Where the hell was Rabid? Why hadn't he called?

I was seriously starting to wonder if my bitch act had scared him away for good. For once, I truly missed his smug, sexy face, especially now that I'd come to terms with him offering me more than eye candy. Dad's words helped with that. It's funny how much wisdom he still had, despite his memory being shot to hell.

I couldn't believe how wrong I'd been. I hadn't even given him a chance. No, I wasn't ready to jump his sexy bones and let him come crashing into my heart, but he deserved a hearing. I couldn't deny the possibilities he offered anymore.

Rabid was redemption. A way to get rid of Ed and save my father without forking everything over to the bully who wanted to drag me deeper into permanent slavery.

I was lost in my thoughts. It took a little boy's shaky voice to bring me back.

“Christa? It says here the Emperor died on St. Helena after Waterloo. Not Elba.” Martin and I exchanged a stupefied blink.

The kid looked at me like I'd grown a second head, his finger pointed to the right spot in the history book. Crap.

“Jeez! It's a good thing you were paying attention today.” Smiling, I ruffled his hair with my fingers. “Grown ups make mistakes too. Better you learn that today, along with this French history.”

The boy was growing up fast. I missed his innocence, the same thing I'd once had on those long days in Alaska when dad's mind was there, and I didn't have a care in the world.

“Great work today, Martin. Keep working on your report and I'll look it over next lesson. Let's call the day done right here.”

He watched me as I scribbled on a few sticky notes and posted them in his book. I marked the most important chapters in the Napoleon biography he'd picked out. When I'd finished, his mother, Shirley, came into the kitchen where we'd set up to study.

“Bad news, lady,” I said, working the longest face I could manage. “I think you've got a historian on your hands.”

She burst into a grin and laughed. “Seriously, he's doing an amazing job. Pretty soon you won't be paying me at all. He'll be presenting his papers to academics in their ivory towers.”

“Ah, but where would we be without you? I'm glad he's got his history locked down, but there's plenty more to help him with.” The woman reached into her purse and quickly signed another check over to me.

Taking it was so hollow. In another life, I would've done this job for free, anything to help these kids make a better life and avoid my mistakes. Too bad I needed the money to survive, my only defense against Ed until Rabid came through for me.

If he came through, I had to remind myself. It hurt to doubt him, and if he'd abandoned me, I had no one but myself to blame.

We were all up, walking toward the door. Shirley and I lingered on the porch for a moment longer, leaning in close. I didn't like the uneasiness in her eyes.

“That man,” she said. “Does he know you? He's been hanging around across the street since you sat down with Martin.”

“Huh?” I turned around slowly.

Please don't let it be him. Please don't fucking let him be here.

Mercy wasn't in the cards for me today. I saw Ed sitting on his bike, leaning his gut into the handlebars, puffing away on half a cigarette.

I had to work very hard not to scream when I looked at her again. It was awful enough to hear his threats against dad, but if he started to go after Martin and Shirley too?

I'd go to the police, and get myself killed if it came to it. I had to. And that made my heart lodge in my throat like a fat, bitter stone.

“I'm not sure,” I said, calm as I could manage. “Never seen him before. Yeah, you're right to be concerned. I'm honestly surprised. This isn't a rough neighborhood.”

Shirley cocked her head, staring at me. I didn't blame her one bit while I was babbling like a nervous idiot, trying to hide just how much my anxiety seethed underneath my skin.

“Shirley, listen.” I took a deep breath. “If that man takes a step toward this house, call the cops. It's probably nothing, but you can't be too careful these days.”

I had to go. Right now. Shirley reached out and caught my shoulder when I tried to get away.

“Wait! He's parked next to your car. Surely, you're not okay going down there alone? Let me walk you over.”

“No! I'll be fine,” I said, giving her a bitter smile. God. It was like trying to grin while being stabbed. “You can watch from the window to make sure I get out of here okay. Don't worry about me. I know how to talk to bikers if he tries anything. My dad was one.”

Yeah, I knew how to talk to this one, I thought. And it's never helped me one bit.

I walked, feeling her eyes on me the entire time. By the time I got to my car, the nausea flipping my stomach upside down was total. I'd lied through my fucking teeth and it made me sick. For a second, I really considered revving my car and backing right over the asshole as hard as I could.

But that wouldn't get rid of him. Nothing short of a weapon wielded by an equally ruthless badass would at this point. I pulled out slow, steady, checking my rear view mirror and praying he'd follow me – but not too close. I wanted him away from this neighborhood ASAP.

Big Ed wasn't a total idiot. He waited a good minute until I'd turned the first corner before he started his bike. Didn't take him long to catch up. The asshole motioned in the rear view mirror when we were near the highway, gesturing toward a gas station where we'd met several times before.

Naturally, it was one without a camera outside, and minimal traffic buzzing around for this time of day. He had a real knack for picking places where we wouldn't be bothered while he whispered fresh death threats in my ear.

“Don't ever come near that house again!” I shouted it as soon as I was out of my car, slamming the door as he pulled up next to me. “This is between us. You've already fucked with my father. I won't let you look at that woman like that. Christ, she has an eight year old kid.”

He chuckled. Nasty and menacing as always. “What? You think that's not the fucking reason I decided to hang around waiting for your ass? I figured the thought of me fucking the bitch and gutting the kid would do something to you. Do I look like a fucking retard to you?”

No. He looked like he'd just crawled up from the pits of hell, sent to torment me for all the missteps I'd made, a karmic debt collector to break me down for the rest of my miserable life.

“I know exactly what you look like,” I snapped.

Clenching my purse tight to my chest, I wrapped the strap around my hand. I was ready to fight, hit him with the only thing I had if he came a step closer.

Ed seemed to sense the change. His eyes beamed dark interest. He stopped, tossed his cigarette on the ground, and stubbed it out with his boot. Then he cracked his knuckles, a sound that caused my belly to crawl toward my throat.

“Tough words coming from a woman who's put herself in a world of shit. Only question is, you gonna put yourself deeper today, or what? Where's my fucking money, bitch? You're supposed to pay double after falling short last week. I ought to make it more after you bad mouthed me to that Rabid asshole.”

Shit! How does he know?

There was no point in hiding it. “I didn't say anything he doesn't already know. Rabid's a better man than you and your idiots in Klamath, Ed. He's worthy of the Grizzlies patch.”

I must've been absolutely out of my mind. Or maybe too many years being tormented by these pricks were finally boiling to the surface, ready to spill over in a reckless mess.

Ed squinted at me through the setting sunlight. “You wanna come up here and say that to my face, babe? You're bitch enough to say those words – don't think you're bitch enough to take the beating insulting these colors gets you. Come 'ere, I'll show you who's worthy of this motherfucking patch, you vicious cunt!”

He charged me like an overfed bull. Faster than I gave him credit for. I only had time to scream once before my back hit the car and I was lodged against his beefy chest, his hand clapped over my mouth. I halfheartedly swung the purse over my head, trying to hit him in the face. The angle was all wrong.

The monster had me, and now he whispered in my ear. “Don't even think about it, Chrissy. I will kill you, and fuck you in any order I damned well please if you take a swing at me. I don't give a shit what you've been telling your fuck buddy here in the Redding charter neither.”

My bravery retreated in his brutal grip. Fear dominated. Even if I could've given the purse another swing at his ugly face, I wasn't sure I'd have the guts to pull it off.

“Guess you didn't know those boys are on good terms with us again? I dropped a little present for 'em off last night. So fucking good, they won't make a peep if I tell 'em I'm taking every dime you have – or even if I slit your scrawny throat. There's no getting out of this shithole you've buried yourself in, baby girl. And I'm gonna pile it all over your head until you fucking suffocate.” Ed paused, crazy excitement in his evil voice. “Now, let's try this again. I've always been a three strikes kinda guy. Where's. My. Fucking. Money?”

His arms were locked tight around my neck, choking me little by little. The next ten seconds felt like an hour as I struggled to breathe, and realized with horror I couldn't. He had me beat. He could snap my neck back here and leave me paralyzed or dead, and no one would know.

If I could've prayed, I would've begged for mercy. Mercy, or Rabid. God, what I would've given to have that man here right now.

My hands moved on pure instinct, offering up the purse. Ed ripped it out of my hands, pushed me to the ground. I barely had time to get my hands out before I collided with the pavement, getting a few scratches, gasping for air.

Things kept clattering onto the ground behind me. My phone, a roll of antacids, an old book with phone numbers of friends I'd lost years ago, a flimsy photo of dad next to his motorcycle outside Anchorage, grinning with a little redheaded girl at his side.

This wasn't the way I expected my life to flash before my eyes.

When I turned around, Ed had a knife in one hand, and he'd dropped the leather bag. He was going through my wallet, pulling out the flimsy bills I had stuffed in there. He found Shirley's check too.

Jesus, I never expected him to take the thirty bucks I had in there for food. Crawling toward him, I couldn't stop the tears, gushing like a broken fool.

“Please! I need that money to eat. How am I supposed to pay you anything if I starve?”

Amusement pulled at his lips. “You got a lot of fucking fat in all the right places, bitch. You'll live. Figure it the fuck out. I don't care if you've gotta rob a few places or suck a hundred dicks. Shit, maybe you live off some fucker's jizz and save a few extra nickels for me. Be a doll and sign this fucking thing over.”

He pulled out a pen, shoving the check in my face. He was really demanding everything this time. If I didn't find some way to raise more money, I wouldn't be able to make my rent. I'd be homeless and starving.

“Sign it!” He bent down with his gut hanging, barking in my face so hard I felt his wretched spittle hit my cheek.

That was it. All I could take in his vile mist. I'd do anything to have this animal out of my face. I angrily scrawled my signature and his name, handing it over.

He headed toward his Harley and stopped next to my car. I watched as he took the knife in one fist, then slammed it into my front tire, tearing a gash across it. Air hissed out through the fissure in the rubber.

“What the fuck are you doing!?” I screamed. Anguish pressed so hard against my skull I thought I'd pass out.

No, no, no. This can't be happening. I've got to be asleep somewhere, suffering this nightmare.

I couldn't handle a car repair too. I fucking couldn't.

“I'm doing everything I can to give the Prez an excuse to let me bring you back to Klamath. I've got half a mind to throw you on my bike right now and take off. Shit, it'd be better for everybody. I'll get my dick wet in that red haired pussy of yours, and you'll get a couple hot meals a day in between having every hole fucked like no tomorrow. But I'm a nice guy. I'm a softie.” His voice dripped sarcasm. “I'm gonna give your whore pussy a fighting chance. If you cough up next week's payment, I'll let you stay here until you finally fuck up. Won't shove poison down your old man's throat when the nurse's back is turned until you disappoint me again. Get your shit together, Chrissy. You've got seven days before I see if I need to visit again. You miss the next payment, your ass is mine, and daddy's a dead man.”

I wilted right there. Listening to the sound of his engine growling was like the world ending. For all intents and purposes, it was.

My house of cards had finally collapsed and burned to ashes.

It was a little songbird landing on a branch overhead that finally stopped my shaking, stormy tears ripping at my eyes. I looked up, wondering how something so beautiful could exist in this hell.

I shifted, sat up, slowly tried to stuff my things back into my purse. My hands and knees hurt from where he'd shoved me to the ground. I didn't even want to think about how I was going to patch the tire with less than a hundred dollars in my bank account – everything in the world he hadn't ransacked from me. Also, all I had marked for my rent, and it wasn't nearly enough.

When I picked up my phone, I held it, shaking as my fingers went through my contacts. It stopped on Rabid's number. It took several tries calling him. I always hung up on the third ring, afraid he'd actually answer.

On the fourth try, I let it ring all the way. His voice mail switched on, and the mundane pre-recorded message was the best thing I'd heard all day. Why the hell had I been so blind until now?

I needed this man. Hell, I actually wanted his company too. He'd offered a helping hand and so much else, and I'd been too fucking stupid to take it. No more.

“Rabid, it's Christa. I'm at the gas station off Cypress. If you're around this evening, I could really use some help.” I couldn't stop the heartache and anguish from flowing into my voice. “Like, I could really fucking use it. I need you! You've got to come get me as quick as you can. My car's fucked. I've got no way to get home or fix it.”

I just about left it at that. But my brain had no more filter, and I let the words come that would guarantee he showed up if he still gave a crap about me.

“Big Ed stole everything from me. Please. Come find me as soon as you get this.”

I sounded like a little girl pleading for my father again. The sassy bitch ready to take on the world had been swept aside by Ed's assault. It should've horrified me, but somehow, it didn't.

I meant every word. I needed him to find me. I was ready to give him the truth and admit I couldn't face this on my own. And if he could help me wreck the bastard who'd given me a one week countdown to total slavery, then maybe he could help me straighten more out too.

Maybe he could prove letting someone else into my heart wasn't the disaster I'd always assumed, but something bright and unexpected as the little bird still singing in the trees.

* * *

It was about an hour before my phone rang. I was tucked into the driver's seat, trying to look normal to the gawky kid who came out of the gas station a half hour before to empty some trash. I hoped like hell he'd write me off as another poor girl in an old beater who'd pulled over to take a call.

If I had one more problem before Rabid showed up, I was going to break glass and scream.

My body was on overload. I'd fallen asleep. The phone woke me up.

The first thing I heard on the line was a motorcycle humming, and I smiled. Amazing how that sound had always offered either heaven or hell.

“Baby, are you okay?” His voice blasted into my ear. Intense. Questioning.

“I might be now that I've got you on the line.”

“Hold on. I'm already on my way. When I get there, you're gonna tell me what the fuck's going on. Don't you dare cover anybody's ass.”

I smiled. He was gruff, demanding, but it was all for me. “I think we're past that, Rabid. I'm not hiding anything from you for now on.”

“Good. See you in a little bit.”

The line went dead. Only took about five more minutes for him to roar up next to me. He killed his bike's engine and hopped off, running up to my window as I got out.

“Fucking shit! Where's the asshole who did this to you? He's a dead man.” He reached out and touched my puffy face, probably at its worst since I'd escaped Fang. I certainly hadn't cried so hard.

“I'm glad to see you. Do you know that?” I threw my arms around him. No one had ever felt so right beneath my palms. “I'm sorry about last time. The kiss really freaked me out. I couldn't handle it. I ran away and –“

“Not now, babe.” He pushed his finger across my lips. “We're not going there 'til I find the man who did this. Tell me the fucking truth. Tell me now. Was this really Ed and the Oregon crew?”

Our eyes locked. Slowly, I nodded my head. His eyes flickered, hellfire reflecting off diamonds, ready to kill and die for me if he had to. He looked like a lunatic, but the crazy bloodlust in his eyes was for me. All mine.

“He took everything. Stole my money and pushed me to the ground. I riled him up like an idiot.” Rabid started shaking his head the instant I stopped talking, denying any attempt to find fault with me.

Maybe he was right. Big Asshole was such a bully, he'd gotten all my wires crossed, tried to make me think I deserved this. Any sane logic said I didn't.

“Fuck!” Rabid bared his teeth. “Should've known not to let that piece of shit outta my sight. Where does he hang out? Has he hit the road home yet? How long ago did he leave?”

“I don't have a clue, Rabid. He comes and goes as he pleases. A lot more often lately. I think he's hanging around town for business with your club.”

“Yeah,” he said, as if he knew more. “Got a feeling his shit's done for now. I've gotta catch up with that motherfucker before he gets on the highway. You stay here, Christa.”

He pulled me back toward my car. Wait, crap, he wasn't leaving me here, was he?

“Don't go!” I said, desperately tugging on his cut, pulling at the bear patch. He stopped. “He's stronger than he looks. Dangerous too. I don't need to tell you that. At least call in some help if you're really going after him. You can't do this alone!”

I was scared to death my plea was going to get him killed. If that happened, I wouldn't even fight the next time anyone from Oregon came after me. I'd give myself up and suffer everything I deserved for spilling Rabid's beautiful blood.

Jesus, in twenty-four years, nothing good had ever happened to me. It was a curse. Tragedy took everybody I cared about, and I'd lose him too if I let him slip out of sight. I just knew it.

“Baby, come on.” His voice was soft, but determined. He leaned down, pulled me halfway off the driver's seat, into his arms. “You know I have to go. It's the only way outta this. Every minute he's walking around and breathing is one more minute you're in danger. That motherfucker's long overdue for a bullet in his evil brain. Let me do what I do best.”

He threw his arms around me and squeezed. I threw myself at him, desperately pressing my lips to his. The kiss ignited an explosion in my brain. My vision blanked out into a black canvass, completely messed up while adrenaline overloaded my system.

Beautiful colors. Neon flashes matching the lightning in my blood. His mouth lit me up like a candle and I still wanted more, even when I was burning from head to toe.

This man knew how to kiss like nobody else. Probably because I wanted his lips on mine like nobody's business. His tongue swept over mine again and again, rough and possessive. He licked me sopping wet without even putting his face between my legs.

Jesus. I tumbled back to earth as it ended in a growl. Then his lips broke from mine and he stepped away.

“I'll be back for you as soon as I can. Here.” He pulled out his wallet and rifled through the cash tucked inside, pushing a fistful of bills into my hands. “Get yourself a cab and something to eat. Wait for me. I'll call you as soon as the job's done. Got a funny feeling I won't have to go far. A shithead like him won't hit the road without visiting his favorite watering hole first. He's never leaving Redding alive.”

My eyes bulged. Not just because he'd replaced everything the bastard had stolen in one stroke. Rabid talked about ruling life and death like it was the weather. I didn't have the strength to argue or beg.

I watched him mount his bike, fix his helmet, and then take off, speeding out the alleyway and into the dulling light. For a second, I thought I could sit there like a good girl, maybe dial up a cab, and find a bar to wait like he asked.

But that wasn't me. Ed tried to break my spirit, and Rabid restored it. Next thing I knew, my key was in the ignition, and I fastened my seat belt. I might break down trying to follow him with my tire slashed, but damn if I wasn't going to try.

I couldn't let him ride into battle without any backup. I'd keep my distance, but I had to know what was about to happen.

I had to make sure the man who was risking his life for me didn't die.

* * *

Rabid wasn't kidding about the watering hole. I'd only passed the dive just outside the city a couple times before, and the meager bar I'd owned put it to shame. The place was crawling with poorly concealed prostitutes and junkies.

When I first pulled up to park, I saw a man shooting up in the car next to me. He rocked back and forth, a rubber tourniquet around his arm, blasted out of his mind. Obviously such an addict, he couldn't wait to leave the parking lot before sampling the junk, presumably something he'd bought inside.

I didn't want to go in there. I told myself I'd give it five minutes. I recognized Ed's bike with the horse and bear skulls on it right away, and Rabid's was parked near it.

Night had fallen. Good thing the traffic going in and out of the bar was light, or else it would've been hard to trade the two big silhouettes that came out a minute later, angrily waving their arms.

They rounded the building and disappeared on the other side.

Shit. It had to be them.

I swallowed hard and slowly opened my door, tip toeing into the darkness.

Their voices were surprisingly quiet. At first, I thought I was following the wrong shadows.

Then Rabid's voice exploded. “I don't give a fuck what Blackjack says! I know you assholes are fucking with my club, same goddamned way you're trying to fuck with my girl. I'm gonna find out where you got that patch. No fucking way it came from a cartel boss. You're blowing smoke up our asses so you can set us on fire when our backs are turned.”

Ed laughed. I'd recognize that awful, sandpaper sound anywhere. “Whatever you say, kid. I've been in this club a lot longer than you. You've gotta hold no punches and give no mercy in this world. The second you do, somebody else will eat you alive. If it's not the Prairie Pussies we're supposed to call our friends thanks to the deal your Prez cut, it's the fucking Mexicans.”

“You really think you're a big man, don't you?” Rabid spat on the ground. “That's a fucking riot when you're really the most reckless, savage piece of shit I've ever met – and that includes the asswipes we used to call our brothers. They followed Fang off the fucking cliff like the lemmings they were. You're gonna do the same, and so are all your boys in Klamath.”

”Yeah?” I knew that edge in Big Ed's voice. Rabid was getting to him, winding him up – probably trying to make him do something stupid.

“Last I checked, you fuckers are the ones who decided to go apeshit and kill the only bastard hard enough to give us a fighting chance. I'd give my left nut to have Fang back in charge. But I'm not gonna follow him to the grave either. I'll kiss Blackjack's ring as long as he doesn't let dumbfucks like you come into our territory and tell us how we ought to live.”

Rabid laughed, low and booming, and then it abruptly stopped. “You're as funny as you are fat, asshole.”

“Oh, yeah? Why the fuck's that? You wanna tell me before I hold you down with this gut and stick a knife in your pussy throat?”

“You won't do shit,” Rabid growled. “Only pussy I see standing here's you. You're the one sneaking around in our goddamned town, telling chicks like mine what to do with club money. That fucking debt is ours to deal with because it's in our border. Or maybe we decide not to deal with it at all. You can eat shit if you think this brotherly truce changes a damned thing. You're not gonna come within spitting distance of my girl. Never again.”

My heart was racing. Something insane was about to come to a head.

“Nah, brother, you got it all wrong.” I cringed when I heard him say the b-word, and I could practically hear Rabid doing it too. “I'm taking what I'm owed. If Chrissy was really your old lady, you'd pay up like a good boy, and I know there's no fucking brand on that bitch. I've heard the talk around your clubhouse – you've got a bad case of puppy love for this scratched up cunt. You should've fucked her when you had your chance and thrown her away. She's not gonna be able to keep the cash flowing in, and you know what that means. I'll be the one doing the fucking soon in Klamath. She's a hot one – everything from the neck down, anyway. Fuck, maybe I can put a bag over that bitch's ugly head while I slam my cock up her –“

Hatred turned my veins to ice at about the same time Rabid snapped. His arms shot out, grabbed Ed by the throat, and threw him up against the wall with superhuman strength. Big Ed didn't have another second to react before Rabid's switchblade was out, buried in the demon's throat.

The monster's eyes went wide, searching, trying to understand the fatal pain that struck him like a bolt from the sky. Dark, filthy blood flowed out over Rabid's hands.

Ed croaked a couple times, shuddered, and began to die. His fat hands wrapped around Rabid's throat, but he was too weak, alive with shock and pain. But not for long.

I closed my eyes and counted to five. When I opened them, the big man was slumped over, his eyes shut, nothing moving except the blood pouring from his neck.

It was over just like that. The man who'd tormented me would never speak again, much less do anything else.

“Go tell your bullshit fantasies to whoever the fuck you meet in hell,” Rabid growled and spat on him as he let go. Ed slumped to the ground.

He looked over in my direction and instantly cursed. “Fuck!”

I couldn't think about running. My lungs wouldn't work, and neither would my feet. Rabid was on me like a wolf, tackling me to the ground. I screamed, and the hellish pressure on my spine lightened when he realized it was me.

“Christa, baby? Jesus fucking Christ.” He stopped, lifted his knee off me, and ran his unbloodied hand through his hair. “Why the hell are you here? I told you to wait for me miles away from this shithole!”

Anger. Righteous and justified. I scuttled up on my hands and knees, looked at him, and lowered my face to the ground.

You know why. I thought it, but I didn't dare say it.

“Don't give me that fucking look. What the fuck ever, baby. Maybe it's better you saw me dispatch his evil ass after all.” He paused. “Since you're here, make yourself useful. Go bring me the black bag on my bike. I'm gonna need it to clean this shit up.”

He reached into his pocket and tossed me his keys. I moved mechanically, doing as he asked, trying to fully process the fact that I'd just watched him brutally kill the bastard who'd seemed too evil to die.

Big Ed was dead. He'd never torment me again – but of course his brothers up north might. I shook my head, refusing to think about it.

There was nothing to fear right now except getting caught by someone who wasn't another junkie or a creep. Tonight, Rabid gave me an ounce of reprieve and the first hope I'd had since forever.

The leather bag I'd retrieved from his bike was heavy. When I brought it back to him, he tore it open, and brought out what looked like a thick plastic canister.

Rabid crouched on the ground, turned, and looked at me. “You don't need to watch this shit, baby. This next part's pretty fucking gruesome. Don't look – unless you really want to.”

I turned my back. A minute later, there was a sizzling sound behind me, almost like bacon frying. My curiosity got the better of me. I looked back with my hand over my face and saw him spraying a solution over the corpse's hand.

The other one was already smoking at the fingertips. “What're you doing to him?” I whispered quietly, wondering if I really wanted an answer.

“Melting off his fingerprints and what's left of his fucked up face. Then this fat piece of shit's going in the dumpster.” He said it so matter-of-factly. “The guy who owns this place hauls his own trash out to the country every week and burns it. Too many junkies and too much contraband to risk turning it over to the city for waste disposal. He'll incinerate everything – including this fuck – but if anybody comes snooping around before he does, they'll never be able to identify this sack of shit.”

I nodded glumly. All I needed to know. Jesus, this was his world, wasn't it?

I'd been around hard bikers and outlaws all my life, but I'd never seen how they handled life and death up close before. My stomach churned, but it wasn't full blown panic. There was only numbness, relief, and – could it be? – gratitude. Admiration.

The last ones swelled my heart when I stopped and stared at the man who'd just done me the biggest favor in the world.

I took one more good look and nodded, thankful like I'd never been. Then I headed for the parking lot, hoping Rabid would join me as soon as he could.

I didn't regret a damned thing about tonight. Dad and I were safe, and I'd finally found someone worth opening my shell to. Someone who fought and killed for me.

I closed my eyes, standing next to my car, letting the warm breeze blow by while the stars twinkled in the sky. Those same stars watched us when I freaked out and ran. Now, they were going to watch me embrace the answers to my prayers.

When Rabid came stomping toward his bike, his boots and leather were dusty. He'd put his riding gloves on, but I could see a few reddish blood stains going up his arms.

“It's done,” he said. “You're safe, Christa. I kept my promise, and I'll extend it anytime some asshole's stupid enough to fuck with you. You're mine, dammit. Nobody gives my woman a shred of shit unless they want to buy their souls a ticket straight to hell.”

My ears pushed pleasant tingles through my body as his growl surrounded me. His hands hooked around me, tugged me to his chest, and we embraced for a long time, just listening to our heartbeats and soaking in the moonlight.

“Rabid...” His name was like a whirlwind on my tongue. If only he wasn't still spotted with the dead man's blood. “You can't go back to the clubhouse like that. Follow me to my place. I'll help get you cleaned up.”

He pulled back to look at me, quirking an eyebrow. “You sure you're ready for that? This shit's a lot to take in tonight, baby. We don't gotta rush anything – but you know I'm dying every fucking day I don't have you under me.”

My lips trembled. “I'm ready for anything after tonight.”

“Good,” he rumbled, sliding his hands down lower. I gasped when they caught my ass and squeezed – hard. “Because there's no fucking way I could wait another night without going off like a nuclear warhead. I'll get the blood and dirt washed off, and then we're going to bed. We're fucking tonight, baby. I'll give you the ten minutes it takes on the road to think about that. Let it sink in. Let it curl that pretty red hair. If you can handle it by the time we get to your place, then you'll handle the same goddamned way my dick's gonna be slamming you tonight.”

He squeezed me again, this time so hard my hips rolled forward. Big mistake. That V between my legs rocked into his hips, and I felt the massive ridge beneath his jeans I'd sensed a couple times before.

He was big, hard, and eager as all hell. All for me.

His lips crashed against mine. Hot, fiery, insatiable. His teeth sucked in my bottom lip and bit so hard he almost drew blood. I moaned into his mouth, craving his hurt, everything he wanted to give me.

He's right, I thought. No more bullshit. This is what I've bought, and I'm ready to pay for it with every inch of my skin. It's not an obligation. I wouldn't want him so bad if it was.

How long has it been since I've had a man? Years?

How long since it was a man like him? Never.

With a feral snarl, he released my ass, sliding one hand up my spine and fisting my red locks at their tips. “Give me another taste for the road, babe. I'm gonna be thinking about how wet and tight your pussy gets the whole way home.”

We kissed. Explosively. Desperately.

The cauldron on my lips that was quintessentially Rabid melted me from the inside out. His tongue found mine and pushed hard, pouring his seething lust into me, igniting my own – I withered. Surrender never felt so fucking good.

“Get in and go, babe. I'll be right behind you if the fucked up tire gives out. We gotta leave now, before I take you right here. Trust me on this. I'm wrestling my own fucking dick with every heartbeat to make sure our first time's not happening in a shithole like this. I won't allow that fucking travesty, but I can't hold back shit for much longer.”

Just then, a trashy looking couple stumbled through the parking lot, laughing. They slid by us, and I could smell the stink wafting off them. Worse than the dead man we'd left in the dumpster. They'd just helped him make his point.

I tore myself away from Rabid before anything else could happen. The car started up and moved without too much more destruction on the tire. Too bad I couldn't leave the POS here. Rabid was right behind me the whole way home.

It wasn't a stretch to feel his eyes melting through my car. Almost as bad as the non-stop ache between my legs. The heat, the wetness, the swelling made it hard to focus on the road. Lucky me it was a short trip.

I'd never been in heat before until now. He'd reduced me to an animal, nervous and tingling with anticipation.

It wasn't just the man he'd killed for me stirring my blood red hot. Every time we got close, my skin hummed like a magnet, drawn to him no matter how much my head resisted. The heart knew what it wanted. So did my wicked body.

I wanted to throw myself at him, tear off his clothes, and slide my tongue all over the glorious ink I knew he had on his chest. I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd feel like when his hard body shuddered between my legs, giving me the full inferno I'd only tasted in his fingers and his lips.

When we got to my place, I lingered in the car, trying to collect my wits and my breath. This was it. It had to be.

Rabid walked up and tapped on the window. “You coming, or what?”

I shut off the engine and got out. Something about the way he took my hand in his caused the fire to burn higher than when we'd kissed back in the parking lot. Raw sex took over everything like a rising wave, drowning whatever fears or doubts I had left.

We barely got through the door when he took off his cut and then the shirt underneath it. Jesus. If I thought he was a mountain, then he was actually a full range of rock hard peaks and wild, masculine edges. His muscles were packed together tight, whole slabs forming tight, delectable canyons in his abs. His chest was big and broad and hard enough to hold up the entire world.

The ink ran as wild as the rest of him. He had the roaring bear on his chest like all the other guys I'd seen in the club. The stripes rippling up his arms swung over his shoulders and formed dark flames around his neck. He was a walking canvass, painted like some bright jungle creature deadly to the touch.

There was no mistaking it – this man was dangerous as hell. I'd seen what he could do first hand. I refused to let myself be afraid. We were well past fear.

“You gonna gawk all night or help me wash this fucker's blood away?” he asked with a smile.

I smiled back, then tiptoed into the bathroom. “Just give me one minute.”

Sweet Jesus. One minute. Sixty seconds until I lost my mind if I didn't run my hands all over that gorgeous body.

I swept the shower curtain aside and started running the water. He would've been content with a hot shower alone, but I was going to do him one better. I filled the tub with water and grabbed a washcloth.

When it was halfway full, I cracked the door and looked at him. He was sitting on my bed like a tiger resting after a successful hunt.

“Come on in here. I'm ready.” He stepped past me, into my small bathroom. “Sit down. I'll do the rest.”

He didn't argue. I watched as he took a seat on the toilet, wringing the excess water out of my rag. He let out a low, satisfied throaty sound when I swept it over his neck, starting there and working down his arms, paying special attention to the rusty blood stains near his wrists. Little spots of the bastard's blood lined his entire arm, the last evidence of our crime to wipe away.

“Can I ask you something?” I whispered, hoping the question I had in mind wasn't too much for right now. He nodded. “How did it feel to kill him?”

“Almost as good as when I see you, babe. That's because he was your kill. Ours. I sent his ass to hell and I'll have to face the music with my brothers soon. I did it for you, and I don't regret shit. I'd do it all over again.” He looked at me, eyes burning bright.

“Nobody rides your sweet ass but me from now on. Besides, Ed had it coming for the club. You just helped speed things along. They'll all see the light sooner or later. 'Til they do, it's you and me. That's all I ever needed besides this patch.” He thumped his chest with one fist. “Killing for you's the same as killing for my brothers. Not something I think about after the job's done, unless I wanna add another mark to my skin.”

He pointed to his right bicep. There were rows of jagged lines tattooed there, sets of five. Four lines cut with a diagonal slash, like something a kid would do to keep tally. I started to count, but after about eight, I decided I didn't really want to.

“I get it. Dad did his share of dirty stuff for the club too.” Rabid looked up and gave me an understanding nod. “I just never understood how it could come so easy. How much I'd want it to happen. Not until you showed me.”

Rabid snorted, leaning into the warm rag as I swept it over his shoulders. Oh, God. Those shoulders looked like something to grab and hold onto while we fucked with my feet off the ground. They were going to be the death of me, if every other inch of him wasn't first.

“Come on. Give yourself some credit. We oughta celebrate having that piece of shit dead. Don't tell me it was all me who opened your eyes.”

I shook my head. “No. He was threatening to kill my dad. That's the real reason I put up with his threats for so long.”

Rabid's hands formed fists on his thighs. His muscles rippled, swelled, amazing as watching a cobra coiling itself up for a strike.

“Motherfucker! I hope the devil's got a lotta bears, hungry and ripping his ass to pieces 'til the end of time. Killing him once in this lifetime's not enough.” Rage hissed out his nostrils. “Figured there was something else eating you. You're not the kind to take shit from anybody, Christa. I like that.”

I swallowed. Never knew it would be so hard to take compliments from a shirtless man chiseled like a god.

My eyes caught my own reflection in the mirror. Seeing the scars on my face threatened to kill the buzz running through my blood.

Seriously, now that I had him next to me, bare chested and beautiful, what did this man see in me?

Okay, I had the goods in the right places. But he was perfection, muscles and looks meant to draw a pretty face and a rocking body. And after what Fang did, I'd never have a pretty face again.

“You're a good man, Rabid. Killer or not,” I said sadly. “There's not much here I can see worth liking. I treated you like a total bitch and I tried to run away like a coward until things got too hot. Then I ran to you, pulled you into my problems. You have no idea how grateful I am for everything, but doing charity must get pretty fucking –“

Tiresome. He never let me finish my thought.

He shot up like a bullet, ripped the rag from my hand, and threw it against the wall. It hit the water in the tub with a splash. I twisted in his arms. I knew he'd never hurt me, but it was scary as hell to see him looking at me with the same killer look he'd given Ed before he rammed the knife into his throat.

“Babe, you better close your little mouth before I shut it for you. I'm not gonna listen to a second more of this shit.” He grabbed my head, jerking me around with more precision than a chiropractor. “Is this what you're worried about? This?”

He pointed to the long jagged scar arcing up my cheek, toward my right ear. I was too stunned to answer. He shook me again, vigorous but gentle. Commanding.

“Answer me! Is it?” Slowly, I nodded, turning against his hands in shame. There was no escape here. Rabid leaned down, pouring breath like fire into my ear. “I never thought a girl who's smart enough to tutor kids for a living could be so fucking blind. I see I'm gonna have to start from ground zero with you.”

I blinked, steadying myself as he loosened his grip. “What's that supposed to mean?”

The iron grip was back, holding me in a death lock with one hand, then running the opposite over my face in a gentle caress. I squirmed, hating when he touched my glaring imperfections. Why couldn't he focus on the parts of me that weren't so fucking damaged?

“Means you don't know shit about me, and I'm gonna have to ram it home to make you understand.” He rocked against my hips, harder than before, making me feel the full swollen outline of his hard-on against my ass.

God! Just give it to me or kill me now. My brain was on fire. No, make that everything, alive and burning with need.

“If I didn't think you were beautiful – every fucking inch of you – my dick wouldn't be like this. I wouldn't be thirty seconds away from shredding your clothes and smashing my face between your thighs 'til I suffocate.” He shook me again, one fierce jerk, making me flail for a second before he caught me. “Baby, you'd better believe I'm gonna fuck those rocks right outta your head. And I'm not gonna stop 'til you're breathless, too damned tired to think about anything except how good my cock feels when it's balls deep inside you.”

“Rabid!” He clapped one hand over my mouth and grabbed my hair with the other one.

He walked me out of the bathroom half-stooped over, stopping when we got into the bedroom. I tried to struggle, bite him, anything to make him understand this was crazy. Not how I ever imagined this going.

Rabid had other plans.

He swept me up into his arms, threw me over his shoulder, and carried me the last few steps to the bed before flinging me down. His weight held me down while he did what he promised, ripping my shirt off over my head, then working on my pants while he reached to pop my bra behind him.

I struggled for a second, but when his rock hard chest flattened my breasts, I couldn't think about anything at all. Nothing except how good he felt pressed against me.

His face rubbed on mine, scratching me with his stubble. He twisted his face, focusing on my scar with his kisses, burying it in lips and tongue.

I started laughing at how wild it was and tried to slap his chest. He didn't appreciate that. He reached up, pinned my wrists above my head, and maneuvered between my legs. He stared me down like the world was about to end as he rocked his hips against mine.

My jeans were halfway down, one less layer between us. God, even with his denim still in the way, he was so fucking hard against my panties. The friction in his long, rough strokes lit me up. I tried to fight him, tried to tell him to go more gently, but every thrust took my breath away.

Every thrust forced me to realize he was really into this, really into me. Scars and all.

When he was done making his point, running his tongue over my face, he moved to my mouth. Each kiss came harder than the one before. It was all hot breath, teeth, and tongue. He grabbed my bottom lip with his teeth and held it, growling into my mouth, making my whole body vibrate with rough, masculine energy.

I'd lost my shoes at some point, and my legs were folded around him now, begging him to fuck me closer, harder, deeper.

Rabid's stubble prickled along my neck as he lowered his head. He found one nipple and sucked it into his mouth. Pleasure ripped through me, and I almost came just from having this one tender part between his teeth.

His hands shifted. Now, he was holding me down by the hair with one fist. The other hand was on my left breast, warming it up for whenever his mouth got tired of my right nipple.

“Rabid...please!” I couldn't stop bucking against his dick. Clueless about what I was even begging for.

My hips rose and fell with a mind of their own. The muscles in my belly were wound so tight I thought I'd snap in two. This was a full body tease, showing me what the need to be fucked was really like.

Not want. Not desire. Need.

I reached up, hugged my arms around his neck, and rode the fiery thrusts coming between my legs. He was dry humping me into oblivion, if you could call the sopping wet mess against his jeans 'dry.'

“Fuck,” Rabid whispered, taking his face off my nipple. “I could lick this nub all day, but I know all about how greedy the rest of a woman gets. I'd be a sick sonofabitch if I let everything else suffer.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he choked me off, drawing my other nipple into his mouth. He held me down, sucking hard and fast, swirling his tongue around and around in hypnotic, harsh loops.

I humped his dick like a mad woman. His name was Rabid, yeah, but I was the one foaming at the mouth, completely overtaken with this need to get him in me.

“Fuck. Me!” I managed to get it out when he stopped sucking my tit. “Please.”

“Not yet. You're gonna fuck my tongue first, baby. Forget everything that happened with your tits. You're gonna see what I can really do when I've got that little clit in my mouth, slapping it with my tongue 'til you blow.”

I begged. I pleaded. I kicked my legs against him as he sank down, but he was determined.

He easily held my thighs to the bed like they were nothing, spreading them apart, opening me for him. His teeth caught my panties at the waistband and ripped. Everything came off, baring the hot wet slit to him, total proof of how sex crazed I'd become underneath him.

“Nice and pink,” he growled. “Show me how tight you get when you come. I wanna taste what's gonna be wrapped around my dick.”

I tried to brace myself for his face going between my legs. But nothing in the world could've prepared me for the thunderbolt that struck me when his mouth hit my pussy.

He sucked. He licked. He fucked me with that tongue, deeper and faster and harder than any man's tongue should. I tossed my head back, thrashing above him, losing my mind as he raced me to the edge of the cliff and gave me one last push.

Climax.

Oh, fuck. Oh, Rabid. Oh, no!

Orgasm ripped through me with wild abandon. Merciless and rough as his tongue's endless strokes through my core, slinging pure fire, wicked and hot. I pinched my thighs so hard around his head it should've cracked his skull.

But he held me open, and I only realized later he was holding perfectly still, making me fuck his mouth with wild thrusts.

When I was coming down from it, he pushed one hand in front of his face, stretching me open. Two fingers sank into my pussy, and he pivoted his mouth above it all to continue licking my clit.

“No, no. I can't handle this again. It's too soon. Rabid, I need a little –“

“Rest?” he growled, in between licks. “You'll get it when I fucking say so. I told you I'm gonna show you all the ways I want you, baby girl. And that includes showing you what your body can do when I'm in charge. The shit you'll do for me doesn't understand the meaning of 'can't.'”

He wasn't kidding. He'd overpowered me, overtaken me, enslaved my flesh with his hands and mouth. I couldn't bear to think about what he still had waiting for me throbbing in his pants.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to come another time or two on his crazy tongue. He'd soften me up. After what I'd felt against my pussy, I knew I'd need to be loosened up before he pushed inside me. Only easy way I'd be able to take something so big – especially if he fucked the way he licked.

And that was a given, wasn't it?

I never got a chance to think about it. His fingers fucked me in rhythm with his tongue, pulling at my flesh and putting me back together, making me conform to his touch. He worked me harder when I jerked and gasped, reading my mind in every twitch and tingle.

Rabid read everything. I couldn't hide a damned thing anymore. I didn't want to.

His fingers fucked me at the same frantic, breakneck pace as his tongue when I started to feel the fireball building in my core. My can't died in the spiraling fire.

My pussy pulsed, slowly at first. Then a new shockwave tore through me – sudden, shocking, merciless.

I reached for the sheets and held on as I exploded from the bottom up. “God. God! God!”

I screamed to heaven over and over, but nothing was going to save me from him. My pussy pinched his fingers so tight, and still he kept fucking me, stroking my walls through the convulsions. The rock hard maniac between my legs had no pause, no on and off.

Colors blossomed before my eyes, beautiful and bright, some so wild I couldn't name them. Ecstasy squeezed me like a wet cloth, draining everything from my body. That moment, I was nothing but a breathless, shaking, rainbow watching mass, locked in pure pleasure. I could only buckle in and ride the wave, tearing at the sheets for dear life, desperate to stay grounded on this earth. The colors coalesced into one mega-fire and lost their luminescence, going hot white and then black.

Pleasure waned. Collapsing, I hit the bed and rolled, feeling new coolness on my pussy.

I reached down, realized he was gone, and looked to the edge of the bed. He was standing there, loosening his belt, watching me. Guess it was easy to admire the view with my legs lolled to their sides, wide open and ready.

“Helluva warm up, Christa,” he said. “I'd lick that sweet pussy all day, but if we don't get down to business right now, I'm gonna start putting my fist through your fucking walls. And I don't think your landlord would like that shit. I'm already gonna fuck you so hard he hears it two floors up.”

I laughed. A joke, I thought, but there was nothing funny about the way he looked at me when the bed sank with his weight. He crawled between my legs and rubbed his cock over my slit. One stroke told me he was bare.

Sweet Jesus.

I reached down and wrapped one hand around his shaft. It was even harder and thicker than I'd imagined, pulsing strong and alive in my palm. I rolled down toward his balls and then back up, perfect for a teasing stroke, marveling at every inch.

“I want this,” I whispered. “Bad. Don't make me wait, Rabid. Fuck me.”

He cocked his head, sliding forward to fuck my fist, a little preview of what was about to happen inside me. “Doesn't sound very convincing. You've got some idea now how much I like to tease.”

Anger pulsed through me. Was he fucking serious?

I squeezed his dick, harder than I intended. He just pushed through my hand harder, asserting control.

“Who's teasing now, baby? You trying to make me shoot off all over your belly, or what?” He laughed when I shook my head in horror. “Yeah, I didn't think so. Put your fucking hands over your head if you're ready. Show me your whole body's begging for a fuck. Lucky for you, I like teasing like nobody's business, but I like fucking even more.”

I let go of him and flopped back. Stretched out before him, pulsing my feet down his strong legs, imagining how hard they'd make him thrust. I was about to find out, assuming my skin didn't ignite before he got inside me.

Rabid grabbed his dick and aimed it for my entrance.

“All right, no more fucking around,” he growled, readying his hips. “It's now or never, baby, and I'm not stopping 'til I see the smoke curling off you from the way I'm gonna make you burn.”

We locked eyes as he pushed in, one savage stroke that went all the way, not stopping until he was pressed up against my womb. Balls deep was an understatement. He filled me so completely, inch by impossible inch, that I nearly bowed up and came just from this fullness.

“Fuck!” he hissed, holding his warmth in mine. “Don't tell me you're a virgin, girl? This is the tightest pussy I've ever had around my dick in years. Shit, maybe since I was born.”

I shook my head. No, not a virgin.

Damn if I didn't wish I was just then. The other men I'd given myself to were worthless compared to him. If he was an alpha, then they were omegas, Joe Averages who'd never know a dick this hard and strong unless it slapped them in the face.

And somehow, I had a feeling men like Rabid didn't go around clubbing weaker men with their dicks. I smiled at the stupid thought.

“What's so fucking funny?” he growled, pulled back and slammed into me, stretching me open, reminding me that the ten inches of rock hard muscle were all I ought to be thinking about just then. “You remembering how shitty everybody else is compared to this?”

Bastard read my mind this time. Literally. I threw my head back as he slammed into me again, sucking at my bottom lip.

God! How could two people fit together so perfectly?

“Yes!” I whispered, letting too much excitement slip out for my own good.

Rabid reached up and fisted my hair, giving me another thrust while he did. I moaned. He pulled hard, tucking his arm underneath my head, making me look at him.

“Good! By the time we're done tonight, you're gonna forget you ever fucked anybody before me. Try to keep up, baby. Try your fucking best. I wanna wind up half as sore as you're gonna be for the next week. Don't bullshit me, now. I know you can take it.”

And take it, I did.

He rammed his dick harder as the tempo picked up. Our hearts thudded as one, and mine slammed my ribs as hard as he pushed me to the mattress. I seriously wondered if my old bed could take it. Its springs shrieked like mad every time Rabid pounded my ass down with his weight.

“Baby, baby, baby,” he whispered, rough and steady as sandpaper. “Where the fuck you been hiding all my life? Your pussy's made for my dick. You feel it?”

Fuck yes, I did.

It didn't take long to realize I had nothing to worry about with his size. Our fusion was perfect, like my body was made for his, waiting twenty-four years to find the right man. Rabid fucked harder, gliding deeper into me, pulsing and stroking against my walls until I felt the fire like never before.

“I feel – oh, Jesus! Don't fucking stop!” Whatever he made me feel, I wanted more. I wanted him to hurl me right over the edge and fill me with his fiery seed.

Snarling, he grabbed my hips, dragging his teeth over my throat in a love bite on the way to my ear. “Grab my neck and hold onto my ass with your legs. Hold on fucking tight. You wanna come hard, don't you?”

Holy shit. Is it even a question? I gave him a pleading look, sucking on my bottom lip. I'd never wanted anything so bad before, and he'd just found one more evil way to tease me, make me beg for my release.

His thrusts slowed, forcing me to fuck back if I wanted it. My blood fumed. My legs whipped up and curled around his rear. Digging my ankles into his flanks as hard as I could, I leaned up, pulling at his strong neck with my hands.

“Fuck me. Don't hold anything back. Show me how fast and hard you go on maximum.” I could practically feel the sweat steaming out his pores as I whispered the challenge into his ear. “Fuck me like you want to break me – and don't you dare fucking stop for anything!”

Rabid gave me a look like I was out of my mind. Then I saw the last lights of sanity in his eyes fade too. His hips lurched forward, impacting me so hard his balls bounced on my ass, plunging his thickness rough and deep, just the way I liked it. His pubic bone scratched the itch raging in my clit.

So much for holding out. I saw white and started stabbing my nails into his neck, raking them down to his shoulders in a long, slow drag. We were way past being gentle.

He fucked me harder. Impossibly, achingly harder, impaling me on his pistoning length. I threw my head back and screamed bloody murder as everything beneath my waist seized up.

Next thing I knew, my pussy locked around his cock, begging to be filled. I saw white. My walls clenched, spasming so hard it hit my brain instantly, like someone had whiskey hooked straight to my veins.

I came in a jerking, scratching, spitting mess, coming completely undone on every beautiful inch of him. You haven't lived until sex controls everything except your brain stem.

And I was the one who'd summoned this earthquake, begged for it.

I'd challenged him to fuck me for sport, and he'd delivered. Oh, how he delivered.

Rabid growled, grabbed my ass off the bed, and pulled me up, holding it up in mid-air. I barely had the dexterity to brace my hands over my head. Thank God I lived an active enough life for this.

His cock hit me in places I couldn't even describe, shaking me apart, hammering me open for his relentless thrusts. G-spot? No way, this boy hit the entire alphabet, and I shook and gasped with every new sensation flooding me.

I hallucinated smoke coming off my body when it was finally waning. Not that it meant much, because he wasn't even close to finished.

He pulled out of me, hard as rock, his huge chest pumping air into his lungs to replenish everything we'd lost while fucking. I looked up through half-closed eyes, wondering how the hell he was ever going to top that.

Not that I doubted him. I hadn't felt him come yet, so I couldn't dismiss anything.

“Roll the fuck over, babe. Get on all fours.” He gave my ass a little smack when I lingered a second too long.

I yelped, finding the energy to jump and do just as he said.

Crap. My clit was already swollen and aching again, a willing slave for his touch.

Maybe it was the ferocious ink crisscrossing his torso like tiger's stripes, or maybe it was just the raw power in his muscles that he sent through me with every thrust.

Whatever caused this crazy hunger, he'd turned me into a junkie for it.

Shaking, I listened to him growl, feeling the slow thunder front rolling through his throat, down his flesh, into me. Grabbing my hair, he mounted me from behind, planting his cock deep. I wiggled my ass against him.

We fucked harder and faster than before, free from the initial uncertainty. He hungered to learn my body as bad as I wanted to please him. Everything with this man was a slow burn, a wick blazing to ignite a full blown wildfire. My eyes rolled back and I punched the sheet in my hands, hoping I could stand another climax without waking all my neighbors.

My screams were the least of it too. The bed was jerking beneath us now, bouncing and clattering, ready to go to pieces as he power fucked my pussy deep. The noise didn't make him pause once. Rabid fucked like he wanted the floor to fall out beneath us.

“Fuck, baby girl. You come for me again. You got at least two more to go before I bust this nut.” I recognized an order when I heard one.

Whether I did or not, he wasn't leaving anything to chance. I felt his rough hand reach around my thigh, dive between my legs, and spread me open around his cock. He pinched my clit, making furious circles, swift and beckoning and perfectly matched to the rhythm of his cock pounding inside me.

My God, my God. Words weren't enough to handle this, and neither were prayers.

I'd officially lost track of how many times I'd come that night, but I did it again, feeling my pussy cream on his cock as everything below my waist exploded. Grabbing me by the shoulders, Rabid pinned my little ass to the bed with his weight, alternating between grinding and thrusting so deep he touched my cervix.

Can't stop. Can't. Fucking. Stop. Coming!

This sex was like a seizure. Or maybe a storm, so powerful it ripped apart everything in its path without a second thought. My body was going full primal now, sucking and coming and pulling at his cock, starving to wring the come from his balls. I wanted him to bust inside me, just like he promised.

I needed his heat, his fire, his everything.

“Please. Come with me,” I pleaded, in between the hoarse spasms reaching up to my throat. “Please. Rabid, please.”

He laughed, fucked me deeper, lengthening his strokes. “You gotta do better than that, baby. Beg me to fill you up. Fucking beg, Christa.”

I started to, but my throat was too tight, too overwhelmed with the pleasure popping in every nerve. When my vision went white, bursting with rainbow stars, I couldn't even think about anything at all. I just screamed.

Rabid clapped his hand over my mouth and pulled my hair tighter with the other hand. I swore he was going to rip my ponytail off in the mad race to fully claim me. Somewhere in the ecstasy, I realized he didn't want me to beg with words.

My pussy, my body, was doing all the hard work for me. His thrusts were totally frenzied now, fucking me right through the convulsions, turning me inside-out. He rammed my face into the nearest pillow, the better to brace my bones for the savage hammering that came next.

His whole body tilted into mine and he snarled into my ear. “Don't move a goddamned inch. Keep your legs open and take every fucking drop. I'm gonna shoot you full 'til I collapse, baby, and your little pussy's gonna join me in the storm, leave us both breathless.”

Storm? No, this was an honest-to-God hurricane.

The bed rocked like a freight train coming uncoupled.

I whimpered. I folded. I screamed my throat raw when he ripped my head up and growled, biting into my throat like some wild beast.

Pleasure, pain, and a thousand sensations I couldn't identify took full possession. I lost control, gave it up to the madman balls deep in my twitching cunt, starting to jerk and pulse and melt.

“Fuck!” he growled it through his teeth, still locked onto my shoulder, needling me with the full fury of the tension winding up in his body for the grand finale.

Rabid came. Lava jets flowed into me, fierce as everything else he'd done tonight, filling the emptiness so good it finally cured the wanton craving I'd had all night. He doused me in fire, seed overflowing, filling me and spilling out of the spaces where our tender flesh joined and writhed.

The last orgasm that rocketed me out of my body made me wonder if the bed had really fallen through the floor after all. My muscles clenched so hard everything went white and numb. I fucked straight through the colors and blinding white light to a new dimension of pleasure that was truly pure, stripped of everything except this pulsing fire exploding inside me.

Feeling his teeth leaving my skin was the first thing that brought me home. There'd be one hell of a hickey there tomorrow, if he didn't leave his teeth marked in my skin like putty. I hoped I had a shirt to cover it.

He leaned in and smothered my lips with his, staying rooted in me, even though he was going soft. It was like he didn't want his seed to come out, wanted to keep it buried in me until I soaked it up, bathing myself in his essence.

My tongue was limp at first. But a few delicious swirls of his against mine had me licking right back, savoring the softer calm returning to our flesh.

I had a feeling it wouldn't last long. His hand reached underneath me, found my nipple, and gave it a warming pinch. I moaned into his mouth, breaking the kiss for sorely needed breath.

“What the hell?” I whispered. “Don't you ever rest?”

“Not when you're underneath me, babe. You're mine. You're new and shiny, everything I wanna fuck 'til my hips won't work. But fuck, you'd better believe I wouldn't give a shit if I'd fucked you a thousand times. I'm never gonna get sick of this. I thought your pussy was like a fine shot of Jack, and I was a fucking fool.”

I looked at him, loving the warmth lighting up his dark eyes. “What, then?”

“Your pussy's fucking heroin. I never did the shit, but I saw enough guys who did to know. This is the kinda shit that turns a man into something depraved, makes him a totally desperate junkie for this and only fucking this.” His breathing grew sharper, shallower. The hand on my breast glided down my soft belly, reached lower, and cupped my pussy.

“Fuck,” he growled, low and ruthless. He squeezed, and we both rasped when I felt his seed trickle out around his fingers.

It wasn't just an act, something tender and sweet to say after sex in his own crazy biker way. He really meant to claim me, own me, and never, ever let go.

“You think I'm satisfied feeling my seed inside you? Think again.”

He squeezed tighter, pushed two fingers into my wetness. I sucked in a sharp breath. God, how could I want him again so soon after more than an hour of nonstop fucking?

“What does it take?” I whispered, amused and genuinely curious. What the hell did it take to ever satisfy him?

“You wearing my brand. Right here's a good spot for it.” He touched the soft skin in the center of my lower back. “You're total sex now. You'd be a fucking knockout with my name inked in your skin, right where I can see it. Better get used to fucking on all fours, baby, 'cause we're gonna be doing it a lot – right in between all the other ways I'm gonna take you.”

Holy, holy shit. Was he really asking me to be his old lady? My head was spinning – spinning right off after the flurry of sweat and sex.

“Rabid...” I turned over, pushing his hand away, unsure what the hell to say. He stopped me, clapping his hand over my mouth.

“I don't need an answer tonight. Just think about it. Think hard whenever you wake up tomorrow. This isn't a night for that kinda shit. Thinking doesn't go good with everything else I've got planned for your sweet little cunt. All you gotta know is I want you, babe. I'd kill and dismember a man for this hot fucking pussy – no bullshit.”

I knew he wasn't joking. The edge in his voice was the same just before he murdered Ed. It should've made me jump up and run, but I loved it. This was an animal passion I'd never fathomed outside my own dark fantasies, a passion that was real because it was so damned psychotic.

He forced his hand between my thighs, found my clit, and rubbed. The tension in my muscles instantly withered.

Not fair.

He knew how to work my body too well, and I still didn't have a clue how to handle him, let alone work him over. His lips replaced the hand over my mouth. When he started running his free hand through my red hair, pushing me up to meet his mouth, I automatically opened my legs.

His hips rocked against my belly, his dick growing hard and hungry.

Yes, there'd be a lot to think about very soon. But tonight, there was nothing to worry about except how bright he lit me up and made me burn.