“Hell of a woman you’ve got there,” Cian drawled, when he turned to see who’d stopped him.
“I know,” he rasped, pulling her close to his side.
Cian shot her a playful wink, then smiled at Eric and lowered his hand. “Whatever it takes, just treat her right...and make sure she doesn’t get away from you again.”
He would have been insulted if any other man had said those words to him, but he knew this was the Irishman’s way of offering his congratulations.
With an answering smile on his lips, Eric said, “You can count on it.”
* * *
“Drive faster, Eric. I can’t wait.”
As she sat in the passenger’s seat of his truck, clutching her seat belt with both hands, Chelsea felt like she was going to come out of her freaking skin if she didn’t get him inside her.
When she told him exactly that, his nostrils flared, a muscle pulsing in the rugged line of his jaw. “You mean that?”
“God, yes. I’ve never meant anything more.”
His fingers tightened until the steering wheel nearly cracked. “You want me to find a place to pull over?”
“Please,” she whispered, licking her lips. “The Alley’s too far away.”
He cut her a heated look, his gray eyes blazing with hunger. “I don’t have any condoms with me.”
Shivering at the thought of feeling him skin-on-skin, she said, “I couldn’t care less. I love you. I want you inside me. Now.”
He quickly found a private spot where they could pull off the road, hidden by a thick line of trees. Chelsea pulled off her jeans and panties while he let his seat back, and then she climbed over his lap, eagerly straddling him. Their loud, ragged breaths filled the sun-dappled cab, the heat rising from their bodies creating a lush, sensual haze that added to the dreamy atmosphere. Within minutes, they were going to be fogging up the windows, and she couldn’t wait.
She helped him get his bloodstained T-shirt over his head, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip as she gently touched one of the healing cuts on his chest. “Cian told me that you’ve been fighting.”
“My mood’s been foul,” he muttered, running his hands over the front of her shirt and cupping her breasts, his thumbs flicking against her nipples. “You left and it nearly killed me.”
Clutching his shoulders, she said, “I’m so sorry, Eric. When you told me that you wanted to bond with me, I didn’t feel like I deserved you. I...I don’t even feel that way now.”
“Chelse.” His deep voice was rough with emotion.
“No, let me finish. Please.” She took a deep breath, letting everything she felt for him show in her expression, no longer struggling to hold it inside. “You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever known,” she whispered. “You were willing to give me everything, even after the way I’d acted—blaming you, instead of believing in you. Judging you. I know I have so much to make up for, and so much to learn about being a good partner, but I’m begging you to give me that chance. To give me the beautiful life that you offered me before, but I was too stupid and cowardly to take. Because I want that life with you, Eric. I want it more than anything.”
He made a low, guttural sound in his throat and yanked her closer, nipping her lower lip with his teeth. “You fucking undo me, you know that?” he growled, taking her mouth in a kiss that was hot and deep and savage in its intensity. She could feel his fingers working between them as he tore open his jeans, and then he was pressing against her, so long and deliciously thick. Her breath caught, everything in her body going soft and warm, and she let herself sink down, taking him in, at the same time he pushed up, thrusting hard and deep. The sensation was piercing, every inch of his hot, massive staff rammed up tight inside her, reaching into the very heart of her, and she cried out, her head falling back as her eyes slid closed. She was snug enough that it hurt, but she didn’t give a damn. Not when it felt so incredible to have him be a part of her again.
“No, don’t close your eyes,” he rasped, holding her head in his shaking hands and drawing it closer. Her lashes lifted, and their gazes locked, creating a connection that somehow intensified the blissful sensations. “I need you to look at me, Chelse. I need you to be right here with me.”
She tried to breathe around the pressure, the pleasure, the overwhelming rightness of their joining and the moment, but it was nearly impossible.
“I know,” he whispered, rubbing his lips against hers until she was finally able to draw in a gasping breath of air. “I feel it, too, baby.”
Unable to hold still, she started to move on him, using her knees for leverage as she slowly worked her body on his. “Tell me you didn’t touch anyone else while I was gone.”
* * *
Eric couldn’t fathom touching anyone else...or even thinking about a woman who wasn’t Chelsea. “Of course I didn’t,” he grated. “You’re the only woman I want. The only woman I’ll ever want. And I’m going to be on you night and day, so you’ll never have any reason to doubt it.”
“When I started falling in love with you,” she told him, “it felt like dying.”
“And now?” he asked, his hands settling on her hips as she stilled.
“Now I finally know how it feels to be alive. Not just parts of me, but all of them.” Her long hair streamed over her shoulders as she shook her head. “I don’t how to explain it. It’s like you woke me up. Made me open my eyes.”
“You did the same thing to me,” he groaned, the wolf’s fangs hot and heavy in his gums. But he fought their release, not wanting to ruin the moment, still worried about how she would react. Then she shocked the hell out of him by reaching up and pulling her hair over her shoulder, her head turned to the side as she made him an offering of the pale, tender column of her throat.
The instant she whispered, “Make me yours, Eric,” his fangs burst into his mouth so hard that it hurt, his fingers reflexively biting into her skin with bruising force.
“Are you...are you sure this is what you want?”
“I’m sure,” she said a little breathlessly, the words brimming with lust...and love.
“Christ. I want it so badly, Chelse. I just...I don’t want you to ever regret it.”
* * *
I don’t want you to ever regret it. Chelsea knew she never would. “I won’t,” she told him, bringing her gaze back to his. “I want this, Eric. I want to be as close to you as I can, bound together in every possible way.”
She loved feeling the way he pulsed inside her, his beautiful eyes going heavy and dark.
“Please, just trust me on this,” she pleaded, “because I love every part of you. I don’t want you to ever hold anything back from me, and I promise that I won’t hold anything back from you. Not ever again. I don’t want any barriers or stay-out zones in our relationship. I just want to be yours, completely, Eric.”
“God, woman, I’ll take you any way I can have you,” he groaned, his arms wrapping around her like steel manacles, yanking her close. His face was buried in the curve of her shoulder, his powerful body vibrating with a fine tremor of emotion that brought tears to her eyes. “Just promise that you won’t run from me.”
“You mean that I won’t leave you again?” she asked, her voice breaking.
He lifted his head, and his eyes were glistening with a sheen of moisture, the same as hers. “If you stay with me, your life isn’t going to be easy, Chelse.”
She gave him a watery smile, pouring her heart into every word. “I don’t care, so long as I’m with you.”
He blinked, then slowly started to smile. But it was a cautious sort of smile, as if he didn’t really believe he could be that lucky.
Touching the side of his face, she said, “Eric, I’m not naive. I know there are some rough times ahead for your pack and the Runners. But I’m ready to handle whatever they throw at us, because my life is wherever you are. Just think, in the time that you’ve known me, have I ever given you any reason to doubt my determination?”
&nbs
p; With a soft snort, he said, “No, you’re the most stubborn woman I’ve ever known.”
Then he lifted his hands to her hair, his breath quickening as he pulled her head a little farther to the side, a rumbling groan on his lips as he leaned in close.
“Chelsea, I’ve wanted this from the moment I set eyes on you,” he growled, and she could hear the animal in each one of those deep, guttural words. But it didn’t frighten her. She’d seen the beast in all its feral glory the night it’d saved her life, and she knew it would never harm her. Then she felt the soft touch of his lips against the side of her throat, followed by the strangely erotic scrape of a fang, and in the next instant he sank them deep, piercing her flesh. She cried out from the intense, blistering jolt of sensation, a womanly smile curving her lips as she listened to the raw, animalistic sounds that he made as he worked his jaws, taking her blood into his body and binding them together. For now and through all eternity.
When he lifted his head, his amber eyes blazed with a breathtaking look of possession and love. “You’re mine now,” he rasped, licking two scarlet drops of her blood from his lips.
“Forever,” she moaned, unable to believe how freaking sexy it’d been.
“Forever,” he echoed, his gaze shifting to her throat, to the throbbing bite marks that were burning with heat, and she could feel him getting thicker inside her, somehow getting even harder, when he was already hard as stone. “Damn it, I don’t want it to end,” he growled, his fingers biting into her hips as her body pulsed around him. “But I’m close, Chelse. I can’t hold it.”
He started to lift her up, as if he intended to spill outside her body, but she threw her arms around him, bearing down with all her strength. “No. Stay.”
His body shook, strained to its absolute limit, and his gaze burned even hotter with a primitive, molten gleam.
Softly, she said, “Please don’t leave me. I want you to fill me up, Eric. To give me every part of you.”
He swallowed, searching her expression. “You want to start a family? Our family?”
The hope in his deep voice shattered her, and there was a fresh surge of tears in her eyes as she said, “God, yes. I can’t think of anything I’d love more.”
With just those simple words, he lost it. His powerful grip locked her in place as he drove up into her—the hard, spearing pleasure hurtling her into an explosive, mind-shattering orgasm. And he was right there with her. His head went back as dark energy roared through him, the blistering heat of his release surging inside her, making her scream. Chelsea had never felt so deliciously female, full of power and strength, as if she could take on the entire world and make it heel at her feet.
But it wasn’t the world that she wanted, just one man. Her man. And she clutched at his hard, slick shoulders, wanting to freeze this moment in time and never let it go.
“Mmm,” she moaned, when she could finally find her voice again. She was draped over him, her cheek plastered against his chest, the stroking of his fingertips along her spine making her shiver. “I’ve never been ravished in a truck before, but I liked it.”
He gave a low, wicked laugh that rumbled beneath her ear. “Given my lack of control around you, get used to it. Your sweet little ass is going to get ravished 24-7. The truck is only one of a hundred new places I plan on staking my claim.”
Loving the sound of that, she said, “Just be prepared to get claimed right back.”
With his finger curled under her chin, he tipped her face up to him, the look in his eyes making her breath catch. “That’s exactly what I’m hoping for. Whatever you want, woman, I’m at your mercy.”
It was such a heady feeling to know that he meant every word. To feel the mating bond pulsing between them like a sensual, comforting current in the air, connecting their bodies, their souls, their hearts. “I love you, Eric. So much.”
His hands shook as he pulled her closer, her ear once again pressed to the hammering beat of his heart, his lips warm against the top of her head. “Christ, Chelse. You don’t know how amazing it feels to hear you say that.”
“I should have said it before. But I was too afraid.”
“Me, too. But it’s true. I love you, Chelsea, and every moment I’ve spent with you has just made me fall that much harder. I love the way you smile. The way you laugh and taste and feel against me...the way you feel around me. I love the fact that you’re strong and smart and always ready to stand up for what you believe in, even when dealing with an arrogant bastard like myself. I love every facet of your personality that I know, and all the ones that I still get to discover. I love you so much that I don’t even know how to put it all into words.”
“I feel the same way,” she whispered, her cheeks wet with the tears she couldn’t stop from falling. She was completely undone by his stunning declaration, fully aware that she was the luckiest of women. Eric was all that was good and right and beautiful in her world.
And no matter what life threw at them, she was never going to let him forget it.
* * *
Eric had just unlocked the door to his cabin when Brian Everett pulled up in his truck, parking in front of the porch.
After climbing out of the truck, the Lycan tipped back his cowboy hat, and said, “Elise was talking to me and Meryl after you left town today, and she told us that you’re leaving Shadow Peak to become a Runner.”
“That’s right,” he replied, enjoying Chelsea’s little gasp of surprise. Hooking his arm around her waist, he held her close to his side as he walked to the top of the steps to hear what Brian had to say.
“We want you back, Eric. Is there anything I can do to get you to change your mind?”
Giving the older man a friendly smile, he said, “I appreciate you coming all the way down here, Brian, but my decision’s final.”
For a moment, Brian looked like he would argue. Then he shook his head and sighed. “Hell, it’s not like I can blame you. But there are a lot of us who think you’re the best one to take us into the future, Eric. So we won’t stop asking. We need a natural leader.”
“The Runners will be here to help, however we can. But this is where I belong.” The tight bond he shared with those who lived here in the Alley, as well as their friendship and loyalty, had proven that to him.
“Well, Meryl’s making her famous barbecue tomorrow,” Brian said, letting the matter go for the moment. “We’d like it if you and Chelsea could come up and have dinner with us. She wants to meet your little lady.”
Eric slid a questioning look at Chelsea, who smiled up at him with so much love shining in her eyes, he found it hard to believe he wasn’t dreaming. “I think we can manage that,” he replied in a low rumble, barely able to take his gaze off her so he could return his attention to Brian.
They settled on a time, and after they’d said goodbye and watched him drive away, Eric grabbed her hand and pulled her with him into the cabin.
“Are you really going to do it?” she asked while he locked the door behind them. “Become a Runner?”
Moving to stand in front of her, he said, “As long as you don’t have any objections.”
* * *
Chelsea couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Are you kidding? I think it’s perfect. You’re needed here, Eric. And I hope that maybe I am, too.” It was hard to keep the worry out of her voice as she said, “So long as I can get the others to forgive me.”
Cupping her face in his hands, he said, “We need the hell out of you, sweetheart. And the others love you. They’ll forgive you for anything.”
For so many years she’d been locked down, her heart frozen into a hard, useless knot in her chest. But no more. Now she was burning with love for this outrageously wonderful man, undone by the breathtaking wealth of love she could feel burning in his own heart, and she knew what she needed to do. In a soft, emotional whisper, she said, “Then I have a question for you.”
“Okay,” he murmured, looking as if he was already thinking about kissing her ag
ain...and more.
Gripping handfuls of his shirt to anchor herself, she stared up into his impossibly gorgeous face, and said, “Eric Drake, I love you more than I’ve ever even known was possible, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
“Isn’t that my question?” His tone was wry, but there was an incandescent smile shining in his beautiful eyes.
“You’re too much action, too little words,” she teased with a soft laugh. “If I want it done, I’ve got to take matters into my own hands.”
With his own husky bark of laughter, he swept her up into his arms and carried her across the room, heading for the hallway. “How’s this for being a man of action?”
“It’s pretty smooth. I’ll give you that.”
He stopped just outside his bedroom door, his eyes blazing with molten hunger as he ran his tongue over the edge of his teeth, and it was so sexy she nearly died. Then he lowered his head, putting his face close to hers. “And what else will you give me?” he asked against her mouth.
“Everything,” she whispered, her heart so full she thought it might burst. “Anything you want.”
He pulled back a little, searching her eyes. “You mean it?”
Chelsea gave him a slow, wicked smile. “Baby, I’ve never meant anything more.”
* * *
Be sure to look for the next darkly sensual installment
in Rhyannon’s Bloodrunners series this fall,
when Elise Drake and Wyatt Pallaton’s
sizzling battle of wills comes to a head
in Dark Wolf Running.
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Dark Wolf Rising (Bloodrunners) Page 26