“I thought I lost you. I thought you were gone,” he says raggedly, kissing me hard when all I can do is cry and cling onto him.
“You won’t ever lose me, Wolf. Never.”
The next kiss is hot, a reclaiming, if you will, and now that I’m not scared anymore, all I feel is his arms and the undeniable knowledge that I have no reason to fear anymore.
He’ll always come for me.
“We need to get her to the hospital. How far is that bus, man?” Lyon growls just as Bear comes running with EMTs on his tail.
That’s the focus for the next few minutes as we hear sirens wail and watch them work on my freezer mate—not meant to be funny but I have no name for her.
We leave in ambulances not long after, Bear threatening to shoot cops if they so much as sniff at me before I’m checked out.
********************************************************************
Warm. I am completely warm and comfortable as I lean back against the pillow and watch Wolf growl at the detectives in the doorway, his big body blocking them from entering while he rails at them to ‘fuck off and die.’
I want to laugh my head off because the man is a bear, and isn’t that just hilarious. Even Bear doesn’t have a patch on him when he goes into protective boyfriend mode.
“But, sir—”
“She’s resting, and you can see her tomorrow, assholes.”
I’m saved from seeing my man in handcuffs when Bear stalks in with some very official-looking guy who starts barking orders and waving around a badge.
“Wolf,” I mutter when he keeps glaring at the empty doorway, drawing his attention with a giggle. “Come here.”
I wait until he’s beside me in the chair, his hand enveloping mine in a strong grip that makes me tingle and think about getting the hell out of here.
“I should kill them.”
“Wolf.”
“They’re pissing me off. They’ve been hounding your parents and my guys since we got here.”
I wince at that because I heard Mom in the ER, her voice ringing out demandingly while Rain tried to calm her down. She has yet to ask about me, her only concern for Dad, who had to go into surgery for a gunshot wound.
I’m happy to report that he’s fine, the bullet having missed vital organs. He’s gonna be out of commission for a while, but God, I feel terrible hoping they’ll go home soon. I just can’t deal with the histrionics of Mom having a meltdown and Dad asking the nurses for beer.
“It’s their job, babe,” I point out quietly, trying not to laugh when he growls and kisses my hand, breathing deeply as if he’s still trying to catch his breath.
“I almost lost it when you weren’t at home and I found that note.”
“It’s over now,” I soothe, stroking his hair with my left hand. “I’m okay.”
He nods at that but swallows again before looking up at me with eyes filled with tears.
“I almost lost you before, before I got to the best part,” he croaks. “I was going to say it tonight, give you a ring and tell you how much I love you. And you weren’t there.”
I’m so shocked all I can do is gape when he reaches into his pocket to extract a ring. I don’t notice a thing about it. All I have eyes for is Wolf when he slides the ring onto my finger and reverently kisses it, as if sealing the vow already.
“I love you. I love you so much it scares me a little. I’ve been feeling things for a while now, thanks to you and the love you’ve given me as a guide. I finally knew it the morning you got your period and started yelling at me to fix your cramps.”
We both grin because I was out of my mind, and yeah, he took it all with an aplomb I still can’t believe. I wasn’t as upset about the pain as much as I was when I knew I wasn’t pregnant, something that shocked me, so stupid I lashed out at him.
The man has turned me into a mad woman with the strangest thoughts imaginable, but I understand. He really has to love me if he listened to me rant for an hour while I detailed my flow and yelled at him.
God help me. I am not telling my grandkids this story. No way will I say he knew he loved me because I got crazy on my period.
“I love you too,” I say softly, accepting his kiss and sighing tiredly when he pulls back.
“Good. Because I suck at the whole love speech thing, and I don’t have any soft words to make this romantic. All I got is love.”
“That’s all I want,” I whisper, pulling him onto the bed beside me and moaning in delight when he wraps himself around me.
“Lyon’s being weird,” I mumble, my eyes falling.
Wolf chuckles and kisses my hair, tucking closer against me.
“Lyon’s found his mate.”
BOOK THREE
Chapter One
Lyon
The steady beep of machines echoes in my head, the fatigue I feel making the din a drumbeat as I lean back tiredly and watch the heart monitor and its steady, unchanging lines.
I’ve been here four days now, and in that time, I’ve had my family questioning me, nagging me, and outright demanding that I go home and get some rest.
I can’t leave though. I don’t think a hurricane could get me out of this chair or hospital without a deadly fight, which I would win.
Leila is so still and pale she looks like a doll as I watch her chest rise and fall slowly, the only sign that she’s still alive.
My own chest pains when I look at her, needing to see her brown eyes open so bad I choke on the lump in my throat. Sitting here for days has been torture. I’m a guy who is used to having his will met and orders followed without question, and yet I am powerless as I pray and try to deal with God to let my girl wake up.
Yeah, my girl. My Leila. We haven’t been together in a long, long time, but no amount of years will erase what we did have or dim the memories that I thought would have to sustain me for the rest of my life.
I remember it all. Seeing her across the school campus, her white hair shining beneath the sunlight, her smile reaching me even through the distance.
Calling it love at first sight is a gross lie. What I felt when I saw her, my nineteen-year-old mind freezing, locking on, was a possessive knowledge that took over my every thought process.
She doesn’t move even when I take her hand and stroke the pale skin, the softness of her satiny flesh bringing up memories in a wave of painful images that leave me gazing into nothing.
Eight years earlier…
Lyon
The crush of campus life is startling and yet exhilarating as I push my way out of the lecture hall and sprint down to the cafeteria, my lateness a sore subject that will likely piss Hawk off and have Lynx poking fun at me.
My family finds it hilarious that I can’t ever be on time, while I seethe because I can’t help it half the time. I just lose track of things, and before I know it, I’m an hour late and having trouble finding my shoes and car keys and—
“Again? You’re late again? This is the fourth time in a week, man, and I have a fucking class to get to,” Hawk snarls when I fall into a seat, breathless and wincing at his dark scowl.
“I did it! I did it, and now Mom and Pop can’t do a damn thing about it,” I crow, feeling guilty but exultant as well.
I didn’t want to go to college, but Mom and Pop forced the issue, and here I am, miserable and struggling not to fail classes I don’t want to take. I wanted to follow in Bear’s and Wolf’s footsteps and join the military, a calling I find honorable while Mom and Pop are having a fit about it.
They’ve been on tenterhooks for a while after Bear and Wolf walked in and told them they’d enlisted. Wolf’s been in going on three years or so now, and Bear’s only just started moving up the ranks.
He’s part of some elite team, far as I can tell from what little he told Mom, and it’s driven my parents nuts. We applied to colleges as soon as we hit senior year, and to my disgust, I got into MissU without a problem. The bastards even offered me a scholarship Pop wouldn’t let me refuse,
my interest in chemistry giving me grades that no school would turn down.
“What?” Lynx grunts around a mouthful of hamburger, his chewing and lack of table etiquette turning my stomach.
“I talked to a guy down at the Y, and he gave me the papers, man. I’m enlisting as soon as the semester is up for the year.”
Hawk freezes, my brother’s eerily light-blue eyes honing in on me with a look that boils my bones in my skin.
“You selfish fucking shit! You know Ma and Pop are having a hard time as it is, what with Bear joining that team and Wolf re-upping for another deployment soon. He just got back home, and he’s already leaving, and now you’re enlisting? Not cool, man.”
“Not cool? I’ve wanted this since I was seventeen years old, Hawk, and you all knew it. Even Bear said I should go if it’s what I wanted. I want this, man. I don’t want college and some shitty little job when I graduate, Hawk. I need to get out of here and fight for my country. It’s what I want.”
“And the family? Has it crossed your mind what we feel about you running off to get killed? What about Sparrow? You’re her best friend, Lyon! She’ll be torn up about this,” he snarls, making me wince guiltily.
“She’s not even bothered these days, not with that Harrison kid sniffing at her. She’s in love, man, and she’s still got college to get through,” I point out, kicking back to frown at my brothers.
We’re triplets, a fact that makes me not so happy since they all just assume it makes us inseparable. Well, we aren’t. I love my brothers, and I love my parents and Sparrow, but I am my own person, and I want different things.
Hawk’s happy to live the college dream and enlist when he’s done. He isn’t bothered by a few years, as long as Mom is happy. Lynx is interested in construction and engineering and intends to work with Pop when he graduates. Hell, he’s already working with him now, skipping between the site and classes with ease.
The only asshole who isn’t happy or content is me, and I don’t see myself spending the next three years left of my college stay shitting rainbows either.
“Just give it another year. That’s all I ask, Lyon. If you’re still unhappy and want to enlist, then you can do it, no problem. I’ll even go with you,” he promises.
“Dammit, Hawk, I won’t be happy, and you know it. I’ve tried, haven’t I? I took the classes Mom wanted me to take, and I do the work. I maintain my grades even when I am not interested in the material. I like explosives and ammo, not chemistry or reading Shakespeare!”
“Just wait! I’m asking you to wait. Please. Mom isn’t dealing well with this romance of Sparrow’s, and Pop just lost a major deal to the Monroe outfit. They need us, and with Wolf leaving in a few months, we need to be here for them. Please.”
I grunt and kick at the table leg, looking away with my jaw clenched because he does this shit to me all the time. As the oldest of us three, Hawk is our unofficial leader of sorts, the first trip, the main guy in our group.
I think that’s why I ended up hanging with Sparrow, mostly because I just get pissed off at the pack mentality Hawk and Lynx have and end up saying shit I shouldn’t.
Besides, Sparrow’s cool. She sneaks out with me and goes to parties while Mr. Goody Two-shoes sits at home and keeps Mom company when Lynx and Pop go to work.
I do love my family. My mom is like the sun which we all revolve around, but I wasn’t built to sit around and play with my balls, waiting for life to happen to me.
Sparrow’s the same. She does everything with me, even acts as my wing woman when we hit the parties. I take care of her and let her live a little, and she introduces me to girls and gushes about what a sweetheart I am.
I, on the other hand, am not so cool with the dicks noticing her after she bloomed last summer. She’s my sister, but I am not blind. She’s got dark-brown hair that hangs to her ass, eyes the color of the clear blue sky, and a face angels would weep at.
My sister is gorgeous and attracts a lot of male attention. Which is why we used to hang a lot. Until that Harrison kid started making eyes at her and she became convinced that he’s her one.
I don’t believe in the Wylder family legend that says all Wylders are destined to have one true love. Come on, I’m a guy, a young guy with too much love to anchor me to one chick.
But Sparrow, she’s gone for this kid, and without her around to bolster me and encourage me, all I have is prick one and two to talk to. They give me crap constantly, so, yeah, I’ve spent a few weeks by myself lately, just studying and trying to avoid Hawk and his judgmental ass.
“Fine. Whatever, man. I’m splitting though,” I mutter, getting to my feet and walking out, my appetite gone.
As I walk, I think about how shitty things are and contemplate breaking my word to Hawk. I never would. I don’t think any Wylder who belongs to Alric and Rain Wylder could live with that dishonor, but it’s tempting, I think, looking up just as my buddy Ken shouts a greeting.
It’s in that moment that my world stops turning and everything in me focuses on one point.
Her.
God Almighty, she’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Hair the color of a snowstorm hangs down her back, stopping at her hips in that place just above an ass that looks magnificent in tight white jeans.
The rest of her is tiny, so small I feel like a monster in size compared to her. It’s her face that has my balls though. She’s gorgeous. Sculpted eyebrows a shade or two darker than her hair frame tilted eyes the color of milk chocolate. And her mouth. I can see myself sucking on those full lips for hours.
“Dude, you’re being weird,” Ken grunts when he reaches my side.
I know, and yet I don’t give a damn as I look her over and feel everything take flight inside me.
“Fuck off, Ken,” I mutter, growling when someone walks in front of me, cutting off my view.
I shove him away, flipping him off, and find her again, this time her eyes on me when I look up. That meeting of eyes is like a sexual blow. I see interest there. Shyness. Innocence.
And a look that has my knees weakening.
“Mine.”
I snarl the word without thought and ignore Ken’s choked laugh as I start walking, my feet ruling everything, my heart in my throat when I stalk over and stop before her.
“You’re an angel.”
Her gasp has me grinning, as does the color that hits her cheeks when she smiles and looks around self-consciously.
“Er…thanks?”
“My name is Lyon Wylder, and I think I love you.”
I can’t say anything else, and it’s the goddamn truth. All I see is her. All I smell is her. All I want is her. And I want her suddenly with a power that has me shifting and thanking God I wore loose fatigues and not the jeans Mom sent me.
She laughs at that, her tinkling giggle seeping into me and making me smile. I like that sound. I like that sound so much that I swear to make her laugh a lot more. Forever.
“That’s a terrible line.”
“It’s not a line.”
“Um, okay. Well, I don’t really know what to say.”
“Two things. First, tell me your name, and then, please tell me you’ll take pity on my love-struck ass and go out with me.”
Her awkward movements, the way she starts twirling a lock of hair nervously, makes me want to kiss her and promise her that she can trust me, but I control the need and just stare, my eye unable to move from her perfect face.
She’s blushing hard, the apples of her cheeks shining red, giving her an innocence that makes her all the more desirable.
“Leila. Leila Evans. I don’t even know you.”
“So, get to know me. Give me a chance,” I beg.
Like I care that people have stopped to see the show and are laughing at my pathetic ass. I don’t care about anything but seeing her again. If I let her go now, I won’t be worth a nickel, and I know it. I could lose her on this campus, and I can’t have that.
“I…I don’t date—”
/> “It’s not a date. It’s the beginning.”
Okay. Dude, I don’t know where all this shit is coming from, but I am eternally grateful for whatever force is ruling me because that gets a smile, and she bites her lip shyly before sighing and shaking her head.
“One dinner.”
“One dinner and breakfast. If you don’t like me, you can kick me in the balls before you walk away,” I bargain, wincing at the way that sounds. “No! I don’t mean it the way it sounds.”
She’s laughing outright now, along with a crowd that has formed, and I suck it in, loving the twinkle in her eyes.
“I can’t kick you in the balls?” she teases.
“You can. I mean, I didn’t want you to think I was expecting anything after dinner,” I explain. “All I want is to see you and talk to you.”
That’s a complete lie. My cock feels hard enough to pound nails, and my balls are tight, but this arousal won’t get me anywhere, and I don’t want to scare her away.
I just want her. Any way I can have her. If she wants to talk for a year while I suffer, I’ll take it. If she wants to wait for marriage, I’ll wait, as long as the groom waiting for her at the end of the aisle is me.
I’ll give her anything she wants as long as she gives me just a piece of her. Time. A chance. Anything.
“You’re funny, Lyon Wylder.”
“Not usually. I’m usually the quiet one. You make me want to be…more.”
Holy hell, man, reel it in, I yell inside when her eyes stretch and go wary, darting away to look around at the group of onlookers who haven’t moved and seem very interested in watching me make an ass of myself.
“I…don’t say things like that, okay? It’s weird,” she whispers, leaning close enough that I smell the soft scent of…oranges?
She smells like spicy oranges, the scent one I haven’t experienced before.
“I can’t help it,” I whisper back. “I feel weird.”
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