Chapter 2 Haunted

• I could remember the plague that had decimated so many packs. I could remember vaguely the alpha that had led us from the city and deep into the woods. I remembered his face, seeing him barking orders and knowing that I trusted him completely.
• But I can't remember his name.
• Or who he was to me.
• But as I envisioned him I felt great emotion, knowing that I had deep belief in him and mourned that I was no longer part of that pack. Though I couldn't even remember what pack they were.
• Dammit.
• But things had changed slightly a few mornings ago.
• The morning of declarations. I had fled the Hayden brothers and as I was running. The morning breeze fanning my cheeks and leaves still coated in early frost. I felt soft grass and moss under my feet as I'd run along the wall looking for a way out.
• Lara had found a way. So I knew there was one. The day they'd brought in the dead alpha of the Asara pack, Edrick, Lara had escaped. Somehow.
• She'd made me promise I would follow. That'd been nearly a year ago.
• But as I'd ran from them that morning I had been hit with wild images. Images of running before. Running from my pack from men covered in blood who were hunting me. Panicked fleeing. I tripped and hit my head on a tree as I fell. Disoriented and queasy I pushed myself further, knowing I had to keep going.
• Something depended on it. Something more than my life.
• I gasped for air but couldn't breathe.
• Memories....
• They were the first ones I could recall since being brought into the Asara Territory.
• Since becoming the mate of the Hayden brothers...
• Images of seeing my former pack alpha and his mate, lying on a wood floor covered in blood. There was a humming sound and I realized it was my voice screaming.
• There were two men I didn't know dragging me back my ankles as I tried to crawl to the corpses on the floor. Sobbing wildly. I started to look to my left and could just see the pool of blood I was sliding in. It coated my clothes and hair and I was laying in it.
• But it was from someone else...As my eyes moved to land on who as dead next to me I sat bolt upright panting.
• "Ssh..." There was a head laying on my calves, arms wrapped around my legs as he reached up to pat my thigh reassuringly. "You're okay, Vanna Rae."
• It was Vanquish cuddled around my legs.
• "The dream again?" Hunter asked from where he was strung sideways across my bed giant bed with his head cradled on my belly. My hand still wound in his hair since I'd been stroking him as I fell asleep.
• "More of it."
• "What was this one about?" Raese asked against my neck from where he was cuddled against my back. His legs bent behind my knees so Vanquish could be strung across the foot of the bed.
• Over the last few days I'd learned that when I had the nightmares they would often filter upstairs from their cots on the main level and lay on my bed.
• Trying to comfort me.
• "There was more to this one. I could remember a dead family. The alpha and his mate and someone else..."
• "Someone who meant something to you?" Vanquish lifted his head from behind my calf with interest.
• "I think so."
• "You're having them a lot more often." Racer commented as he burrowed his face in my hair.
• I sighed. "How did you all become part of the Asara?"
• "You're changing the subject." Vanquish said astutely.
• Damn him for always being razor sharp.
• "Just let it be." Hunter said.
• Vanquish's head whipped to give him a long look. Disliking Hunter dictating anything to him.
• I purposely kept Hunter from turning his head to meet Vanquish's look, knowing they'd be challenging each other if they did. My palm on the side of his face was enough to keep him gazing up at me.
• "Edrick, Draven and Alaric's father, the old alpha rounded us up. He's the one that nicknamed so many of us."
• "What are your real names?" Vanquish shrugged. Plucking at a bit of lint on my bare leg. "I hardly remember."
• "We don't like to think about those times." Racer hugged around my belly a bit tighter.
• "Those were plague times." Hunter explained.
• "It makes me angry someone hurt you." Vanquish said abruptly. His arms tightening around my legs. "I'd kill someone."
• "I know." I murmured. Giving him a fond look.