Page 30 of Unseen Danger
As he soaked up the remainder of coffee from the white-tiled floor, unease stirred in his belly.
Was Nevaeh in some kind of trouble? Or perhaps she had been in trouble before, and now she was battling the ghosts of memory.
He clenched his jaw as he stood and tossed the wet paper towels in the trash where they landed with a thunk.
Either way, he wouldn’t let her fight alone.
Nine
His arms snaked around her neck and shoulders, immovable beams of steel.
He was behind her? How?
He dragged her off the chair. Laughing.
A whine broke through the flash of memory. The nightmare that bled into reality.
Nevaeh pushed her mind to focus on the feel of the leather leash in her hand. She gripped it tighter as she looked at Alvarez.
His wide pink tongue was the easiest feature to see in the dark night as they patrolled D-Chop’s estate.
Supposed to be patrolling anyway. Alvarez was. But Nevaeh only managed to walk beside him, her pulse sprinting as the flashbacks assaulted her in barrages that left her wobbly.
Al whined again—a sign he was stressed. By her again.
“Sorry, bud.” She stroked his head as they trudged over the lawn along the fenced perimeter of the property. “It’s okay.”
But it wasn’t. Branson sneaking up behind her and startling her like that had left her so shaken Jazz had asked if she needed to go home.
Nevaeh thought she’d managed to say she was good to go. Must have somehow been convincing since Jazz hadn’t stopped her from going out on patrol and had left to do her own patrol pattern with Flash.
Why couldn’t Aaberg have stayed on his side of the island in the kitchen? She’d been doing great until he’d suddenly appeared almost on top of her. Just like—
No. She shook her head, pushed her thoughts back onto the track that was slightly safer. Aaberg.
To be fair, he probably hadn’t meant to sneak up on her. He was only handing her paper towels. A perfectly normal thing to do.
Only she wasn’t normal. Neither was her nervous system.
And he was massive. A beast of a man ready to assert his strength on others, to strip them of control, to make them feel powerless.
His face loomed in front of her, his ebony skin darker in the dim light.
His eyes pierced her with fury, violence. But he laughed.
Swung his club-like fists.
Her foot caught, jerked her to the night, the blackness surrounding her. She took a quick step to save herself from falling as Alvarez scooted out of the way.
She peered at the ground. Just a lump of uneven ground in the lawn.
Her hot, quick breaths billowed in front of her in the chilled air.
When had she gone from thinking about Branson to…
A shiver trembled through her. She shifted the looped handle of Alvarez’s leash to her wrist and zipped up her black PK-9 windbreaker over the bulky armored vest.
The quiet of the night wasn’t helping her concentration. But she couldn’t keep letting flashbacks assault her or she’d end up in a full-blown panic attack, scrunched into a corner somewhere.