by Meg Ripley
I hadn’t thought about it like that. Great. “So, that’s a good thing, right?”
“Obviously. Do you want in or not?”
“Yes, of course. More than anything, you know that.”
“Okay. Well, then I’ll be a friend and tell you something that I shouldn’t be telling you.”
“Okay…” I listened carefully, my pulse racing.
“She wants to start your initiation.”
I sucked in a breath. “Really? That’s awesome. When? What did she say?”
“That’s the thing. And this is why I’m telling you. I don’t want you to wuss out when it happens.”
“Wuss out? What the hell? Not possible.”
“If you say so…”
“What is the initiation?” Maybe I shouldn’t be bragging until I knew what I’d be in for. I pictured something like college hazing, but a little more intense.
“Next week, she’s going to call for a ride. Make sure you’re at the bar.”
“I will. So, what’s the initiation part?”
“She’s calling a ride on that east trail with the bats you don’t want us to ride on.”
My heart dropped to the ground. “Uh… I thought she understood that the bridge is out.”
“There’s apparently another way to go. I’m not sure, but she said it wouldn’t be a concern.”
“Velvet, we can’t let this happen.”
“Are you serious, Roxy? You’re going to throw everything away over some stupid bats? You sound like one of those PETA people who throw paint on fur coats.”
“It’s not like that. Velvet, just listen. That cave holds the last of the Mexican long-nose bats on the whole planet. We could wipe out the species if we ride near it.”
She blew out a long breath. “Whatever, Roxy. I guess you’ll have to decide then. The Devils or the bats. But I have to say, even if you don’t show, we’re still going to make that ride.”
I hung up and felt sick to my stomach. I had no idea how to stop them, but I did know someone who would be just as concerned about the bats as I was and who would have no problem stopping bikers from taking a joy ride.
14
Alex
I was sitting at my kitchen table, reading the paper and enjoying my morning when my phone rang. I was surprised to see Roxy’s name appear on the screen. After the way things had ended with our day yesterday, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
“Hey there,” I said.
“Hey. I need to talk to you.”
Whatever she might say next, the sound of her voice stirred the bear within me. “What’s going on?”
“Not over the phone.”
“Do you want to meet somewhere public?”
“No! We can’t be overheard.”
“Then, I guess it’ll have to be your place or mine,” I suggested.
“I’m coming to your place.”
“Okay, sure. So when—” The phone beeped and told me the call had ended.
So, I assumed she meant she was coming over right then. I looked around the kitchen and went into frantic cleaning mode, putting things away and wiping the counters. As neat as her place was, it made my little messes seem bigger. And I’d always thought that I was a fairly clean person.
I was shoving clothing into drawers when the knock came. It would have to be clean enough.
My heart pounded with excitement as I pulled the door open, but her expression made me instantly worried.
“What’s going on?” I stood back to let her enter and shut the door behind her.
“I need your help.” She sat on my couch, then stood again and paced the room.
“Sure.” I watched her walk back and forth, twisting her fingers together, then untwisting them.
“It’s the She Devils.”
I stiffened. “What about them?”
When she stopped and turned to face me, her body crumpled. “They’re going to do something terrible. I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t, and I can’t, and I don’t know what else to do. That’s why I’m here. I know you want the same thing I want.”
I tried to replay her words in my mind, but it wasn’t really making sense. Since when did she and I want the same thing? “What are they planning?”
“They’re going to ride down the east trail to see the bats.”
“But that will seriously harm them.”
“I know!” She threw her hands in the air. “I told them that! That they’re the only ones left in the world and that vibrations affect their echolocation. Hellcat wants to see them and get them to fly all around her like that stupid video. And she couldn’t be talked out of it. I tried.”
My mind spun in several directions. What data would I need to devise a plan to solve the problem? First, I needed as many details as possible about what would take place. I grabbed a notebook from my desk and sat.
“Tell me everything you know.” I held my pen ready.
“I only know what Velvet told me. Next week, they want to initiate me, and Hellcat is going to do that by making me ride the trail I told them we couldn’t ride.”
I scribbled that down. “Which day?”
“Saturday night. That’s when we usually do a ride.”
I added the date and checked the calendar. It was Sunday, so that gave us almost a week to come up with a solution. “Any idea what time?”
“There’s not a set time, but we usually meet up around 7 or 8 and drink for a while at the bar before we ride. Maybe 10 or 11? Could be later, though. I’ve never been part of an initiation, so I don’t know if things might go down differently.”
I nodded and added the notes. “I have to say, I’m surprised.”
“I know! I can’t believe they would still plan to do this after I told them the whole species could die!” She shook her head and paced again.
“That’s not what I meant. I’m not surprised by that part, actually. I expected the She Devils to do something like this. I’m surprised that you’re telling me and asking me to help stop it.”
She looked at me, and several emotions played out over her face. She ended with disgust. “Yeah, well. I guess it’s not cool to be a geek.”
I raised an eyebrow expectantly.
She huffed and sat down hard on the end of the couch. “They called me nerdy. And said I sounded like you.”
“And that, of course, is a huge insult.”
She gave me a humorless smile. “It was meant to be. But if it’s not cool to care about stuff and not cool to care about your job, then what’s the point? Just go through life never caring about anything except having fun and riding bikes? Someone has to care about those bats. Obviously, if no one pays attention, species dies out. That’s why they’re endangered to begin with.”
“How many of your Devil friends are shifters?”
“Not many,” she admitted. “I guess that’s part of the problem. They don’t have that same connection to nature and animals that we do.”
“That’s why we have clans as shifters and not MCs.”
She looked down and inspected her fingers. “I wanted to have both. And I thought I was more like the Devils than my clan. But when it comes down to it, it’s really stupid and arrogant to think it’s okay to destroy a whole species for the sake of having fun and going on a ride.”
“I agree.” I chuckled. “That’s been my issue from the start of this whole thing.”
“Yeah. Well, enjoy it now because this will probably be the only time I ever agree with you on anything.”
“Yesterday, you took my advice on the chili. Today, you’re agreeing with me about your friends. I don’t know what’s going on Roxy, but it’s almost like you don’t hate me anymore.”
She looked up at me and glared. “You don’t have to rub it in; this really sucks. I liked hanging out with those ladies. It was… exciting. I wanted to be a member so badly. But after all this, there’s no way they’ll ever let me hang out again.”
“I’m sorry. It’s tough losing a bunch of
friends at once. I went through something like that when I moved. Even though I chose it and wanted to leave, I still left behind my whole family and the few friends I had. I knew almost no one here, and it sucked. It’s never easy losing friends.”
“Yeah.” She let out a long sigh.
“But that’s what makes a clan so great. Built in friends and family.”
She pressed her lips together and didn’t meet my eyes.
“What’s the problem with your clan? Don’t you get along with them?”
“It’s not that. They’re okay people.” She looked off in the distance for a long while before continuing. “It’s because of my ex, Jax, and my best friend, Nina. They were both in my clan. I knew Nina my whole life, and we’d been best friends for most of that time. I thought I could trust her with my life. And Jax was…everything I thought I wanted. But then they up and left. They took off together and ditched me. And being around my clan after that just reminded me too much of both of them. It still hurts that they ditched me like that. Especially Nina.”
As I reached over to put my hand on hers, she looked up to meet my eyes.
I made sure my tone was soft. “That sounds so painful. It all makes sense now, why you tried so hard to find a new group; why they were so important to you. But I have to say, I think it’s better this way. They would have kept you from being lonely and you would have had a lot of fun with them, but you would’ve had to give up some essential part of yourself in the end. And that’s not a good thing.”
She leaned forward and rested her head on my shoulder. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You might be the only one who understands me right now.”
I rubbed her back and felt the warmth of her closeness sink into me. My whole body felt lit up and ready to explode with her so close.
She sat up slowly and looked into my eyes, her face very near to mine. “You’re not at all what I thought you were, Alex.”
She put her hand to my cheek and I gulped. I wanted that to be the moment; I didn’t think I could take her rejecting me again. She gave me all the signs, so I leaned closer and paused. She leaned closer, too…and pressed her lips to mine.
When our mouths met, it set off the explosion. My whole body flooded with desire, love and desperation. I needed her, and I thought she needed me, too.
The heat rushed through me and I pressed my lips to hers even harder, separating her lips so that my tongue could find its way to hers. Weaving my fingers into her hair, I guided her closer so that she was sitting on my lap.
I was so stiff, it almost hurt when she moved her hips to grind against me. Hooking her legs around my waist, she slid her hands under my shirt to pull it over my head. Dizzy with need, I tore her shirt off, finding her bare breasts under her tee and drew her nipple into my mouth. As I bit it gently, she let out a moan and dug her nails into my back.
There could be no going slow about it. I found the front of her pants, tugged the snap and zipper open, then pulled the waist band down, sending her jeans to the floor in a pile somewhere behind me.
When I rubbed my finger against her panties, I could tell she was craving this just as much as I was. I pushed the scrap of fabric aside and slipped my tongue inside her, teasing her sensitive nub and delicate folds as I explored every inch of her. But my bear couldn’t wait any longer; he’d already waited too long. As I pushed down my pants, my erection sprang free and I kneeled in front of her, holding her legs over my shoulders so I could pound into her hard and fast.
Ecstasy burst from every cell in my body as my bear roared within, sending pleasure rocketing through my limbs with every thrust, and moments later, I hit my peak, shaking from the intensity of it all.
She panted heavily and looked up at me with wide eyes. “Again.”
The bear in me responded instantly, pounding its chest, and I flipped her over so that she was face-down on the couch. I was so turned on by her that I was still rock-hard, even after I’d come.
As I lay over her, the skin of her back against my chest, her round ass rubbing against my throbbing member, it didn’t take me long. I slid my hand between her legs to make sure she was still wet and slipped back into her. At first, I pumped slowly as Roxy lifted her ass to me, pushing me in deeper.
But when she looked back over her shoulder at me and asked, “What are you waiting for?” my bear saw it as a challenge.
I answered by slamming into her as deep as I could go, making her cry out, “Yes! Oh god, yes!” I put both hands on her shoulders and pulled her close as I thrust forward, making the motion even deeper.
“Harder.” She pushed up onto all fours and rocked back into me so that I reached as far inside her as possible, howling loudly as her body tensed. Between the sound of her strangled cries and the feeling of her quivering flesh gripping my length, I could hold out no longer, riding out the waves of my release along with her.
I lay down beside her, holding her hips to remain in her warmth, and slid us onto our sides so that I could hold her close.
“Damn,” she breathed. “We should have done that a long time ago.”
I murmured in agreement and kissed along her neck, trailing my fingers down her side and along her legs, feeling every inch of her skin, damp with sweat.
She’d felt so good, but it had been over much too fast.
And I needed more.
I teased her nipples and when I pinched one, she let out a little moan, her insides tightening for a moment around me. With another pinch, she closed her eyes, pressing her hips back into me and I felt myself start to harden yet again. I kept squeezing her nipples to feel her body react, then reached down to rub her most sensitive spot. She moaned and bit her lip as I began to rock my hips again, slowly circling my fingers at the apex of her thighs.
The mad rush of passion had lessened, and now I just wanted to hold her close. We took our time running our hands over each other, exploring, and she wiggled around so that she was on top of me, moving her hips in slow, tantalizing circles.
I pulled her down close to me so I could wrap my arms around her again. She watched me, smiling when the pleasure was obvious on my face. We moved together as one, with me deep inside her, hitting all the spots that made her moan as she moved with me.
When her walls began to contract around me yet again, she gasped and cried out as I picked up my pace just enough to send her tumbling over the edge. She lay flat on my chest, breathing heavily.
“That was mind-blowing,” she said.
“Sorry if I got a little too… barbaric there for a minute.”
“No, I loved it.” She ran her fingers through my hair and looked at me with a dreamy expression.
I smiled, enjoying her look, but feeling satisfied in more ways than I had in a long time. Maybe ever in my life. A warmth filled me and everything in that moment felt so right.
“It’s weird,” she said. “I thought we were so different. But maybe we’re not.”
“I’m starting to think that we’re the same where it counts, and different where it benefits us the most.”
She looked up. “What do you mean?”
“Two people can never be the same in everything, but where they differ, if those areas create balance instead of conflict, that’s how perfect relationships are made.”
“And you think our differences are beneficial?”
“Seems like it. I guess that’s how it works when…” I stopped. There wasn’t a good way to explain without sounding over the top.
“When what?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. When that happens, I guess that’s what people mean when they say opposites attract.”
“That would explain a lot. I’ve felt this strange attraction to you, and it never made any sense to me. We’re so different—or at least I thought we were—and it made no sense for me to feel that way. You’re not my type at all.”
“One more thing we have in common,” I pointed out. “I had no reason for being attracted to you, either. And you just frustrated me
so much all the time, I thought there was no way we could ever be together.”
“And now you think we can? You think we just jump into a relationship because we’re attracted to each other for reasons that make no sense?”
I laughed. “I was thinking more like, maybe now we could actually be friends and work together instead of against each other. I don’t want to rush anything. Even if we’re fated, that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy or should be fast.”
She sat up. “What? Fated? What the hell are you talking about?”
I sat up, too, and ran a hand through my hair. “I didn’t mean to say that. Forget it. The whole idea is stupid anyway.”
“What idea?”
I blew out a breath. “My clan thinks we’re fated mates.”
“Based on what, exactly?”
“It just so happens that in my clan, three of the four single men of age have turned out to have a fated mate. I know it’s supposed to be rare, but those are the facts. I thought that either I missed my mate or that I was the anomaly, since I’m not from here originally. But something drew me here. And maybe it was you.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I don’t know about all this.”
“I don’t either.”
“It does make sense. I’ve never felt drawn to someone like I do to you. But what does that mean then, that we have to be together because fate said so? I have no say in the matter? I have to be with you whether I want a relationship or not?”
I shook my head. “That’s ridiculous. We can’t let some abstract idea determine the rest of our lives.”
“Exactly. What the heck is fate anyway? I never really believed in it. Cupid and soulmates. Stuff for fairytales.”
I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “So, we can agree to just be friends? To work together to stop the She Devils?”
“Friends.” She nodded. “Does that mean we can still…” She tip-toed her fingers down my chest to my belly button.
My body reacted to her closeness automatically. “Friends do all sorts of things together, don’t they? If we both wanted to do that, then I don’t see why we shouldn’t.”
She grinned. “Then here’s to a very long friendship.”