Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
But their joy turned quickly to terror.
A horrible, screeching noise split the air—metal shearing against metal. The mother gasped. One of the fathers called something back in a voice thick with forced calm. Then—violence.
Explosions of sound. Shouting. The cabin doors burst inward.
Noelle’s heart clenched in her chest as monstrous pirates stormed the shuttle. They were huge—eight feet tall, with gray-green skin and jagged weapons. The two fathers fought valiantly but were cut down almost instantly. The mother screamed, grabbing her sons.
One of the twins—so small, so brave—threw himself between her and the pirates.
No! No, don’t! Noelle wanted to shout at him.
But it was too late. They shot him. And then… the screaming started.
Noelle wanted to wake up. She tried to wake up. But she was trapped, frozen in the dream—forced to watch as the mother was dragged away, her long hair tangled in the pirate’s fists, her cries echoing through the ship.
The remaining boy—left behind, all alone—collapsed onto the blood-slick floor, reaching out a trembling hand as if he could still stop it.
Her heart twisted.
Oh, Blessed Virgin…
The pain in that child’s eyes, the loss, the helplessness—it wasn’t just a dream, she realized.
It was a memory.
A low groaning sound broke through the horror. A deep, guttural moan filled with anguish. Noelle woke with a jolt, heart pounding, her breath catching in her throat.
The sound hadn’t come from her or from Bright—it was Burn, she realized.
She turned in the darkness, reaching behind her to gently touch his broad, bare back. He was curled away from her, the muscles in his shoulders bunched tight as if he were preparing for a fight even in sleep.
“Burn,” she whispered, brushing her hand over his hot skin. “Burn, wake up… I think you’re having a bad dream.”
He stirred but didn’t wake.
“They killed them all…” he mumbled hoarsely. “All but her. And I couldn’t save her—I couldn’t move… couldn’t move.”
Noelle’s heart clenched. That dream—his dream.
We were Dream Sharing, she realized. She’d heard of the phenomenon before, whispered stories about how the Kindred could connect so deeply to the people they cared for that even dreams weren’t private anymore.
She shook him gently again.
“Burn, it’s all right,” she murmured. “It’s just a bad dream.”
But was it? she wondered. Or was it a piece of his past?
She shook him more firmly.
“Burn!”
He bolted upright with a gasp.
“Gods!”
Even in the pitch blackness, she could see the eerie glow of his eyes—like an animal’s caught in onrushing headlights. They glittered with grief and loss that tore at her heart.
“Burn, what is it?” she asked urgently. “Were you dreaming of the family too? The one with two fathers and two sons? Were they…were they your family?”
“They were,” he rasped. He ran a hand down his face, the sound of his rough whiskers scraping against his palm, loud in the silence. “Gods, I can never get away from them—the memories. I push them down but they always come back. Fuck.”
Noelle sat up beside him, her body chilled now without the warmth of his.
“Maybe you shouldn’t push them away,” she said gently. “Maybe you need to face them.”
“Face them?” he growled. “Now why the fuck would I want to do that?”
“Because talking about what happened to you can help,” she said. “I felt better after I told you and Bright about what happened to me today in the…” She had to swallow hard before she could finish. “In that weird rejuvenation lab.”
Burn’s shoulders sagged.
“I don’t… I don’t know.”
“What happened to you—after?” she asked quietly. “After they left?” She knew he would understand what she meant and he did, but when he answered, his voice was low and hoarse.
“The pirates must have thought I was dead. I felt like I was—I could barely fucking move. It was like half of me had been amputated after I lost my twin. I somehow managed to drag myself into the O2 safe room—they have those on the older shuttles, in case of a hull breach,” he added.
Noelle put a hand to her mouth.
“I’m so sorry—that’s awful. How…how long were you in there?”
He shrugged, his massive shoulders rolling.
“Who fucking knows? Days? Maybe weeks? I was lost inside myself—numb without my twin. I can't even explain what it's like, losing half of yourself. When you can hear someone’s thoughts and feel their feelings all your life, and then they’re suddenly just…gone.”
“I’m so sorry,” Noelle whispered again, tears pricking against her eyes.
She reached out and gently slid her smaller hand into his. His palm was calloused and hot against hers, but he didn’t pull away.
“It was a long time ago,” he said roughly.
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt.” She looked up at him, her voice soft. “What… what happened to your mom? Did anyone ever find her?”
“Yeah. I did. When I was sixteen, I was able to go looking for her. Tracked her for a year, only to find out she died not long after my fathers did. Her heart couldn’t take the separation—the breaking of the Soul Bond she had with them.”