As if sensing my rising distress, Kayden's hand finds mine and pulls it into his lap, threading our fingers together. His thumb presses into my palm, grounding.
Asher doesn't say a word, but his hand settles on my knee. A quiet squeeze of solidarity.
I let myself breathe into their presence for a second before continuing.
"We didn't know that some of the workers would come back that night."
And just like that, the air tightens.
"I was at one of the last machines, near the tree line. I heard a commotion, but I figured it was normal. Maybe a warning call for someone getting too bold."
I pause, jaw tightening.
"Too late, I realized the others were running. Scattering. I tried to bolt too, but… There were three of them. Drunk and angry. They were not amused by what we were doing."
I shift, trying to keep my voice even, though the memory rakes through me like barbed wire.
"One of them caught my arm and slammed me hard into the side of a bulldozer. I think he dislocated my shoulder, maybe cracked something. I don't really know. Everything blurred into pain and panic."
I can feel the tension in the room climbing, breath by breath.
"My lip was split. My eyebrow bleeding. I'd hit the metal frame when I went down. I was dazed, barely there. Then they really looked at me and got some other ideas into their heads…" I don't finish the thought. I don't need to.
Kayden growls, low and animal, a sound made to terrify.
Asher doesn't move, but I can feel the storm brewing in him, palpable even in his stillness.
Neither Eira nor Maeve speak. They don't interrupt.
"Do you know who they were?" Asher asks, voice level but tight.
"I'll hunt the fuckers down," Kayden snarls, and there's no doubt he means it. His face is pure violence and dark anticipation.
"I don't know," I lie. "It's in the past."
What I don't say is that Darius found them and made sure they never touched anyone again. That's a different story. One I'm not ready to tell.
"They dragged me into the woods," I continue, quieter now. "One of them covered my mouth. I remember the stench ofsweat and cheap beer. Their voices, laughing. My fear spiking so fast it made everything spin."
Kayden mutters a curse under his breath, fists clenched.
"They pulled me deeper into the forest. Out of earshot. Out of sight. It was dark, just slivers of moonlight. I was fighting, but they were bigger, and I was already hurt."
I close my eyes, just for a breath. "One of them shoved me too hard. I fell. My head hit something. Stone, I think. I remember the crack. The pain. Then blood. I couldn't move."
"Their conversation blurred after that. Panicked and slurred. They realized I was bleeding hard and might die. And that… that scared them more than what they were about to do."
"That's where they drew the line?" Asher says, voice laced with disgust. "Not assault. Not brutality."
"Yeah," I breathe. "That was their boundary."
For a beat, no one speaks.
"I don't think they were thinking at all," I say finally. "They ran. Left me there."
I look down at my hands.
"All I remember after that was the cold. The trees. The way everything started to blur. Like I was dissolving. And then… it changed."
