Ashwood Falls Volume Two (32 page)

He let one side of his mouth lift at the corner. “True, but today is about you.” He nipped at her lip. “Now, do as you’re told.”

She lowered herself back on the bed and rolled to lie on her stomach. Leaving his jeans on for now, he crawled on the bed and sat beside her. Her muscles twitched. “Don’t move.”

She let out a sigh of irritation. Good.

He loved it when she was a little on edge.

Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to the middle of her back. She sucked in a breath but didn’t move. Desire and anticipation rolled over her in a sweet and spicy wave. His dick hardened and pressed painfully against the zipper of his jeans.

He let out a soft groan and licked the spot he’d kissed, drawing a moan from Christa. Moving down her body lightly, he grazed the skin just over her right hip with a fang. She did move then.

She arched her ass up, offering him what he wanted. But he wouldn’t take it, not yet.

He moved his mouth to the curve of one ass cheek and gently bit down. Christa let out a whimper as she squeezed her thighs together.

Smiling in satisfaction, he ran his tongue up her spine to her shoulder, and then he nipped his way to her ear. “You like to be teased.”

“No.” The one word came out on a breath.

“I think you do.”

He took her earlobe between his teeth and gave a gentle tug. “Would you like me to bite you, mark you?”

He felt a shudder ripple through her. “Please.”

“Rise up on your knees,” he whispered.

When she did as he requested, he glided a hand up her side to cup her breast and then rolled the tight nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Christa moved her ass against him, drawing a groan from him. Releasing her breast, he slid his hand down her belly to her pussy. When he dipped his fingers into the slick folds, Christa jerked and let out a small cry of pleasure.

He rubbed her clit in circular motions, slow at first then faster until she came, hard. Her body shuddered against him, pulling the wolf and he closer to the edge. He held her to his chest as he reined in his control.

He was trying to seduce her, pet her, and bring her to orgasm multiple times. There was no doubt that she was his mate. The bond had started, whether she admitted it or not.

Pressing a soft kiss to her shoulder, he bit down gently, not breaking the skin.

She jerked against him then started rubbing her ass against his impossibly hard cock still contained within the damned jeans. He gripped her hips and squeezed. “Don’t move.”

He released her and straightened to unbutton and unzip. His cock sprang free. He fisted the thing and guided it to Christa’s opening. She let out a soft whimper that sounded more like a plea. He smiled.

His mate, so tough and commanding, was enjoying submitting to him. Yet, somehow he knew she’d most likely pay him back later. He looked forward to it.

Bending over her, he kissed the middle of her back just below her shoulder blades. She arched her back and brought up one hand to fist in his hair. Unable to fight what his body craved, he slid into her and she gasped.

Fuck.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and moved in and out in slow, long thrusts. The movements brought him closer to the edge. He didn’t want to come right now. He wanted to make it last, yet his wolf was too close to the surface, nudging him to take her hard and fast.

“Hayden.”

The soft plea from Christa’s lips was too much for him to deny. He picked up the pace, each thrust harder and deeper. His balls tightened, and he felt his fangs extend. Unable to hold off the urge, he struck, biting down on the tender flesh where her shoulder and neck met.

Christa screamed his name, and the walls of her pussy clenched around his cock. They orgasmed together in one violent wave of ecstasy.

Hayden pulled out after the last wave rocked through him, dropped to the bed, and tugged Christa with him. She muttered something incoherent and snuggled into him. A smile tugged at his lips just as his heart opened to this female in his arms.

There was no way he’d ever let her go. He just hoped she didn’t end up breaking him into tiny pieces.

Squeezing her a little tighter, he kissed the top of her head. “Night, mate.”

T
he next morning, Christa entered the medical center. Brenna and Bryce dragged their feet behind her. They didn’t want to do this anymore than she did.

They didn’t want to see their father like this.

Yet, Hayden was right.

Rick was dying, and according to Danica, the leopard Healer, he was thinking clearly. He knew his name, what day it was, and what he’d done to his mate eight years before.

They were halfway across the waiting area when Sasha stepped out of the room that Rick was in with a man Christa hadn’t met. The two of them were talking quietly.

Sasha looked up and saw Christa and the twins and frowned. “Morning. This is Sven.” The wolf Healer motioned to the man next to her. “He’s a Healer from Birchwood. He’s also a geneticist. He’s here to see if he can help Gina.”

Christa held out her hand, but the man didn’t take it. She lowered her hand and glanced at Sasha, who was shaking her head.

Odd.

“Hello, I’m Christa.”

Sven peered into her face but didn’t make eye contract. He gave her a wide smile. “Hello. Don’t mind me. I had some time clear and came over a day early. I’m just here to research and discover.”

Christa couldn’t help but smile. He was just so...odd. His blond hair stood almost on end, and it looked as though he didn’t know what to do with a brush. He had the most unusual silver-green eyes she’d ever seen. And he wore glasses.

Did shifters have to wear glasses? She thought the gene that made them what they were kept their eyes at their peak.

Sasha let out a small laugh, drawing Christa’s attention back to the female Healer. “Rick’s awake and expecting you.”

Christa nodded. “Okay, thanks. It was nice meeting you, Sven.”

He waved as he followed Sasha out the front door while looking at a tablet. Christa peered over at her nephew and niece and mouthed, “He’s a little odd.”

They nodded in unison then darted their gazes to the room their father was in. Christa sighed. Might as well get it over with. She entered the room and instantly felt sick. It wasn’t out of disgust. No, it was the pain and anger she’d carried so long, the need for vengeance that she’d sworn to take for her parents, her beloved sister, and the twins she’d protected.

There was also sadness and a sense of fatigue. The mixture of emotions was exhausting. They sat in the pit of her stomach like a rock, refusing to go away.

Yet, as she stood in the hospital room, face-to-face with the very monster responsible for taking Mary away, she couldn’t stop the hint of pity that rose up.

Rick looked worse than he had at Hunter Ridge. A lot worse.

The brown fur that covered his body had started to fall out, exposing his paper-white skin. His skin was so thin she could see the bone beneath.

Rick watched them as they entered and stopped a few feet from the bed. He moved his gaze over Brenna and Bryce. Christa swore she saw a small tear roll out from the corner of one eye. He moved his gaze to hers and opened his mouth to speak, but coughed instead.

Why was she doing this? Why the hell had she dragged the twins here?

This wasn’t Rick.

He reached out to her, and she involuntarily stepped back. Cursing herself, she forced herself to remain still and not run out the door.

“Thank you...for coming.”

She remained silent, and it was Bryce who asked the question she’d rolled round in her mind for the past eight years. “Why did you do it?”

Rick flicked his gaze to Bryce then back to Christa. “There was a male who approached me on my walk home from work about two days before...”

He cut himself off as if he was unable to say what he had done. Christa took a step forward then another. “What did the male look like?”

Rick shook his head. “It’s not clear. Dark hair. He was a leopard.” He started to shake his head, and tears rolled down his cheek. “I’m not even sure what happened. I just remember not feeling well the next day. There were headaches. I became so angry.”

He held her stare as he said the next statement. “The following day bloodlust hit me so hard I couldn’t control my wolf. Mary was home. She...Oh God.”

His body started jerking, and he grabbed his throat as if fighting for air. Brenna screamed, “Dad!”

Bryce grabbed his sister to keep her in place. A moment later Danica ran into the room. Without touching him, she placed a hand above his heart. Another moment later, Rick stopped moving, his whole body going limp.

Danica peered up at Christa and shook her head, her lips pressed into a frown.

Christa reached out to Brenna and pulled her into a tight hug. Brenna hiccupped. Christa kissed her temple and ran a hand through her hair. Bryce came to them, eyes shiny with unshed tears. He gently took Brenna from Christa and walked her outside.

Danica pulled the sheet up Rick’s chest to his chin. “For what it’s worth, the mutant virus takes over the mind, clouds it in a way they can’t comprehend what’s going on around them. I’ll talk to the Alphas about having a burial ceremony.”

Christa nodded. “The kids would like that. Thank you.” She turned and walked out.

****

H
ayden cursed for the third time since he came to the security room on the third floor of the office building. His brother, Dane, had finished searching through the two laptops they’d taken from the Onyx den a couple of weeks ago during a raid to flush out Felix.

On the surface, the computers appeared to be decoys. However, Dane and Alec—Blaine’s younger brother and new Marshal of Ashwood—had discovered the computers had been wiped.

How the two computer geeks knew that was beyond Hayden. He was just glad they did.

Dane found several encrypted files hidden somewhere in the hard drive. After about a week of fucking with the thing, Dane finally broke the codes. The information he uncovered confirmed Christa’s allegations that Ashwood was on their radar and their next target.

“Shit,” Alec whispered from his desk across the room.

Hayden whirled around. “What now?”

He picked up a tiny black square in the air for them to see. Dane jumped up and rushed over. “Fuck.”

He took what looked like a piece of the hard drive and met Hayden’s gaze. Damn it. This was not good.

Dane set the thing on the table, grabbed a hammer from the worktable next to them, and smashed the thing.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Dane ran back to his desk and started taking the laptop he was working on apart. Hayden was growing impatient. “Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Alec stopped at the door and sent Hayden a murderous glare. “That piece of plastic was a GPS tracker, and it was activated when we started hacking into the systems. We have to evacuate the den. Now.”

Bile churned in Hayden’s stomach. The whole damn thing had been a setup to locate the damn den.

Fuck
!

Hayden left with Alec, both of them mind-linking with Blaine and Luna and the enforcers and sentries. The ability to communicate with each other through telepathic means was the product of Keegan—the former Alpha of Ashwood who was a telepath. Their blood link to him allowed them all to use the ability as a form of communication.

“MoonRiver is ready. Keegan and Luna inspected the den last week,” Hayden said as ran down the stairs to the ground floor.

Although his former den wasn’t livable long-term due most of the buildings lay in ruins, it still had electricity, running water, and several safe houses hidden in the mountain at the west end. The safe houses were built several years after MoonRiver and Ashwood merged with the idea that the wolf den would be used for evacuations if they ever needed it.

Today Hayden was grateful for Keegan and Luna’s backup plan.

“Good. What about supplies?”

“There are enough for a few days.”

Alec cursed. “It’ll have to do.”

Once on the sidewalk, Hayden wasn’t surprised to see Alec head straight for the nursery. The male was seeking out the head den mother, Rhea, and his potential mate.

Hayden didn’t blame him. Hell, his own thoughts were filled with Christa and the twins. He pulled out his phone just as he saw Christa come out of the medical center. She frowned and walked toward him. “What’s going on?”

“Onyx has a confirmed lock on the inside of the den.”

“What? I thought they didn’t know where you were.”

“They’ve always known where Ashwood territory was but not the location of den within the property.” Hayden said as he moved down the sidewalk with long strides that forced Christa to jog to keep up.

“They’ve sent scouts out many times and mutants have breached the wards a number of times over the years, but none of them had lived to go back to tell Felix the exact location.”

Christa let out that human-like growl he heard her use a couple of times over the past couple of days. “How?”

“We raided the Onyx den a couple of months ago only to find out it was a trap and rigged to blow. A couple of sentries were able to grab two laptops.”

He could see Christa shake her head as she walked beside him. “Let me guess, they had trackers on them.”

This time Hayden growled. “Yes.”

He stopped and gripped her arm gently. “Christa, go get the twins and go to the nursery. Alec is there with a team to take the kids and submissives to a safe location.”

She gave a short nod and turned around. His heart ached to see her go, but he had to make sure she was safe. He didn’t need to worry about his human mate he hadn’t bonded with yet.

When he reached his mother’s apartment, she met him outside in full battle mode. Her long red hair was braided down her back, and her claws were out. A wild hunger lit up her eyes. If she wasn’t his mother, he’d think she was a rogue just by how close her wolf was to the surface.

Torin along with three sentries were by her side. Hayden acknowledged them with a nod before speaking to his mother. “Alec is with Rhea and the kids.”