Air Ryder (Harper's Mountains Book 3) (14 page)

God, she didn’t want to die, but it was coming either way. Knife out, she took another step back, and her heel brushed the ledge. The wind whipped against her bare back, as if Mother Nature was trying to keep her upright.

“No blood for you,” she said in a shaky voice. “You lose.”

As the gray wolf leapt at her, his eyes deranged, his lips curled back to expose all those razor sharp teeth, Lexi launched herself backward off the ledge.

At least she was taking one of them her.

Just as she fell and the ledge promised to hide her view of the chaos, something massive and black barreled down from the sky and blasted into the gray wolf an instant before the animal hit her in the chest. Her attacker was knocked sideways and away from her, his mouth open and shocked as a high-pitched cry screeched from his throat.

Wait, wait, wait, was that Wes?

If Wes was here, then…

“Ryder!” she screamed when she caught a glimpse of the snowy owl above her, his enormous wingspan blocking out the moon.

He pulled his wings to his sides and dove for her, but she was falling too fast. She struggled against the destiny that was coming for her. Struggled against her death. She could see him so clearly, every feather on his face whipping in the wind, every black speck that decorated his snow white feathers. His gold eyes were like two glowing suns in his face as he tucked his wings tighter against his body.

Seven seconds. That’s all she had, and it was almost up.

Tears burned her eyes, but she had to be strong because he wasn’t going to reach her. She hoped he would pull up in time and save himself. He should hear what was in her heart before he lost her. He should see she accepted her fate so it would be easier on him.

“Ryder,” she choked out as the wind in the trees below kicked up. “I love you.”

And then she squeezed her eyes closed and braced herself for the pain.

And it…was…
horrible
. But not the pain she expected. Her arm felt like it was ripped from its socket and shredded by razors. She screamed at the dizzying, excruciating pain as she was jerked in a different direction. Ryder had one of her arms but his grip was off and his long, curved talons had raked up her forearm with the force of his desperate pull.

The outsides of her vision collapsed inward as sparks flew this way and that. She couldn’t breathe. It was as if the oxygen had been sucked from her lungs, and now something massive sat on her chest.

She tried to focus on the stars to keep from passing out, but something had blocked the sky, and everything was dark. An earth-shattering roar shook the mountains, but Lexi still couldn’t force a single molecule of air into her lungs, and the pressure and pain were too great.

Fire streaked across the cliff, illuminating the fearsome face of a beastly dragon, and blistering heat blasted against Lexi’s skin.

And then everything went dark.

Lexi rolled over in her sleep, but flinched away from the slashing pain in her arm. She bolted upright, clutching it across her chest, as if that would stop the burning.

Heart pounding, she looked around the dim room, lit only by the soft glow of the bathroom. She was in ten-ten, and her arm was wrapped up like a mummy limb.

Harper was sitting next to her on the bed with her knees drawn up to her chest and a hollow look on her face. And in that moment, everything came crashing back down on Lexi. The terror, the exhaustion, the feeling that she would never see Ryder again, and then the pain. So much pain.

“Where’s Ryder?” she asked, wanting desperately for him to hold her and tell her everything was all right.

Harper shook her head sadly and whispered, “I don’t know. Wes went to look for him.”

Lexi’s mouth went dry as a desert, and she looked down at her bandaged arm. “Is it bad?”

Harper bit her lip hard, then nodded. “Yeah. You’ll be scarred. Weston was raised a Gray Back. He can put anyone back together, but Ryder had to really dig in to pull you up. Wes saved the use of your hand, but…”

“But it looks bad. It’s okay. It’s okay,” Lexi chanted, bobbing her head. “At least I’m alive.” Nothing in her wanted to look at her arm or the stitches she could feel pulling at her skin. It still felt like someone had dipped her arm in gunpowder and lit a match, but pain was good. It meant she was still breathing, still here.

“Alana, Aaron, and Wyatt just left. I told them to go get some shut-eye. I thought you would sleep until morning, but I wanted to stay just in case.”

Lexi offered her a tremulous smile and settled against the mattress. “What happened, Harper?”

The Bloodrunner alpha picked at a loose thread on the comforter. “Axton and the Valdoro pack made threats when I was trying to settle these mountains. They wanted the land, but the previous owner chose to sell to me. Axton said the vamps would finish us off, but they didn’t. We chased the Asheville Coven out of the area a few months back, and I guess the pack’s need for revenge flared up again. They targeted Ryder.”

“It felt like he targeted me.”

“Same thing,” Harper murmured. “If you had…” Harper swallowed hard. “If the Valdoro pack ended your life, it would’ve destroyed Ryder. And Ryder’s pain would’ve echoed through the crew bond and maimed us one by one until we were all sick and ruined. And they didn’t just go after you tonight, Lexi. While you were running for your life, Ryder’s dad showed up at Drat’s, and he just…destroyed Ryder.”

Lexi sat up straight. “Oh my gosh, what?”

“Axton apparently paid Robbie to keep Ryder distracted while the wolves took care of you.”

“What did he say to him?”

“I think that’s something Ryder will have to talk to you about. Wes told me part of it, but I had to stop him. Doesn’t feel right taking part of Ryder like that without his permission. He’s been hiding a lot of pain for a long time.”

“Is he okay?”

Harper cast her a quick glance, her blue dragon eye glowing much brighter than her human brown eye. Slowly, she shook her head. “He saw
the
ghost of his past—the one that’s haunted him his whole life. He looked in the face of the devil himself as Robbie told him awful things and admitted to being paid to betray him. To hurt him. To hurt you. And then Ryder watched you fall, Lexi. I’ll never forget the look on Ryder’s face as he watched Wes stitch up your arm where he’d hurt you. He needs time.”

She understood, really she did, but it didn’t stop the bone-deep desperation to be near him and let him know he wasn’t alone.

“What happened to the wolves?” Lexi asked, trying to distract herself from the ripping sensation in her heart.

“Axton and four of his wolves got away.”

“And the others?”

Harper’s voice went hard as stone when she answered. “I burned them to nothing and devoured their ashes.”

Lexi’s heart thumped against her sternum as she remembered how terrifying Harper’s roaring, fire-breathing dragon was when she’d come to help save her. She was just now realizing how dangerous the steady-voiced woman beside her really was.

Harper leveled her oddly-colored gaze on Lexi and promised, “I’ll do the same to anyone who ever tries to hurt you again, okay?”

Lexi nodded and whispered, “Okay.” Dangerous though she may be, the Bloodrunner Dragon was loyal to her people, and with that last oath, Harper had just declared Lexi a part of her crew and under her protection.

Lexi settled back beside Harper and rested her temple on the Bloodrunner Dragon’s shoulder. “Thanks, alpha.”

Harper set her cheek gently on top of Lexi’s head and huffed a shallow sigh. “Anytime.”

The sun peeked over the mountains, casting the horizon in bright orange. Ryder rubbed his hand over and over his three-day beard and thought of Fishing Mornings. Fishing Mornings were when Bash, Clinton, and Mason would take him out to Bear Trap Falls near the trailer park, and they would all watch the sun come up while they waited for fish to bite.

He’d had it good. Not only did he grow up under Mason, but under the other Boarlanders as well. Robbie had shadowed a corner of his heart for way too damn long.

A limb snapped, and Ryder looked back over his shoulder to see Weston making his way up the trail. “How did you find me?” he croaked out in a sleep-deprived voice.

“Your spot ain’t as secret as you think.” His blood brother sat down on the log beside him, his camouflage baseball cap shielding his eyes from the early morning sunlight. “Did you get any sleep?”

“No. My mind has been going around and around all night. Wondering what if I hadn’t gotten to her, you know? I can’t get the fear in her eyes out of my mind. You know what she said at the end, right before she was gonna hit the ground?”

“What?”

“She told me she loved me, like she was already forgiving me. Like she was making sure I would know she wasn’t mad for not being able to save her.”

Wes nodded for a long time, and then carefully he said, “Have you been thinking about what your dad said?”

“You mean about why he gave up his rights? About how he wanted to torture my owl from me? Fuck, we should’ve let Kane have his dumb ass. Pisses me off.”

“Just pisses you off?”

Ryder inhaled deeply. He could tell Wes was worried. Could sense it. Could practically smell it on his skin, but this wasn’t the part when he spiraled. “I got closure yesterday.”

Wes jerked his dark gaze to Ryder. “Yeah?”

Ryder made a single ticking sound and picked a long blade of wild grass, began shredding it into small pieces. “It’s different when you see evil when you’re an adult. When I was a kid, I was supposed to listen to him. I was supposed to believe him because he was the adult and I was the child. He had me good and convinced he was a shitty person because I wasn’t a good enough son. That stuck with me. Just dug into my brain and sat there like a parasite this whole time. But yesterday, I saw him for what he is.”

“A steaming pile of shit?”

Ryder huffed a laugh and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Can I tell you something?” Wes asked.

“Anything, brother.”

“That bullshit your dad said about you being like him? He’s dead wrong. You have this immovable loyalty to the people you care about. It drove me nuts when we came back here and you just accepted Wyatt, accepted his apology just like that.” Wes snapped. “But it’s also been something I’ve always admired about you. Once a person makes friends with Air Ryder Croy, they’re under your wing for life. You don’t give up on people, man. You know who you remind me of?”

Ryder smiled because he thought he already knew the answer. “Who?”

“Mason. You are nothing like that soulless asshole, Ryder. You never were. He couldn’t even keep one woman happy his whole life. That ain’t your destiny.”

Ryder frowned at the stark honesty in Weston’s tone. “What do you mean?”

“I mean Lexi is your mate. She always was.”

“You’ve seen her for me?” Hope and confusion swirled around in Ryder’s chest as he sat up straighter and stared at his best friend.

“I lied when I told you I stopped having visions. I had a dream about her the night before you met her in that coffee shop.”

Ryder’s hands were shaking, so he clamped them together to make it look like he was holding his shit together. “What was the dream?”

“It scared me at first. It was zoomed in on you, sitting in the rocking chair in front of ten-ten, clutching your stomach like you’d been shot. You were lookin’ down at your hands, and I could see a tear fall. Just one. I thought you were dying, but then you opened up your hands and you were holding this little baby owl. Little gray and white fluff ball with gold eyes just like yours.” Wes sniffed and said, “You looked up at me, and you smiled. I mean the real kind, not the one you use to hide your hurt. The
happy
kind. And when I looked down, Lexi was sitting on the ground between your legs, resting her cheek on your thigh, looking up at you like you hung the moon and all the stars.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ryder croaked, ducking his gaze so Wes wouldn’t see how choked up he was.

“Because I tried to change Alana’s fate, and I missed. And thank God, because if I would’ve succeeded, she and Aaron wouldn’t be bonded like they are. They wouldn’t be getting married. She wouldn’t be a Bloodrunner. Wyatt told me once that it wasn’t my job to change the future, and he’s right. And you were doing so fucking good. You bonded Lexi to you just fine on your own. You didn’t need my prophesy, Ryder.”

“You think it’s a real bond?”

Wes bellowed a single laugh that echoed across the mountains. “Ryder, anyone with eyes can see it’s the real bond. You both light up when you’re around each other.” He rocked away, pulled something from his back pocket, and handed it to Ryder. “Here.” A pocket knife rested on his open palm. The polished woodgrain shone in the sunlight. Etched neatly into it was
R + L
. “My dad taught me how to make these when I was a kid, and when I was ten, he told me that someday, I would make one for you.”

“R plus L. Ryder and Lexi?” Ryder asked, taking the gift carefully.

Weston gripped his shoulder and shook him slowly. “Now I know what my dad meant. You’ll need this.” With a slight smile, Wes ruffled his hair and stood, then sauntered back down the trail without another word.

Just as he disappeared completely, another face appeared, looking worried and uncertain. Lexi.

Of course she would find him. She knew him, heart and soul.

She didn’t say anything as she approached slowly. Only stepped over the log and stood in front of him, her pretty green eyes worried as she cupped his cheeks. Her arm was still bandaged, and he winced away from the sight of the thin crimson line that had seeped through. He’d done that—hurt his mate.

Lexi slipped her arms around his neck and held him until his body relaxed completely against hers.

“Will you tell me now?” she murmured.

And he did. He unloaded all his secret memories onto her, and she was strong. She didn’t flinch, gasp, or cry—not until the end. She stood there, rocking him gently as he told her about the abuse and the shame that his dad made him feel about his inner animal. He told her about his struggles to cope as he was growing up, and about the hole he’d always felt in his middle. The one he hadn’t figured out how to fill up yet. He told her about the guilt he’d shouldered all these years for letting Robbie’s actions hurt him, while Mason was working so hard to make him feel loved. He told her about yesterday, and about the genetic cleansing Robbie had tried to do.

And when he was finished, he felt so much better.

It wasn’t his burden to bear alone anymore. Lexi had come in and offered to shoulder half and, God, his soul was better for it.

“I’m sorry about your arm,” he whispered.

“I looked at it,” she squeaked out. “Harper said I should so I didn’t imagine the worst.”

“And?”

She huffed an emotional laugh and eased back, showed him the emerald green in her pretty eyes. They were rimmed with tears. “At first, I was so sad because it’s not something I’ll ever be able to hide. Not even in my chef uniform. But…” She ran a knuckle over his jaw, feeling his scruff there. “I thought about something.”

“What?”

She swallowed hard, pulled the collar of his shirt aside, and brushed a light touch over the scar Mason made all those years ago. “I know you don’t bite to claim a mate, but you let Mason cut you to show that you were his family.”

Ryder kissed her palm hard, let his lips linger there because he could see where this was going and it made him love her even more.

“So if it’s okay…this?” she said, holding up her bandaged arm. “This is my claiming mark from you. You gave it to me saving my life. I know you would’ve gone right to the ground with me. I saw it in your eyes. You weren’t going to give up on me no matter what.” Her face crumpled, and tears streaked down her cheeks. “So if you say it’s okay, I’m gonna love these scars because they mean I’m yours.”

Fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. He was going to lose it. Ryder swallowed over and over, trying to get ahold of himself. And now the knife he was clutching in his hand made all the damn sense in the world. Wes had known.

Ryder flipped open the blade and handed it to her, hilt first. She frowned down at it, but as he pulled his shirt off, realization washed through her eyes. Cheeks rosy from crying, lips parted in question, long dark hair in waves down her shoulders, her body framed by the sunrise behind her, his mate had never looked more beautiful.

Hand steady, Lexi rested the blade under the mark Mason had made all those years ago. Carefully, she cut into his skin and dragged the blade all the way to the end of his collarbone, like she wanted the scar to be obvious. Like she wanted it to count. Good mate.

Warmth trickled down his chest, and it stung something fierce, but damn, it felt good to be claimed by her.

Lexi wiped the stained knife on her jeans and then closed it carefully. She sat in Ryder’s lap and rested her cheek against his, watching a sunrise he would never forget for as long as he lived.

He wouldn’t tell his mate about Weston’s prophecy. He wouldn’t tell her about their future child, or how fucking happy he was going to make her.

Wes was right. Ryder didn’t need prophecies.

He just needed Lexi.

Lexi had been working her magic from the first moment he saw her. She’d been slowly patching the hole in his heart, and now he didn’t feel the void at all. Fuck Robbie and everything he’d done. Ryder was the luckiest sonofabitch on the planet to have landed a dad like Mason, the mom he had, the crew he’d grown up in, and the crew he had now.

He was the luckiest to have found a woman who loved all of him, the good and the bad.

Lexi had asked him once for something real, for a feather.

He leaned in and sipped her lips just to remind her he loved her.

Lexi—his beautiful, sweet, driven, loyal Lexi—had earned every real piece of him.