Page 23 of Jabba's Journey

I’m walking through the misty woods, dazed and disoriented, my heart desperately crying out for my mate. “Jabba? Where are you? Why can’t I find you anywhere?” Fear grips me, strangling me as I stumble along the forest's broken path, because nothing looks familiar to me. None of the landmarks are the same as I recall, and there’s an almost ominous sensation that has me looking around, afraid of what I might see… frightened of what might be lurking in the shadows.

“Where is everyone? What’s happened?” I cry out, rubbing my temples in hopes that it’ll send out a forewarning beacon to my mate. “Why can’t I feel you, Jabba?” I ask, my hand pounding my chest above my heart. “You said you’d protect me and always be there, but you lied. You lied!”

“Electra! Electra, baby, wake up!”

Jabba’s voice breaks into the nightmare I was having, the details already fading into oblivion as I open my eyes and look at his face, his brows furrowed with fear and worry. “I’m awake, Jabba,” I say, my voice scratchy for some reason.

“You just took at least a dozen years off my life, sweetheart,” he declares, leaning in to place a soft, doting kiss on my lips. “You were thrashing on the bed, yelling for me, for anyone. What was it about?”

“I… I don’t remember,” I tell him as the last wisp of the nightmare disappears. “All I know is I couldn’t find you, but I don’t know why I was looking for you, for anyone to begin with.”

“Something else must be coming,” he murmurs, his words hitting me as if they’re prophesized as he gathers me into his strong arms and holds me close. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to figure out what it is.” The words ‘before something tragic happens’ kept out of his wistfulness, although I can feel it through our bond.

Yeah, I hope so too because while the details are gone? The abject fear isn’t and that’s far more terrifying to me than anything else. I can fight against things I know about, but those nameless, faceless entities? Not so much. Sighing, I allow him to soothe me back to sleep, praying I don’t fall back into the apparent hell I was in a short time ago.

I wake up alone the next morning but find a short note from Jabba letting me know he’s meeting with the brothers. Gathering some clean clothes, I head into the bathroom and take a somewhat boring but thorough shower.

It’s only boring because you’re doing it by yourself, I think.Because if Jabba were here, it would be anythingbuta normal shower.

Snickering, I take the time to deep condition my hair while shaving my legs. There are some things I’ll probably never do around him and this is one of them, as is trimming up my privates.

“What about when you’re so round with our pup that you can’t safely see what you’re doing?”

I screech and almost slice a huge line down my leg when Jabba starts talking to me through our bond. I guess my last thought was loud enough that he heard me as if I were speaking directly to him. Shaking my head, I quickly finish my task, then rinse out my hair before I step out of the shower. I need to check with Harmony to see how I can shield some of my more private thoughts from my mate, because there might be times I don’twanthim to know what’s going on until I’ve made sense of it.

Once I’m dressed and have pulled my hair into a ponytail, I decide to change the sheets since my nightmare left me sweaty, then gather the hamper to go do some laundry. If we’re going to be living here, I need to find my own place amongst the members, and taking care of my mate and our den, as he calls it, is one of those ways I can do that very thing. With the clothes quickly sorted and washing, I head into the kitchen for some much-needed caffeine and something to eat.

I also want to speak with Harmony and find out if there are other ways I can contribute around the clubhouse. I’ve noticed they all have their own set chores, and I wouldn’t mind pitching in on kitchen duty or watching the girls. Mostly Jazzy even though Sage is here more often than not.

“Are you okay?” Harmony asks as I walk into the kitchen, my feet dragging as I force one foot in front of the other. “You look tired.”

“It’s the weirdest thing. I had a nightmare last night, but I don’t remember any of the details. Jabba says I was yelling out for him or anyone else as though I was lost or something. He seems to think there’s something else coming our way,” I reply.

“Cyrus said I woke up the same way,” she murmurs, grabbing her phone. I watch her fingers fly over the keyboard and figure she’s texting Karsyn, so I grab a bottle of diet soda then fill a cup with ice. The drink may already be cold, but that first icy sip has me sighing in pleasure.

“What did she say, or has she answered yet?” I question as I sit down across from her at the table.

I watch her face pale while her eyes widen before she stares at me and says, “It happened to her too. What the fu-freaking hell-o is going on?” I wish I had the answers for her, but I’m just as discombobulated as she is. Then I giggle when I realize that she switched up her wording even though Jazzy isn’t in the room to hear her cursing.

I suspect she changed the words because of Jazzy, but to me, that’s a bit of a lost cause since her own mate sprinkles F bombs around like they’re confetti. Wisely, I don’t say a word, because sometimes, living in denial isn’t unpleasant at all.

She does that thing where her eyes haze over that lets me know she’s communicating with Cyrus through their bonded link, and I sit back to wait for what he tells her because I’m positive the men will be approaching at any time now.

Less than a minute passes before Cyrus and Jabba both come skidding into the kitchen, with Bandit and several of the other brothers directly behind them. “We’ve got to figure this shit out!” Cyrus booms out. “None of us are safe right now, but not knowing exactly where the threat’s coming from makes it impossible to prepare. How can we keep our family safe if we don’t know what the hell it is we’re up against?”

A thought crosses my mind and I ask, “Could these nightmares be messages, omens or something foretelling from the goddess of impending scenarios? Like, if we don’t do something specific, it’ll happen?”

“But what are we supposed to be doing, Nymph?” Jabba questions, crouching next to me so he can wrap his arm around my shoulder. The problem is that I don’t know… I feel as if I’m living in an hourglass, a kernel of sand dropping through the funnel one granule at a time.

“Should we consider a lockdown?” Bandit asks Cyrus. “The thing is, we’re technically two different clubs, but with all three of the mated pairs’ women having these nightmares or visions, whatever the fuck they were, should we be separate or together?”

“Fuck my life,” Cyrus snarls, palpable anger emanating from him that’s so strong, I see each of the brothers fighting against the urge to submit to his Alpha power. “Part of me says we should stay separate, but I’m going to reach out to Corbin to figure it out. Maybe there’s something Big Daddy knows that will help.”

“Then let’s go get your brother on the phone,” Bandit says. “Because the sooner we can figure that out, the faster we’ll know where we stand as far as lockdown goes for the clubs.”

“I almost liked it better when we weren’t speaking,” Cyrus retorts as they walk out of the kitchen. Jabba stands, kisses me quickly then follows behind.

“Alrighty then, if there’s a possible lockdown, we’re going to need supplies. Let’s do an inventory and make a list so we can send the prospects out to get whatever we have to have,” Harmony declares.

---