by R. A. Boyd
She sipped the cocoa and then took half of the doughnut Riley was eating. “He’s in love with you.”
Riley gave her a strained smile and shrugged. Liv was either going to believe her or think she was a lunatic. She had to tell her anyway. Liv may change her mind about staying with her if she knew that she was going to let Teague bite and change her. But her mind was made up. Teague was a huge part of her life now and she said a quick prayer that Liv would understand. She didn’t want to have to choose between keeping her kid and giving Teague back his grace.
Would she refuse to let Teague claim her if Liv was against it? She hoped to the good Lord above she didn’t have to find out.
“I know he loves me, Sweetie. But there’s more to it than that. It may be hard to believe, but it’s true. You know how in the Bible it talks about a great war between good and evil and angels cast into Hell because they hated the creation of man?”
Chapter 10
“She believed you?” Teague asked as he handed a plate of garlic bread to Riley.
He’d come over and made her dinner after he found out that Ass-face hadn’t shown up to the hearing. Riley was tense, and sad. Tense because there was another hearing looming before her, and sad because Liv knew how monumental of a piece of shit her dad was.
Riley gave him a one-shouldered shrug and pursed her lips. “Yep. She’s all for you claiming me, she said we’re perfect for each other just so you know, and she can’t wait to part-time live in a community with a group of badass prehistoric shifters. Her words. She also said she wants me to turn her when she’s twenty-five and perfect. I told her she was off her freaking rocker if she thought I’d do that to her.”
Teague frowned and grabbed her hand to pull her to him as she reached for her glass of wine. “I don’t even know if we can change anyone. Other than our mates. None of us ever tried.”
He hurt for both Riley and Liv. Teague knew what it was like to be rejected by a parent and would never wish it on anyone. At least with Teague and his brethren, they were being taught a lesson. Liv was being used and pulled close only when Aaron needed something from her. After the hearing was over he was going to have a long overdue conversation with Aaron about other people’s feelings. He’d toyed around with Liv’s too much.
Riley would move on from him. Hell, she already had. But Liv had a hell of a fight on her hands to realized what her father did wasn’t her fault. Teague would be there for them.
Pulling Riley’s fingers, he gently moved her to his side and grabbed her around the waist. He lifted her and sat her up on the counter. Now she was eye level with him.
“Have you thought about moving in with me? My house is big enough for the both of you. I mean, if you want to. You don’t have to. You just moved in here and you may want your space. But it’s open.”
He rambled. He didn’t usually ramble, but this woman made him feel things he’d never felt before. Teague was fucking giddy at the prospect of her being in his space and making it her own. Waking up to her every morning he didn’t have to be at the fire station. Sleeping by her side. That sounded like perfection.
Riley hugged her arms tight around his neck and gave him three, long, lingering kisses. She bit his lip and then soothed it with her tongue as she rubbed her chest against his. Fucking perfection.
“I’ve thought about it, but I don’t know,” she said, looking at the ceiling. When she finally met his gaze he could see that she’d been teasing. “I know you love being with your people and I wouldn’t want to break that up. Besides, this is a rental. When I left him I just moved into the first thing that was available with two bedrooms.”
He moved his head back and forth, rubbing his nose against hers, and made a growling noise deep in his throat. Riley kissed him where his animal made his neck vibrate and then bit him again.
“Sooo, does that mean you will come with me? When you and your girl are ready, of course.”
“Of course.” She nodded and unwound one of her arms from his neck and slowly glided her hand down his pants. He had been hard since he walked in the door. “Mr. Durrell, I would love to move in with you. My lease is up in three months.” She squeezed his cock and licked up the column of his neck.
He groaned and leaned into her touch, loving the feel of her warm hand stroking his cock. She squeezed and he felt her body shake as a snarl ripped through his lips. “Fuck three months. I’ll pay to break you out of the lease. Grip my cock tighter.”
She did as he asked, and he found a delicious rhythm as she jerked his long and hard member, bringing him close to orgasm. She slid her hand down further and gripped his balls, massaging them a few times before going back to rubbing him closer to coming. Thank God he had on sweatpants. She had enough room to do exactly what she wanted.
“Do we need to take this upstairs so a certain someone won’t come in and catch you feeling me up?” he said, kissing the corner of her mouth.
He was already on Liv’s good side. That shit might not last if she walked into this. He really wasn’t worried, though. He’d hear her as soon as her foot hit the sidewalk near the house.
Riley shook her head and kept stroking him. “Nope. She asked if she could stay over her best friend’s house tonight. It’s just you and me. We get to do grown-up stuff wherever we want. Aren’t you still hungry?” she asked, her voice going up a few octaves. She was teasing him.
“Hungry for you. Come here,” he said, grabbing her under her thighs and putting her feet down on the floor. He wanted to get those painted on jeans off her so he could let her fuck his hand before he took her on the counter.
He peeled her pants and panties down her thighs, and when he got them from around her legs he shoved her panties into his pocket. He already had a ripped pair, but they had lost her scent. He wanted these, dampened with her desire so he could take her with him and smell that fucking delicious aroma of hers.
Teague propped her back on the counter and slid his pants down around his thighs. As she grabbed a handful of his cock, he took his fingers and pressed them inside her. She was so wet for him. Her entire body shivered and her core clenched around his fingers. He kissed up the side of her neck and then took her earlobe between his teeth. She hissed and squeezed his cock harder, punishing him right back.
His tongue licked at the seam of her lips. “Open for me,” he said. He used to thumb to paint circles on her clit, and when she opened her mouth to let out a moan of pleasure he thrust his tongue into her mouth and drank her in.
She was so fucking sexy. So fucking drenched and hot for him.
“You like fucking my hand?” he said, breaking their kiss to lean back and stare into her eyes. “You want to come on my hand? Or my tongue? I know you want my dick.”
Riley nodded and started pulling longer, tighter strokes on his cock and then circled her hand around the swollen head. His hips heaved under her touch. He wasn’t going to last much longer, and neither was she.
“I’m gonna come,” she said, grinding her hips against his hand. “Please make me come.”
“Where?” he said, curving his fingers and pressing on that receptive spot just inside her. “Tell me what part of me you want to use to make you come, and I’ll make it happen.” He smiled as she begged and pleaded for release. “You want to be a bad girl. A greedy girl, and use all three to get you off.”
Her eyes rolled closed and a lazy smile parted her full lips. She was focused. Focused on the orgasm he was pulling from her and the one she was about to force from him.
No. No, not right now.
He heard a familiar engine pulling up in the driveway of Riley’s house. Aaron. Screw him. Teague wouldn’t let that bastard ruin this for either one of them.
Pumping his hips, he slid his engorged shaft faster within her hand. He reached up and slid his hand under her bra, tweaking her nipple between his fingers. “Come for me, baby.” He pushed his chest against hers and let out a growl that vibrated through him. He knew she loved that sound. Loved the f
eel of his animal vibrate his chest.
The walls of her pussy started sucking in his fingers, drenching his hand as she came. She came hard and loud, and her hand squeezed him to a release that he’d been waiting for all day. A release that only she could give him.
Just as the engine cut off on Aaron’s truck, Teague gently pulled her from the counter and handed her the discarded pants. Reaching over, he ripped a few paper towels from the wrack and gave them to her to clean off her hand. When she looked at him and smiled, he pulled his fingers to his lips and sucked her passion from each of his fingers.
She bit her bottom lip and shook her pants at him. “Why am I putting these on? I thought I was being a bad and greedy girl who got to have like a billion orgasms.” She cleaned off her hands and then pulled up her pants. “I know you have my panties.”
“And I’m keeping them,” he said. “Your ex just pulled up. He’s just getting out of his car. Give me a minute. Going to go wash my hands. Can’t stand the thought of shaking his with you still on me.”
Yeah, he wanted to be downright disrespectful and present himself to Aaron with the scent of Riley on his hands, but he was a better man than that. Aaron sucked and deserved to have his ass handed to him, but not like this.
“Me first,” she said, running to the bathroom and quickly washing her hands, and when she came out Teague went in.
“I actually have to use it,” he said. He looked over in the direction of the front door and sighed in annoyance. “Won’t take me but a minute.”
Before he closed the door Riley flicked water at him from her still wet hands. “I can’t believe he’s here now, unannounced. I called him all morning trying to find out where the hell he was after he skipped the hearing. Apparently, he had something better to do.”
Riley watched as Teague gave her a sexy wink before he closed the door. That man would wring every ounce of energy she had from her body if she let him. And hell yeah, she would.
A hard knock sounded off at the door. She walked over to it and rolled her eyes before looking through the peephole. “What do you want, Aaron?”
“Open the door. We need to talk. It’s about Liv. And I know Teague is here.”
So what if he knew her man, her mate, was here. Bastard. Still trying to use Liv to weasel his way to her. She opened the door and considered making him stand on the porch while she stood inside, but it was too cold. She didn’t pay gas and electric to warm up the porch.
She stepped to the side and let him walk by her, and when he did she got a whiff of some new cologne he was wearing. Smelled like a forest. Woodsy. Assholey.
“You could have talked to me this morning about Liv at the courthouse. Just say what you have to say so you can— Oh my, God.” She got a good look at him and took a step back.
His chest was heaving and his clothes were disheveled. His red hair stuck up in patches as if he’d been running his fingers through them over and over. Aaron’s eyes were the worst. They glowed a shimmering blue and had black bleeding in from the sides. Heavy, dark bags framed those horrible eyes.
“Aaron. What did you do?” she asked, fear clogging in her throat.
Those were the same eyes that had looked in on her and Teague from the window at her shop. He’d been stalking them. He’d attacked Cass. When had he been turned?
“For you, Riley. I did this for you. For us. You don’t belong with Teague, no matter what he says.” He reached over, closed the door, and used his body to force her into the corner. Using one hand to caress her face, he reached the other behind him and pulled out a black .22 caliber handgun.
She took in a few quick breaths and closed her eyes, hating the feel of his burning hot skin near hers. “Teague,” she whispered, knowing he would hear her. Knowing he would sense her panic.
“I’m here, baby,” Teague said calmly, standing in the doorway across from them. “Aaron, kindly step the fuck away from my mate before I make you eat that worthless gun. If you’re a shifter then you can smell what I am. That gun won’t do a God-damned thing before I get to you. And if you do manage to hit me I’ll pull those bullets out of my body and shove them straight down your fucking throat.”
Riley looked on in horror as Aaron’s eyes bled from complete black orbs to bright shimmering, blue globes. Blue to black. Black to blue. “I came ready for you, Ghost.”
Riley’s head snapped to Teague. He was startled that Aaron knew what he was. And pissed. And scared, for her.
Aaron let off two shots, one in Teague’s leg and the other in his chest. The gun didn’t make a sound, and the only things that echoed through the room other than her forceful breaths were the hard puh puh of the bullets entering her mate’s body.
Two things happened in the span of only a few seconds: she looked at the gun again and saw that it was different from a normal .22 handgun. The muzzle was wider, and the barrel was fatter. Bullets with clear sparkling liquid sat elevated from the rear sight and notched down like a little mechanical squatting bird as Aaron pulled the trigger.
Faster than she ever thought she was capable of moving, Riley clasped her hands like she was about to hit a volleyball and knocked Aaron’s hand upward and to the left. Away from her mate. The bullets had already made their contact, but she wasn’t sure if Aaron would try to go for a head shot.
With one hand, Aaron shoved Riley to the side by her shoulder but his shifter strength knocked her across the room. Where would she land? On the glass table with the thick metal rods holding it up? Into her favorite spot in the living room, the bay window? No, she crashed into the sofa. Riley didn’t know if his aim was just that good or if she got lucky.
She landed on the soft cushions and then rolled onto the floor, but not before an explosion of pain rocketed through her arm. He’d broken or dislocated something when he hit her. Riley held her arm, and when she went to scream in pain Aaron pointed the gun at her.
“Scream and I will shoot him again. He’s not going to recover from these as fast as he thinks,” Aaron said, words and spittle dripping from his mouth.
Riley clamped her lips shut and moaned in pain. Partly because her arm hurt like a son of a bitch, but mostly because Teague was lying on the floor gripping his chest. Every few seconds his whole body would spasm and he’d let out a low snarl. He sounded like a wounded animal trying to figure out what happened.
“They’re getting ready for you Ghosts,” Aaron said, still pointing the gun at Riley but looking at Teague. “These bullets have Heaven’s Flame in them. You’re not going anywhere.”
Riley tried to sit up and pressed her lips together as another wave of pain took her over. “What did you do? Why did you get turned?”
He moved so fast Riley jumped back against the couch and gasped in surprise. One second he was standing near the front door and the next he was stooped down in front of her. “I did this for you. Baby, I don’t know why I cheat. I can’t help it. But I got turned so I could claim you as my mate and then I won’t want to cheat. We’ll be bound to each other. Just us. And Liv. I can make you happy again.”
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her temple. Riley fought the urge to pull away from him. She had to give Teague time to heal. He said he would, but as she glanced over at him she realized that he’d gone still. What the hell was Heaven’s Flame and how did Aaron have bullets full of it?
Blinded by her tears, she shook her head and tried to crawl to Teague. Aaron grabbed her by her chin and made her look at him, but oh God, his eyes were horrible.
She mustered up all the nerve she could to talk. “How did you find someone to turn you?”
It was damn near impossible to get a shifter to change you. Everyone who had half a brain and an interest in finding out knew that shifters were selective in who they turned. And Aaron didn’t even know any shifters well enough to get them to turn him.
He smiled, and Riley shrank back as his teeth started to grow and get sharper. Holy hell, he was going to bite her now.
Just befor
e he got close enough to put his disgusting mouth on her, he jerked back and started banging on his head with his fist. “No. No, no. She’s mine. You can fuck off,” he said to himself. “I’d never hurt you, Riley. You know that, don’t you?”
She used to think so. But now he seemed to be capable of anything to get what he wanted. He had someone turn him so he could be faithful to her.
“What’s happening?” she whispered, eyes wide and filled with tears.
He shook his head so fast he seemed pained. “I’m still learning my cougar. He wants to bite you. And bite you. And bite you,” he said through gritted teeth. “But I won’t let him hurt you. Just gimme a minute and I can do it. And then you’ll be mine.”
Riley held her arm, eyes moving from Aaron to Teague. From Teague to Aaron.
“Who did this to you?”
He smiled sweetly and almost looked like the deceitful man she’d married over eight years ago. Shaking the gun at Teague’s lifeless form he said, “They’ve been watching them. A whole clan of shifters, watching the Ghosts. Trying to make sure they don’t pair up. The Ghosts want to take over. I know he didn’t tell you that.”
“That’s not true—”
Aaron slammed his fist into the floor next to Riley’s hip. The hardwood splintered and a few shards stung her arm as they bounced upward and scratched her skin. She winced and tried to move away from him, but she couldn’t. Her back was already pushed as far into the unforgiving hard frame of the couch as she could go.
“Fucking lies, Riley.” He closed his eyes and a low snarl ran from his lips. “Miller, my friend who that bitch killed when she threw him into that fucking tree, he bit me. Said he saw when Teague knew you were his. Said he could see how much I loved you and he wanted me and you to be together. Told me how to claim you. Told me about the Rogues that were getting together to stop the Ghosts from all being complete. He had this gun. They have a bunch of guns like this one.”
