by Silver James
For centuries, we lived in isolated packs, though there were those who served kings and generals down through the ages. In the dark times, Wolves were hunted almost to extinction. Our birth rate and the survival of our young has always been a tenuous thing. Now, to discover knowledge of our existence was becoming more prevalent troubled me. The message Mac McIntire brought to us several months ago was hitting too close to home.
I did not trust anyone from the government or law enforcement. Those in power had never earned it. From my earliest recollections, I—and others like me—had been tools for the powerful. No more. Now I had the power and I would protect the Nightriders and those who belonged to us.
Odors thickened the air. Sulfur wafted from Agent Alexander. The man was frustrated and his nose was wrinkled from the stench of stale beer and puke pouring from Gerald. The angry cop was disgusted. I shifted my gaze to the second officer. My nose sifted through the scents. Yes, there. An aroma rich and yeasty, with a sharp bite, like malt vinegar. Anticipation. Curiouser and curiouser.
“Agent Alexander, we will make Miss Walker available to you another time, when she is feeling better. In the meantime, I will arrange for you to interview the man who was also attacked in this incident. Will that suffice for now?”
The fed wisely moved Gerald away from the door. “Yes.” He reached into the breast pocket of his suit coat and presented me with his card. “Call me when I can question him.” He forcibly turned Gerald away from Lainey’s door. “Let’s go.”
Alexander ushered the two local cops down the hall, Gerald cussing and arguing, the other man walking silently. All three boarded the elevator and the silent cop’s poker face wavered for one moment—when he stared straight at me and offered a knowing smirk.
It was always the silent ones who were most deadly. “Wizard.”
“Boss?”
“Doc should arrange the girl’s release. Wood will stay with her.”
“Done.”
He was already speaking into his phone as I pulled out my own and dialed. “Easy, I have a job for you.”
Chapter 12
Lainey
I SNIFFLED AND pushed back from Wood. I just…Hollywood? Seriously? I couldn’t call him that. “May I ask you something personal?”
His thumbs brushed across my cheeks, wiping the last of my tears. “Sure, babe.”
“Hollywood isn’t your real name.” I waited for him to reply but he just stared at me. “What?”
“What what?”
Totally confused I made one of those comical WTF faces.
He continued. “The only question you asked was what.”
“Seriously?” Why did I always get the literal ones. “Fine. Your real name isn’t Hollywood, is it?”
“Yes and no.”
I seconded my WTF face. “What does that even mean?”
He smiled and my gaze dropped to his mouth. A rich chuckle rolled over me and I thought of gooey-hot brownies straight from the oven. The man was far too sexy for my own good. In the find-a-good-man contest, I was a total loser.
“My road name is Hollywood.”
“Oh! I know what that is. Sort of. It’s like special nickname or something, right?”
“Yeah. Or something. When a member patches in, the brothers give him the name. It becomes who we are. What each of us is.”
“So what’s your real name?”
“Hollywood.”
I threw up my hands and almost screamed as my right arm barely moved. Greasy waves of pain swamped me and I closed my eyes against the swarming black dots clouding my vision.
“Shhh, baby. Shhh. Lie back.”
Warm lips kissed my forehead as Hollywood’s arms eased me back against the raised hospital bed. He fidgeted with the pillow and when the pain eased off enough I could open my eyes, his worried gaze slammed into me.
“I’m sorry.”
Okay, color me confused again. “About what?”
“I shouldn’t tease you. At least not until you’ve healed.”
My breath caught and I forced my lungs to expand. The doctors were talking about long-term recovery. Did that mean Hollywood planned to stick around? Why? Why would he do that? Bits and pieces of conversation filtered back into my consciousness. She belongs to us. To the Nightriders. We take care of our own. He has claimed her. None of it made much sense.
“Hilton.”
I blinked, refocused my attention on Hollywood. “Excuse me?”
“My name. Eric Hilton.”
“Are you—”
“No. No relation.” He shrugged. “I get that question a lot. My mother was an orphan in the system so she picked out a last name she thought sounded classy. She didn’t know my father’s last name.”
I chewed that over for awhile. “May I ask another personal question?”
One corner of his mouth curled into a wry…snarl. “Babe, Twenty Questions works both ways.”
Ouch. He had me there. I’d always been far too curious for my own good, but I wanted to know more about him. A lot more. I didn’t know why, just that there was a driving need—almost a compulsion—to find out. “Okay.”
“My turn then. Why are you dancing at Chasin’ Tail?”
I glanced at my right arm then flicked my left hand in a motion to encompass the medical equipment in the room. “I’m not dancing now.”
His eyes narrowed and that snarl grew more pronounced. I jumped in before he could call me on my non-answer. “My turn. Your mom didn’t know your father’s name so were you like…what? A one-night stand, a…” I paused. Had his mother been raped or something horrible? It was none of my business so I just let the rest of my thought trail off.
“He never told her his last name. Then he was arrested. Sent to prison. He died there before I was born.”
The tone of his voice never changed. There was a story there, one I desperately wanted to know but figured I’d be pushing my luck to ask now. “Okay. Your turn.”
“Why haven’t you asked about your family?”
My family? My heart started pounding. The twins! “My brothers! Oh, nonono.” I threw the covers off, tried to get out of the bed, but Hollywood’s big hand slapped against my chest and held me in place.
“Easy, cowgirl.”
“No, no. You don’t understand. My mother…she…”
“She what?”
“She…gambles. She forgets the time. The boys. I have to take—”
“They’re covered, babe.”
“I…wait. What?”
“After you got hurt. One of the brothers went to find her after Hoss called your house.”
Guilt washed over me. Had someone been inside, seen how we lived? I swallowed the saliva pooling in my mouth.
“Gravedigger tracked her down at the casino.”
Wait…Gravedigger? I…did not want to know why he was called that. “Levi and Louie?”
“Locked in her car in the parking lot.” His voice had ice crystals in it. “They’re taken care of.”
Taken care of? By who? This Gravedigger person? Were they okay? “What does that mean?” My question was almost lost in the whoosh of the nervous breath I inhaled.
“Easy and his old lady. Sam has two kids. Jonah’s the same age as your brothers. They’re staying there ’til we get things squared away.”
“We? We who?”
“Us, babe. The brothers. The Nightriders. You belong to us now.”
The door opened before I could argue that. A man who looked to be in his forties and wearing worn jeans, a T-shirt featuring a grim reaper figure, and a stethoscope around his neck slouched in.
“Doc.”
“Hollywood.” The guy stared at me. “Paperwork is started. The Russian wants her released to you.”
“Figured.” Hollywood raised his chin to indicate the other man. “Lainey, Doc Carson.”
“Is he a real doctor?” I didn’t mean to say that aloud, but looking at him? I had my doubts. Both of them laughed at me.
�
�Have the paper from John Hopkins Medical School and everything.” He grabbed my chart and fanned through the pages, skimming the information. “You got lucky, girl. I know your orthopedic surgeon. He does great work. Do your rehab right, you might be back to full functionality in less than a year.”
I froze. I didn’t have a year. I had…less than six months. I had less than a week. I had… I couldn’t breathe.
“Damn, girl.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
The doctor and Hollywood. They were talking. Moving. Touching me but I could barely feel them. I forced my brain to remember, to calculate. What day was it? I needed five thousand dollars like…now.
“She’s not breathin’, Doc.” Hollywood sounded panicked.
“She’s hyperventilating. Move, Wood.”
The next thing I knew, I was sitting in the chair normally occupied by Hollywood, my knees spread and my head between them. Warm fingers curled around my calves and I cringed a little. I hadn’t shaved in…well, however long I’d been in the hospital.
“Breathe for me, baby.” Hollywood’s voice was calm but laced with urgency. “Deep breath in. Hold it. Deep breath out.” He was breathing that way and it seemed deceptively simple to follow his lead.
A few minutes later, I was breathing normally. I raised my head, my gaze crashing into brown eyes the color of burnt umber. I remembered the shade from my crayon box. Burnt umber. It sounded so classy for a scorched shade of brown. Sexy. And looking into Hollywood’s eyes, I realized there was so much more to that color.
“Christ, baby. Keep lookin’ at me like that and I’ll fuck you here and now.”
Fuck me? As in…he wanted to fuck me? The girls perked right up at that thought and the ache in my arm dropped to a spot between my thighs and started to throb. I licked my lips and judging by the expression on Hollywood’s face, that was so not what I should have done.
“You’re killin’ me, Lainey.” His face was stark, almost as if he was the one in pain. “Get her out all this medical crap, Doc, and deal with the paperwork. I’m takin’ her home. Now.”
Chapter 13
Hollywood
I DIDN’T WAIT for a wheelchair, a nurse, none of that shit. I wrapped Lainey in the blanket I stripped off the hospital bed, gathered her into my arms and headed out as soon as Doc got her unhooked. My dick was so fucking hard it felt like it would break off with each step I took. I didn’t care about that either. I only knew one thing—I had to get her away, get her alone, and I was going to fuck her until we were done.
Somebody was laughing—Doc, I think. Didn’t matter. He was keeping the hospital people away from us. I took her out through the ER department. As the automatic doors slithered open, the MC’s Hummer pulled up, Hardy at the wheel.
Yeah, duh. Would have been a bitch getting Lainey home on my bike. The back passenger door popped open and Sandhog jumped out. Sandy was one of the human members of the club. His old man had been a Wolf but the lupi gene skipped Sandhog. I could slid into the seat he’d just vacated, my girl still in my arms.
Two pairs of eyes—Hardy’s and Wizard’s—met mine via the rear view mirror. Hardy ws the one who spoke. “Your place?”
“Yeah.” I tossed my keys to Sandy. He’d get my bike home.
I should have had them take us to the Nightrider compound. There were too many unanswered questions about Lainey’s safety, but I didn’t want her around any of the brothers. Just having Hardy and Wizard in the front seat was doing a number on my wolf. He was ready to rip throats. And fuck. He really wanted me to fuck Lainey, fuck and claim her.
Workin’ on it, I told him. He growled back something that sounded like, About time.
My apartment was pretty bare. It was a place to crash when I wasn’t at the compound, but I had a California king, with clean sheets, beer in the fridge, and a big screen. Good enough. And it wasn’t like I brought bitches here to fuck. Just Lainey. And she damn sure was not a bitch. Hardy helped me get her inside then he disappeared. I knew Wizard’d be close. My brothers knew their shit—knew my shit.
I was fucking moonstruck and until I had my dick buried in Lainey’s sweet pussy I’d be a crazy sonavabitch—insane enough I wasn’t going to tell her what I was, what was happening. She was my mate. Our mate. I wouldn’t give her a chance to turn me down because if she did, I’d go apeshit and people would die.
There’d always been that part of me—the part I held leashed tight. My sire had been a Nightrider. And a Wolf. One of Brick McIntire’s lieutenants. He’d taken one look at my mom, followed her home to the foster family who put a roof over her head, and he’d claimed her. She’d been seventeen—her chronological age. In her soul? She was a hundred. His name was Rooster. That’s all she knew, all she cared about. They never married, even though they were together almost five years. He got busted running guns, tried, convicted, and he died three months into a ten-year sentence, murdered by a crew of Hell Dogs.
Brick and Lug Nut showed up on the doorstep right before I turned twelve. Right after Officer Douglas Gerald moved in on my mom. He beat the crap out of me one night, left me bleeding and unconscious. I guess Mom called the club. All I know is, they showed up, Gerald was gone, and Mom died soon after. The Nightriders raised me after that.
And now I understood. I understood why Mom struggled to be a decent mother, to make me cookies and shit. Deep down, she didn’t care about anything but my old man. They’d been mated. I got that now. Fuck. How had she lived without him? I’d eat a bullet if I ever lost Lainey. Maybe things would smooth out once she was mine, once she knew we were mates.
I set her down on the bed. Her skin was flushed, her eyes—how the hell had I not noticed they were the color of a summer sky? Blue. So fucking blue they mirrored my reflection. Fuck. I looked hungry. Desperate. Yeah. I was both of those things. But Lainey was my mate. I had to take care of her. Love her.
Breathing hard, I knelt beside her, took her hands. “I’m going to make love to you, Lainey. I’m going to do my damnedest to be gentle. You’re hurt. I know that. I don’t want to hurt you more. Fuck, I think I’d kill myself if I did, but if I’m not inside you, fucking you, soon—” I stopped. I needed to tell her. I couldn’t not tell her what the deal was.
“Shhh.” She hushed me with a finger across my lips, but she was soft doin’ it. “This is crazy. You’re crazy. I’m crazy. It’s okay. I want this…want you.” She giggled softly. “Maybe it’s the pain killers. I don’t know. I just know I want you to kiss me, and I want to get out of this dumb hospital gown.” She reached up, tried to find the ties on the back of that ugly gown.
“Let me. Please.” I leaned in, pushing between her thighs and trailed a fingertip along the golden skin covering her collar bone. “Let me.”
Her eyes were shy but her smile teasing. “Go for it.”
I found the top tie. Tugged. The cotton slipped off her shoulders and I all but swallowed my tongue. I forgot about keeping her safe. I forgot about explaining her new reality. I forgot about everything but the reality of her, here and now. The texture of her skin, smooth, soft, like trailing my fingers over a new leaf. The rich scent of her arousal—almonds and coffee. The sizzling, ripe taste of her that echoed her lust when I took her mouth, my tongue claiming her.
She surrounded me—her scent, her taste, the textures of her skin and lips until they were—she was—everything. My entire world had narrowed to this woman. She was everything I never dared imagine, everything I could ever want or need.
I touched the cast on her arm, jerked back. This was wrong. Taking her now, when she was injured, when she didn’t know what I was—it was a mistake, and edged very close to stepping over the line. I tried to stop, but her good hand clenched in my T-shirt pulling me back to her. No way could I stop. I couldn’t chance her leaving me. Later, I promised both of us. I’d tell her everything later, when she knew me, knew who I was instead of what I was.
I tugged the shapeless gown away from her shoulders, baring her to me
. I sat back on my heels and just looked at her. She moved to cover her breasts, but I stopped her, snagging her hand and holding it against her thigh with my own.
“Don’t,” I growled. I could barely speak, my humanity leaking away as my need ballooned. But I needed to. I needed to give her words. “Tryin’ to think of something romantic to say, but it’s really hard when all the blood’s drained out of my head.”
“Um. Okay.” She blushed, and her nipples turned rosy. Fuck.
“You are beautiful. Just fuckin’ beautiful.”
Leaning forward again, I set my teeth on her flesh. Her head fell back and I grazed my way up her chest to the hollow beneath her chin where her pulse throbbed. I felt her breath hitch as I cupped one breast, swallowed her moan as I kissed her again.
I had to come up for air. “We might need oxygen before we’re done.”
She laughed and my dick throbbed in time with the sound. “I figure we might need a fire extinguisher. I’m about to self-combust.”
“I’ll make sure you do.”
“Promises, promises.”
I grinned. “I am seriously crazy about you.” I licked one nipple then the other, loved the sound of her choked gasp for air. “I think you need to lay down, cowgirl.”
“Not yet.” She reached out and grabbed the hem of my T-shirt. “I like the way you look at me. I did right from the first time you walked into Chasin’ Tail.”
“You saw me?”
“Yes sir, I did. I was sitting at the end of the bar talking to Wizard and it was like all the air got sucked out all of a sudden. I looked up and there you were, standing in the door. I couldn’t breathe. So I ran.”
Her knuckles brushed across my skin as she peeled my shirt off one-handed. “I…it’s like I knew you. That night, in the back room. You were holding me and I knew you would keep me safe. How can that be, Hollywood?”
This was the opening. I should tell her. I started to. “Maybe some people are supposed to see each other like that. They notice each other and there’s that spark of recognition. Of knowing.”
