Never Die Page 7

  “That’s not cool.” I really didn’t know what to say to that. I really had no choice? How can someone take another person’s—or wolf’s—free will? My wolf could fight it. I could feel it in my bones. There was no doubt in my mind that I could fend off Lance and get what I came for, if it came down to it.

  Luke studied me. “Obviously, you don’t get it. I can see the wheels turning in that thick skull of yours.”

  Offended, I stomped toward him. “No one can control me. No man!”

  “You’re not just a human anymore, Riley. There’s a whole new set of rules when it comes to our kind.”

  I wanted to shake him hard until he would believe what I did. The man was stubborn, but so was I. Taking a deep breath, I looked down at my chest, realizing I was still in my torn shirt. The thing might as well have been a vest. Of course, I chose to wear the damn lacy bra that left nothing to the imagination. Heat crept up my neck as I started digging into my bag, pulling out my last clean shirt.

  He was watching my every move, as if I was prey. We had a connection—I wasn’t imagining it. Luke couldn’t keep his eyes off my breasts. Part of me wanted to go to him and take advantage, but he was trying to tell me what to do. He expected me to tuck my tail and run—no pun intended. That was not happening. I had a job to do, and a girl to bring home to her mother. Nothing was going to deter me from that mission. Not even someone as sexy as Luke Thatcher.

  Chapter Nine

  Luke and I stood staring at each other for several minutes, neither one of us moving. My heart was pounding, and sweat started to form over my skin. I wanted him. Really bad. My whole body was heating up with need. Why was it betraying me again?

  Unable to stop myself anymore, I hurried over to him, throwing my arms around his neck. I felt so small compared to him. He towered over me, and his body could completely wrap around mine. Just knowing that lit a fire inside of me. I wanted to taste him everywhere. My body wanted him to fill me entirely, over and over again, until it was too numb to move.

  I needed him to make me his.

  Luke growled in my ear, his hot breath moving over the sensitive places there. He wrapped his hands around my waist, thrusting himself against me. I moaned, moving my body closer to him so I could feel his hard length against me. Again he growled, nipping at my neck, causing shivers to shoot up and down my spine.

  “I want you so bad, Luke.” I pushed him back onto the bed, smiling when his eyes lit up in surprise.

  Grinning, I climbed over him until I was straddling his waist. I pushed him back so he was lying flat, with me towering over him. Somewhere along the way I’d dropped my fresh shirt, so I was still in the torn one with my nipples in hard peaks behind the lace of my bra. He reached up, pinching each one between his fingers. Pleasure shot through my body and down to my core, causing me to moan as I rubbed myself against him.

  Surprising me, he grabbed my hips, rolling me beneath him. He grinned, kissing me hard until I was writhing with need. With a growl, he pulled away, tugging my bottom lip between his teeth. “We do this, there’s no going back,” he said, voice rough with desire.

  I nodded, weaving my fingers through his hair so I could pull him back down to me. His cock pressed hard up against my core, and warmth began to gather there in anticipation. When his lips went down to my neck, I tilted my head to the side, inviting him to kiss it some more. He groaned, teeth scraping against it. My fingers left his hair and started working on his shirt, which was proving to be difficult. He chuckled, trying to help me, but it only made it worse.

  Finally, he yanked it off himself, throwing it across the room. My eyes widened at the impressive male in front of me. His muscles were well defined and smooth beneath my fingers. He watched me examine him, interested in my reaction. I flashed him a smile and brought his mouth back to mine so I could devour it.

  Grabbing the front of his jeans, I started to work open the button and then the zipper. He went to help me, but I pushed his hand away, wanting to unwrap this gift myself. Our movements became more urgent as I finally released him into my hands. He jerked a couple of times under my grip, his lips ripping away from mine to let his head fall back.

  I felt a bead of wetness form at the tip of his cock. I moaned, kissing his chest as he returned to me from his moment of bliss. Luke started working on my jeans next, removing my grip on him so he could yank them down. I squealed when my ass came up in the air as he jerked them off. His fingers went straight to my pussy, making me cry out.

  “There she is,” he whispered, towering over me. His gaze met mine as he watched me writhe beneath his amazing hand.

  I cried out again as he drove two fingers deep into me. My back arched, bringing my chest up to him. He ripped at the bra until it came apart, exposing me completely. When his mouth closed over one nipple, I nearly lost it. “You have to fuck me,” I insisted, grabbing for his cock.

  Luke groaned, kicking his pants off the rest of the way so I could see him in all his glory. When I reached for him, he leaned over me again, pressing his cock to my center. I squirmed, trying to get him inside of me, but he seemed entertained with the idea of teasing me.

  “You want this inside of you?” he asked with a grin.

  Glaring, I tried to reach for him, but he moved his hips out of the way. “More than you know.”

  “Say you want me.”

  “We don’t have time for this,” I whined, wrapping my legs around his waist.

  Laughing, he held himself up, his arms shaking from my pull to bring him to me. “You’re going to make me fall.”

  Determined, I used more strength to pull him in. Finally, he let go, falling right on me. The air left my lungs, but that didn’t deter me. I moved fast, pushing him over to the side, forcing him to roll onto his back. Then, before he could grab a hold of me again, I slid right on top of him, his full length filling me completely.

  “Holy shit,” he gasped.

  I moaned in agreement, my head falling back as I took the sensations in. Rocking my hips, I took him deeper, gasping when his hands grabbed my breasts. Strange, new feelings flooded me as I rode him. I wanted him to fuck me hard. Make me his. “This feels so good,” I gasped.

  When I looked down at Luke, something passed across his features that caused me to pause, but it was quickly gone. He rolled me over onto my back, thrusting himself hard into me. His lips meeting mine in a frenzy. Going even deeper, he lifted my legs over his shoulders, pounding himself against me. With one hand, he started stroking my clit, my orgasm building so hard I started to dig my nails into his back.

  I cried out as I fell over the edge, with him following seconds later. He dropped my legs, falling on top of me so heavily, I grunted. When I heard him say something, I pushed him up the best I could, giving him a questioning look. “What did you say?”

  He was distant again. I could see it in his eyes. Luke was pulling away from me, even though we’d just had some seriously mind-blowing sex. The connection I felt with him was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced—so much so that I didn’t know if I could leave Luna Hill without him. It was hard to describe, and completely unfamiliar to me. I wanted to tell him what I was feeling, but he started moving off of me, heading to the bathroom without saying another word.

  “What did you say to me, Luke?” I asked, looking for something to cover myself up with.

  “This was a mistake, Riley. We shouldn’t have fucked.” He came out of the bathroom, cleaning himself off with a towel. Tossing it into the bathroom, he snatched his jeans up to put them on. He was in a hurry to leave.

  It felt like pieces of my heart were shattering right in front of him. The rejection was almost too much for me to handle. I didn’t understand what I was feeling, and it was so abnormal that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry or scream. What was wrong with me? What was wrong with him?

  Why was it a mistake?

  Luke grabbed his shirt next, pulling it on so fast, I didn’t even have time to say goodbye to his perfect
abs. The way he made it sound, it was my last time to ever see them.

  Not if I could help it.

  Feeling determined, I hurried to my feet, placing my hands on my hips. So what if I was completely naked? I wasn’t about to let him run away on me. The sex was awesome, and I wanted to do it over and over again.

  I stepped forward, poking him in the chest. “No, you don’t get to do this to me. You can’t fuck me, and then say it was a mistake, like it meant nothing. We just had amazing sex. It was fucking mind-blowing! You can’t run away after, like some chicken.”

  He glowered at me. “I’m not a chicken.”

  “What else do you call a man that can’t face the girl he just had sex with? You’re the one trying to take off, claiming this was a mistake.”

  “You don’t even know what just happened, do you?” When I didn’t say anything, he put his boots back on. “It’s better that we part ways before shit gets any deeper. That is, if we can even escape from it now. Leave town, Riley. And don’t come back.” He hurried past me, leaving the motel room without even glancing back.

  *

  I couldn’t stop thinking about Luke. After putting my clothes back on, I tried to watch TV. I even tried to do some research on Mary, hoping to find another way of contacting her. But nothing seemed to work. My mind kept returning to our lovemaking. Only, it was more than just that. I missed him. We should have cuddled after the sex. I craved being close to him. The feeling became so intense, I actually sat in a corner, crying for a good ten minutes. Then, when I realized what I’d been doing, I forced myself to shut off the tears and stop acting like one of those women who couldn’t live without a man. I wasn’t like that. So, then, why the fuck was I acting that way?

  Reaching for my gun on the dresser, I decided to clean it. Just as I was about to grab the stuff to do it, the door opened, revealing Annie. She grinned at me. “Finally home, huh? Sorry, I went out to visit a friend.” She set her purse down on the dresser and looked up at the TV. “Oh, I wanted to watch this movie. This is the one about the man who finds love letters in his attic from a woman he’d been with before going to war, right?”

  I couldn’t even focus on what she was saying. Nodding, I began to lay my stuff out, taking apart my gun. Annie watched me with a curious expression on her face. After a minute of staring, she turned to one of the beds, coming to a stop at my ripped up bra on the floor. I winced, feeling bad that she had to come across the evidence of my tryst with Luke.

  “Are we still going shopping tomorrow?” she asked.

  “Yeah, we should get up around nine and head out,” I replied, glancing from the corner of my eye at her shoes. They looked brand new and expensive. “Lance pay you well with your job at the whorehouse?”

  Shaking her head, Annie opened up a bag of chips she must have brought in with her. “Not really. I make some extra cash waitressing at the restaurant, though. Betty bought me these shoes the other day. I’d been looking at a magazine with them in it and out of nowhere, she just handed them to me.”

  “We should probably discuss a curfew,” I told her, piecing back the gun. I practiced nearly every night putting it back together and loading it. Annie watched me with fascination, flinching when I snapped the slide back.

  Realizing I appeared threatening, I laughed, setting it down on the nightstand next to my bed. “Sorry, I just cleaned it.”

  Annie laughed nervously, shoving a chip in her mouth. “I’ve never had a curfew before. Why start now?”

  “Because school is important, and for you to excel in your studies, you need the proper amount of sleep, and to be on a regular schedule. The wacky hours you probably keep will prevent your brain from getting enough rest to work properly.”

  My sister raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I’m not sure you actually know what you’re talking about.”

  I chuckled. “I don’t. Just know it’s part of being responsible. You’re still a minor, and you’ll be in my care, so rules are important.”

  My thoughts returned to Luke again when Annie was silent for a while. I laid down in the bed, placing my arms behind my head as I thought about him in high school. He was so good looking, it was hard hiding that I had major crushes on him and Lance. They were off limits to my kind, though. Only the more popular girls had the rights to the Thatcher boys. Though, there was a time that Luke stood up for me when Lance’s girlfriend started making fun of me in the lunchroom. She smacked the bottom of my lunch tray, causing the food to spill all over the only outfit I owned. Just as I was about to take the tray to the side of her head, Luke stepped in, telling her that she wasn’t acting like a lady. In fact, she was manlier than Lance was with her behavior. At the time it was hilarious, but thinking about it right then made me irritated. Where was that little bitch, anyway? Maybe she was also a lucky one and made it out of Luna Hill.

  My eyes fluttered closed, giving me a perfect mental image of Luke above me, the muscles in his arms straining as he held his weight just right as he thrust inside my wet heat. I buried my face into the pillow. Maybe if I called him, he would apologize. But that was wishful thinking. The man seemed determined to deem what we did a mistake. I didn’t know if I could accept that.

  Chapter Ten

  Annie dropped the bags of clothing on the bed and fell back into them, arms wide open. “I’m wore out!” she breathed, sweat gleaming on her forehead.

  Kicking the door closed, I laughed, placing my few bags on the other bed. We spent more money than I would have liked, but what mattered was the fun we had, and the bonding time. It took hours to visit all the stores in the outlet mall. I didn’t realize how expensive they could be. Luckily, most of them had sales going on, so I spent a reasonable amount for what we got.

  The trip did little to help me forget about Luke, though. I glanced down at my phone about a hundred times, only to remind myself that I didn’t think he had my number. I was half tempted to call him, but managed to convince myself out of it. The last thing I needed to be doing was calling a man that was trying to avoid me. He would probably just send me to voicemail anyway, which would only make my feelings hurt worse.

  I plopped down on my bed and sighed. My body was covered in sweat. It was a nasty feeling. A shower was next on my list before I went to the bar to see what information I could fish out of the bartender. Hopefully, Lance and Luke didn’t plan on showing up, but the odds of that not happening were slim. Part of me hoped Luke would be there, but that would also ruin my plans for getting the information I needed. “Damn, I have problems,” I muttered, pressing the pillow against my face.

  “What did you say?” Annie asked, putting the TV on mute.

  Looking up, I shook my head. “Nothing, just talking to myself.”

  Nodding, she unmuted the TV and went back to her fashion show. I climbed out of bed, opening the bags of clothes I bought. There were a variety of choices now, compared to what I actually brought with me. Some of them were for going out, but considering how things were with Luke, I wasn’t sure if the effort would be wasted.

  Choosing a black top with some sequins and a pair of dark blue jeans, I headed into the bathroom to shower off the sweat from shopping all day. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the shower as long as I wanted to. I didn’t even feel like going out, but the faster I finished up the case, the sooner I could get back to my life in Chicago.

  Annie was standing in front of the TV after I finished blow drying my hair and putting on makeup. She was dressed up in some new clothes, and had her hair done a lot fancier than mine. I glanced down at myself and frowned. Why didn’t I have the talent she did when putting myself together? Did it really bother me that much? It never had before, so I pushed off the feelings of insecurity and smiled at my sister. “Going somewhere?”

  “I have a friend picking me up. We’re going to hang out before we leave for Chicago,” she explained, clicking off the TV. “You must be going to the bar?” she scowled when I nodded. “That place is nasty.”

  “It’s t
he place to be in Luna Hill,” I replied, grabbing my gun holster and putting it on.

  “Why do you carry that? What do you even do?” Annie asked, her gaze on the gun.

  “It’s my right to carry the gun. As for what I do, I’ll have to tell you about that another time.” Getting into it now would be a bad idea, considering I wasn’t sure if she would tell other people in town. If someone were to get wind of it, then everything would blow to hell more than it already had.

  Leaving the motel, I decided to put gas in the car, just in case I had to leave in a hurry. I was getting that itchy, uncomfortable feeling, like something bad was about to happen—which meant I might have to make a quick escape. Though, I wasn’t sure how simple that would be if Annie was out at a friend’s house. Turning back around, I went into the motel room to ask her for the address, but she was already gone. Where the fuck did she go? She hadn’t come out the door.

  Hurrying, I went to the bathroom to find the window wide open. When I peeked out, a motorcycle, with her on the back of it, was taking off, leaving a cloud of dust behind it. Teenagers. She didn’t want me to see that she was going to hang out with a boy, so she snuck out back instead of letting me see him. This parenting thing was going to be a lot harder than I imagined.

  Closing the window, I put the locks back in place. When I turned around I yelped, slamming my back against the wall of the shower in surprise. Leaning on the frame of the bathroom door was Lance. He gave me a slow smile, and then a leer that screamed he wanted in my pants. Only it seemed more of a front to me. There was something in his eyes that showed me he was feeling emotional.

  “Never thought I’d catch you in the shower, Riley.”