“Never you, asshole!” Jasmine yelled as the breath was knocked out of her. Knowing her mother was now protected, she did all she could to fight back. But how could she fight something that wasn’t there? She cried out in pain as he banged her head up against the wall again, before releasing her.
Her body crumbled to the floor. The hard wood now had dots of her blood from the cuts on her head. The bathroom door split in half, allowing Cole, Logan, and R.D. to storm in and reach her side, searching for the threat. She peeked up at them, not moving her head, her throat sore and her head throbbed. Jasmine tried to catch her breath when her mother ran into the room, but she knew her ribs were now broken again.
“Baby!” she said and knelt next to Logan. “What happened?” she reached to help her up, but the pain was too bad. Jasmine fell back to the ground, crying out again.
“Cole, she’s hurt! Who did this to her? Look at the hand print!” her mother cried, pointing to her neck as R.D. moved around her mother and gently stepped over to Jasmine to lift her into his arms.
Everything ached, as she gripped his shirt tight trying not to move her head. “He’ll be back, protect mom,” she whispered. “I can’t keep him out, too tired.”
“I’ve got you princess,” R.D. kissed the top of her head and carried her back into her bedroom careful of her head as he gently laid her on the bed. “Who did this, Jasmine? There was no one in there,” he asked.
“Logan, the doc is still here. Go get him. R.D. someone was here, find him,” Cole ordered and she knew that once he was on a roll, nothing would stop him. He stood there staring at her on the other side of the bed, his eyes dark and foreboding. One thing Jasmine had learned living in this house was no one touched what Cole considered his, and Jasmine was his daughter.
She tried to shake her head and regretted it. “He wasn’t here physically,” she explained as her voice cracked. “And I don’t need a doctor, I need to leave. He’ll come for me.” Jasmine reached down, pulling the blanket up over her body and tried to get up, but the pain was too much. There was no way she could leave right now and the mere thought that she had brought danger to her mother made her tremble. Jasmine had successfully kept the Nightmare Man away for years, protecting her mother from him, but it looked like her fit of anger had now placed all of them in danger.
“I have to leave,” she whimpered and hated that she sounded like a child, but all of a sudden Jasmine was back at age nine, seeing the monster for the first time.
Her teeth started to chatter, and Jasmine was cold, oh so very cold. “Shouldn’t have said a word. I’m sorry, Momma, I tried to protect you,” she whispered into the side of her pillow as Jasmine looked away from everyone.
The sound of voices drew her attention and she saw the man who had always shown up to take care of them when they were sick. For the next hour, he examined her, wrapped her ribs, and kept whispering to her, trying to calm her. She had a few broken ribs and was not to move around.
Her mother and Cole nodded to the doctor, while Logan and R.D. both returned to the position at her sides, sitting on the bed beside her. When the door closed, leaving only the five of them, all eyes turned to her as Cole wrapped his arm around her mother, kissing the top of her head.
“Explain right now, Jasmine. Do not keep us in the dark any longer. We can help,” Cole’s body was stiff, and she knew he was close to changing into the wolf and so was her mother.
She inched down further on the bed and flinched at the pain. Hoping no one noticed, but no such luck as R.D. leaned over and once more scooted her up on the pillow, careful of her injuries. “Stay put,” he mumbled against her ear, before nipping her lobe.
Clearing her throat, Jasmine glared at him and rubbed her ear, ignoring him. “I call him the Nightmare Man, because at first he seemed to just appear in my dreams. But all of that changed when Dad dragged it into reality one night. Into his home, with the promise of dinner. Mom was working since he wouldn’t…” Jasmine glanced down at the blanket on the bed, tracing the pattern there with her fingers. R.D. and Logan each took a hand free, twining their big strong fingers with her smaller ones and gently squeezed.
“Go on, we’re here,” Logan leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Is this person still here?” he asked, nodding to her head.
“No. From what I can make out, it takes a lot of energy to do what he did. The last time this happened, it was years ago, but I remember seeing him feeding and resting afterward. Like it took a lot out of him. He already knows we’re in Texas. But I don’t think he knows exactly where yet.” Her gaze flicked to her mother.
“I couldn’t tell you. I was too afraid he’d
