I don’t know.”
He didn’t blame her for being unsure. She’d been through so much, that she wasn’t freaking out every time he touched her was a freaking miracle he was grateful to have.
“I don’t want to dream and be afraid of you.”
Is she worried about me?
Damn woman.
He grumbled to himself in his head. “I promise I’ll know it’s not me you are afraid of. Maybe if I stay in your dreams, you’ll know you don’t have to fight alone.”
She thought about it for a moment and nodded, her cheek rubbing just over his heart. “Okay.”
“Baby girl, I’ll be right here.” If only he could do as he’d offered and fight the demons in her dreams for her. “I’ll hold you until you wake. If you need me, I’ll be right here.”
Distracted by her fingers playing with the hairs on his chest, she murmured something he didn’t quite make out. But as he closed his eyes, he figured it didn’t matter quite so much. “Sleep, baby girl, I got you.”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
He woke with his heart almost pounding out of his chest. Who the fuck was hammering on his front door like they were a freaking cop with a warrant? He growled in annoyance when Rose jerked away and scrambled to the other side of the bed, as far away from him as she could get.
“What’s happening?”
“Somebody’s gonna get their ass kicked, that’s what’s happening.” He managed to keep the rage out of his voice. She was already freaked out enough. “Stay here. I’ll see who it is.”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
He could barely make out the sound of his phone ringing in the other room. “It’s probably one of the guys. I’ll be right back; don’t move.”
“Okay.”
He double-timed it out of her room and into the living room. Stopping long enough to grab a weapon from the case behind the couch, he double-checked it was loaded before going to the window. He pulled back the curtain and scanned the parking lot. Three blacked-out trucks and one dark gray pickup he recognized as his own told him he was probably safe to check the peephole on the door without exposing himself to the potential danger of a bullet through the door.
He put his eye to the glass and sighed, then slid back the deadbolts and the chains on the door. “What the hell, Kace?” He allowed his brother in and was nearly trampled by the rest of Alpha and Bravo teams, except for Draven, who was on his honeymoon by now, as they followed hot on his heels. “Stay here, and don’t break shit,” he ordered. “I’m going to let Rose know it’s only you guys.”
“You better have coffee,” Tate muttered. “My head is killing me.”
