Wild Angels: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Lilith and her Harem Book 1)

by May Dawson

  “My mom…” I trailed off; I wasn’t sure what had happened with my mother.

  “She thinks you and your sister are both dead.” He nodded at the photo. “You can keep it. She wants to join you, I think, and she will if you and your sister don’t cooperate. But if you do… you can all be together again, Ellis. I’ll leave you and those boys alone. You’ll have your mother and your sister again. I just want my wife back—you can imagine that, can’t you? Wanting someone back from the dead so badly?”

  “Not badly enough to do what you’ve done,” I said. “It’s better to be missing someone, it’s better to be dead, than it is to be an asshole.”

  He smiled slightly at that. “You’re young. When you’re closer to death, you might just find you change your mind. Death’s no friend of ours.”

  “What did you to do me?” I asked. “How am I here?”

  “The world’s full of magic,” he said. “Almost as much magic as darkness. You’ll wake soon. But I want you to remember. Ash can bring you back to me when you’re ready to go into the Far. With the binding, she can always find her way back to me.”

  “I can’t communicate with my sister,” I said. “So that doesn’t work too well.”

  “She’s a tough cookie,” he admitted. “She’s tough for me too. But she wants to see you live. And she wants to live herself too.”

  I couldn’t understand what was happening. Was Ash working for him? Or was Ash trying to fight against him in her own way? I felt sick and dizzy and desperately in need of my sister.

  “You’ll figure it out,” he said. “I’ll give you a month. Before I come for your mother. You’d better figure out the Far.”

  “I can’t!” I said. “We don’t even know who the Fourth is!”

  “You’re resourceful,” he said. “And I would hope, highly motivated. Goodbye, Ellis.”

  “Wait!” I said.

  “Last thing,” he said, raising his hand toward me, his fingers extended. “If you talk to those boys of yours about our private conversation, I’ll move up my timeline on your mommy. Ash is watching.”

  He wiggled his fingers. I could see his smirk as my vision blurred again.

  He knew to call her Ash. The thought made my chest tighten. Maybe everything he had said was true.

  The pain in my head doubled, blurring my vision, and I found myself on my knees, unable to bear it. I gripped my head with both hands, pushing back against the pain, gritting my teeth. I wanted to strike back at him, but I was nauseous with pain; the world, even dimly illuminated by the moon, seemed too painfully bright, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to gather my feet beneath me to launch myself up. To fight.

  “Ellis!” Ryker wrapped his arms around me, and I would have doubted he was real for a second, except I breathed in the scent of wood smoke and soap. I hugged him back, wrapping my arms around the solid warmth of his waist, leaning my weight into him shamelessly. My head was so painfully heavy. I let it fall against his shoulder.

  “Her head’s bleeding.” I felt Levi’s fingers on my hair.

  “Concussion,” Ryker said. “No sleep for any of us tonight.”

  I felt Ryker lift me up, cradling me against his chest. I tried to murmur something to them, to tell them what had happened to me, but it already felt like a dream that was slipping away.

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Ryker jiggled me against his chest. “You can’t sleep. Wake up and look at me, Ellis.”

  I blinked my eyes open, taking in his handsome face so near mine. Those deep green eyes stared into mine, gold-flecked and intense. There was an edge of desperation in his voice.

  “Do I have to kiss you back to sense?” he asked me, and some of that desperation went away as he looked into my face. He smirked, just a little.

  His fingers were on my jaw, and warmth flooded into my face, heating my cheeks. For the first time, I felt how cold I was; my teeth began to chatter. I tangled my fingers in his short-cropped hair as best I could, wanting more of him, wanting him close to me.

  I felt his legs unfold as he sat with me in his lap, right there in the clearing. “Get the med kit,” he told Levi, who took off running for the truck.

  “Is Jacob okay?” I murmured.

  “He’s okay for Jacob,” Ryker said. He pressed his lips against mine, and my face turned up to his, wanting more of him; I felt life come back to me as his lips parted, as he kissed the bottom of my lip, the corner of my mouth, and then we began to exchange desperate, quick kisses.

  Levi sank cross-legged right next to Ryker. “I’m going to close this wound real fast,” he said. I let my head fall back into his lap, feeling the warmth of his body flow into mine, that sense of peace that he always carried for me. His fingers were quick and adept as he blotted blood away my cut, and then I felt a cold sting as he sprayed something antibacterial onto the wound. I jerked away, but his fingers were on my jaw, turning my head back, and I could never resist his touch. Quickly, he sealed the wound with some kind of chemical-smelling goop, and then pressed a gauze pad over it.

  His worried blue eyes met mine. “You hanging in there with us, pretty girl?”

  I started to nod, but that made my head pound all over again. “Always.”

  “Just like she said,” Levi said to Ryker. “Tough as us. Maybe tougher.”

  “Well, to love the three of us, you’d have to be,” Ryker said, amusement in his voice. And maybe some pride, too.

  Levi leaned forward, pressing a kiss to my forehead, just under the gauze pad. I raised a hand to caress the back of his neck, holding him there, and I pressed my lips against his. I knew in some distant, intellectual way I should be ashamed, kissing these two boys, these two brothers, there under the trees. But it felt too right to stop.

  And neither of them seemed to care. Levi’s lips met mine, hesitating for just one second, and then his mouth met mine, rough, passionate. Levi was always the calm one, the peacemaker, but when he kissed me I felt fury and I felt fire and I felt pure, deep carnal affection. His tongue slipped against my lower lip, and I let my lips open, inviting him. His tongue slid along mine, and I felt a thrum of longing through my body, a desperation to have more than his tongue.

  “Take it easy,” Ryker said, pushing his brother away playfully. “You’re still hurt. You can’t give her too much.”

  My eyes widened in alarm, taking in the two handsome faces looking down at me in concern and affection. “I don’t want to hurt either of you.”

  “You aren’t,” Ryker promised. “Just enough to get you on your feet again. It’s what we’re here for, Firestarter.”

  So I let them kiss me, right there in that field where the two bodies of the men who had chased us down had fallen, where the boys had battled while I slept, while I dreamed, by the wreck of our upside-down car. I let them pass me back and forth, their hands on my body tender, their kisses passionate.

  The world fell away, and it was just me and their heat, me and their calm. And I grew strong again.

  I felt strong arms underneath me, bearing up, pulling me away from the boys. Jacob’s face was frustrated, resolute, under that mop of waving brown curls.

  “Selfish princess,” he muttered. He carried me away, and I could feel the anger and ferocity in his stride. But he was gentle when he nestled me into the passenger seat of a car. Blurrily, I took in Olivia in the driver’s side. She looked worried.

  “I’ll get Ryker and Levi,” he told her. “Don’t let her sleep.”

  “What happened to the Rover?” My voice sounded distant to me.

  “Destroyed,” she said. “I came to rescue the guys. As usual.”

  There was a bitter edge to her voice.

  I decided to ignore it. “Thank you.”

  “No problem,” she said. “They’re good guys, you know. Young, but the best of Hunters. The best of men.”

  I would have nodded, but I already knew that hurt, so I just watched her; her face was animated under her mop of hair, a bun piled up loosely on top of her h
ead, and I wondered why it sounded like she needed to convince me of something. My brain wasn’t tracking too fast after the beating it had taken today.

  I needed sleep, and then I would be able to sort out everything that had happened. To figure out what was happening with Ash. To protect my mother.

  “Get in the back.” Jacob caught Levi’s shoulder and pushed him towards the seat behind me. “You’ve got no sense. You would give that girl your last bit of strength.”

  “Yeah, of course,” Levi said.

  For a second, I thought Ryker looked drawn as he stumbled against the side of the car, stopping himself with a hand on top of the doorframe, but when he leaned in to climb into the car, he winked at me. “She’s our girl.”

  “Not mine,” Jacob said.

  But even though he said that, he picked me up in his arms like he was cradling me, so he could sit in the passenger side with me in his lap. I wanted to push away from him, but I was exhausted, and I couldn’t quite raise his head from his powerful chest. I felt his heartbeat against my ear, even though he rested his arm on the console and did his best not to hug me into his chest.

  “Stay awake,” he warned me. His voice was low and sexy and commanding.

  “Let’s get you home,” Olivia said, sounding more subdued than I had ever heard her. One of the rear doors slammed shut, finally. She turned the wheel, turning us onto the road.

  Despite everything he had said, I felt Jacob’s arm slide around my waist, holding me against his body.

  Chapter 24

  Jacob swung open his door as Olivia came to a stop in the driveway. The boys’ house was a rambling farmhouse with a wide front porch; dawn was breaking over the roof, cracking open the sky in gold and orange.

  Jacob pushed me unceremoniously off his lap, then reached back into the car for a gun. I stood there wobbily in the driveway; I still felt thick-headed and tired, although most of the pain had faded away under Levi and Ryker’s kisses.

  “I’m going to clear the house,” Jacob said. “Stay here.”

  “You really think they could have found their way here?” Olivia asked, biting down on her plush lower lip.

  Jacob hesitated. “Just checking.”

  There was some shared understanding, some shared fear, in the look they exchanged, but I couldn’t parse it in my current cotton-headed state. As Jacob headed for the porch, his tall body leaning forward dangerously with that gun braced in his hand, I felt the cool, fresh morning air caress my face and chase away some of the fog.

  But some of the conclusions I came to weren’t entirely helpful, since I had big problems to solve, and I was noticing little things like: Olivia was probably in love with Jacob. But he talked to her like they were friends, like they were nothing more than that, and I felt sorry for her too. Loving Jacob seemed like an impossible proposition.

  Ryker slid his arm around my waist, and I leaned back into his touch, feeling the comfort of his hard-muscled body all along mine. I followed his gaze to the sunrise streaking the once-black sky. His lips were close to my ear, his voice low and sexy, when he said, “Good morning. And happy birthday.”

  “It is, isn’t it?” I murmured.

  “Since none of us can sleep until twenty-four-hours post head-injury,” Levi said, joining us, “Why don’t we throw you a party?”

  I had to smile faintly. “I don’t really feel like I’m in a celebratory mood.”

  “There’s lot to celebrate,” Ryker said. “Look at all of us, being not-dead.”

  Jacob came back out onto the porch and waved us in. “House is clear.”

  “I guess I’ll go,” Olivia said, her voice small.

  “You should stay,” Levi said. He went around the car to hug her, his big body enveloping her for a second, but the hug seemed entirely brotherly. “Thanks for the rescue, Olive.”

  “No problem,” she said, patting his arm absently before he pulled away. She hesitated, chewing on her bottom lip, like she really wanted to stay.

  I was supposed to win Jacob over. Despite the conflict between us, when he touched me it felt magical—as if we were indeed meant to be together. And if that was my goal, to convince Jacob that he really did love me, then this girl might be my enemy.

  But she had been a loyal friend to these boys for a long time.

  And I wished she could be my friend, too, just like I wished there was a way to set Jacob free if he didn’t want me.

  But still, I made myself smile, because I could tell she was looking past Ryker and Levi for my reaction. Ryker turned, too, his eyes widening slightly, as if he had realized she was looking for my permission.

  “Olivia, stay,” I said. “Please. We can’t begin to make it up to you, everything you’ve done for us. But Ryker can make cupcakes and we can start to try, at least.”

  “Hey,” Ryker growled playfully, squeezing me tight.

  “Well, you don’t expect me to make my own birthday cupcakes, do you?” I asked.

  The scruff on Ryker’s broad jaw tickled my neck as he pulled me playfully against his body. I turned my face up, brushing my lips over that scruff. My lips were drawn to his as if he were magnetic for me.

  “No,” Jacob said, bounding across the lawn. Exasperation was written across his face. “Christ. Olivia, can you start getting Ryker and Levi patched up? I’ll meet you guys in the office in a few.”

  Jacob grabbed my shoulders, drawing me away from Ryker. Ryker said, “Where are you trying to take my girl?”

  “Away from you before she draws all your energy,” Jacob said. “The three of you don’t have any fucking sense. You’re all wounded, you’re all depleted. You have no energy to share.”

  “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun,” Ryker said. His fingers briefly tangled with mine before Jacob pulled me a step away, our hands falling apart.

  Ryker winked at me, which always sent warmth flooding through my body. That wink was familiar and intimate. “He’s not wrong. I’m going to see about getting cleaned up and some stitches for this.” He pressed his hand over the wound in his shoulder, which was crusted with dried blood.

  “Make sure Levi doesn’t sleep either,” Jacob snapped.

  Levi leaned against the hood of the car. “I’m fine.”

  “Even a head as empty as yours can suffer from a concussion,” Jacob said. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, tucking me against his hard-muscled body, even though I could feel the tension all through his body. “Come on. I’ve got to get you away from them. Idiots, all of you.”

  Together, the two of us walked through the house towards the stairs.

  “Can I see your room?” I asked. “Since I have to stay awake.”

  “What does one have to do with the other?”

  “My curiosity revives me.” I stared up into his face when he glanced down at me; those golden eyes of his were hypnotic. For a few long second, he stared back at me; then he abruptly shoved his hand into my face to block his face from me. I studied his palm, the calluses at the base of his long, slender fingers, the heavy silver ring he wore on his finger. His voice was rough when he said, “Don’t do that.”

  “Don’t do what?” I asked.

  “Don’t look at me like that.” He unwound his arm from my shoulders, heading ahead of me through the kitchen. Towards the stairs. “Come on. Fine. Look at my room, brat.”

  “Brat? Is that a downgrade from princess?” I followed him up the stairs. Anger made his motions slightly jerky, but his jeans were tight enough that I couldn’t help but watch his muscular ass heading up the stairs in front of me.

  “I’m not dignifying a question that stupid with a response.” He headed down the hall, and pushed open the door of a room. He bowed slightly, the expression mocking, as he gestured me ahead of him. “Go. Indulge your curiosity.”

  “And you’ll answer my questions?” I teased. “Since you’re honor-bound to keep me awake?”

  “I could do that by holding you under a cold shower too.” He crossed his arms over his
chest. “Don’t push me.”

  “You’re so bossy.” Part of me thought that the way he was bossy meant that I was under his skin, that he felt something for me that he didn’t want to admit.

  I stepped into his room. In front of me was a simple, cherry mission-style bed, covered in a blue quilt like the one in Ryker’s room. Now that I thought about it, there was a quilt in Levi’s room too. There was a nightstand on either side of the bed, but there were no personal touches, no photos or souvenirs—just matching silver-and-white lamps and a stack of books. The closet door stood open, revealing a small wardrobe hung neatly or folded onto shelves; there was no dresser, because the rest of his room was taken up by bookshelves lining the walls. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of colorful paperback covers surrounded his bed.

  Now that I thought about it, maybe the books were the personal touch.

  “You like to read,” I said out loud.

  “Brilliant observation. I’m so very grateful to have a mind like yours on the team.”

  I ran my hand over the patchwork quilt, taking a seat on his bed, and leaning forward to look at the titles on his nightstand. The quilt felt soft under my fingers, and I traced the small, neat stitches absently. “Did someone make this for you?”

  “My mom,” he said.

  I glanced over my shoulder, curious if he would open up to me, even if I already knew the answer. “But you didn’t grow up here? With Ryker and Levi?”

  His jaw set. “I can go turn on the shower.”

  “You have a lot of books,” I said. Time to abandon the blunt questions, anyway. “I like to read too. What’s your favorite?”

  He leaned in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, and didn’t answer. As if he were afraid to give me the smallest thing that might knock down a stone in the wall between us. I took the stack of books into my hands. He had an eclectic mix of books; on the nightstand alone there was Sherlock Holmes, Isaac Asimnov, Shakespeare. And Nicholas Sparks. I held up the cover of the love story. “Care to explain?”

  “No,” he said. “I have to read a lot. Trying to learn how to be a human being.”