Alexis rounded the side of the bar to find the back parking lot empty except for one vehicle, Hector’s, and only one small light illuminating the area, the shadows thick and threatening. Several yards away, she saw Hector and Kelly.
“Kelly!” Alexis screamed, trying to stop her from getting into Hector’s pickup truck, but to no avail. Kelly got in; Hector didn’t. He charged toward Alexis, and she felt the menace in him. She started to back away, certain Ryder would be there any second.
Hector was running toward her now, angry, ready to lash out. Probably blaming her for her foreman’s actions, too. She turned and started to run, thankful for the sight of Ryder charging toward her. With…swords. He had swords in his hands. What in the blazes was happening?
Her question was absorbed by the growl that sounded behind her. A vicious snarl followed. A snarl like she’d heard in the wood with Ryder that day. Hector’s horrid gasp came next. Instinct had her turning toward the noise, trying to see what might attack. “Don’t!” Ryder yelled. “Don’t turn! Run! Run!” She ran and he sped past her. The sound of blades connecting behind her was too much. She turned.
To her absolute shock, she found Ryder matching blades with not one but two men. Hector was on the ground bleeding from his neck. Dead. He was dead. Or close to it. Alexis backed away in horror as she fixed her attention on one of the things fighting Ryder. Because that was no man! Monster. The word repeated in her head over and over. She didn’t know what to do. Was this a nightmare?
She inhaled, held her hand to her chest, tried to calm her racing heart. Think! Think! Help. They needed help. She screamed the word. “Help! Help! Help!” All the while, her eyes stayed focused on Ryder, praying his sword was the one to prevail. Music pumped from the walls of the bar; her cries were lost in its volume.
Her gaze caught abruptly on Hector’s truck as the door popped open. Kelly was going to get out. “No! No!”
Alexis started running toward her, past the battle. From the corner of her eye, she saw another monster dart from the woods, and it was chasing her. She screamed and ran faster. But it was fast. Too fast. It was already practically on her. She stumbled. Her heart pounded against her chest, ready to explode. She scrambled, rotated to her back to try to see her attacker, certain she was about to die.
Suddenly, Ryder’s sword swished through the air, and the monster’s head came off. Alexis gasped, certain blood would splatter everywhere. Instead, flames erupted on the head and body, and moments later the monster was gone. Her gaze swept the area around her. The other monsters were gone. Hector was gone! His body was gone! Kelly. Where was Kelly? Frantically, Alexis turned to find her friend standing behind her. “Oh, thank you,” she said in a sigh of relief. “Are you okay?”
“No,” Kelly sat down. “Hector must have put something in my drink. I’m seeing things.”
Ryder knelt down in front of Alexis, his focus on her, not Kelly, his swords by his side on the ground. He touched her face, hand skimming her hair. “Are you okay?” he asked, but gave her no time to reply, pulling her into his arms. He held her close, tight, as if he never wanted to let go.
“I’m okay,” she whispered, the warmth of him surrounding her, making her believe those words. A thought rushed at her. She jerked back, urgent. “Hector. Hector was bleeding. We have to call 9–1-1.”
Ryder stared down at her. “He’s one of them now, Alexis. He’s gone.”
She shook her head, rejecting those words, rejecting the reality that included monsters. “What’s happening?”
“I’ll explain everything, I promise. But not here. Not when they could come back.” His hand skimmed her hair. “At home.”
Home? Alexis blinked at the underlying meaning that might lie in those words, unable to ask questions. Ryder was on his cell phone already, telling someone where to come, where to clean up. She squeezed her eyes shut. There were so many things she didn’t understand. Things about Ryder she didn’t understand.
Ending the call, Ryder pushed to his feet and offered her his hand. She stared up at it, at him. “Why do I trust you after all of this?” she asked, because she did. She trusted him more completely now than ever, yet she wondered if she knew him at all.
He knelt down again and looked into her eyes, the light nearby allowing her to see the tenderness in them. “Because I would die to protect you, and I think you can sense that. And because I love you, Alexis. I love you.”
Doubt slid away with his emotional confession. Because she loved him, too.
Hours after the fight behind the bar, Alexis stood on her front porch with Ryder and Jag, Ryder’s hand resting protectively on her back. She listened as they debated which Knights would soon be joining Ryder to hunt the nearby territory and deal with the Demon infestation. Her head was spinning with all she’d learned of Demons and Angels.
The Demons were apparently keen on claiming territory. They’d been here once, they’d always come back. Hector was now a Demon who’d been a random victim as Ryder had once been. Only Ryder wasn’t a Demon. Ryder was a Demon hunter. She was his mate. She could save him from the Beast within him, bind it so it could never taint his soul.
She’d learned this from Marisol, the woman who had appeared with Jag behind that bar and orbed everyone back to the ranch. Orbed. Somehow, transported them in the blink of an eye from one place to the next. One minute they were in the parking lot behind the bar, the next at the ranch. It had been amazing. Even more amazing was the way Marisol had erased Kelly’s memories and then, with a wave of her hand, sent her into a healing sleep. Kelly was resting, and before Marisol had left, she had assured Alexis that Kelly would be well the next morning. Alexis had every intention of making sure she was more than well. She was going to make sure Kelly had a fresh start.
Alexis narrowed her gaze on Jag as he spoke. He was a man easy to like, impossible to ignore—and not because he was a hunky six foot plus of Hispanic male. It was an inner strength he possessed, a leadership presence you noticed immediately. Which was befitting since he was more than the owner of Jaguar Ranch. He was the leader of the Knights of White. And Ryder was a Demon hunter. She still couldn’t fully get her mind around that fact but, having seen the Demons, acceptance came easy.
That Ryder had once been bitten by one of those creatures was horrifying. She’d seen Hector’s neck, seen all the blood. She shivered just thinking about it, and Ryder pulled her under his shoulder, warmth filling her. Jag turned his attention to her as well. “Partners,” Jag said, extending his hand to her.
Alexis smiled at Jag. “Yes. Partners.” She’d agreed to an investment in the ranch which would allow horse breeding to become part of their operation. Ryder would stay and train Rick to run the operation. New staff would be hired with the experience needed. The ranch was saved. And Ryder was staying.
Jag released her hand and shook Ryder’s. “Be safe, my man. Help will arrive soon.”
“Thank you,” Ryder said softly.
Jag smiled at Alexis. “Peace, Alexis,” he said without any further explanation. And then he simply disappeared.
Alexis shook her head and turned to Ryder. “It’s going to take a while to get used to that.”
Ryder slid his hand around hers, gently leading her inside the house. “It does us all.” Once they were inside he picked her up.
Alexis gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Taking you to bed.”
She laughed. “I’m not sleepy.”
“Neither am I,” he said, casting her a heated look.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she whispered, suddenly warm all over.
He stood in the hallway. “Upstairs or down?”
“Up,” she said. “No more hiding downstairs.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he said, approval lacing his tone.
Ryder carried her up the stairs and laid her on the bed, coming down with her, his big body a warm shelter above hers. “I know,” she whispered before he could kiss her lips. “I know about the mating process. Marisol told me.”
He pulled back, turbulence in his eyes a moment before he squeezed them closed. “I didn’t want her to tell you.”
Her hand touched his face. “Why?” she asked, confused by the emotions in him. “Why would you not want me to know?”
“Because I know your big heart. You will save me because of a sense of destiny and obligation. Because I’m one of the good guys, and you saw those Demons. You know what is out there, what I face, what I could become.” His voice turned raspy, intense. “I don’t want obligation. I want you. You, Alexis. A woman who chooses me as her mate.”
Her heart tightened, warmed. Any fear of speaking her mind was gone. It hurt her to know she’d created such doubt in him. That her need to protect herself had obviously caused him such torment. “I love you, Ryder. I love you. I should have told you what I felt. I should have said, no, no, it’s not okay that you leave. Not now. Not ever. I love you. I’m not saving you. You saved me. You were what I was missing.”
“I want to believe that. I want to—”
She kissed him. Pressed her mouth to his and tried to tell him she loved him in yet another way. “Make me yours forever,” she whispered against his lips. “Save me. Let me save you.”
He pulled back, searched her face. “You’re sure?”
She nodded. “Absolutely.” She smiled a bit nervously, thinking about the mating process Marisol had described as erotic. “You have to bite me, right? On the shoulder?”
“Yes,” he said. “While we make love.”
Alexis wrapped her arms around his neck. “What are you waiting for?” she asked, teasing him. “I don’t have all day.”
He didn’t wait any longer, his mouth claiming hers. Passion-filled kisses followed, gentle caresses, tender stares. Soon they were naked, intimately entwined. Ryder sat with his back against the headboard, Alexis on top of him. They were kissing, swaying together in a slow, erotic rhythm. Desire began to change from smoldering heat to overwhelming demand. Alexis could feel the need in Ryder, in herself. Feel the moment approaching when life would change forever.
He pulled back, looked at her, his eyes dark, swirling with a yellowish hue of Beast and man. “You’re sure?” he whispered.
“Absolutely,” she said, wanting this, wanting him more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.
Ryder buried his face in her neck, and she felt his teeth sink into her shoulder. Alexis stiffened with shock a moment before pleasure soared through her limbs. Everything inside her warmed, filled, felt complete. She smiled to herself, filled with happiness, and the promise of an eternity of tomorrows to come.