Chapter 23

Viv woke on a scream. Stupid freaking dreams. She should have known better than to expect to sleep the night through. She just hoped that she caught the scream before anyone heard her. She turned over, looking at the clock. Two o’clock. Great.

Mac came bursting into the room, knocking the door into the wall.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded, looking around the room frantically.

“Nothing, go back to sleep. It was just a dream.” Or a nightmare. Maybe it was seeing Mac and Bert injured and bloody that brought it on this time. She had dreamed she was back in the building, strung up. This time though, her toes were turning black from the cold, frostbite setting in. She had woken up right when they were about to rape her. Even though it hadn’t happened in reality, her brain liked to show her the what-ifs. Asshole brain. Her hand cramped, the nerve that had been damaged making itself known. It had been getting better, but sometimes when she was stressed it seemed to aggravate it. Maybe it was all mental.

“Scoot over,” Mac said, climbing on top of her bed. He stayed above the covers, but lay next to her, taking her hand between his and massaging it.

Viv watched him for a few minutes. “I’m glad you’re here,” she said.

“Me too,” he said simply.

The heat radiating from his body and the relief he was bringing to her hand drew her toward sleep again.

“Sleep. I’ll keep you safe,” he said quietly.

Viv gave in and slept.

She was so warm and safe. She didn’t want to get out of bed. She couldn’t get out of bed. Viv’s eyes popped open to stare at the arm wrapped around her waist. Mac. Mac had come into her room last night, soothing her from the nightmare. She lay still, trying not to wake him. He needed his sleep to finish healing, even with the healing potions.

“How’d you sleep?” a gruff voice asked.

“Good. You?”

“Better than I have in a long time. I gotta go check in with my boss today, but I’m only a phone call away, okay? I’m going to grab a shower,” he said.

She felt a kiss to the back of her shoulder before the bed dipped as he sat up and climbed out, shutting the door behind him. Viv rolled over, hugging his pillow, noticing it now smelled like Mac. She made herself get out of bed, running through her morning routine of brushing her teeth, showering, and then getting dressed. She was off today, so she kept it comfortable in jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie.

Walking into the kitchen, she noticed Thomas already up and making a pot of coffee. She could smell bacon in the oven too.

“So… I went to check on you when I heard you scream, and lo and behold, I see a sexy man walking into your room,” Thomas teased.

“Nothing happened,” she protested. “He heard the nightmare and came to check on me.”

“Mhm,” Thomas uttered, disbelief coloring his tone. “Oh, honey. Is your hand bad today?” he asked, looking down at her hand.

“It flared last night. It seems okay this morning, I put the brace on just to give it a little more support today.”

Viv waited for further interrogation from Thomas, but he was quiet on that front. Mac came in, grabbing a piece of bacon and a travel mug of coffee before giving her a kiss on the forehead and porting out. Bert wandered in a few minutes later.

“Mac leave already?”

“You just missed him,” Viv said.

“Alright. I’ll give him a call later. I need to go to the office to finish some paperwork. Thank you for dinner and letting me stay last night. It was nice to meet you,” he told Viv.

He disappeared, leaving Thomas and Viv alone in the kitchen. She had a feeling D was hiding on their side of the house, giving them some room to talk.

“What’s really going on with Mac?” Thomas asked.

Viv groaned. She’d known it was coming, but at the same time she had hoped he would drop it. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”

“Walk me through it. Let’s see if I can help,” Thomas suggested.

“You know how he avoided me. You know his past. You know what he said to me. He did it to be mean on purpose to push me away. I get all that, but he still said it, you know? My brain has those words in the back of my head, as well as the words from the mind bender, which play off each other.

“He’s been sending me little things. Not every day, but pretty close. Flowers, coffee delivery, a surprise lunch at work. Sometimes he sits at the library and does his own work remotely. Sometimes he’s hiding in the shadows, but I know he’s there.” Viv paused, trying to figure out how to express what she was feeling.

“He’s trying to show you he values you and is thinking of you, but you’re worried that it’s still leftover fear from the kidnapping, or that he feels bad that his work affected you.”

“Close enough,” Viv admitted.

“I’m not going to lie. I do think the kidnapping played a role in his change of heart, but I think it was simply the catalyst that sent a wrecking ball through his walls. You’re a pretty awesome person; I think he would have come around at some point anyway. This just sped it up. He hasn’t run scared since, not from the nightmares you still have, not from the doctors’ appointments, not from the times your hand goes numb and you drop things.”

“Yeah,” Viv said, still not convinced.

“Did you miss talking to him when he was working and couldn’t call? Did you look forward to hearing from him or getting his texts? Do you still have butterflies in your stomach when you hear his voice?” Thomas asked, waiting for her to nod. “Then you still want him. He is meant to be your mate, and I refuse to believe the same fate or design or whatever that brought me D would screw you over and give you a mate you couldn’t have.

“Plus, where did Mac go when he was hurt?”

“The hospital,” she said, admittedly a little densely, trying not to think of the implications for his choices.

Thomas lightly flicked her in the arm. “Don’t be dumb. He left before he was fully healed so he could come ‘home.’ To you. That doesn’t seem like a man who’s running anymore, to me.”

Viv leaned her head on Thomas’ shoulder. She took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “What if we’re having sexy times and his tail comes out and all I can think of is the bitch?”

“If that’s what happens, you pause and snuggle and let him slowly introduce you to his demon form. Nothing is insurmountable. She didn’t try that with me, but the first time I saw D in his demon form after, I freaked out. He was porting in from work and I saw him out of the corner of my eye. Total meltdown. It was so stupid, because I know his form, I’ve seen it a lot of times. Something about him porting in off to the side where it was a little darker triggered something in my brain. It took a bit of time, making him port in different locations and times for me to get used to it again. If that happens and you have flashbacks, you let him introduce that side of him slowly and not during sexy times,” Thomas said, wrapping his arms around her.

Viv nodded.

“I don’t see you jumping into bed for sex right away anyway. Maybe ask him if you can see that side of him so you can get used to it.”

Viv leaned against her best friend, thinking over what he said. Mac had dragged his feet and ran away the first time. This time she was the one dragging her feet. Not that she didn’t feel like she had some good reasons, but if they were ever going to move forward, she needed to accept he had been an idiot and forgive that. She needed to take a step forward or they would be stuck here, because she had a feeling Mac wouldn’t make any other moves to push her forward other than leaving her little gifts.

Maybe she could plan an easy date, take a tiny step forward.