Emmanuel had literally left in a puff of foul black smoke. When the super chade had poofed his rotten arse into their party, Ryker had wanted to take his scythes to the bastard’s throat so bad, but Max had firmly shut him down. For a split second, Ryker had considered defying her orders and launching himself at Emmanuel anyway. After all, the guy wasn’t infallible, as Ryker had proven when he’d punched the fucker in his good-looking head. But the words Max had whispered into his cerebral cortex, had him taking a defensive stance instead of an offensive one.
‘You won’t win. Now is not the time. There is only one time when success is possible. Two days from now. Just two more days, babe, and we’ll nail all their arses to the wall. We’ll right all the wrongs, balance all the scales.’
Ryker shook his head, Max’s words still ringing in his mind, even now. Her words had revitalised him and given him back the hope he had been starting to lose. Even with a new sense of purpose and optimism, he figured he shouldn’t waste a second he had with his little goddess.
Pushing himself up onto his elbow, he had the pleasure of watching Max sleep. It wasn’t often he had the chance. Although he was disciplined to be up early, Max still usually beat him up as a result of the nightmares which plagued her. Looking at her now, with her face softened in sleep, a crease from the pillow on her soft cheek, and her dark lashes forming a sooty silhouette against her cheekbones, he realised how incredibly young she looked. And vulnerable. When she was awake, Max was a force to be reckoned with. That mouth of hers was a weapon as surely as her short-sword was. But asleep like this? She looked fragile.
He continued his unhindered exploration of her, pulling the sheets down a little so he could feast his eyes on the curves and planes of her incredible body. Max stirred and he paused, feeling a little pervy. Maybe he should wake her.
“I’m already awake. And yes – you are pervy.”
Ryker looked up, peering through the pre-dawn dimness, to find eyes of the purest ocean staring back at him with lazy affection. He levered himself over the top of her, loving how she immediately spread her legs to cradle him between her thighs. “And do you like pervy men?” he asked, nibbling on her neck.
Max sighed, tilting her head and giving him more access to her satiny skin, “It just so happens you’re in luck, Captain.”
Ryker laced his fingers with hers, stretching her arms up above her head. He groaned in bliss when the move arched her back, bringing the hard, rosy tips of her breasts into contact with his chest. He knew the wanting of her would never cease. There was a time when such a thing would have scared him, but now he thanked whatever gods had deemed him worthy enough for his custodian.
***
He was broad but not bulky and his thickly muscled torso gleamed from the soft kiss of dawn breaking over the horizon and peeking through the French doors. Max wrapped herself around Ryker more fully – legs locking around his waist, arms clinging to his back – as she pleaded with him to keep going. She was used to begging for this man – in the bedroom at least. Once, she would never have given in to the need to beg – no matter the cause. Her fierce sense of independence would never allow for it. Even when she was on the streets, she was never reduced to begging. Sure, she stole a little here and there and followed strange men into dark alleys. Some might say that was worse than simply asking for help, but to her it was the lesser of two evils. She didn’t beg for anything or anyone. Her pride was all she’d had to cling to. But now, as she lay against soft sheets and an even softer mattress with a man who could make her scream in pleasured agony, all of that seemed inconsequential. Her pride, her stubbornness, her independence? They now meant exactly nothing in the grand scheme of things.
A few small movements a couple of minutes later, had devastating consequences, as Max gasped, savouring the feel of her man filling her and stretching her so deliciously. For all the jokes she made about Ryker’s size, she didn’t exaggerate – he really was delightfully big. She had never thought of herself as a size queen before, but Ryker had officially ruined her for all other men.
Ryker immediately picked up speed, the bed beginning to rock underneath them and the headboard starting to make rhythmic contact with the wall. It seemed he wasn’t in the mood for slow that morning. That suited Max just fine. With the drama of the upcoming days, she was beginning to feel a little desperate and the feel of a hard body against hers was just what she needed.
Wanting to be an active participant, Max scraped her nails down Ryker’s side. She revelled in his hiss of pleasure and opened her mouth to taste the fine layer of sweat that dampened the skin of his shoulders. She then decided to try something new. Max opened up their own private link and allowed the connection to become a thoroughfare of sensation. Ryker immediately stiffened, feeling the bombardment of not only his pleasure, but also her own.
“Just feel,” she whispered against his lips. Max felt his acceptance in the way his body went crazy on top of hers. But then, she kind of went a little crazy too. In the few short minutes that followed, Max lost herself in the feel and sights and sounds of Ryker’s body powering into hers. She bit his shoulder; he tumbled her over the bed; she pulled his hair; he shackled her wrists in one large hand. Their orgasms hit them both at the same time and Max knew the pleasure-pain she was experiencing was being mirrored in the shuddering body above hers.
“Holy. Shit,” Ryker panted, rolling Max and swapping their positions so she was laying on his chest. “We are so doing that again. I didn’t know you could do that with the Order bond.”
Max gulped, sucking in air like a drowning woman. “The Order bond may be powerful and may be soul-deep,” she acknowledged. “But it pales in comparison to the bond I have with you here.” Max placed her hand over Ryker’s heart. “You are mine, Ryker. Just as I am yours.”
Ry smiled up at her, brown eyes lit with warmth and humorous affection, “Yeah? Took you long enough to figure it out. Whereas me? I recognised you the moment I saw you,” he pointed out, looking a little smug.
She gave the bar impaling his nipple a sharp tug, “Did you just?” He yelped, rolling her beneath him and kissing her breathless – but not senseless. She brushed his hair back from his beloved face, looking into his eyes once more, “I recognised you. I would recognise you anywhere. In every lifetime. In every world,” she vowed.
In fact, she was counting on it.