Before Noah (Daniels Family 3)

“NO!” Ember yells, and she must hit him with something because he begins to curse. “Stop it. No. Don’t touch me!”

“Noah!” She screams my name over and over, and it’s not until we come to a halt that I realize I've been pounding my fists on the dashboard. Blood slides down the interior and drips on the floor between my legs from my phone's glass screen cracking and digging into my palm.

We lose the connection to Ember.

Ember

I’m not sure how I knew something was wrong. I was so tired after classes and then filing the police report, and finally, coming home to eat a small bowl of soup for dinner. I was so intent on showering and then crawling into bed that I failed to notice someone was in my house until it was almost too late.

Or maybe it is too late.

The intruder's hands are on my throat, choking me until I blackout and then releasing me just long enough to gasp for air and renew my struggle to fend him off.

“Don’t do this to me,” I beg again. “I’m pregnant,” I finally confess, needing to keep fighting for my baby if nothing else. He or she is a piece of Noah and me. I don’t want to lose that. I should have told him he was going to be a father. I shouldn’t have pushed him away.

I have so many regrets.

“Killing the brat would only make this so much sweeter.” The man above me laughs. His eyes are terrifying. Black like his soul.

Angry, scared, enraged, I don’t know where the burst of energy and strength comes from, but I gather my fists and begin hitting him in the head as hard as I can. I don’t know when or where I dropped my phone, but I can’t focus on it as I thrash my aching body from side to side, doing everything I can to get him off of me so I can get up and run.

Hearing tires screeching to a halt outside the house, I think his rage has blocked him from registering the sounds around him because he continues with his assault.

Screaming at the top of my lungs, I make one last-ditch effort and claw at the mask covering his face. Breaking my nails, drawing his blood, I feel a chunk of his hair rip out when he finally realizes the police are here and attempts to flee. I hold him just long enough to hear pounding feet come up the weathered stairs in my house and see Noah seemingly fly across the hall and tackle the man to the ground.

Pounding the intruder's face with his own fists, Noah curses and threatens the man before Kol finally pulls him off. Noah doesn’t stop, though, until he hears me whimper.

The blaze of fire in his ordinarily calm blue gaze has tears springing forth and rolling down my cheeks. I can’t move, can barely feel the agony I know my body is in, but when Noah crawls over to me, lies on the floor next to me, and tenderly traces my tears, I know everything will be alright. I’m safe now.

“I’ve got you, baby.” He says the words against my head, and all I want to do is tell him my secret. Confess to him what, just minutes ago, I was wishing I’d told him before. Now, I’m rendered mute. I couldn’t get a word out if I tried. My entire body is frozen in terror, and I can’t do anything but think. My mind whirls in a thousand directions and feelings.

It’s overwhelming and terrifying.

“Em, kid, can you talk to me?” Kol leans over me, his eyes the saddest I ever remember seeing them. “I’m so sorry we didn’t catch this asshole sooner.” He lifts my bloody hand to his lips and lays a gentle kiss on my wrist. “Paramedics will be here any minute. Did he…” My brother chokes up on his words, and it’s not until I see his eyes wander down my body that I realize this guy tore my clothes off. “Did he rape you, Em?”

Tears crowd Kol’s eyes.

Noah begins cursing, and I can feel him tense as he holds me.

Panic takes hold of my chest because I'm not sure. He choked me out to the point of unconsciousness a couple times. Never mind the duration.

I can’t breathe.

The walls are closing in around me.

My body begins to shut down, and black dots my vision.

“Sshh, baby, I’m here. I’ve got you now.” The emotion in Noah’s assurance is comforting and lethal as I allow the dusky promise of oblivion to take me away.

6

Noah

“Gentlemen!” the nurse snaps again. “We cannot conduct an exam on this young lady if she has refused. Stop being alpha assholes and respect her space and wishes. She has agreed not to shower, we have given her clothing to forensics, and there is nothing more you can do. Forcing her will only make her relive the assault again, and I’m certain that’s not what any of you wish for her.” The woman levels Kol, Arsen, and me with a deadly glare I’m sure she’s practiced multiple times before.

“Christ,” Kol hisses as he drops into a chair outside Ember's door.

“How the fuck did this happen?” Arsen stands in the middle of the hall, staring up at the ceiling.