Chapter Seven #4
Toni yawned again, making her eyes water.
Rubbing the tears away, she gave JR14 a sheepish grin.
“I’m afraid Sensos is right. I’m beat.” She tilted her head toward the spider-bot who now rested on the top of her left shoulder.
“So, do you think you can get us out of here when we’re ready and lead us to Azazel? ”
“Affirmative to the first scenario.” JR14’s back wings buzzed out before folding inside his back panels.
“When I followed the Krystalii inside this room, I analyzed the correct way to manipulate the controls and open it. Negative to the second part of your question. The tentative connection I had with Azazel has since ceased for unknown reasons. I no longer have access to his whereabouts.”
I can assist with that. Sensos’s voice was faint.
Do not concern yourself with locating this male.
While you rest, I will create a private connection between you and the male we need to liberate, to help us track him on this ship.
For me to do that, all you need to do is relax. Is this acceptable to you?
Toni’s smile was wistful. Oh sure, relax on an alien spaceship where the bad guys planned to conduct the dreaded alien autopsy on her. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do.”
Good. I am happy to hear that.
Sensos’s genderless voice had an underlying aura of tranquility.
The tension between Toni’s shoulders loosened.
Understand that the dreams you shared with this man weren’t all illusion, the alien clothing continued. While the physical action was not real, the mental and emotional connection was.
“Really?” Toni sighed. That’d be nice. Azazel was everything she’d ever wanted in a man. Although, she’d sensed more than once he was holding something back. Hiding something he was ashamed of.
Concentrate on my voice and think of one of those situations where you and he were in a pleasurable circumstance. Can you visualize that?
Could she? Hoo-boy… the hard part was trying to stop thinking about that.
The memory of being on the beach with Azazel was hard to ignore.
She breathed. “I have just the place in mind.” Soft, golden sands, and a turquoise sea glistening under a setting yellow sun.
The cozy breeze perfumed with the briny scent of the ocean along with blooming beach pea flowers.
Now you must focus on the male you wish to connect with. Think of not only how he looks, but how his skin feels against yours. The heady fragrance he emits when he holds you in his arms. Sensos’s hypnotic voice became slower and softer. And how he tasted when your lips met his…
Toni lay on her side as her weighty eyelids slid closed, falling into Sensos’s hypnotic narrative.
Trying to breathe took all Azazel’s concentration as the suffocating darkness held him hostage.
He moaned, his breathing coming in ragged gasps.
With a herculean effort, he tried to rub the back of his aching head, but nothing moved.
He groaned. Something was preventing him from connection to anything solid.
He must be in the in-between place: awake, but not, conscious, but not in reality.
A howling roar jerked his attention behind him.
Even though he was in a psychic Dreamwalk, the real threat was easy enough to recognize.
It was his inner beast, demanding to be set free from the confines Azazel kept him in.
Not knowing where his physical body was, he didn’t dare risk losing control.
He scrambled to his metaphysical feet and turned around to confront the creature.
Instead of seeing the thing in his mind’s eye, there was a massive titanium wall that stood between him and the beast. When he first became aware of the monster inside him at a very young age, he was terrified the creature’s power was absolute and would take him over.
In defense, he’d created an impenetrable barrier.
The memory of how he did it was faint, but he’d somehow tricked the beast into the mental cage he’d created.
Once the clang of the door rang shut behind it, he’d never let his control slip.
No matter how badly they treated him as a slave, he always held tight on the cage.
A cold weight pressed in his gut. If that beast ever broke free, the man he was might never come back.
Intense fear sent Azazel rushing to the cold titanium blockade, and he placed his palms over the surface. The indestructible material bowed as something pounded on it. He shuddered in disbelief at the dent it made. That had never happened before.
Sweat gathered at his brows.
“NO!” Azazel shouted. “Stay put!” He pressed his forehead against the cold metal. “Please stay put.” Pushing his will from his palms into the wall, he did what he could to strengthen the barricade.
A deafening, angry howl rang in the air, causing the substantial barricade to vibrate under his hands.
Azazel’s heart thundered so hard it created a squeezing pain inside his chest.
“Azazel, what in the world are you doing?”
Time stopped. The sweet feminine voice behind him made everything inside him pause.
Even the beast became silent. Azazel jerked back with his hands still raised.
With wide eyes, he examined the silver-colored wall in disbelief when an unusual sound came from the other side.
By Auu’s stars! Was the damn thing… cooing?
He took a step back when the sound changed to a loud purr that filled the air.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Azazel swung around to face the owner of that sweet voice.
It was Antonia—Toni. Here in this Dreamwalk?
How could that be? He didn’t make this psychic world.
So how could she be here? His eyes narrowed.
Was she here, or just another construct of Baelon’s nasty game? What was that bastard playing at now?
He stiffened and clasped his hands in front of him. With a respectful nod, he concentrated on smoothing his breathing and making his face blank.
“What’s behind that wall?” Toni looked behind him.
She went to it and put her hand on the surface.
“Oh, you pretty baby.” She rubbed her palm up and down it.
Her head tilted, her eyes unfocused. “You widdle snooky-wookims.” She hummed as if talking to a favorite pet.
“You be a good boy now, and we’ll let you out later.
Mommy and Daddy have work to do first. ’kay, punkin?
” She patted the wall. “Now, behave.” Her bright gaze locked on Azazel.
He took a step back, locking his eyes with hers.
“Okay, I’m sure he’ll behave himself for now.” Toni clapped her hands and grinned. “Hey, how would you like to get out of here and go back to that spectacular beach you took me to before?”
Azazel’s eyes widened. What just happened?
He glanced at the wall as if that would give him some answers.
The only reply was the distinct sound of a rumbling purr.
His face tightened as he glared at Toni.
“I believe you are mistaken if you thought I’d take part in your heinous experiment again, Baelon.
” He took another step back. Now that his inner beast was once again under control, he’d morph out of this psychic plane to regroup.
As he prepared to leave, the beast bellowed again. It was louder this time, so intense it caused the ground to shake.
“For God’s sake, Azazel!” Toni stomped her foot, one hand on her hip as she wagged her forefinger at him with the other. “I just got him quiet. And for your information, I’m real as can be in this crazy place. Baelon didn’t create this Dreamwalk. I did!”
As she spoke, the beast’s roar turned into a low-pitched, wo-woo-ooo melodious song. If Azazel didn’t know better, he’d swear Toni’s voice soothed the damn thing.
Azazel studied Toni’s bright-blue eyes, now dilated as she looked back at him. He grimaced. Not knowing what was real and what wasn’t had him second-guessing everything. Which was something he’d never experienced before.
“Hey, listen—” She stepped close to him. “—I’ve got a great idea! Why don’t you do a Vulcan mind-meld so you can be sure it’s me?”
Azazel pursed his lips. “A what?”
“You know…” Toni gestured between the two of them.
“Join our minds so you can see it’s me.” She grasped the tops of his arms. “That way you can meet my new friend, Sensos. And you’ll find out how I created this dream-thingy-a-booper with no help from that shiny-supremacist-bastard Baelon.
” Her eyes widened, looking back-and-forth across his face as she pleaded with him.
Azazel’s eyebrows rose. Shiny-supremacist? Dream-thingy-a-booper? His lips quirked into a smirk. “If you’re agreeable to that…” It would be nice to let his guard down a little if it was her.
His inner beast purred emitted a low, purring growl behind the wall.
Looked like the animal agreed.
She shook his arms. “Of course I am.” She let him go. “It was my idea, after all.”
Staring into the ocean blue of her fathomless eyes, he touched his mind to hers.
In the blink of an eternity, he had his answer.
It was her, the essence that made up Antonia Choi, right here in this Dreamwalk.
One she’d created with the help of her, ah, clothes.
And how captivating was the concept of sentient clothes?
“So, you’re all good?” She took a quick glance over his shoulder. “Ready to go to the beach?” She grinned, then looked back at him. “We’ve got lots to talk about. Like finding your body so we can rescue the rest of you.” She licked her lips, eyeing him with a slow, seductive once-over.
The promise in her glance made his heart race for an entirely different reason.