Daddy listened closely, his brows furrowed. “Okay, you squeeze my hand tightly if it’s too overwhelming and you want me to bring you back in here.”
She nodded and braced herself for the onslaught of noises that were about to assault her. The moment Ezra opened the door, she winced, but she took a deep breath and tried to focus. Think. Listen. She knew this wasn’t normal. She’d never heard of something like this happening to anyone before, and it would seem neither had anyone among the Alpha Protectors.
She looked around the room and thought about what she was hearing, itemizing as many individual things as possible. It was so hard to separate them because all the noises were on top of each other.
When Gavin moved to the front door and glanced at her, she nodded. She could do this. It wasn’t going to kill her. It was just so weird.
The second he opened the door, her breath hitched. It was so much worse outside. For a moment, she thought perhaps she was hearing every single sound on Earth at once.
She gripped her Daddy’s hand where he held it against her front, but she nodded toward the clearing in front of his house. Again she tried to itemize the sounds and voices. She closed her eyes. It was much harder outside because nothing was muffled.
When she was ready, she squeezed her Daddy’s hand, and he turned to hurry back into the house and through to the special room.
Chapter Eleven
Gavin hated the tension on his mate’s face. It was impossible not to internalize her stress. When her heart rate increased, his did also to match. Everything that happened to her physically happened to him.
To a certain extent, the alignment of their bodies was normal. All mates fell into sync with each other. Alpha Protectors and their mates formed even stronger bonds than citizens in the valley. But Gavin wasn’t sure his friends and relatives experienced this same level of synchrony.
As soon as they were all back in the room with the door closed, Molly blew out a breath and shuddered. “That’s so weird.” She threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you so much for building this room.”
“You’re welcome, Little one.” He leaned her back so he could meet her gaze. “I’ll do anything for you, Molly. Always.”
Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and she swiped them away.
He rubbed her back, not wanting to rush her. “Can you tell us what you heard, Baby girl?”
She turned so she could face the others at the same time. “The thing is I can hear everything. Even though you weren’ttalking, I could hear the shuffle of your feet and the rustle of clothes as you each moved. I could hear each person’s breathing, the hum of the heater, and the sizzle of electricity. Every creak in the house. All at once as if there were a microphone blaring them all louder than they should be.”
Everyone listened intently, brows drawn together.
“And when we went outside?” Gavin encouraged.
“It increased a hundred times. Every animal in the area. Their natural sounds, the twigs they step on, the leaves moving in the breeze. It seems like I can hear the air itself. But also so many voices.”
Felix frowned. “I don’t get that part. Whose voices? No one is out there.”
“I think they’re far away. I can’t pinpoint anyone in particular. They’re distinct, but I don’t know any of the people. The only thing I think might give us some idea of how far it extends is that I can hear the collective hum of everything happening in the valley. Nothing specific, but I know it’s the valley because those are sounds I’m familiar with. Cars, horns, school bells. That kind of thing.”
Damon’s eyes widened. “That’s pretty far.”
“Can you hear female voices?” Felix asked.
Molly nodded. “Yes. Lots of them. Like several women are together.”
Gavin nodded. “They are, Little one. Olivia and Khloe are at Felix’s house. His is the closest home to here.” He turned to face the others. “Who else is with them?”
Damon chuckled. “All the girls. Jezebel, Suzette, and Leah are also there. Arion is with them. He made them all line up for self-defense classes before he would let them play. Brock and Elias are on patrol.”
Molly twisted back to look at Gavin again. “Take me back outside.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I want to see if I can tell what anyone is saying. Maybe I can isolate some noises from others. I’m not sure.”
Gavin didn’t want to overtax his mate. They were bombarding her with so many things during a time that should be spent naked in his arms. Nothing about this mating was usual. Her shift had even been odd. He realized after the fact that all the strange things like dunking herself underwater had been to keep the noises at bay.
After reaching out to his father and several other elders, Gavin had come to the conclusion that no one had ever heard of something like this happening before. But strange things had happened several times in the past few years, so it was growing less shocking.
