Gifted Connections 4

“I’m so confused,” I admitted with a laugh as I stood up and spread my hands. I twirled. “The last time I was on the beach I was waiting for Lincoln. I was so terrified how to approach him about our connection.” I dug my foot into the warm sand.

“One day, I’d like to go back to the beach, just me and him,” I admitted quietly. “Sometimes, I feel like I’m not enough. That it’s not fair to tie seven amazing men to me when all I ever do is fail people. Time and time again. I felt like I never gave each of them enough of my time. They would never know how special they are to me. I should have done more things with them one-on-one. I should have-”

I stopped as looked over at Alex. I had too many unanswered questions. I realized now that I told the people that mattered the most to me how much I loved them. “Where’s Gavin?”

He ducked his head and looked down at his hands. “Sierra’s pregnant, too,” he blurted out.

His words confirmed my worst fears. I had lost my best friend.

“Blake,” Anna said insistently once more. “That’s not important right now. You haven’t failed anyone. Those men are crazy about you, and they're going mad with missing you. You’ve been gone for almost eleven weeks now and they’re absolute wrecks.”

I looked up at her. “So, I can be pregnant with Lincoln’s child, too?” I laughed mirthlessly. “Imagine that paternity test.”

“It doesn’t matter, Blake, you do realize this is real right?” Anna took my hand in hers as Alex wrapped his arms around my stomach.

“Please tell us where you are so we can come to get you,” Alex begged.

I gasped as I rounded on Anna. “This is a dream, but you’re really here. You’re a dream walker!” Realization dawned as I remembered her gift.

She nodded.

“I don’t know where I am,” I cried as tears began to spill down my cheeks. Damn my hormones. I have never cried as much as I have these last few weeks. “I know I’m in the middle of nowhere surrounded by snow and that’s it. Are the guys really…that bad?”

“Worse,” Anna said grimly. “We’ve been trying to reach you, but we couldn’t. I was so happy when I realized I finally succeeded and got Alex to come along.”

“You’re really at the base?” I asked in shock. “I wear a halo all the time,” I explained to her.

“Since the day after you got taken,” Anna confirmed, “Lincoln was beside himself, and I packed my daughter up and we left immediately. I’ve never seen him this hung up on a girl. He really cares for you.”

I looked at her skeptically. “We argue a lot, and his place is not by me. His place is in front of a screen, and one day soon, he’ll realize that.”

I heard another sound behind me, and before I could talk with Anna and Alex again, I was rudely awakened.

“Were you trying to kill yourself?” Alison hissed at me as I was roughly dragged from the tub.

One off her goons was pulling me from the bath. I had fallen asleep.

“No,” I said despondently. “I can’t sleep at night. I need Jaxson. I need one of my guys.”

The water had gone cold, and I was nearly submerged when they found me. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but that was one of the best dreams I’d had in a long time.

“You know that won’t happen,” Alison said, her voice filled with snark. “Do I need to assign a guard in your rooms now? I’m not going to allow you to hurt my grandbaby!”

The goon must have taken that as his cue to leave, because he set me down and left immediately. I didn’t even care that I was naked when he removed me from the tub. My emotions were swinging wildly.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt my children,” I insisted. “Unlike you. You have no clue the damage you’ve done to your sons, do you? Try not to preach to me when you are the one who decided to become a man’s whore and turn your back on your own flesh and blood!”

I didn’t expect the hard crack of her palm against my cheek. It immediately stung, and I looked at her in shock. I placed a tentative hand on my skin.

“Mon trésor,” I heard distinctly in my head.

“Lincoln!” I cried out in surprise as I tried to carefully school my features.

“Thank God, yes it’s me,” his voice sounded thick with emotion. “Alex opened the door. Do you have a halo on you right now?”

“No,” I said glumly knowing it would be moments before she noticed I wasn’t outfitted with my headgear.

“What are you doing?” Alison asked me with narrowed eyes.