“What? I don’t understand. Why are you so mad?”
He was pacing the creek in front of her, hard-on pointed straight out, but it was the fury edging his frame that held her attention.
“Because I don’t want you like that!” He shoved a wet hand through his hair. “I’m not a fucking consolation prize.” He pinned her with angry eyes. “I don’t want you coming to me just to make your girls happy.” He paced to the tree line before turning to her and pointing to the woods. “House is three hundred yards that way.” He turned and headed the direction he’d just pointed, before he stopped and looked back. “I want you to come to me Ryka, because I’m what you choose. When you’re ready for a mate because I’m what you want, you know where I’ll be.”
Then he was gone, and Ryka sat by the creek feeling like shit. She’d thought Wren would be happy that she was finally willing to give their relationship a shot, but the more she thought on how she’d put it, the more she understood. If he’d come to her and said he wanted to mate to please his brothers, she’d be just as wounded. It sucked. That wasn’t how she’d meant for it to come out. She didn’t want him thinking of himself as a consolation prize, and it’s certainly not how she thought of him. It had taken her a while during the run to realize that she’d been envious of Seven and Ash, and the bonds they were forming with Lux and Liddick. She had that opportunity with Wren, and she was balking, but why? So far, he’d been nothing but a stellar fucking person. He’d taken them in, he’d made them feel more than welcome. He gave them safety and security, and here she was all, ‘It’d mean a lot to the girls if I tried to make this work.’ God! I’m such an asshole!
Her thoughts were interrupted though, when all the fine hairs on her body rose. Stilling, she turned and slowly scanned the forest. It felt like someone was watching, and too afraid of being caught at a river alone at night again, she shifted and raced back to the house like the hounds of hell were on her ass.
Chapter 19
(Ash & Liddick)
Ash stepped off the back porch, eyeing the dark woods surrounding the house. It was hard to get a moment alone to just think. Too many she-wolves, too many male lions, too much Liddick. Truthfully, he was the one she was currently hiding from. No, not hiding. Ash didn’t hide. She was just trying to catch a breath.
She’d just stepped into the tree line when the back door banged closed and Liddick trotted toward her with a, “Hey! Where you going?”
Rolling her eyes, she turned to face him. “A walk.”
“You want company?” His eyes searched her face as he approached, and she hated when he did that. It was like he was always trying to figure out if something was wrong.
“No.” She quickly tacked on, “Thank you.”
He reached up and grabbed her bicep. He was always doing that, and it was starting to piss her off because it felt too possessive. Ash jerked her arm free. “Why do I have to keep telling you, you don’t get to touch me until I say you can?”
“Hey!” Liddick threw his hands in the air. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” She turned to eye the forest. “I just need a…minute.”
“Away from me?”
“Away from everyone.” Guilt hit hard when Liddick looked wounded. That was exactly why she’d snuck out. Every time she said or did something he didn’t like, he got this look on his face that was damn close to disappointment, and she hated it. She didn’t want to feel like a failure every time she didn’t act in a way that Liddick expected. “I’m not trying to hurt you,” she offered. “I’m just…”
“Yeah,” he cut her off. “I know.”
“No!” she snapped. “You don’t!”
Now he was angry too. “I know you’re making this harder than it has to be.”
“You don’t know anything,” she sneered.
“Actually, I do. I know you don’t know how to be vulnerable, and vulnerability is the only way for your heart to experience true pleasure. Because of that, you’ll never know happiness! You never will! Because you’ve got such a fucking wall built up around yourself, Ash, that no one can get in! I just wish I knew what you’re so afraid of.”
“You!” she ground out angrily. “I’m terrified of you, Liddick Prime. You’re asking me to give you the power to destroy me.”
He shook his head in confusion.
“I’m not like the other girls, Liddick! I love differently. I’m more…” She sighed heavily, not wanting to admit her faults to him. “I’m more foolish. I don’t love casually. I only know one way, and it’s fierce and all-consuming. When I find someone I want to love, and I want to love me in return, I tear open my chest and hand them my fucking heart willingly. Then, I watch all gooey-eyed and expectant to see if they can live up to my hopes and dreams of not crushing it in their hands. When I love, I love with all I have, and that makes me so fucking stupid, because the potential for disaster is enormous.”
“That’s not foolish, Ash.”
“The fuck it isn’t.” She turned away from him. “When someone does the exact thing you prayed they wouldn’t do, and it’s your own fault for gifting them the most precious part of you…” She shook her head. “I’m a fucking idiot, and the worst part is that I haven’t changed. I never learn. I still take my damaged, bandaged, banged-up heart and hand it out.” She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Do you have any idea how scary this is for me? To take something so ruined, so fragile, and hand it out with a hope and a prayer that it’ll be safe?” She turned to stare straight ahead, deep into the woods. “I don’t think I could survive another betrayal. If…if my heart is already so abused, part of me is afraid that one more betrayal would end me.”
When Liddick spoke his tone was soft and imploring. “Ash. I’d never…”
“Yeah,” she cut him off. “That’s what he said. And I believed it. And look at me now.” Dropping her head she headed for the woods, but Liddick lunged for her hand, pulling her back to him.
“Listen,” he seemed almost frantic now. “You’re not the only one who’s suffered. You’re not the only one who’s been hurt.”
Her head jerked around, and she stared at him questioningly.
“You can either let the pain of a hard past destroy you, or you can learn from it, lift your chin, and move forward all the wiser. Hiding from love, avoiding it because it bit you once, is a coward’s way out, Ash. I’m not a coward, I’m willing to take a chance. I’m asking you to be brave with me, not for me. I have just as much to lose as you. I’ve had my heart broken too, Ashley.” He smirked. “I know, who could refuse this?” He swept a hand down his frame jokingly, evoking an eye roll and a smile from her. “It’s different for lion shifters. We’re fewer in number, and the odds of us finding true mates is practically non-existent. But look what happened.” He lifted a hand, tucking tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “Us finding you girls the way we did was nothing short of a fucking miracle, and I absolutely believe that. You have to believe it too.” He dipped down to get her to look him in the eye. “You felt it, right? When we locked eyes, and you dropped me to my knees. You felt something between us, right?”
It took a moment, but finally Ash nodded.
“And I couldn’t have faked that, Ash. Me being stricken by you was the Gods telling us that it’s real this time! I couldn’t break your heart if I wanted to, but that doesn’t matter, because I’ll never want to. My lion wouldn’t let me. He chose you and so did I. You’re ours. Every morning since you’ve been here my first thought has been to provide for you, to protect you, to love you. It’s all consuming, baby. You are the point of my life now. You are my world. Just trust that.”
“I don’t know how to trust, Liddick. I’m broken, and I hate that about myself. I wish I could change it, but I can’t.”
“Good. We’ll start there.”
Her face scrunched in confusion. “Wh-what?”
He snagged her hand and pulled her to him, his arms wrapping around her, one sliding up to cup the back of her
neck while the other circled her waist. “Eventually, you’re going to show me all the parts of you that you don’t love, so I can love them for you. I’ll show you how it’s done. Today, right now, we’ll start with your inability to trust.” His eyes turned serious. “I’m gonna prove to you that you can trust me, Ash. If it takes a week, a month, or twenty years. And when that’s done, when you finally honor me with your trust, I’m gonna find something else that you think is broken, and I’m gonna prove you wrong there too. I’m gonna love that part of you so fiercely that you’ll see you were never broken. You’re perfect, Ash. I’m gonna spend all of my days,” he squeezed her harder, with a wicked smile, “and hopefully all of my nights teaching you that.”
“Why?” she breathed. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you’re all I want. You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”
Ash stared at him in stunned silence before her brows snapped down. “Damn it, Liddick!” She shoved off his chest hard, then turned and ran for the forest.
“HEY!” Behind her she heard his booted feet giving chase.
“Ash! ASHLEY!”
When he caught her arm and spun her to him, she acted on reflex, swinging at him. Liddick was too fast, though. He ducked the blow, then caught her in his arms, wrapping her up tight with her back pressed to his chest. Ash kicked and jerked, but his hold was too strong.
“Baby, stop!”
Writhing now, she dropped to a knee and used the momentum to pull free from him as she dropped to a roll, hitting her shoulder and coming up fast. Without looking back she sprinted for the forest. Just ahead was a felled tree, and her intention had been to palm it and vault her body over, but Liddick’s big body crashed into hers from behind, pinning her against the hard trunk of the log. She tried to hike a knee up to scramble over, but Liddick caught her leg, shoving it against the bark. His big body pressing hard into hers, he leaned down and snarled near her ear. Goosebumps erupted on her flesh and Ash craned her neck, her wolf liking Liddick on them like this. Ash liked it too.
“Stop running from me,” Liddick snarled at her ear, his teeth grazing her throat as he rolled his hips. The hard bar of his erection pressed against her ass and Ash arched her back, pressing her hips more firmly into his.
“You’re going to hurt me.” And there it was, her fear in a nutshell, put out there for him to dispel.
“Damn it, Ash!” Liddick was breathing hard, and she knew he was fighting to control himself now instead of her. “I can’t hurt you.” His hands were rough on her hips where he pulled her ass more firmly into him. “Don’t you get it? Hurting you means hurting myself!”
Reaching up, Ash fisted his hair and drew his mouth down to her shoulder. The material of her shirt kept his lips from her skin, so she cursed softly and pushed up off the log just enough to rip her shirt over her head.
“Ffffuck!” Strong warm hands smoothed over her shoulders and down her back to unfasten her bra.
Ash let it fall from her and arched into Liddick again with a breathy, “Now, Liddick!”
His hands slid around her body and cupped both her breasts. When his fingers rolled her nipples she gasped, her hips bucking against the tree as Liddick ground his erection against her ass. “Now what, baby?”
“Now. Touch me!” She panted, “Jeans off. Now!”
His hands left her breasts and smoothed down her ribs before sliding to the button of her jeans. In seconds, she was standing with her jeans and panties bunched at her knees. She heard the sound of a zipper, and then Liddick’s palm was pushing her so she was leaned over the tree, ass in the air. His erection rubbed against her wet folds, and she wanted him inside of her, but he wasn’t having it. Leaning forward, the hard planes of his warm body pressed into hers. “You gotta ask for it, Ash. No confusion. Tell me what you want.”
“You,” she breathed. “Do it, Liddick. Inside of me, now!”
“Uh-uh,” he said. “You gotta tell me I’m yours. Say it, Ashley.”
She growled an impatient sound before admitting, “You’re mine, Liddick! Now fuck me!”
He snarled, then his teeth locked into her shoulder as he slid into her. Ash cried out as he stretched her, one hand palming an ass cheek while the other found her breast and kneaded. Slowly, he eased out before thrusting back in.
“Faster!” she panted. “Harder!
He obliged, his hips bucking against her as he drove deep. His ragged breathing matched his pace and Ash was breathing hard now as well.
“LIDDICK!” Ash screamed as her body seized around him.
A few more thrusts and his body tensed over hers as he emptied himself inside her. “Mine,” he snarled, wrapping his arms around his mate. His smile was triumphant when Ash mimicked on a mere breath, “Mine.”
Chapter 20
Ryka woke late. She’d been unable to sleep the past few days, and she knew it had a lot to do with the discussion she’d had with Wren. Showering quickly, she dressed in skinny jeans and an oversized peach-colored sweater that warmed her dark skin. Making her way down the stairs, she heard voices in the kitchen and could smell that breakfast had been cooked. Picking up a delighted squeal from Kenna, she smiled without even knowing the source of the girl’s delight. She didn’t have to wonder long, because Kenna and Ash raced from the kitchen and practically ran her over as they hurried up the stairs.
“Phena! You’re up. Good!” Kenna looked from Ryka to Ash in excitement.
Ryka looked suspiciously from one girl to the other. “What’s going on?”
Ash was beaming now too. “The guys are taking us to town for a girl’s day!”
“A girl’s day?” Ryka sounded skeptical. The girls had all heard of them, they’d all talked about them, but they’d never really had one.
“Yes.” Wren’s voice cut in as he stepped from the kitchen. He looked down at Ash and Kenna when they turned to him, jerking his chin toward the stairs. “Go get ready while Ryka has breakfast.”
Kenna squealed again and dashed up the stairs. To Ryka’s surprise even Ash—who was highly averse to taking orders—didn’t even balk at Wren’s command. Nope, she raced up the stairs behind Kenna.
Alone with Wren, Ryka tried not to look at him. She was still embarrassed about the way she’d practically thrown herself at him only to be turned down, and for good reason. She was relieved when Seven and Lux came in the back door breathing hard and smiling big.
“Morning, Phena. Apex Prime. ” Seven tipped her head at Wren.
“Where have you all been?” Ryka asked, curiously picking through the scents they carried in. Mingled with their animals was that of another.
“Hunting,” Lux beamed. “Seven is a one hell of a huntress.”
Ryka beamed. It was something she knew well. Seven was more patient than Ash, and was more of a wait-and-attack than a stalk-and-kill wolf.
“I need a shower before our girl’s day.” Seven looked at Lux. “I smell like a rutting mule deer and a boy.”
“So basically, you smell like Liddick?” Lux teased with a huge grin, and everyone laughed.
“Eeeew.” Seven wrinkled her nose. “Can’t have that. I’ll shower quick.” She pecked a kiss on Lux’s lips and squeezed Ryka’s arm as she passed before hurrying upstairs. Lux waggled his brows and followed her up.
“Come on.” Wren slid his palm against hers and laced their fingers. “Let’s get you fed.”
She let him lead her to the table, her wolf giddy that Wren was touching them.
Once she was settled, Wren brought her a plate of eggs, sausage, and toast. He set it in front of her and then went back to the counter. When he returned, he set a cup of coffee beside her plate.
Ryka picked up the mug and had a sip, pulling back to look up at him in surprise. “This is just how I like it! How did you…”
“Been watching you, woman.”
Taking up her fork, Ryka hid a smile as she poked at her eggs. Her smile faded. “About the other night…”
“Don’t.” W
ren shook his head hard. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. You know where I stand now. Let’s go forward from there.”
The doorbell sounded, and from somewhere in the house Cason shouted, “Got it!”
Ryka eyed Wren, her shoulders relaxing. “So, a girl’s day, huh? Which one of them talked you into it? It had to be…”
Her words died off when Jesup’s raised voice carried through the house. “Stupid fucks, you dare set foot in our territory!”
Wren shoved back from the table, jabbing a finger in Ryka’s direction. “Stay here!”
Booted feet pounded down from the stairs and Ryka knew the rest of the guys had heard the commotion.
“Cason!” Wren barked. “Gather the females!”
Ryka swallowed hard and shoved back from the table. Something was wrong!
***
Wren knew who was at the door before he even rounded the corner. A familiar scent drifted from the two males who stood facing Jesup with unrepentant grins on their faces. The scent was on the girls’ clothes when they’d arrived.
Jesup turned to frown at him and one of the males spoke. “Aaah, the rest of the Prime progeny, I presume.”
When he was within distance, Wren’s lion lunged, and Wren couldn’t hold him back. His fist connected with the man’s face, and then just kept on connecting until Jesup and Liddick peeled him off the bleeding moron.
Lips torn and nose gushing, the prick smiled up from the ground and looked to his friend, who reached down and hoisted him up by the armpits, scowling at the Prime pack.
“This is Alpha Marill Martin!” The second man’s word were chastising, as if Wren and his pack should care. The second released his Alpha. “I’m his Beta, Larsen! You attack before we can speak?”
The Beta’s tone was laced with incredulity, but Liddick snorted. “You have no business here. Leave!”
“Ah, contraire.” Marill lifted a finger and swiped at his bleeding nose, then sucked his bleeding lip into his mouth before releasing it. “We have pack members here, which means we have business here.”
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