Savage Urges (12 page)

Makenna Wray would never be free of him.

CHAPTER TEN

S
taring at herself in the bathroom mirror the next morning, Makenna sighed.
Hell
. She was covered in brands that pretty much broadcasted “Ryan has been here.” There were little bites on her neck, shoulders, and breasts. There were claw marks on her hips, stomach, and upper arms. And there were fingerprint bruises on her hips, ass, and thighs.

She wished she could say they pissed her off. They didn’t. Nor did the fact that she was sore and tired. She felt taken, sated, and very well fucked.

She
had
been well fucked. Ryan had taken her in the shower, on the floor of the bathroom, and from behind as she braced herself against the wall. Then—while she’d been limp as a noodle—he’d bathed her, ate her out, and put her to bed. In the middle of the night, she’d woken to feel him fucking her slow and hard.

Their first time had been so wild and frantic that she’d missed what the next few rounds with Ryan had shown her—the guy had a big thing for control. Not to the extent that he expected her to be submissive. No, he
liked
that she was defiant. He even liked that she made her own demands . . . he just ignored them.

Hell, the night itself had branded her.

Her wolf liked wearing his marks, liked that he’d felt the need to display such possessiveness. What she
hadn’t
liked was the amount of scars on his body.

It hadn’t been until they showered together that Makenna saw them. They weren’t battle scars. No. The scars, lesions, and burns told her that he’d been subjected to horrific torture. And she fucking hated that. Her wolf had lunged to the surface with a growl, making Makenna’s eyes turn wolf. Ryan had kissed and licked her neck, soothing the animal and calming her. Makenna had wanted to ask about them, but it didn’t seem right to do it while he had three fingers buried in her. There was a time and a place for conversations like that. It was—

A flicker of movement in her peripheral vision alerted her that she wasn’t alone. Ryan was in the doorway, staring at her, eyes inscrutable as always. Naked, he was a sight to behold with all those sleek, hard muscles and a set of fantastic abs. She met his gaze through the mirror. “You do realize I look like the victim of an assault, right?”

Moving to stand behind her, Ryan cupped her hips possessively, eyes roaming over her brands. “I don’t think my back looks much better than your front.”

Recalling the amount of times she’d clawed him, she’d have to agree with that. She’d also bitten his shoulder a few times. “We need to learn some self-control.”

Ryan usually had that in abundance. He was rough during sex—it was the way he liked it. But he never lost control. Except with Makenna. “You need another bath.”

Makenna made a show of sniffing her armpit. “I don’t smell that bad.”

He ignored that. “Even though you had one last night, you still have to be sore.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t mind.” It was a reminder that he’d been there, a reminder of their night of endless hot sex.

“You should still have one.”

His gruff voice made her smile. He was trying to take care of her. “I need to eat first.” As if to express its agreement, her stomach rumbled.

“Then we eat.”

Despite how hungry she was, Makenna wasn’t at all looking forward to breakfast. The Phoenix wolves were bound to say something about the brands, since her T-shirt wasn’t going to cover all of them. Not one to procrastinate, however, she got washed and dressed.

On the way to the kitchen, they knocked on Zac’s door. A grumpy, sleepy voice called out, “Go away.”

“Zac isn’t a morning person,” Makenna warned Ryan as she picked Zac’s lock with a hairclip. Swinging the door open, she shouted, “I hope you’re not naked, kid, because I’m coming in.”

“Ah, Makenna, it’s early,” he slurred. They found him in bed, curled up under the quilt. Makenna opened his curtains, and Zac shrunk away from the daylight like he was a vampire. Dragging the covers over his head, he whined something incomprehensible.

“If you don’t get up, you’ll miss breakfast.”

“Grace goes all out,” added Ryan. “There’ll be bacon, eggs, toast, biscuits and gravy—”

Zac shot up in bed and peeked at them out of one eye. “Biscuits and gravy?”

Ryan nodded. “But Marcus is here. He never stops eating, and he loves biscuits and gravy. If you don’t hurry, there’ll be none left.”

It was almost comical when everyone did a double take at the brands on Makenna’s neck and upper arms when they walked into the kitchen ten minutes later. If their shock was anything to go by, Ryan hadn’t been lying when he said he wasn’t usually the possessive type. Zac hadn’t seemed that surprised by the brands; he’d merely smirked.

The Phoenix wolves recovered quickly enough from their shock, greeting Zac warmly and behaving fairly amicably toward Makenna. As they took their seats, no one made any teasing comments about Ryan’s display of possessiveness, although it looked as if Trick was eager to say something. Maybe he was holding back because Zac was present—she wasn’t sure. In any case, it meant that the meal wasn’t the uncomfortable affair she’d expected. Until Greta spoke.

“How could you, Ryan?” The old woman slammed her mug on the table. “What were you thinking, branding a loner?
Her
I expect this behavior from, considering why her pack banished her. But you . . . I raised you better than this.”

Looking at her blankly, Ryan grunted.

Jaime whispered to Makenna, “What did he say?”

Just as quietly, she replied, “He thinks she has way too much time on her hands.”

Jaime snickered into her coffee mug. “She does.”

“Whispering again?” griped Greta with a sneer.

Makenna nodded. “Try it sometime.” She jumped as Dominic started choking on his toast. Trey seemed to take delight in thumping him on the back. These people were strange.

After breakfast, many of the pack accompanied Makenna, Zac, and Ryan to the parking lot. While they made a fuss of Zac and said their good-byes, Taryn linked her arm through Makenna’s and said, “Walk with me a little.”

Makenna dug her heels in after three steps. “Um, I’d rather not.”

Taryn laughed. “I sure do like that you’re direct.”

“I know exactly what you’d like to say: that you’ve noticed all the brands, that you can see something’s going on between me and Ryan, and that you’ll come after me with a pitchfork if I hurt him.”

Taryn pursed her lips. “I wouldn’t have chosen a pitchfork.”

“The thing is . . . I would have had to then respond that what goes on between Ryan and me is our business, that you shouldn’t think I’m an easy target, and that if you come at me you should do it with everything you have because I won’t submit. So I guess it’s a good thing that this is just a hypothetical conversation.”

A smile slowly spread across Taryn’s face. “I can see why Ryan likes you. And I think you’ll be good for him. So, yes, I am going to ask you not to hurt him. But I’m also going to ask you to be patient with him, because he could easily hurt you even though he won’t mean to.” She seemed to struggle for the words to explain. “He hasn’t been involved in any serious relationships. The females he’s had fun with all said the same thing—he’s emotionally stunted, he doesn’t feel anything, which isn’t true. Ryan just doesn’t share what he feels.

“I assume you saw his scars, so you can guess what happened to him. He’s never once spoken of it. I wasn’t part of the pack at the time, but I was told that when he came back, he was a physical mess and had to be in absolute agony . . . but to look in his eyes, you would never have known it.”

Makenna could believe that. Ryan was a closed book.

“From what I heard, Ryan was always quiet and self-contained. But after that he became harder, withdrew even further. That was why everybody was so shocked yesterday when he argued with you,” continued Taryn. “That kind of emotional engagement isn’t normal for him. He likes you a lot more than any of us suspected. He might look like a guy who’s too tough to hurt, but I don’t believe that’s true. He’s vulnerable in his own way. So I’m asking you to be careful with him, and to not be upset if he doesn’t give you pretty words.”

Her wolf bristled at the warning, not liking another female interfering in such a way. But Makenna was glad that his pack mates were so protective of him. That was how it should be. He was a good guy. He deserved that protection.

Said guy then approached, glancing from her to Taryn. “Ready to go?”

“Yep.” Makenna gave Taryn a short nod. “See ya.”

When Ryan drove out of the lot with Makenna in the backseat and Zac riding shotgun, he asked her, “What was that about?”

Makenna smiled. “Are you always so nosy?”

His hands clenched around the steering wheel. “You’re answering a question with a question again.”

“Am I?”

Ryan ground his teeth so hard it was audible, which made Zac laugh. The teenager seemed to find genuine joy in watching Ryan and Makenna spar. Ryan had to admit that he sometimes found their sparring sort of invigorating.

As Ryan finally pulled up outside the shelter, Zac grinned. “I had an awesome time. Your territory is seriously cool.” A pause. “Dominic said I could go again tomorrow.”

“It’s your home, you can come whenever you want.” Was the kid not getting that?

Zac’s eyes clouded. “I could just bring trouble to your door.”

“We already talked about that.”

Makenna leaned forward and placed a hand on the juvenile’s shoulder. “Zac, if your old pack comes looking for you and causes any trouble, it won’t be
your
fault. No one would blame you. Every Phoenix wolf will do whatever they can to protect you whether you’re living at the shelter or not. Staying here won’t save them, if that’s what you’re trying to do.”

Ryan wanted to kick himself.
Of course
that was what Zac was doing. Ryan would have done the same. “Take tonight to think about it. I’ll be here at nine in the morning. If all you want is to spend the day there, I’ll return you here later.”

“I’ll think about it. See you in the morning.” Zac opened the car door. “Later, Makenna.”

Watching him run to the shelter’s entrance, Makenna said, “I think he’ll say yes.”

Ryan looked around. “Where’s your car?”

“Getting an oil change.”

“I’ll take you home.” She rattled off her address, but Ryan already knew it from conversations he’d had with Zac. “What were you and Taryn talking about?” he asked as he headed to her apartment.

“She wasn’t confronting me, if that’s what you’re worried about. She asked me, in the nicest possible way, not to hurt you. It’s a good thing that your pack’s protective of each other.”

“They’re good people.”

Makenna nodded. “From what I’ve seen, yes, they are.” She didn’t much like Greta, but she appreciated that the woman was protective of Ryan.

“They’re also smart. They’ll guess that we’re mates. We should just tell them.”

“Ryan—”

“You said yourself that Zac will probably agree to join tomorrow. We don’t have any other reason to keep quiet about it.”

“You mean apart from the fact that you could be wrong?”

“I’m not wrong.”

She twisted slightly in her seat to better look at him. “How can you be so positive? I mean, I agree that us being mates would explain a lot of things. But how can you be so sure when there’s no mating bond pulling at you?”

“I just am. But if you need to feel the bond to believe it, you need to clear the frequency.”

You need to share your secrets and fears,
he didn’t say but she clearly heard. He was right, and that put her on the defensive. “I don’t ask you to share all your shit. Whenever the topic of your parents is brought up in even the most casual sense, you change the subject. I’ve never called you on it.”

She was right, Ryan realized. He did do that. But it was more out of habit than anything else.

“And have I asked about your scars, even though the sight of them makes me want to fucking kill somebody? No. I respect that you might not want to talk about painful things in your past.”

Given the soft heart beneath all that armor, he’d expected compassion or pity—both of which would have cut him deeper than any of the implements used on him. But no. She was absolutely enraged. It made him want to smile. “It was a long time ago.”

“That’s not the fucking point. No one had the right to hurt you like that.
No one
. Tell me the fuckers are dead.”

“Every single one of them,” he verified.

“Good.” Her wolf strongly agreed.

“You have a bloodthirsty streak, don’t you, Kenna?”

“My name is
Makenna
.”

“No, that’s the name you hide behind. You’ve created an alternate identity, so your past, your pain, and your secrets can’t touch you. But it doesn’t mean they’re not there.”

She shook her head. “You think you know me, but you don’t have a fucking clue.”

Parking outside her apartment building, he switched off the engine. “Don’t I?”

“No.”

“Then stop holding it all in.”

“You know all you need to know.”