Free Hold: Hold & Hide Book 1 by Marilyn Grey

pick the animal, as though it were some kind of privilege to do so.
    I dreaded my turn, knowing I wouldn’t be able to do it.
    “This isn’t going to be easy,” Emily said. 
    Brayden appeared next to me and touched my back the way Blake always did. I wanted to slap his hand a million miles away. The odd closeness he thought we had disturbed me.
    I watched Blake since he came in the room. Over there with Audrey. I didn’t love him, not like that anyway, but the way they handled themselves and rejected me in the process hurt. A lot. Maybe they thought no one could see them sneaking those touches, but I could. And if I could....
    “There’s something I need to tell you, Claire,” Brayden said. “I noticed something on my hand today.” He put it in front of my face as Sir Anthony called Audrey to go first. My attention was torn between the look on her face and the mark on Brayden’s hand. “Look.”
    I looked. “A scar?”
    “I never had this scar before.”
    “It’s new?”
    “No, Clay. You don’t get it. This is Brayden’s scar.”
    I sighed. “Brayden, please stop. This is getting ridiculous.”
    Audrey stepped up to a chicken. Maybe the easiest animal in the room to kill. If I did go through with it, that would be my choice too.
    “Brayden?” he said. “Why’d you call me Brayden?”
    “You have five minutes to kill the animal and completely skin it or you will go through the second door over there to be skinned yourself.” Sir Anthony grinned. Was he kidding? “If you succeed, however, you will proceed through the first door for meal time and lucky you, you’ll get to eat the animal you’ve killed.”
    “Skinned?” Emily’s voice rose a few octaves. 
    I shrugged. “Let’s try not to find out if he’s serious or not.”
    “You called me Brayden,” he said again. 
    “Yes, because that’s who you are. Look in the mirror sometime. Don’t you know the difference between the two of you?”
    “I know the differences, yeah. Most people don’t though. What do I look like? I haven’t seen my reflection since we got here. How do you know I’m Brayden?”
    I touched his hair. “This is different on Blake. His hairline comes down more here.” I touched his temple. “Your mannerisms are different. Your eyes. I can tell, Brayden. I’m not that smart, but I’m not that dumb either. I practically spent my entire life with your brother.”
    Audrey had four minutes left and hadn’t moved. 
    “Claire, I’m Blake. I don’t know what’s going on. This is Brayden’s scar. This isn’t my body.” He coughed and choked on his words. “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know who I am. Ask me something, Claire. Ask me something only I would know.”
    “Something only Blake would know?”
    He nodded. 
    “What’s my favorite day of the year?”
    “Easy. You’ve always said it was my birthday.”
    I stared at him, telling myself to blink. “Maybe that was too easy.”
    He rubbed his hair, then squeezed his neck.
    “Three minutes,” Sir Anthony said to a frozen Audrey. 
    “Who am I?” Brayden—or Blake?—trembled. 
    “What’s my favorite color?”
    “Green ... like the ocean you’ve always wanted to float in.”
    “Blake....” I looked into his eyes to try to find a piece of him behind his brother’s face.
    Audrey knelt down and pulled a chicken toward her so that it rested between her legs. 
    “Two minutes,” Sir Anthony chimed. 
    Audrey closed her eyes, then twisted the chicken’s neck and caused it to flail around. She held on until the feathers stopped shaking. 
    “Don’t do that,” Emily said. “They’ll see you as a weak one.”
    I wiped my cheek dry. “Can’t help it.”
    “Just do what they say,” Blake said. 
    I turned to him. “Blake?”
    He nodded. “It’s me, Clay. I swear.”
    Audrey tried to dig into the chicken’s skin with her fingernails, but Sir Anthony told her to stop before her time was up. 
    “This was an example,” Sir