WastelandRogue

by Brenda Williamson

  “Don’t you even dare think about giving up, Sevrin Renault,” Rye ordered as if she heard him. He once again wondered if she couldn’t read his thoughts. She had said no, yet that was early in their relationship, not necessarily the right time to confess to extraordinary abilities.

  He quickly rubbed his tear-dampened face against his shoulder. He’d ask her again sometime about her knowing his thoughts.

  Rye scrambled over the pile of broken block. She dragged a long steel I-beam similar to the one pinning him down, only narrower.

  “I told you to get out of here.” He pushed back up, happy she was there and angry she hadn’t left.

  “Unlike some think, lamians don’t have super powers, so if I manage to get this up, then you be prepared to pull your leg out.”

  “Rye—” His voice cracked.

  “I’m not leaving you,” she declared harshly.

  “No, not that,” he said, knowing it was better not to argue with her. “The super powers…In the steam-trekker, when I fed you blood. You showed an incredible amount of strength pushing me off you.”

  “That comes from an energy spike, an adrenaline rush. That can’t help me now.” She shoved the smaller steel beam under the larger one and pushed.

  Sevrin grimaced from pain but still tried to pull his leg free. The numbness wasn’t allowing him to tell if she had moved the steel or not. Severe pain in the rest of him confirmed she wasn’t making headway.

  “Rye,” he groaned. “Rye, stop.”

  “No. I have to get you out.” Her forehead wrinkled under the strain of her efforts.

  “Rye, wait. Just wait and come down here to me.”

  She let go of the steel and wiped her forearm across her forehead.

  “I’m not leaving you here, Sevrin.” She knelt down next to him, fierce determination alight in her eyes. “I won’t let you die.”

  “I know you won’t.” He raked his arm across the jagged edge of a concrete block. Blood bubbled to the surface of his skin. “Drink. It’ll give you the adrenaline rush you need for one of those super powers you adamantly deny having.”

  He suspected she feared she didn’t possess enough strength.

  “I trust you,” he said, bolstering her with the truest of facts.

  Rye grabbed his arm. She sealed her lips over the serrated wound and sucked. The sting wasn’t anything compared to the one in his leg. He watched her mannerisms change as she swallowed. Her low, seductive hum vibrated into the open vein. His pulse quickened, a rush of energy zipped through his blood vessels. Rye extracted his life force and at the same time churned his sexual hunger.

  The rise of lust stiffened his cock. “That should do it,” he said, fighting the feeling. “Rye?”

  She didn’t stop. Feral greed had taken over and she ripped his flesh, opening the laceration wide. Her teeth punctured the sinew and she latched on, sucking rapaciously.

  His thunderous heartbeat aroused every fiber in his soul. He struggled to unfasten his pants and release his engorged cock for the explosion of his semen.

  Rye suddenly unclenched her bite from his arm. He looked at her rising away, blood dripping from her lips and rolling down her chin. Her gaze shot up to his. The dark irises blended with her dilated pupils and red flooded the whites of her eyes.

  “Sevrin?” Fear rattled her voice as she threw herself back onto him.

  He kissed her hungrily, tasting, swallowing the blood from her mouth. Then he pushed her free, feeling an unnatural force surging through him. “Get this beam off me!”

  Rye jumped to her feet.

  “Push,” he commanded, placing his hand on the beam to wait for movement. “That’s it.”

  The steel came up and he dragged himself out. As the steel slipped and the beam fell, Rye’s alarmed shriek filled the air.

  “I’m all right, I’m free,” he told her.

  She dropped to him and flung her arms around his neck. “I didn’t think I could actually do it. That burst of strength lasts such a short time.”

  “But you did do it.” He pulled her head back and kissed her. The saltiness of tears stopped him. “What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  Lifting his arm, she licked over the jagged cut that he had made and she had worsened. The rippling effects of lust traveled up to his shoulder and filtered through his veins.

  “That’s enough.” He stopped her, unable to handle another tumultuous flow of desire.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.” He slid his hand behind her head, pulled her forward and put his forehead against hers. “I’m always all right when you’re around.”

  Rye turned her head, looking toward his thigh. “How does it feel? I can’t see.” She used her hand to make up for her blurred sight and he guided her fingers over the wound.

  “Better.” He sensed her reserve in talking about her feelings. From the little bit Rye told him, she expressed a lot of love for the home she had with her sister. He had no doubt she’d go back to her mountain retreat. Was there a place there for him, with her?

  “Can you stand?” She looked back at him. The bloody haze in her eyes began to clear.

  “Let’s see.”

  She rose to her feet first and held his arm, helping him up. A deep ache, probably bruising on the bone, made him shaky. He put more pressure on the leg. Rye showed patience, still offering support. He pushed her hand away and took a few steps, limping to the pile of rubble and back.

  “Let’s go find Zandt and your sister.” He held his hand out to her.

  Her cool fingers slid across his palm and folded around his. A shaft of heat shot up his arm but he ignored the longing to pull her close and hold on tight. He took a step to go. Rye didn’t move.

  He turned. “What’s wrong?”

  “This may be the last time I have the chance to talk to you alone.”

  “Oh?” Her casual statement sunk in as clearly as if she said the words of departure. It wasn’t possible for this to be a goodbye.

  “When we get out of here, I’ll be taking Shay home. And you—”

  Sevrin pulled Rye to him and kissed her. Her response was as warm and welcoming as ever. He thought he was in command of her and his senses. As usual, she took the lead, rolling her hands over his shoulders, across his back and up against the back of his head. Aggressively, she twisted strands of his hair around her knuckles, using her hold to guide him.

  He broke from her lips for a second. Just long enough to get out her name. “Rye.” He wanted ask her to stay with him, go wherever, whenever the mood struck them.

  “Don’t talk,” she replied, resuming their kiss, her tongue slipping between his parted lips.

  As if she were the missing piece to a puzzle of his life, her every curve fit the length of him. Her knee pressed between his legs and his crotch rested against her hip. She had to have felt his throbbing cock by the moves she made to rub it with her rocking body.

  Then she pulled away. Her gaze held all the wrong emotions. Tears glistened in those sorrowful eyes. Sadness dulled her features.

  At a loss as to how to express what he wanted directly, he said, “That place of yours sounds pretty amazing.”

  She brushed her hand over her eyes, hiding the fact she wiped a tear by flicking at it as if it were a bug. “It’s a wonderful place. I can’t wait to return.”

  “Then why the unhappy look?”

  She took a deep breath and whispered words he didn’t expect would come with such a heartbreaking sob. “I’ll miss you.”

  “There’s no reason you have to.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I don’t think I can handle staying in one place all the time but it would be a nice change to take a break from wandering from time to time.”

  “It’s a long journey between my home and the wastelands.”

  Was she trying to deter him from visiting? “I have a steam-trekker, remember?”

  “You’ll never find Levor.�
�

  “I was talking about the one I flipped on its side on that hill.”

  “You’d really visit?” Her face brightened, giving him the reassurance he needed.

  “Depends.” He reached out and pulled her close. “Can we plant something edible in that garden of yours?”

  “Anything you want.” She smiled.

  “Then my plans all seem to be working out. We spend time together, I go off and save a few people and then I return to you, all my wanderlust satisfied for a while.”

  “You’ve mapped out all this between us before now, haven’t you?” she scolded gently.

  “I’ve given it some thought. You did drink my blood.” He cupped her face.

  “Ah, and you think since you saved my life, you own it because we’ve bonded?”

  “No.” He leaned and kissed the side of her head. “All joking aside, I feel like—”

  “Like we’re closer than any blood thirst can ever make us feel?”

  He slid his arm around her and guided her toward the door. “We belong together, Rye. Now let’s get out of here before we become victims of something worse than falling walls.”

  She nodded and went with him through the rubble of the building until they reached the outside. Immediately, he heard his brother’s and Rye’s sister’s shout of joy.

  “Sevrin.” Rye stopped him again. “Why do you think we belong together, really?”

  He cupped her jaw and brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. “You never asked anything of me and yet you needed me. Each day we got closer and I waited for you to be more demanding and self-centered but you weren’t.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly say I was selfless, you do remember I stole your steam-trekkerand got you shot, don’t you?”

  “Those little things aren’t what I’m talking about. You’re different from other females. If something needs done, you do it. If there’s a problem, you try to figure out a way to resolve it. If there is danger, you face it. You have an independence that fits my life. I adapt well to change and I can adapt my life to fit in yours the way you need me to.”

  “I don’t want you to change for me.”

  He brushed a kiss to her lips. “See, as I was saying, you’re not asking anything of me. It makes me want to do whatever it takes to be with you.”

  “I want to be with you too.” She stroked his jaw and then slid her arms around his neck.

  “What’s this?” He accepted her kiss and then warned, “Your sister and my brother are coming.”

  “I don’t care.” She kissed him again. “I need you to know how much I love you.”

  “I love you too, sunshine.”

  A faint, happy sound sputtered from Rye and then she was crushing him with her embrace. In between those, sweet, brief kisses splashing affection over his face, she asked, “Since when?”

  He wanted to say when he found her in the ditch or when she insisted on having sex with him in the mineshaft. However, those times only led to the moment when he thought he had lost her in the bowels of the earth. Was it then that the first twinges of love had snared him? He wasn’t sure. He only knew what she would want to hear.

  “Since forever, Rye.”

  About Brenda Williamson

  An eclectic author, seductive in any era. Brenda Williamson lives in a small rural town in Alabama. She writes in most sub-genres of romance. Multi-published and award winning, she has authored dozens of books, articles and poetry. She’ a member of Romance Writers of America and The Authors Guild.

  Brenda welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

  Tell Us What You Think

  We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You can email the author directly or you can email us at Service@ellorascave.com (when contacting Customer Service, be sure to state the book title and author).

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing

  www.ellorascave.com

  Wasteland Rogue

  ISBN 9781419946462

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Wasteland Rogue Copyright © 2013 Brenda Williamson

  Edited by Briana St. James

  Cover design by Fiona Jayde

  Cover photography by Captblack76, Algol/shutterstock.com

  Electronic book publication September 2013

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  The publisher and author(s) acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book.

  The publisher does not have any control over, and does not assume any responsibility for, author or third-party websites or their content.

  Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com to find erotic reading experiences that will leave you breathless. You can also find our books at all the major e-tailers (Barnes & Noble, Amazon Kindle, Sony, Kobo, Google, Apple iBookstore, All Romance eBooks, and others).

  www.ellorascave.com