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Not gonna lie, each hit hurts. Girl’s got some force behind her. But it’ll take a hell of a lot more than that to make me give in.
“Alana, you’re asleep. Wake up for me. Please, just wake the fuck up for me,” I bark, staring into her eyes in the hope I’ll crack through something while she continues to rain blows down on me. “I’m not going to hurt you, Dove. I’m going to take care of you.”
She swings her arm out, but I’m too busy trying to wrestle the other one, so I don’t see the hit coming. But I sure as fuck feel it the second her small balled-up fist connects with my temple.
“Ow, fuck, baby,” I complain, my head spinning.
But if she felt any kind of pain from the punch then she doesn’t show it and it sure as shit doesn’t wake her up.
“Okay, I think that’s enough now,” I say, once my vision has cleared.
“NOOOOO,” she screams when I finally manage to restrain one wrist, pinning it back against the wall.
I’m hardly surprised when a door opens behind me and a gruff, “The fuck is going on?” fills the hallway.
“Night terror,” I explain, without looking back as I fight to grab her other arm.
“She’s sleeping?” he asks in disbelief.
“Yes, asshole. She’s fucking sleeping. You gonna help or what?”
“Christ,” he mutters, slipping unnoticed behind her.
In a flash, he has her other arm in his grasp and has them both pinned at her sides.
Cautiously, I step forward, very aware that her next weapon of choice is going to be her knees, and I’m a little too fond of my dick to allow that to happen.
“Alana,” I say firmly as I cup her cheeks, “can you wake up for me, little dove?”
Nothing.
“It’s just me, baby,” I say, my touch getting a little firmer. “Come back to us. You’re okay. You’re safe and—”
Her entire body tenses.
“Dove? It’s just me, baby.”
My heart thunders, my concern for her all-consuming as she fights to grasp what’s real and what’s not.
“You’re safe. No one is chasing you.” Reid shifts behind her and our eyes meet. “We’re going to look after you. I just need you to look at me.”
Finally, her eyelids flicker and hope blooms inside me.
Her dark and haunted blue eyes appear. They’re swimming in unshed tears.
“Hey, Dove,” I say softly, brushing my thumb over the soft skin of her jaw, the pad grazing the tempting swell of her bottom lip.
She blinks at me, but she doesn’t do or say anything. She might be awake, but it’s more than obvious that she’s still lost to the images of her nightmare.
“We’re not going to let anything happen to you here. You’re safe. I promise.”
Reid makes a weird noise in the back of his throat, and I glance up.
‘What?’ I mouth.
I might not make many promises in life, but that is one I know we can keep.
The only men she has to fear here are us, and something tells me that she’s already seen the worst that we can deliver.
