The door to the room stood open.  Two other men sat inside.  I recognized one.  He’d brought up my bag.

Nana made official introductions as we sat.  “Bethi, this is Sam and Grey, Elders.  People you can trust.  Elder Joshua is on his way here.  We are missing two others, who are currently assisting in Europe, but we will communicate with them through our link.”

I didn’t say anything about her trust comment.

“Hello, Sam.” So, that was the man who Gabby argued with.  He looked nice enough.  Grey hair, neatly dressed.  The memory of him eating spaghetti surfaced.  He reminded me of my grandpa.  I smiled and looked at the other one Nana had indicated.  “Grey,” I added as an acknowledgement as he shut the door.  “Thank you all for your help.  I didn’t think Luke and I would make it here when they all came on us like that.”

Sam cleared his throat, his troubled gaze meeting mine.  “We’d never seen anything like that.  Our kind...we’re peaceful.”

I nodded.  He seemed so sincere.  Could the betrayal go deeper than Joshua?

“We’ve had instances where we couldn’t communicate with a few of our kind in the past, but never so many.  Can you tell us why they were attacking you?” Sam asked.

Michelle glanced at me, but I didn’t meet her gaze.

“The simple answer is that they were trying to take me back to their leader.  There are so many things I don’t know.  Who their leader is and what they want to do with me when they get me.”  I rested my hands on the table, took a calming breath, and began my careful tiptoe around explanations that would trip me up and darted to the ones that would get me the result I needed.

“But I think it has to do with what’s happening to me.  I’m reliving past lives through my dreams.  This had been going on for several months.  Somehow, those guys learned that I had these dreams and started chasing me.  When Luke showed up, I thought he was one.  As you know, we were pretty much chased the whole way.  Luke kept me safe.”  I could feel Gabby’s eyes on me and struggled not to meet her gaze.  “Anyway, he brought me here, thinking you might be able to help me.”  I couldn’t come up with anything better without spilling that there was a definitive difference between the people at the table and the people who’d chased me.

“Why do they care if you are having these dreams?” Nana asked.

“I’m not sure.  The dreams seem like pieces to a puzzle.  Some of them are fitting together, but I haven’t fit enough of them together to figure out the big picture.”

“Tell us more about the dreams.”

I regretted that Nana had overheard what I’d suffered in them and hoped she’d let me get away with a vague answer.  “Mostly they are the same thing.  Something is chasing me or comes to my home.  Usually it looks like a really large dog.  Then it changes into the shape of a man.  Those dreams always end with me dying.”

“You’ve dreamt of us killing you?”

No, it was the Urbat.  But I couldn’t say that.

“Not just me,” I said looking at Michelle and Gabby.  “I’ve seen their past lives, too.  We all die.”

The room was eerily quiet for a moment.

“Why?” Nana asked looking deeply troubled.

I took an easy breath feeling as if I’d just cleared the minefield.  “That’s why I was willing to come with Luke.  Like I said, some things I pieced together, but there are a lot of ‘whys’ I haven’t figured out.  I was hoping I’d find help here, that you’d have more answers.”

Nana, Grey, and Sam shared a look.  “We need some time to speak,” Sam said slowly.  “Is there anything more you know that could help us?”

He saved me from a complete lie by adding that last bit.  There was plenty more that I knew but nothing that would help them.  Not until Joshua arrived.  Michelle and Gabby watched me shake my head.  Neither of them spoke.

“After all of those dreams, I doubt everything I thought I knew,” I said with a shrug.

Sam glanced at Nana.  The significant pause told me they were communicating silently.

“Michelle, Gabby, help Bethi to the commons for something to eat, please.  Your men are waiting there for you,” Nana said.

“Sure,” Gabby said quickly exiting her chair and moving to open the door.  Michelle offered a hand to help me stand.  Neither said anything as we left, and I felt relieved.  I’d given the Elders enough information to get them off our backs, for now.  I just needed to figure out what to do about Joshua.  If he had an unusual spark, we couldn’t trust him.  But what to do about it?

When we entered a huge room filled with tables and chairs, I only caught a glimpse of it before Clay strode toward us.  He stopped just in front of Gabby, preventing all of us from moving any further.  The heavenly smells of Turkey and stuffing drifted to me as his eyes swept over Gabby’s face.  My stomach cramped. This time from hunger.

“She’s fine, big guy, but my stomach’s really hurting.  Would you mind—” I didn’t get to finish the sentence before Clay was jostled aside with a growl from behind.

“Move already,” Luke snapped at Clay, scooping me up.

Clay’s eyes narrowed as they settled on Luke.  Gabby curled her fingers in his hand.  He stopped his glaring and gave her his full attention.  “I’m fine.  Bethi’s not.  We’re supposed to get her something to eat.”

I caught Clay’s nod before Luke turned, almost bumping us into Emmitt.  Two little boys circled around him like satellites.  Luke huffed, and I reached up to smack the back of his head lightly.  “The decisions you make and the words you speak influence the people around you.  Be aware of your influence,” I quoted.

His lips twitched, and he looked down at the boys.  “Excuse me, please,” he said politely.

They scampered out of his way, and Emmitt stepped aside, his eyes on Michelle.

“Didn’t you take the pills?” Luke asked softly, carrying me to a cushioned chair.

“I took them.”  My stomach cramped, and I tried to remember what I’d last eaten.  “Nana mentioned something about food.”  Instead of setting me in the chair, he sat and settled me on his lap.

“I’ll get it for you,” Michelle called moving toward the kitchen.  Emmitt followed closely behind.

Clay moved to the chair across from us and sat, his eyes never leaving Gabby.  Gabby perched on one of his knees and smiled slightly when he set a hand on her waist.

“How long have you two been together?” I asked.  I really just wanted to know how safe she was. Claimed was good, but Mated was better.

“Clay has been living with me since the end of August.”  Her smile widened.  “But I just recently Claimed him.”

“Not Mated?”  I wondered.

She shook her head.  Well, crap.

Michelle returned just then with a sandwich.  “Here you go.”

I accepted the plate with a smile of thanks.  “How long have you and Emmitt been together?” Taking a bite of the sandwich, I listened to Michelle say they’d been Claimed for several months and were planning a wedding.  Another one not Mated.  Dangerous business.  I glanced at Emmitt who was watching me closely.  We were still all ripe for Urbat picking.  I wished again that Luke would just give in and at least let me Claim him.

“What about you two?” Emmitt asked.

I shrugged and took another bite.  Everyone continued to wait patiently for my answer.  Even Luke, the jerk, was quiet.  Fine.

“He has a problem with my boobs.” I took another bite of my sandwich.

Luke made a choking noise, and I grinned.  “Secretly, I think he’s hoping if he waits until I’m eighteen they might grow a bit more.”

Emmitt’s face betrayed nothing as his gaze flicked between me and Luke.  Clay’s whiskers split to show two rows of perfect white teeth.  His eyes were on Luke. I didn’t want to turn around to see why.  Michelle looked slightly shocked and worried.  Gabby was frowning at Luke.

“They’re kinda like the elephant in the room.  We’re not allowed to talk about them.”