Cyrus pushed one finger inside of her, relieved to find her warm and ready. She moaned at his slight touch, and he smiled. It took so little to get Betsy excited. She was always so perfectly responsive.
“Like that, princess?” He found her clit and stroked it with two fingers until she vibrated against him.
“You’re cruel.” Her voice had lowered. “Getting me all excited and then leaving me to wait like this.”
Her hips pushed back against him, indicating her readiness for his entrance. He kissed her back, running his tongue on her skin. “You’re not the only one suffering, my love. But the longer we wait, the sweeter the reward. On your knees.”
She complied. “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You like to torment me.”
“Not true. Your every need is my privilege to fulfill.” He pushed deeply inside of her. She’d wanted him as far as he could get, so he swept in balls deep. She cried out. “Better?”
“Cyrus.” She gripped the headboard so tightly her knuckles appeared white. “Oh my god, you’re so deep inside of me.”
“That was the idea.” And if he could somehow manage to not embarrass himself by ending all of this too quickly, he’d consider himself a lucky man.
Nothing could be more perfect, and he wished he could spend eternity right where he was. But his body quivered, begging for release, for him to give both of them what they needed, and he’d be able to deny the need to move only for so long.
Still, if he could take a second, one moment to live within her, then he could bring the memory to surface whenever he was alone or unsure or bored.
“Cyrus.” She said his name again, and he knew he couldn’t wait any longer. His woman never needed to beg for her release.
He pumped in and out of her, pressing against her clit with every movement. Their bodies slapped together, the sounds of wet, hot sex mixing with his groans and the sound of her voice calling out his name.
Betsy threw her head back onto his shoulder and came, covering him with her juices. He held on for dear life as she milked him with her muscles until it was too much, until he had to release deep inside of her or he’d never breathe again.
Cyrus had never come so long or so hard—over and over again. He saw stars before his eyes, and his ears rang.
It took every ounce of strength he possessed not to collapse on top of her when he bit down on her shoulder. Would he ever stop doing that? He didn’t know, and for the first time, he didn’t care. Betsy liked it. Biting her every time worked for them, and he intended to stick with it.
“Love you.” She panted.
“Me too, princess, me too.” More than she would ever know.
Chapter Sixteen
Betsy groaned and grabbed her head. Light pushed its way through her sore lids and forced her to open them. The cold ground dug into the small of her back where her shirt had ridden up. She shivered and felt her head again while she tried to sit up. Her hand was covered in dried blood and so, from the residue on her fingers, was her head.
What the hell had happened? She stared left and then right, realizing for the first time that she had no idea where she was. Not one clue. Or why she was alone.
Her heart rate kicked up into a rapid gallop, which made her throbbing head only hurt worse. Okay. Okay. She had to get control of herself and figure out where she was and how she’d gotten there.
A big blank nothingness filled her brain. Had she blacked out somewhere? Had something happened? Why didn’t she know where she was or why she’d been bleeding?
Betsy sniffed the air. There were some things she did know. Her name. Cyrus’ name, he was her mate, and they were both, strangely enough, werewolves. She’d come to Montana to figure out what happened to her parents, what the truth was once and for all…
She caught her breath. Montana. That’s where she was, back in her home state. They’d gotten on an airplane and come here. Then what?
Betsy staggered a bit as she tried to get her feet to work. She felt drained, as though her body didn’t want to function. She rubbed her head again. Something obviously had occurred. And if she really dwelled on her current situation, it terrified her even more.
There was no way she should be alone on a country road somewhere in Montana. There was no way Cyrus would have allowed that to happen if he could have done anything to prevent it. She’d been alone, unconscious, on the side of the road with a gash in her head. Something terrible had happened. Tears poured out of her eyes, and she sniffed before pushing them away. She wasn’t going to be able to help anyone if she didn’t get herself under control and fast.
If he lived, Cyrus would do everything in his power to get to her, and if he didn’t, then the world was too horrible to contemplate and she couldn’t let her mind go there.
The first problem was that the last thing she could remember was going to bed in their rented house. Had something happened there? Had John attacked Cyrus and tried to take over the pack? She dismissed that thought and tried to ignore the constant throb of her head.
If John had attacked them in their bed, she wouldn’t be lost on the side of the road. That didn’t make sense. She growled and stuck her shaking hands in her pockets. Pockets! She had them. In fact, she was completely dressed. Black slacks, white turtleneck, and winter jacket. Gloves in her pockets She had not gone to bed dressed like this, so she must have gotten up and dressed at some point. But when? How? She was on the road. When had they left the hotel?
The plan had been to hit the road after breakfast and drive the hour to Destiny, Montana, the closest town to where she’d grown up. They’d go to her childhood home and assess the situation there before heading over to Nathan’s family’s compound. Cyrus’ plan had been less clear at that point. Or maybe he hadn’t told her everything, which was what she suspected from the way he went silent whenever she asked him about it.
He wouldn’t have wanted her to worry. Her mouth felt dry, and she felt around inside her coat until she pulled out a peppermint. She didn’t always carry them but she felt lucky they were still in there. Popping it in her mouth, she tried to figure out what to do next. There had to be a street sign at some point somewhere. Didn’t there? Could she be lost forever on this road?
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Betsy. You are a strong woman. You survived your childhood. You survived Nathan in New York. You became a werewolf and mated an Alpha. Extremists have attacked you. Certainly, you can handle walking down the road Just suck it up and stop being such a chicken.”
The sound of her own voice jarred her into action, and, even though the dizziness hadn’t gone anywhere, she walked faster. The sun’s position in the sky told her it was mid-day, but it wouldn’t stay that way long. If she didn’t make headway to somewhere habitable before nightfall, she’d really be screwed. Cold would only be part of the problem. Predators would be in the woods on the side of the road, and at night, she’d seem like a tasty morsel.
If only she could shift into her werewolf form on demand like her mate could. That sort of ability would be very useful.
But that was one of the reasons he was Alpha.
Okay. So something had happened since leaving the house and getting to Destiny. She either walked in the direction of Destiny or away from it. The latter might be preferable since she wasn’t exactly sure if she was ready to deal with Destiny on her own yet. What would she say to people? How would she keep her parents from being killed?
A car sped by her and slammed on its brakes. She darted backward, wondering if she should make a break for it into the woods. Not knowing what had happened left her feeling tremendously vulnerable.
Panic made her sloppy, and as she turned to flee, she slipped, hitting the pavement with a thud that jarred her bones and cut up her skin through her clothes. Damn it, what was wrong with her?
She pushed herself up. Somehow she had to run from whoever was in that vehicle….
The door to the car flew open, and a scent she recognized wafted out. Citrus. She took a deep breath and whirle
d around. Lake, her mate’s sister was the first to exit. Three werewolves—John, who shouted orders, Kirk, and Taylor followed. She didn’t know the other two very well, other than they had come on the trip, but she’d never been so happy to see four pack members in her life.
Lake reached her first and drew her into her arms. The Healer trembled against her. “Oh, Betsy, thank the moon.”
“Lake.” Her voice sounded hoarse, and suddenly her idea of keeping it together seemed pretty far-fetched. Tears swam in her eyes, and her vision blurred. “What happened? What is going on?”
The other woman pulled back to look at her. “Are you serious? You don’t know?”
“No. I woke up about half a mile back. Or maybe less. I don’t really know how far I walked.” Everything was so confused, jumbled, as though she’d never make sense of it again. How much time had gone by? She really didn’t know.
Lake shuddered. “I can feel your pain. You need to let me heal you, and then we’ll talk.”
Despite herself, Betsy laughed. “You mean you need my permission to do that?” She hadn’t when she’d taken her from latency to full-fledged were.
“I could see how you might think I don’t, but I’m turning over a new leaf, so to speak. I’m asking before I interfere. Can I make your head stop hurting?”
“Yes please.”
“Everything okay, Lake?” John’s voice interrupted the moment. “Where is the Alpha?”
“I don’t think she knows. Give us a minute.” Lake placed her hands on her head and a slow warmth spread inside of Betsy.
“You don’t know where Cyrus is?” Some of the warmth in her body dissipated. Where was he? What had happened? Why couldn’t she remember?
“Ssshh. It’s okay. We have a general idea of what happened. And we’re all going to work this out together.”
The heat picked back up again, and for a moment, she couldn’t keep her eyes opened. She knew it was ridiculous. She couldn’t be falling asleep standing on the side of the road, but it had to be something Lake was doing. Would the other woman let her fall? Right at that second, she really didn’t care. There was such peace in the warmth flowing through her.
Her eyes flew open, and Lake smiled. “Better?”
“Yes. Thanks, wow.” Even her muscles felt looser. Her body felt something akin to having gotten out of a hot bath.
“You’re welcome. Any memory return?”
Betsy bit her lip. “No, damn it. Shouldn’t that have helped?” What was wrong with her? Could someone have reached inside her brain and pulled out her memories for a whole chunk of time?
“Only if the loss was from the head trauma. I strongly suspect it was not, but I’m reaching in the dark here. I can only fix what ails you on the outside.”
“And this is not that?” She scratched her head. Did Lake think she’d become emotionally damaged in the hours since they’d arrived in Montana?
“I think it’s possible you had another blackout from fighting. Like the one you had in the bar.”
Betsy shook her head. “Cyrus said that would only happen once.”
“Some people take longer to adjust. Don’t forget, most of us have our first encounters with werewolf aggression as children. How do we really remember how many times we blanked out? Maybe we did it as babies. You’re a bit of a unique case. Even your sister hasn’t faced the same kind of endless battering since her shift that you have.”
Betsy let Lake’s words sink in. “Then I was in another fight.”
“It would seem that way. A few hours ago. We got left behind. Cyrus didn’t want to bring everyone with him in case something like this happened.” Lake nodded.
“The true believers, they somehow knew we were here and got to us?” She was going to string Nathan up by his toenails, assuming he was still alive after being left in Alexei’s gentle care for over twenty-four hours.
“We don’t think it was the true believers.” John stepped forward, holding out his phone. He handed it to her, and it took her a minute to realize what she was looking at. She and Cyrus were not yet communicating using cell phones. But it seemed that her mate had sent him a message.
It read: under attack by wolf pack with a set of directions. “We darted out to the car.”
“And all you found was me.” It wasn’t a question. If Cyrus had been around, he would have popped up by then.
“Betsy.” Lake leveled her eyes to hers. “Mated couples can sometimes tell. Not always. Jensen didn’t know Kyra was dead until he saw, but sometimes a mated couple can tell if one half of the pair is dead. Are you feeling anything?”
“What?” She didn’t mean to shout, but that was what she did. “No, nothing like that. Cyrus isn’t dead.” She would know deep inside of her where her heart beat if he was. Wouldn’t she?
“Okay. So then I’m going to suggest that we return to the house, hole up there, and wait for Cyrus to contact us. I trust my brother to get himself out of this situation.”
“No.” She spoke the word almost the second she thought it, instead of considering what she wanted to say, a usual occurrence for her, especially in this kind of uncertainty. “I have a different idea. I know exactly how we’re going to help him. Cyrus is in trouble. And I’m not going to leave him that way. Tell me, can you get Alexei on the phone?”
She hoped she wasn’t about to make a terrible mistake.
****
Nothing much had changed in Destiny, Montana, since she had left. She hadn’t expected it to be different. But it hadn’t been until they had driven through what amounted to the downtown with its one stop sign and white aluminum siding everywhere she looked that she realized how addicted she had become to New York City.
Some people might crave the solitude that living in Destiny provided. Betsy never would again. Her mind worked better with the constant noise of Manhattan instead of the oppressive buzzing silence of her small hometown.
They pulled up to the compound in silence. It really didn’t look like much of a compound but Betsy knew looks could be deceiving. The red brick building had one gate in front of it with a doorbell she was going to have to ring before she gained access to the people inside.
Behind the red house would be other buildings. She’d heard her father discuss this place. Although she couldn’t see the rest of it, she knew it was there.
“You sure you want to do this?” Lake chewed on her bottom lip. Cyrus’ sister was worried. Betsy could smell it in the way the other woman’s scent kept twisting in strength. One second it was light, the next almost overwhelming.
“Yes.” No. She hoped her own aroma didn’t betray how unsure she actually felt about this endeavor. She knew what Cyrus would want. He’d be ordering her back to the house and out of sight. But if her mate and the thirteen others had been taken by a wolf pack, then there was only one group she knew to ask for information.
The true believers.
And she had the one thing they wanted. Nathan.
“All right.” Betsy tried to open the door, and John stopped her, reaching around her to put his hand over hers.
“You can’t do this, Betsy. Not alone. The Alpha will kill me.”
She had finally gotten John to stop calling her ma’am. If the five of them were going to survive this, it was going to have to be on equal footing or not at all. When Cyrus returned, they could all scamper to be polite. For now, they could treat her like a woman about to step off a cliff with only them to keep her from plunging to her death. .
“Okay.” John made a good point. Cyrus would freak out if he found out the others had let her go into the compound alone. But she wouldn’t be responsible for getting any of them killed. “Then you come along. The rest of you, stay here with the car running.”
“Like bank robbers.” This from Kirk, who had an acerbic wit she’d come to like in the last few hours. He really knew how to lighten the mood.
“Hopefully we’ll be more successful than most bank robbers.” Otherwise, they’d be carting her ou
t of there in a body bag and even Lake’s considerable skills wouldn’t be enough to bring her back.
Cyrus would have to conduct another moon ceremony. She shuddered at the thought of her poor mate having to give her back to the moon as he wondered why she had been such a complete idiot and not gone back to the house.
She walked toward the entrance to the compound, and John grabbed her arm. “You can change your mind. We’ll go back. No one will think the less of you.”
Betsy looked down to where he held her arm. “I would think the less of me.” John let go of her, and she kept walking. “I’m not a coward, and even though you can smell my fear, I don’t want you to think I can’t do this. I can. That’s bravery, right? Doing things that frighten you.”
“Maybe for humans. We’re not often afraid. Why don’t you let me do this for you? I can handle it on my own.”
“John.” She let out her breath as she raised her hand to knock on the door. “Remember the part about not being a coward?”
“I can’t help wanting to spare you this. For my Alpha’s sake as well as your own.”
“Thanks for that.”
She thought about what he said. Werewolves were not often scared. That was probably true, at least not in physical situations. They were bigger, stronger, and faster than humans. Inside the other buildings she could hear someone walking toward the door. Someone, other than Nathan’s father, was going to answer the door, but maybe she should start off the way she intended to continue.
The skeptic in her, the part of her that had been born the day Nathan had dragged her off to save her from her sexuality and force her into marriage to save her parents, knew they were likely already on camera. Nathan’s father, Joe Jones, would already be aware she stood at the door. Alexei was on alert in Boston. He had Nathan’s cell phone. Nothing would happen on that end until he got the go from her.
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