by Ashlee Sinn
“I think sex works,” she teased.
I huffed a laugh, too exhausted to speak at first. “I don’t know. I think we need more data.” And as we lay together, bent over my kitchen table, dick still firmly inside, my wolf rumbled his content. I didn’t really need more data. Natasha had barreled into my life again a few hours ago, and I already knew that I wouldn’t be able to survive without her in it.
She wasn’t here temporarily anymore.
She’d claimed a part of my heart and I would do anything to make sure she stayed by my side.
Forever.
I didn’t know how long we stayed on my table before moving to the bed. And then to the shower. And back on my bed again. By the time we’d finished dinner and found ourselves lying naked on top of my sheets, I was hooked. Running my fingers up and down her back, I traced the outlines of her tattoo.
“Why this one?” I asked.
She glanced at her hip as though she could see the whole tree snaking up her skin. “I like winter,” she said. “Dead trees remind me of that time of year. It makes me happy.”
“You make me happy,” I said before I could stop myself.
She smiled and leaned to the side so she could kiss me quickly on the lips. “I’m very happy right now, too.”
“Stay here with me.”
Natasha sucked in a breath and stopped moving all together. “Rhys, I can’t.”
“You can. I’ll protect you. My crew will protect you. This can be your home.” I sounded like a babbling idiot but I needed to say all these words. “I know this sounds quick, but you have my heart, Natasha. You always have.”
“Rhys,” she breathed, moisture sparkling in her eyes.
“Look, I can’t deny how crazy this all sounds, but I think I love you. I haven’t felt this…whole ever before. And I’ve always admired you from afar. Ever since we were kids. You’re so beautiful and perfect and you make my animal feel content.”
“I know what you mean,” she admitted. A blush crept up her cheeks. “I wanted to deny you. To deny the way I was feeling. But it’s like—”
“Fate?”
She laughed. “I don’t know if I believe in that shit, but it’s something all right.” Rolling over, she snugged her hips up against my stomach and pulled my arm over her chest. “I feel settled.”
Kissing the back of her head, I said, “Told you sex fixes everything.”
She wiggled her hips against mine. “You were right.”
I held her close as her breathing slowed and she fell asleep. Tomorrow I would clear out some space for her things. I would ask for time off from work and I would figure out a way to get Cade off her back.
Natasha was mine to take care of. To protect. To love. She needed me and I needed her. It amazed me how quickly everything snapped into place, but when it was right…it was just right.
And having Natasha in my arms made everything right.
I woke as the door closed. It was hard to let Rhys leave, despite the reason why. He was going to work to ask for some time off. He wanted to spend his days with me and me alone, and I worried about how excited that made me feel. Rhys was a dangerous man. Not dangerous in the way Cash had been, but dangerous nonetheless. He was strong, an alpha in every sense of the word, but he was also fragile when it came to his heart. And last night, he’d given me his heart and that had scared the shit out of me.
I could break this man without even trying. I was the weak one. I was the one who ruined every relationship I’ve ever had. I could be the one to destroy Rhys Murray and I would never be able to forgive myself if I did.
As those fears and worries started to creep back into my thoughts, I forced myself out of bed and shuffled to the kitchen. No, no, no. Rhys was good. He was good for me and my animal. I would not mess this up.
The scent of fresh coffee started to ease the anxiety. But it was when I looked at the note taped to the top of the coffee maker, that I really started to calm down. Rhys, sometime before he snuck out the door, had left me a message.
Natasha-
You are the most beautiful woman in the world.
I’ll be back soon.
Rhys
P.S. I still love your tits.
Laughing at his adorable way, and the little heart he drew next to his name, I leaned against the counter and smiled. Could this really be happening? Could my forced trip to Alaska actually be turning into a good thing? That evil little voice inside tried to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to have happiness. It clawed and scratched at my pleasure until I almost let it won. But then I read Rhys’ note again and shoved it back down.
“Fuck you,” I mumbled to that voice. “You can’t have me today.”
Yet, I knew that if I didn’t keep busy, I might succumb to those evil thoughts that waited patiently to rip away every bit of happiness I felt this morning. So, I finished my coffee, dug through my little red bag, and changed into my running clothes. Today I’d run as a human, and surprisingly, the wolf didn’t protest.
Headphones in my ears and phone strapped to my arm, I leapt off the front porch and headed down the dirt lane that would eventually meet the main road. Behind me, Eagle Creek was stirring. Hints of growls, snarls, squawks, and purrs filled the space with the sounds of a happy crew. A smile crept onto my face as I thought about the possibility of belonging to Eagle Creek. Could that happen? Could I really be a part of something bigger and better than me?
Or would I put them all at risk if I stayed?
No! This time it was the wolf who spoke to me. We belong here.
Surprised at her words, yet tired of hearing all the voices in my head, I turned on my running mix and took off at a fast pace. My feet slammed into the dirt like they owned the land. My legs carried me faster than normal, seemingly pleased with the freedom to take me someplace. The scent of fresh pine, wet soil, and moisture in the air reminded me of Canada. Yet this place felt different—safer. After only twenty-four hours, Eagle Creek somehow felt like home.
Home sounded good. Home with Rhys by my side? It was a dream I never thought possible. But now…maybe now I could really make that happen. I slowed my pace, looked up into the sky, and screamed. It was a good scream. An animal scream and human scream all rolled into one. We felt like a new person today. And being a new person meant that we really could make this place our home.
Laughing against the backdrop of the pines, I lifted my arms and spun in a circle. If this is what happiness felt like, then I was hooked. Letting the sun warm my face, I enjoyed the moment where, for the first time in my life, everything made sense. I could have a mate. I could have a home. I could even have a crew of my own.
I was lost in my thoughts listing all the ways I could help make this place my own, when something in the distance caught my wolf’s attention. Had that been an animal? A car? A human? We sniffed the air as we crouched on the ground…waiting, listening. Something wasn’t right. The forest was too still, as though knowing it needed to stay silent.
A branch cracked and something flew past my head, landing far beyond my body. “What the hell?” I whispered, jumping to my feet to see if I could pinpoint the sound. All of a sudden, my arm jerked backward as something slammed into the phone and band wrapped around my bicep. Ducking behind a tree, I looked down to see a large scratch on the plastic case and a few drops of blood from where the object had hit some of my skin.
Confused, I pressed my back against the bark and took several deep breaths. Okay, okay that could have been anything—a bat, a bird, a really large insect. Yeah, it could have been one of those.
Thwomp.
The bark beside my face shattered into pieces, pummeling my cheek with tiny shards of wood, and hitting my brow with something much larger. I slumped forward, holding my eye as I twisted to see what that had been. There, sticking out of the side of the tree, was a fucking crossbow dart. The tip of the arrow had nicked the side of my face, barely missing my eye.
“Mother fucker,” I mumbled, trying to calm
the wolf so I could make a plan.
Thwomp.
The tree exploded again, just inches from the top of my back. I jumped to my feet and ran. Zigzagging in and out of the pines, I did my best to become a difficult target. Who was shooting at me? And why?
Had Cade found me?
I screamed as a gut-wrenching pain sliced into my thigh. Collapsing on the ground, I wrapped my hand around the bolt sticking out of my leg. It hadn’t gone all the way in, but even the tip was painful. It burned like a mother, and my wolf started to rip out of my skin for protection. I couldn’t stop her, and in no time at all, I was standing on all fours scenting the air and deciding which way to run—toward the attackers.
No! I shouted at her. They’ll kill you!
She growled at me, but when she started to run back toward the place we’d heard the branch crack, she howled at the pain in her front leg. The bolt had done enough damage, even the change didn’t heal us completely.
And then we smelled it. The scent. The animal—was it lynx or panther? Some kind of cat shifter lurking in our woods and shooting at us. The wolf growled, her lips lifting over her teeth, saliva dripping onto the forest floor. She dug her feet into the ground, preparing for an attack. But something to our backs made a noise, and as we turned, another bolt hit us in the side—straight into the ribs.
The wolf howled in pain but was cut off abruptly by the lack of breath. Had it hit the lung? Was it bad?
Run! I screamed at my animal. Not once had I ever had command her to fight. But it was hard to pull her attention back to her body and get us the hell out of here before we were silenced forever.
One leg at a time, we started to move. The scent of the hunter lessened as we got closer and closer to Eagle Creek. The pain in our side was so overwhelming, I thought about how much easier it might be on two feet. But the wolf wouldn’t let me have my body again—not until we were home and safe.
Just when I thought we might be there, a sharp, stabbing pain ripped through our hip, causing us to collapse in the dirt. We slid several feet, our momentum so great even another bolt couldn’t stop us at first. Screaming into the air, I hoped someone might hear us. Our back leg was rendered completely immobile and I feared there might be a shattered bone or two lurking underneath. I forced the change, shifting back into human so I could assess the damage. My wolf protested, causing us both more pain than we were already in, but I finally succeeded. Reaching around behind me, I grabbed the bolt embedded into my hamstring. My fingers hit something flaky, the crinkling noise reminding me of paper. And sure enough, as I ripped off the note attached to my body by the crossbow bolt, I realized that’s exactly what it was.
“Natasha!” Fawn’s voice faded in and out of my head. “Micah, go get your dad and Donovan. Hurry!”
The raven shifter sat next to me as the world started to spin. Holding onto the note, I tried to read it but my hands were shaking so bad I couldn’t even speak.
“What is that?” Fawn asked, yanking the paper from my fingers. “What the hell?”
“What…what is it?” I hated the way my voice trembled, as though I had no control anymore.
“It’s a WANTED poster. With your name on it—holy shit!”
“What?”
“Did you know someone’s willing to pay half a million dollars for your head?”
My stomach dropped and I closed my eyes. Cade had found me. And even if he hadn’t pulled the trigger on the crossbow, his money had once again bought loyalty.
I was never going to win.
I couldn’t stay in Eagle Creek and put everyone in danger.
“Fawn!” Micah shouted as he ran closer. “I got the lion.”
Fawn looked up with tears in her eyes as her alpha approached. Without saying a word, she handed Donovan the flyer that someone had shot me with. As the world around me faded in and out of blackness, I watched Donovan’s face while he read. I didn’t know what I expected exactly. Hatred that I put him and his crew at risk? Defeat knowing that he should probably turn me over? But whatever it was, he certainly didn’t do it. Instead, Donovan crunched the note up in his hands…and roared into the sky. The sound terrified me, especially coming from his human vocal cords. Donovan roared several more times before turning his attention down to me.
“Did you see them?”
I shook my head. “No, but I think I smelled cats.” I dropped my gaze when he gave me a scary look at those words.
“Max, go see what you can find.” Donovan spoke to the giant man now standing next to us and waiting for permission to act.
“Can I come too, dad?” Micah asked, already stripping out of his shirt.
“No!” Donovan shouted. But when he saw Micah dropping to ground under the power of his command, he softened. “I need you to help me get Miss Natasha back to the camp.”
Micah nodded and grabbed one of my arms as his dad’s black panther slipped into the shadows of the forest.
“Can you walk?” Donovan asked.
I tried to bend my leg to push to standing, but was immediately hit with white-hot pain shooting through my hip and ribs. “I don’t think I can.”
“Okay then. Micah, Fawn, help me lift her.”
A moment later, and with a surprisingly low amount of new pain, the three of them had me in the air and were carrying me home.
“What did the note say?” Micah asked, breathing heavy with exertion.
“It’s not important,” Donovan said.
“Should I call Rhys?” It was Mariah, and she was now jogging along the side of us, holding her belly and looking down at me in fear.
“Yes,” Donovan told his mate. “Get Mary out there with Max.”
Mariah rushed away, presumably to get backup help. Trying to look around the camp and assess what was happening, I was immediately pulled back into my own head when we reached Rhys’ cabin. I screamed out in pain when they had to adjust their hold on me to fit through the front door. My ribs burned and my hip throbbed. But my crew had kept me safe. I was safe because they’d heard my cry for help. And even though I’d only been here for a day, they had helped me.
Maybe Eagle Creek could be my home after all.
“Natasha, this is going to hurt,” Donovan said. “I have to reset the bones before you heal too much.”
I nodded, understanding the reasoning and feeling a little too loopy to care. “Did you give me something?” I slurred.
Mariah chuckled. “A little something special from my tribe.”
“When? I didn’t even…didn’t even…”
Mariah, who’d gotten back to the cabin relatively quickly, held up a syringe and gave me a wink. “Nigh, night, Natasha.” Then, she looked up at her mate and nodded. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
“On three then. One. Two. Three.”
A million hands pushed and pulled at the same time and the pain reached a point where I couldn’t even think straight anymore. As the weight of my legs burdened my body, I felt myself slipping away. Slipping away into the darkness that had once been such a welcomed place. But now, I just wanted to stay here. In the light. In the cabin where Rhys and I had spent last night. Where we’d both finally admitted how much we’d meant to each other. I wanted to stay here.
I wanted to stay here forever.
But the blackness crept in and the pain slipped away as I closed my eyes and wondered if I’d ever get to see Rhys again.
“How did this happen? How the fuck did this happen?” My chest clenched with the pressure of the angry animal inside. “Someone walked onto our land and shot my mate. They shot my fucking mate! Right underneath our noses!” I stomped over to Mary and Max who stood stoically by the door of my cabin. “How did they do this?”
“Rhys.” Natasha’s voice pulled me back from the edge. But only a little.
“We don’t know,” Max said quietly.
“Natasha said she smelled a lynx,” I growled. Walking closer to Mary, I grabbed her by the throat and slammed her up against the
wall. “Was it one of your people?”
“Rhys!” Donovan shouted.
“No…no. They would never…” Mary’s words were cut off by the lack of oxygen as I squeezed her neck a little harder.
“Rhys!” Donovan shouted again. “Put her down.”
I’d heard the command in his voice and my animal wanted to obey. But someone had hurt my Natasha and I needed answers now.
“Rhys, please.” Natasha was sitting at the kitchen table, one leg propped up on an empty chair, eyes pleading with me when I glanced her way. “It wasn’t Mary.”
“Are you sure?” I grumbled, turning my glare back to the lynx shifter underneath my grip.
“Yes.”
Donovan cleared his throat before I finally let Mary go. When I did, she slid to the ground, coughing and panting and holding her neck. Mariah rushed to her side and started to coddle her. Focusing my attention to someone I once considered my friend, I glared at Max. “How did they know where to find her?”
He held up his hands. “I don’t know, man. But half a million dollars is going to be very tempting for a lot of people.”
Rushing forward, I drew back my arm and punched Max right across the jaw. Everyone crammed into my cabin gasped and started yelling at me. But I ignored them because I wasn’t the one causing all the trouble.
“What the hell, man?” Max said, rubbing his jaw and letting Fawn wrap her arm around his waist.
“Yeah, Rhys,” Fawn said. “This wasn’t his fault.”
“It wasn’t,” Natasha said. “Cade’s offer is to blame.”
“Well,” I shouted, “he can’t have you for half a million dollars. He can’t have you at all!”
Natasha smiled at me and reached out her hand. “Come here,” she cooed. “Come sit next to me so we can make a plan.”
Reluctantly, I complied. Glaring at everyone else in the room, I lowered myself into the chair next to Natasha and pulled her in close. “I already have a plan,” I grumbled.
Donovan crossed his arms and stared down at me. “What are you talking about, Rhys?”
“On my way home, after you called me, I reached out to Sutton Lowe.”