Aria’s POV
I was coming out of the darkness again.
This time I didn’t dream about anything. Calvin wasn’t in my dreams. Thank Goddess for that.
I was hoping I would be dreaming about Nick. I felt the tingles. But I didn’t see him in my dreams either.
This time it was just darkness.
I tried moving my body, but I couldn’t. I felt something heavy press me down.
The chains.
I turned my head slightly and froze.
Someone was here with me.
I could feel their hair on my face.
I wanted to move. I wanted to scream.
But I couldn’t.
I couldn’t do anything.
I could feel my heartbeat increasing and my palms started sweating. My breathing became fast and shallow.
Was it Victor? Why was he laying his head on me? What did he do to me now? Did he touch me? Oh, Goddess, please no. Please don’t let him touch me!
I needed to do something! I needed to scream! I needed to move!
I tried opening my eyes, and after a few unsuccessful attempts, I managed to do that.
I could see light, which meant that Victor was here with me.
Tears formed in my eyes.
Oh, Goddess, no.
I blinked and tried to look down on him.
But something was weird.
This wasn’t Victor’s hair. His hair was gray.
This man’s hair was dark blond, and he was a lot bigger than Victor.
Who the hell was he?!
I moved my gaze from him and looked around.
Wait…
I was not laying on a metal table!
I was in bed!
I was in a familiar room!
This was my room in Mike’s cabin!
My eyes widened, and I blinked a few times to clear the tears from my eyes so I could see better.
My gaze fell on another man. His head was on my thigh. He was holding my hand. I didn’t even notice that before.
Gabriel.
Oh, Gabriel. How much I missed him. A quiet sob escaped me. I tried moving my other arm so I could touch him, but it was trapped under the man lying on my shoulder.
I moved my gaze back to him.
This was Nick. It had to be Nick.
I buried my nose in his hair and took a deep breath. A scent I knew, and loved welcomed me.
My mate.
This was a dream about him. I will be able to see him in my dream. I will be able to see Gabriel.
Oh, thank Goddess.
I wonder if I will be able to talk to them. Or I will only be able to lay down with them like this. I would love to talk to them. But I will take what I can get. Just laying here with them was enough. It was the best dream I had had in a long time.
But if this was a dream, my dream, I could talk to them, right? I could try, at least.
I looked down at Gabriel and squeezed his hand gently.
He stirred in his sleep and mumbled something I couldn’t understand.
I chuckled quietly and tried again.
This time he opened his eyes. He looked confused for a second, but then he looked up at me.
His eyes widened and he jumped up, startling me.
“ARIA!” he yelled and grabbed my face.
This woke up Nick, and he sat up. He turned to look at me, and I could see tears in his eyes.
“Oh, my love,” he said and moved Gabriel’s hands so he could come closer to me.
He rubbed my cheeks gently and leaned in. Those brown eyes I loved so much bore into mine. He kissed the tip of my nose and pressed his lips against mine.
Sparks felt like electricity. They were so intense that my whole body trembled.
Goddess, this dream was so realistic.
Nick moved away and my eyes fell on Gabriel, who was now sitting beside me. He was smiling at me, but he looked so tired. There were dark circles under his eyes and his beard was longer. I cupped his face gently and rubbed his cheek with my thumb. He leaned into my touch and closed his eyes.
I looked at my mate, who looked as bad as Gabriel. If not worse.
Why was I dreaming about them like this?
“Are you okay, love?” Nick asked me. “Are you in pain? Do you need anything?”
My eyebrows furrowed, and I looked down at my body. I was clean. I was wearing different clothes. My wounds were stitched up.
Wow. This dream was really weird.
“Aria?” Gabriel’s voice startled me.
I looked up at him, confused.
“Baby?” Nick called me and turned my head so I would look at him.
“This dream is so weird,” I mumbled quietly.
Nick looked at Gabriel, and his eyebrows furrowed.
“Dream?” he asked me as he looked back at me.
“Yeah,” I chuckled. “I was hoping I would be dreaming about you. And I am so happy that I am, but I didn’t expect this.”
“Baby, you are not dreaming,” Nick said slowly. “You are home. This is not a dream.”
I chuckled and looked between him and Gabriel. “I wish.”
Gabriel took my hands in his. “Aria, you are home. We are real. We found you and we brought you back home. You are never going back there. You will never wake up in that place again. You are home and we are never leaving you again.”
I looked at Nick, who nodded and gave me a small smile.
Wait…
If this was not a dream, if they really did rescue me, how did they do it? Did they fight? Was someone hurt? Were they hurt?
Oh, Goddess, no! Please no!
My eyes widened and I started looking up and down their bodies. There were no visible injuries on either one of them. But that didn’t make me feel better. I grabbed their shirts and pulled them up, searching for any injuries, bruises, cuts, or scrapes.
I needed to know they were okay. They can’t be hurt because of me. I couldn’t live with that.
Nick’s POV
I looked at Gabriel, who was as confused as me.
We gently grabbed her hands at the same time.
“What are you doing, love?” I asked her.
Her eyes were wide and filled with fear.
“Checking if you are injured,” she mumbled and tried to pull her hands out of our grasp so she could continue.
“Nobody is hurt, baby,” I said, coming closer to her. “We are fine. Nothing happened to any of us.”
She looked up at me in disbelief. “How?”
“He is an idiot,” Gabriel sighed. “The only thing he counted on was that we wouldn’t be able to find that place. The security was minimal. We got you out of there without any issues and nobody was hurt.”
She sighed and relaxed slightly. “How did you find me?”
“Cassie recognized what you said about that plant,” I explained as I ran my hand through her hair. “And we had a little bit of extra help.”
“What kind of help?” she asked me.
“We will explain everything, love,” Gabriel said and smiled at her. “But you need to rest. It is late. We will talk in the morning.”
She nodded and laid back down.
“I will go shower and change, and I will be back,” Gabriel said and stood up.
“It’s okay, man,” I said. “I will be here. You can sleep in your room.”
“Not a fucking chance,” Gabriel said and narrowed his eyes at me. “I am not leaving her.”
“Okay, man,” I chuckled.
Gabriel kissed Aria’s forehead. “I will be right back.”
“Okay,” she said and smiled at him.
He walked out of the room, but I could see how reluctant he was. I could totally understand him. There was no fucking way I would leave her. I honestly had no idea how I would go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to leave her even for a minute.
As soon as the door closed, I pulled her closer to me and kissed her.
It wasn’t a soft kiss. It was desperate. I need her like I need air to breathe. And when she wasn’t here, I was choking. I was dying.
She tasted fucking amazing, like Christmas. I missed her taste so fucking much.
She moaned quietly, and I was fucking melting. She had no idea what she was doing to me.
I reluctantly pulled away. If we continued, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from taking her, and she was in no condition to have sex.
“Fuck, love,” I mumbled and leaned my forehead on hers.
“I love you, Nick,” she said quietly.
“Oh, baby, I love you too,” I said with a small smile.
She gave me a small kiss and leaned back on the pillow. I could see how tired she was.
“Why did you do it, love?” I asked her quietly.
Sadness was evident in every word I spoke.
She sighed and placed her hand on my cheek. “I couldn’t watch him hurt Cassie.”
“He wouldn’t be able to,” I said sternly. “We wouldn’t have let him. He would have never gotten to her or you.”
“We don’t know that Nick,” she said quietly.
“We do,” I growled. “I would kill him before he could hurt you or any of us.”
She rubbed my cheek but stayed quiet.
“Promise me you will never do something like that again,” I said.
She looked me in the eyes and nodded.
“Words, Aria,” I growled. “I need to hear you say it.”
“I promise, Nick,” she said and smiled.
I let out a breath I was holding and kissed the tip of her nose. As I leaned in, I could smell her delicious scent again.
I took a deep breath and growled. “Oh, thank fuck.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
“Your scent is back,” I said.
She raised her eyebrows in confusion.
“Gabriel gave you his blood, so you smelled like him for a while,” I explained.
Her eyes widened. “Why did he give me his blood?”
“You needed a transfusion,” I said quietly.
She looked down at her body and then back up at me.
“I will kill him for what he did to you, baby,” I growled.
She sighed. “I am fine now.”
“I will still kill him,” I said sternly.
She smiled and leaned closer to me. “Are you sure this is not a dream?”
“Definitely, my love,” I said and kissed her. “You are back. You are not dreaming.”
“I am afraid to close my eyes,” she said quietly.
“Why?” I asked her, confused.
“I am afraid I will be back there when I wake up,” she said, her voice trembling.
I cupped her face and looked deep into her eyes. Goddess, how I love her eyes. I have never seen a color so beautiful.
“Never, do you hear me?” I said slowly. “You will never wake up there again. You will never wake up without me again.”
She nodded, and I pressed my lips against hers again.
I had no fucking idea how I survived these past few days without her. How the hell did I survive that?
She pulled back too soon.
“Sleep, baby,” I whispered and pulled her closer, minding her injuries. “I will be here when you wake up.”
She pressed herself closer to me and released a breath.
I was running my fingers through her hair, and she soon fell asleep.
A few minutes later, Gabriel came back.
“Is she okay?” he whispered.
“She still thinks this is a dream,” I said quietly. “She was afraid to go back to sleep because she thought she would wake up in that place.”
Gabriel sighed and ran a hand over his face.
“Can you move her?” he asked me. “I want to sleep next to her.”
I nodded and gently lifted her up so Gabriel could climb in next to her.
He kissed the top of her head and turned the bedside lamp off.
I closed my eyes and, for the first time in days, fell into a peaceful sleep.
