From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (24 page)

“Her birthday is the day after tomorrow,” I
said absently. “I had planned on stealing a birthday cake from the
bakery a couple blocks away.”

Ryker squeezed me tighter, perhaps knowing
there was no need for a response. He held me until I fell asleep in
his warm arms—the only place in the world I felt truly safe.

####

When I woke up, it was still dark outside,
and he was gone. The old reaction of feeling abandoned struck me
but no longer controlled me. Ryker wouldn’t leave me. Not unless he
had to. The sureness of my trust in him gave me solid ground to
walk on.

I wandered through the shadowy automotive
repair shop. Looking through the window, the dimness of the sky
told me dawn was coming. We would have to move locations today. We
really shouldn’t be here now, the risk too great of being found.
DMG would start searching a ten-block radius in all directions
where they picked up Croygen and Lexie. It was protocol.

Amara stayed asleep in the truck and Sprig on
the bench. The overdose of sugar would keep him asleep till late
morning.

I continued to walk through the building and
found the Viking holding sentry at a window overlooking the street
at the far end of the building. He peered sideways at me when I
entered the room but turned back to keep guard.

I weaved around frames and car engines,
positioning myself directly behind him. My hand reached out,
roaming over his firm derriere. His back went straight at my touch,
but he didn’t move away.

“I forgot to say something earlier.” My
fingers trailed up, crawling under his shirt, sliding up his back.
His shoulder blades flexed. Without thinking I leaned in, my lips
touching his spine softly. He sucked in sharply as my mouth moved
up his skin, and my tongue traced the lines of his tattoo.

A deep sigh pulled from his lungs, his head
falling forward. “What was that?”

I stepped around in front of him, my hands
finding their way to his abs. My heart thumped in my throat,
forcing me to swallow. “That I’m in love with you too.”

His white eyes stared down at me with
radiating light. The tattoo on his neck flickered. I loved it was
back.

“So damn you, Viking, for making me fall in
love with you. Not that I had any chance. I was pretty much doomed
the moment you tied me to a bathtub faucet.” I grinned
mischievously.

“I knew you liked it that way,” he muttered,
a smirk inching up the side of his mouth.

I reached up, running my fingers softly over
his features. The scars, the lines in his eyebrows, over his lips.
“Whatever is ahead of us, I want to be with you. As long as you
want me.”

He watched me as I traced the light emanating
from his tattoo. His breath sounded clipped, the heat between our
bodies sparking in the cool air.

“Is forever good?” he whispered.

“I guess that will do.” I shrugged, licking
my bottom lip. His eyes locked on my mouth. I stood on my toes to
come closer to his face. “No safe words,” I muttered.

“No safe words.” He grabbed my face, pulling
me to him. His lips met mine and the fire in my belly swelled. His
tongue parted my lips, opening my mouth to fully take him. My
entire body flooded with desire and need. The need to feel him
overwhelmed me. His hands skated up to my ass, pushing me firmer
into him. A low moan filled my throat when I felt him hard against
me.

The day’s situation only increased my urge
for him. You never knew what tomorrow would bring. I might be
harder to kill, but both of us could still die. I wouldn’t waste
the time we had.

Tonight we were
alive
.

He lifted me up, my legs wrapping around him.
His warm mouth devoured mine. Taking our time would have to wait.
The raw passion consumed us, turning our thoughts primal and
desperate. My ass slammed onto the hood of a Chevrolet Chevelle as
he pushed me up. My fingers frantically gripped the bottom of his
shirt. He sucked in air as I ripped it over his head.

My fingers slid over a slash running over his
heart.
I did that.

“Stop, Zoey,” he growled. “I’m fine.”

“But…”

“No. No more guilt or blame.” He shook his
head, ripping my shirt over my head, taking my bra with it. He
tossed them to the side and lay me back on the hood, the icy metal
against my hot skin. He loosened the buttons, lowered the zipper of
my jeans, and then drew them down my legs. The fabric and his
fingers sending trails of desire over my skin. He tossed my boots
across the room, ripping the jeans off me.

I shoved guilt, regret, and anger to the
background as his lips kissed my inner thigh, his beard tickling
me. I sat up, grabbing him. “Foreplay can wait.” I wrapped myself
around him, my hands pushing down his pants, my mouth not wanting
to break from his.

His pants and briefs fell to his ankles,
leaving him naked. I couldn’t help but lean back and take him in. A
blissful sigh escaped my lips. He was unbelievable. Seeing him so
ready for me was the only thing that stopped me looking and pushed
me to act. I reached for him. His hands grabbed the sides of my
underwear, wiggling me out of them. Our mouths crashed back
together. Biting. Sucking. Nipping. Our hands exploring, gripping,
and tearing at each other to get closer.

Nothing stood between us now when I wrapped
my legs back around him. The couple of times we had sex before, I
knew how dedicated he was to pleasing me first, but now was not
that time. And I was glad. I moaned when I felt the tip of him.
Hearing me only made his grip on me tighten. Then he drove in deep,
filling me completely. I sucked in sharply. The unbelievable
pleasure of him sliding inside sent me over.

“Holy fuck,” he whispered hoarsely in my ear
as he pushed in deeper. Then he started moving, his motions raw,
rough, and desperate.

I groaned and arched my back as he laid me
back on the car, the hood creaking in protest at our frantic motion
and weight.

I pulled his ass to me. As he went deeper,
ecstatic sounds vaulted out of me I never knew I could make. He
grabbed my hips, picked me up, sliding deeper into me. He walked us
over to a truck, ramming me against the grill. I laced my fingers
through the grill, holding me in place as he pushed in. We both
became wild and frantic. My climax rumbled in as my body tightened
around him. A roar exited Ryker’s throat, and his fingers dug into
my skin as he released, not relenting till mine followed right
behind. Shattering me.

####

We did not stop. Flipping between slow and
exploring to rough and desperate. We were making up for lost time.
Energy from him, pain and pleasure, continued my need for him. And
he ruthlessly took it and gave it back.

We used every car, bench, back seat, hood,
and table in the room, and we were not quiet or shy. I had been
afraid someone living nearby would call the cops. I had no doubt
Amara could hear us in the other room, but I couldn’t feel bad
enough to stop.

The sun was above the horizon before we
slowed down, and finally exhaustion closed my lids for a moment, my
head laying on his chest.

He lay across the back seat of the four-door
Chevelle, and I sprawled over him, breathing deeply.

“Damn.” He kissed the top of my head.
“That…that was…”

“Insane, hot, incredible.” I slipped my chin
up his chest to look at him.

“Which time?” His eyes glinted, and he
grinned. He cupped my face, pulling me to him, his lips soft, but
the kiss was deep and strong. “I want you naked all the time.” He
moved to my ear. “Straddling, bent over, under, on top, from
behind.”

“We would get nothing done.”

“You call this nothing? I feel extremely
accomplished.” He nipped my earlobe and my breath caught again,
fire shooting through me.

“We have to get out of here. It’s dangerous.
We’ve already stayed way too long.” I sat up, tugging his bottom
lip in my teeth, then straddled him. Hugo had said they would do a
sweep of the area. We should have left hours ago.

“Yeah.” His mouth found my breast. “We should
go now.”

I closed my eyes, taking a breath. “I’m not
kidding.”

“I’m not either.” His lips moved to the other
one.

“Ryker, you need to stop,” I said weakly, my
breath spiking straight to the center of me. “We need to relocate.
Make a plan to get Annabeth, Lexie, and Croygen and to shut down
both Vadik and Rapava.”

“Wow. That sounds like a lot of work.” He
lifted me by the ass and, flipped me flat on my back. He leaned
over me, kissing my stomach. “I think I need to eat something, have
a solid breakfast, before I can do any of those things.” His hands
pushed at my thighs, opening my legs, his mouth trailing down,
kissing, and nipping.

I sucked in sharply, clutching for the door
handle behind my head.

Oh my god...
I was pretty sure I
screamed that several times out loud, but I wasn’t paying attention
to any of the words or noises that erupted from me. I wasn’t even
sure I stayed in this universe.

But reality loomed, waiting for us, knocking
on the car door for us to let it in. Literally. A few minutes after
Ryker made me cry out, I heard a knock against the Chevelle.

“
Bhean?
”

“What do you want, furball?” Ryker sighed,
sitting up.

“I said
Bhean,
not seal clubber.”

“What do you want, Sprig?” I curled up,
leaning my bare chest into Ryker’s shoulder. Our clothes were far
away, scattered across the room.

Being fae, neither Ryker nor Sprig thought
twice about nudity, but I still held a human bashfulness, which
seemed silly since many strangers had seen me naked at DMG when
they ran tests on me for two weeks. But now my shyness wasn’t just
about being undressed; it was why we were naked, and the fact they
probably heard us quite clearly.

“Well, I wanted to let you know Purple
Dumpling is gone.”

Ryker leaned his head back, his hand rubbing
my knee. “Not really surprised.”

I felt a tiny rush of guilt for Amara. “Do
you know when she left?”

“No. I woke up and she wasn’t here,” he
replied. “And what happened to the assprick and
Leanbh
? I
woke up and no one was here. I would have thought you left me, but
then I heard the sound of rutting pigs and—”

“Okay, thanks, Sprig. We’ll be out in a
moment.” I cut him off, laying my temple on the back of the seat,
looking at Ryker. He turned his head, staring back.

“We aren’t especially nice.”

“Don’t think for one moment she wouldn’t have
done the same or worse.”

I felt briefly nauseated at the thought of
Amara naked in the car with Ryker instead of me.

“Don’t.” He tilted forward and kissed me,
then lifted his head, reaching for the door handle. “Come on. Time
to deal with shit.” He opened the door and climbed out, stretching
his arms up to the sky, unabashed. Nor should he be ashamed with
that physique.

I climbed out of the car behind Ryker, Sprig
already gone.

Ryker swung around, wrapping his arms around
me, pulling me to him. “Whatever is ahead, we’ll deal with it. We
will rescue your sister and Annabeth.”

“And Croygen?” I lifted an eyebrow.

“If we have to.”

I smiled, rising on my toes and kissing him.
“Wherever we go, can we be sure it has a shower? I feel extremely
dirty.”

“Just the way I like you.” He grinned. I had
never seen him smile so much. It made my heart patter. “Though you
literally have grease and oil marks all over you. What did you do
to get that one there? Or the tire marks across your stomach?” His
eyebrows shot up in mock wonder.

I smacked his ass and stepped out of his
hold, going for my clothes. He went to grab his discarded jeans in
the corner.

“Where are my boots? Do you see them over
there?” I searched the space for my shoes, finding my bra on a
carburetor.

“Got them,” he responded from the corner,
pulling up his jeans.

We had our night—and morning—in a bubble, and
now it was late morning. But I couldn’t push away the face of my
sister or the tears in Annabeth’s eyes.

The night was long gone, and we needed to
focus on what was really important.

What loomed ahead was frightening and
overwhelming, but there wasn’t a choice.

Lives depended on me.

“Where did all the honey go?” Sprig dug
through the box on the table when I ventured out of the room,
mostly dressed.

“You ate it all.” I ran my fingers through my
hair, knotting it up in a bun. I seriously needed a shower. I knew
I smelled of sweat, sex, and motor oil.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

“There were ten packets left. You never allow
me more than three.”