by Anya Nowlan
“Move things along where, exactly?” she demanded, trying to hold on to her quickly dissipating anger.
“Over to my place, of course. It isn’t proper for a mate to live so far away from her man. And that’s all I’m going to hear about it,” he said. Ryder leant in, and Jackie’s lips met his in a kiss even before she could process what she was doing. Her hands caressed his neck and cheek, loving the feeling of his warmth against her skin. The way his lips lingered on hers – taking but not controlling, urging but not smothering – left her a burning, wanting mess of tightly wound desire. He never failed to have that effect on her, no matter how infuriating he was. “How about we get home and then you can yell at me as much as you want? As long as you’re naked, anyway. And I prefer screaming, but I’m a flexible man. Whatever you want, baby,” he said with a wolfish grin, closing the door and heading around the truck. Jackie groaned, letting her head fall against the headrest. She tasted him in his mouth, and her body thrummed with need.
Fine, so maybe things could work out. Or even if they didn’t, she at least deserved the chance to find out, right?
***
Jackie nuzzled against Ryder’s strong form, enjoying the sensation of his tight abs under her fingertips as she lazily tracked the lines on his body. True to form, they had hardly left the bed at all in the last day. He’d moved her into his cottage as if he owned her, and to her surprise, she didn’t find herself minding it one bit. Last time, it had been her who made the decision to give their love another chance when she showed up at his door in Bitterroot. It was only fitting that he would return the favor now, washing away her doubts and fears with well-met kisses and dizzying pleasure.
He cradled her, his hands stroking her body like he couldn’t get enough of her. She had no doubt that that was exactly how he felt.
“What do you want from life?” Ryder asked with a low voice, stirring Jackie from her revelry. She looked up at him, leant against the stacked pillows, his ruggedly handsome face wearing a solemn expression. She cocked a brow at him, but he didn’t crack a smile this time.
“What do I want?” she echoed, letting the thought roll around in her head. There hadn’t been a lot of times in her life when she had known exactly what she wanted. Maybe at the moment, but not in the long-term. She had thought she already had everything she’d wanted when she had got pregnant and lived up in Bitterroot with Ryder, but as with all things too good to be true, it had been torn out of her hands at a moment’s notice. Things like that made a girl reluctant to dream.
He must have seen the shadow fall over her features as he kissed her lightly on the lips, just a gentle brush to bring her out of her dark thoughts.
“I want… safety. Love. Heat and trouble, but not more than I can handle. A family.” At the last words, her voice cracked. She suppressed a sigh as Ryder embraced her tighter, as if trying to squeeze all the pain right out of her.
“That sounds like everything I could give you,” he noted solemnly. Hot tears pricked at her eyes and made her throat feel raw. It had been so long since she had believed that there could be a chance of happiness for her and Ryder. And yet, here it was, dangling right in front of her and waiting to be grabbed with both hands.
“What do you want?” she asked, batting the tears away.
“You,” he said simply, pushing up her chin to meet him in another one of those toe-curling kisses that took the breath out of her lungs. She melted against him, every ounce of the fight she had had within her and the bitterness that she had held onto for so long wafting away like so many bad dreams at the break of dawn. Jackie bit her lower lip, remembering what Tess had told her when Ryder had left after carrying her to Jackson’s cabin. Her injuries had healed quickly, surrounded by so much werebear magic. Tess’s words had said still hung with her, though.
“You know, Tess said there’s more than one way of bringing two clans together,” she said, trying to keep the hesitation out of her voice. Ryder cocked a brow at her, brushing a lock of hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear.
“Through marriage, you mean?”
She nodded, her body buzzing with sudden excitement. Ryder chuckled, a deep rumbling noise. The corners of his eyes crinkled a bit in amusement.
“How did you guess?”
“Well, Tess is a smart, sensible woman who is a lot less stupid about these things than we are. And she’s a romantic. I can tell from a mile away. Why else would she stay with that grouch of a brother of yours? Ow!” Ryder’s teasing was cut short by Jackie jabbing him in the chest. Jackie was flipped over on her back so fast that she barely had time to gasp. Ryder hovered above her, his lips just inches from hers. “Now, now, Jackie. Didn’t we talk about behaving before?” When Jackie started to snap something back at him, he kissed her, and all her smart retorts melted into a moan. Her eyes shot open as he pulled away, leaving the kiss lingering between them.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, already feeling the familiar throb in her core, telling her that she was more than ready to ravage and be ravaged by her big, sexy mate.
“What do you think about it, though? Marriage? We tried once, and we got caught up in telling our people, our families. Your family knows, and my lieutenants… well, they can guess. How about you become my wife, Jackie?”
Her breath caught in her throat, leaving her staring at him in wide-eyed wonder. She couldn’t say it was a complete surprise. After all, she had been steering him in that direction, whether she was ready to admit it or not. It had been a whirlwind few weeks, from thinking that Ryder was a murderous wretch, to having him save her and reveal that he was being a selfless man all along. A reckless one, maybe, but still an Alpha more than willing to put his clan’s safe future ahead of his own wellbeing. And when he’d told her that he considered it his personal failure that she had lost their cub, it had just about made her break down from the guilt and shared pain. Something tugged at her heart strongly, and she wrapped her arms around him, basking in his warmth. The tears she’d got so good at keeping down were building up again.
“I don’t want to hurt you again, Ryder,” she whispered, hiding her face in his chest. He pulled her up into his lap, his strong arms cradling her against him. Her hair fell on her face and shoulders, concealing her tear-blurred eyes. Not only had she almost destroyed herself when she left last time, but she’d nearly dragged him down with her. Having that kind of control over someone scared her. But she knew that he held the same sway over her.
“It doesn’t matter what happened in our pasts,” Ryder whispered, his heart pounding against his chest now and filling Jackie’s ears with its demanding rhythm. “We’re mates. No one else can make you happy. No one else will make me happy, Jackie. If our fate is to face hardships, then I want to do it by your side. We’ve been running away from this for so long, but I know there’s nowhere to run. We’ll never be satisfied without each other.”
His words were an echo of what she had known within herself for a long time but struggled to ignore from time to time. This knowledge was what had kept her coming back to him, over and over again.
Why do you want to test fate again? You know you can’t survive without him…
She found herself nodding, her whole body trembling because of what she was going to say.
“Yes,” she said, quiet at first. She raised her face and looked at Ryder, his blue eyes glimmering with hope for the first time in far too long. “Yes, Ryder. You’re right. I can’t be without you. I’ll marry you.” Her last words were muffled by the almost violent kiss that Ryder laid on her lips. Jackie giggled through fevered kisses.
Maybe, just maybe, they could be happy. Even with everything that had happened.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Ryder, are you sure they’re going to be here?” Jackie whispered from just behind Ryder’s shoulder. He nodded shortly, keeping his eyes on the dirt road leading down to the valley they were in. If he strained his ears, he could hear faint sounds of his werebear brothers all aroun
d him, waiting. So quiet that, you could get the slightest of hints that there was anyone around at all only if you knew what to listen for. They were all scattered in ditches and hidden within running distance – two powerful clans of the most rugged, battle-ready werebears that Montana had seen in a very long time, ready for anything. And this time, they were the ones hunting.
The path they were gathered around led down from a difficult backwoods trail that came down from Bitterroot Mountains. They were upwind and had taken every precaution. Now, all he had to do was wait and hope to the spirits that the reconnaissance had been right. He reached his hand back and squeezed Jackie’s delicate palm in his, enjoying the feeling of her engagement ring on her finger. She’d been adamant about coming with them. Not that he would have dared told her to stay home when they were heading into what could possibly become the bloodiest battle Montana shifters had seen in centuries.
I wish Drake were here, he thought glumly. His brand of insane might just come in handy. While most of his lieutenants had embraced the new state of affairs with open paws, Drake had been less than receptive. He’d thrown so much of himself into the war between the Bitterroots and the Arders that it was hard to face the realization that his actions came off as little more than senseless cruelty when Ryder’s plans were revealed. Thinking back to it, Ryder kicked himself for not seeing it coming. The young man had been through too much to bear the burden of his wrongful decisions, and as such, it was no big surprise that he had left in the night. Ryder could only hope that Drake could find peace with himself and one day find his way back home.
They’d been crouching in the fresh snow for hours now, driven there by a hint dropped by one of the scouting parties. After intense discussions between the two clans on what to do with the wolf threat with as little bloodshed as possible, it had been Julian who had come up with the most elegant solution. If the wolves were spying on them, they might as well spy on the wolves. Years of living with corporate espionage seemed to have made Julian uniquely equipped for dealing with the need for secrecy and covertness. To everyone’s surprise, the most urbanely inclined of the werebears had turned out to be the most capable spy. It was thanks to Julian and his crew that the Arder and Bitterroot clans now knew to wait patiently by the side of this particular road, expecting a veritable mass of werewolves to rain down on them.
Every nerve was on edge, and it wasn’t made any better by the quickly setting sun. Ryder was growing stiff and annoyed. When a whiff of distinctly shifter scent was carried to him in the wind, it was not a moment too soon. Small clicks sounded through the forest, the various groups marking that they too smelled what Ryder had sensed. The hairs on the back of his neck rose up. The Kadin pack had been circling their grounds for a while now. When they attacked Jackie, he had killed two, and they’d taken down several others from smaller packs during scuffles, thankfully with no losses on their side. But it all served to aggravate the wolves to a point where not retaliating was nigh impossible.
It wasn’t long until Ryder could hear the roar of engines. Headlights appeared on the trail, and he gave a signal to the bears along the track. Countless trucks appeared in a tight row, and when the first large vehicle was just about to pass him, the rattle of chains and the screech of breaks created a satisfying cacophony. He scrambled onto the road, a snarl on his lip. The Kadin warriors were jumping off of their trucks, the tires pierced by the spiked chains the bears had hidden in the snow and pulled up just in time. Suddenly the quiet forest teemed with life. Tens and tens of werebears appeared from the forest, circling the stopped trucks.
Ryder stepped in front of the first truck, Jackie hovering close behind him, with Jackson joining him from the other side of the road. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. The headlights of the truck made it hard to see in the budding darkness, but he crossed his arms on his chest and tried his hardest to keep from shifting and tearing right through the lanky, muscled bodies of the panicking wolves.
“We want to talk to your Alpha,” Ryder boomed, his voice tinted with just the right edge of barely kept restraint. He didn’t even have to act that he was inches from turning into a murderous beast. One wrong move and he’d revel in ripping out the wolves’ throats just like they’d done to Bryce.
“QUIET!” a female voice yelled, commanding the wolves to be still. Ryder shared a quick look with Jackson, who seemed just as ready to roll as he was. Silent confrontations between bears and wolves were spread all along the length of the makeshift circle, the werebears outnumbering the wolves by a fair bit. Though the wolves seemed surprised, their readiness to fight was in no way dimmed.
Good soldiers, Ryder noted to himself. Dangerous. One always had to respect their enemy. Still, Ryder was impressed that no one – neither bear nor wolf – had shifted. If they did, everything could swiftly break into a bloody pandemonium.
“I believe you mean me, then,” a calm, masculine voice called. Heavy boots landed on the crinkling snow, and a moment later, the broad-shouldered, dark-haired form of the Kadin Alpha stood face to face with Jackson and Ryder. He flashed a brilliant, charming grin, cocking his head to the side.
“Look at that, the bears are playing together. I have to say, quite a difference from the battle you were having just a few weeks ago,” he said smoothly. The man looked more bear than wolf. He was powerfully built, made for speed and strength – a far cry from the usual lean and elegant werewolf royals. A smaller form appeared from the darkness, standing close to the man. She was slender and redheaded, her eyes burning with an intensity that was sharp and cutting next to the relative calmness of the Alpha by her side. “Rose, my dearest. Seems that the werebears have decided to gang up on us,” the Alpha noted, smirking. He bowed his head, and Ryder had to curl his hands into fists to keep from shifting right then and there and wiping that smile off the wolf’s face with his claws.
“Daren and Rose Kadin. Pleasure to meet you. Now, what can we do for you?”
Ryder half expected him to extend a hand in greeting. Ryder was sure he’d snap it off if he did. Before Ryder could say anything, Jackie touched his fist softly from behind him.
“Calm down,” she whispered, and he exhaled deeply. Visions of his clan mates dying in the pristine white snow, surrounded by pools of their blood danced behind his eyes. They’d taken down more than twice the number of wolves as the bears he had lost, but it scarcely seemed enough.
“More like, what we can do for you,” Jackson noted, his voice strong and centered. His composure scraped at Ryder’s ears, but he had to admit that Jackson was much better in such situations. While he was led by emotions, Jackson was led by rationale and tradition. Ryder bit down on any words he wanted to spit at Daren Kadin and his wife, whom he remembered from the attacks on Bitterroot. She was remorseless, vicious, bright – all things that made a predator dangerous, no matter her diminutive size.
“And what could that be?” Daren asked, his voice conversational and easy. As if more than a hundred werebears around his troops was little more than an annoyance.
“We could not kill you all tonight,” Jackson said, a growl entering his tone. Ryder’s jaw squared. He could see Jonah and Julian on either flank of the convoy of cars, keeping the bears in check. His own lieutenants were scattered along the line, and Troy and Derek were at the very far end, blocking the wolves’ exit with their troops. It had played together beautifully.
“And what would we have to do for that?” Daren asked, his striking eyes drilling into first one and then the other Alpha.
“You take your people, pack your things and get out of Bitterroot by the end of winter,” Jackson said, the growl growing louder in his voice. Ryder suppressed the urge to glance at his friend, keeping his gaze on the pack leads. They were partially hidden by the darkness, but they were calm and steady. He had to admire that.
“Or else you’ll come and make us leave? From what I can tell, your clans can barely live on the same mountain range without jumping at each other’s throats.” It was
Rose who spoke now, her voice smoky. Daren nodded his agreement to her words, and Ryder bristled.
“The clans are joining together. We are no longer two clans, but one. And we’re not going to let you blindside us again, you fucking mutts,” Ryder said, the threats not even thinly veiled. Jackson’s palm hit him on the chest, stopping him dead in his tracks. He hadn’t noticed that he’d taken a step forward, his eyes flashing brown. The Kadins hadn’t even flinched, though Daren had pursed his lips thoughtfully.
“I see,” the wolf shifter noted idly, sharing a look with his bride. Well, you’ve got us tonight, at least. I am man enough to admit defeat when I see it.” He swept an arm around himself, motioning to the riled up werebears. “We will leave. As for Bitterroot, I’ll think about it.”
Jackson’s palm stayed on Ryder’s chest. He could feel Jackson’s soothing, calm aura waft over him. Quietly, Jackie slipped her hands around his wrist from behind, not holding him back but reminding him that she was there. Ryder exhaled deeply, trying to let go of the near blinding rage that wanted to boil forth within him. Here they were, the bastards that had taken his friends, his people. And he couldn’t rip them to shreds, even though he badly wanted to. He’d spent days telling himself that he’d remain coolheaded, but it was a whole other level of self-control when he had to face the smirking, self-satisfied face of the Kadin Alpha. The wolves he had lost either meant nothing to him or he was brilliant at hiding it.