by J. L. Wilder
“Outside,” she whispered.
He hesitated. “Are you sure it’s all right?”
“There’s only one way into this room. We’ll stay near the door. No one will be able to get past us.”
He nodded and grabbed the motel room key, stuffing it in his pocket. Then he took her by the hand and pulled her out the door.
The parking lot in front of their motel room was in shadow, and there were no other cars in sight. The light was still on in the main office building, but that was on the other side of the lot.
“We’ll just have to try to be quiet,” Ryker murmured. “Can you do that?”
Haley nodded. She could feel her pulse throbbing in every part of her body. She was so aroused already.
He turned her in his arms, took her by the wrists, and pressed her palms flat against the wall. His body was flush against hers.
She was breathing too hard already, the lack of oxygen making her dizzy.
He hitched his t-shirt up over her hips and reached around, pressing all four fingers between her legs, cupping her. She groaned and widened her stance to accommodate him.
“Shh,” he murmured.
He pressed into her—one finger, then two—getting them wet so that he could rub against her more easily. She bit her lip to keep from moaning as he worked her. He felt so good. His fingers were so expert. Had he always been this masterful?
He knows my body perfectly.
Even after ten years apart, he knew her body as well as she knew it herself. He knew exactly how to touch her, how to give her pleasure.
She let her head drop between her arms. Her knees felt weak. She rolled her hips against his hand, grinding down, taking more friction.
Then his hand left her for a moment, and she lifted her head to complain, to ask why he had stopped, but she heard the sound of a zipper and knew what was to come.
His hands were on her hips now, tilting them back, lining her up.
And then—
“Fuck—” she breathed as he took her, the angle allowing him to penetrate her more deeply than usual. She hardly dared to move.
“Quiet,” he hissed, his breath hot against the back of her neck. He curved over her like a blanket, bringing his hand up between her legs once more. “Not a word, or we’ll stop.”
She nodded, wondering if he meant it. Would he really have the strength to stop? She didn’t think she could have done it.
One of his palms pressed against the wall in front of them, and she found that by turning her head, she could kiss the inside of his arm. It gave her something to do with her mouth besides talking. When the urge to cry out was too intense, she bit down, feeling the give of his skin between her teeth. She could practically feel the blood in his veins, rushing hot over her tongue. He was so totally worked up.
I fucking love him. I love that I do this to him.
He was thrusting quickly now, and she bent over further so that she could take him deeper. A part of her wished they could take their time out here, spend hours in this position, lose themselves in it the way they had the other night.
I think that if I had my way, I’d have him inside me all the time.
She shoved against the wall with both hands, pushing her hips all the way into his, grinding in a circle. She needed to feel as much of him as she could. She wanted him deep and hard and absolutely everywhere.
But he didn’t slow his pace, and she understood why. Even though she didn’t like it, it was a decision she agreed with. Danny was inside, and if he woke up alone, he might be afraid.
He stroked her a few more times, fucking into her hard, and she felt the breaking crest of her orgasm. She bit down hard on his arm as he pressed the palm of his hand against her, sending wave after wave of pleasure through her body.
Ryker let out a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a moan and shuddered behind her.
Haley licked her lips, tasting blood. Alarmed, she turned to face him, but he was smiling. “That’s new,” he said.
“I bit you.” She was mildly horrified.
“It was kind of hot.” He showed her the mark. “Don’t worry about it. I liked it.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “You were wild. Out of control.”
She took his arm in her hand. Pulling it close, she licked the broken skin slowly, keeping her eyes locked with his.
He shivered. “You’re driving me insane, you know.”
“We should get back inside,” she murmured. “See if we can find a bandage for this.”
He nodded. “I bought a first aid kit at the vending machine,” he said. “It’s not much, but I’m sure there’s something.”
She tugged her shirt back into position. Ryker draped an arm over her shoulders and walked her back over to the motel room door.
“Quietly,” she said. “We don’t want to wake Danny.”
He nodded and scanned the key card. It beeped softly, and Haley reached out and pushed the door open.
Danny lay asleep, just as they had left him.
“Will you go to sleep now?” he asked Haley.
She folded her arms. “Will you?”
“When it’s my turn,” he promised. “But I want you to rest. I want you to let me take care of you, Haley. You’re my mate. I need that.”
She nodded. “All right,” she said, and stood on her toes to kiss him. “You can take the first watch.”
Chapter Forty-Six
RYKER
It was drizzling in the morning, and Ryker was grateful for the clothes he did have, but they were going to need more.
“How far is the nearest department store?” he asked the motel manager and received directions to a place about two miles from the motel itself. He decided to go on foot—shifting and flying, worrying about being seen and carrying his clothes along with him, would be too much of a hassle. It would take longer to travel on foot, but the thought of a run was nice.
He set off at a jog down the side of the highway and soon forgot his troubles. Exercise wasn’t quite as good as letting the dragon take over when it came to stress management, but it was close. By the time he had reached the department store, he felt almost carefree. It was easy to forget the fact that he was probably still being hunted, or that he, Haley, and Danny had nowhere to go.
He went into the store and found the clothes section. He picked out a few things for himself quickly enough. Shopping for Haley was easy too—he still remembered what sizes she wore from their years living together, and he’d been close enough with her since their reunion to know that her body hadn’t changed significantly. He got her athletic pants, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and some undergarments. He picked out shoes for both of them as well.
But when it came to finding things for Danny, he was a little more at a loss.
He held up a t-shirt, trying to decide whether or not it would do. Children’s sizes were completely different from those for adults. And should he buy something too large, so that Danny would be able to grow into it? What was the right thing to do here?
“Can I help you?”
He turned. One of the store employees was smiling at him. It couldn’t have been more apparent that she was human. She was short and clear-faced, probably in her twenties, and objectively he supposed she was pretty, but he couldn’t imagine feeling anything for her the way he did for Haley.
“I’m looking for a few things for a ten-year-old boy,” he said. “But I’m not sure what size he wears.”
“Do you know how big he is?”
“He’s about as big as that kid over there,” Ryker said, nodding toward a boy who was standing across the aisle in the electronics section and looking at video games. “Maybe a little taller but built the same.”
“Okay,” the employee said brightly. “For a child that size, I’d recommend these.” She pulled a few pairs of jeans off the rack. “And for shirts...you probably want this size.”
“Okay, thanks,” Ryker said. “I suppose there’s no way to predi
ct his shoe size, is there?”
She laughed. “No,” she said. “Although, you said he was ten? A men’s size six is pretty common for a kid that age. Maybe a seven if he has particularly big feet.”
Ryker had never noticed the size of his son’s feet. “I’ll try the sevens,” he said.
“You can always get a receipt at checkout and return anything that doesn’t fit well,” the employee said brightly.
“Thanks,” Ryker said, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be doing anything of the kind. They couldn’t afford to frequent any more places than they had to. It was bad enough that they were spending multiple nights at the hotel. The more people grew familiar with their faces, the higher the chance that Shane or another member of the clan would track them down.
He took the bundle of clothes he’d chosen up to the checkout and bought them, thankful for the fact that he had his money in a bank account. Even now, when most shifters had made concessions to the modern world and installed TVs, bought cell phones, and even purchased cars in a few instances, many dragons preferred to keep their money in their homes. Ryker supposed it was a hoarding instinct. He had that instinct too—all dragons did—but the moment Shane had been made alpha, he’d run down to the bank and opened an account. He didn’t trust his cousin not to steal from him.
And now I can pay for things with my debit card. No need to worry about hauling cash around.
On the way back to the motel, he stopped off at the diner he had seen last night. Haley had indicated that she wasn’t ready to go out to eat, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t bring her something.
He ordered everything on the menu—pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, and ham, fruit, oatmeal, hash browns, and donuts. The server stared at him in amazement as she wrote it all down. “Are you feeding some kind of army?” she asked.
I’m feeding three hungry dragons. “Just my family,” he said with a grin.
“You must have a big family.”
“I feel like it’s getting bigger all the time.”
“Let me guess. Boys?”
“I have a son.”
She laughed. “I’ve got three,” she said. “They’re trying to eat me out of house and home. I feel your pain. Tell you what, how about I throw in an apple pie on the house?”
“That’s mighty generous of you,” Ryker said.
He took the bags of food, left a sizable tip, and headed back toward the motel, now completely laden with clothes and breakfast.
He swiped his key card and nudged the door open with his hip. Danny was bouncing up and down on the bed, but at the sight of Ryker, he jumped to the floor and ran over.
“Food?” he asked eagerly.
Ryker laughed. “Yes,” he said. “Food first, then clothes.”
Haley smiled. “That sounds perfect,” she said. “Danny, let’s help out by making some space on the table here, and then we can all sit down to eat.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
RYKER
“I’ve been thinking,” Haley said quietly as they ate. “And I think we should go back.”
“Back to Valerie’s place?” Ryker asked, frowning. “We can’t do that. It’s not safe for her.”
“I know that,” Haley said. “That’s not what I meant. I definitely don’t think we should go there.”
“Then where? Back to Shifter Town? They’ll find you there, Haley. We can do better than that. We’ll get a house or something, somewhere out of this part of the country. I was thinking of maybe Canada—”
“No,” Haley said. “Ryker, we need to go back to the clan.”
Ryker couldn’t have been any more surprised if she’d suggested selling her services as a bodyguard to the grizzlies. He nearly spat out his juice. Swallowing hard, he said, “You want to go back to the clan? Seriously? After what happened the last time we were there?”
Danny looked up at the two of them, his face very serious.
“That’s right,” Haley said. “I think we need to.”
“How can you say that?”
“I know,” she said. “I know how dangerous it is.”
“Do you? They were going to take Danny away from us, Haley. You get that, right?”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot,” Haley snapped. “I know what they were going to do.”
“Then how can you be considering taking him back there?” Ryker couldn’t understand it. Throughout all of this, her top priority had been ensuring that Danny was safe. Was she really going to compromise his safety now? And for what?
“I’m not saying we’d take him along,” Haley said. “He can stay with Valerie until this is settled.”
“I don’t think that’s wise.”
“Nobody’s going to go looking for Danny when we’re walking right into their midst,” Haley said. “You saw them. Half of them didn’t even believe he was our kid. Most of them didn’t believe he was yours. If we go back without him, they won’t bother trying to figure out where he is.”
“We can’t know that,” Ryker argued. “And I think more of them might have believed the story than you realize, Haley. He does look like me. Of course Shane would have pushed the idea that we were lying. But now that we’ve been away for a few hours, I bet people are starting to question that. I bet some of them are wondering whether it might not be true after all.”
“I think he’ll be safe with Valerie,” Haley said. “If we go back, they’re going to focus on us.”
“And if something happens to us?”
“If we don’t call Valerie by a set time, I’ll have her take the kids and get out of town,” Haley said. “She can take them to Canada as easily as we can. And she has access to all the money you paid me.”
Danny looked like he was going to burst into tears. “I don’t want you to go back to them, Mom.”
“I know,” Haley said softly. She cupped the back of his neck. “But you remember what your father told us, right? About other kids living amongst the clan?”
Danny gulped and nodded.
“We can’t just abandon them,” Haley said. “That man, the one who tried to fight me when we were there yesterday—he’s the boss right now, and he likes to hurt people. We have to get him away from the rest of the clan so he can’t do that anymore.”
Ryker couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Now you care about the clan?”
“I’ve always cared about the clan,” Haley said.
“No, you haven’t. You resented what they did to you. And you were right to feel that way.”
“But that was never about the clan,” Haley said. “That was about the people in the clan.”
“Meaning what?”
“Well, you care about the clan, don’t you?” she asked.
“You know I do.”
“Even though it’s being led by a sociopath and his band of minions.”
Ryker waited.
“The clan is bigger than whoever’s in charge of it at any given time,” Haley said. “The clan is bigger than the decisions of the council. The clan goes back generations. And I want it to go generations into the future as well. I never realized this until recently, but I want Danny to have a clan to grow up in. I want him to have the chance to know other dragons. He deserves that. And I want the clan you and I grew up in to thrive, and to be a good place for other dragons to live.”
“You really mean it, don’t you?” Ryker asked quietly.
“I do,” Haley said. “I kind of can’t believe I’m saying it. I’ve spent a long time hating that clan. But they deserve a leader like you. I think we need to go back and set things right.”
Ryker sighed. “I hate to admit it, but you have a point,” he said quietly.
“This is what you want, isn’t it?” Haley asked. “You want to go back to the clan. You want to fight for the alpha spot.”
“I do,” Ryker said. “It’s going to be dangerous as hell, and God knows whether or not we’ll win, but you know it’s what I want.”
“That settles it,
then,” Haley said. “We’re not going to run away. We’re going back there, and we’re going to take what’s rightfully yours.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
“WE’LL CHECK OUT IN the morning,” Ryker said, locking the motel door. “We should take one more night to finalize our plans.”
Haley nodded. “There’s no reason to rush,” she said. “The longer we’re away, the less likely the others are to think we’re coming back.”
Ryker glanced at Danny. The boy had watched TV all day and had eventually fallen asleep on the bed. He must have felt as if he was in some kind of purgatory, trapped in this tiny motel room.
One way or another, it will all be over tomorrow. We’ll be able to move on to whatever comes next for our family.
“I’m going to take a shower,” he said to Haley.
She nodded. “All right.”
“Come with me?”
She looked up at him, and he smiled. Just the thought of her in the shower with him, wet and naked and slick with soap, was enough to make him half hard.
He took her by the hand and led her into the bathroom. Reaching behind himself with one hand to turn on the shower, he pulled her close and began to kiss her.
Her hands fumbled with the button of his jeans. After a moment, she got it open and pushed them down around his ankles. She lifted the hem of his shirt, found his balls, cupped them, and then gave them a little tug.
Ryker swallowed a groan. The dragon inside him purred.
He lifted her shirt over her head and ripped his own away. In his haste, he felt one of the buttons pop free, but it couldn’t be helped. He needed her. He couldn’t take his time with this.
She kicked her pants into the corner of the bathroom. Ryker stepped out of his own. He took a moment to admire her, running his hands up and down her sides—over the curve of her hips, up to the swell of her breasts. She sighed happily, leaning into his hands wherever he touched her.
How the fuck did we go ten years without this?
