Her nostrils flared. “I smell them.”
“They were worried about you, so I let them come in to see that you were just sleeping.”
Her mouth curled. “You’re good with them.”
“You’re better.”
Her brow creased. “I smell Max and Ethan too.”
“They panicked when you didn’t call them back last night and they hauled ass here.”
“Shit, I didn’t get the chance to call them.” Everything had happened so fast, Riley remembered. Everything had seemed completely out of control. “How did they take the news about Shirley?”
“Not too well. They’re annoyed with themselves for not figuring out that it was her. Their money was on Cynthia. Am I right in thinking Shirley just wanted to punish you all for failing Wade?”
“There was a lot more to it than that.” Riley told him everything that Shirley had said, and about how unstable she’d seemed. “Wade was the one good thing she had. He was her anchor, I guess.”
Tao curled her hair behind her ear and stroked his fingers down the side of her neck. “That had to have been hard on Wade.”
“A lot of things were hard on Wade.” She frowned. “I’m still a little in shock to hear that my father was her true mate.”
“She could have been wrong, Riley.”
“If nothing else, she truly believed it. And she blamed me for his death. When I put it all together, I think Shirley was driven to do what she did because she was just so angry about so many things. She couldn’t let go of that anger and heal. The wounds just festered and got worse and worse. I don’t think she really cared about anything anymore.”
Tao smoothed his hand soothingly up and down her back. “She’s gone now. She can’t take out that anger on you ever again.” He kissed her again. “My wolf tried to get to you when he saw you drop out of the sky, but Ramón got to him first.” He just had to thank the fucking universe that Ramón’s bullet had hit Shirley, not Riley.
“I know. My raven saw him put you in the van and pretty much squawked in front of Trey’s face to get his attention. He’d shifted back to his human form by then to hold Taryn after she’d healed Trick. Trey ordered a bunch of wolves to follow the van, and Taryn asked Ally to go along with them. Another wolf was already trying to follow—I think it was Dominic—but his leg was hurt.”
“So the wolves followed you.”
“The van was too fast for them to follow, so I stayed high up where the wolves would see me.” And where the driver wouldn’t notice her.
Tao stroked his thumb across her cheekbone. “Thank you for coming for me. But I can’t thank you for almost dying for me. Don’t you ever do that again.”
“I wasn’t trying to die for you—my death would have killed you anyway. I was just trying to keep you alive until someone came.”
“Yes, but you were panicking that you wouldn’t be enough to hold me there, and that was making you reckless.”
Thinking back to last night, she frowned. “I guess I was.”
“You were no more responsible for my life than you were for your father’s. I swear I could kick Sage’s ass for making you think differently.”
“I’ve forgiven him now. Not Sage, my father. I didn’t really understand just how hard it would be to lose a mate. I mean, I knew intellectually that the breaking of the bond would be difficult to survive. But I’d never felt just how strong the bond was, never knew just how it made your mate feel a part of you.” She traced the shell of his ear. “I’d already feel half-dead if I lost you. It would be so easy to just slip away.”
Tao grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. “He was still selfish to have wallowed in his own grief and not even tried to fight the urge to slip away.”
“Maybe, but I still forgive him.”
“And you realize now that it was nothing to do with you—it wasn’t that you weren’t enough to hold him here, it was that he chose to slip away.”
“Yes, I realize that now.”
“About fucking time.”
Riley bit her lip. “I’m scared to ask if everyone’s okay . . . which I guess is me sort of asking.”
“A lot of people were hurt, but they’re all alive,” he assured her. “With the exception of Ramón and his minions, obviously.”
“What are we going to do with all the bodies?”
“Ally knows someone who can deal with them.” Her foster brother, Cain, was part of The Movement—a band of shifters who retaliated against the extremists. They were used to getting rid of dead bodies. “They’ll be collecting the bodies of Ramón and his men sometime today. We’ve handed the bodies of Officers Brown and Taylor over to the police, though.”
“Will their deaths bring us trouble?”
“We have security footage to back up our story that they opened fire, unprovoked, and then moved aside to let Ramón’s men pass.”
“Didn’t the police ask for the bodies of Ramón’s men?”
“Sure they did. We told them that we chased the humans from our territory. They don’t believe us, of course—especially since Ramón and his men are nowhere to be found—but they’re also happy to have a drug lord and his minions off the streets. They didn’t seem upset about the deaths of Brown and Taylor either.” Tao guessed they’d known they had moles in the station and might even have suspected that Brown and Taylor were those moles.
“So, basically, the pack never admits to anything.”
“We don’t have to answer to human laws. But the minute we start explaining ourselves and justifying our actions, we’re effectively answering to them. Besides, what we did is really no different than a human shooting an intruder for trespassing.”
“True.” She took a long breath. “I’m glad there’ll be no undeserved repercussions. I’m glad it’s all over.”
“Me too.” He cupped her chin. “I need your mouth again.” The kiss was soft, slow, a lazy exploration. He slid his fingers into her hair, touching where the horrid bump had been the night before. It was gone now—no scab or inflammation, as if the wound had never been there. But it had, he’d nearly lost her, nearly died right along with her. His chest ached at the thought.
Tao rolled her onto her back. “I need to be in you. Then we shower, eat, and see the kids before they turn up again and break down the door to check you’re okay.” At that moment there was a light rap on the door. “Spoke too soon,” he choked out.
Slipping out of the bed, he opened the door to find two little people waiting. Seeing that Riley was awake, they dashed inside and literally leaped onto the bed. Tao smiled, heart squeezing as they hugged the breath out of Riley and peppered her cheeks with kisses. Dexter even gave her a slice of apple that, surprisingly, looked fresh.
Savannah cast Tao a severe frown. “You said you would come for us when she woke up.”
“I was just about to, so I’m not happy that you beat me here. You psychic or something?”
Savannah giggled and then turned to Riley. “Tao says the bad people are gone now.”
“They’re gone,” Riley confirmed.
“I wanted to help when the bad lady came to our room.”
Riley brushed the little girl’s hair away from her face. “You couldn’t have helped, sweetheart. She was much bigger and stronger than you are. But she really is gone now—she’ll never harm you again, I promise.”
Dexter cocked his head, looking at her bare shoulders. “Naked?”
Riley chuckled. “Yes, I am. Do you think you could give me a few minutes to get dressed?”
Savannah sighed. “You have to be fast.” She frowned at Tao. “And no kissing.”
He raised his hand. “Yes, ma’am.” Closing the door after the kids, he smiled at Riley. “We’ll never be bored.”
“Never,” she agreed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
One month later
Do you hear that?”
Snuggled into Tao’s side with her head on his chest as they lay on the grass in the clearing, Riley
opened her eyes. “What?”
“Exactly,” said Tao. “Nothing except for the sounds of nature. No kids squealing. No pack mates nattering. No Greta being a pain in your ass. Just us.”
With a smile Riley closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh air, letting it fill her lungs. “So this matches up to your dream?”
Fingers working through her hair, Tao said, “No, it’s even better.”
When she’d months ago suggested they enact the very peaceful dream he’d had about them lying here just like this, she hadn’t expected to feel so . . . serene. Being surrounded by nature always relaxed her, but as she nestled against her mate, enjoying the warm kiss of the sun on her skin and the surprisingly relaxing sound of the river water flowing across the rocks and boulders, she was sure she could easily drift into a dreamless sleep.
Makenna and Ryan had taken the kids off her hands for a while, since it was the one-week anniversary of Riley and Tao’s mating ceremony. The pack had promised to give them time alone—something they didn’t have often, given that they both had demanding positions. They saw plenty of each other; they were just often surrounded by others, mostly children.
Tao picked up his mate’s hand and traced the wolf tattoo on her inner arm. She’d gotten it done the day after their mating ceremony, while he’d had a raven tattooed on his chest, just above his heart. “Did you have this done on your inner arm to help cover your scar?” He didn’t think the scar was bad, but it was a reminder of what Shirley had done to her. Tao would have wanted to cover it too.
Sage and Ruby had been disappointed to hear that Shirley was dead. Since she’d attacked both their daughters, the Alphas had wanted to kill her themselves. Cynthia had taken a bullet to the stomach, thanks to Shirley, but she was okay—albeit allegedly shaken up. Like Tao gave much of a shit either way.
“No, I thought about having the tattoo done on my chest like you did,” said Riley, “but I want it where I can look at it whenever I want to.”
Tao smiled. “I guess you picked a good place for it, then.” He could remember the ceremony as if it had been yesterday, remember the violet dress that matched her eyes, remember the tender look on her face as she’d spoken the ceremonial words, and remember the huge celebration that had followed.
In addition to the pack, lots of other people had been present—including his parents, his brother, Max, Ethan, Lucy, Madisyn, and the Mercury Pack. Max and Ethan had already been on their territory, since they’d turned their brief visit into an extended stay. They didn’t leave until a few days after the mating ceremony, taking Lucy with them.
His mother loved Ethan and Max. Literally adored them. She’d had them over for dinner five times during their stay with the pack. She’d also made a full apology for her behavior to Riley, whom she’d promptly fallen in love with. Riley seemed to have forgiven Avery for her initial rudeness, and there had been a couple of occasions when they’d banded against Greta for the sheer fun of it. He suspected that Greta, being a little warped, had enjoyed the sparring just as much as they did.
Greta hadn’t made many disparaging comments at the ceremony, though—that was probably because her boyfriend, Allen, had been there. She didn’t seem to like exercising her bitchy muscle when the guy was around, which meant the females were all hoping Greta and Allen imprinted on each other at some point; maybe then they’d all get a damn rest from Greta’s bullshit.
Tao frowned as he heard the crunch of twigs and pine needles. Whoever was walking around these parts better head the other way; he wanted time alone with his mate. “Do you realize something?”
She propped her chin up on his chest. “What?”
“Three times this week”—a leaf fluttered down from a branch and landed in her hair, so he plucked it out and put it on the grass—“you slept the entire night through.”
“Sort of.”
He frowned. “Sort of?”
“Well, I did wake up, but I managed to get back asleep using the mating bond.”
He blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“The first time I woke up, I was totally wired and decided to just get up, but I was afraid of waking you. So I tapped into the bond, into you, to check how deeply you were sleeping. I felt how tired you were, how at peace your mind was, and how relaxed your body was. The next thing I knew, my eyelids were heavy and my mind had calmed down a little. It had to have been less than a minute before I fell back asleep.”
Hope shimmered through him. “And it worked three times?”
“Yeah. I thought the first time was a fluke, but apparently not.”
“This is fucking great news; why didn’t you tell me?”
She touched his face. “You have to understand that I’ve had insomnia for a long time. I’ve tried pretty much every supposed ‘remedy’ you can think of, and none of them worked. The idea that I might have found a way to fall back asleep that didn’t involve disturbing your sleep . . . I didn’t want to jinx it.”
“I get it.” He kissed her. “Let’s hope it keeps working . . . although I really have no issues with fucking you back to sleep.”
She smiled against his mouth. “Well, I have issues with you having too much broken sleep, so I truly hope this continues to work.” He kissed her again, deeper this time. She moaned as his fingers sank into her hair, holding her close as he took and tasted. Her insides melted even as her body flared to life.
A twig snapped close by, and then there was a loud hmph. “Here I am going for a walk, minding my own business, and I come across this. Must you do it out in the open where all and sundry can see you?”
With a sigh Riley glanced over her shoulder and squinted as shards of sunlight danced off the river, framing the old witch standing over her in judgment. “You say that like you caught us having sex.”
“Look at you, lounging all over him. This wouldn’t have happened in my day. Nooooooo. People were more reserved and believed in keeping certain things in the privacy of their own home. You have no self-respect at all.”
Riley rubbed her forehead. “I’m not saying you don’t have the God-given right to be neurotic, but must you really exploit the privilege?”
“If I were you, Tao, I’d be railing at fate for letting me down so dramatically.”
Riley closed her eyes. “I’m getting that déjà poo feeling.”
“Déjà poo?” Tao echoed.
“The feeling that I’ve heard all this bullshit before.”
Greta gasped. “How dare you!”
“Look, Gretchen—”
“It’s Greta.”
“I don’t care.”
At that moment, Dominic and Trick came traipsing out of the woods. Tao ground his teeth. What the fuck happened to having alone time with his mate? He scowled. “What are you doing out here?”
Grinning, Dominic kicked a pinecone into a bush. “Searching for treasure. Can I look around your chest, Riley?”
Stifling a smile, Riley sighed and patted her growling mate. “Dominic, please find the will to live.”
Trick cast them an apologetic look. “We didn’t mean to interrupt. We were just looking for Zac—he’s out here somewhere in his wolf form.”
“We haven’t seen him,” said Riley.
Dominic gave her another grin. “You know . . . you have a really sexy voice. It would sound even better if it was muffled by my co—”
“Dominic.” Tao looked at Trick. “If you don’t kill him, I will.”
Trick shoved a laughing Dominic ahead of him. “Let’s just go before you get yourself killed. Come on, Greta.”
Once the three wolves disappeared into the trees, Riley felt Tao relax beneath her. “Peace again.”
He let out a long breath. “Yeah. Peace.” She rested her head on his chest again, so he closed his eyes. The cool breeze fluttered over his skin, easing the prickling heat of the sun and carrying the scents of pine, sun-warmed rock, and wild herbs. Branches creaked, leaves rustled . . . and someone laughed somewhere in the near distance.
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Tao hissed through his teeth. All he wanted was to be alone with his mate for a while. He didn’t think it was such a big thing to ask of the universe. But mere moments later, Makenna stumbled into the clearing.
Her eyes widened. “Sorry, I didn’t know you guys would be out here. We’ll get out of your way.” Ryan stepped into the clearing with Kye on his shoulders, Lilah clinging to his chest, Dexter wrapped around his left leg, and Savannah coiled around his right leg. He grunted at Tao in what could have been a greeting or a plea for help.
Spotting Riley and Tao, Dexter jumped down and bellowed, “Incomin’!” The cub flung himself at Tao, who caught him around the waist and held him high above his body while tickling his sides.
Knowing what was coming, Riley sat up just in time to catch Savannah as she leaped. “Hey, sweetheart.”
The little viper grinned. “You kissing again?”
Riley chuckled. “Yep.”
“Ew.” Savannah playfully hissed at Tao and then scrambled up a tree.
Tao sighed. “Let’s just go inside, we’re not going to have any peace out here.” He got to his feet, grabbed Dexter by the ankle, and dangled him upside down, making the cub laugh hysterically. Lots of bits of food fell out of Dexter’s pockets, unsurprisingly.
Makenna grabbed the little boy and righted him. “You two go off and be alone. The kids are fine with us.”
Riley blew a kiss at the kids and waved. She and Tao walked into the woods, leaving Savannah hanging upside down from a tree while the other kids climbed Ryan like he was a tree. Riley skimmed her hand over a weathered oak, feeling the rough edges of the bark. The woods really were beautiful and . . . and Tao was no longer beside her. Looking over her shoulder, she lifted a brow at him. He was wearing his “I’m thinking about sex” smile. “What?”
“You know watching you walk makes me want to throw you on the nearest surface and take you hard.”
“What’s stopping you?”
Tao was about to say nothing, but then he heard a wolf padding toward them. He halted, cursing. “I can’t take any more. I just can’t.”
She clamped her lips together, battling the urge to laugh. Then he suddenly swung her around and began dragging her deeper into the woods. “Where are we going?”