Jerrod found Riley curled up in the corner of the couch wrapped up in a big thick fluffy white towel. She snuggled down into further luxuriating in the feel of what could only be real cotton. There wasn’t much of that around these days and this towel alone must have cost a fortune. She was wondering what her uncle Happy had said when he talked to Jerrod. She guessed it wasn’t anything nice, considering she refused to get on the phone.
She’d been too shaken up about what almost happened in the shower, she couldn’t talk to him. She was feeling marginally better about the whole thing until she looked up and saw Jerrod standing just inside the doorway. His lower half was covered in a white towel of his own, his bare chest still glistening with water. Her wolf began a restless pacing inside her head. She clamped her mouth shut to keep the growl that was forming in her throat from escaping.
“We need to talk.” His voice was rich and a little unsure. Funny how after everything that happened in the last few hours, now he was uncertain.
“So talk. But I’m telling you right now, I’m not going to London.” She said studying her fingertips to keep from watching the drop of water make its way down the rippled plane of his abs. His look of shock came and went in a flash.
“Damn it Riley, you don’t seem to understand the seriousness of the shit that went on tonight. We killed five men in front of hundreds of people in the middle of the fucking strip!” He was trying hard to keep a reign on his anger. She blanched a little, feeling her stomach give another heave at the reminder of what she’d done.
“Don’t think I don’t know that, or that I don’t care. I care very much about the fact that because of me, those men won’t go home to their families tonight. I also know that they’ve been looking for me for weeks, as a matter of fact, as soon as Jade and my uncle skipped town. But I refused to be shuttled away like a child before, and I refuse now!” She growled the last bit at him, her emotions getting the better of her. He strode to the couch and stood directly in front of her. It was no use; she either looked at his face or stared at the very part of his anatomy she wanted so badly. Riley met his intense blue eyes.
“This isn’t a request, and I’m not arguing with you about it. Happy wants you in London, and I’ve been charged with getting you there. So you can either come with me like a nice little girl, or I can make you. Your choice.” He folded his arms across his bare chest making the muscles bulge and jump. She couldn’t contain the feral growl that exploded from her that time.
Pure rage boiled through her veins at being ordered around and treated like an infant. Happy kept her practically locked away at the compound for years while he searched for Jade. It terrified him that someone would find out about her. Her first taste of freedom came after the attack on the mountain and her subsequent escape. She was not, allowing him, or anyone else to lock her up ever again.
“You don’t tell me what to do human! You want to go to London, then be my guest, but you can effectively count me out.” She stood and turned with the intent of storming off to some place he wasn’t. It’s not like she could leave in a towel; she needed to find clothes first. Then she was out of there. His hand on the top of her arm stopped her dead. Heat singed her skin and her wolf rattled her cage. She sucked in a breath and willed the hunger rising up inside her to go away.
“Please Riley, don’t be stubborn. We just want to keep you safe. There’s no place safer than in London with Jade.” He sounded authentically concerned, but his argument was seriously flawed.
“No place safer huh? I’m guessing you weren’t there the day they destroyed the mountain around us to get to her.” She jerked her arm away from him.
“You were there? I never saw you. I never even knew you existed until Happy told me to keep an eye on you.” He cocked his head as if trying to remember a time before, that he had seen her skulking around the stark hallways of the mountain base.
“You never saw me because I wasn't meant to be seen. I lived there for two years, and no one knew it. No one except Talia.” She picked up her chin to keep from looking as lost as she felt at the moment.
“Oh.” He was at a loss for words. Just what did you say to someone who was basically held prisoner right under your unknowing nose?
“Right, so I’m going to find some clothes to put on. If you’ll excuse me.” She left him standing there, mouth open, staring after her towel clad backside. She had no idea where she would find anything to wear but supposed raiding the first bedroom she came to would probably do the trick. As she wandered through the house, old money and luxury poked at her.
Riley wondered who they had stolen it from. It’s not like someone with this much money would volunteer to be one of the rebels. Not combat-wise anyway. Her uncle told her of a few benefactors for the cause that had cropped up as of late. Well, since Jade. Even so, she knew Jerrod had been with him longer than that. She could tell by the way he handled himself. Pure training of her doing. She should know, her uncle trained her from the time she could stand on two legs. Jerrod moved almost as gracefully as an Other, but he wasn’t one, and that was the problem.
She passed yet another painting of some scenic landscape framed in gaudy gold, and turned into the bedroom she remembered leaving earlier. She told herself it had nothing to do with the fact that this room was his. His scent lingered in the air a heady mix of spice and male. She crossed the room to the closet on the far side, ignoring the huge four-poster bed that dominated the east wall.
She passed her hand in front of the sensor, and the closet door slid back revealing Jerrod’s meager array of clothes. What, were t-shirts and blue jeans the standard rebel attire? That was it, just black on black, military-style cargo pants and long-sleeved shirts. She figured that the jeans would be way too big for her, even if she was a slightly large in the rear. And the shirts were going to drape on her like a dress, but she had little choice. She chose a t-shirt and pulled it over her head quickly.
It was a good thing she had moved as quickly as she did because as she was zipping up the pants, Jerrod walked into the room. He stopped as soon as he saw her, and stood staring as if she were still naked. His eyes roamed every inch of her, and she could hear his heart beat racing. She wasn’t immune to the fact that she was wearing his clothes, and could smell him on every inch of her.
She cleared her throat breaking the tense silence that enveloped the room, and ducked her head suddenly feeling a bit shy about the situation. This was ridiculous because they shared a shower, and were practically naked together twice. Even so, standing in the middle of his room, wearing his clothes, seemed so much more intimate than any of that. She blew out a shaky breath. This was the moment of truth, all she had to do was leave now, and she could go back to being free. And hunted.
“Don’t leave. Please, they’ll find you Riley. There’s no place in this city you can hide . Even local PD will be looking for you.” It was as if he could see the indecision warring on her face. She felt a twisting in her gut at his words because she knew he was right. She probably wouldn’t even make it back to the run-down heap she called an apartment. He responded the second her resolve snapped with a sigh of relief.
“Don’t think this means you can tell me what to do human. It doesn’t. It just means I’m willing to accompany you out of the country. Where I go once I get to London doesn't concern you. Understood?” She kept her posture tense waiting for him to protest. She expected him to push her to go to her uncle.
“OK, that’s fair enough. I just want to see you safe, and out of this shit-hole city. What you do once you get there is up to you. I’ll face Happy alone if that’s what you wish.” He said a bit too eagerly. She knew he would try to make her go to Uncle Happy but that would be a fight for later.
“Fine, when do we leave?”
“We are to be at the airport by six p.m. no later.” He said gliding across the room. All day here with him in close proximity, it was going to be torture of the most evil kind. Even from as far away as a few feet her wolf started restlessly pacing, with him standing right in front of her like he was now, the beast all but tried to claw her way out. What was it about this human that made her this way? This was more than heat cycle urges. While they could be extreme, they usually only affected her libido. Her wolf never took this much interest in anyone.
“Ok, I’m going to take a nap on the couch. Stay away from me.” She said pushing her way past him. Bad idea, the accidental brush of her arm against his sent a fire thrumming through her blood straight to her lower half. She stifled a groan and all but ran out of the room into the safety of the hall.
She really hoped he did as she asked and stayed the hell away. She didn’t know how many more times she would be able to push him aside. And with the way her wolf was acting, the results of giving in could be disastrous. At best, she would just shift during sex, at worst her wolf would turn on him, ripping him apart before she could get control. She hadn’t been raised in the human world, and self-control was something she had only begun to learn when Happy spirited her away to the compound. She blinked back the tears that formed from the memory of what lead to that event.
She made her way back to the living area and sat down at the far end of the couch. Darrell was sitting at the other end thumbing through a newspaper. She curled herself into a ball, wrapping her arms around her shines. She prayed that he wouldn’t talk to her. Of course, the Gods obviously abandoned her to her fate. As soon as she closed her eyes his deep voice drifted through the silence.
“You made the papers this morning.” He said waving the periodical in the air.
“Is it morning already?” No wonder she was so damn tired. She’d been up all night running around Vegas carving up PIC agents.
“Uh huh, they called it an atrocity, a bloody show of the reasons why Other Kind should have never been given Asylum.” He quoted. He shook his head and the multicolored beads at the end of his dreadlocks clinked together.
“They probably don’t mention the fact that they started shooting at us first did they?” She sighed heavy with guilt and regret.
“You know that doesn’t matter. As the public sees it, you are all still animals needing to be put down. Asylum means only that. It doesn’t give you equality, just a small measure of freedom that can be taken away at any time. They’re going to use this.” He said waving the paper in the air again.
“I know it’s my own fault. I was angry and not paying attention. I should have been more cautious. I knew they were out trolling.”
“Oh no Riley, this is Jerrod’s fault. He was with you. His job was to keep you out of situations like this. Instead, he walked you right into one. He’ll get his due when he gets to London though.” Darrell shrugged his shoulders and stood to leave.
“You should get some sleep. You look like shit.” He said. If only the lead ball that formed in her stomach would let her. Not only had she killed those men, but now Jerrod’s punishment would be on her head. Gods she’d caused such a mess. Maybe Uncle Happy was right in locking her away.
Unbidden thoughts of the night uncle Happy had come for her rose up. She had just enjoyed a long run through the mountains near her pack's Colorado compound. The moon was full, shinning its silvery light through the thick foliage above her leaving pools of silver on the forest floor. She’d been content on hoping from pool to pool watching how the moonlight shone on her honey-colored fur.
She had lazily been making her way back to the hidden compound when sounds of shouting and gunfire reached her ears. Instantly, she picked up her pace, her heart thundering in her hears. Screaming, oh Gods the screaming in her brain!
“Run Riley! Run far and fast!” Her sister screamed out just before stilling silence filled Riley’s head. Pain viciously clawed through her. The feel of a thousand bullets ripping through flesh and fur sent her sliding into the underbrush. She lay there crippled with the unending agony that tore its way through her heart and soul. They were gone, her whole family, mother, father, and her sister, her beautiful precious sister, destroyed in seconds.
She could feel the echoes of pain screaming through her brain from the rest of the pack. She was selfish, and didn’t want to help anybody else. Hell, if she tried they would just kill her too. It didn’t matter anymore. Her whole world had just ended. All she wanted was to lay there tangled in bramble and thorns to die. The heartbreak would surely kill her before long.
She got her wish, almost. As she lay there slowly dying for the next few hours, no one searched the woods. Not PIC, and not pack. Those who survived were doing as she was, letting the pain of losing so many slowly wash them away. It was close to morning before hands surrounded her and lifted her up out of her thorny death bed. Happy laid her in a transport and drove her to the mountain compound. It was only after she was there a few days that she realized he rescued about a dozen members of the Red Creek pack, including their Alpha. Except she was the only family who survived.
Riley dashed away the tears that found their way out, and drew in a shuddering breath. He should have left them all to die in peace. PIC had taken and destroyed their Alpha not long after, using his blood to fuel the transition in Jade Jameson. After the battle with PIC a month ago, only four of the Red Creek pack remained. They were better off dying in the mountains than fighting simply to die anyway.
“Riley, are you okay?’ Jerrod’s soft question startled her. She’d been drowning so deep into memories and loathing for her uncle, that she didn't hear him approach. Wiping her hands down her face quickly to clear away the tears, she turned to face him.
“Yeah, just fucking peachy. I thought I told you to stay away from me.” She said softly, half wanting him to go away and half wanting him to curl up next to her. Her wolf liked the later of the two options better. They both needed contact right now, even if it wasn’t from a pack member.
“Look, I’m sorry about earlier, in the shower I mean. It won’t happen again.” He ran his hand through his scruffy blond hair. It stuck up in places still wet from said shower. She closed her eyes and stifled a growl at the remembrance of the way his hands felt stroking her body.
“Its fine, no worries.” Letting her head fall back to the cushion behind her, she stared at the ceiling. The silence got heavy with tension as she struggled with what she wanted and what she knew she should avoid. Her wolf was way too interested in this man. It made her nervous. Wolves only mated within the pack, but she was quite sure her reactions were that of a possible mate bond. She’d seen it a dozen times or so before her pack was destroyed. One day a wolf would wake up and suddenly couldn’t stop themselves from claiming another. And it always happened close to the heat cycle. She heard his footsteps retreating, and she broke down under the whining that filled her head.
“Jerrod?” She lifted her head to look at him.
“Yeah Riley?” He stopped and hooked his thumbs in the waist band of his jeans. He was still shirtless though, which suited her just fine. Skin to skin was what she needed.
“Could you come hold me…? Please?” Her voice was soft and cautious; worried that he might turn her down. A slight smile curved the edges of his lips, and he nodded his head.
“Yeah Riley, I would do anything you asked me to.” He sounded like he meant it. He closed the distance that he had put between them and sat down on the couch beside her. He drew her up against him enfolding her in his warmth and spicy scent. Drawing in a deep breath and was surprised to feel her wolf begin to nestle and simmer down, fading into the background of her consciousness. As her eyelids closed, fell into him, letting sleep finally claim her.