Authors: Rhyannon Byrd
Riley was still locked into Pasha when Hope gave a jolt of surprise, a sharp cry breaking from her beautiful mouth as she stared over his shoulder, and he realized that Gregory must have regained consciousness. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to break free of the dying Casus in time, leaving him wide open for Gregory’s attack, a deep, piercing ache of regret poured through him at the loss of what could have been. The future he’d always wanted. The woman he’d always loved.
He opened his mouth, ready to finally shout out the words that he’d never allowed himself to say to her before, when she shoved her bound wrists into the bag draped across her body and pulled out the gun he’d given her before she’d left with Kellan. In the next instant, Pasha’s burning body suddenly disintegrated in a violent explosion that sent Riley sliding over the rain-soaked ground, just as the blast of the gun rang out through the night. Hope had fired, the bullet slamming into Gregory’s chest. The Casus’s arms flew wide, and he lowered his muzzled head, staring down at the bright bloom of crimson that spread over his gray-skinned chest. When Hope hit him again, in the shoulder this time, his head shot up and he stumbled back, an outraged roar ripping from his chest as he plunged backward over the edge of the cliff…
And disappeared into the darkness.
S
HAKING HIS HEAD
, still unable to believe what had just happened, Riley took the velvet cord attached to the Marker and looped it over his head, then pushed himself to his feet and looked back toward Hope. They stared across the moonlit clearing, her beautiful gaze slowly touching upon the Merrick’s face without a trace of fear. The rain finally mellowed to a soft, lazy drizzle as he began moving toward her. With the Merrick pulling back inside him, Riley fell to his knees in front of her and went to work on the ties that bound her wrists. Drawing in a deep breath of her sweet, mouthwatering scent, he thought about how fate worked in such strange, wonderful ways. It had been his belief that he’d lost her that had almost driven him into that dark, desolate hell he’d always believed was waiting for him. And yet it was the faith…the
hope
that she’d given him for the future, that had helped him make his way back to the light, crawling out of the pit and rediscovering his soul.
The instant her hands were free, Riley lifted her shirt and touched his mouth to the cool skin of her belly, before pressing a tender kiss against the thickest of her scars, finally able to face the pain of her past. Finally able to trust himself in a way that he hadn’t been able to do in years. He had a second chance at life, and he wasn’t going to waste it. He was going to do everything he could to show her how he’d changed. How precious she was to him. How crazy mad in love he was with her. With every perfect, beautiful inch of her.
“Riley, we’re not alone,” she gasped, trying to pull her
shirt down as he continued to kiss her scars, while Shrader snuffled a low rumble of laughter under his breath.
Staring up at her beautiful face, he said, “I sucked it up, took the blow, and walked away from you once. No way in hell am I doing it again. Whatever it takes, I’ll keep you safe. Make you happy. Just tell me that you’ll forgive me, Hope. Tell me that you’ll give me another chance, and I promise that you’ll never regret it.”
She whispered his name, looking awed by his words while his fingers bit into her hips, his voice a husky, desperate scrape of sound as he said, “Even if you don’t love me yet, you can…you can keep using me for sex. I don’t care. Just don’t leave me.”
More muffled snorts came from behind her, where Shrader stood, and she tried to put her hand over his mouth. “Honestly, Riley,” she whispered. “We’re not alone!”
Moving to his feet, he cupped her face in his hands. “Damn it, Hope, I don’t give a crap what Shrader hears. I just…I need to tell you that I love you. God, I’ve been in love with you for half my life. And I’m going to love you till the day I die.”
Her chin trembled, and he watched as her mouth bloomed into a precious, breathtaking smile. “You never told me.”
“I know,” he rasped. “And I know that I’ve been such an ass, Hope, but I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life worshipping you, proving to you every minute of every day how much you mean to me.” He kissed her between the
husky words, tasting her lips, her mouth, her chin. “I’ve
always
loved you. And I need you, for so many reasons. But most of all, because I can’t live without you.”
“You won’t have to,” she whispered against his lips. “I promise, Riley. And I love you, too. You probably already know that, but I’ll say it anyways. I’ve loved you for what feels like forever.”
A hard, shivering tremor of relief swept through him at her soft words, and he pressed his forehead to hers as he took a deep breath and said, “The light, Hope. It’s still burning.”
“What light?” she asked, her voice soft with wonder…with love.
“I’ll tell you later,” he whispered, wanting to be alone with her, to show her with his body how much he loved her. To make amends for everything that had happened between them.
He touched his mouth to hers, sinking into her, lost in her perfect taste. It was like warmth and sunshine spilling over his tongue. Like…happiness. And hope.
Riley could have kept on kissing her forever, lost in the moment, if Shrader hadn’t cleared his throat, his voice dry as he drawled, “Should I…uh, cover my eyes here or something?”
A low laugh rumbled in Riley’s chest, feeling strange in his throat—but then, it’d been so long since he’d laughed out of happiness…out of pure, blinding joy. And yet, as happy as he was, there was still a knot of dread sitting in his gut over Kellan. Riley was just
about to tell Shrader what Pasha had said, knowing they needed to get to the motel to see if they could pick up a trace of the Watchman, when Ian and Noah raced into the clearing, his brother nearly sagging with relief to see that he was alive. His gaze moved between them, taking in their tender embrace, and before Ian could even ask the question, Riley said, “She’s coming back with us.”
“About damn time,” Ian grunted, before slanting his gaze toward the pile of ashes that were still smoldering, its spiraling tendrils of smoke struggling against the stormy wind. “Gregory?”
Riley shook his head. “Pasha.”
Looking around, Ian said, “Then where’s Gregory?”
A proud smile curved his mouth. “Hope shot him and he fell off the cliff.”
Ian blinked with a stunned look of amazement, then asked, “Do you think he could have survived the fall?”
Riley shrugged his shoulders, pulling Hope into his side, his arm wrapped possessively around her waist. “In his Casus form? Who knows? But I doubt it.”
Shrader walked to the cliffs, staring over the edge. “There’s no sign of him down there,” he called out. “Hopefully the tide’s pulled him under.”
“Pulled who under?” a deep voice called out from the edge of the trees.
Everyone turned to find Kellan standing there with his shoulder braced against one of the towering cedar trees that lined the clearing. He was drenched from
head to toe, as the rest of them were, his skin was chalky, and his eyes were red-rimmed and bleary.
Hope stiffened, giving a sharp cry of joy, just as Ian narrowed his eyes on Kellan and growled, “What in God’s name happened to you? You look like hell.”
“Feel like it, too,” Kellan muttered, shaking his head as he pressed one hand to his stomach.
“I was just about to tell you guys that we needed to get to the motel,” Riley said. “Pasha told me that she’d drugged him, leaving him there for Westmore’s men to pick up.” Catching Kellan’s gaze, he asked, “How did you get away?”
The Watchman snorted. “Luckily, the drug she gave me must not have been dosed for a full-blooded lycan, because it started to wear off before Westmore’s men even showed up. The bitch was stupid enough to leave my keys behind, so I was able to drive myself back here in the truck.” Looking around, he said, “Speaking of the little green-eyed fiend, where is she?”
It was Ian who answered, saying, “Riley fried her.”
Kellan’s eyes went wide, his gaze lowering to the Marker that rested against the center of Riley’s T-shirt-covered chest. “You found the Marker?” he asked, his surprise obvious. “How the hell did you do that?”
“Yeah,” Ian added, pushing his dark hair back from his face as he swung his gaze toward Riley. “How
did
you do that?”
Lifting his free hand to rub the back of his neck, the
other arm still wrapped around Hope, Riley explained how he’d used his newfound power to somehow pull the Dark Marker to him. “We must have been right on top of it today,” he added, “and just didn’t dig deep enough.”
Gesturing toward the trees that surrounded them, Noah finally spoke up, saying, “It might have even been trapped beneath one of those trunks, if the tree is young enough. You guys could have kept digging and never found it.”
Kellan did a double take at Noah, as if only just noticing that he was there. “What the hell are
you
doing here?”
“It’s a long story,” Shrader rumbled, making his way toward Kellan. “He can explain it on the way back to the house. I figure we can warm up with some coffee, if the power’s back on, then get started on cleaning up those bodies.”
“How
many
bodies?” Kellan groaned, looking ready to collapse.
Shrader slapped the redhead on the shoulder as Noah joined them, while Ian remained with Riley and Hope. Riley could hear Shrader making some smart-ass comment, in a low voice, about the tree he’d used to kill Westmore’s men, and then the Watchman looked at the three of them over his shoulder. “You guys coming?”
“In a minute,” Ian replied. When the men were out of sight, Ian turned, meeting Riley’s gaze. “If I were you,” he said, “I’d get out of here. We got damn lucky tonight, but there’s no sense taking any chances. You should head
out of town, and get her someplace safe for the night. Then drive straight for Ravenswing tomorrow.”
Knowing his brother was right, Riley agreed to do just that.
O
NCE
H
OPE HAD
packed a bag and they’d grabbed Riley’s things, they loaded into her car and drove for a few hours, wanting to put as much distance between them and Purity as they could, before checking in to a hotel for the night.
It’d been a stroke of luck that before they’d even left the clearing by the cliffs, Seth McConnell had finally shown up with a small group of Collective soldiers who’d remained loyal to him after he’d broken ranks with the Collective Army. And while Seth had been pissed that he’d missed the battle, at least he’d gotten there in time to aid with the cleanup, helping the others to dispose of the bodies. Riley had quickly given the soldier a rundown of the events that had transpired, explaining about Westmore and the Casus, as well as Gregory and Pasha. As she listened to the harrowing account, Hope realized it was truly a miracle that they’d all made it through the nightmare alive. Then, once they were alone, Riley had told her about what had happened when Gregory had claimed she was dead, and it terrified her to know she’d come so close to losing him.
Shivering at the thought, she finished washing her face in the hotel’s bathroom sink and opened the door
to find Riley waiting for her in the center of the room. They’d only been there for a handful of minutes, but she knew that before another sixty seconds had passed, he would be inside her…covering her…reminding her that while things were far from perfect in the world, they’d somehow managed to find their own little corner of paradise.
Breathing in the rich, provocative scent of desire that warmed the air between them, Hope walked to him, not stopping until their bodies were touching, chest to chest. With a dark, intense expression of lust shaping the angles of his face, he lifted his hands, pushing her hair back from her brow as he said, “No more talk about tonight, okay? I just want to hold you in my arms, under my body, and know that you’re all right. That you’re safe.”
She nodded and, with shaking hands, he slowly undressed her, his dark gaze lingering on each bit of skin as it was revealed. Then he laid her down on the bed, covering her with the hardness and heat of his body while he threaded their fingers together. Pressing their joined hands into the pillow beneath her head, he buried himself deep inside her, giving her every inch. “Nothing between us, Hope. Just you and me,” he murmured in a deep, husky rumble of words that melted through her like hot, bubbling honey, while the dark, beautiful cross swung from around his neck, its polished edge catching the light. He filled her, enormous and thick, pressing hard against her womb, and then held there. It was a
symbolic gesture. One of significance and intent. He was telling her what was going to happen. That he would fill her up…and give her a baby. And afterward, as they lay wrapped in each other’s arms, he kissed her mouth, and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything sooner. About the ceremony. About how I feel.”
As she stared into his deep blue eyes, her mouth twitched with a grin. “I’m sorry I lied and said that I just wanted to use you for sex.”
“You mean you don’t?” he asked, lifting his dark brows in a playful look of hurt surprise.
“Oh, I want to use you all right,” she murmured, snuggling against him, “but I also want to love you. And I knew that if I told you that, you’d never have laid a hand on me.”