CHAPTER SIX
Being an insomniac, Riley didn’t often wake to rays of sunlight shining in her eyes. Yellow beams slashed across the bedroom—it was a damn nice bedroom that took up most of the loft space.
After taking her on the kitchen floor the previous night, Tao had carried her up to bed and they’d both fallen instantly asleep. She’d woken around 3:00 a.m., her mind active. She’d tried to edge out of the bed, but Tao had dragged her to him and literally dropped her on his cock. She’d ridden him until she was boneless and couldn’t do anything but collapse at his side and fall right back asleep.
He was currently sprawled on his stomach, his breathing deep and even. At some point he’d kicked the covers down until they bared the length of his back. Hunger pricked at her as she stared at all that solid muscle and sleek skin. More of her marks now spanned the tribal tattoo on his upper back and shoulders. Her raven liked them a hell of a lot. She was also rather smug that he’d returned the favor. Riley could feel the slight sting of claw marks on her hips, and she remembered his gripping her tight as she rode him.
Knowing there was no chance she’d fall back asleep, Riley peeled back the coverlets that, like the red rug, had the same tribal markings as the cushions in the den. She ever so slowly edged out of the king-size sleigh bed, careful not to jolt the mattress, and—
“Sneaking out, baby?” he rumbled without even opening his eyes.
Startled, she almost jumped. “No, I just didn’t want to wake you.”
“Come here.”
“Why?”
His eyes opened, and those golden orbs speared her. “Just come here.”
With a sigh of sufferance, she knelt on the bed. “What?”
Gently tangling a hand in her hair, he pulled her down and kissed her. “Now you can go.”
“Well, thank you,” she said tartly.
“You’re welcome.”
She grabbed a T-shirt and sweatpants from her duffel and headed to the bathroom. A sound rumbled out of his throat—a sort of contented growl. Halting, she glanced at him over her shoulder. He was completely still, but his eyes were hot on hers. “What?”
“I love to watch you walk.”
She blinked. “Um, why?”
“You have a very feminine, graceful, confident walk. Makes me hard every time.”
Not really knowing how to respond to that, she just drawled, “Okay.” Walking into the bathroom, she closed the door. There was a freestanding bathtub and a walk-in shower—both of which she intended to enjoy while here. Plush towels hung from the chrome bars near the sink counter, on which there was a tray of complimentary hygiene products and plastic-wrapped water glasses. It was like being in a hotel.
Once clean and dressed, she returned to the bedroom to find Tao still in bed, eyes closed. It occurred to her that it was little wonder he was so tired, given that he’d been working late shifts all week. “I’ll be downstairs.”
“I won’t be long,” he said drowsily.
Riley suspected he’d fall back asleep, but she didn’t say so. She simply grabbed her cell from the nightstand and made her way downstairs. In the kitchen she pulled a can of Mountain Dew out of the fridge. It was simply too hot for coffee. Slipping out of the patio doors, she squinted at the bright sun. The air was dry and the breeze was light, but Riley had never minded the heat.
Crossing the deck, she happily settled on one of the sun loungers and called Makenna.
“Morning,” Makenna greeted her.
“You sound surprisingly chirpy.”
“I’m going shopping with Jaime today, so all is good.” There was a grunt in the background, and Makenna sighed. “Stop whining, Ryan, no one’s forcing you to come.”
Riley smiled, knowing how much Ryan hated shopping. He hated leaving Makenna’s side even more, however, so he often accompanied her.
“One day,” began Makenna, “you really do have to come with us, Riley.”
“I prefer shopping online; you know that.”
“Yes, but I strongly believe I can make you see the sheer joy of physical shopping.”
“Never gonna happen. Now, are they there?”
“Sure.” There was a short pause. “Savannah, it’s Riley.”
“Hi, Riley,” said Savannah through a mouthful of food.
Chest tightening, Riley smiled. “Hey, sweetie. How are you?”
“Okay, but Dexter keeps stealing my bacon and putting it in his pocket. He put a crayon in my porridge.”
Riley did her best to keep the smile out of her voice. “Well, that’s not nice.” Though Riley suspected that Dexter had given Savannah the crayon in exchange for the bacon, figuring it was a good deal.
“When are you coming home?”
“I’ll be back sometime tomorrow. Hopefully not too late.”
“Dexter, stop trying to snatch the phone!” hissed Savannah.
“Let him talk to Riley, Savannah,” said Makenna.
Savannah huffed. “Fine.”
After a moment there was another voice—this one soft and angelic. “Riley?”
“Hey, big guy, you haven’t been putting food in your pockets again, have you?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Sure.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.” Having drained the can of Mountain Dew, Riley placed it on the table beside the lounger. “I’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”
“’Kay.”
Riley heard Makenna’s voice in the background, asking Dexter for the phone. There was a sort of shuffling noise and then Makenna spoke. “Always quite the chatterbox, isn’t he?”
Riley chuckled, but that chuckle died when she heard feet rustling in the trees up ahead. Whoever was approaching wasn’t trying to hide; they were making plenty of noise so as not to take her by surprise.
A tall, lean figure was soon strolling toward her. Honestly, she wasn’t feeling up to conversation yet, but she was curious about whether he’d come to reprimand her for arguing with Cynthia. So she sat up and crossed her legs, half lotus, on the lounger. “I’ll speak to you again tomorrow morning,” she told Makenna.
“Okay, have fun with your uncles.”
“Will do.” Ending the call, Riley looked at her visitor. “Morning, Sawyer.”
He stopped in front of her, his smile strained. “Can we talk?”
“Sure, why not?”
He sat on the edge of the other sun lounger, leaning forward with his hands clasped. “A wolf, Riley. Really?”
She rubbed at her temple. “Please tell me you haven’t come to moan about Tao being here. Wolves aren’t so bad, you know.” But Sawyer had never liked them. “The Phoenix wolves have been good to me.”
“I know. I’m grateful that they took you in. I heard about the shelter and the bastard wolf from another pack who tried to take it over. I’m glad the Phoenix wolves gave you a place to stay so all that shit didn’t touch you.”
“How exactly did you hear about all that?”
“Max keeps me updated on how you’re doing.”
That ruffled her raven’s feathers. Her business was her own. Max shouldn’t be repeating it.
“Like I said, I’m grateful to them, but you don’t belong with them. You belong here. And I don’t like the guy, Riley. Not just because he’s a wolf.” Sawyer rolled back one shoulder. “Something about him just rubs me the wrong way.”
“You mean because he doesn’t feign respect if he doesn’t feel it? Don’t be so arrogant that you think you should be awarded respect for being an enforcer, Sawyer. Tao won’t care what position you hold. If he doesn’t like you or have any regard for you, he won’t pretend to.”
“And you like that,” Sawyer guessed.
“I like that there are no guessing games with him.”
Sawyer was quiet for a few moments. His eyes bored into hers, as if he were trying to read her mind. “You know nothing can really come of this thing you have with the wolf, Riley. This is your home. And I doubt he’ll want to move to a flock. You’ve stayed away long enough. It’s time to come home.”
She loved Sedona, she truly did. She loved spending time with her uncles and taking in the views around her. But living here . . . she wasn’t sure if she could do that. She also wasn’t sure she could truly leave Savannah and Dexter. And then there was the other thing. “Shirley and Cynthia would hate it, Sawyer, and you know it.”
He shrugged. “They’d get used to it.” He cocked his head. “Cynthia told me about the little confrontation you had last night.”
“Hmm. I wonder just how much of her story was true.”
“Forget about them.” He put his hand on her knee. “Riley, you can’t let Cynthia, Shirley, or memories of the shooting keep you away from your own home.”
Hearing the creak of the patio door, she looked over her shoulder to see Tao slowly stalking toward them, his scowl locked on Sawyer. No, locked on the hand Sawyer had rested on her knee. She moved her leg, making the hand fall away, but Tao’s scowl didn’t fade even slightly.
She widened her eyes at Tao, pleading with him to not make a big deal out of it. If he fought with Sawyer, it would give Cynthia and Shirley grounds to have him removed from the flock’s territory—something they’d eagerly do, knowing Riley would leave with him.
Tao’s scowl eased into a frown, which was better than nothing, she supposed. Reaching her lounger, he bent and dropped a kiss on her mouth. It was brief, yet still hard, possessive, and drugging. And as a searing hunger roared through her, she was thinking it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to fuck on this lounger.
It wouldn’t be such a bad idea to fuck on this lounger, thought Tao. Reluctantly breaking the kiss, he smiled. “Morning, baby. Ethan called the cabin landline; I put him on hold.” He helped her get to her feet and nuzzled the crook of her neck, glaring at the male in front of him. “Sawyer,” he greeted him stiffly.
Tao was so close to punching the prick. When he’d seen the raven’s hand on her knee, he’d seen red. His temper was hot and easy to trigger at the best of times, but it was so much worse when he was on unfamiliar territory where there was someone who wanted the female he’d marked. It made him edgy and moodier than usual.
Mouth turned down, Sawyer inclined his head the tiniest bit. There was no envy in his expression, but his muscles were bunched as if he’d tensed to spring.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Riley told Tao, rolling her eyes at the possessive nip he gave to her lip. Male posturing was so boring. “Be good.”
Tao watched her go, not looking away until she was safely inside the cabin. At that he raised a brow at Sawyer, who’d risen to his feet. “There a problem that brought you here?”
“No.” The word was hard as stone. “Riley and I were talking.”
“Ah, and here I thought that you were here on behalf of Cynthia. Don’t tell me she didn’t run straight to you about their little dispute.”
“She told me about it, yeah.”
“Maybe if you just assured Cynthia that you have no intention of trying to take Riley from me, she’d feel a whole lot better.”
Sawyer’s lips twitched. “Take Riley from you?” he echoed, amused. “Riley will never belong to anyone but Riley. You don’t know her at all if you think differently, wolf. She doesn’t tolerate possessiveness very well, you know.”
“Maybe she didn’t used to, or maybe she just didn’t tolerate it from guys she wasn’t possessive of in return.”
“And you think she’s possessive of you?”
“I have her brands all over my back, what do you think?”
“What about when she moves back here?” Sawyer challenged. “You can’t honestly say you’ll come with her.”
“Move back here? That’s not going to happen. She’s pack now.”
Dismissive, Sawyer snickered. “Bullshit.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Cynthia had grounds to be paranoid that you still want Riley,” said Tao. “But then, Riley’s the type of female who can get into a guy’s head and stay there, isn’t she?” He took a step toward Sawyer. “I have a funny story to share with you. I went for a run in my wolf form last night. When I came back, I got a little . . . distracted by Riley, so it wasn’t until later that I remembered I’d left my clothes on the deck. I went to grab them, and they were gone, apart from my shoes. Then I noticed those.” He pointed to a tree, where strips of clothing were dangling from the branches.
Sawyer sighed. “I didn’t tear your damn clothes.”
“I believe you. At first I thought it might have been you. But I can see now just how pissed you are about the idea of me and Riley. If you’d been outside last night while the back door was open and I was fucking her on the kitchen floor, you’d have done more than rip my clothes. Or at least you’d have tried.”
Sawyer growled, eyes briefly flashing raven as the avian rose to the fore for a moment. Apparently the avian was also a little possessive of Riley.
“Ooh, temper, temper.” Tao grinned. “I’ll bet if it hadn’t rained a little last night, those strips would have your girlfriend’s scent on them.” Of course, there was a chance it had been Shirley, but his gut screamed otherwise. “You need to deal with her.”
“Cynthia was with me last night.”
Tao raised a brow. “All night?” He didn’t answer, and Tao smirked. “I didn’t think so.”
Sawyer stepped forward. “You took Riley on the kitchen floor? Let me ask you something. Have you taken her in the shower? The bathtub? How about against the wall? Tell me you’ve at least bent her over the—”
Tao slammed his fist hard into the bastard’s face.
“What the fuck is going on?” Riley rushed to Tao’s side. She’d been so shocked when Tao punched Sawyer that she’d almost dropped her unopened can of Mountain Dew.
Licking his split lip, Sawyer smiled. “Got a bit of a temper, haven’t you, Lukas?” he taunted, sounding smug. That was when Tao realized the bastard had wanted him to lose his shit.
Glaring at Sawyer, she demanded, “What the hell did you say to him? He was perfectly fine when I left.”
Still smiling, Sawyer shrugged innocently. “You know, Riley, you want to make sure he never turns that temper on you.”
Tao advanced on him. “You son of a—”
Riley slipped in front of Tao and planted a hand on his chest just as she scowled at Sawyer and snapped, “Get the fuck out of here, asshole!”
Looking very pleased with himself, Sawyer began to back away. “You used to have such sweeter things to say to me.”
Growling, Tao snatched the can out of her hand and threw it at Sawyer, but the raven was jogging away, retreating into the woods.
Riley spun to face Tao. “What the hell was that about?”
“He took me on a trip down memory lane,” Tao said through his teeth. “Told me how he’d had you in the shower, the bathtub, against the wall—”
“No, he hasn’t,” she scoffed. “He sensed you had a short fuse, so he antagonized you. Unfortunately, it worked. He probably just wants me to feel unsafe with you.” Suddenly Tao was all up in her space.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” he rumbled. “I can be a mean motherfucker, I have a shitty temper, and I’m not tuned in to the feelings of the people around me. That means I’ll snap at you, piss you off, even yell at you, but I will never lay a finger on you in anger. Not ever.”
“I already know that,” she assured him. “Now can you calm down?”
“It’s a bit hard to be fucking calm when I’ve got images of you and him dancing around my head.”
Casting a sad look at the can spinning on the ground, squirting precious Mountain Dew everywhere, she sighed. “Did you really have to throw it?”
“Well, some people need to have cans slung at their head. Boat-size cans. Or maybe just boats. Cruise ships would be better.”
“It would be hard to pick up a cruise ship. Impossible, actually. Unless you’re Superman. You’re not Superman. You can’t fly and you don’t have a cape. You also don’t have x-ray vision or the ability to shoot red-hot beams out of your eyes—both of which would be cool.”
He looked at her in sheer exasperation, shouting, “Why are we talking about Superman?”
“Because it’s distracting you!”
He inhaled deeply. Very, very deeply. “I need coffee. Then food.”
“Max and Ethan just invited us over for blueberry pancakes. Their cabin’s only a few minutes’ walk away; I’m ready to go when you are.” Spotting something, she frowned. “What’s that in the tree?”
Under the glare of the sun, Tao followed her along the winding, uneven dirt path, taking in what he couldn’t deny were breathtaking views of red rocks, tall spires, canyons, and mountains. Predatory birds flew overhead while small animals scrambled in the underbrush. He could hear the trickle of a nearby creek and the white noise of a distant waterfall.
Like his wolf, Tao found the sights and smells of nature relaxing, but it was hard to relax when he had the sultry scent of Riley filling his nostrils, drowning out the other scents of wildflowers and dry earth.
Now that they were closing in on her uncles’ cabin, he could see the mated pair setting plates out on the patio table. Tao squeezed her hand. “Looks like we’re eating outside.”
“They like to have breakfast outside,” she told him.
Tao sighed inwardly at her flat tone. He’d hoped she’d have calmed down by now. From what he could tell, she was even more pissed about Cynthia’s stunt than he was. It had taken a good twenty minutes to convince her it wasn’t worth storming to Cynthia’s cabin and calling her on it.
His wolf rubbed up against Tao’s skin, wanting to soothe her. “What are you thinking?” he asked, sidestepping a berry bush.
“I’m thinking that I shouldn’t have let you talk me out of bitch-slapping Cynthia for ripping your clothes.” Riley swatted a gnat. “I’m also thinking that I don’t like that she saw us fucking.”
“Is she the type to gossip?”
“Depends on the topic. Why?”
“If she goes around telling people how big my dick is, you might find yourself with some competition, even if I am an asshole.” As he’d hoped, she laughed. It was a husky, from-the-heart laugh that made him smile.
“Your confidence issues concern me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get by.”
They made their way to the patio table, where Ethan stood to kiss her cheek. “Morning, sweetheart. Morning, Tao.”
“Morning,” Riley said with a smile. Tao just nodded in greeting.
Slumped in his chair, Max said, “I’d stand and kiss you if I trusted my balance.” It was clear by his pinched expression and disheveled appearance that he was feeling the aftereffects of the party.
Riley bent and kissed him on the cheek. Seeing there was a glass of Mountain Dew waiting for her, she grinned. “You guys are the best.”
Max eyed Riley and Tao as they took the seats opposite him and Ethan. “You don’t look at all hungover.”
“We only drank Coke,” said Riley, wasting no time in grabbing pancakes from the pile at the center of the table. “How’s your head?”
Max shrugged one shoulder. “It’s been worse. It’s also been fucking better.”
Ethan pushed a glass of water toward him. “Drink more.”
Dutifully, Max took a sip and then turned to Tao. “Well, Tao, tell me about yourself. I know you’re a Head Enforcer and you’ve marked my Riley, but that’s pretty much it.”
Tao sliced into his pancake. “There’s not much worth knowing.”
“Did you grow up in the Phoenix Pack?” asked Max.
“No,” replied Tao. “My childhood pack split when I was about fourteen. Some of those that left formed a new pack, the Phoenix Pack.”
“I heard some stories about your Alpha, Trey,” said Max. “Heard his wolf turns feral during battles, and that your Alpha female was latent until she mated Trey.” Tao nodded in confirmation. “I also heard they’re both pretty crazy,” Max added.
After chewing his pancake, Tao said, “It’s a fairly common belief.” It was also true.
Max put down his glass. “How long have you been Head Enforcer?”
Riley exhaled heavily. “Max, will you stop? He’s not actually interrogating you, Tao, he’s just terribly curious.”
“What else do you expect from a raven?” Max smiled. “I suppose we could talk about you instead, sweetheart. I have some pictures here he might be interested to see.”
“Max . . . ,” she growled. But it was too late. Her uncle dug out his wallet and showed Tao his collection of her childhood photographs, some of which were too embarrassing for words.
Studying one of her on her fifth birthday, Tao said, “You look . . . sweet. I can’t imagine you ever being sweet.”
Ethan chuckled. “She was sweet when she wanted something.”
“And so damn cute and funny,” said Max. “Remember her second Christmas with us, Ethan?”
Max ignored Riley’s groan and turned to Tao. “We asked her to write a list of the things she wanted so we could post it to Santa. She came to us later and it read, ‘A new bear, a bike, a Minnie Mouse dress, and a pair of tits.’”
Tao burst out laughing.
“Turned out she was trying to spell ‘tights,’ but it was still freaking funny.”
Riley shook her head at Max. “I can’t believe you pulled that out of the vault.” He smiled, not the least bit repentant.
Hearing his cell phone chime, Tao fished it out of his pocket. He frowned as the words “Private Number” flashed on the screen. “I’ll be back in a sec.” Standing, he moved a few feet away as he answered. “Hello.”
“You let me down, Mr. Lukas.”
Tao stilled. Motherfucker. How the hell had Ramón Veloz gotten his number? “Excuse me?”
“I told you to impress the seriousness of my situation upon your Alphas. You failed me in that.” The reprimand was sharp and held a note of betrayal, as if Tao were one of his minions.
“No,” said Tao, “you failed to hear me when I told you that my Alpha can’t heal fatal diseases. Maybe there are other healers who—”
“Do you have important people in your life, Mr. Lukas?”
He had plenty of important people in his life, but he didn’t see what the fuck that had to do with anything.
“Sad as it may seem, my brother is really the only person in my life whom I consider important.” Funny, because Ramón didn’t sound as if he found him important. There was no emotion when he spoke of him. “He once saved my life. It’s something I wasn’t able to repay him for until now.”
“You don’t want him to die, I get that, but it doesn’t change that there’s nothing my Alpha female can do for him. You need to accept that.”
“Would you? If someone important to you were dying, would you accept it? What about that little raven I saw you with?”
He really had done his homework on the pack if he knew Riley wasn’t a wolf.
“If she were dying, if death threatened to steal her from you, would you accept it? Or would you do what you could to save her?”
Tao automatically turned to look at her, watching her laugh with her uncles.
“I suppose we shall see.”
Tao scowled. “What the hell does that mean?” The line went dead. Cursing, Tao shoved his cell back into his pocket and—
Thunder cracked through the air, making him jerk to a halt. No, not thunder, he realized a second later.
Gunfire.