“Fitz, this is Nina Bennett.”
The dignified older fellow rose and crossed the room. His hand engulfed my hand. “Welcome, dear, I hope Harlon has been a gentleman.”
“If you call kidnapping me being a gentleman, then yes.”
“Don’t forget I saved your life,” he added.
“I had bear spray,” I argued. “I saved my own life; you just saw to my shower.”
Ruby snickered behind me, breaking me out of my argument. “Sorry.” I cleared my throat. “Harlon and I see things…differently.”
“That’s what we’re counting on, dear,” Fitz said and led me closer to the bed. “How do you work?”
My gaze slid across the other occupants of the room, noting some skeptical expressions aside from eager. I didn’t even like to talk about this with my family, much less a bunch of strangers. “I don’t know. Normally the people I get visions about are lost and need to be found. This is a first for me.”
“Okay, then how about we all just give you and Harlon some space and we’ll let you two figure things out,” Fitz said.
I nodded and met Harlon’s gaze. He was quick to take my hand and guide me to the other side of the bed. He laced his fingers with mine. His broad chest pressed against my back. His other hand was wrapped around my waist. The hint of his cologne teased my nose. He smelled delicious.
I shoved all those errant thoughts about his touch and the way he towered over me away and concentrated on Manny.
His heated breath tickled my ear. “Does this work for you?”
“Oh yeah, it works.” I fought the heat climbing my cheeks.Get it done and get out, I repeated over and over in my head. I reached for Manny and Harlon held me back with another whisper in my ear. “I’ve got you, Nina.”
I let out a pent-up breath. His hand steadied my trembling fingers as I reached to touch Manny’s hand.
Before I could make the connection, Manny reached out and grabbed my arm as if he were impatient. His fingers dug into my skin as I was jolted into a vision I wasn’t prepared to see.
I inhaled as every muscle in my body tightened, and the room around us changed. The bedroom we’d been standing in turned darker. Rows of dog cages lined the walls. The cages were empty, and the doors sat open. The dogs were ferociously barking while some attacked Manny.
My body trembled as Manny’s screams filled my head. Animals clawed and bit Manny’s body. He was lying on the floor attempting to cover his face with his arms.
Growls and teeth snapped as three dogs tore into Manny. The faint sound of a voice called out, “Fassen.Fassen.Fassen.”
There was movement in a shadowy corner just as a door busted open. Unexpected light filled the room. A woman stood in the doorway, a gun in her hand and a ferocious tiger at her side.
“Fassen.Fassen.Fassen.” The consistant commands still played steady and true coming from a device in another corner of the room. But not from the man being mauled.
“Fuss. Fuss. Fuss,” the woman screamed out. Lifting the gun in her fingers, she aimed at the stool on the opposite side of the room and pulled the trigger.
The shot rang out and the device she’d aimed at shattered, killing the recorded words.
The dogs stilled at the woman’s words and sat on their haunches. She led the dogs back into their cages and locked them in before dropping to her knees. “Dad, can you hear me?”
The man on the floor moaned.
“Daddy, just hold on. I’ll get you help.”
She pulled out her phone and dialed a number just as a noise from behind had her spinning around. “I need an ambulance to 1345 Sycamore Manor. Guard dogs attacked my father, but I have them caged. Please hurry.”
The tiger’s purr was deep and threatening as it paced the doorway, staring out into the hallway as if prepared to attack, blocking the woman from a possible intruder.
The woman hung up and sent a text before re-pocketing her phone.
“Daddy, hang on. Help is coming, and I’ve texted Harlon. Just hang on,” she whispered as she rose. Grabbing the cat by the stone-studded collar in one hand and holding the gun in the other, she eased out of the room.
Heat raged through my body like an uncontrolled forest fire. Panic invaded my spine like venom from a snake bite. My head felt like it was going to explode. Pain, unlike anything I’d ever felt, seized my body from my head down to my arms.
Manny’s body started to violently shake. He squeezed my arm tighter until I was sure he was about to break my bone. It was as though someone hit the restart button, only this time I wasn’t just watching as the dogs attacked. I was feeling the excruciating pain with him.
I screamed seconds before Manny’s fingers were peeled away. The connection broke.
My eyes flew open. Harlon’s hold on me remained.
“Help him. He’s reliving the pain,” I whispered seconds before darkness pulled me under.
