Dark Limits: Alpha Brotherhood MC

by Evelyn Glass

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Dawn?”

  He sounded so far away, and she reached into the air in search of his hand. She just caught hold of his fingers. Her eyelids fluttered as her head pounded, and Dawn started to sit up when everything felt fuzzy, and she fell back to the pillows.

  “Easy,” he soothed. “I’m right here.”

  She slowly focused on the dim room and the comfort of the soft sheets against her back. In the distance, Dawn could hear glass moving against the floor and a few stray voices calling for bandages and the need to stop the bleeding.

  “Lenny!” she cried as she sat up. “Is he—?”

  “Holding his own,” Cade said. “On account of Gloria.”

  He ran his hand down her face and pressed his brow to hers as he spoke softly. “You were never supposed to get hurt,” he said. “If you’d just waited.”

  “Or should I have left?” she asked as her mind continued to clear. “Which way do you want it?”

  “I want you here,” he said. “I should have held you back with the others.”

  “Tell me… just tell me that no one has died,” Dawn said. “At least none of—”

  “George is just nicked,” Cade said. “Lenny’s good. And Brian…”

  The pain from the fall rang fresh as she fell into his chest and felt his hands working their way through her hair.

  “He’s off,” Cade said. “Along with most of the crew. But I… I…” He pressed his fingers under her chin and pushed his lips close to hers when he turned his head and smiled softly. “You had it right all along,” he said. “Can’t ever leave you.”

  Their eyes locked, and she kissed him for a second before pushing back. Dawn arched her back as she felt her body for the bruises and massaged the bridge of her nose.

  “I feel like shit,” she said.

  “Still look good me.”

  “That’s sweet of you the say.”

  “And it’s the truth,” Cade continued. “Don’t want either one of us to hurt now.”

  Folding her into his arms, Cade held her close and sighed into her matted hair. Dawn accepted his embrace, and she sighed into his chest before lifting her eyes to his icy pools.

  “I don’t hurt with you, Cade,” she said. “Just don’t… please don’t try to send me away again.”

  “Like you’d even listen if I told you.”

  “Say it, Cade. I need to hear it.”

  He fixed his jaw and just nodded his head before kissing her hair and folding her into his arms. “Don’t leave, Dawn. I don’t… I don’t know what’s going down next. But you were right about one thing.”

  “And what’s that?” she asked.

  He set her back in the bed and stretched the entire length of his body to her side, as he curled her short hair around his fingers and smiled.

  “We’re stronger if we stay like this.”

  Dawn had no idea what was coming next, but she felt safe and sure in his arms. The way ahead was bound to be dark and bathed in even more blood.

  “Yes, Cade,” she said. “Us together is the total story.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Even as her head was still swimming, Dawn eased her body atop his, and she lightly touched her hand to his cheek. Cade turned his face into her flesh, his lips grazing the tips of her nails as he wound his arm around her waist.

  “Someone’s feeling better,” he said, his voice a gentle taunt as he stroked her hair.

  “With you, always,” she said. “And now that you’re not pushing me away…”

  He paused in his pursuit and stared intently into her eyes. For a brief second, Dawn feared that she had it the wrong way around, that he was bound to go back into macho mode and rattle off all the reasons that she should still be on her way. Her heart began to her burn her chest, and she clenched her teeth, ready to meet and match whatever he might say.

  “That was the wrong call,” he assured her. “I won’t go down that road again.”

  “Even if I don’t lean into the turns?” she asked.

  “Even if you crash and burn,” he promised. “I swear I’ll catch you. But…”

  Dawn sighed as he traced the line of her lips, and she returned his kiss as he craned closer to her ear.

  “But I’m not going to let you fall, Dawn.”

  Smiling, her soul grew lighter, and Dawn trailed her lips down his neck. Resting her head and listening to the sound of his pounding heart, she savored the feel of his hands smoothing their way through her hair and down her back, and she started to push up his shirt in search of his bare flesh. Cade’s taut pecs glistened under her eyes, and she pressed her lips to his hard muscles. His slight sheen of sweat bathed her flushed face, and Dawn slowly brought her gaze back to his eyes.

  “So we’re on the same page,” she said, as she rounded her eyebrows.

  “Still thinking of writing it all down?” Cade asked.

  The possibility whirled around in her mind. Someday. When the danger was done. But not now. Not yet.

  “I’m thinking of something else right now,” she said.

  Bowing her head, she pushed her lips into his chest and surrounded his body with what seemed like a million kisses in the space of a single breath. Coming up for air, she moaned as he unbuttoned her shirt. Dawn wriggled her arms out of the flannel, eager for his touch against her sides when he flinched and closed his eyes.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Bruised,” he said, as his palm patted his discolored skin. As tender as he was, he still winced, and Cade curled his hand under her chin. “You fell hard. Sure you’re up to this?”

  “I know what I can handle,” Dawn said. “What I want. Right here.”

  Grabbing his wrist, she held his hand to her side and swirled into the heat of his hold as her head fell to his shoulder.

  “Return the favor,” she whispered. “Let me see all of you.”

  He stripped off his shirt, and she moaned without words as soon she had him under her eyes. Her kisses grew fiercer as their hands moved in unison. Searching and finding the contour of each curve, her hands stopped short of his fly when she suddenly longed for more.

  “Jesus!” Cade screamed out. “What the hell was that?”

  Without thinking, her teeth had flashed, and she bit down on his smooth lines. Dawn drew no blood, but she still felt some of his essence swirling down her throat when he eased her back to the bed and pushed down on her firm shoulders.

  “Call it a love bite,” Dawn said with a wink. “I just…I want more of you. All of you.”

  Cade palmed her cheek, his strength keeping her pinned just beneath his body, as he ran his tongue over his teeth and finally flashed a playful smirk.

  “Just remember who you’re with,” he teased. “If anyone gets to bite down, it’s me.”

  Feeling no fear as he spoke the words, Dawn reached for his face, and she took hold of it as she nodded against the sheets.

  “I’m right here, Cade,” she said. “All yours. Have at it.”

  Dawn sensed the tension leaving his body, as he smiled, and she waited for the full treatment when he perched above her and brushed a stray strand of hair from her watering eyes.

  “Happy to oblige, Dawn.”

  Burying his head in her breasts, Dawn moved into his moan, and she waited with baited breath as his teeth started to tease her nipples. Every sharp moment of contact followed by the lure of his lips around her mounds begged her to arch her body closer to him. Cade kept claiming her soft flesh, and Dawn felt sure that she would melt into him, sink under his skin. With that there would be no way out.

  But Dawn had no desire to flee.

  “Cade, I…I want…”

  “I know,” he purred. “And I know that you can take it.”

  He continued to mind her bruises, but every time he found her uninjured flesh, he kissed her harder, letting his teeth probe to the point of consuming her. Dawn wrapped her legs around his waist, and she felt his cock, hard and wanting,
against her thigh. When she summoned the strength to sit up, she claimed his mouth and clutched at his hair.

  “More,” she pleaded. “All of it.”

  Cade peeled off his jeans, and he set her back on the bed as he undressed her quickly. As soon as he had her unveiled, he rested his fingers between her legs and fell into her hair.

  “All of you,” he said. “That’s what we both want.”

  Without warning or another word, he pulled her to his cock. Dawn felt him pushing closer, his body growing harder as her pussy tightened around his shaft and hummed. She reached for his face and grew stunned when he held her wrists over her head.

  “Just feel me here,” he said, as he started to grind against her quivering hips. Cade’s hands slowly fell down her sides, but he stopped short of touching her as she followed his demand and focused on his throbbing cock. His cock moved deeper into her, and her pussy turned with each pulse. As much as she longed to bring her hands back to his chest, his hair, she grew content in his lunges. Lifting her hips closer to his, Dawn felt as if she was on the precipice of his explosion, but again he stopped.

  And he touched his hand to her cheek.

  “Dawn?”

  “Cade, I…I want you to—”

  “Dawn.”

  Blinking back her wanting tears, Dawn narrowed her gaze to his eyes, and her breath heaved in her chest when he seized her breast and turned his finger around her hard nipple.

  “Do you want to touch me?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she said, nodding as she forced the words from her throat.

  “Then whatever you want,” he said. “Right here.”

  He pressed her hand to his heart, and she raked her nails down his chest. The contact consoled her even as she waited for him to take her, and her legs grew tighter around his when he kissed her shoulders and hovered over her mouth.

  “And here, Dawn?”

  Needing to enter him in some way, Dawn glided her tongue around his. She mingled with his kiss, as Cade held her closer and cradled her head with the back of his hand. Dawn fought past her frustration, feeling almost content when Cade pressed his fingers under her chin.

  “Cade, I—”

  “This is how it goes down,” he started. “In here, you can be in charge. Do you want that?”

  She nodded quickly, and Cade’s body went limp. Seizing the chance, she pushed him deeper into the bed and started to ride him. He moved inside her again, and Dawn breathed hard as she kept her hand on his heart. However, his cock became her entire world. Rocking against him, her teeth threatening to slice into her tongue and draw blood, she parted her lips in a grateful moan when his lust let loose and pooled inside her, around her, under her skin. Her knees dug deeper into the bed, and she pinched at his chest and leaned forward to kiss him again. Anything to prolong the contact and savor his release. Somehow she stretched the moment to an impossible point, but when she was consumed by his flood, Dawn reluctantly fell into his chest and simply held him close. Cade’s arms swirled around her spent body, and his kiss was sweet as his whisper slipped into her ear.

  “Same here, Dawn,” he said. “But when we’re out there…with the others…you have got to let me take the lead.”

  Cade stayed inside her as he caressed her hair, and she slowly moved her head to meet his eyes.

  “So you can send me way again?” she asked in a weak whisper. “I thought we were past that.”

  “We are,” he assured her. “Let me show you.” His kiss brimmed with passion, as he lifted her into his arms, and she clung to him. Sighing in despair as his cock left her cunt, Dawn was assuaged by his hold, and she sank into the feel of his hands on her face as he peered at her, hard. “But you don’t know what comes next.”

  “And you do?” she asked.

  “Think I have a damn good idea,” Cade said. “So you need to trust me. I won’t let you go. But you just—”

  “Cade, it’s okay.” Dawn felt her desire cooling as she remembered how he had lost his parents. What danger could be worse? Unsure if she was up to the task but knowing that she wanted to stay at his side, she stroked his face and softly kissed his hair. “Then I won’t go,” she said. “And I’ll…I’ll try to listen.”

  Cade tilted his head against the pillow, and he calmed the worry in his stare with a soft smile and tried to smooth the tension from his face.

  “Come on,” she started. “From me, that’s like everything.”

  Smiling as he folded her into his arms, Cade nodded against her and kissed her brow.

  “Suppose so,” he said. “Now what would make you even go that far?”

  Her mind briefly ran over all the ways that this was wrong and the fact that no man had the right to make demands on her. However, he was far from just any man, and Dawn started to tell him what had shifted and why she felt changed in his arms when a commotion from the other room filled the air.

  “What the…?”

  Cade tensed, and he started to pull away from the bed, hiking up his jeans as he flew towards the door.

  “Cade! Hold up!”

  Dawn dressed just as quickly, even as her fingers fumbled around her buttons. Cade appeared ready to keep her hidden when she stretched up and grabbed his arm.

  “I said I’d let you take the lead,” she reminded him. “But you don’t even dare think about leaving me behind.”

  He seemed to bristle under her words, but he grunted as he took her hand and held her fingers tight.

  “Then follow me, Dawn.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Stepping back into the breach, Dawn tried to focus on the signs of chaos denied. Overturned furniture appeared righted, and the blood was already drying against the walls. The burly man whose bleeding cheek had stained her clothes held a dirty towel to his face and nursed an icy beer. A bandana had worked its way around George’s battered arm. But to just look at him suggested that the end was at hand. No Panthers were seen in the clubhouse, and maybe there was a chance for all of them to work their way out of this mess.

  Then there was one glance at Nicole. The gun in her hand brought everything back to the darkest place, and she clung to Cade’s arm, feeling him fighting to stay still as the redhead aimed the metal between his eyes.

  “Cade’s skirt had a point,” she said. Dawn barely had a chance to bask in the compliment when Brian tossed his head back with a wicked laugh.

  “Not like I got a chance to taste it,” he said. “Bet it ain’t all that sweet.”

  Now Cade started to lurch away from her, and Dawn fought to remember her promise as she let him move forward with tightened fists.

  “Talk to what’s yours,” Cade said. Brian seethed, and Dawn sensed him ready to rip his so-called brother apart with his bare hands when Nicole cocked the trigger of her gun and sniffed the air.

  “Save the pissing contest for later,” she hissed. “And you better hope to hell that Lenny comes out of this in one piece.”

  Brian started to smirk when he swallowed the mockery back to the base of his throat. Whatever else she had endured, Nicole’s mind seemed clear, her hand steady, as she looked around the room. As soon as she saw Dawn, Dawn tried to read her gaze. Derision mingled with a kind of admiration, and Nicole kept the gun drawn as she advanced towards Cade.

  “Nicole?”

  Cade hid her behind his back, and Dawn fought to remember her promise, her touch tight around his arms as he jutted out his chin and pressed his palm to the tip of the barrel.

  “We’re not the enemy here,” Cade insisted. “Nicole, you…you know that.”

  Wanting her to believe that, to remember that, Dawn peered through the crook of Cade’s arm.

  Let her hear him. Let her understand that.

  “Maybe,” she started. “All bets are off if Lenny doesn’t pull through,” she said. “But since the healer or whatever the hell she is likes working her magic fingers, you got a few minutes to plead your case.”

  Cade appeared ready to take the chance, and he glare
d at Brian as he kept Dawn close.

  “Girl didn’t want no bullet in her man,” Nicole said. “I get that.”

  Her eyes brimmed as she held court, and when her brother tried to step in to stop her, she took aim at his head, seeming not to care that they were bound by blood and times gone by. The sight of Reese shrinking back all but confirmed that their father had backed the wrong horse, but Dawn’s body still tensed when Nicole had her in her crosshairs once again.