Healer (The Healer Series) (32 page)

I realize
the one thing I want more than anything—is him. I lick my dry lips. “I want to feel something real.” I swallow hard, hoping that he understands my meaning. I want to let go of all of the fear I’ve been carrying. I want to feel his energy consume me, own me, possess me. There is so much uncertainty, but it doesn’t matter. I only want to think of right here and right now. I only want to think of him.

He gently touches the top of my forehead with his finger and runs
it down the bridge of my nose, catching my bottom lip as he slides his finger down my chin and neck. His energy seems to build as his finger moves down my chest. He catches the top button of my shirt and tugs, forcing me to move into him.

I bite my lip and close my eyes.

“Aldo, I’m in love with you,” he whispers in my ear, our faces as close as they can be without touching.

My heart
beat accelerates, and my breathing becomes labored.

In one move he rips open my shirt and I hear the buttons hit the trunk of the
weeping willow. “Open your eyes.”

I open my eyes only to be immediately lost in his gaze
, intense and rich with want. I let go of my inhibitions, my fear of what he is, and surrender to him. This is no monster that stands before me, but a man that wants me, as I want him.

He slides my ravaged shirt over my shoulde
rs, and it falls to the ground. His wolfish grin is wicked, and the blood in my body rushes between my legs. “I want to drink you up until every bit of you is inside of me.” His voice is different now, stern and filled with a determination not to be reckoned with. His words may have scared me yesterday, but today I know what he really means. He’s telling me he wants to be one with me, to consume me. He waves his hand and his clothes vanish, as do my jeans. He traces his face along the scope of my shoulder and up the nape of my neck without touching me, inhaling the entire way. “You smell so good.” He raises his head and his eyes flicker with desire. I swallow hard as he steps closer to me and kneels before me. He caresses the line of my panties between my hipbones with energized kisses, teasing my skin with short surges.

I shiver
, wondering if I’ll collapse when his hands reach around me and run up the back of my thighs until they reach my buttocks, grabbing every ounce of flesh he can hold. His touch is strong, almost savage, but I want it, more than I’ve ever wanted anything. My panties vanish, and his face presses into me as he tortures me with kisses and flicks of his tongue.

My body immediately loses its
ability to maintain my stand, but he holds me up, forcing my body to remain in place. I realize I’m moaning, but can’t stop.

He pulls me down to my knees and gazes into my eyes. I hear the words lost in his star
e. I know the codes as if we decided them long ago. His dark eyes torture and tease me with the time that hangs between us.

Finally
, I can’t take it any longer. I grab his shoulders and kiss his neck and chest. I’m lost in the moment, acting without thought. I bite him hard.

Short deep moans
escape him.

He lifts me so quickly I don’t even know it’s happened until he lays me in the beautiful
, soft, green grass under the cover of the tree. He grabs the center of my bra and rips it open effortlessly and stares down at me, his breathing heavy. “You’re beautiful,” he whispers. When a tear slides down my cheek, he looks at it with a thoughtful expression, before gently collecting it with the tip of his tongue, leaving his signature cool tingle.

I
caress the side of his face with my hand and he presses into it, much like Bruno, my favorite horse. His erection presses against me, ready to enter at any moment, torturing me with anticipation.

“I
will never betray you.” He gazes deeply into my eyes.

“I know,
” I whisper back.

He kisses me softly
and then he makes us one.

.

eighteen

The grass is soft, pillow-like, as we lay under the willow, holding hands, as the sun fades away. My inner self lays draped over a large sofa chair, one arm over her eyes, enjoying the gratification of what just occurred. Her other hand holds a half drunken dirty martini. The shock of what Rhett just told me has faded slightly, but only because I’m wallowing in extreme satisfaction.

I know the road ahe
ad will be difficult, but I’m optimistic in that I will have my brothers again. I now have a sister-in-law and a nephew as well. Lucy would have loved being a grandmother. My heart saddens at that thought. Lucy is dead. That’s real in both worlds. I hid from her something that may have saved us in the end. Of course, she also hid things from me. She never knew Thomas could dream walk. It was unusual for her to trust him. I wonder why she did momentarily and then I remember Thomas saying he entered her dreams the night we made love. He said he had entered her dreams before, yet she never knew. Could he have played Lucy’s subconscious? Somehow making her believe he was trustworthy? My blood pressure rises at the thought. Maybe it’s possible he was torn with selling us out, but in the end my aunt was murdered and he lied to me, making me believe that she betrayed us and that may be the cruelest thing yet. I think of my mother and her story and how easily I could have experienced what she went through. Used for producing healers, but maybe I wouldn’t have met her fate as I have a gift that might have been useful. What is wrong with the world that our kind would sell their own? I remember Rhett’s words, “
humans can be monsters too.”
He was right about that. He tried to tell me all along, or help me figure it out, but I fought it. I wasn’t ready to accept it, but now I know the truth and they say the truth will set you free. I look over to Rhett, who lies with one arm behind his head as he watches the willow sway back and forth in the breeze. He’s not a monster, and I know with every fiber of my being he isn’t some soulless creature. I’ve been so wrong about so much.

I know Lucy hid
certain things from us because she thought she could keep us from it. She moved us and hid us, but somehow Thomas seeped in and tricked her. Of course, it was my fault as much as his. I hid truths from her. I try to think what I’ll do moving forward. Returning to the conscious world will be difficult, but at least it will be real.

Rhett rolls over so
his upper body is halfway over mine and kisses me softly. “Thank you.” He stares into my eyes, turning my insides to liquid lust.

“For what?”

“For making me feel
human again. It’s been a long time.” He smiles and brushes my cheek gently with his hand. “Are you ready to go back?” he asks softly.

“I’m scared.”

“I’ll be there to help you. We’ll get through it together,” he assures me. I smile, comforted by his words, but still something nags at me. That feeling of something scratching at me, like a starved rat in a cage, trying to claw its way out, but I still can’t place it. It pounds at me, rising like vile in my throat, burning, but I push it back and brush it off as I enjoy the soft kisses Rhett showers me with and laughter we share. When we finally stand, I wave my hand, clothing both of us, surer of my control by doing so. He nods a thank you and takes my hand. We stare at the lake and our willow tree one last time, surely a scene I will never forget.

He snaps his finger
s, and the white dome appears. A tall ebony stained door stands before us.

“All you have to do is walk through it.” He squeezes my hand.
Every muscle in my body is tense, but they relax as soon as I feel his energy run through me.

“Ready?”
he asks.

“Aldo.”

I turn towards the voice and find Lucy. I run to her and hug her tightly.

“I’ve missed y
ou too, sweetie.” She pulls away and looks me over. Her glasses are perched on her thin nose, and her soft gray hair is held back with a head band. She stares at my chest and I follow her gaze.
My necklace
. The necklace she gave me the day she died. I haven’t seen it since that day. She takes the silver rectangle and holds it between us. “There are answers here.” She looks at me intensely. She releases the box and looks at Rhett as if she just realized he was there. “I see you’ve met Rhett.” Her gentle smile shows me she respects him. I know she isn’t really here and this is my subconscious playing her, but I feel it is revealing something I absorbed from her long ago. Her trust of Rhett.

“Hi Lucy.”
He smiles, but seems slightly put off by her. Most likely because he knows this is my subconscious playing Lucy.

“Thank you for saving her once again.”

He looks down at her and nods, still seeming off by her presence.

“May I speak with her alone
, Rhett?”

Rhett’s eyes jerk
to me and the muscles in his jaw tense. He’s already opposed to it because it would mean he would have to exit before me.

“
It’s okay, Rhett. I swear I’ll be right behind you. This is her telling me something I absorbed long ago. A reflection,” I assure him.

“Aldo, I don’t know—”

“Two minutes
, Rhett,” Lucy interrupts him. Let me share this moment with her, a goodbye, if you will.”

“Two minutes,” he says to me with a
don’t push it
tone.

“Two minutes,
” I nod, and then hold up my hand like he did the first night we were in this dome together. “Scout’s honor.”

He kisses my forehead
and then walks through the door, leaving it open.

Lucy
grabs the silver rectangle that hangs on my chain and slides her thumb across it. The top slides open. She holds her finger to her mouth, signaling me not to speak. I watch her, confused, as she holds the thin silver box up revealing engraving on the inside.

I take it
, but can’t make out the lettering inside of it. I touch the lettering with my finger. I know she’s telling me there’s something there, to figure out when I wake up. I haven’t worn this necklace in this dream world, yet here it is, the gift she gave me the day she died.

“Is it something bad?” I ask in a hushed voice.

“Rhett and Sarah can be trusted,” she assures me. “But they will not agree to let you do what needs to be done.”

“What is that?”

“Destroy the nest that killed your mother,” she whispers as if someone might hear us.

I look at her bewildered
and that feeling returns, clawing at me, but this time it’s bigger and stronger. The burn courses through my body, and I recognize it.

Revenge.

I want revenge.

“How?”

Sh
e holds the silver rectangle up again. “There are answers here.” She closes it letting it fall to my chest.

“How—”

“You don’t know what you are,” she whispers.

I stare at her blankly. “What am I?”

She picks the rectangle up again. “There are answers here,” she repeats.

“How can I do anything? Rhett could find me throug
h my dreams and stop me.”

“You locked Thomas out,” s
he states plainly.

She’s right. I can do the same to Rhett and Sarah. They can be trusted, but they will never let me seek revenge on those who have wronged my family.

“I can’t find the nest without them
, Lucy.”

“Th
ey aren’t the only ones who know where that nest is, Aldo.” She eyes me, waiting for the moment I understand.

“Thomas
,” I whisper.

“You let him back in, and you beat him at his own game.”

“How?”

“Make him think you trust him. Act as if you kn
ow nothing. Let him think
he
found you.”

I think about this a moment.
Let him find me. Let him back in, tell him where I am and let him come to me. Thomas is the key. He knows where the nest is and killing him will prevent more female healers like me from being used and murdered. Finding the nest and destroying it will right the wrongs. “Rhett took his key.” I remember the black skeleton key that locked the door which prevents Thomas from entering my subconscious.

“He hid it in the barn, above Bruno’s stall door.” I eye her surprised
. It’s my subconscious I’m speaking with in Lucy’s form, which means my subconscious has always known where the key was. It’s not like Rhett could have taken it with him, of course it’s here.

“Lucy, I don’t want to—”

“You can do this. You have to do this before it’s too late.”

“Too late for what?”

She grabs me by the shoulders. “You will do this.”

“I will.” I take the silver rectangle and clench
it in my fist. “I’ll find the answers,” I assure her.

“Remember, no matter what, we are family.” She squeezes my hand still gripping the rectangle.

Her words feel like they have a deeper meaning, but before I can respond, I’m interrupted.

“It’s been
five minutes.” Rhett’s voice interrupts our conversation.

I quickly shove the necklace under my shirt and smile
, trying to act as if nothing is off.

H
is face twists slightly as he watches me hide the necklace, but I ignore it.

“I love you Lucy.
” I hug her tightly. Her scent of mothballs and bounce dryer sheets hit me, and I hug her tighter.

“Make me proud.” S
he smiles. “Goodbye Rhett.” She waves at him and vanishes.

Rhett looks at me suspiciously.
“Everything okay?”

“Yeah
.” I smile, trying to hide any indication of being deceitful.

He watches me as I walk towards him
. His body is tense, his lips pressed together in a flat line, and I know he is curious about what just transpired between Lucy and I, but I ignore it.

I kiss him softly on the cheek
. “I think it was information I never sorted before resurfacing.” I shrug. “I’m ready.”

“You h
ave a lot of good things coming,” he says and I realize I do. He grabs my hand and squeezes it.

A
shiver of guilt runs through me. This happiness is only temporary. The plans I am contemplating will set in motion many things, including the possible and likely demise of Rhett’s trust and affection for me. It’s a horrific thought. But it’s in the name of his mother, his sister, my mother, my aunt and any other healer who has suffered as a result of the vile acts of this nest.

“Don’t be scared. I w
on’t let anything happen to you,” he whispers before kissing my hand gently.

I
nod taking a deep breath, and we walk through the door that will lead me back to consciousness.

END