“Don’t go!”
“I won’t be far, sweet Anya,” Teagan promised, leaning down to brush his lips over the top of her head. Then he was his cat again, purring into Anya’s hand, before dropping from the bed and making his way back to the corner to curl up, watching from afar.
Rikki smiled, knowing it was going to take time for the two of them to work things out, but the mate bond was a powerful thing. She knew they would work through everything, and they would be stronger for it.
“So,” she began, as she picked the water cup up to give Anya another drink, “back to this bear and his wolf.”
20
“Concentrate, Rikki.”
“I can’t do this,” Rikki snapped, standing in the middle of the barn in her underwear and nothing else. Sweat poured over her as she fought to keep her wolf contained. She was terrified that if she let her out again, she would try to kill someone this time.
“Call to your wolf,” Angel encouraged gently. “She’s right there waiting. I can feel her.”
“What if she tries to hurt someone again, Angel? With Jeremiah gone still, I’m afraid I won’t be able to control her.”
“You talk to Jeremiah almost every day,” Angel reminded her. “He’s fine and will be home soon. You know it, your wolf knows it. It’s been too long, Rikki. You need to let her out.”
“Where’s Chase?”
“He’s right outside.”
“He should be in here with me, dammit! He’s my alpha, and he should be here helping me.”
Angel paused, cocking an eyebrow. “You’ve accepted Chase as your alpha?”
“Well, yes.”
“Has your wolf?”
“Yes.”
“When did this happen?”
“When he almost kicked my ass when Cujo went crazy on everyone last time. It took a little while for it to sink in, but she must have finally decided that he is stronger than she is.”
“I think it is more that she realized he would protect you at all costs. I’ll be right back.” Angel left, but was back soon with Chase. “Okay, we are both here. Now, let her out, Rikki. I promise, it will be okay.”
Rikki groaned, her body vibrating in excitement and fear, then she closed her eyes and called to her wolf. She was there instantly, a soft brush against her skin, a rumble in her throat. Rikki felt her muscles begin to stretch, bones pop, but this time instead of fighting it, she merged fully with her wolf, instinctively knowing it would be better not to fight it. It took a few minutes, but finally she was standing in front of Chase and Angel on four paws, craning her head to look up at them.
Chase smiled, kneeling beside her. “How are you feeling, little wolf?”
Rikki cocked her head to the side. She was surprised to find out that the rage and anger inside her were gone. Without them, she felt… good. Great. When Chase ran a hand gently over her fur, Rikki leaned into him with a sigh. The feelings of trust and belonging that hadn’t been there before were out full force now. She trusted the man running his fingers through her fur. Knew he would watch over her, protect her from all else. There was a bond between them, different from the one that connected her to her mate, but it was there. She could feel it. And there were others. Pack. Lifting her head, she howled loudly. Chase chuckled, patting her neck before standing. When he rose and stepped away, she howled again. Then, she paused when a scent drifted into the barn, tickling her nose. Not just any scent… the scent of her mate.
Rikki raced to the door, scratching at it and whining until Angel opened it with a laugh. She knew she could have shifted and gone to meet Jeremiah, but her wolf wanted to play, and so did she. She paused right outside the barn, her eyes on the man who stood just a few yards away. Damn, he was gorgeous. He was talking to Nico and Phoenix, but she knew the second he realized she was there. He turned to her and grinned. Jeremiah held out a hand, but she shook her head. When his eyes narrowed, she threw her head back and howled loudly, almost as if in challenge. Then, she turned and ran.
Jeremiah stripped quickly, ignoring the jeering calls of the others. If his wolf wanted him to chase her, he was going to chase her. The thought of what he was going to do when he caught her had him leaping forward, shifting in midair. He heard someone mutter, “Holy shit!” as he came down on all four large paws, but he ignored them. The only thing on his mind now was his mate. The hunt was on.
Rikki was fast, and it took Jeremiah a good twenty minutes before he finally caught up with her. He lumbered through the forest behind Angel’s farm, lifting his head and inhaling deeply. Her sweet scent poured into him, and a low rumble started in his chest. She was so close he could fucking taste it. He wanted her, had missed her so much. Needed to be balls deep inside her.
It was by chance that he saw her tail rising up behind a fallen log, and then he saw her peeking over the top of it mischievously. He growled in warning, a warning she didn’t heed. She was off like a streak of lightning, with him right behind her. They played like that for another fifteen minutes or so, but then he’d had enough. He couldn’t wait any longer. When she stood less than twenty feet away from him, dancing around lightly on her feet, Jeremiah shifted. “Baby, your wolf is so beautiful, but I need you now. Please, come back to me. I’ve missed you so fucking much.”
As he watched, the wolf paused, cocking her head to the side, and then Rikki stood where the wolf had been. “I missed you, too,” she breathed.
Jeremiah quickly closed the distance between them, sinking his hands into the thick strands of her hair. Tilting her head back, he covered her mouth with his. He deepened the kiss when she moaned, sliding his tongue inside her mouth and tangling it with hers. Holding her still, he ravaged her mouth, taking all she was willing to give.
Rikki pressed her body against his, scraping her nails down his back. Jeremiah groaned, shuddering at the small bite of pain. Pulling back, he nipped at her lips hungrily, stroking over them with his tongue afterwards. “Rikki,” he groaned against her mouth. “I don’t think I can be gentle.”
“Did I ask you to be?” she snarled, raking her nails down his back again, this time running them all the way down over his ass. “I want you, Jeremiah. Deep inside me, where you belong. I need to feel you. Now.”
“I fucking love you,” he growled, sliding his hands below the curve of her ass to lift her in the air. Turning, he placed her back against the tree trunk next to him. “Tell me if it hurts.”
“Just get inside of me.”
He grinned at her order, then shifted her higher, sliding the tip of his cock into her wet heat. He paused, a shudder running through him as the walls of her hot sheath tightened around him. “You feel so good,” he rasped. “So tight. Hot. Mine.”
“Jeremiah!” Rikki wrapped her legs around his waist, her hands going to his shoulders, nails digging in as she held on. “Show me!”
“What?” He loved the little moans that slid out of her as he began to move, a slow deep thrust, and then back out.
“Show me that I’m yours,” she demanded.
Her deep brown eyes began to glow with a slight golden tint, and the tips of her fangs showed past her lips. It drove him wild.
“You are mine,” he snarled, grasping her hips tightly as he pushed into her. “Now. Forever. Always.”
“Yes!” Rikki cried, her eyes going to his shoulder where her mate mark was as he began to pound into her. “Yours!”
Letting his fangs drop, Jeremiah lowered his head to her shoulder, licking at his own mate mark.
“Please, Jeremiah!”
He didn’t make her wait. Opening his mouth wide, he sank his fangs in deep, groaning when he felt her shatter around him. So fucking hot and wet, and all his. Then, her teeth were in him, and he let out a roar as he lost control, spilling inside her.
Jeremiah rode out his orgasm, holding his mate close, his teeth still deep in her skin. He needed this so badly. The last couple of weeks without her had been hell. That was the last time he was leaving her for any long length
of time. It was too much for him, too much for his bear.
“I love you, Jeremiah.” Her words were a soft whisper against his skin, as she licked over the mating bite. “So much.”
Slowly, reluctantly, he removed his fangs and ran his tongue over her soft skin to help the bite heal faster. “I love you, too, little wolf.”
Rikki hesitated before asking, “Do you have to go back?”
“No, baby,” he said quietly, slipping out of her and lowering her down on her feet. Gently, he wiped the small pieces of bark from her back. “My time with the bureau is over. I’m here for good.”
“Is it wrong that I’m happy about that?”
“Why would it be?” he asked, looking down at her in surprise. “I am.”
Rikki shrugged, ducking her head shyly. “We never really talked about what we were going to do. Where we would live. I know you have a life where you were before. Family, friends. I don’t want to take you away from everyone and everything you know.”
Jeremiah cupped her face in his hands, tilting her head up until he was looking into her beautiful, expressive eyes. “You are all that I need, Rikki Diamond.”
“But your family? Family is important.”
“Yes, they are, but mine doesn’t live near me. My family is large and spread out all over the United States. Trust me, they don’t care where I live as long as I visit sometimes. As for friends,” he shrugged, “I never had time to make any close friends. My work was my life. Now, you are.”
Rikki watched him closely, as if gauging the truth of his words, and then a large grin spread across her face. “You’re mine, too, Jeremiah.”
Sliding an arm around her waist, Jeremiah tugged on her to get her moving, and they started to make their way back toward the farm. “I thought I might talk to Chase about that job offer he had.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’d like to be out there helping people again, Rikki. Being behind a desk, that’s not me.”
“No,” she agreed, smiling up at him. “It’s not.”
Jeremiah stopped walking, his full attention on the woman who was looking at him with pure love shining in her eyes. “You are my everything, Rikki. I hope you can deal with that. I will try not to be too overly protective, but it’s in my nature. I’m not sure how much I can hold back.”
Rikki placed a hand on his chest, then leaned up and nipped at his chin. “I want to be your everything.”
Jeremiah growled, covering her lips with his. Soon, he was lowering her to the ground and slipping back inside her. Moving slowly, making love, showing her what she meant to him.
21
Rikki was surprised to see Jinx at the farm when they returned. She slipped back into the barn in her wolf form, shifting quickly and putting her clothes on. She was back moments later, sliding under her mate’s arm, a slight blush of color on her cheeks. They would all know what she and Jeremiah had been doing. Would be able to smell it on them. She didn’t care. The man at her side was hers. That’s all that mattered.
“Rikki, Jinx is actually here to see you.” When she glanced over at Angel in surprise, she said, “He brought something of Amber’s with him. He’s hoping you can use your gift to figure out where she might be.”
Amber. The General’s daughter. According to everyone, she was good, kind, and sweet. Everything his other daughters weren’t. Rikki found that hard to believe, but if it was true, if Amber had done all of the things she’d done for the people Rikki cared about out of the kindness of her heart, then she deserved to be rescued. You couldn’t help what family you were born into, and if Amber was the saint everyone made her out to be, Rikki couldn’t imagine the hell she was going through right now.
Stiffening, Rikki clasped her gloved hands tightly together in front of her before nodding slowly. “I can try.” She hadn’t tried to read anything since she woke from her five-month beauty nap, and really didn’t want to now. Her ability was unpredictable. She never knew where it was going to take her, but she would do this for the woman who had helped so many others.
“We need to wait for Bane. He should be here soon.”
“Bane?”
“She’s his mate,” Angel said softly.
Rikki’s eyes widened, and suddenly, what she was about to do seemed that much more daunting. She knew what it was like, having her mate out there somewhere, not knowing where. Not knowing if he was alive or dead. If he was in pain or suffering. She had gone through that hell herself and didn’t wish it on anyone. “I didn’t know.”
“He’s not taking it well,” Angel admitted, her gaze going to the road. A large pickup was making its way toward them at a high, almost reckless speed. “He’s stuck between accepting her as his, and wishing she wasn’t because of who she is.”
“She can’t help that,” Rikki argued, moving closer to her mate.
“I agree, but that doesn’t make it any easier on Bane.”
Rikki nodded, leaning her head against Jeremiah’s shoulder. Hadn’t she just been thinking along those same lines? That she didn’t know how she could trust someone related to that bastard, the General? Why did finding out Amber belonged to Bane make things different? She didn’t know for sure, but it did.
“I think you will find things have changed, somewhat,” Jinx said, leaning up against the side of a small, all black, sleek two-door car. Was that a Porsche? Where the hell did Jinx get his toys?
“In what way?” Angel asked, as the truck came to a screeching halt a few feet from them. Bane jumped out of the driver’s seat, stalking toward them, his face in a dark and dangerous scowl.
“He knows he can’t run from the inevitable.”
“I told you to stay the fuck out of my head, nephew,” Bane growled, glaring at him.
Jinx just grinned. “About time you woke the hell up.”
“Let’s do this,” Sapphire interrupted. “I’ve been getting flashes of something over the past couple of days. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think it’s Amber, and I think she’s in trouble.”
“Flashes?” Rikki asked in confusion. Angel had filled her in on a lot that had gone on over the past few months, but it was obvious she’d left a few things out. There’d been so much, Rikki didn’t blame her.
“Visions,” Sapphire told her. “Normally, I see more clearly in them, but this one is blurry. Fuzzy. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Maybe Amber’s future isn’t destined just yet?” Angel suggested. “Futures can alter, change, with each new development in life.”
“True.”
“I’m ready,” Rikki told them, removing her gloves and handing them to Jeremiah.
“Do you need anything from me?” he asked, encircling her waist with his arm and pulling her close protectively.
“Just what you are doing.” Rikki smiled up at him, tilting her head up for his kiss, before looking back at Jinx. Holding out her hand, she waited while he unwrapped a small wooden carving of a wolf painted black, his eyes a deep brown. He was standing proudly on all fours, his nose pointed in the air, mouth open in a silent howl.
“Wow,” Angel whispered, reaching for it, but stopping right before she touched it. Rikki knew it was for her benefit. The more people who handled the wolf, the harder it would be for her to catch a vision. Jinx seemed to understand that, too, because he only allowed the piece of cloth he held to touch it, nothing else. “It’s magnificent.”
“Amber made it,” Jinx told them, holding it up for them to see. Turning it over, he showed them the small patch of white on its stomach, and the white circle on the pad of one paw.
“It’s my brother,” Sapphire breathed in awe, taking a step closer. When she reached out to touch the wolf, Jinx swiftly pulled it back.
“Yes,” Jinx agreed. “It’s Bane. Only Amber has worked with this wood. It’s had no other touch except hers. Her energy is surrounding it. It’s best it stays that way for now, until Rikki does her thing. Too many different energy vibes will throw her off.”
“Let’s just say, Amber has a few gifts herself.”
“She kept them hidden from the General, didn’t she?”
Jinx nodded to Angel. “For the most part. She pretended to be less than she was, so she would be in a better position to help those in need.”
A low growl built in Bane’s throat. “My mate is not less than anyone.”
A slow grin spread across Jinx’s face, and he nodded. “Glad that you can finally see that, Uncle.” Bane’s eyes narrowed on him, but he didn’t respond.
“Give it to me,” Rikki said, pulling from Jeremiah’s arms. It felt as if something were pushing her. The small wolf figure was beckoning, the energy around it pulsing, calling to her. Jinx held it out, and her fingers closed around it, clutching it tightly in her hand.
Immediately, she was swamped with several different emotions that brought her to her knees. Rikki heard Sapphire cry out, but she ignored her, concentrating on the emotions. Pain, sorrow, helplessness, guilt, fear. It was so much, almost too much. Crippling. She felt strong arms engulf her from behind, holding her against a wide chest, and breathed in the scent of her mate. It calmed her. Steadied her. Made it so she could stay connected to whatever was happening and continue down the path it was taking her.
* * *
There was a small flash of pain, and then she was in a place that was similar to a dungeon. It was as if she were watching from above, staring down in horror at the scene below her. A young girl, no more than ten, with long, blonde hair that touched her waist, and large brown eyes with a hint of gold stood beside a man who looked as if he’d been beaten almost to death. He was growling at her, his large teeth threatening to bite into her. She flinched, but stood stubbornly in front of him. As Rikki watched, the girl moved closer, holding out a piece of bread. The man grabbed her wrist, and the child cried out in pain, but didn’t fight.
Rikki's Awakening Page 13
