by Renee Rose
The ring is empty but the unconscious bruin. Nash is already gone, pushing through the wild crowd towards the back door.
“Wait,” Sam shouts, trying to follow, but Nash is long gone.
I try to reach Sam and a body hits me, making me stagger into a group of leather jacket clad bikers.
“Sorry—”
“Human,” the blond guy in front of me snarls, his eyes lighting up an eerie green.
“I didn’t mean to—” I jump back as the guy growls at me, showing long canines.
Out of nowhere, Sam reappears, and his fingers snap around the blond guy’s throat. There’s a scuffle almost too fast for me to track and the guy’s up against the wall, Sam shoving his body weight into him.
Arms close around me and I shriek.
“Easy, lass, ‘tis only me.” Declan steadies me as he draws me back. Another giant guy bowls into the bikers and a second fight breaks out.
“We gotta get out of here,” Declan mutters, hauling me to the door.
“Not without Sam.”
“Laurie will grab him. Let me give the signal.”
“The signal?”
“They’re after me lucky charms!” Declan shouts, and drags me past brawling shifters to the wall, where he kicks open a hidden door and tosses me into the sunlight.
~.~
Sam
As soon as I see Layne is safely out, I dodge a punch and release the asshole who snarled at her. I’m not an alpha—not like Jackson or Garrett, but fuck if my wolf isn’t game to take down any animal who threatens my mate. But now that I know she’s safe, the urgency to catch Nash returns. I run for the door I saw him disappear through, where I find Parker, counting his money.
“I needed to speak to him.”
Parker shrugs.
“Sam, we have to go,” Laurie appears at my elbow.
“Is Layne safe?”
“Yeah. She’s with Declan. Come on,” Laurie urges.
I grab Parker’s arm.
“Watch it, wolf,” he snarls at me, and I ignore the threat.
“I challenge Nash to a fight.”
“You?” Parker stares as if I’ve sprouted a second head. I get it. I’m not even beta wolf material. The testing and constant weakening of my system through puberty, not to mention my months in the wild left me scrawny for a shifter. Most of the guys in this place have at least fifty pounds on me, if not more.
So yeah, maybe I’m nuts. My rational brain would never come up with a scheme like this.
“I’ll fight him, but if I win, he has to agree to talk to me.”
“You’re mad,” Parker says.
“If I win,” I repeat, and he nods.
“I’ll see if I can set it up.”
I write my phone number on one of his twenty dollar bills. “Let me know.”
More shifters brawl in the dirt parking lot outside. A white Camaro screams up to us, Declan behind the wheel, Layne buckled in beside him. I growl, even though I know he just protected Layne for me.
Declan grins, a happy-wild look in his eye. He’s as fucked up crazy as I am. So is Laurie in his own way. “I’m not stealing yer lass, boy.” He lifts his chin at Laurie. “I’ll trade ya for this one.”
Layne unbuckles her seatbelt as Laurie walks around to take her place. “Wh-where are you s-s-s-staying?” Laurie asks.
I shrug. “I have a safe house up in the mountains, but it’s a good ninety minutes from here.”
“You can s-s-s-stay with me,” he offers. “I have a guest house.”
I remember seeing the tiny, garage-like structure behind his cottage. In California, any structure becomes living space. I’m surprised by the offer. Not that I didn’t hope for help from Laurie and Declan, but taking us in, especially considering how much heat we could bring on them, is going above and beyond. I start to shake my head, but then stop. If I hadn’t had Declan’s help tonight, something might have happened to Layne. I can’t chase Smyth and provide constant protection to her, no matter how much I wish I can. Having her secure with other shifters would help me focus on eliminating Smyth. Once he’s gone, I can provide her protection until we know it’s safe for her to return home.
Except the brick in the pit of my stomach tells me there won’t be any going home. Not for Layne. Not for me. If the government is tied into Project Alpha, they won’t rest until we’re all dead.
Fuck.
I give a single nod. “Yeah, thanks. We’ll meet you there.”
Laurie bobs his head and climbs into the Camaro and Declan screeches off before the door is even shut.
Layne walks swiftly to the van. I can’t tell if she’s pissed or scared. Probably a bit of both.
I get in and start the van up. “I’m really sorry I left you unprotected in there,” I say.
She shakes her head. She’s staring straight out the windshield like she’s shell-shocked.
I put the van in gear. We pass a literal cat fight on the way out—two leopards knocking over motorcycles as they tear each other with their claws and teeth.
“That was probably more violence than you’re used to seeing.”
“Yeah,” she whispers.
I reach over and grab her hand and I’m shocked to find how much it’s shaking. “Layne.”
“Sam, I need to get my meds,” she blurts.
Cold blasts through me, wedges tight up between my ribs. She’s not looking for birth control meds. It’s something serious. Unable to breathe or speak, I settle for stepping on the gas, peeling out the way Declan had and racing for the main road.
It’s ten, twenty seconds before I can force back the metallic drumming in my ears. “Tell me,” I grate.
“It’s a degenerative nerve disease. Barrington’s. The one mom died of.”
I’m unable to breathe. My female. Dying. This can’t be fucking happening.
“Sam!” Layne screams when the van starts to run off the road.
I correct the course, my mind racing. “That’s why you’re so obsessed with the research. You’re looking for a cure.”
Layne’s eyes rest on her hands. “No. It’s too late for me. But I might be able to help other people.”
“No.” I slam my fist down on the dash, cracking the plastic.
Only Layne’s frightened gaze makes me pull back the rage storming inside me.
“There has to be a cure,” I grit out.
“Sam.” Her voice is pleading, and I hear the tears behind it. “I’ve made my peace with this. Don’t make it worse.”
A storm of emotions run through me, one after the other. I want to cry for her. Smash things. Barrels and barrels of regret unload on me. Pour over my head, down my throat. I wish I’d known sooner.
But what different would it have made?
I pull up in front of Laurie’s but don’t open the door. “Layne.” My voice sounds cracked and raw, as if I’ve been shouting for hours. “I’m not judging your choices, but it fucking burns me up that you’ve spent your life locked up in research when you could’ve been... living.”
Fates, I feel like I’m dying. Right here, right now. Bleeding out behind the wheel because Layne, my unclaimed mate, will have her life cut short. I must’ve harbored some shred of hope I’d survive my revenge mission and have something to offer to her.
“Fuck you,” Layne spits and throws herself out of the van. Her words shock me out of my pity party.
I launch out of the van after her. I catch her on the sidewalk, looping an arm around her waist and hauling her back against my body. “Layne, wait. I’m so sorry. That came out all wrong.” I bury my face in her silky black hair and breathe in her scent. I can’t think of anything else to say, not that I’ve ever been good with words. I just hold her soft body against mine, synchronizing my breath with hers.
“I’ll get your meds,” I promise. “I’ll go right now, if you want. But I go alone. I don’t want to risk your safety.”
“I can wait until tomorrow.” Her voice is reedy.
�
��Are you sure?”
Fuck. I’m an asshole. I need to offer her something more than retrieving the meds she’s been trying to get all day. My gut says I should be able fix this for her and goddammit, it’s unfixable.
I want to curse and howl. To shift and run back to the mountains where I almost lost myself once before.
“If there was no Barrington’s, if your mom was still alive and the world didn’t need saving, what would you do, instead?” My lips are right beside her ear. She’s trembling. Tears drying on her cheeks.
“I don’t know.” Her voice breaks. “What would you do if you weren’t bent on revenge?”
“I’d figure out a way to be with you.” I answer immediately, possibly surprising myself as much as her.
She turns in my arms, her dark eyes wide. “Sam.” My name seems to carry so much meaning, yet I can’t decipher her thoughts.
I run my thumb along her cheek. “I’m so drawn to you, Layne. I don’t know what it’s like for a human, but for shifters, sometimes our animal chooses for us. My wolf wants you. Even though I can’t have you. Even though these are the worst of circumstances. So yeah, if I were free right now—if my future were wide open—I’d set my sights on you. I’d figure out what this thing is between us and where we could go with it.” Suddenly self-conscious, I pull my arms away from her and shove my hands in my pockets. “I know I have no game, but—”
“I’d like that.”
I go still.
She lays her palms flat on my chest. Tips her face up to mine, like she wants a kiss.
My wolf, previously subdued by her tears, roars to life within me. I take her mouth at the same time I hook my forearm under her ass. She wraps her legs around me, returning the kiss with a fervor I don’t expect.
“Layne.” I need her naked. Now.
Without breaking the kiss, I hoof it past Laurie’s cottage, straight to the shack behind it. Laurie’s standing there, key in hand, eyes wide at the spectacle of our Olympic-worthy lip wrestling. He shoves the door open and steps back to let me pass without a word. The door closes softly behind us, but I barely register it.
The structure is a tiny studio, with a bed in the middle of the room. I drop her onto it and reach behind my neck to yank off my t-shirt with one hand, never looking away from my beautiful, fragile female.
Layne sits up, a pretty blush coloring her cheeks.
I’m on her again in a flash, melding our lips as I tear her clothes off. I need her to feel all the emotion inside me. Everything I don’t know how to express. The chaos storming about her illness, my intense desire to change her fate, to change our fates.
~.~
Layne
Sam’s kisses top the list of things I’m glad I’ve experienced before I die. There’s so much passion behind them. So much command.
For a guy who claims he has no game with women, he sure knows what he’s doing. His tongue sweeps between my lips, demands my surrender. I melt beneath him, offer myself up as he wrestles my shirt off over my head. Because what else do we have?
Neither of us has anything to give the other. Except this. Our passion. The incredible music our bodies make together.
And no, I’m not afraid of his wolf. If I know anything by now, it’s that Sam won’t hurt me.
He snaps his hips in the cradle of my legs, drags his open mouth down my neck. His hands work the clasp of my bra at the same time he nips my breast. The bra disappears to the same place my shirt went and his lips are on my nipple, his tongue swirling around the hard tip.
I gasp and arch into him. The insistent thrum of need between my legs has me wriggling to shove down my leggings and panties. He releases my nipple and licks down the plane of my belly.
Need.
More.
Now.
“Sam,” I pant, kicking off the fabric still tangled around my ankle.
He hooks his hands under my knees and pushes them up, spreading me wide. My belly flutters with excitement. He growls just before he licks into me, using his tongue generously. Cleverly.
My inner thighs tighten to clamp around his ears, but he pushes me back open, holds my hips down as he tortures me with firm licks of my clit.
I grab his blond hair, tug it as I rub shamelessly over his face. But I don’t want to just receive pleasure from him again. I want to give it. “Let me up,” I croak. “Let me up.” I shove at his shoulders when he doesn’t respond.
He lifts his head, startled eyes glowing yellow, lips glossy with my juices. I scramble out from under him and pull him up on the bed. He falls back on his forearm, a bewildered expression on his face.
“My turn.” I reach for the button on his jeans.
He lets out a choked sound. “Tie me up,” he says hoarsely.
“What?”
“You’d better tie me up or I won’t be able to stop myself. I’ll be pounding between those sweet thighs until morning comes.”
A shocked laugh escapes my lips. His words flame my desire even hotter. My nipples throb in time with my clit. His eyelids droop, gaze traveling up and down my body like a starved man. I rub my lips together. “Do you have a condom?”
Sam stares at me for a moment in disbelief, then his hand flies to his pocket. He pulls out his wallet and rifles through it with shaking fingers until he produces the small square foil packet. “Yes.” He holds it up like he’s got the winning lottery ticket.
Then doubt clouds his expression. He jerks back off the bed and rubs a hand across his jaw. “Layne, we can’t.”
I crawl forward on the bed, loving the flare of panic on Sam’s face, the way he closes his fist around the condom packet. His irises change from blue to yellow and back to blue again. “I’m not afraid of your wolf,” I whisper. “I won’t scream this time.”
He takes a step back and shakes his head. “I-I can’t. Don’t have control.”
I follow, stepping off the bed and reaching for his waist. Grasping the two sides of his open jeans, I free his erection and drop to my knees at his feet. With my gaze lifted to his face, I open my lips and take the thick head of his cock into my mouth.
He surges forward, growing even longer. The groan that leaves him has an animal timbre to it. His fingers burrow into my hair. “Layne… you’re so beautiful.”
I’ve never felt so feminine, so attractive. I want to make him feel like a king. I’m no expert, but I know fellatio isn’t rocket science. I take his cock as deep as I can before I pull back.
He whimpers as I retreat, fingers tightening in my hair. Mm hmm. Preliminary test results suggest he enjoys having my mouth on him. I grip the base of his cock for aim and another shudder goes through him.
Aha. Evidence also suggests squeezing pleases my man. I move my mouth and hand in concert with one another, tasting a drop of his salty essence.
His thighs tremble, the rumble in his chest grows louder. I love the sound of his ragged breath laboring above me. Before I can finish him off, he knocks me backward. His arms and a soft rug cushion my fall.
“Need you.” His guttural tone is almost unrecognizable. I hear the crinkle of foil and he rolls the condom over his stiff member.
“I need you, too,” I murmur, reaching to pull his face down to mine.
He enters me in a single thrust at the same moment our mouths mate.
I cry out, not because it hurts, only from the shock of pleasure that pierces my very being. Every nerve ending electrifies, every pleasure center blooms. I become as desperate as he, scratching and scrambling to take him deeper, to bring our bodies closer. I snap my hips, rubbing my clit along the base of his shaft with each of his thrusts. He fills me and pulls back.
My breath catches and then I emit a keening, needy sound.
“More,” he growls, his eyes utterly golden. He pumps harder, faster.
As if I’m the beast, not he, I nip his shoulder, lick his ear. My nails score his ass as I pull him down into the cradle of my hips.
“So. Good.” His words sound through clenched
teeth.
My eyes roll back in my head.
“Can’t stop. Can’t stop. Oh God, Layne, I can’t—” Sam lets out a completely animalistic snarl and buries himself deep.
My arms shoot up around his neck and I meld my body to his as my climax hits at the same time. Fireworks explode behind my lids. Every muscle in my body quakes as my core tightens and releases around his shaft.
Sam bites me, too hard.
I gasp, but the sensation brings on a second round of earthquake level tremors through my body. The pain is eclipsed by pure pleasure.
Sam tries to lift his weight from my body, but I cling to him, so he lifts me too.
“Don’t ever let me go,” I beg, before I realize how pathetic it sounds.
He licks the place he bit me. “I won’t.” His voice is still rough and deep.
He stands with me still attached to his body and settles us on the bed, where he nuzzles my hair and kisses all along the side of my face and neck. When I finally release my stranglehold on him, he pulls away and surveys the bite mark on my neck.
I bring my fingers to the place, surprised to find the skin broken.
“I marked you.”
“Yes.”
“It’s the way a wolf mates. I didn’t mean to, but one of my fangs grazed your skin when you were orgasming.”
I push up on my elbows, my post-orgasmic fog parting as my brain comes back online. I can’t figure out how to interpret the data Sam just provided. “You mean, mates, like... marries?”
He nods and scrubs his hand across his jaw in the way I’ve already come to love. “I’m… fuck, I’m not sorry. I’d like to apologize, but—” A smile tugs at his lips, as if he can’t hold it back.
I can’t help but return it. “You’re not sorry?” I blush at the hopeful lift in my voice.
He shrugs. “My wolf got what he wanted.” He flicks his brows at me. “You.”
“Okay.” I can’t figure out what else to say. I’m not sorry, either, even though I don’t know what it all means.
Sam’s wolf mated me.
He knows I’m living on borrowed time and he doesn’t seem to mind, so why should I argue?