Banging on the door woke me up. It was late, just after two a.m., and I stuffed my glasses on my face while I trudged upstairs to answer. Frustration rankled down my spine.
Who the hell was knocking this late?
“Who is it?” my mother croaked out.
“I don’t know, Mom.” I checked through the peephole. Jericho held up Saint, and a badly beaten Selene leaned against the doorjamb. I quickly unlocked the entry and swung it open.
“What’s going on?”
“Sorry,” Jericho said. “I don’t have my keys.”
“Come in,” I said. “What’s happened?”
Jericho carried the big man through the house, his legs practically dragging on the carpet.
“Put him on the table.” I clicked on the lights and grabbed the centerpiece, placing it on the desk by the window. Jer stretched his brother out over the top of it, and Saint groaned, clutching his leg.
“What can I do?” I asked.
“Do you have any clean towels? Medical supplies?” Selene wiped at the back of her bloody nose with her forearm. “Gauze, stitching, anything?”
“Jesus, you came to the right place,” Mom piped up.
“Yes,” I answered, turning toward the hallway that led toward the bathroom.
I didn’t know what had happened or why, but Jericho needed my help. So I’d help him. My hands shook as I riffled through the closet.
Gauze, stitching, tape, antibiotics. I tossed it all in a plastic bag, hoping it would help. Mom had been sick for a while. She’d accumulated a lot of supplies over the years. I came back into the dining room with my haul.
“What color’s the blood?” Selene sifted through the supplies until she found what she needed.
“Red.” Jericho poked at different parts, making Saint shout and launch off the table.
“But not black?”
“No,” Jericho said.
Selene nodded and sniffed again. “You got lucky, Saint. If you nicked something important, you’d have bled out by now.”
“It feels like fucking hell, Sel.” Saint’s voice sounded strained, and he winced while Jericho put more pressure on the wound.
“Doc’s on his way, all right?” Jericho said. “Don’t you fucking die on me.”
“If I was gonna die,” Saint said, “you think I’d be hanging on to look at your sorry fucking mug?”
Jericho laughed, and honestly, it made me feel better to hear the exchange. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot, and his arms covered to his elbows in blood. It terrified me, and not only because of the horror.
My front door opened again and three enormous men walked through, the sound of shit-kickers echoing off my mother’s hardwood. She sat up straighter, widening her eyes at the sight. I took a step back, clearing the way for the one with the patch that read Doc.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Saint,” he said. “You’ve done a hell of a job making my night fucking perfect.”
“Wouldn’t be a raid if I didn’t end up on your table, would it?” He laughed in a soft whimper while two of his other brothers came to help Doc patch him up.
“I want to do an ultrasound.” Doc leaned over Saint and poked at the wound in his thigh. “Can we get him to Rusty’s?”
“I brought my pickup,” a tall, bald guy said. Slip. The road captain.
“Good.” He did some more examining before turning to Jericho. “You did the right thing, bringing him here. Any more jostling, and this could have been worse.”
“How bad is it?” Slip crossed his arms over his chest. All of them were big with tattoos and auras that warned people to stay the fuck away.
“Difficult to say,” Doc said.
“We’ll get him to Rusty’s and then take him to the clubhouse,” Slip said. Then he looked at Selene and Jericho. “You two should stay here, just in case you were compromised.”
“Compromised?” Selene looked between Slip and Doc. “How?”
“I had a tail,” Jericho said.
“We don’t know if you were followed. And if you were, I don’t like leaving civilians unprotected.” Slip nodded. “I assume it’s cool if Jer and Selene crash here for a few days?”
“Absolutely,” Mom cut in. “Both are welcome as long as they want.”
“Thank you,” Slip said. “I’ll send someone over to clean up the place tomorrow. I apologize for disrupting your evening.”
“Please,” Mom said. “I hope everyone’s okay.”
“Same.” I wrapped my arms around my body. “I’m happy we could help.”
“Mind if I use your bathroom?” Selene asked.
“Of course not.” I grimaced at her busted lip and black eye. “That looks pretty bad. Let me help you get cleaned up.”
She nodded, and I led her down the hallway, closing the door behind us when we got inside.
“You all right?” She sat on my toilet while I dug through the bag for what remained of the peroxide and bandages.
“Me?” I raised my eyebrows, deciding on gauze and witch hazel for the bruising. “I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about. Do you think you have a concussion?”
She snorted out a laugh. “That fucker woulda needed to hit me harder than that.”
I poured some liquid on a piece of gauze and dabbed at a deep cut on her forehead. She hissed and winced before jerking away, but I held her chin still in my hand and she darted her one good blue eye to me.
A few moments of silence passed between us while I patched her back together.
“This one might need stitches.” I teased an area over her eyebrow, and she jerked her head away. It was deep and bleeding all over the place.
“Shit.” She stood and looked in the mirror. “Nah. You got any butterflies?”
I dug through the bag, miraculously finding some. “I don’t know how old they are.”
“It’s fine.” She peeled them open so she could grab them with the tweezers, placing them like a fucking badass. “How much longer?”
At first, I didn’t know what she meant. But then she nodded toward my mom in the living room.
“Not much. Weeks. Days.” I shrugged. “Some days she’s better than others.”
Selene nodded. “I did a rotation in the oncology ward.”
“Really?”
She went back to closing herself up. “Before I dropped out.”
“Why’d you drop out?”
She sighed before pulling the last stitch into place. “Life. Gemma went missing and Thor needed help at the garage and Jer…”
“Jer?”
Selene cleared her throat and turned to face me, leaning back against the sink. “Jer was fucked up over Nikki for a long time.”
Oh.
Were Selene and Nikki friends? If so, winning her over might be difficult. That was… if I intended to be here long-term, which I hadn’t decided yet.
“They weren’t good together.” Selene tilted her head to the side, raking her one good eye over me. “She didn’t bring him to life like you.”
“It’s still new,” I said. “And it’s not…” I cleared my throat. “It’s not really anything.”
“Sure.” She didn’t sound convinced.
I waited a moment, remembering we still hadn’t kissed or confessed our love or anything like that, despite whatever my stupid heart might be feeling. “What happened tonight?”
She took a deep breath. “Some assholes trespassed on my land. I shot one. The other three thought they could have their way with me.” Selene shut her eye. “Guess it was stupid to go storming off on my own.”
“You shot one?” I raised an eyebrow, dabbing at another area. “Jesus. You’re awesome.”
She laughed and shook her head, her messy brown hair caked with blood and mud and grass. I reached out to pick a piece off her, tossing it in the garbage.
“I’m an idiot.” She sighed and shook her head. “They woulda killed me if Jericho hadn’t shown up.”
“Well, they didn’t.”
She almost had all the blood off her face when a loud voice boomed through the small house.
“Where is she? Where’s Selene?”
“Fuck.” Selene widened her eyes, meeting mine in panic. She gripped my forearm, digging her nails into my skin. Booted footsteps thundered down the hallway, drawing closer.
“Who is that?”
The handle to the bathroom door rattled.
“Selene?” said the loud voice on the other side, followed by three hard knocks on the door. “Open up.”
“It’s Thor,” Selene said.
“Your uncle?” I went to open it, but she grabbed my wrist to stop me.
“He’s not my uncle.” She sighed. “Go away, Thor!”
“I need to see you.” He sounded desperate and angry, like maybe she was his girlfriend or lover instead of his missing wife’s niece. “Sel. Open the fucking door.”
“I’m fine.” She scowled, and even though half her face was purple and one eye had swollen shut, there was frustration in her expression, loud and clear. “I don’t need your help.”
“Selene, I swear to fucking God.” Thor pounded harder and jiggled the handle again. “Open this fucking door, or I’ll kick it down.”
“You absolutely will not.”
My jaw dropped, and I balked at Selene. “What’s going on?”
“If he sees me like this, he’ll go fucking berserk.”
“What?” My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to understand. “Why?”
“Just…” She shook her head and nodded toward the door. “Never mind. It’s stupid. Can you tell him to wait outside? I’ll come out when I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?” I was skeptical. “You don’t need help—”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve patched myself up. Trust me.”
I didn’t like the look in her eye when she said that, but I didn’t push.
“Thank you.” Selene grabbed my hand and gave it a tender squeeze. “For what it’s worth, whatever is between you and Jericho… it ain’t nothing.”
My cheeks burned, and I pushed my glasses higher on my face, giving her a small smile before opening the door to a six-feet-four Viking decked out in leather. His light-brown hair hung loose around his shoulders to the middle of his chest, and he stared down at me with his bright green eyes. Tattoos lined his arms and neck, disappearing under his shirt and cut.
“Excuse me.” I squeezed out the door, trying to shut it behind me. He put his hand out to stop it, grabbing the wood over my head. “She asked for you to wait outside.”
“Yeah. No fucking way that’s happening.” He pushed it open, yanking it out of my hand. “Sel—Jesus Christ.” His features dropped when he saw her, and I decided their business was none of mine.
Thor stepped inside the bathroom and shut the door behind him, and when I heard him speak softly to her behind the barrier, I went down the hallway to check on Jericho. He sat on the couch, clutching one side and laughing at something my mother said. She smiled when I came into the room, raising an eyebrow at my moonbeam.
“He needs some patching up, too,” she said.
“It’s nothing.” He waved her off, but there was fresh blood on his fingertips, so I took a few steps closer and held a hand out to him.
“Let’s go. I’ve got some more stuff downstairs.”
He pursed his lips but let me tug him to his feet. Together, we hobbled down the steps to the other bathroom.
* * *
He sat shirtless on my toilet while I knelt on the floor between his knees, dabbing at the wound on his ribs with gauze. He winced and straightened, putting his hands on my shoulders to steady himself.
“You might need stitches,” I said.
“Nah,” he said. “Doc said I didn’t. Just tape it closed, and I’ll be good.”
I placed one of the butterfly enclosures Doc had given him, tugging it into place across his wound. Good thing I didn’t get wheezy at the sight of blood, or this would have gone in an entirely different direction. My initial shock had now faded away, leaving in its place a simmering rage at how close he’d come to danger.
It could have been him on my dining room table tonight. Two inches to the left, and it would have been.
Maybe he sensed that in my squared jaw or my hardened stare because he chuckled softly and said, “Guess my cam guy days are done for a while, huh?”
I blinked and snapped my gaze up to him. “You made me a deal. You better be prepared to stick to it.”
“Ouch.” He smiled and tilted his head to the side, his eyes softening. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“Oh, rest assured. I am not one to be fucked with.”
Something wild went through his eyes. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.” I tried to sound more threatening, but I doubt I came off as anything more than a fussy cub pawing at a big, bad lion. Just to prove my point, I poked his wound a bit too hard, and he let out a small groan and flinched. “I’m smart and I listen to enough podcasts to know that if there’s no body, there’s no crime.” Another sharp tug. “Get yourself in danger like this again, and I’ll kill you myself.” He tightened his hands on my shoulders, digging his fingertips into my skin. “They’ll never find you.”
“Yes, ma’am.” His lips pulled into that devious grin, the one that said he had nothing but bad thoughts flitting through his head.
Done with his bandages, I stood to yank off my gloves and toss them in the trash. He grabbed my hips before I could take a step back, holding me in place. His forehead fell to the spot just over my heart.
“Thank you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to my sternum. “Thank you.”
The tender moment nearly broke me, and my eyes burned with tears that I immediately blinked back. “Stand up. Let me get your pants off so I can clean you up.”
He pursed his lips but did as I said, narrowing his eyes as I helped him to his feet. I unbuttoned his bloody jeans and shoved them down to his ankles. Then I led him into the shower and he sat on the bench. I got the water going, adjusting it so it didn’t spray directly on him. I didn’t want the bandages to come off, but I had to get some of this blood off him. Then I took off my own clothes and joined him, setting my glasses on the counter.
I went slow, sudsing the washcloth with soap, running it over his tattooed forearms, and scrubbing away Saint’s blood. Selene’s blood. His blood.
What a horrible fucking night.
I’d only known him two weeks, but they seemed like centuries when time was so precious. I didn’t know how I’d go on once this was done between us. I cared about him, but was it enough to stay?
“Hey.” He ran his hands up my ribcage, guiding me between his spread knees. When I stood in front of him, he took the washcloth and ran it over my stomach, up my chest to my breasts, and down my arms.
Washing me.
Caring for me.
“It’s okay to be scared,” he said. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“I don’t want anyone to hurt you.” I swallowed down my bitterness.
“No one’s gonna hurt me,” he said. “Not if I can help it.”
“You almost died tonight.”
He shook his head. “But I didn’t. Still got a little luck on my side.”
“That luck’s gonna run out one day.” I raised an eyebrow.
“I’m sorry I scared you.” He gave me a devil’s grin as he ran soapy circles over my hip and down one thigh, closer to my clit. He teased the contact, running along the inside of my leg while he pressed his lips against my stomach. A small kiss. And then another. My pussy throbbed.
My heart raced.
My knees almost turned to jelly, and if I didn’t have my hands on his shoulders to hold me up, I might have fainted right there in the misty hot shower.
“I’ll make it up to you.” Another kiss to my hipbone. Another lower. And another, the gentle swipe of his tongue against my sensitive skin making me shake. My clit pulsed, desperate for his attention, which he teased again by dragging the cloth up the other leg, grazing the edge of my pussy with his fingertips before coasting them down again. “Want me to make it up to you?”
“God, yes.”
He chuckled. “So eager.”
Had I said that out loud?
Whatever. Didn’t matter.
I hadn’t made it a secret how much I wanted him. He wanted me, too.
“Can I kiss it better?” He looked up at me with those big blue eyes and all the air pushed out of my lungs. I nodded. He grinned. Then he licked me and lifted one of my legs over his shoulder. He had to slouch to get the angle right, and I was on the ball of my other foot, but God, I didn’t care. He worked me, sucking at my nub while he dug his fingers into my hip. Tugging me closer. He teased my entrance with his other hand, and when I bucked against him, he took that as invitation and pushed inside me.
I moaned and curled into him while he lapped at me harder, tunneling my fingers through his hair to hold him where I wanted him. My climax hit me hard and I shook, my legs finally giving out on me. But he held me up, somehow still strong despite his injury. He worked me through it, and once I’d come back to reality, I needed to fuck him. I needed him inside me in the worst way.
But he was hurt and I didn’t want to make it any worse. I licked my lips and put my leg back on the ground, taking a step back and raising an eyebrow in question.
“My turn to kiss it better?” My knees protested against the tile floor when I dropped to the ground, but I ignored them, hoping I had bruises to show for it in the morning. I put my hands on his thighs and he leaned back against the wall, running his hand over my face to brush the wet hair back.
“Listen to me,” he said. “No one will hurt you if I’m around to stop it. Understand?”
I stared into his soul, and the whole world stopped. Sure, I had been afraid that someone, whoever was following him, would come to hurt me. But my real fear, the one that had me shaking, was that he’d be taken away from me. That he’d be gone and soon my mom would be gone and in the end, I’d be alone.
I couldn’t lose him.
I just couldn’t.
“I love you.” It came out before I could stop it. There I was, on the ground in front of him, tile digging into my knees, my elbows on his thighs, and his cock inches from my willing mouth, professing a love that had no right to be reciprocated.
For one heartbreaking moment, he froze. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t do anything. I thought I’d made a mistake.
I thought I’d crossed a line.
We’d only known each other for two weeks.
Two weeks!
And now I’m claiming to love him?
Jesus, Alba.
Did I even know what love—
He crashed his lips against mine so hard that it startled me. I melted into him. God, how amazing they felt on mine, and I almost couldn’t believe it was happening. His tongue wrestled with me, demanding dominance over my mouth, a request I instantly gave into.
What hit me most was the emotion behind the touch. Every brush of his lips told me he loved me. Every agonized nibble reciprocated the desperation between us. My heart exploded. My veins pumped with adrenaline.
“I know.” He murmured against my mouth. “I know, I know, I know.”
Forgoing the blow job, I climbed into his lap, my knees on either side of his hips, and I slung my arm around his neck. I slowly impaled myself on him. All the way down. All of him. So, so slowly.
He gasped, his forehead pressed to mine. He dug one hand into my hip and clamped the other around my thigh.
I kissed him again and again, invading his mouth with my tongue.
“I love you, sunshine,” he groaned, rocking into me and holding me tight against him. “It’s stupid. I know it’s stupid. But I love you. I love you so fucking much that it terrifies me.”
“God, me too. Me too.”
Now that it was out there, now that I knew, it freed me. An enormous weight lifted off my chest, and I couldn’t contain my happiness.
Jericho had come out of nowhere. Savage and brutal, with a heart of fucking gold where it counted. Yeah, some fucked-up stuff had happened to him, and nights like tonight proved he had to do what he had to do sometimes. But there was a dark part of me, and I didn’t know how big a part at the time saw a similarity.
The sounds he made rattled through me, and knowing I could do that to such a powerful man, to bring him to the brink like this, shattered what little restraint I had.
I came, using him for my pleasure and the way I wanted, and when he hit his climax, euphoria took over behind his eyes. There’d be no leaving him when the time came—either I’d stay or he’d come with me. Now that I had him, I could never unhave him.
And I wasn’t sure that was a problem anymore.