Bitten By Deceit

by Shawntelle Madison

  But then he stopped. She froze as well—certain that he’d remembered what had separated them in the first place.

  Yet he didn’t release her. “We’re not safe here,” she whispered. What more could she say? Kiss me again? Forgive me? But she couldn’t think straight with him so close.

  He let her go and quickly added space between them again. Her sigh emerged as a soft moan. The fire in her hadn’t died, but did he still desire her the way she did him?

  From the corner of her eye, she noticed his gaze drifted to her breasts where the nipples poked through her thin shirt. “I know where we can face them a few miles outside of town. But I need time to prepare.”

  His voice was hoarse with need, but Kyle was all business again. Of course. She searched his eyes and wondered if he’d forgiven her. But a single kiss wouldn’t guarantee such a thing. Not after he’d left town banished and shamed by his own pack.

  They had a job to do. And then he’d probably leave her behind again.

  After switching to Kyle’s SUV, they headed out of town. The road toward Hadley seemed to stretch forever. Each mile made her anxious. He’d packed the back of his SUV full of weapons. She didn’t recognize half of them. He’d been adamant about about one thing, “Don’t touch the explosives if you value your body parts.”

  In the backseat, he’d added a few things from the trailer: water, food, and blankets.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “An abandoned ranch twenty miles outside of town. We’ll leave a trail for them to follow us, then we’ll face them.”

  Emma.

  She glanced in the backseat before peeking out the window. The voice had skittered down her spine like black ants. Unsettling and creepy.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Did you say something?”

  “We’re headed for the Sawyer place.” Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “What’s got you spooked?”

  Her mouth went dry, but she couldn’t explain what happened. “I thought I heard something, but it’s nothing.” She touched the gauze and looked at her arm. The discoloration had crept up toward her elbow.

  Oh, shit. The infection was spreading. How long did she have before she’d succumb to Liam’s will?

  “Get some rest. We have a long night ahead of us,” he said.

  She nodded and turned to face the window. She closed her eyes as the tiny voice murmured again and again. Fluttering over her skin in relentless waves.

  Kill him, Emma. Kill him.

  Chapter 3

  By the time they drove through the tattered gates to the Sawyer ranch, Kyle wasn’t sure about his plan. Everything was based on Liam picking up the trail off the highway. And now he noticed Emma acting strangely again.

  She didn’t speak as he pulled onto the gravel road leading to the house. The Sawyers had abandoned this property before he’d moved here—and it showed. The wooden planks haphazardly hammered together could barely be called a fence, weeds poked out between rocks along the driveway, and the sign marking the property was about two feet from falling over. But the ranch was the perfect place for a final stand. Kyle would see them coming before they saw him.

  He glanced at Em, then the soft lips he’d kissed. Still ached to kiss. He should’ve just checked her face. Made sure she was okay. Wasn’t that what nice guys did? But he couldn’t help himself, merely thinking about that bastard’s hands on her brought back a possessiveness he thought he’d buried. Evidently, he hadn’t buried his feelings deep enough.

  Damn, he needed to focus on the task at hand. He had a lot to plan before Liam knocked on his door.

  “The inside doesn’t have much,” he said, “but you can rest for a while. I need to place these explosives and leave the car along the highway.”

  Emma chuckled. “You mean you plan to leave the car by the road and piss on a few trees to leave your mark?”

  “Hey, this is my territory now.”

  She had such smart ass tendencies. She smiled briefly, and Kyle recognized the old Emma who came to his father’s motorbike shop every week to hang out with the guys. Those had been better times. In a small desert town, there wasn’t much to do except party or run in wolf-form through the wilderness. Instead of cruising around town with other girls or guys looking for a good time, she’d picked up tools and showed the boys in the shop that she knew how to handle herself. He’d fallen in love with that girl.

  He sighed and stepped out of the car. This time, she followed.

  “Would it be a problem if I tagged along when you leave the car by the road?” she asked.

  “Go right ahead. It’s not like I can stop you.” He sighed. “Although I might need to be careful. Trouble seems to be wrapped around your tail.”

  She snorted. “You’ll be fine either way.”

  His voice turned serious. “Have you heard from Meg?”

  As they carried the first load of supplies into the house, she replied, “Only a brief text message while we were on the road. Apparently, Liam’s control lessens the farther he’s away from the other werewolves. The ones he left behind in Hadley aren’t as sick anymore.”

  “Well, if she can hold tight, you’ll be back soon enough to get her out of there.” He could have meant that both of them would go, but he wasn’t ready to admit that yet. Now that he had her near him, he didn’t want to let her go. Kyle needed time to think. But then again, she had a life back in Hadley looking after her sister. It seemed plausible she’d just leave him behind again after everyone survived. If they survived.

  With no running water, Emma used a splash from a bottle of water to cool off. The old ranch house didn’t have electricity either, so she opened the windows to let in the cool breeze of the approaching evening. The desert’s silence used to be a solace for her. The intermittent sounds of birds or coyotes would be a welcome pleasure, but now only silence prevailed. The dark corners of the cabin left her wary.

  She wasn’t sure how long the house had been abandoned. All she knew for sure was a long time ago a family had lived here. A family with children had sat on the now-broken kitchen chairs. Parents had cooked meals on the dusty counter top. The home must’ve have been lovely once, the kind of place that, if she closed her eyes, she could imagine living in one with Kyle. He’d still be working as a cop, coming through the door to place a kiss on her forehead. She would’ve spent the day working at the bank. Even if it had been a long day or something went wrong with pack business, he’d still wrap his arms around her, warming her with his embrace. Meg would be there, too. She’d probably be cooking dinner, griping about how nothing exciting ever happened in a small town like Hadley…

  When Emma blinked, nothing had changed. The same dreary room with the remnants of people who had long ago fled. People moved on all the time. She didn’t want her life to resemble this home—broken and incomplete.

  The murky shadows of tiny vermin skulked along the walls, but they didn’t frighten her like Liam’s voice.

  Bring him to me, Emma.

  How much longer could she resist the power of the bite? Liam’s commands came full force every couple of minutes, pushing against her resolve with every breath she took. When she couldn’t sit around and wait anymore, she headed outside and opened her cell phone. Barely a signal and no messages from Meg. She glanced around, searching for Kyle, and sighed with relief when she spotted him walking through the brush.

  “You finished setting everything up?” she asked.

  “Yeah, we need to take the car and leave it by the road.”

  The trip to position the SUV didn’t take long. She watched the road in the distance as the sun dipped below the horizon. She expected a caravan of vehicles to approach with Liam in the lead, but no one came. Her hands formed fists, and she prayed she’d have more time to prepare for the fight to come.

  A warm hand grasped her arm. “Time to go. He won’t come while you stand there and wait. Liam doesn’t operate that way.”

  They strolled back down the long road back t
o the ranch house, kicking up dirt along the gravel road. He had an easy lilt to his step that she followed. How long had it been since they walked together like this? Would it ever happen again?

  Emma spoke first. “After you left, Meg asked about you often.”

  He smiled softly. “How is she?”

  She wasn’t sure how he’d react to hearing about Hadley. “She’s still picking out a college. I don’t want her to live there anymore, pining for Liam.”

  He merely grunted.

  They brushed against each other.

  A question bubbled on her lips. “Where did you go after you left? Stone Ridge couldn’t have been your first stop.”

  She wanted to ask him if he’d met anyone else. But this initial question would do.

  “You’re right. I wound up in Stone Ridge, but first, I’d headed west.” He kicked up a bit of gravel. “The desert is a great place to gather your thoughts. By the time I healed, I realized I had to find my own way, my own place somewhere else. Without a pack.”

  Without me. Emma winced at the thought. “Did you ever want to come back?”

  He stopped in the middle of the road. “Why would I?”

  “To claim the pack as your own! We need your strength.”

  “That rat bastard drove me out of town. I have no plans to return to people who didn’t need or want me.”

  She covered her arms as a chill passed over her. “But I wanted you. I needed you.”

  “It’s not that simple, Em. Why don’t you ask yourself how come you didn’t leave with me?”

  She turned away from his gaze. She’d made a choice, albeit not the best one, but she couldn’t leave her sister behind. Not with Liam or the men under his command. She had a life and a home with her pack. Hell, she had a job and mortgage. Not many sane folks packed up overnight to walk away from their obligations just because of love. Even with those things she valued, why did she feel so empty inside after he’d left?

  “You could’ve taken Meg and come with me,” he blurted.

  Yes, she could have, but she hadn’t. She continued to walk down the road, leaving him behind.

  “Why did you stay?” he asked, not far behind. Slowly, he caught up with her, casting a moonlit shadow. “And don’t give me that excuse of your sister. Tell me.”

  Frantic butterflies fluttered in her stomach, and she didn’t want to speak the words on the edge of her lips. “I was scared.”

  He reached her side but didn’t look her way.

  Oh, God. Why did it hurt so damn much to admit the truth? To take a step into the place where deep wounds waited to be reopened.

  “Everyone told me I was meant to be alpha female. You the pack alpha male. Everything fell into place when I fell in love with you also, but once you decided to leave after you lost the fight, I questioned whether you really loved me back.”

  Her stomach clenched painfully.

  No pause or reaction. He kept walking with a face carved in stone.

  Initially, she’d even made plans to follow him. Even after Meg had kept asking her, “Are you sure you want to head off with someone who lost to the pack leader?” Emma suspected all those months before the fight that Meg desired Liam—always following him with dreamy eyes. The man who stood next to her had left Hadley. Yet in these few hours they’d been together, he’d protected her with his life. Even with the animosities of the past.

  Finally, he broke the silence. “Did anyone claim you after I left?”

  “Meg never knew, but Liam tried. And I refused.”

  Their arms brushed twice. By the third time, she noticed he’d drifted closer. So close that he caught her off-guard when he whipped her around and took her in his arms.

  “Kyle.”

  His mouth captured hers—determined and bold. She leaned into his hard body and momentarily wondered if he’d release her and end a beautiful moment where the only thing that existed was the hands that roamed from the small of her back to grasp her thick curls. Those deft fingers of his caressed the sensitive spot at the nape of her neck. She moaned into his mouth as desire pooled between her legs. He released her lips for a moment, and she met his eyes. They glowed with yearning. He yearned for her.

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

  Kyle placed his index finger over her lips and smiled before he kissed her again. “I shouldn’t have left you. What matters is right now. You’re here with me.” He brushed his lips against her forehead and pressed her close. Her breaths quickened as his hands gripped her hips, his growing arousal pressed against her.

  She expected him to release her and keep walking, but he didn’t stop. Rough hands yanked her shirt over her head. Fervent lips kissed her shoulders, eager to lick her heated skin. He reclaimed her mouth. They sampled each other as if Liam would show up any moment and they had to have one more taste.

  He reached behind her and unsnapped her bra. She couldn’t let him have all the fun; her fingertips itched to touch him. While their mouths battled, her hands snaked under his shirt, grasping, touching his heated body. He was as hard and cut as she remembered. Unyielding and firm. She pulled his shirt over his head.

  He released her lips and trailed kisses down her neck. “No other woman’s made me feel like this,” he rasped. As his lips closed over her nipple, white-hot pleasure shot from her belly to her toes. He attached himself to one hard nub and sucked, forcing her to breathe with urgent gasps. With each tug, her core clenched, making it impossible to think straight. His hands rubbed down her legs and then popped open the button of her jeans, releasing the zipper with a slow groan. Soon clothes wouldn’t separate them anymore. Soon they’d be skin-to-skin. Merging again like they used to, without the scars of the past to stop them.

  He made quick work of her panties, gripping them with his fingers while he licked the underside of her breast. Hot and moist in her center, Emma didn’t know if she could take it any longer. She wanted him inside her. To fill her completely. To claim her as his.

  “Please.” She ran her fingers through his hair, unable to resist pulling the strands when he rose and placed his hand between her legs. His finger slid over her mound, graced her nub, and then slipped into her channel. Emma’s legs buckled as he added not one, but two fingers inside her.

  Punctuated gasps filled the air as she rode his hand. With only the desert to hear her cries, she gripped his shoulders and waited to reach the peak. He slid his tongue into her mouth, absorbing her cries as his thumb stroked the swollen bead. Her body burned with the same heat as the bright stars above them. Scorching. Blazing. Consuming her body until she reached a blissful, shuddering climax. Her nails sunk into his shoulders while his elicited a growl of pleasure deep in his chest.

  She didn’t have much time to recover from the euphoria of coming. He wasn’t finished with her yet. Kyle had yet to claim her. From the way his eyes lingered over her breasts and sex, she was sure he had plenty of ideas of what he wanted to do to her.

  Kyle led Emma off the road and laid her gently on the soft ground. She tasted so good. Those sweet lips tasted like the hard candy, tart and sugary sweet. He pressed himself against her soft curves while his tongue darted in her mouth. He could never get enough of kissing her, of touching her.

  She didn’t smell of any other man. All this time she’d waited. And now he’d make her his. He wanted to indulge in her again, to plunge inside the warmth of her body and lose himself there. Kiss and stroke the curve of her thigh, fill his hands with her breasts, and touch her everywhere until she begged him to stop.

  By the time he finished with her, there’d be no doubts. She’d belong to him forever.

  Twice she opened her legs to him, trying to wrap around him, to pull him closer. He grinned as his tongue swirled over her nipple. “Is this what you want?” he whispered against her skin.

  “Damn you, Kyle. Stop teasing me.” She writhed on her back, the desire etched into her features. It was the slightly parted lips. The hardened nipples thrust in the air. She was mo
re than ready.

  He placed the tip of himself against her opening, lingering for a moment before he thrust his cock toward her core and retreated. Again, he drove into her body, filling her. He kissed her again, enjoying the way she tightened around him. She was so tight. So moist. He didn’t know how long he’d last before she’d make him come. With her legs wrapped around his waist, he stroked deeper and gripped her buttocks for maximum penetration.

  Pressure built in him, rising higher and higher. Before the night ended, she wouldn’t question his intentions anymore. Her hands grasped his shoulders again, and her cries slipped him over the edge. She spasmed, whispering his name urgently.

  In the aftermath, their bodies slick with sweat, he wondered why something so beautiful between them had been taken away. By Liam. He kissed her lips twice, savoring the sensation. He just wanted to lay here with her arms stroking his back while he rested his face at the quickened pulse point at her neck.

  They needed to be together. And he’d do his damnedest to convince her of such. Too many memories had been stolen. He knew with all his heart Liam couldn’t take her from him anymore.

  The voice remained. It continued to plague Emma even as she rested in Kyle’s arms. The siren call to harm him stirred in the back of her mind, but she brushed it away. As she snuggled closer to him, she wished they were back in Hadley. Alone in her house with only the worries of a short weekend ahead of them. No Liam. No rabid werewolves. Only the two of them together, forming a cocoon of warmth in each other’s embrace.

  She listened to his slow-beating heart and smiled when hers matched his. With all the trouble around him, she knew he wouldn’t slumber. He rubbed his hands down her arms, stirring her blood. Why couldn’t they have this moment to themselves now that she had him again?