The Dream Walker (23 page)

Chapter
53

Alaina huddled with Nico between the pallets, shaking uncontrollably. She gripped the piece of wood, her hand bloody from stabbing George and the cuts her makeshift knife was giving her. She tried not to think about assaulting George; she just hoped he was dead.

She listened intently, her heart skipping a beat at every noise. If Daniel came back, both her and Nico would be killed.

Glancing over at Nico, she was glad to see he was breathing.
“Please don’t die,” she whispered as she held an old towel she had found to his leg with her other hand. She didn’t know which was worse—the germs the towel undoubtedly held, or the blood he was losing.

She heard a door slam, and then silence. Her breathing stopped as she strained to hear noises or voices—just something to let her know who was here.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching. Whoever it was walked quietly and carefully. Tears ran down her cheeks as her fear escalated. Getting to her feet, she looked back at Nico one more time. He was propped up against the wall, his large frame taking up most of the width between the stacks of pallets. He wasn’t waking up anytime soon, of that she was certain.

Please let it be Blake
, she silently prayed.

She gripped the wood tightly and took a step forward, putting herself in between Nico and whoever was approaching. Taking a deep breath, she decided she would die defending Nico and her own life.

She listened as the footsteps crept closer to their position, took another breath, and prepared to lunge.

Chapter
54

Blake held his phone in one hand, a gun in the other. Jovan was right behind him. The warehouse was hot and smelled of old wood and mold. Sweat trickled down his face. He swiped it with the sleeve of his T-shirt and checked the screen on his phone again, the red dot indicating Nico
’s phone was just ahead.

They were close.

Blake froze as he heard a noise coming from the other side of the warehouse. He glanced back at Jovan, who indicated that he had heard it as well. They listened for a moment more and only heard the creaks and moans from the old building.

“
Mice?” Jovan mouthed.

Blake shrugged. Mouse, lizard, psychopath with a gun . . . something was making the noise, but the way he saw it, they didn
’t have time to figure it out. Nico’s phone was up ahead and to the left. What Blake really hated was that he couldn’t see around the corner because of all the pallets. Once they hit that particular stack, they were going to make the turn blind. He hoped like hell it would be Alaina and Nico and not said psychopath.

He looked over at Jovan and showed him the phone screen. Jovan nodded, held up two fingers, and pointed at Blake. Then he held up three fingers and pointed at himself indicating that Blake should go in on two, and Jovan would be right behind him on three. Blake was about to argue and tell Jovan to go on two, but they were lodged pretty well between the pallets, and Blake had no doubt that if they tried to change places, the stacks would come down.

Blake held up his hand, counted to two, and turned the corner, his gun out in front of him. He felt Jovan behind him a second later.

Alaina stood there, a piece of bloody wood in her hand. Blood was crusted on her arms, hands, and droplets dotted her face. Her shirt was stained crimson, as were her feet. The look of determination on her face scared the hell out of Blake, as it looked as though she was ready to kill whoever got close.

Blake glanced over at Nico. He was a bloody mess as well, and for a brief second, Blake wondered if Alaina was responsible—the killer and her victim. He searched her face, and she smiled and dropped the wood when she saw them. Tears flowed as she sunk to her knees.

“
Alaina?” Jovan said, moving toward her.

She crawled back to Nico and positioned herself so that his head was in her lap. Stroking his hair with one hand, she bent over and kissed his lips. Her hair fell over him like a black curtain. The tears kept coming, and Blake had the distinct feeling he was watching Alaina become totally unraveled.

“Please help us,” she whispered, pushing her hair out of her face and kissing Nico again. “Please.”

Blake glanced over at Jovan, and he could see Jovan was surprised as well at Alaina
’s show of affection toward Nico. When had they had the opportunity to become so close? Was it when Nico checked up on her the past couple of days? But really, he hadn’t been gone more than a couple of hours. No, Alaina’s actions suggested they had spent a lot of time together, and that simply hadn’t been the case. Alaina held and caressed Nico as she would a . . . lover.

What the hell?

Chapter 55

Nico came to consciousness slowly. The first thing that registered was the soft mattress below him. Then he smelled the soft scent of Gardenias, and that reminded him of Alain
a
.

His eyes fluttered open and he found Alaina
’s gaze. She looked worried, but then smiled, and her eyes became brighter. It was right then he knew he wanted to wake up to those blue pools every morning of his existence. And if that were to happen, there definitely wouldn’t be the bruises around them either.

She smiled and squeezed his hand.
“Hi,” she said, her voice quiet and soft, as if she were in a library.

“
Hey,” Nico said. He tried to move, then fell back on the pillow and closed his eyes, trying to remember what had happened that would make his body feel like it had been run over by a steam engine.

It all came flooding back to him, and he opened his eyes.
“Are you okay, Alaina?”

She shrugged and nodded.
“Yes.”

“
Did you . . . did you kill George?” Nico asked.

“
I think so,” Alaina said, looking down at the white blanket that covered him. “But we didn’t stick around to find out.”

Nico nodded, noticing the bandages on her hand.
“I hope you killed him, Alaina. I take it the Saviors came and got us?”

Alaina nodded, and he listened as she told him how Blake and Jovan showed up and loaded Nico into the car. They’d sped down the highway toward Phoenix and met up with Noah, Cohen, Annis, and Hudson. Cohen did a quick assessment and decided Nico didn
’t have the time to wait to get back to the silo, so they had gone four wheeling a few miles out into the desert and Cohen had healed him. Alaina had been scared to death, but fascinated by the whole procedure. “You had a hole in your leg, and I watched it mend. It was the same thing with the stab wound on your side. It was amazing and terrifying all at once. Cohen said he could probably heal my bumps and bruises, but I wasn’t comfortable with it,” Alaina said.

Nico squeezed her hand, understanding. Because Alaina was half-Colonist, she had some of the same DNA as the Saviors. However, he could sympathize with her decision. He would also have doubts about someone he
’d never met putting his energy into him to heal him.

“
Then we came back here,” she said, looking around.

Nico gazed around the room. They were in the gym. Blue mats covered most of the floor, and from his vantage point in the corner, he could see the treadmill and weights. It was then he realized he was on a gurney and was hooked up to some machines, and he wondered why they hadn
’t put him in his own room. “What’s all this?” he asked.

“
Beverly said that you’d lost a lot of blood, and she wanted to monitor your blood pressure and some other things after the . . . healing.”

“
Why are we down here?” he asked. “Why aren’t we in my quarters?”

Alaina shrugged.
“I don’t know.”

Nico
’s blood boiled as he realized what had happened. This was where the Saviors kept people they weren’t too sure about. It was where they had kept him, Blake, and it was now where they were keeping Alain
a.
But then again, if they didn’t trust her, why was he down her as well?

One thing he was certain of was that if they weren
’t willing to accept Alaina, then the solution was obvious: Nico would leave with her.

He pulled off the blood pressure cuff and the sticky heart monitors. Throwing off the blanket, he tried to sit up. His head spun, and he also realized he was nude. He saw Alaina’s eyes shift from him to another part of the room, and her cheeks turned bright red.

His anger tampered down a bit and amusement took its place. “Nothing you haven’t seen before, Alaina,” he said in a low tone.

Her blush deepened.

She continued to stare at the far wall. “I just can’t believe you were in my dreams, Nico.”

Her voice was so quiet he barely heard it.

“You said you were okay with it before. Is that still the case?” he asked, searching her face for some indication.

She sat still as stone, then her gaze shifted to him. A small smile played on her lips and she nodded.
“Yes. Yes, I am, Nico.”

Nico pulled her hand and brought her on top of him on the bed. She gazed down at him and ran her fingers through his hair, giving him a smile.

He pushed her hair back behind her ear, glad to see she’d cleaned up. He remembered she’d been an absolute mess of blood and gore when he’d passed out. Now if only that black eye would fade away.

“
I never would have invaded your private space as I did unless there was a good reason,” Nico said.

“
And what reason was that?” Alaina asked.

“
At first it was about seeing what you were about, to make sure that the Colonist within you was under control. I can get a really good glimpse at a person’s psyche through dreams. Then, I went to your dreams for selfish reasons,” Nico said. “I wanted to know you better, but our time was so limite
d.
Dreams have a way of hurrying things along, of discovering thoughts and feelings about people that may never be revealed in a waking state.”

He pulled her head down and kissed her lips. They were so soft, so tender, and felt so right against his own. His body responded, and he ground his hips upward.

Alaina looked down at him, fire in her intense, blue eyes. “You probably shouldn’t be thinking along those lines, Nico. You’ve just been healed.”

He pushed his hips up once more and said,
“That’s what you do to me, Alaina. Stab and gunshot wounds are all but forgotten when I’m around you.”

She smiled and kissed him again, and he moved over on the bed so she could lie next to him. He winced as his stab wound rubbed against the sheet. Yeah, he
’d been healed, but the area was still tender.

Her fingers sent trails of fire over his skin as she ran her hand up his arm, over his bicep to his chin. She smoothed her palm against his chest, right over his tattoo. The gurney was made for one, and they were smashed in, their bodies melded together. Nico could smell her citrusy shampoo and the light smell of peppermint on her breath. Her legs and hips pressed against his, and he decided he never wanted to move again.

“I want to be with you, Alaina,” he whispered.

She studied his face for a moment.
“You know that I’m a stripper, right?”

Nico nodded.
“You told me in your dream.”

“
And it doesn’t bother you? That I’ve made my living with my body? That I’m part Colonist?”

Nico saw hope in her eyes, hope that he would say he was fine with all of it. In fact, he wasn
’t. But that was just his SR44 male hating the fact that his female had been with other males.

Nico also knew that he would have to choose his next words very carefully. If he said the wrong thing, he would sound insincere, and he assumed Alaina had a lot of practice in her life detecting bullshit.

“Blake’s part Colonist, and a pain in the ass, but I put up with him,” Nico said, kissing the tip of her nose. “I’m cool with your heritage, baby.”

“
And what about the rest, Nico?”

Nico kissed her again, hoping that it conveyed his feelings.
“Alaina, I’m going to be honest with you. It bothers me other men have seen your exquisite body.”

Alaina remained silent.

“But what upsets me the most is that you have such a low opinion of yourself. People do what they need to do to survive, Alaina.”

He thought about his own humiliation at the hands of his mother, and then later being forced to fight one of his own, and how it was always set up so that he would lose. He also thought of his choice to never to stand up to Micah, and his lack of courage to leave The Platoon.

However, he needed to cut himself some slack as well. He had stayed because he felt he had to in order to survive.

Alaina
’s eyes shimmered, and Nico wondered if these were tears of happiness or tears of pain. He hoped he had said the right things.

“
Thank you,” she whispered, and kissed him.

Nico wanted to get the hell out of the gym and into his quarters. He wanted to make love to Alaina in the flesh. The last thing he needed was someone walking in on them, and if they didn
’t stop now, he couldn’t be responsible for his actions.

The sound of the gym door opening met his ears, and Alaina pulled away. Noah and Abby strolled in, holding hands, followed by Hudson and Beverly.

“Don’t you two look cozy,” Noah said with a smile.

Alaina got up from the bed, and Nico felt as if his right arm had just been removed. He grabbed Alaina
’s hand before she could get too far away and pulled her back. She sat on the bed, and Nico rearranged the sheet to hide his aching arousal.

Beverly came to the side of the bed and put her hand to his forehead.
“How’re you feeling, Nico? And why is my monitoring equipment on the floor?”

Nico had to admit, he
’d had better days, but one thing was certain: he wanted out of the gym and into his quarters with Alaina in tow. “I’m feeling pretty good,” he lied.

“
Hi Alaina,” Beverly said, smiling. "Are you feeling better today? You were pretty shook up last night."

Alaina nodded. "Yes, thank you, Beverly."

“I'm Abby. We didn't get a chance to meet last night.” Nico noticed the hesitancy in her voice and sighed. He appreciated they were worried Alaina was trouble because she was half-Colonist. Who knew what theories had been thrown around—probably that Alaina was working with the Colonist and had hurt Nico to find out where the Saviors lived. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs that he loved Alaina, that he wanted her to become his mate. But once again, he was stuck. He didn’t want to admit to the Saviors he had gotten to know Alaina by dream-walking. He needed to keep their trust intact.

“
Hudson and I need to talk to you, Nico,” Noah said. “We need to know what went on in the warehouse.”

Nico thought over everything and decided that Noah was right. What Nico knew couldn
’t wait, and he needed to get shit straight with Noah—either Alaina stayed or he left. He was playing by his own rules now.

“
Sure, Noah,” he said. “I need some clothes though.”

Hudson threw a pair of sweats at him.
“Here you go, man.”

“
Alaina, Beverly and I were just about to make some lunch. Do you want to join us?” Abby asked.

“
Thanks,” Alaina said. “I’d like that.”

Nico sighed as he watched the females leave the gym. At least that was a step in the right direction.