After their ordeal, Kate talked to Dev about her desire to offer a women’s shelter to the women they had rescued, so they could acclimate back into society before returning to their homes, if they chose. He supported her one hundred percent and they devoted a whole wing of their new estate to the venture. Even thought she wouldn’t technically need a license or anything to provide counseling, given the vampire world was different than the human world, she’d still submitted her final dissertation paper and waited on comments. She hoped to defend next month and graduate with her Psychology PhD at the end of this spring semester. She’d come so far and put in so much effort, quitting so close to the goal line didn’t feel right, whether she needed those little three letters after her name or not.
She walked down the halls of the shelter, checking on the girls, as she’d done daily since they’d been brought here.
“How are you doing today?” Kate asked Sarah softly.
“Better. Each day gets a little better.”
Kate had been thoroughly confused when Sarah had told her she hadn’t been raped. When they talked about what Kate had seen, Sarah said some powerful looking vampire walked into the room right before anything happened and shooed everyone else out, telling them he had the privilege that day. And then he simply unstrapped her, covered her in clean ratty clothes and carried her back to her room. Untouched. Unharmed. And that’s where Sarah stayed until her rescue. Why would a bloodthirsty rogue protect a woman they’d kidnapped to be a baby breeder? And why weren’t the other women that lucky, because none of them were. It didn’t make sense.
Kate rubbed her shoulder tenderly. “I’m glad.”
“Can we work on the dreams again today?”
“If you think you’ll be up to it. I don’t want to push you.”
“I want to. It’s the only thing that makes me feel like I have some semblance of control,” Sarah replied, tears in her eyes. Even though Sarah hadn’t suffered the same physical fate as the other girls, she’d still been significantly traumatized.
Sarah had confided in Kate that she’d dreamed of a very elusive man, whom she’d dubbed her knight in shining armor and he helped her escape, at least in her mind, when she was held captive. Kate knew what it was like to dream of gorgeous men, so of course she wanted to help Sarah hold on to anything that would help her heal. And giving her control over something—anything—would help.
“Of course we can work on them, Sarah. I’ll be back after I check on the other girls, okay?”
Sarah hugged her tightly and held on for dear life. Tears sprung into Kate’s eyes. She’d formed a strong bond with a few of the other girls after the ordeal, but particularly with Sarah. She was almost like the sister she never had. One other girl was also very dear, but Kate had a very difficult time not letting the guilt eat away at her. She pulled away from Sarah. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
She walked down the hallway cheerfully greeting the girls who had their doors open. Instead of the dingy, dirty filth they had lived in for weeks, months and even years in a couple cases, their accommodations were plush, homey, safe.
In all, they’d rescued fifteen of the twenty-nine missing girls. They guessed the others were kept at another one of Xavier’s hidden locations and while it killed her to know there were still girls out there suffering the same fate as the ones they had just rescued, she had to be content for now that she could at least help a few of them. She was confident they would find the others soon. It had become an all-out obsession of all the Lords.
When she reached the last door on the left, she knocked softly.
No answer.
“Jamie, it’s Kate. Can I come in?”
No answer.
Kate could have easily gotten into the room if she wanted to, but that wasn’t the point. These women needed control back in their lives and if they wanted to remain locked in their rooms they had that choice. Of course they tried to coax them out daily, if for nothing else but to eat. Jamie would only allow food to be brought to her. She hadn’t left her room and hadn’t talked to anyone since her rescue, but that didn’t stop Kate from trying. Every day.
Several minutes went by. She knew Jamie was at the door, afraid to open it. They’d been through this routine daily since the girls had been rescued. Jamie Hallow, the girl presumed dead eleven years ago, all the while a captive of Xavier’s, was among the fifteen girls rescued. Jamie had a very long road of recovery ahead of her and had yet to talk about any of the things that happened. Kate was particularly surprised to discover Detective Thatcher and Jamie had been dating at the time of her disappearance. Jamie had refused to talk to him as well and he wasn’t taking it well. Between Giselle and Jamie, the detective was a mess. He was such a nice guy, she felt for him.