Page 75 of Hero Mine

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Her voice was tight, belying her words.

Bear brushed his thumb across her shoulder, feeling the delicate bone beneath warm skin. “You don’t have to be fine. Not with me.”

She was silent for so long that he thought she might not answer. Then, finally, “I just realized…this is the first night I’ve spent in this house since the attack. I’ve been either out in the playhouse or at your apartment.”

The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. How had he forgotten? It was a huge adjustment.

“Joy,” he breathed, tightening his hold on her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think?—”

“No,” she interrupted, shifting to look up at him. “I didn’t either, until just now when I heard the wind and the normal creaks of the house. And it’s okay. I’m okay. It just…hit me, that’s all.”

In the faint moonlight filtering through her curtains, he could see the wariness in her eyes. Not fear exactly, but a heightened awareness—like her body was remembering even if her mind had temporarily forgotten.

Bear’s chest tightened. “Tell me about that night.”

It wasn’t what he’d meant to say. He’d meant to reassure her, to tell her he was here, that she was safe. But maybe that wasn’t what she needed to hear right now.

Joy tensed against him, then exhaled slowly. “Why?”

“Because you haven’t talked about it. Not really. And maybe you need to.” He knew for a fact that she hadn’t gone to a therapist.

She was quiet for a long moment, her gaze drifting past him to the shadows on the ceiling. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Start at the beginning.”

Joy’s fingers absently traced circles against his chest as she gathered her thoughts. Her touch was light, almost distracted, as if she was already slipping back into the memory.

“I woke up because I heard something. Not a crash or anything dramatic. Just…something different. Something that wasn’t supposed to be there. I’ve been in this house my whole life. My mind knows when something isn’t normal.”

Bear listened, his hand continuing its gentle rhythm against her back, anchoring her to him. He focused on keeping his breathing steady, creating a calm counterpoint to the tension he could feel building in her body.

“I wasn’t scared, not at first,” she continued, her voice low in the darkness. “More confused, I guess. Wondering if Sloane was okay. If it was something with the baby. I got up to check, and I saw a shadow in the living room. That’s when I knew someone was in the house.”

“What did you do?”

“Grabbed my handy-dandy bat.” A short, humorless laugh escaped her. “I remember thinking I was going to teach whoever it was a lesson they’d never forget.”

Bear’s lips curved slightly, despite the heaviness of the conversation. That was pure Joy—fearless, even when she should have been afraid.

“It never even crossed my mind that I wouldn’t be able to handle it,” she admitted, her voice smaller now. “I’ve always been able to do whatever I set my mind to, you know? Always been tough. Always taken on the challenge. So, I charged in there, thinking…”

“That you’d be able to protect yourself,” Bear finished gently. “Of course you did. You’ve always been that way, Bug. It’s not surprising.”

Joy’s breath hitched, and he felt her swallow hard against his chest. “But I couldn’t.” She swallowed again. “I couldn’t handle it. Not even close.”

“Tell me.” He knew the basics but not the details.

Her voice dropped even lower, almost as if she was afraid the house might hear her, might remember. “The Kozak brothers. Nikola had Sloane. Jakob was closer, so I came at him with the bat and—” She stopped, her fingers curling against Bear’s chest, nails biting lightly into his skin.

The small pain grounded him, kept him present instead of lost in the rage that simmered beneath his skin at the thought of those men in her house. Hurting her.

The Kozak brothers had run a kidnapping ring in Europe. They’d kidnapped Sloane and her half sister then come after Sloane here in Oak Creek weeks later when she’d escaped their clutches over there.

“It all happened so fast. One second, I was swinging. The next, the bat was out of my hands, and I was… I was flying through the air. I hit the wall, and—” Her voice cracked. “I couldn’t breathe. My ribs… I knew something was broken.”

Bear’s jaw clenched, but he forced his body to stay relaxed, not to betray the fury churning inside him at the thought of anyone hurting her. His hand continued its slow, soothing rhythm along her spine, even as every muscle in his body wanted to tense.

“Nikola grabbed Sloane. Had a knife to her throat.” Her words were coming faster now, tumbling out like she couldn’t hold them back. “I tried to get up. To help her. But Jakob kept hitting me. My face, my side. I couldn’t—” She broke off again.

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