Mating Instinct (The COMPLETE Ridgeville Series)
Page 26
Quiet descended on the vehicle once more and he could practically feel Madison’s mind turning over his words, spinning and pouncing on them, looking for an untruth.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, she spoke. “I want to touch you. See if you’re sincere. See if this is even a good idea or if we should simply part ways in Ridgeville.”
Ricker squeezed her hand and flashed a wicked smile, tossing her a wink for good measure. He smiled even wider when his flirting was met by a bright blush to her cheeks. If he let his true emotions show through, she’d see a broken man, see the pain the idea of not mating with her had caused.
“Baby, you can touch me all you want, whenever you want.”
“Not physically, idjit.” She rolled her eyes and a tingling stroke of something brushed his mind. “Touch you.” She nibbled her lower lip. “I know I did it without permission back at the compound, but I do like to have a shifter’s agreement before I go poking around in someone’s head.”
Ricker took a deep breath, chest expanding and slowly deflating as he considered her request. Yeah, he’d felt her all right, but he’d brushed off the sensation. He’d been so focused on finding her that the trespass had been the least of his worries.
Now, he had to agree to regain a crumb of her trust and prove that they were meant to live side-by-side.
“Okay. But I’ll warn you now that some of what you find might not be pretty. My life hasn’t been tiger cubs and roses, Kit.”
Her answer was a small nod and then her eyes fluttered closed. From what he remembered, her little peek wouldn’t be painful, just…odd. So, he didn’t bother pulling over or slowing his speed.
Which was a mistake.
Madison’s first brush was like a gentle wind, unseen hands stroking and easing his agitated tiger until the cat was a docile as a kitten. Her next touch was more firm, deeper, stronger. He took a deep breath, calming his heart as the strange sensations spread through him. The third foray went even further, fingers delving into private places, areas that he’d long ago cut off from himself.
Ricker saw his first mission, then the loss of his best friend when Alistair had attacked the council five years ago. Rescuing Lia from Freedom’s clutches and finding her bloody, beaten and repeatedly raped. Hunting Alistair to the small cabin that held Carly Thompson and seeing how much of her blood coated the wood floors.
Finally, the sheer terror he’d felt at watching his mate race from his side and ducking between fighting males. The worry and rage that had overtaken him at the thought of her being in danger and the resolve to keep her safe.
Madison’s response was a soft gasp and he saw her open her mouth, eyes wide. “Ricker—”
Any other words she might have said were cut off by the rough slam of another vehicle against their car. The crunch of metal and shattering of glass surrounded them.
The first thing Ricker did was grab his mate by the back of her head and force her to bend low. “Down. Stay there.”
Amazingly, she complied without a single protest.
He should have let her fuck around in his head from the jump off.
Ricker looked in the rearview mirror and swept the situation with his gaze. Three males, possibly four, occupied a blacked-out SUV. Based on the sharp lines of their faces, he decided they were shifters, probably Freedom members.
Lovely.
Thank God he’d left a gun in the center console. A quick snatch and the pistol rested in his palm.
The truck swerved around them, pulling up along the driver’s side and he watched as a body emerged from the backseat window, holding a gun as he hung from the vehicle.
He didn’t hesitate. In one smooth move, he hit the brakes and extended his arm. Two pulls of the trigger and the window shattered as the bullet shot through the glass and into his target. A double tap, straight to the male’s head.
One down, three to go.
Ricker hit the gas, thankful for the mods on the car that let them breeze past the SUV without trouble. Behind them, the truck jerked from side to side, but the driver quickly regained control and returned to the chase.
With them at their back door, he put his mate to work.
“Madison, grab the guns and magazines from the glove compartment.”
He couldn’t spare her a glance, but he could feel the roll of her emotions and assumed that their connection remained. Their fight with the Freedom assholes hadn’t allowed her to completely disconnect. He accepted her fear, stark terror at the prospect of dying, but he also welcomed her trust in him, the blatant belief that he’d get them through this unscathed. Well, fuck if he wouldn’t try.
With shaking hands she did as he asked, carefully pulling the handguns out along with a few magazines that Lia had left for them. Damn, sometimes he could just kiss the woman who saved his ass.
A low growl came from the passenger seat and he remembered their open link. And…that thought about Lia went right out the window.
When he saw that she’d gathered everything they needed, he kept on with the instructions. “Good girl. Put that stuff in the center console, but I want one of those guns in your hands, okay? If you need to use it, hold on tight with both hands, then point and shoot. I don’t expect you to be perfect, I just want you to hit whatever you can, okay?”
Attention divided between what lay in front of them as well as behind, he didn’t see a response. “Words, Kit. Do you understand?”
“Yeah. I’ve got it. Grab. Point. Shoot.”
“Good girl.” The moment the words left his mouth, they were rammed again, harder this time, and he nearly lost control of their car.
Of course, the fuckers had to be as predictable as fuck and the driver brought the SUV alongside them again. The passenger window was rolled down, revealing a man cloaked in black holding a submachine gun.
And then it was rinse and repeat. He and the gun operated as one, the need to aim no longer necessary after all the time he’d been playing this game.
Pop, pop.
Two down, two to go.
Instead of dropping back, the SUV lurched forward, the large block of metal roaring past them and Ricker went into action.
“Get back down, Madison.” His mate didn’t utter a peep.
As he’d expected, the larger vehicle swerved in front of them and threw up the back hatch, exposing the two remaining males. A driver and one passenger.
And that fucking submachine gun. He wasn’t sure if it was a full or semi-automatic, but he wasn’t keen on finding out.
“It’s going to get rough. Hold on.”
While the male rocked in the SUV, the truck shaking and jerking as it traveled, Ricker took a risk and raced up to the vehicle’s back end. Grip on both the wheel and his gun firm, he shot right through the front windshield.
And then they were assailants no longer.
Four pulls of the trigger, fast and furious, was all it took to end the threat.
The SUV swayed, no one controlling the behemoth any longer, and then hit the ditch, flipping until it finally rested against the trees lining the highway.
Ricker didn’t stop.
“Madison? I need you to grab the phone out of my bag in the back.” As his mate struggled to do as he asked, he kept any eye on their tail. Thankfully they’d been in the middle of God’s nowhere and hadn’t attracted attention. There was no sign of the police and he prayed it’d stay that way. His gun wasn’t registered, the council having manufactured his weapons themselves. No trace. No slug catalogued in IBIS that’d lead them back to shifters.
“I’ll give you the freakin’ phone just as soon as I get all these burning metal thingies off me!” Her voice was high-pitched and shrill.
For the first time, he noticed her squirming and wiggling in the seat. “Kit, it’s called brass and if it’s hit your skin, it’s already done all the damage it’s gonna do. The phone, Madison.”
She grumbled something about setting the phone on fire first, but she did hand it over.
“Says the man who didn’t end up with burning bits of metal down his shirt.”
Ricker almost smiled. At least his mate wasn’t screaming and crying in the face of violence.
“I’ll kiss it all better later. But right now I need you to think about something for me. Did you pass out at some point? Do you have any scrapes you don’t remember? Are you itching anywhere? New bumps? I think they injected a tracker into you at some point; we just have to find it.” He spared a glance for his mate and watched the blood drain from her face. “Easy. The minute I know where it is, I can cut it out. Quick and simple. You just need to find it for me.”
“I…” Her hand slipped from his and got to work, rubbing and pinching her body from head to toe. It wasn’t long before she crowed in victory. “Found it!”
Her hand was beneath her shirt, cupping her breast and Ricker bit back his building growl. “Okay. Give me a minute and I’ll get it out of you.”
Ricker snatched up the phone and, with the press of a button, his call went through, Lia answering on the first ring. “Click To Ship.”
“It’s Jenkins. I’ve had a problem delivering the package. It seems there’s more than what I ordered inside. I’m going to stop and re-box, but it’ll take a little extra time. I also hit a speed bump and have some damage to my car, so I’m going to stop over in Ames, just across the South Carolina border.”
“I see.” The line was quiet for a moment, the click of keyboard keys coming over the line. “I’ve got a friend in the area who does some car work and you can probably crash there for the night if you need to.”
“Sounds good. Let them know I’ll be there in the next few hours.”
The hit of a button cut off anything else Lia might have said and Riker steered their beat up car onto the off-ramp and into a rest area lot. He parked them as far away from others as he could and then grabbed the med bag from the backseat.
“Okay, Kit. Lift your top and we’ll get this over with quick.”
He would have added painless, but that would have been a lie.
12
“Anything worth doing should be done slowly. Twice. Or three times. It depends on how good he is.” – Maya Josephs, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride. She has also decided that being pregnant sucked. That is all.
Pain lingered on the underside of Maddy’s breast, but she pushed it aside. Ricker had dug the little tracking-capsule-chippy thing from her breast and crushed it beneath his boot. Then he’d hustled her into the car and they got right back onto the road, traveling as fast as legally possible. Maddy had remained quiet through the journey, unwilling to distract him.
Hours later, the wound had healed, but the ache lingered. She didn’t have much more time to focus on her pity party. Not when they whipped onto a dirt road and trundled through the forest.
Before long, Ricker pulled them up to a log cabin with a wide front porch. Two rocking chairs decorated the space along with a swing and Maddy sighed. This was her picture perfect home. It was a nice little place hidden in the woods where she could relax and just “be” without any worries about the pride, her job or the outside world.
As if the space held magical powers, she felt tension and worry drain from her, the tightness in her chest fading away with every breath.
The moment the car stopped, she leapt from the vehicle and raced around the car, wide smile on her face. “Are we stopping here? It’s gorgeous! Can we stay for a while or is this a layover?”
Feelings not her own slithered into Maddy’s mind, hope, happiness, exhaustion…
Mate…
The word was a whisper, the voice familiar, yet not, and she whirled on her tiger. “Ricker? What the—”
It had to be coming from him, but how?
Worry bombarded her and then the male was striding toward her, fierce thunder in his gaze. “Madison?” In two steps, she was cradled in his arms, one large hand cupping the back of her head, pressing it to his chest, and she listened to the solid beat of his heart. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I can feel…you.”
Anxiousness came from him and his pulse stuttered. “I felt you after the fight. I didn’t tell you because I liked knowing how you were doing and I figured that you’d close it off when you were ready.”
“Close it off? I’m not even open.” She pulled back to stare at him, eyes wide.
They gazed at each for what seemed like hours, emotions bouncing back and forth like a tennis ball.
This had definitely not been included in the “What to Expect when a Sensitive Mates” instruction manual. At all.
She was totally writing that book when she got home, too. She’d open her own little were bookstore for unsuspecting furballs.
A wide smile split Ricker’s face, mirth twinkling in his eyes. “There’s an instruction manual?”
Maddy stuck out her tongue. “No fair plucking things outta my head.”
Her mate leaned down and brushed his lips over hers, a sweet, gentle touch that she felt all the way to her toes. Arousal, quick and hot, burned through her in a flash and she couldn’t withhold the moan that gathered in her chest.
“I like being in your head. Like that I can feel how hot you get when I touch you.” Ricker nipped her lower lip and a whimper escaped her throat. “How good do you think it’ll be between us? I can sense what you need and give it to you, Kit. Anything you want, it’s yours.”
His cock hardened against her, long, thick and ready and the only thought in her mind was…bed. The tiger’s free hand stroked her back, traveled along her spine and then cupped the abundant curve of her ass, fingers kneading her flesh.
Maddy rocked her hips against him, savored the low hiss that escaped his lips and reveled in the growing arousal between them.
“There’s a bed inside, just say the word.”
She licked her lips, want and need pounding through her veins and the cat focused on its singular desire. “Word.”
That earned her a snort from her mate and then he had them in motion, his fingers twined with hers as he stalked toward the cabin, his long strides eating up the ground. At the door, he paused and gave her his attention, eyes serious, and tingles of apprehension and concern filtered through to her.
“Stay here for a minute? Please? I need to check out the interior. I don’t scent anyone in the yard, but I don’t want to—”
God, the man was tripping over himself while he tried not to offend her or order her to stay put.
Maddy placed her fingers over his lips. “It’s fine. Go make sure we’re safe so we can knock boots and get on with the show.”
“Knock boots?” His lips twitched.
“Shaddup and get moving, mister.” She mock glared and he stiffened to attention, giving her a military salute.
“Sir, yes sir.” With a laugh, he opened the front door and headed inside, leaving Maddy to look over their temporary home. She approached the railing and leaned against the wood.
Had she mentioned perfection? The air was filled with the fresh scents of the forest and the wind carried the soft twitter of the birds that surrounded their space.
Peace. The entire area wrapped her in peace.
Then she was wrapped in pure, unadulterated desire, a desperation for sex that she’d never felt before.
Mate…
The word whispered through her mind, the combined voice of her mate’s human and tiger voices danced across her consciousness and she sensed Ricker moving closer. Relief that the home was safe and empty slithered into his thoughts, but the need for her overpowered anything else he may have been feeling.
And his ache fanned hers.
The squeak of the front door swinging open was followed by the steady thump of her mate’s boots against the solid wood of the porch, his steps purposeful as he neared her. He di
dn’t hide his approach, nor his thoughts.
Attraction, lust, burning desire and…something more than mere caring. Maddy wouldn’t classify it as love. Mating wasn’t the same as falling madly in love with a person’s other half. It was hormonal, a beast’s drive to procreate.
But, she hoped for an enduring love like her parents…like Maya and Alex or Carly and Neal. There was always hope.
As her mate neared, she turned toward him, her back against the porch railing and she looked her fill.
She had no idea how she’d ended up so lucky. The man was strength and dominance tempered with sensitivity and vulnerability. A brush of his mind revealed his anxiousness, his tiger’s desperate ache for her as well as its acknowledgement that she was nothing like the Sensitives they’d encountered in the past.
Ricker’s body moved with sensuous shifts of muscle beneath skin, his clothing tight enough to reveal the ripple of his body as he approached. His shirt clung to his chest and abdomen, the outline of his washboard stomach easily visible. She still wanted to trace those depressions, travel further south and see if he had deep lines at his hip bones that pointed to his groin.
A glance at his face revealed her desire mirrored in his features. His green eyes had darkened and neared black as he gazed at her. Tension filled him, his strong jaw clenched tight and the tick of a vein easily visible.
It went beyond need now, his body demanding her, his emotions showing her that she had become a necessity to him, to his cat.
Her pussy pulsed at the thought, the idea that he craved her as much as she craved him. An ache built between her legs, moisture gathering and body preparing for his possession. The musky scent of her arousal filled the air between them, and Ricker’s nostrils flared, his chest rising as he took a deep breath.
“Madison…” His voice was a deep growl, the baritone vibrating through her and settling at the juncture of her thighs.
Ricker… She whispered into his mind, needing the connection. She’d been surprised at their presence within each other’s heads at first, but it seemed so natural now. So necessary.