Christian
Christian woke with Ellie in his arms, naked, and thought… it should be this way every day. Every morning.
He’d never been in a relationship long enough to know what that would be like. Waking up with someone. Living life with someone. Somehow, with Ellie, it wasn’t scary. She could become a part of the family he’d built with Molly.
His stomach tensed. Molly.
Christian glanced at the clock. It was 5:45am and there was no sun yet. He wanted to get out to the Quade place before they fed Molly breakfast so he could spend some time with her. Let her know he was okay. That she would be okay, too.
Ellie turned over in his arms, facing him, and giving him a bleary-eyed smile. “You leaving me?”
“Not without waking you,” he said, giving her a quick kiss. “I didn’t want you to wake up and find me gone.”
“Awww.” She slipped her arms around his waist and snuggled against his chest.
“And if you keep doing that, I’ll never get out the door.” He dragged his hands down her sides and back up. Her naked skin did things to him.
“Well, then…” She kissed his neck and pulled away, wrapping herself in the sheet as she did. “For this time only, you get a no-morning-sex pass.”
“I don’t like that pass.”
“Good.” She winked at him from over her shoulder. “It’s only good for today.”
He couldn’t help staring at her, all curves and hair and lips, on the other side of the bed and wondering if he had fifteen minutes to revoke that pass. But he really needed to be on the move. Ryan and Kate would arrive within a couple of hours, and he really wanted to be back before they arrived.
“Molly is gonna be okay,” Ellie whispered, reaching for him.
He gripped her hand and took a deep breath. Her steadiness grounded him. He needed her. So much.
“You’ve convinced me.” He gave her the rakish smile he knew the girls liked and kissed her shoulder as chastely as he could manage. He rose from the bed, pulling on his clothes on his way to the bathroom.
“You want to take Dodger with you?”
“No. I’d rather leave him here with you, in case something happens.”
He heard the bedclothes rustle and turned back to find her sitting up, giving him a good, hard stare. “Christian,” she said, with a motherly drop to her voice. “What are you gonna do?”
“No. I meant if something happens here.” He hurried across the room, sliding in to sit in front of her so that his body molded into his. “I want you to be safe.”
“But you’re going where the wolves are.” She wrapped her hands around him, and he was suddenly mad about the invention of t-shirts. Or at least the presence of one between his skin and hers.
“They’re not gonna hurt me.” He kissed the top of her head.
“Take your phone, at least.”
“You’ll need it here for Ryan, in case he calls.”
She snorted, sliding back into the covers. “I don’t like this plan.”
“Nothing is gonna happen to me, El.”
“I know. I just like to make sure you’re okay.”
He stood in the door to the bathroom, toothbrush in his mouth, staring back at his woman. Dammit, she was perfect. So sexy, so beautiful, and protective like a mama bear. It made him want to jump back into that damn bed.
“I love you, El,” he said, on his way out the door. “I’ll be back.”
“I love you, too.”
As he closed the door on her words, he could hear sleep coming back into her voice. She needed her rest. He hadn’t done a good job of letting her rest last night.
At least she hadn’t had a nightmare. But he’d wanted her every time she even moved, and she was happy to oblige him. The only thing that kept him focused right now was heading to the Quade Ranch to see Molly.
Otherwise, they would do the naked dance, and wear out that bed.
He couldn’t get enough of her.
The parking lot was half-full. More people must have come in overnight because there were easily ten times as many cars this morning as there had been the last time he looked. He couldn’t expect no one, but he didn’t like too many people.
It was a habit he had from when he and Molly were on the road. He never knew who to trust, and it was easier when there were fewer choices.
The sun still hadn’t risen when he got out to the entrance to the big ranch. It had only taken him about fifteen minutes to get there, and he hoped the radius of the hotel was far enough. They wouldn’t be looking that far.
He didn’t want them following him after he left, either. Have to watch for tails when I go back again.
This time, he would make some misdirected turns.
Daniel was sitting outside the office on a long bench. Christian pulled into the barn. The alpha stood and walked toward him. Two other men—wolves, of course—remained seated.
“You sleep okay?” Daniel asked, sticking close, as Christian got out of Ellie’s truck.
“Uh… yeah.” Christian’s throat tightened, as he thought, for the first time, about how Daniel’s sense of smell might be honed enough that he would scent Ellie.
But wasn’t that fiction-level bullshit?
Still, he should have showered.
“You got some tail last night, didn’t you?” said one of the other Quade guys from the bench, raising one eyebrow in a cartoonish move.
“What?” Christian shrugged the question off. They could smell something. Shit.
“Not that any of us would blame you,” said the other sentry. “Alissa’s only seventeen, so you’re not gonna get any of that tail for at least a year.”
The other one smacked his friend’s shoulder. “I’d go out and find something, too, if I was staring at a year of incel.”
“Incel?” Christian tried to calm his racing heart, focusing on the fact that they weren’t pissed that he’d had sex with someone else. But they could still smell Ellie.
“Involuntarily celibate.” Daniel rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to them.”
“But seriously. No sex for at least a year,” said one of the sentries.
Daniel opened the office door and pointed to the stairs. “They’re just about to bring breakfast over, so let’s head upstairs.”
Christian flexed his shoulders, trying to calm his wolf. The animal didn’t like men making comments about Ellie, even if they didn’t know it was her they were talking about. He was nervous.
Plus, he was nervous about seeing his sister. He hadn’t seen Molly in days. Not since before he met Ellie. And the last time he’d seen her, they hadn’t had her tied up—like Ellie said she now was. So this would not be pleasant. But he was ready for it.
They walked up the stairs, passing a couple of doors on the landing, and then got to the last door on the left. Where Molly was.
He heard her voice through the walls. She was talking to someone. Who in the hell was in there with her?
Daniel opened the door. No keys, anywhere. Were they that unconcerned with him breaking in, or her breaking out? Shit, this was weird.
When Christian came around the corner, he saw his sister sitting at a table covered in food, smiling and laughing, with Miranda Quade.
The old woman gave an empty smile, catching Christian’s eyes, and narrowing her gaze on him quickly.
“Oh, look who’s here,” Miranda said in a sickly-sweet voice. “Your brother.”
Molly glanced up at him, her dark eyes vacant. Like she didn’t recognize him. He waited for that moment of recognition to hit. It didn’t hit, and it didn’t hit, and Christian’s stomach dropped out like the cartoon coyote being handed an anvil over empty air.
Molly quirked her head to one side, hair flopping in her characteristic way, and glanced at Miranda with those curious eyes. “I have a brother?”