I came back to myself slowly. Almost as if I'd been drugged again, but I knew Ryker would never allow that to happen. The fading heaviness in my limbs was a gradual aching that spoke of life. "Cupcake?" Ryker asked from behind me. His voice was so hoarse, I could barely understand him. I nodded. "W-" my throat refused to work. He jostled behind me. "Let me get some water. Jessa brought some on her last check-in." I felt the bed spring up as he got up. I heard his bare feet pad across the floor. He was back in moments. His hair was all kinds of crazy. He had bags under his eyes. His beard scruff had turned into an almost full covering. I took the glass. My hand shook as I lifted it to my mouth. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw dried blood sprinkled over my arms. I finished the water, handed the glass back to him. "What happened to me?"He flinched. "I happened to you. I tried everything to bring you back. All the blood is from me pinching you with my fingernails. Y
She went slack beneath me, but this time it didn't freak me out. I could feel the warmth pushing from her skin. Could feel her pulse begin to slow and hear her little snore. She was back. She'd come back to me.I pulled from the depths of her body. Felt a ridiculous amount of pleasure at watching our combined juice slide from her cunt. I hadn't scared her. Hadn't freaked her out.I got to my feet, went to the little sink area in the room. Wetting down a wash rag, I went back to the bed. Cleaned her up. Cleaned me up. I scrubbed the dried blood off her arms. Winced at the bruises she carried on her arms, her chest. I'd hurt her. Using all the tricks my father had taught me to hurt people. And every stroke, every strike, every piercing had flayed my heart open. I would have done better had I been forced to inflict the pain on myself instead of her. I could give her pain. But I swore I would never again hurt her. As clean as we were going to get without showers and new sh
Someone knocked on the door.I lifted my head, saw Jessa. Her concerned face smoothed out into relief. "You're okay."I nodded. My brow furrowed in confusion. "Why wouldn't I be?"She stepped into the room. Turned off the lights. She put something between the door and the jamb to provide her a little light as she made her way over to the bed. "Ryker has a delightful tush, BTW." She snickered. I rolled my eyes. "Keep your eyes to yourself, you perv. He's mine."She smiled. Her gaze turned a little clinical as she walked towards us. "You dissociated for four, almost five, hours. Do you remember anything?" she asked softly as she knelt on the other side of Ryker. She scanned every inch of me she could see. I shook my head. "No. Is that bad?"She smiled. Shook her head. "I'm sure your brain will give it back to you when it thinks you can handle it. How are you feeling?"I did a body scan. Other than the delicious pain of really vigorous sex, I was doing pretty well. "A
Hours later, I disentangled myself from Willow's sleeping form. That was honestly some of the best sleep I'd gotten in at least a decade and it had been on a twin mattress with spunky sheets. I shook my head. Would wonders never cease?I scratched my belly as I padded naked across the floor. Something near the door snagged my attention. A plate with cheese, fruit, and sliced meat was on the floor, just inside the door. A tall pitcher of water sat next to two glasses. "EAT ME!" a small card read. I recognized Jessa's handwriting. Leaning down, I stuffed the glasses under my arm. Picked up the plate. Careful to keep from dropping the food, I picked up the pitcher with my free hand. Gunshots erupted from beyond the door. Everything clattered to the floor as I darted across the room. "Willow! Wake up. We're under attack!"
"Willow! Wake up. We're under attack!"Ryker's shout had me snapping upright in bed before my eyes had completely opened. The sounds of shattering glass, splashing liquid, and gunshots were not really the best wake up call I'd experienced in my life before. He darted over, pulled me from the bed and down to the floor before he flipped the bed up on its side. "Stay here." He pressed a kiss to my head and raced off across the room. "Ryker!" I shouted after him. I blinked, tried to get my brain to wake up so I could focus. Under the adrenaline rush, I was tired and achy. But the sheer power that pushed through my veins had me getting to my feet. I fished behind me on the floor, scooped up my inside out pants. I threw the panties back on the floor. Not today, Satan. I danced into my pants, flung my shirt on. I needed shoes. "Ouch. Dammit," Ryker hissed from his spot at the door. "You better not be thinking of leaving me here, Ryker Penn. I'll haunt you for the rest of your
I held my hands up, waited for the police to see that we were all participating with their orders. No fewer than five SWAT members and fifteen uniformed officers streamed into the bunker. The amount of noise they made was unbelievable. How we hadn't heard them was a miracle. Although, I feel like we'd been pretty well occupied with other news. And we weren't actually in trouble with these people. Or at least not bad trouble. Wright came in behind the uniformed police. "What the hell happened here?" he demanded as he made his way over from the catwalk stairs. He threaded his way through the Kool-Aid man holes we'd made on our first horrible trip through this hellhole. Turo stepped forward. "Would you like a full accounting now, or would you like to get the evidence you came for? We are completely fine in either case. We just ask that we be allowed to lower our arms."Wright waved his hand. We all lowered our hands. "Your guns will be confiscated. Run through the system. If th
A nagging jiggle of my shoulders heralded someone's immediate demise. I batted at them. "'o way."A snicker sounded. She jiggled me again. "We get to leave, Chase. Come on. Up and at'em," Tali said. "Momma and Papa are taking us to lunch at Freddie's."I groaned and blinked my eyes open in the dim lighting. Alone on the tiniest bed, I pushed my hair back as I looked around the room. No Ryker. I pouted at the idea that he wasn't still with me, but pushed it back. Sucked it up. I was a strong, capable woman. I didn't need a man to hold my hand. "He's finishing up with the DA and Nik. I've been sitting in here with you for the last two hours," Tali offered.I wrinkled my nose. "That obvious?"She chuckled softly. "Probably only to me. Bright lights," she warned right before the overhead lights buzzed to blinding life. I winced, slapped a hand over my eyes. "Shit, Tali.""Come on, Chase. I want to get out of this hellhole. I let you sleep as long as I could. But we need to
I was wrong. On so many counts, but so very, very wrong on at least one important fact. The Canadian geese I'd heard weren't even animals. Unless I counted those of the two legged variety. "MS. CHASE! MS. CHASE. OVER HERE!" a woman yelled, a microphone in her hand. A man at her back with a huge camera settled on his shoulder. I think I would have been okay had it only been the one reporter. But I just wasn't that lucky. No. There were at least two dozen of them. I huddled into Ryker's shoulder as he bulldozed his way through the crowd. The police made a small tunnel for us to escape through. But even then the reporters shoved their cameras and microphones in my face. I took an elbow to the temple as one of the rowdy newscasters tried to topple an officer. Ryker's roar of outrage brought everything and everyone to a grinding silent halt. His face was red as he turned on the offending person. He reached out with one hand, caught the man around the neck, and shook him like