Suddenly, a cool touch against one of the deeper bites on his shoulder brought him back to himself. He looked down inquisitively, furrowing his eyebrows as he saw Bo gently wiping at the crusted blood with a damp washcloth.
“You know,” Bo said softly, “you can stay here for as long as you want. I mean, we’re mates. So...you can stay. Because we’re supposed to be together now, right? We’ll be together forever, so maybe you should go ahead and tell me what happened to you.”
“I don’t think so, omega.”
No way in hell was he, the pack leader—former pack leader, now—going to trust his secrets to a stranger. Even if he did owe him, that still wasn’t going to happen.
Bo just shrugged. “Okay. But, that really doesn’t matter as much to me as you might think. I’d like to know, but we can’t be mates and keep secrets from each other for too long. It’s going to come out eventually, so maybe you should just get it over with.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so.”
“Okay. Then maybe you should just at least pretend to be cooperative for now.”
Ryker wanted to snarl but he was much too tired, even after having slept the whole night without waking even once. His whole body was stiff and sore as hell, and he could hardly move. The only parts of him that felt good at all were those that Bo touched, or where the cool cloth touched.
I’m not actually cooperating. I’m only pretending.
He repeated that to himself like a mantra, pretending that it was actually true. He sat there like something tamed instead of a terrible wolf beast, eyes half-closed at the unfamiliar sense of being taken care of. As the minutes went on, it almost seemed to become easier.
When all his injuries were cleaned, Bo fetched a tube of thick, pungent ointment that he spread liberally over what felt like Ryker’s whole entire body. The situation was decidedly unsexy, but he was being rubbed over and over with soft hands, and his erection absolutely refused to go down.
Maybe he wasn’t ready for full sex, but if he just grabbed the omega’s head and forced it down...
As if Bo sensed his intentions, the omega hurried up his work, applying new gauze and bandages before taking a small step back to admire his handiwork. “Depending on how you look tonight, I might be able to let you take an actual shower tomorrow. That’s if it won’t hurt your wounds.”
“You going to supervise me?”
“No,” Bo replied drily. “I’ll just know when you come out and start bleeding all over the place.”
Unable to help himself, Ryker huffed a laugh. He did have to admit; a shower would be nice. Musk was a main component of any alpha’s scent but there were certain kinds of muskiness that just weren’t desirable.
“What do you want for breakfast?”
“Meat,” Ryker replied simply.
Bo rolled his eyes. “Well, you aren’t getting mine. I’ll see what’s in the freezer.”
I wasn’t even trying to make that joke, Ryker mused. When the other left the room, he finally allowed himself to laugh, although he made sure to hide it behind his hand so it wasn’t audible enough to be heard.
Then, groaning, he heaved himself onto his feet and took tiny, mincing little steps out of the bedroom, down the hall, and back into the living room. Now that it was day, he was more aware of his surroundings. The décor was minimalist and a little feminine, with various plants in pots scattered across every available surface; Ryker recognized ivy but nothing much else. The prevalence of plant life felt oddly out of place in such a grey and drab city.
“There’s an electric blanket on the armchair,” Bo called out, voice faintly muffled from having his head shoved in the freezer. “Turn it on and put your feet up. The heat will help your stiffness.”
Ryker was glad to do just that. The moment the blanket started heating up, he felt a great deal better.
The kitchen was connected to the living room, and the entire area was tight and compact. The fridge butted right up against the oven, which met the sink and then a thin corner of counter space.
Half-shutting his eyes to bask in the warmth of the blanket, Ryker watched the omega move about the kitchen. Strange as he was, he apparently still had an omega’s innate ability to cook. He worked swiftly and almost effortlessly, flipping pancakes and frying up a liberal amount of sausage.
“Any fruit?” Bo called over.
“Orange juice. And coffee.”
“Coffee isn’t a fruit,” Bo said lightly. “Besides, caffeine isn’t really good for you. It could dull the effect of the aspirin.” Their eyes met, clashing together, and the omega gave in. “Coffee it is, then.”
Ryker continued watching for a moment before curiosity finally got the best of him. As disinterested as he wanted to appear to be, he couldn’t deny his own burning need to know about his new mate. Besides, just because he wouldn’t give out his secrets didn’t mean he wouldn’t force Bo to spill his own.
“How did you even get to be a paramedic?” he mused. “Even with all that jabber you’ve fed me about having a modern family...”
“You’ll have to meet them sometime,” Bo said over the sound of sizzling meat. Ryker groaned. “And in any case, I’m an EMT-I. Not a paramedic.”
“And there’s a difference?” he grunted.
“There is,” Bo replied shortly, and Ryker figured that meant he had been asked that question a lot. “A paramedic has a lot more official training. EMTs are typically volunteers. Minimal training. Even an EMT-I like myself, who’s done more training to get to the next level...I’m pretty limited in what I can actually do to help out.”
Ryker grunted. He guessed that was interesting. “So why are you even allowed out there at all? No offense,” he added grudgingly.
“None taken,” Bo replied, turning off the stove now and reaching up to one of the cabinets to take out two plates. “Most of the calls we get aren’t so urgently life-threatening. I can give CPR and perform basic things like giving out shots or bandaging wounds. And I’m a nice guy who can sit with...well...survivors, or the less injured. Keep them calm. It’s not always about saving lives, but it is about making an impact on lives.”
Bo stepped away from the stove with a full plate dripping with syrup. In his other hand, he had a tall glass of orange juice, while a mug dangled from his pinky.
“Thanks,” Ryker grunted. The food looked great, and it filled him with a strange sense of wonder for some reason that he didn’t really want to name yet. The strangeness of their roles being flipped around like this, with the alpha being taken care of by the omega, was definitely something that would take a lot more getting used to.
The food was good, though. At least there was that. In fact, it really did taste like it had been as effortless to make as it was to watch it be made.
While shoveling food in his mouth, he watched Bo eat with a daintiness that should have been surprising but really wasn’t. Everything Bo did was calculated and calm.
For the first time, Ryker felt a glow of something like admiration forming in his chest.
When they were both done eating, Bo took their empty plates to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of aspirin. He shook out three and held them out on his open palm. “Take these.”
“Is that all I get?”
“Does the itty bitty puppy baby need more?”
Snarling, Ryker held out his hand for the pills and then knocked them back with a gulp of orange juice.
Bo cleared his throat awkwardly and then took a step back. “I really want to spend some time with you, but I have another shift coming up in a few hours. I need to take a shower and get ready to go.”
Ryker shook his head, amazed. “And you’re going to let me stay in your house while you go off and work for twelve hours?”
“Why not?” Bo tossed over his shoulder. “We’re mates, aren’t we?”
Slumping back in the chair, Ryker sighed. Mates. They were mates. What did he know about having a mate, besides using them for sex? Sure, there had been mated cou
ples in his pack, and even a child or two at the home base, but he had never given much time or thought to the idea of it himself. Yet now, here he was, being taken care of, with everything he knew turned on its head.
Was that really what it meant to have a mate? To be unbalanced? To have to reconstruct everything he thought he knew about himself?
For the first time, he realized he had no idea what to do. This wasn’t something he could fight.
At some point, he must have fallen asleep listening to the shower running. The pattering of water against the floor of the tub and the faint murmuring howls as Bo sang were very soothing sounds. If he had been stronger, more in control of the situation, he would have fought back against his enjoyment of them. But as it was, all he could do was sleep.
Chapter 5
“You look happy,” Hannah commented as Bo arrived for the start of his shift. Eric and Jason were there as well, making up the same team as yesterday. He imagined that their schedules would continue to be identical for another few days before swapping around again.
“Do I?” he asked, frowning a little.
She giggled. “Almost like you got laid or something. You look really relaxed.”
“I...”
“Hannah!” Eric barked. “It’s your turn to man the phone!”
Bo breathed a sigh of relief as the other EMT huffed and frowned, but obeyed her superior and strode over towards the little office. “Thanks,” he whispered.
Eric feigned disinterest, but Bo could sense his relief as well. “I just don’t need her distracting you from doing your job,” he sniffed.
As it turned out, there was a great deal to be distracted from on that particular shift. The action wasn’t quite hectic and there were no calls quite as dramatic as a motorcycle crash, but there were certainly just a lot of calls in general. The pace was busy, but comfortable, and Bo sank gratefully into the work. It was a familiar pattern, one he had long since become adjusted to. He never wanted to go back home to face the new reality of his life.
Yet, at the same time, all he could think about was Ryker. He was almost relieved when the workday was finally over and he could head home.
He drove a little faster than normal, but still kept his usual careful watch.
I wonder what he’s been doing all day? Probably resting. I bet he’ll be hungry.
Bo himself was practically starving, his stomach an empty cavern. He had no idea how he was going to muster up the strength to cook tonight.
So then, he decided, he wouldn’t cook at all. Instead, he turned into a convenience store parking lot and went inside to pick up a pizza. There! Problem solved.
Unfortunately, problems were never solved for very long and a new one arose shortly. When he pulled into the parking lot at the apartment, he realized that it was not entirely his stomach that felt so empty.
His chest also felt empty. Ryker had gone. Exactly where to, Bo had no idea, and neither did he know exactly when the alpha had gone. All he knew was that he was about to walk into an empty apartment with a pizza meant to be shared.
“He’ll be back though,” he murmured softly to himself while mounting the stairs to get to his floor. “He has to come back. We’re mates.”
At what point had he decided he was okay with this arrangement? He didn’t really know. Everything was still so uncertain, but it wasn’t exactly he who was calling the shots here. It was the wolf inside him, which knew exactly what it wanted and how things were supposed to work.
The apartment was indeed empty as Bo stepped inside, heading over to the counter to place down the pizza for a moment. The alpha’s scent still lingered, making his stomach quiver, but it was faint and stale with the passing of hours. Clearly, Ryker left the premises not long after Bo.
“Oh, well,” he murmured, a little sadly. At the very least, he now had permission to eat an entire pizza by himself. He hadn’t done that in years.
First though, he needed to change. His work clothes reeked of hospital and anesthetic.
Heading back to his bedroom, Bo shuffled through the drawers of his dresser to find his pajamas when he noticed something odd. He was Bo. Everything he did was neat and orderly, and that included putting clothes away. However, the contents of the dresser looked rifled-through even before he started in on it.
Straightening up with a shirt in hand and a pair of boxers in the other, he looked around and narrowed his eyes. Everything had been touched. A human wouldn’t have noticed the differences, they were so minute, but a wolf’s eyesight was keen and built exactly for this purpose: for picking up on slight movements in the forest.
His lamp had been picked up and set back down. His bookcase—shuffled through and then remade in almost exactly the same order. He had a filing cabinet in the corner, which contained records of his rent and pay, and tax information; one of the drawers was not entirely shut all the way, and the papers in the folders were slightly misaligned.
Sitting back on his haunches and replacing everything where it belonged, Bo ran a hand through his curly hair and pondered this. Ryker had looked through all his stuff. Bo didn’t much care, especially since he didn’t have anything to hide, or any valuables to steal, but he did wonder as to the purpose of it all. Curiosity? Boredom? Some darker sort of motive?
Reluctantly, he decided that he would have to think it was that last option. If Ryker had been part of a gang, he could still be holding onto some of his old ways.
It was almost a shame, really. He thought Ryker might have a lot more substance to him than he let on, but so far it was all tangled up in this knot of secrets and uncooperativeness.
He supposed there really wasn’t anything to be done for it now, though.
Standing up again, he started to undress and change into his relaxation clothes when suddenly, something changed.
A presence, striding down the hall and pushing at the door of the apartment.
He’s back!
Dropping everything he was doing, Bo lunged back to the door and thrust it wide open. “Ryker!” he yelped out.
Ryker stood there, filling up the entire doorway. He looked somewhat worse for wear still but Bo felt that he wasn’t in nearly as much pain now. In one hand, he held a pack of beer.
“Where did you go?”
“Just for a walk,” the alpha said evasively. He seemed completely uninterested in any conversation, his gaze flicking up and down.
Suddenly, Bo realized that he was standing in the middle of the living room without a shirt. From the waist up, his entire body was bared to the other.
Slowly, Ryker turned his head away and went over to the counter to set the beer down beside the pizza. And then he turned around. His golden eyes flashed, and then he leapt.
Before he had any chance to react at all, Bo found himself on the ground with his face pressed against the carpet, and sharp teeth tearing painfully at the back of his neck. His skin broke and blood flowed; Ryker had left his mark to claim him. The alpha’s hips pressed at his ass from behind, erection hot and hard, grinding against his suddenly-sensitive opening.
Bo let out a squeak of pain, not so much from the bite but from the fact that he was being crushed. “You big lug!” he grunted.
Some of the weight eased as the alpha adjusted his position, planting his arms and legs on either side of Bo’s body to straddle him. Bo felt weak and shivery, his whole body starting to tremble as coils of fire gathered in his loins. His own dick pressed against his pajama bottoms, straining against the limits of the fabric. Blood trickled down around to the front of his throat; a heavy hand tilted his head to the side, and a heated tongue lapped at his skin.
“You taste good,” Ryker breathed, eyes dark and hazy. His lips were incredibly red, and his cheeks were flushed. All Bo could hear was rapid, ragged breathing, and the pounding of blood in his own ears.
He fought the alpha on this only the day before, and not much had changed since then. He could feel the returned strength in the muscles that held him, although h
e could also sense that Ryker was still nowhere near peak performance. It was too soon for that, as of yet.
He could have still fought back. Ryker might have been a biker but he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would force himself upon someone.
He could still have stopped this.
The problem was that he didn’t want to.
Every fiber of his being cried out in anticipation of this, of being fully and truly claimed by his mate. He felt hot, overheated and needy. He couldn’t stop the little whimpers and moans rising in his throat, or prevent himself from raising up his ass to grind back against the alpha’s hard cock. He was powerless against his own desire.
Hard hands settled on his hips, grabbing at him and pressing him even closer. The seams on the rear of his pajama bottoms gave a tremulous ripping sound as they nearly tore.
“Fuck,” Bo gasped. He hardly ever used that word but it seemed appropriate now.
Hot breath warmed against the congealing trickle of blood at the back of his neck. “Damn fucking right. You’re mine. I’m going to fuck you. I’m going to make you mine.”
“Yours,” Bo whimpered in his agreement. Then, those enormous rough hands on his hips slowly pulled his bottoms and his boxers down. A soft chill settled against the skin of his ass where the alpha wasn’t pressed against him for just a moment.
Then, there was nothing but heat and warmth as a long, hard shaft lay against the line between his ass cheeks and rubbed against him.
Quivering, Bo let out another whimper and pressed himself back against the hardness, letting it part his cheeks to press against his tender opening. They arched and rubbed together, soft grinding against hard. Then, a hand snaked between Bo’s legs from the side, grabbing hold of his own hard shaft.
Squealing, Bo pressed forward against the hand, but that lessened the pressure against his ass and he moaned with frustration. He needed both at once. Now.
“You like that, don’t you?” Ryker breathed. “You think you’re so different but you’re just like any other omega. You like it when I play with your ass, don’t you?”
Wild Ride: An M/M Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle Page 5
