Chapter 4

Lyric started to say something when a shout interrupted them from the other end of the barn. Mattox dropped his eyes and walked away when Riskin strode in. Riskin glanced around at the empty hay truck, but he didn't seem to notice it. He didn’t notice Mattox finished unloading the hay in a few hours.

He walked right up to Lyric. “Hey, darlin' What are you doing down here?”

“I just came down here to talk to you. Did you finish the north pasture fence yet?”

He shook his head. “Not even half done.”

“Jeez, you guys work slow. What's taking so long?”

He grinned at her and moved a step closer. “Coming down here to check on you makes it take longer than it should.”

“Then you shouldn't come down here to check on me. Go on. Get out there and get it done.”

He inched closer and backed her against the bare wooden wall. He dropped his voice to a menacing growl. “I just can't keep my hands off you, baby. I can't stop thinking about later.”

His lips swallowed her answer. His body crushed her against the cruel boards, and his hands came to rest on her hips. Her body ignited in desire, but when she caught sight of Mattox behind him, she pushed him back. “Not here, Riskin. Wait until tonight.”

He pressed closer and devoured her lips with his insistent kisses. “Come on, baby. Don't tease me. You know you drive me nuts in that dress. Are you wearing any panties underneath? How about I find out for you?” He slithered his hands down her hips to her thighs. He started inching her dress up with slow contractions of his fingers.

Lyric closed her eyes against her own mounting excitement. “Not here, honey. Not now.”

He mouthed down her chin to her neck. His hot breath sent lightning bolts down her skin. His knee slipped between her thighs, and her dress dragged over her knee to expose her tender skin. Riskin panted into her mouth. “I've got to have you. I've got to have you right here and now. I don't care what it costs. I've got to have you.”

Lyric fought her eyelids open. Her chin fell back against his mouth. She gasped and sighed until, out of nowhere, her eye fell on Mattox. He stood across the barn and watched them with his impassive brown eyes. She couldn't flout her romance with Riskin right in his face. She couldn't do anything with him standing there watching her.

One thing she knew for certain. He wasn't the silent duffer everyone took him for. Something massive and powerful and unstoppable lay hidden beneath his silent, brooding exterior. Some bottomless depth of power dwelt in his soul. She couldn't understand him, but she understood everything he said about protecting his tribe.

What sort of man bit the dust to protect his family? What sort of superhero was he, to walk away from the Alpha position to ensure his tribe and his people dwelt in peace for the next fifty years? A man like that deserved to be Alpha. A man like that would stop at nothing to serve his people with everything he had. Did his father and Brody know it? Did they know what sort of man they sent packing to the hills instead of giving him a chance to rule?

She closed her eyes again. She couldn't stand him looking at her like that, especially with Riskin draped all over her. She planted her hands on Riskin's chest and gave him a hard shove. “Get off me, Riskin. I just said no.”

He jumped back. “What's the matter with you?”

She waved her hand. “Well, jeez, Riskin. I can't do anything with you here. We're in the barn, for Pete's sake, and look. Mattox is standing right there watching us.”

Riskin glared at her. “So what if we're in the barn? I thought you liked it like that. You're a game chickadee, aren't ya?”

Lyric blushed to the roots of her hair. She straightened her dress and fixed her flashing eyes on Riskin’s face. “I'm not doing anything with you here, Riskin. Get that through your head and go take a cold shower.”

His eyebrows came together in the middle, and a black cloud of fury darkened his face. “What did you just say?”

She pulled her head down between her shoulders. “I'm sorry, Riskin. I'm not doing anything with you with Mattox standing right there.”

Riskin rounded on Mattox with both hands balled into fists. “What the devil are you still doing here? Go on. Get your stinking hide out of here. Don't you have anything better to do than stand around like a moron and stare? Go on. Get out before I thump you senseless.”

Mattox dropped his eyes to the floor, but before he could move or say a word, Riskin rushed him and jammed Mattox’s shoulders against the wall. Mattox bounced off. Riskin came at him a second time and slammed his elbow against Mattox's throat. He pinned him against the wall and snarled in his face.

“You like to watch, do you? Are you sneaking around peeking through keyholes in the middle of the night? Is that how you get your jollies off when no one knows what you're doing? Is that why you tiptoe around so no one knows when you're listening to their conversations?”

Lyric watched Mattox's reaction, but he didn't fight back. He leaned against the wall and let Riskin foam and bellow in his face. He relaxed into it and kept his eyes fixed on a spot somewhere near Riskin's neck. He never raised his eyes to meet Riskin's smoldering gaze.

“I told you to get out of here,” Riskin thundered. “You do what I say, or you'll be out on your scrawny backside. Do you like sneaking around with other people's girlfriends? Maybe you don't like girls at all. Maybe you're a eunuch underneath that jacket. Maybe that's why you couldn't take over as Alpha of your tribe.”

Mattox lay still against the wall under the barrage of insults. He didn't even struggle when Riskin hauled back and landed a punch against his ribs.

Riskin dropped his voice to a menacing hiss. “Let's find out if you're a eunuch or not. Let's find out if your mother castrated you at birth to favor Brody over you. Come on. Let's see you try to stop me.”

He hammered his elbow into Mattox's neck while his other hand fumbled under the leather jacket for Mattox's pants button. Mattox let his eyes drift closed. He went limp under Riskin's arm.

Lyric darted forward and caught Riskin by the shoulder. “Knock it off, Riskin. Leave him alone. God, how can you be so nasty? I never thought I would say this, but you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

Riskin tore his hand away from Mattox's pants just long enough to push her away. “Get away from me. You didn't want me before. Don't come near me now if you know what's good for you.”

Lyric stumbled back, but only for a second. She recovered and flew back at him in a fury. She yanked his arm away from Mattox's throat. “You foul redneck chump! Do you think I want to have anything to do with you when you act like this? Get off him now, or I'll make sure you never set foot on this ranch again as long as you live. Don't think I can't do it, and I will if you don't clean up your act in a hurry.”

Riskin spun away from Mattox to confront her. “You drove me to it when you pushed me away just now. Come on, darlin'. Run away with me. We'll get married in some wayside church and be mated tonight. All the waiting will be over in a few hours.”

“You're dreaming.”

He swept across the floor to grab her around the waist. “Run away with me, darlin'. You know I can't stand waiting for you anymore. Forget all this making out and feeling each other up. Let's run off to the woods and do it right now. You know you want to. We're as good as married already. Lots of Bruins mate before they're married. No one will mind. I'm going crazy, I need you so bad.”

She struggled in his arms to free herself. “Forget it, Riskin. You're the one who said we've waited for years, so we can wait a few more weeks.”

He covered her mouth with his lips and staggered back to slam her against the wall. “I can't wait anymore. I've got to have you right now. Don't be a tease. You always manage to come up with some excuse not to go through with it, but I'm not taking no for an answer anymore.”

He silenced her objections with his overpowering kiss. He dug his hands behind her back, down her dress, and brought his hands up under her skirts to her ass. He lifted her legs apart around his hips.

Lyric struggled against him in helpless confusion. He couldn't mean to do it with her, right here against the barn wall, when she just told him no. She tried to disengage from his kiss. “Don't, Riskin. No.”

He paid no attention. His lips slipped down her neck, and he wedged his feet against the floor to pin her in place. She fought back, but his arms proved too strong for her. He shoved his hips between her legs, and the bulging lump in his crotch dug into her nether tissues.

Her excitement turned to alarm. He couldn't do this. He didn't dare. How could he force himself on her when they planned to get married in a few weeks? How could she look sideways at him after this?

Blind fury reared up in her soul. She couldn't let this happen. She wouldn't let this happen. She never stood by and let anyone force her to do anything, and she wouldn't do it now in the name of marrying someone. She exploded against him, and her arms shot out against impossible odds. She flattened her hands against his chest and sent him spinning away.

She burst off that wall and dashed into the center of the barn, far enough away so he couldn't reach her. “I told you no, Riskin, and I meant it.”

He glared at her with burning eyes. “You rotten little whore. How dare you!”

He made a move to grab her again, but she slapped his hand away. “If you come near me again, I swear to God I'll blow your brains out the next time you set foot in my house.”

He stared at her in molten fury for a long moment. Then he threw up his hands with a muttered curse and stormed out of the barn. Lyric seethed in flustered tension until his footsteps faded on the hollow wooden floor.

Her shoulders shuddered and slumped in defeat. Her chin fell down on her chest, and she let out a shaky breath. She straightened her dress one more time and turned around to find Mattox staring at her. Their eyes met. He'd seen the whole thing.

She searched his face for some answer. He regarded her with that direct, clear gaze he'd shown her for the first time just a few minutes before, but he didn't say anything. A moment later, he dropped his gaze to the floor and started to turn away.

Lyric called after him. “How can you let them push you around like that? Maybe Riskin is right and you've got no balls at all. Maybe you aren't really a man.”

He shook his head, but he didn't answer. He wouldn't even look at her. He headed for the door. She couldn't let him walk away like that, not after what just happened.

She jumped in his way and jabbed her finger into his face. “You're a coward, Mattox Farrell. You're a coward and a toady. All that talk about caring about your tribe and protecting your family was just a smoke screen. It was a lot of flowery talk to make me think you were a man, when you won't even speak up to defend yourself against guys like Riskin. What does that say about you? What does that do for your tribe? Is that the kind of men the Farrells raise? Huh! Some tribe!”

He only shook his head. “You can say what you want. You don't know anything about my tribe.”

She heard her voice rise in alarm. “Don't you see Azer and Riskin need men to stand up to them? They could never get away with this if you would only stand up to them. That's the only way they're going to learn to behave around decent people.”

He spun around to face her. His eyes flashed as never before out of his beard-covered face. “What do you want to hold back from him for? Why don't you go ahead and mate with him? Everybody knows you're getting married.”

Lyric stared at him in stunned surprise. Why did she want to hold back from mating with Riskin? What in God's name was stopping her? “Well, you were standing right there.”

He snorted. “Come on. You wouldn't have to do it in front of me. You could run off to the woods with him like he said. I'm surprised you haven't done it before now. Star and Brody did it countless times before they were married. Most Bruins do. What are you waiting for?”

She looked right and left. She shifted from one foot to the other. “Well…I…”

He fixed her with his eyes. He fixed her like a bug to a board so she couldn't get away. “Do you want to do it with him?”

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She shut it again. She couldn't understand herself. Did she, or didn't she? No one ever asked her that question. Riskin certainly never asked her that. She never even asked herself. What kind of wretch was she, that she didn't want to do it with her own mate and future husband?

He put his head on one side. “He's your mate, isn't he? What's stopping you?”

She flapped her hands in confusion. She couldn't deal with this, least of all from him. “I don't know. I have to go.”