Chapter 5: QUINN

I jumped straight up in bed with my heart racing, glock in hand, body in fight mode. I listened for any kind of sound as I scanned all four corners of the bedroom with my gun arm extended.

What the fuck was that? Still caught in that place between sleep and wake I couldn't immediately decipher if the disturbance had been internal, or something that was physically here with me.

My gut was tied in knots and I felt fear like I haven't since I was a kid. There was a strange hum in my ears and my breath stilled in my lungs as I tried to get my bearings.

With my training I would've known by now if there were anyone else in the room with me. There wasn't, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.

I listened very carefully and there was no sound, but still everything in me screamed extreme danger. I could almost taste it, and all my signals were going off full blast.

Some fuck was wrong, my hackles were raised and my skin prickled. All the signs that I was having an episode.

It had been so long since my 'gift' had shown itself that I didn't readily accept that that's what this was though, plus we weren't in the field and that shit hadn't shown itself anywhere but there, in a long fucking time.

Once I ascertained that the room was clear I shook my head as I tried to pinpoint what it was that had awakened me. There was nothing in the rest of the house when I did a walk through.

No sound coming from outside where the dark night peeped through the windows. I checked the security monitors surrounding the compound but as expected, all was quiet.

Back in the bedroom I did another quick check as that feeling of dread persisted. I had the curtains Danielle had installed pulled back and the window lifted to let in the night air.

Maybe a small animal or something had got too close to the house, but a quick scan of the ground below showed nothing, no disturbance.

Not even the leaves were moving in the still of the eerie predawn Georgia morning. It was too early for the birds, and the crickets had long been asleep. So what the fuck?

I exhaled and flung myself back down on the bed and sent out feelers, testing my surroundings. Ty the ass likes to call them my spidey senses but they've saved his worthless hide a time or two and were usually on point.

Nothing! At least nothing I could see, but my senses were hardly ever wrong and that shit was screaming loud as fuck. I squinted into the dark trying to call to mind the last thing I'd seen in REM.

I felt unsettled when I couldn't recall what I'd been dreaming about and that feeling of, 'knowing', lingered over me. Well shit! I cleared my mind and listened.

I was very aware of the irregular beating of my heart and the sickening cramp in my gut. Someone belonging to me was in trouble and I can't for the life of me figure out how or who. Everyone I love is right here, safe and secure. Or was this an omen of things to come?

My blood zinged like a live wire beneath my skin and I rubbed my arms as I tried to listen to what my senses were telling me. It had been a while since I'd got that little tingle in my senses.

In the last few years it had only shown up when we were in the field and never in my everyday life. Granted things were a bit tense around here lately with all the bullshit my brothers and I had been dealing with, but somehow this didn't feel as if there was a connect.

That shit doesn't scare me, we've dealt with worse. The only difference being, that this time, it was personal and we had the women and my niece to protect.

Still, my brothers and I knew what we were doing, and as dangerous as the situation was, we weren't too worried. Not yet!

I let myself relax all the way and with my eyes closed, tried to read my surroundings. I'd done this shit a million times in more hostile situations and it had never failed me once.

When nothing was forthcoming, I got comfortable and went back to sleep. I woke twice more with the same results until I started to get pissed the fuck off.

Some shit was definitely wrong but for the first time in my life I couldn't get a bead on it. That sense of danger lingered and I checked the security I don't know how many times until I was convinced that everyone was safe.

Another quick walk around outside just to be sure, turned up nothing. And when I finally broke down and called each of my brothers to check in, they'd all assured me that things were fine on their end. Except Ty who told me to fuck off and Devon who wanted to come over in case some shit was up with me.

I laughed at Ty's grumpy ass and refused Dev's offer. I probably should've let him come on over since I was sure he'd spend the rest of what was left of the night worrying.

I knew I was right when he called me half an hour later and I lied and told him I was just feeling unsettled because of something I ate.

After he got through confirming that Ty was indeed right and I was most definitely bitch made, he hung up. At least he was no longer worrying about me.

I awoke a little later, still with that unsettled feeling in my gut. I felt like I should be moving faster, like there was something that needed my attention. It made no sense.

For the first time there was no direction to follow, when always in the past I at least had some idea of what the fuck.

That zing in my blood had become a strange crawling sensation beneath the surface of my skin. I looked around outside and all seemed calm, so I was once again assured that at least my family wasn't in any immediate danger.

I was on high alert once I left the house in the early hour between night and day, when everything is still silent and the light is barely peeping above the trees. This is usually my favorite time of day. It's peaceful and undisturbed; not today though.

The others were still in bed as I made the rounds around the perimeter just to be safe, before making my way to the gym we'd built on the premises.

A look at my watch showed it would be another hour at least, before they stirred. I'd like to be there myself but unease had run me from my bed.