by Bec McMaster
She had to do something.
Now.
Eleven
STAGING A JAILBREAK was never going to be easy, so Riley had planned ahead. After she’d stolen Eden’s keys, she’d swung by McClain’s room for a few necessary items.
Taking the dart gun out of her bag, she raked her gaze across the windows of the main house to see if anyone was looking, then shot the guard in the back of the thigh. He grunted softly, his leg giving way beneath him.
McClain spun around, his eyes widening. “Riley!”
She bit her lip and pulled the trigger. “Sorry.”
The dart bloomed high on his chest. McClain winced and ripped it out. The guard fell at his feet, already out to the world.
White teeth gleamed as McClain bared them. “This is... twice.” His knees hit the stone.
Riley hurried to his side. He grabbed her leg, but the strength was going out of him.
“See? We’d kill each other within a week,” she said, grabbing him by the shoulders and easing him onto his back. His furious gaze locked on hers, and Riley softened. “Let me do this, Adam.” The first time she’d ever used his first name. Stroking his jaw, she watched those luminous eyes fluttering closed. His hat had fallen off. “For Lily. For me. For you. I know you don’t want to have to kill him. Let me get him away. Solve all our problems.”
“He’s not... trustworthy.”
Riley laughed. “I know that, remember?”
“What about you...?”
Fingers caught her sleeve, then dropped. He was going under.
“I’m going with him,” she whispered. “I might come back when I can change his mind about this revenge scheme. I don't know.”
“No!”
She patted his shoulder, then dragged the bag over her own. It was full of supplies and ammunition. She’d hidden a shotgun near the stables, and borrowed the keys to one of the jeeps. Once McClain was down, there’d be no one to stop her.
“Riley.” The word was a whisper. McClain’s eyes shuttered closed, and his head lolled.
“Sorry,” she whispered, though he couldn’t hear her. “I truly am.” She straightened. “This is to save both your lives.”
It was short work to drag both him and the unconscious guard into one of the sheds that lined the courtyard. She eased them onto the hay, then wiped her hands on her jeans. Time for part two.
Undoing the top two buttons on her shirt, she took a calming breath, palmed the dart gun against her thigh, and then started walking around the corner as if she belonged there. The guard was on the balls of his feet. No doubt he’d heard McClain’s muffled words. Riley shot him her brightest smile and rolled her eyes. There was a piece of hay in her hair. Deliberately. She pretended to see it, then plucked it out with a gasp, her cheeks heating. “Sorry,” she murmured. “Didn’t think anyone was here.” Licking her lips, she added, “You didn’t hear anything, right?”
The soldier grinned. “Not a thing, ma’am.”
“Good.”
Riley lifted the dart gun and shot him in the arm. His eyes rolled up in his head and, with a muffled “Nghr,” he went down hard.
She caught him under the arms and staggered. They were definitely eating better here than at Haven.
She planted the unconscious guard in the garden, beneath the cumquat tree, then returned to the corridor. No sign of anyone. Her hands started shaking. This was actually working. Nobody would ever expect one of their own to break a warg out.
Dragging the keys out, she nearly dropped them in her rush. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. She didn’t know how long McClain would be out for. Who knew how fast a warg's metabolism burned?
“Come on,” she muttered.
Finding the right key took a few more moments. Then the lock clicked, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Slipping inside the lab, she pressed the door closed behind her, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dim light.
Wade leaned back against the cage bars, his torn black shirt protecting his skin from the silver. Inky black hair tangled over his forehead, and he rested one arm on his knee as though he were reclining at ease instead of trapped in a cage. The knee of his faded jeans was ripped, blood spattering the hem.
A hot look speared her, eyes blue in his tanned face. Then he closed them as if disinterested, letting his head fall back against the bars.
“Didn’t think you’d come,” he announced in a bored tone. “I thought visiting hours were over.”
“Stand up,” she snapped. He wasn’t wearing shoes. She hadn’t counted on that. “We have to get moving.”
Hurrying toward the cage, she snatched the cage keys off a metal hook and started rifling through them.
Wade watched her, understanding dawning on his face. A smile spread over his lips. “Does McClain know you’re here?”
“Technically, yes.” She jammed a key into the lock, but it was the wrong size. Trying again, she was rewarded with a triumphant click. Her eyes met Wade’s and she smiled in relief, starting to swing the door open.
He caught it with a tanned hand and snapped it shut. Ripping the keys from the lock, he threw them across the room.
Riley watched them land. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked, turning back to him.
His eyes closed and he leaned back against the bars, completely at ease. “Go back to your little room – or McClain’s, for all I care – and tuck yourself into bed. I don’t need rescuing. I’m exactly where I want to be.”
Her shoulders sank. “What do you mean?” Kneeling down, she grabbed his fingers. “He’s going to execute you tomorrow!”
“He’s going to get in the ring with me tomorrow.” A faint smile edged his lips. “He thinks he’s going to execute me.”
Tugging at his hand, Wade rested it on his thigh, just out of her reach.
Riley growled in frustration. “He might just do it, you know. What then?”
“I die. McClain lives.” A shrug.
Dumping the bag on the ground, she dragged a hand over her mouth. What the hell was she going to do? She was running out of time, and it wasn’t as though she could shoot him with the dart gun and drag him out of there. Wade had a good four inches on her, and the body beneath that tight black shirt was hard and lean, rippling with muscle.
“But I don’t plan on that outcome,” he added. “If it gives your mind any rest.”
“It doesn’t,” she snapped. “I don’t want to see him die either!”
That drew his attention. He blinked sleepily. “I see. Got a taste for danger now, have you?”
If he wasn’t in the cage, she’d have hit him. “Why do I bother?” she asked herself. “Stupid, arrogant men. This doesn’t have to be this way! I can get you out.”
“Why? So I only have to work out a way to get in again?”
This time, she did kick the bars.
Wade stilled, watching her through narrowed eyes. The thin slit of blue was almost glacial. “Go to bed, darlin’,” he said softly. “You don’t owe me anything. I’m where I want to be. This sees your end of our arrangement fulfilled. You did what I asked of you.”
“Damn it, I don’t want this.”
Wade’s eyes met hers, the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. The color almost reminded her of that pool of water, of the way the light had gleamed off it, off Wade’s naked skin.
Riley shook the thought away. A moment in time she wanted to forget. A moment she knew she never would. A shiver ran down her spine.
“Why?” His voice was hard and intense.
Wade uncurled his large body with liquid grace and rested his hands on the shiny, silver-coated bars of the warg cage. Resting his body weight on them, he stared down at her, as if daring her to tell him. His hot blue gaze scoured over her. It made her nipples tighten, her abdomen clench.
Her body knew that look. Recognized it. For a second, she was back in that pool, his mouth on her throat, his cock thrusting like hot steel within her. Wetness coated her panties. Damn him.
“
Why don’t you want that?” His gaze raked her body, as if he knew exactly what was going through her mind. “Did I get to you, sweetheart? Or is it McClain?”
“You don’t know what I want,” she snapped.
A quick movement. Riley flung her hands up, but he’d reached through the cage, cupped the back of her skull in one warm hand. The grip was firm enough that she couldn’t tear loose. Wade stared at her for long seconds before his hand slowly relaxed, fingers stroking the sensitive skin of her nape.
“You don’t know what you want.”
Her cheeks went hot, her body limp. She almost swayed toward him, hypnotized by his gaze, by the soft promise in his voice. Riley shut her eyes, trying to break the connection. But it was there in the gentle caress against her neck, in the whisper of his breath, flushed and ragged.
In the thump of her heart.
“Yes, I do,” she whispered.
His other hand reached out, caressed her face. Long, steady strokes. So sure of themselves. So sure of her.
“Perhaps. Or perhaps you just don’t want to admit it,” he murmured.
His hands cupped her face. Slowly, he drew her toward him. Riley blinked, her hands coming up to grip the cage bars. She shook her head, but Wade’s grip was like steel.
“No,” she whispered.
He brought her face to the bars as his own lowered. “Yes,” he said, the words caressing her wet lips.
The kiss was light enough to burn. Riley’s heart erupted in her ears, her body going liquid in his touch. Yes. He was right. She knew what she wanted, but everything she’d ever known said this was wrong.
But it felt so good. A groan strangled in her throat as she pressed against the bars, the hard steel grinding against her breasts. Wade’s touch deepened, his thumbs stroking her jaw as he kissed her with a lightness that made her gasp.
“Damn you.” She reached through the bars and grabbed his shirt. “Kiss me.”
Lifting on her toes, she opened her mouth to him. The cold bars left imprints in her cheeks, but she didn’t care. Wade’s mouth was hot, desperate, his hands firming on her face. She couldn’t stop herself from wanting more of this. And I tried... I did.
This was the last man she should want.
The last man she should need.
Her heart thumped a crazed rhythm against her ribs as she finally admitted the truth to herself. She was hopelessly infatuated with him, deliciously captivated. Even knowing there was no hope for them, she couldn’t help herself.
Her fists clenched in his shirt, her tongue dashing against his. Wade’s hand cupped her ass, pressing her hips and breasts against the bars. She still couldn’t get close enough.
A sob tore past her lips. She slid a hand into the inky blackness of his hair. “I don’t want to see you die,” she admitted breathlessly.
His fingers dug into the flesh of her ass. He pulled back, breathing hard. “Get the keys,” he growled.
Riley scurried after them, barely able to catch her breath. Tearing through them, she jammed the right one in the lock, and it clicked open. “Come on!” she said, grabbing the bag off the floor and heading to the door.
His hand caught her wrist, fingers wrapping around it. An insistent tug and Riley found herself reeled back into the steel cage of his arms. The bag fell from nerveless fingers as he curled a fist in her hair and yanked her head back, his lips capturing hers.
Riley’s eyes widened. No time! But he shoved her back against the cage, dragging her knee up around his hips. Hauling her up, he ground his hips between her thighs, locking her ankles behind his butt. Riley reached up, grabbing hold of the bars in surprise.
She twisted her face to the side. “We don’t have time!”
“We’ve got all the time in the world.” His hand skittered down over her breast, cupping it lightly before moving on. “I’m not going anywhere.”
His lips possessed hers, his hips riding over the seam of her jeans. It rubbed against her wetness, bringing a groan to her lips. Heat welled behind her eyes. Wade had no intentions of going. He never had. Yet she found she couldn’t argue. She didn’t have the words. All they truly had was this, a passion that burned out of control, like someone had poured oil on the flames.
Or perhaps that was the hurt, deep inside. Demanding that she kiss him hard, rock her hips against him. Hungry to hold him, knowing this could be the last time. A tear slid down her cheek as he ate at her mouth. There was no gentleness now, no finesse. Just the hard steel of his body, and a desire that inflamed them both.
Tugging at her shirt, he slid his mouth down her throat. Riley threw her head back, her fingers lacing tight around the bars to hold herself up. His lips rode over the thin cotton of her bra, nuzzling at her nipple through the fabric. She gasped as he bit at her, tugging the hardened peak between his teeth until it almost hurt. She wanted that. She needed to feel the pain on her skin, and not just within.
Moaning, gasping, she urged him on. Wade’s hands moved with exquisite skill, cupping, kneading. Bringing her almost to the edge before easing off. Riley heard herself begging, but it was like someone else had taken over her body.
“Take me,” she whispered, curling her arms around his neck and nipping at his lip frantically. “Do it. Now.”
Those blue eyes were hazy with pleasure. His lip curled in a snarl, and he turned and pressed her down over the examination table face-first. Tugging the buttons on her jeans open, he wrenched the tight fabric past her hips, and her panties too. Cool air met her wet, desperate flesh. Then he nudged a hard thigh between her legs, rubbing it against her skin as he slowly worked at his own buttons.
Riley clenched her fingers in the sheet. Sweet Lord, she was so close. Tension throbbed between her legs, and she cried out as his thigh withdrew, her hips lifting to beg for more.
Wade’s fingers dipped between her legs, gliding through her slickness. “Darlin’, I can’t go easy.” His other hand clenched in the flesh of her ass. “I need you.”
She understood. The blunt head of his cock brushed against her, and Riley arched back, feeling it part her lush flesh. Wade gasped, entering her in one hard thrust. Everything within her tightened as he rode over something sensitive, and she couldn’t stop herself from falling, her hips bucking hard and a tortured scream tearing from her lips.
Each thrust wrung her dry, left her certain she could take no more. Wade was ruthless. He owned her, possessed her with each plunge, hands digging into her hips. Pushing deep, he continuously rubbed over that sensitive spot, and Riley’s eyes went wide as sensation shattered through her. She didn’t think she had anything left to give, but each thrust of his hips shoved her higher and higher, orgasm wringing her to pieces.
Reaching back, she cupped a hand over his, their fingers interlocking. This time, it was she who begged for the connection, she who was desperate to find something else within this.
A harsh groan broke over his lips, and his hips shuddered. Riley wrapped her other hand in the sheet, her greedy body clutching his hard as he came. They both cried out, the sound mingling in the air. Then he was collapsing over her, breathing hard, sweat slicking both of them.
Wade withdrew, and she felt it keenly. Every muscle within her was bruised and pulsing. Riley took a shaky breath and loosened her hand from the sheet.
“I don’t think I can move,” she whispered. “So much for my getaway.”
Hands helped her stand, then Wade picked her up and rested her bottom on the bed.
“I won’t,” he gasped, his forehead pressed to hers. Sweat dripped down his face, the sinews in his arms standing out as he held her tightly. “I won’t do this, not even for you. This is all I have to live for.”
Riley shook her head. “That’s not true. It’s all you’ve lived for. There’s a world of difference.”
He shuddered, eyes clenched hard as if to fight the words. “Kidnapping you was the worst decision I've ever made.”
“Liar.” She kissed his lips gently, nuzzled at his mouth. Her
fingertips rasped over the stubble on his jaw as she stroked it.
A breathless laugh as he kissed her back. “Yes, it was.” He drew back, eyes clouded with indecision. “Yes,” he repeated firmly. “It was.”
Yanking his jeans back over his hips, he did each button up with exquisite slowness. Riley hopped down off the examination table, feeling suddenly vulnerable. His expression hardened with each button, as though she’d stripped him bare, and he was slowly putting his armor back into place. Searching for her panties, she found them and stepped into them. The jeans were another matter. They were tight, and her thighs were bruised with their lovemaking.
The rustle of fabric was the only sound. Her anger built slowly. He’d made it clear she wasn’t enough, that his quest for vengeance was more important than she was.
Gathering her hair, she knotted it back at the base of her scalp with harsh movements. “So it was only one last fuck you wanted?” She’d tried for blasé, but there was an edge to her words that she couldn’t quite help.
Wade looked at her, his eyes hooded and flat. No emotion. Completely unreadable. “Doesn’t a condemned man get one last meal?”
“Damn it!” Riley couldn’t hold it in any longer. Punching her fists down against her body, she glared at him. “It doesn’t have to be like that. You could come with me. Run away. Just the two of us.”
Wade’s shoulders stiffened. “You’re going to stay with me?” Incredulous words. “Out there in the desert?”
Riley raked a hand back through her hair. “I don’t know. I just know I don’t have a place here.”
“Yes, you do.” The words were blunt.
Riley sucked in an angry breath. “Fuck you. You and McClain!” She jerked her shirt down and straightened it. “I don’t know why I bother.” She yanked the backpack up over her shoulder. “Do what you want. Goodbye.”
Turning on her heel, she started for the door. She got two steps before he grabbed her around the wrist. She was spun around, Wade stepping close, his body hot, hard and stiff with tension.
“Do you think this is easy?” he snarled. “I’ve spent eight fucking years hunting McClain down. I’ve finally got him in my sights. I finally get a chance at him. And you want me to give it up?”
