“You don’t need a surgeon, sweeting. You need something no Skin can provide. Or money. Love.”
A stunned silence followed. Kara finally spoke, a false note of cheerfulness in her voice. “Not true. I heard you can buy love, for a few dollars, at a street corner in town. For a few dollars more, it can last all night.”
Slowly he exhaled, penning his frustration. “I’m not talking sex, Kara. I’m talking about a love that will last a lifetime. The love of mates for each other.”
She peered up at him, frowning. Hadn’t anyone ever truly loved her before? Alastair had ignored her until the night of the kiss. Her sister had fled the pack when Alastair started growing cruel and cold. Her older brother Aiden adored her, but he’d seldom been around, too busy and desperate to repair the damages caused by his old man’s neglect of the ranch.
Other males had flirted with Kara, and worshipped her like a goddess. But had anyone truly loved her?
I did but never had the balls to tell her, he thought with chagrin. Maybe if I had, I could have whisked her away before that cold-hearted bastard of a father did this.
Ryder realized he danced on a dangerous cliff. If he forced her in any way, or acted insensitive to her tender feelings, he risked forever ruining their tenuous relationship. Not only would their joining be painful for her first time physically, for she’d remained untouched, but he worried more about hurting her gentle heart.
He gathered her hands into his, and caressed the knuckles with his thumbs. “I want a home filled with love, Kara. Your love and mine, raising our young together. We need to turn this ranch from a silent place of nightmares into a home filled with laughter and hope. That’s why I fought your father. That’s why I never left.”
For a moment, her expression grew soft. Then she assumed a cool demeanor as if he’d talked about selling cattle.
“Let’s be pragmatic, Ryder. There is no love in this arrangement. I doubt I’ll ever find love.” Her voice caught and wobbled. “This is business, pure and simple. You need a mate. I need my big brother settled and for both of you to avoid tearing each other’s throats out. As for appearances before the pack, you introduce me tonight. Give me my own separate room where I can stay by myself.”
Ryder gave her a calm, steady look. “As my mate, you know that’s impossible. I plan to keep you in my bed for a very long time.”
A pink blush colored her face. “When you want me in your bed, I’ll come to you willingly. But I need my space.”
Whoa, this was all wrong. He needed to shatter the protective walls she’d erected and bridge the gulf yawning between them as wide as a river canyon.
“Your space? Is that what Aiden allowed? He let you hide in your room so you didn’t have to face anyone else?”
The dull flush on her face confirmed that suspicion. Kara’s mouth tightened. “He didn’t want to pressure me. I seldom saw anyone except Aiden and Darius.”
“Darius?” Jealousy whipped through him. “What is he to you?”
“He’s Aiden’s beta and like a brother to me. Darius has a mate, but she’s still at his father’s pack. He’s planning on bringing her to the ranch soon.”
Ryder relaxed, concentrating on how to break down her barriers. Once they’d shared friendship, and then a kiss had shattered friendship, turning it into blazing passion promising erotic bliss.
If he showed her exactly what pleasures awaited her in his arms…perhaps he could convince her to change her mind. Lupines were a sensual people, and he planned to use every weapon in his arsenal to wear down her defenses.
She’s too wounded to welcome the pack, hell, welcome me back into her heart. I must try, he thought in a haze of anguish.
“You can have your space.” He gave her an intent look. “But not now. For now, I’m not giving you any space, sweeting. Because I plan to get close. Very close.”
As she studied him, her expression no longer lacking emotion, he felt his Lupine instincts urge him onward. Kara blinked.
“How close?”
“Close as I can get.” Ryder began circling her, like a wolf did to a deer before bringing it down. “Skin to skin. Naked inside your body, yes. And even deeper, Kara. As deep as I can go.”
***
He was too close. And he’ll get a lot close, as he claims your body. But will you let him claim your heart?
I can't!
Ryder was a big man, strong and tough as he towered over, his body muscled and very male. Crisp pine and fresh rainwater flooded her senses, along with a delicious spice.
He was staking his mating claim on her, Kara realized, marking through scent.
Suddenly her skin grew too tight, and she felt too hot. The clothing on her body was far too restrictive. Kara unfastened the first two buttons on her shirt.
A gleam lit his eyes. “Warm? Allow me.”
Ryder unfastened her buttons and drew the shirt off her shoulders. His scarred knuckles brushed against the bare skin at her collarbone, the touch sending rivers of delicious anticipation rushing down her spine.
He thumbed the bare skin above her bra, his fingers covered with rough calluses born of hard labor. When he stroked a spot across her tender skin, she flinched. Not from pain, but pure need.
“Sorry,” he murmured. “I know my hands aren’t smooth and soft.”
Ryder Carrington had worked hard on the ranch, and now that he was alpha, worked even harder. He had the muscled body and strength of a good leader.
“Smooth, soft hands are for Skins who work in offices. Not for Lupine ranchers and certainly not alphas.”
He gave a crooked smile and continued caressing the tops of her breasts, the action making her loins full and aching.
“You’re exquisite, Kara.” His deep voice dropped to a husky whisper. “I’ve dreamed of doing this, all those dark nights in the cell when Alastair punished me.”
The intimacy grew too much. “And here I thought you’d amused yourself by dreaming of ways to break my father’s neck.”
“No.” He drew in a deep breath, his fingers quivering slightly as he rested them on her breasts. “If I had given into those thoughts, I’d have lost control soon as he’d released me. So I thought of you. Your smile. Your sweetness. And this…”
Ryder gently cupped her breasts and squeezed. “I dreamed of being this close.”
“I’m glad I was with you in that cell, but I wish you’d never been there at all. I tried to get you out once, but nearly got caught,” she confessed.
He raised a dark eyebrow and grew thoughtful. “Sometimes I thought I’d go mad. And in the darkest night, when I grew so lonely I couldn’t stand it, I’d think of a soft bed and you naked upon it. I’d unzip my trousers, take myself in hand and imagine me on top of you, fucking you hard and fast until you screamed your pleasure.”
Heat suffused her body at his crude words. Kara’s eyes widened as he guided her hand down to his bulging crotch. “Does that shock you, Kara? We are a sensual people. We live and breathe sex and when males are denied the touch of our true mates, we do what we must or go mad.”
Like my father had. Dim pity filled her for Alastair. It did not forgive his actions, but made them a little more understandable.
Beneath the rough denim of his jeans, his cock jumped as she stroked the rigid length. “It doesn’t shock me,” she admitted. “It turns me on.”
“Sweeting, I have many more ways of turning you on.”
An intent look replaced his crooked smile. Ryder captured her chin with one strong hand, lifting it up to his impervious gaze. He focused on her lips. They parted in surprise as he dipped his head lower, until his mouth was a mere breath from hers. Kara’s heart thudded faster.
When he brushed his mouth against hers, the exquisite sensitivity of the kiss lowered all her defenses. His mouth upon hers felt warm and soft. Then Ryder deepened the kiss. A tantalizing taste of peppermint and coffee invaded her mouth as he gently thrust his tongue past the seam of her lips. Remembering what happened
last time he’d kissed her, Kara trembled. He seemed to understand her fears and drew away slightly.
“Come on, sweeting,” he softly urged. “Open for me. This time, no one’s going to hurt you.”
For too long, she’d denied herself pleasure. Surrendering to his persistence, she opened her mouth as he kissed her again. Then his tongue was in her mouth, his hands cupping the back of her head as he stole away her breath and reason. Passion exploded in her veins, the ancient call to mate and breed flaring hot and heavy in her loins.
Kara slid her arms around his neck. His kiss was hot, his tongue wet, rough silk as he teased and nibbled. Ryder wrapped his arms around her waist and his strong grip felt secure and comforting, as if he’d never let her slip and fall. Fire jumped through her veins as his tongue lazily stroked hers.
Ryder broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. “Damn, Kara. I want you so badly.”
Licking her swollen lips, she could not summon a single clear thought.
Lifting his head, he locked his blazing blue gaze to hers. She saw the flash of amber, signaling the rise of his wolf.
“I want to throw you on the bed, now.” Ryder’s expression hardened. “But you deserve much better. Not a quick fuck like you’re a one-night stand.”
“Would you settle for a cup of coffee, a quick fuck and then releasing me as if I were a one-night stand?”
A rough laugh rumbled deep in his throat. He caressed her cheek, his touch making her yearn all over again. “You could never be a one-night stand. You’re a one-century stand, sweeting.”
Wonder filled her at his declaration. As punishment for kissing her before, he’d suffered such intolerable cruelty at Alastair’s hands and yet he still cared for her. Kara felt her confidence rise.
Ryder dropped a kiss on her nose. “Relax, get reacquainted with the house. The pack is trying to repair the barn. You have the lodge all to yourself. They won’t return until six. Dinner is at seven. I’ll come for you then.”
“I imagine you’ll come for me several times after we’re mated,” she quipped.
He threw back his head and laughed, such a delighted, full-bodied sound it filled her with a fiery joy.
“Several times, yes. Until you’re pregnant with my heir.”
The joy crumbled into ash at his reminder of what this mating would comprise. He wanted her badly in bed to serve his purpose.
“And Kara? I know you want to hide from the pack, and remain in your room, but I cannot allow that. You have to face them, sweeting. You’ll be my mate in every way.” His gaze grew hotly intent. “In my bed, at the table, and at my side in everything. You will not hide from them. You did nothing wrong.”
As the door closed behind him, Kara collapsed on the bed. Dry-eyed she thought about the lodge and the secret tunnel. She thought about this pack, whom she’d deserted and left to the cruel whims of her father. She thought the safe haven of her bedroom at Aiden’s ranch, where she felt free from the stares and the looks of revulsion.
Time to go exploring, and get the hell out of here.
CHAPTER 6
The cold, dank basement haunted her nightmares. Alastair had installed cells with strong steel bars down here to cage the Lupines offending him. Since there were many Lupines who offended him, he’d built many cells.
Ryder had been imprisoned in such a place.
Kara cut through the enormous dining hall to reach the basement. Sturdy log pylons, river rock archways and yellow lanterns hanging from the soaring rafters made the room appear homey instead of impersonal. Double French doors led onto a flagstone patio with a fire pit big enough to roast a cow. A few plants struggled to bloom in the garden beyond the patio. Her mother’s garden, she remembered. It had been a peaceful place, where she liked to dream while lying among the wildflowers.
Sometimes she had hidden there when her father’s temper fractured.
After finding a flashlight in the storage closet off the dining hall, she opened the door leading to the 120-year-old basement.
Kara snapped on the light switch and descended. The old wooden steps that creaked had been replaced and sturdy metal handrails installed. At the bottom of the stairs was a narrow hallway. To the right, the hallway was dark, leading to a closed oak door.
The basement’s left side had been completely modernized.
Gleaming paneling covered the old brick and masonry foundation. Beige tile replaced the concrete flooring. The room opened to a large recreational center with two pool tables, a ping pong table, and a gleaming oak bar sitting against one wall. Glass shelves held an assortment of liquor bottles. Neon signs advertising beer adorned the walls, along with several dart boards and a large television. In the corner was a children’s play area with a toy box and a colorful, soft mat. It had been designed as if the adults could enjoy a drink or two while watching their young.
The thought cheered her. How many times had she wished for such a place to spend time with her father? But he’d always been sequestered in his rooms and later, in his office in the basement, ignoring his youngest daughter.
The room opened onto a long hallway. She found a laundry room with appliances and bright lighting, a weight room with treadmills and stationary bikes and even a classroom.
The hallway was closed off at the end with a foreboding steel door. The new cells. Only three were complete. Stark and sparsely furnished with bunk beds, they featured private bathrooms. Renovating this former place of horror must have cost Ryder plenty.
She was fiercely glad he’d chosen to vanquish the memory of her father’s cruelties.
Kara turned and headed to the basement’s grim east wing. The door barricading this section was locked. She removed a brick in the wall, found the key and unlocked the door.
Taking a deep breath, she flicked on the flashlight and shone it down the hallway.
The correctional center, Alastair named it.
The torture chamber, she’d called it.
This section of the basement had not been touched. The air here was damp and cold, and smelled of sour fear. Sweat dampened her palms.
Only she and Aiden knew this section of basement hid two tunnels, abandoned mining shafts. The main tunnel led to the Shadow Forest —the hidden entrance she’d planned to use before the trolls had attacked.
An oval of light swayed as the flashlight trembled in her hands. Memories beat at her with fists of rage.
I can’t do this.
I must do this.
Kara flicked the light switch. Bare bulbs strung atop the ceiling only pushed back the gloom instead of brightening it.
Each step felt like heavy chains weighted her feet. The flashlight continued to shake in her hands as she advanced, past the iron bar cells with the manacles hanging from the ceiling.
Midway down, she paused and looked at a thick wood door. Kara took a deep breath and pushed it open.
Ryder had been imprisoned in this cell many times. She shone the light over the weeping masonry walls, saw the maroon stains on the floor, and the X marks on the wall in rust. He’d marked off the days with his own blood.
She’d snuck him food and once gave him the blanket off her own bed. Alastair had discovered it, of course, but for some odd reason had not punished her. He’d only removed the blanket.
Punishment came later when she’d kissed Ryder.
Kara left the door open. Next to this solitary cell was a large, well-lit chamber used long ago for canning preserves. Her father had turned it into his office to be closer to where his mate lay sleeping in the grave.
Her entire body shook as she looked within the room, remembering her own screams as Alastair had burned her…
Stop it!
Walking into the office, she forced herself to confront the past. A layer of dust covered the desk where Alastair preferred conducting pack business. Her father had been a tidy Lupine, always keeping his surroundings clean. The framed photo of her mother was next to a bowl filled with small blue packets, the artificial
sweetener Alastair enjoyed in his coffee.
She picked up the frame, checked the back and saw the money tucked there. Kara sighed, fingering the bills. The $2,000 would barely make a dent in Aiden’s debt.
As she set down the photo, a white coating came off on her fingers. Frowning, she brought her fingers to her nose and inhaled. The powder had an odd scent.
Next, she went to the conference table, remembering how he’d hit her over and over, then placed the heated iron against her cheek…
Enough.
Sucking in a breath, she left the office and continued down the hallway until reaching a room at the very end. She went through the archway and flicked on the light. The room was stacked with furniture and boxes. Her family had used it for storage as long as she could remember.
Kara crossed the room until reaching a stack of crates against the wall. This wall was brick, not masonry.
After moving the crates, she pushed on the wall and it moved, creaking inward, the sound like old bones rattling. Blackness stretched endlessly as she shone her flashlight down the corridor.
The entrance to the tunnels.
Kara drew in a deep breath and crossed over.
Here the brick floor gave way to rock and soil as the hallway turned into an old mining shaft. The mine was a dark and dangerous maze, she remembered her father saying.
Support timbers shored up the tunnel. The rough-hewn pylons were sturdy, but aged. A few crates were stacked against the wall. Curious, she opened one and saw several sacks within. Pulse racing, she opened one. Silver coins.
No gold.
Kara replaced the sack and closed the crate.
The stones beneath her soles grew rockier and uneven as she pressed onward. Finally the narrow shaft widened to a large cave her father had turned into a crypt. The stench of death and disuse assaulted her delicate senses.
Her mother was entombed here.
Fishing the golden key from her jeans pocket, Kara walked to the rock wall on her left. Shadows danced in the dim light, concealing a narrow slit in the cave. Dank, cool air brushed against her exposed skin.
The slit was barely wide enough to admit an adult Lupine. A slender adult.
Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance Page 91