Scars Reopened (Runaway Angel book 2)

**Mila's POV** I'm laying in bed when I hear an annoying beeping coming from the hallway. I try and ignore it but it just keeps beeping and seems to be growing louder. I get up and try to see what is going on, but I can't open the door. I push, and push with all the strength I have, but I am not strong enough. I hear my parents from the other side of the house start to scream. Like really scream. Their screams are the stuff of horror movies and nightmares.  Tears began to fill my eyes, and fear starts to settle in my body. I push at the door, screaming for my mom and dad. I doubt they can hear me, their screams are filling the whole house. Smoke is starting to fill up my room and I begin to cough uncontrollably. I reach for the door knob, but it is too hot. I back up and look around my room. I run towards my window trying to open it, but there is a piece of wood wedged so I cannot lift my window. I try to bang on the window, hoping to break it but again I am not strong enough. I start to walk over to my bedside lamp, but the smoke is heavier now and I cannot see. It is also becoming too hard for me to breathe. Just a few feet more. I trip on the leg of my bed and fall. I have no strength to stand up or even crawl. I am dying. I know it.  Just as I begin to drift off into what feels like a heavy sleep, there is a crash and I see Brandon crawling into my window. He is screaming my name, but my throat is so sore I cannot respond. He lifts me into his arms and crawls back out of the window. The air hits my face, and I can finally feel myself catch my breath. I cough and cough, God it hurts so bad.  "Mila! Mila!" Brandon screams. "I know you are scared, and in pain, but I need you to listen to me. I am going to climb down, I need you to sit right here and not move until I tell you to." Unable to speak I just nod. He quickly climbs down from the top floor of our house. When he stands up he turns and raises his arms up to me. "Mila, jump. I know it is scary, but I promise to catch you. Jump!" I do as he asks and jump. I feel his arms wrap around me and he runs to the mailbox. He sits me down and tells me to stay here.  I watch as my older brother runs to the back yard. I sit here for what seems like hours, watching my family home burn. There's flames. Flames burning wildly everywhere. I hear sirens coming and I know they are too late. I stand up and start to walk towards my house. I scream and scream. I scream for my mom and dad, I scream Brandon's name. No one answers. I continue to scream, even though my throat is terribly sore. Tears are now pouring from my eyes. Their dead. My whole family is dead.  I scream and cry until I feel a blanket being wrapped around me. I am being carried away, towards an ambulance. I know the person carrying me is talking, but I am not listening. I only scream to let me go. I struggle, I kick and scream and cry. I want to burn with my family. I don't want to be alone in this world. The last thing I see is the fire being put out, and two black body bags being carried out. The ambulance drives away, with me still screaming and crying. I feel a sharp pain in my arm and then my body feels heavy. I start to fall asleep. The last thing that leaves my lips is a prayer to God that this is all some type of messed up nightmare.  I finally wake up to another beeping sound. This one is lower, but still as annoying. I slowly open my eyes and take in my surroundings. I see a glass door directly in front of my bed, ugly curtains on either side. I see a TV hanging to the left of my bed, and a chair underneath it. I am hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor. I begin to remember last night and the beeping starts to become louder and faster. My heart. My heart is racing. I start to feel a tightness in my chest, and my eyes start to fill with more tears. Before I can say anything, three people walk into my room. The nurse comes to my side and clicks some stuff on both machines. I instantly feel relaxed a little, and the beeping slows down. The doctor, I assume, stands next to me and begins to speak.  I understand what he is saying, but I cannot accept it. Both my parents burned alive, and my brother's remains cannot be found. They believe he was crushed when the house became unstable and fell into nothing but ashes and rubble. I am alone. I have no other family. They're dead. I repeat inside my head over and over that they are gone. Dead. Burned. Crushed. The beeping instantly starts to pick up again, the nurse and doctor are panicking while the third person holds me while I cry. I cry and scream. She just keeps holding on.  I start to hear my name being yelled. But the voice doesn't belong to anyone in the room. "MILA! MILA! MILA!" I jolt awake, and Leo is shaking my shoulder. I sit up, and look around and see that I am in my bedroom with my husband. I am sweating profusely, tears running down my face, and my heart beating out of my chest. I look at Leo and he has pain and fear written all over his face.  "My treasure, it's okay. I'm here. It's okay." He whispers as he cradles me in his arms.  It was just a nightmare. Another nightmare. That horrible night has been replaying in my dreams since Leo started looking into my families tragedy. He hasn't found much except what I already knew. My parents burned alive and my brother's body never recovered. Leo tried to say that Brandon was the cause of the fire and ran away, but that led to us having an argument and me ignoring him for almost a month. I knew my brother, he was not capable of murdering my parents.  We laid back down, and I listened to Leo's breathing. He soon fell back asleep, whereas I could never go back to sleep after a nightmare. Once I was sure he would not wake up, I wiggled out of his grasp and headed downstairs for a glass of water. On the way there I ran into Joey. He smiled at me sympathetically, and walked with me to the kitchen.  I sat on the island, and he walked around to the cabinets and grabbed me a glass, filled it with ice and water, and slid it to me. "Another nightmare?" He asked.  "Yea." I said. Not being able to meet his gaze. "Sorry I woke you." Joey and Kelsie, his mate, live a floor under us. Being that they are both wolves, they can hear my high pitch screaming, even though the rooms are supposed to be soundproof. Thankfully Amelia and little Brandon seem to be heavy sleepers and sleep through my screams.  "Same nightmare?" Joey broke the silence.  "Yea." That is all I could say.  Joey knew of my nightmares since he was there when I first had one. Leo was away on a business trip when I had my first episode. He came busting in the door in is wolf form, Kelsie close behind him. They thought someone was attacking me. Kelsie shook me awake while Joey got dressed in some of Leo's basketball shorts. They sat with me and let me cry and tell them the events of that night. That was almost two weeks ago. Ever since then I wake up every night screaming and sweating. It all feels too real. Even the news I received in the hospital that my family was dead felt like the first time, every time. Like I lost them every single night. My heart was breaking inside of me. I was exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. You could only experience the loss of your family so many times over again before you start to feel like your world is burning all around you. I don't know how much more I can take.  "Maybe I should tell Leo to stop looking into it." I whispered. "He hasn't been able to find anything out, and all it is doing is making me relive that night. I can't take it anymore. I feel like I lose them all over again every single night."  A tear slips from my eyes, and I quickly wipe it away. Joey comes around the island and gives me a hug. He holds on tight as I cry silently into his chest. I love Joey. He reminds me a lot of Brandon. Joey is the brother that I never got the chance to grow up with. I will never be able to let him know how much I truly appreciate him.  We are interrupted when we hear someone clearing their throat. I look up and see Leo standing there holding our son. Little Brandon will be four months soon, and he looks just like his daddy. Leo raises an eyebrow at us, and I quickly realize that Joey's arms are still wrapped around me. I wiggle out of his hold and give him a knowing smile. Joey smiles back and wishes us both a goodnight, as he heads back upstairs.  "I know I have absolutely no reason to worry, but you know I do not like another male touching you." Leo whispers as he sits down next to me. Little Brandon is sucking on his pacifier, looking at us both.  "Leo, I want you to stop looking into my families death." I say looking directly into his eyes. I could tell he was confused at my sudden request when his eyebrows scrunched up and he tilted his head to the side. "I can't take it anymore. These nightmares are too real, and I mourn them all over again. This is no way to live. My family is dead. Knowing specifics of that night won't bring them back." I whispered the last part.  I really am hurting right now. Asking Leo to stop investigating feels like letting them go. But I need to. I need to stop reliving my tragedy, and live for the beautiful family I have now. I have a wonderful husband, amazing children, and an entire pack that depends on me. I need to be the Luna they deserve.  "I understand, treasure. Why don't we go up to bed. It isn't even four in the morning yet." He kissed me on my forehead and we walked up the stairs together.  I went into our bedroom while he took Brandon to the nursery. I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling until Leo came in. He laid next to me, wrapped his arm around my waist, and pulled me closer. I turned to face him, and could see so much pain in his eyes. I know he constantly worries about me. He is afraid that I am breaking. Truth be told, I am breaking. But I am still holding on for my children and this man. The love this man has for me and our family is worth living for. I kiss him lightly on the lips and cradle closer into his chest. I send a silent prayer up to the Moon Goddess that the nightmares are over, and fall into a quiet sleep.  **Alpha Leo's POV** I woke up to my wife screaming and crying next to me. I instantly try to wake her, knowing that she is having another nightmare. I have been trying so hard to make sure she is calm and happy before she falls asleep, but it doesn't help. Every night, no matter how good of a day we have, she has these nightmares. She is reliving losing her family. I hate seeing her like this. In so much pain and sadness.  After waking her up and calming her down, we lay back down and fall asleep. About an hour later I hear Brandon fussing from the baby monitor. I quickly get up and go to the nursery to quiet him before he wakes Mila. She doesn't get much sleep so I try to tend to our son as much as possible so she gets some rest. I have my son cradled in my arms, and walk back to our bedroom. Mila isn't there. I walk downstairs slowly, not wanting to wake anyone up, and search for my treasure.  I walk into the kitchen and what I see instantly angers my wolf. I know Mila and Joseph care for each other like siblings, but the wolf in me in still very territorial. I cleared my throat and they both look at me. Mila sees little Brandon in my arms and a smile spreads across her face. However, Joseph's arms are still around my woman. Finally, he releases her and walks upstairs. I explain how I am possessive over her and she just nods in understanding.  We sit silent for a few moments before she tells me she wants me to stop looking into her house burning down which caused her parents to die and brother to be missing. I say missing because his bones were never found even after they cleared up the ash and debris. I think he did it, but when I suggested that it almost cost me my wife. She wouldn't talk to me, look at me, she wouldn't even stay in the same room as me. It was hell. I finally apologized and promised I would never disrespect her brother like that again. Now she wants me to stop searching. Her reason are valid, but now my curiosity is peaked. I have already left a message for the pack that lives near her family home, I am just waiting to see if they know anything. Which is doubtful considering her family knew nothing of werewolves, but doesn't hurt to cover all bases. It has been almost a week so I should hear back soon. I will find out if they know anything, and if they don't, I will do as she asks and let this matter go.  We walk back up to our floor, I head to the nursery and she goes to our bedroom. I lay little Brandon down and he smiles up at me. After a quick diaper change and a few songs he is back to sleep. I go to our bedroom and see Mila laying down staring at the ceiling. I can see all her emotions in her eyes. One thing I fell in love with is how expressive those big brown eyes are. I knew when she was mad, or upset and tried to hide it. Her eyes tell me everything. I even knew the moment she fell in love with me. Sadly all I see right now is pain and anguish. I would give up everything I own just to take all that pain away. I am so in love with this woman, I need to make sure she knows how blessed I am to have her as my wife. Tomorrow I am going to take the day off of work, and spend the whole day with my family. Just the four of us. I lay in bed and pull her body closer to mine. She looks at me and I know she sees my worry. One thing we always had was understanding. We always understood each other without having to speak. I knew what she was thinking and she knew what was on my mind. Right now she is probably thinking "damn I have a hot husband". Just kidding. She is thinking how she loves our family and is thankful for us. That even though she lost her parents and her brother, she is happy with the family we built. She gives me a light peck on the lips and I hold her closer. I can feel her breath on my chest and when it slows down and evens out, I know she has fallen asleep. I look down at this beauty in my arms, and am instantly falling in love all over again.  Thank you, Moon Goddess. Thank you for blessing me with an amazing wife, and family. I will forever cherish them and love them with every breath in my body. Just as I am about to fall asleep I feel a presence in my room. My wolf is instantly stirred and I am ready to attack and defend my family. Even if I die trying.  "Whoa there, killer. It's just me." I know that voice. "Yes, it's me now calm down. I don't want to hurt you, I became quite fond of you." She laughs.  I slowly get up from my bed, careful not to wake Mila. "Moon Goddess." I bowed my head to show respect.  "I have to say, my ego is always a little inflated when I receive a prayer. Especially when I am being thanked. Feels f*****g awesome." She fist pumps.  I chuckle lightly. "I do not think I will ever get used to seeing you being this laid back and cool." She smiles, but then it quickly disappears. "Leo, you are going to receive some big news soon. When you look further into it you will be greatly upset. It will reopen scars for both you and Mila. Your relationship will be tested and I cannot see how it will play out. Which scares me. Usually I can see when a relationship between mates will last or fall apart, but your future is unknown." "What does that mean?" I ask. My heart is racing, my palms are sweating. I can't lose Mila. I can't. I turn to look at Mila laying peacefully in bed.  "I do not know." She says sadly. "There are too many possibilities. All depending on the choices you and Mila make. Free will is a funny thing." She shrugs. "Just remember, you and Mila are a perfect mated pair. No matter how much your pasts are intertwined, it should not affect your future." I stood there processing everything she said. I could lose Mila, but only because of the choices we make. Then I remembered something she said. "What do you mean our pasts are intertwined?" When I turned to look at her she was gone. What did she mean by that?  I lay back down and scoot next to my sleeping wife. How could our pasts be intertwined? She knew nothing of wolves, and I despised humans. No matter the challenges we face, I will not lose my family. I will not lose my treasure, my Mila. I snuggle up closer to her, resting my chin on top of her head, I wrap my arms protectively around her waist and whisper.  "You're mine. Forever. No one and nothing can separate us." Hades growls in agreement and we fall asleep, our mate in our arms.