“Come on, you two!” Jeremy shouted from his front porch. “We’re having dinner here tonight. It’s almost ready.”
Eric ran the clothes he’d brought back with them up to his cabin, and then they joined everyone in Jeremy and Jillian’s living room, where extra chairs had been put out to accommodate the crowd. It was the first time that Chelsea had met Michaela’s husband, and the first time she’d seen all the Runners together in the same place. With the exception of Carla Reyes, they should have been a formidable sight, considering their battle-honed bodies and rugged looks—but it was hard to be intimidated by a group who smiled and laughed as much as they did.
The meal turned out to be a loud, festive affair, with everyone joking and sharing stories. While she and Eric had been gone, they’d all pitched in to make barbecue chicken, three different kinds of salad, sautéed zucchini and fresh baked bread. Chelsea’s mouth was watering from the scrumptious smells by the time the food was laid out buffet style on the massive dining-room table, the roughhewn pine a perfect fit for the rustic, luxurious cabin.
“Where’s Casey?” she asked, taking a seat beside Eric on one of the two leather sofas. She balanced her loaded plate on her lap, her glass of chilled white wine sitting beside his Corona on the low coffee table. Michaela sat on the other sofa with Brody, who had his thick, auburn hair pulled back from his scarred face with a band. They were a striking couple, the tenderness the big guy felt for his wife shining in his green eyes every time he looked at her.
Taking a seat in the chair to her right, Carla answered Chelsea’s question. “Her parents came and picked her up while you were in Shadow Peak.”
She couldn’t stop a worried frown from settling between her brows. “She isn’t going back to her husband, is she?”
“If she does,” Cian murmured, “I think Eric made it pretty clear what will happen to him if he ever lays a finger on Casey again.”
“And if he survived that first pounding,” his partner drawled, “I’m sure you told him that he’d be dealing with you next. Am I right?”
A slow smile curved Cian’s mouth. “Let’s just say he knows we’re watching him.”
Chelsea didn’t know what it was, but there was something a little different about the sexy Irishman. Something that was even a little darker, and maybe even a little deadlier, than the others, and she made a mental note to ask Eric about him later.
Looking at Eric, Wyatt asked, “How was Elise?”
While he told everyone what had happened with Glenn Farrow, explaining that he wanted to have some protection set up for his sister at her home, Chelsea couldn’t help but watch him from the corner of her eye. Even in a room full of outrageously good-looking men, he really was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. She loved the way the tendons in his strong throat worked when he tilted his beer bottle up to his mouth and swallowed. Loved watching his forearms as he set the bottle back down on the table, remembering how the muscles and sinew had flexed beneath his golden skin that afternoon when he’d been working her with his fingers. It’d been so erotic. So impossibly...
“Chelse, are you okay?”
His deep voice pulled her back to the moment and she blinked, managing a quick nod as she reached for her wineglass, her face feeling like it was on fire. She didn’t know what would happen when they left and went back to his cabin together. Did he think they were going to pick up right where they’d left off that afternoon? Did she want them to?
Seriously? I might be out of my depths here, but I’ve never wanted anything more.
It was hard to admit, but she’d been so wrong about him, her first impression completely off base. Yeah, he was tough and rough and as alpha as they came. But he was a good man, a good friend, a good brother. She’d seen how he was with Elise, supportive without being controlling. And he had a great sense of humor, holding his own with his friends whenever they started ribbing him.
Most surprisingly, though, was the fact that she didn’t care he was a Lycan from a dark wolf bloodline. She didn’t even care that they hadn’t known each other for all that long. They’d already been through more together than she’d ever shared with any other man. She might not be the kind of woman who could ever completely surrender to a relationship, opening herself up to disappointment and heartbreak. But for the first time in her life, Chelsea felt the wild, uncontrollable need for connection with a man, and she was going to take it.
No matter what happened, she was going to grab on to this unbelievable experience with both hands...and enjoy every moment of it that she could.
* * *
While the room buzzed with conversation, Eric found himself having a hard time focusing on anything apart from the woman sitting at his side, enjoying watching the way she interacted with his friends. He’d expected her to shy away from Brody, seeing as how he was massive and scarred. Granted, Brody wore an easy smile these days, his expression that of a man who had more than his fair share of happiness. Still, he would have thought a human female would find the Runner intimidating, but Chelsea didn’t avoid him. She smiled and laughed with the auburn-haired giant, seeming to like him even more than the other pretty-faced Runners. Was it because she sensed the vulnerability beneath Brody’s gruff exterior? He wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. She was always studying people, trying to figure them out.
Looking back on Friday night, he didn’t know how he’d thought her only attraction was her looks. There was so much more to it than that. He enjoyed talking to her, just being close to her, as if it was where he was meant to be. And watching her interact with his sister and standing up to the others in town had been like a slap upside the head. She was so much more than just a beautiful face and body. She was fiery hot, brimming with passion, ready to fight for what she thought was right. Even though she didn’t quite trust him, she’d stood up for him. Even in the face of a town that had to terrify her, she’d held her chin high, shoulders back, ready to take them on because they’d dared to insult him.
She was...well, incredible, and he’d have to be a blind, senseless fool not to be head over ass for her. The more time he spent with her, the more desperate he became for the whole damn package. For every complicated, stubborn, at times aggravating inch of her.
Taking another long swallow of his cold beer, he realized that there were so many things he wanted to ask her about, so many aspects of her life that were still a mystery to him. He still didn’t know her favorite foods...or movies...or what she liked to do for fun, and it drove him crazy. He wanted to know it all, damn it. Everything.
From the moment he’d set eyes on her, Eric had been telling himself he needed to keep his distance. But he couldn’t do it. He was drawn to her, like a force of gravity—one that was about more than mere lust, though the physical hunger he felt for her was stronger than any he’d ever known. But he liked her, too. Respected her. God knew she was obstinate, but she was fiercely loyal to those she cared about. And she enjoyed laughing, the sexy, husky sound always warming his blood. With all the baggage she carried from her childhood, he hadn’t expected her to have such a wonderful sense of humor, but then he was hardly traveling light. And maybe that was the point of a relationship, of getting close to someone, since it meant that you were no longer alone. That you could ease the other’s burdens, carrying the load together.
At least until they had to go their separate ways.
His wolf chuffed at the thought, the beast growing a little more restless every time he shoved that inevitable conclusion in its face. But there wasn’t any way around it. She wasn’t meant to be theirs, which meant they didn’t get to keep her.
The thought had Eric draining the last of his beer. As he leaned forward to set the empty bottle on the table, Michaela smiled at him and Chelsea, and said, “I love the story of how you two met.”
Beside him, Chelsea sat up a little straighter and blushed.
Jillian grinned. “Is it true that he asked you to leave and you flipped him off?”
Chelsea sl
id him a laughing look, then shifted her gaze back to Jillian. “It’s true,” she replied, lips twitching with humor. “I pulled a gun on him, too. But in my defense, he was being really annoying.”
“Sounds like Eric,” Jeremy drawled, chuckling when Eric flipped him off.
“He also had red lipstick smeared all over the side of his mouth,” she added, her blue eyes bright with amusement as she glanced his way again.
“Thanks,” he muttered drily, while the whole group roared with laughter.
“Aside from the lipstick part,” Torrance said, “it reminds me a bit of mine and Mason’s beginning.”
Jeremy grinned as he looked at Chelsea and explained. “Mase got one whiff of her in a crowded café down in Covington and panicked. Big-time.”
“What’d he do?”
“He tripped her while she was carrying a tray of food,” Jeremy said completely deadpan, while Mason turned a little red in the face, muttering something under his breath about faithless friends.
“Are you serious?” Chelsea asked, sounding as if she thought the Runner might be pulling her leg.
Jeremy laughed. “Swear to God. It was the funniest damn thing I’ve ever seen.”
Eric wondered if Jillian and the others had told Chelsea about the mating bond and how a Lycan recognized his mate through scent. If they had, she didn’t remark on it, and he wasn’t about to bring it up himself. If she asked him about what effects her scent had on him, he wouldn’t have a clue what to say. How did he explain the strange reaction he had to her? The way her scent affected him in a way that no other ever had, and yet, wasn’t something that called to him as his?
Best just to leave that particular can of worms closed, so that it didn’t blow up in his face.
Everyone helped clean up after coffee and a mouthwatering batch of homemade brownies that Carla had brought over, and then they finally said good-night.
“Did you have a good time tonight?” he asked as he and Chelsea made their way up the sloping glade.
A soft smile touched her lips. “You know I did. This place is great.” The wind surged, and as she caught her long hair over her shoulder to keep it in place, she added, “I don’t know why you don’t just stay here permanently.”
Eric pushed his hands in his pockets. “As tempting as the idea is, I can’t run away from the problems in the pack, Chelse. That’s not the answer.”
“But you belong here,” she argued, looking impossibly beautiful in the silvery glow of moonlight. “Sooner or later, the Lycans in Shadow Peak are going to realize what a righteous guy you are. And when that time comes, you can help bridge the gap between the Alley and the pack. Until then, nothing is going to be right here, Eric. And your pack will never know balance.”
“What about Elise? I can’t just leave her up there on her own.”
“Bring her here to live, too. Not just for visits. It would do her good to be around friends, in a place where she felt comfortable.”
“Maybe,” he murmured, but in his mind he could see it so clearly. Elise would be able to find a sense of peace in the Alley that she’d likely never have in Shadow Peak. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of the idea before, except that his heart and mind were still having a hard time accepting everything that had happened. He was still trying to function within a framework that no longer existed, but it probably was time to make a change—and he had the remarkable woman walking beside him to thank for the idea.
Unable to stop himself, Eric suddenly swung her up into his arms, holding her against his chest. Then he lowered his head and took her mouth in a blistering kiss that was hungry and deep and invasive, making it clear just how badly he wanted her.
“Wh-where did that come from?” she gasped, when he finally let her come up for air.
“I couldn’t wait any longer,” he growled, keeping her in his arms as he headed for his cabin with a long, purposeful stride. “And as soon as we reach a bed, I’m going to kiss you that way between your legs again, Chelse. I can’t stop thinking about it. About how unbelievably good you taste.”
And it was true. Her scent was unreal, but her taste was somehow even better.
“Before we go inside,” he said, setting her down on the porch since he had to get his keys out of his pocket to unlock the front door, “I want you to know that I won’t hurt you. I would never risk you that way.”
Running her palm down his arm, she laced their fingers together when she reached his trembling hand. “Your dark side doesn’t scare me, Eric. I might have a problem with dominating males, but it won’t keep me from enjoying you. I’m not afraid of you.”
Shit. When she said things like that, she should be. Because they just made the wolf want to force her submission that much more.
“Now get moving,” she said with a grin, pushing him toward the door. He gave a low, excited laugh as he got out his keys with one hand, still clasping her hand with the other.
Eric was just about to open the door when someone shouted his name. Wondering what was going on, he stepped over to the edge of the porch. “Yeah?”
Jeremy came running up the glade. “Some girl just called us using Sophia’s phone. She said that Soph’s in bad shape, but she’s still alive.”
“What?” Sophia wasn’t meant to check back in with them until the morning, since she’d planned on staying overnight in Hawkley at Brandon’s. “What the hell happened?”
Jeremy reached the porch steps, his golden eyes burning with fury. “One of those sons of bitches put a bullet in her.”
* * *
It took Eric and Cian no more than five minutes to load up on weapons and ammo, then they were ready to go. After a quick discussion, it’d been decided that they would head up together to Miller’s Ridge, a bluff near Hawkley where the caller had said she’d taken Sophia, with Mason and Jeremy holding back, ready to move in if needed. Brody, Wyatt and Reyes were staying at the Alley, ensuring that Chelsea and the others remained safe.
After arguing with Chelsea about why he had to be in the team going to collect Sophia, she finally relented. “Okay. I understand that you’re going to run off and be all heroic and everything. Just...be careful. I mean it.”
He started to say something flip, like he would to Jillian or Elise. But the glib response wouldn’t form. Instead, he pulled her into his arms and took her mouth in another scorching, brain-melting kiss.
When she was breathless and trembling, Eric forced himself to let her go and step back. For one searing moment, their gazes held, an electric charge in the air as a thousand messages transmitted between them. Then he turned and climbed into the truck, hoping like hell he had good news to bring her when he made it back.
When they were close, they left the truck parked on the side of a dirt road, then went the rest of the way on foot. As soon as they reached the bluff, they found a human female in her late teens, dressed in jeans and a sweater, kneeling on the ground beside Sophia’s body. The girl didn’t notice their approach, her focus on the balled-up sweatshirt she was pressing against the bleeding bullet wound in Sophia’s right side.
Eric knew exactly who the human was from the first whiff he got of her scent. “Perry?”
Her head whipped up at the sound of his voice, her gaze wary as she watched their approach. “How do you know my name? I didn’t give it to the guy on the phone.”
Eric held his hands out so that he wouldn’t spook her as he came closer. “I’m a friend of your sister’s.”
She didn’t look like she believed him, but then, she didn’t look like she believed in a whole lot anymore. She didn’t have any of her sister’s vitality or freshness, her pretty face already telling a story that was too rough for a girl her age.
She backed away from Sophia as Cian knelt down beside the girl, his deep voice hard with anger. “What the hell happened to her?”
“I don’t know,” she told him, wiping her bloodstained palms on her jeans. “I was home by myself tonight, sitting out on the back porch ha
ving a smoke, when I saw her trying to make it into the woods behind the house. She asked me for help, said that she’d gotten shot trying to get information for some friends of my sister’s. But I don’t know who shot her. She hasn’t been able to talk much. I just helped her get here and called the number she told me to call.”
Cursing under his breath, Cian lifted Sophia into his arms, then started heading back to the truck.
Eric looked at Perry. “Are you coming with us?”
Instead of answering his question, she chewed on the corner of her lip, then asked two of her own. “What’s my sister doing? I heard that she showed up at that club in Wesley. Is she okay?”
“Why the hell should I tell you? You don’t care about her.” His voice was rough, thick with disgust. “You’ve been sitting here for the past hour with Sophia’s phone, and I bet you haven’t even called her, have you? Do you have any idea how worried she’s been?”
“Excuse me for not being in the mood for another one of her boring lectures about what a screw-up I am,” Perry sneered, sounding like a snotty teenager. “I didn’t ask her to come chasing after me. It’s not my fault she ended up in trouble.”
“You selfish little bitch!” he snarled, angry enough to put his fist through a wall—and he was quietly thankful there wasn’t one around. He had enough problems to deal with without adding a broken hand to the list.
Struggling to get a hold on his temper, he took a deep breath and said, “Look, are you coming with us or not?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she lifted her chin in a way that reminded him of Chelsea. “Whether you believe it or not, I’m sorry that Chelsea’s caught up in the middle of this. And I’d go with you if I could. But I—I can’t. Jason is in trouble because of me. I can’t just abandon him. They’ve already threatened to strip his ranking if he screws up again—which is exactly how they would see my disappearance. I can’t let that happen.”
“Has he said that he’ll get you out of here?” he asked, wondering what in God’s name he was going to tell Chelsea.
Dark Wolf Rising (Bloodrunners) Page 20