Tower in the Woods (12 page)

As much as the thought of leaving the safety of the Tower filled Nel with dread, the logical part of her realized the longer she stayed, the more developed her pregnancy became, the weaker she would be. As sheltered as her life had been, she knew the weak had no chance of surviving the zombie wastelands. So she had spent the past month piling heavy wood and books onto the floor of her sniper’s nest, enclosing the heavy items with any furniture she had, using everything at her disposal to bind the pile into a solid block. She needed to take her chances with the outside world while she was still capable of defending herself, and that meant she was going to have to leave tonight. She had given Dane a month to come for her and she was done waiting.

* * * *

That stupid little idiot
, Dane swore in his mind as he tracked Nel’s path into the wastelands. Returning to the tower to find only a dangling, tattered rope of hair had been the worst moment of his life. Fear and worry, guilt and regret had coursed through him with such fervor that, for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. Nel was gone. She was alone and unprotected in the most dangerous environment imaginable, and it had all been because of him.

Dane barely remembered the frenzied drive back to Washington, D.C., his mind blocking out all physical pain and focusing solely on survival. The moment he reached the safety of the first checkpoint the adrenaline that had kept him driving through the reclaimed woods and crumbling roads ran out and he had lost consciousness before any of the patrolmen even got to him. A week later, he had woken up in a hospital to find out he was recovering from two cracked ribs and a concussion. Despite his protestations, he had been sedated and pumped with painkillers, woken only to be debriefed by one person after the other, the rank of the person interrogating him rising as more information passed his lips.

Before he realized it close to a month had gone by and the FMA was nowhere near launching a rescue operation. After all, his report had mobilized the largest bureaucracy left in existence, and that one was known for taking its sweet time before making any risky decisions. But Dane was fully recovered, thanks to the restorative effects of the URV vaccine, and he had long since ceased to give a damn about what the FMA told him he could or could not do.

He left the city without permission, coming to the tower knowing full well he risked alerting the WITCH to the FMA’s plan. It had been the first time Dane had ever disobeyed a direct order, and now he only regretted he hadn’t done it sooner.

Throughout the three-hour drive to the tower, Dane hadn’t felt a moment of hesitation. Nel was more important than his duty, and her safety outweighed any cause he would ever choose to fight for. Ever since he’d woken up in that hospital room he had kicked himself for leaving the tower without her, for choosing to infiltrate the WITCH in lieu of taking her back to the city. It had been the worst decision he had ever made, and never had that realization hit so hard as when he arrived at the tower to find her gone.

Something was tracking her, Nel realized with fear as she climbed up the tallest tree she could find. It had been three days since she’d left the Tower and she had never experienced a more constant state of terror. Nothing had prepared her for being surrounded by lumbering zombies, for finding a threat around every corner, for having to dodge a potentially lethal attack almost every hour of the night. Even during the day she had taken to catnapping atop a tall tree, not daring to risk a stray zombie appearing out of the brush to lunge for her brains.

She wasn’t going to make it to Washington, D.C. alive. Nel knew that now with absolutely certainty. Her body had never felt this fatigued, and her mind was driven beyond the point of exhaustion. She had scratched herself on a branch a mile back and the zombies had been on her scent ever since. Six of them surrounded her tree right now, their decaying fingers clawing at the bark in an attempt to climb up. With shaking fingers, she pulled herself as far toward the leafy canopy as she could, finally straddling a branch before leaning back against the tree’s trunk. Breathing heavily, she pulled out the Glock and pushed in a loaded magazine. As she snapped the slide back, she was faced with the realization that she didn’t have enough bullets to last through the night. At some point in the next few hours, she was going to have to make the decision to lodge the last one through her own head.

Until then she might as well rid the world of some zombies. Her aim with the pistol was now near perfect and she easily lodged a single bullet between the glazed bloodshot eyes of each of the six zombies.

Then she heard a rustle in the brushes and a shadow emerged from the dark. Nel aimed but she didn’t fire, her eyes barely believing what she saw. It was Dane. He looked haggard, his eyes were frenzied, and he was covered with dirt and blood. But she would recognize him anywhere. She knew without a shred of a doubt those brown eyes staring back at her belonged to the man she loved.

* * * *

“What the hell were you thinking?” Dane roared as soon as he got Nel into the safety of his Jeep. Acting on autopilot, he turned on the ignition and floored the accelerator, heading in a straight path toward the road that would lead them back to Washington, D.C. His mouth set in a grim line, his eyes staring straight ahead, he let the anger brewing within him build and boil over. Anger was better than the arctic fear that had consumed him for most of the night. She was in the car, he finally knew she was safe, and now he could focus on being seriously pissed off.

“How dare you get mad at me?” Nel yelled back in an outraged voice. “What was I supposed to do, wait indefinitely for you to come to my rescue?”

Dane channeled his anger into making the car swerve around various obstacles at breakneck speed. The tires squealed as he cornered sharply, the momentum launching Nel in one direction after the other. “That’s exactly what you should have done. I told you to stay put. You should have trusted me to come for you.”

He heard Nel hiss out a breath. “I didn’t know if you were alive or dead, and I couldn’t stay in that Tower forever. Besides, thus far, I have been the one saving your life, not the other way around.”

Dane had to admit Nel had him on that one. As far as rescuing the damsel in distress went, he didn’t exactly have a stellar record when it came to the one that mattered. Nonetheless, he couldn’t help but point out, “If I had gotten to you a day too late, you would be dead, sweetheart.”

“Then maybe you should have gotten here sooner,” Nel yelled back. “I didn’t leave until three days ago.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Dane growled as he slammed his hands against the steering wheel to alleviate his frustration. “Not getting to you sooner has been haunting me every minute since I realized you weren’t in the damn tower. I’ve been worried sick because of you.”

Suddenly Nel did something completely unexpected, something so entirely out of character Dane was frozen into place, his mind suddenly drained of all anger as he struggled to figure out what to do. She burst into tears.

This wasn’t the slow, flowing, quiet tears Dane had witnessed before he left the tower. Nel wasn’t holding back this time—her shoulders shook with each sob as her breath came in hiccupping gasps. Then she simply buried her face in her hands and unapologetically wept.

“Ahh… Shit,” Dane muttered as his brain ceased functioning. He had never had to deal with this problem before, and he had no idea how to handle a weeping female. So he concentrated on driving, concentrated on getting them as far away from these zombie-infested woods as possible.

Dane remained completely silent until the car passed Washington, D.C.’s outermost checkpoint, which was probably not the wisest decision he had ever made. Nel had actually already traveled a considerable distance and, at the speed Dane had been driving, it took them less than thirty minutes to reach the city’s borders.

Dane knew they should head straight into the city, that he should get Nel’s wounds seen to and face the consequences of his insubordination. Instead, he turned just before crossing the Memorial Bridge, heading off-road toward the willow trees that lined the Potomac River. With his car completely curtained by leafy vines, Dane turned off the engine and finally let his body relax. For the first time in a long month, he could breathe easily again. Closing his eyes tiredly as he took Nel’s hand, he leaned back against the seat and truly rested. There would be time for debriefings and plans, time for questions and logistics. At this moment, what both of them needed most was peace.

Nel was clearly as exhausted as he for they both dozed off for a short while. When Dane’s eyelids lifted, he felt reenergized and, more importantly, he had regained the ability to think straight. Needing fresh air, he opened the door and stepped out onto the grass, walking over to the other side of the car to open Nel’s.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you,” Dane said as he pulled her to stand by his side, not wanting to be parted for any more than a few inches. Tenderly, he brushed his thumb over her pale, hollowed cheek. “And I will never forgive myself for not coming sooner.”

Nel’s face was tilted up to his, her delicate cheekbones stark against the white moonlight. Her eyes were still swollen, and her clothing was covered with dirt and blood. However, Dane could say in complete honesty that he had never seen a more beautiful sight.

Unable to resist the temptation for a moment longer, Dane crushed Nel against his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around her much smaller frame.

“I was afraid you were dead,” Nel confessed in an accusing voice. “I didn’t know what to do. It was stupid to leave the Tower alone, I know that now. Dane … I need to tell you something.”

Dane shook his head as he barely loosened his tight hold on her. She had lost a considerable amount of weight. He could feel her bones against his hands and chest, and the realization made him sink into a whole new level of guilt-driven hell. “I should never have left you. I should never had gone to the WITCH. I put you in a terrible position—”

As Nel shook her head, her silky hair caressed Dane’s chin. “It was my choice. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Choosing between your life and the Mother’s death was the easiest decision I have ever made.”

Dane froze at Nel’s words as he felt a pounding rush of blood course through his skull. His skin was suddenly clammy with cold sweat and he realized his hands were trembling. His first reaction was fear—fear of the responsibility her words placed on his shoulders, fear that she knew herself too little for those words to be true. She thought she loved him, but he was too afraid to let himself believe it. “You might want to wait until we get back to the city before making such a big decision. Once I let myself consider you as mine, I will never give you up. Not even if you wanted out. I’m the only man you’ve ever met, sweetheart. It’s not a choice you’re making. It’s a lack of options.”

Nel’s shoulders stiffened as her small hands pushed hard against his chest. Reluctantly, Dane released his hold on the woman he wanted with more desperation than he thought possible.

Nel’s blue eyes were dancing with livid anger as she glared at his face. “You’re a condescending idiot, do you know that?” Dane blinked as Nel launched into a rather uncharacteristically emotional tirade. “Just because I haven’t tried on a gaggle of partners for size doesn’t mean I’m incapable of judging if I’ve found someone I do want. I want you; I love you despite the fact you’re the most insulting person I’ve ever met.”

“Oh yeah?” Dane asked as he grabbed onto Nel’s shoulders. “What is it exactly that makes you love me? So far, all I’ve ever done was force my way into your safe little tower, tackle you to the floor, take your virginity, and screw you for a week. Then I went off to kill the person who raised you before abandoning you for a month knowing you were surrounded by crazy cultists and hundreds of zombies. I haven’t done a damn thing to deserve your love. You don’t want me. You just don’t know any better.”

Nel’s cheeks turned a furious red as she struggled futilely against his much stronger hold. With angry tears glistening in her eyes, she met his accusing gaze as she responded with dripping sarcasm. “You might think I’m some sort of brainwashed nitwit, but the concept of duty and honor are something my feeble female brain is more than capable of understanding. I understand why you left, and I’m sure I’ll understand the reason it took you so long to come back. You have done everything you could to protect me, and any promise you gave, you have kept. You are much stronger than I am, you know far more about the world than I do, but you have never taken advantage of that. Whatever we did together, believe it or not, was as much my decision as yours. I don’t know why I love you, but I do, and meeting a city full of other equally or more attractive men isn’t going to change that. If you don’t love me back, if you don’t want me, Dane, then just say so.”

Shaking her with his hands, Dane practically growled. “Of course I love you. How the hell could you think I didn’t? I want you so badly right now it is taking all the control I have not to strip off your clothes and take you against this damn car. I just wanted to give you the chance to explore your options.”

Her startled blue gaze met his before those lush lips curved into a wickedly beautiful smile. “What are you waiting for?” Nel asked.

Not following her train of thought, Dane’s brows furrowed in question.

“I want to have sex right now too,” Nel elaborated as she calmly waited. “And I don’t want you to hold back, which I know you had been doing when we were in the Tower. I don’t want anyone else. I don’t need you to be gentle, and I don’t want you to wait. I’m not backing out. I’m yours, however you want me and for as long as you want me, and that starts right this second.”

*

Nel licked her lower lip as she watched a change come over Dane. She was still giddy from his admission that he loved her. She hadn’t realized how much she needed to hear the words until they passed his lips, and now she felt as if nothing in the world could dampen her spirits. Of course if she could finally get the stubborn man to have his way with her, that would be even better. She was close to breaking his control, she knew it by the way his hands gripped her shoulders, by the fact his eyes were turning even darker in the moonlight.