...Ghosts in the Dark...
The night in the packhouse held a heaviness that Elena could feel on her skin, like cold fingers running down her spine. No matter how many blankets she wrapped herself in, sleep refused to come.
She lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling, the remnants of Lorenzo's closeness still burning on her skin. His words from earlier replayed like a whisper trapped inside her ribs:
"Don't ever think silence can hide what your eyes scream at me."
Her heart clenched.
Her throat tightened.
The bond hummed.
But the moment her eyelids drooped, the darkness shifted. And the past pounced.
Heat. Smoke. Cracking wood.
Elena's breath hitched as the dream dragged her under...
No, not a dream. A memory.
A fire raging too fast.
A voice yelling for her to run.
The world drowning in smoke.
Her mouth opened in a scream no one heard,
No one came.
Until rough hands dragged her back into the darkness.
Her body jerked violently.
She woke with a silent gasp, chest heaving, the scream trapped in her lungs like it always was. Her fingers clawed at the sheets tangled around her legs, her entire body shaking. Sweat trickled down her temples.
Her lips parted, but nothing, nothing escaped her throat.
The same nightmare.
The same silence.
The same helplessness that left her trembling and small.
Elena pressed her hands against her mouth, trying to hold herself together, but the memories kept tearing at the seams. Tears spilled hot and fast down her cheeks.
Then.
The faintest sound.
Footsteps.
Soft, controlled… but urgent.
Her head snapped up.
Lorenzo stood in the doorway, shoulders rising and falling with a breath he had run to catch. His golden eyes glowed faintly in the dark, sharp and wild,his wolf was close to the surface.
He had felt it.
Her fear. Her pain.
Her panic.
"Elena."
His voice was rough, not from anger,
but from the frantic need to reach her.
Before she could react, he crossed the room in three long strides, dropping to his knees beside her bed. His hands found hers, warm and grounding, pulling her back from the edge of memories.
"Hey," he murmured softly, his thumbs brushing over her trembling fingers. "You're safe. You're here. With me."
Her breath stuttered. She shook her head, trying to sign, I'm fine. I'm fine.
But her hands shook too badly to form anything clear.
Her throat tightened, her body begging to scream, to cry, to release something, anything
but the silence trapped her again.
Tears spilled harder. She hated this. Hated that he was seeing her at her most broken.
Hated that she couldn't force out one single sound.
"Elena," he whispered, cupping her face gently. "Look at me."
She did.
And something inside her cracked open.
His eyes held no judgment.
No irritation.
Only fire.
And fear,the kind of fear a man felt when his mate was hurting and he couldn't tear the world apart fast enough to fix it.
"You don't have to speak," he said softly, brushing away a tear with his thumb. "I heard you anyway."
Her breath hitched. A sob tried to escape her, but it died in her throat, breaking her all over again. Lorenzo's expression shattered,pain flickering across his face, raw and unguarded.
He gathered her gently into his arms.
Elena stiffened, then melted against him, her forehead pressing into his shoulder. His scent cedar, smoke and home,wrapped around her, and for the first time in years, the nightmare loosened its grip.
He held her like she was something fragile, precious.
She clung to him like he was the only thing keeping her from drowning.
But just as her breathing steadied
a sound split the night.
A long, guttural howl,close
too close, rippling through the walls and shaking the windows.
Lorenzo froze.
Every muscle in his body went taut.
His wolf surged to the surface, golden eyes blazing.
"That wasn't one of ours," he growled, voice dropping into something feral.
He rose slowly, placing Elena back on the pillows with a gentleness that didn't match the storm in his eyes. His gaze swept her, protective, possessive, and terrified all at once.
"Stay here," he ordered, voice a dark whisper.
But Elena knew....
Danger wasn't only outside the walls.
It lived inside her nightmares.
Inside her memories.
Inside the bond pulling her toward a man who was both salvation and fire.
And something told her…
This night was far from over.