Catch took hold of Barq. I took a quick detour to walk the ferryman back to the dock.
I leaned down. "That one counts. I'll collect my payment later. Preferably, in my bed, and more preferably, with you naked. Then you can tell me your information and I can tell you mine because things are getting really fucking weird out in the mortal world." There was no one around, so I took a second to reach my fingers under the veil.
Her soft, warm breath caressed my fingers as I brushed them across her lips.
"And stay away from those damn ghouls, ferryman."
Twenty-five
Rikki
I pulled my sweatshirt closer around me and knocked. Heavy footsteps creaked the floor on the other side of the door. It swung open. I'd seen him so many times, but he still always stole my breath away on first glance. And not just because he filled the entire doorway and looked as if he could tear a small car in half with his bare hands. He stole my breath away because I was crazy in love with him. For me, there was no turning back. He owned me, heart and soul.
His hand shot forward to grab mine before I could utter one syllable.
"Thought you'd never get here." The door snapped sharply shut, and he led me directly to the hallway.
I stumbled along behind him. "There's so much to talk about, and I have to tell you something really big."
"Uh huh." He led me into his room.
I looked around. "You cleaned up. See, there was a floor under the wet beach towels and swim trunks." I pointed at the bed as if it had just magically appeared in the center of the room. "Look! A mattress under the web of sheets and blankets."
"Funny little ferryman." He pushed my sweatshirt off my shoulders and went to work on my shirt and bra.
"Don't you want to hear what happened, Max? It's important."
"You bet." He flung my bra across the room, and it landed on the dresser. "I'm listening." He dropped down to his knees and kissed my belly as he took off my shoes and shoved my jeans down.
"Really? Because it kind of seems like you're not really focused on the conversation." I sucked in a trembling breath as he slipped down my panties, wrapped his hands around my naked ass and pressed his mouth against the mound of my pussy.
He pushed to his feet, lifted me up, walked two steps and dropped me on the bed. I landed with my legs hanging over the side of the mattress. I propped up on my elbows to watch him undress. Every damn inch of him was pure magnificence.
Maximus pushed his shorts down. His massive erection bulged in his tight boxer briefs. He picked up a condom off the nightstand. "Go on. I can multitask." He shoved the briefs down, freeing his cock. "You were saying?"
Warmth flooded my entire body, and my pussy tingled at the sight of him. "I sort of forgot where I was."
He dropped down to the floor and draped my legs over his shoulders. None too gently, he reached beneath my ass and pulled it closer to the edge of the mattress. "I think you were still at the beginning of the story." Without any further ceremony, he pushed his mouth against the hot folds of my pussy and went straight to work massaging my clit with his tongue.
I reached down to his hair and tangled my fingers in it. "What story?" It occurred to me at that blissful moment that the world could come down around my ears and I wouldn't notice a damn thing as long as I had Maximus tucked between my thighs.
I lifted my hips to meet the pressure of his mouth. He responded by pushing his tongue deeper into my pussy. He held me steady against his face with one hand as the thumb on his free hand teased my clit into a frenzy.
"Oh, Max," I sighed.
His beard rubbed against the skin of my inner thighs as his mouth devoured me. I squeezed my thighs around his head and lifted my hips to meet his probing tongue. The wet heat of his mouth mingled with the flaming, wet folds of my pussy. I released his head and gripped the sheets, bunching them up in my fingers as I felt the wave of release rolling toward the throbbing pulse between my legs.
His deep, guttural growl vibrated my pussy and took me right over the edge.
"Max! Hurry, please. I want you inside of me."
Another feral sound rolled from his throat as he pushed up from the floor. My legs were still draped over his shoulders as he set his knees on the mattress. My bottom was lifted up in the air, and only my shoulders and head remained nestled against the bed. It took me a second to adjust to the unusual position and I hadn't noticed the yellow glow in his eyes. I was looking at the wolf's gaze. Everything about him was pure man, but deep inside, there was always that wild beast, hidden away and needed only when his dangerous job required it. But on an emotional scale, the height of arousal was at the same extreme as danger, and it seemed Maximus had no control over it when we were crazed with passion. It thrilled the hell out of me, and once again, I was writhing in the glory of an orgasm.
And in the midst of it, Maximus jammed his cock into me. With my legs up and over his shoulders there was nothing to get in the way. He drove himself deeper into my pussy. I gripped the sheets to keep from being pushed right off the bed. The floors, the walls and, it seemed, even the ceiling creaked with the punishing force of his thrusts. Each blow made me groan in sweet agony as his cock rekindled the tender ache deep inside of me.
His fingers dug into my thighs as he held me against him. He drove into me with long, deep sweeps. The preternatural glow in his eyes had cooled back down to the dark heavy lidded gaze of arousal. A groan stretched long like a howl as his body stiffened and he came. He filled me so completely, I could feel the undulating waves of the orgasm pulse through his cock.
I slid my legs off his shoulders. He lowered himself down over me to finish with kisses that were tender and unlike anything I would have ever expected from a man like Maximus. The irony of it all made me smile. He caught the turn of my lips and lifted his face.
"Do you find my kisses funny?" He grabbed hold of me as he rolled onto his side, taking me along with him.
"Not at all. Quite the opposite. It's just that light, sweet kisses are kind of incongruous with the rest of you. Especially after the last few minutes when your inner self showed through in a most terrifyingly tantalizing way.”
He stared across the pillow at me. "My inner self?"
"You know what I mean." I poked him in the stomach, forgetting it was rock hard and very nearly breaking the tip of my finger. "That wolf that lives inside all of this." I smoothed my palms over his chest.
"You saw the wolf? When? Where?"
I lifted my head from the pillow, stunned that he truly didn't seem to know what I was talking about. "Your eyes? The growling?"
"Shit. Didn't realize that was happening. No wonder the other girls sometimes looked terrified."
"You're kidding right?"
He grabbed me to him. "Yes. I am. If I didn't have more control than that I'd be in big trouble. But I must say, you bring it out in me like no other."
I pushed back away from his embrace. "He said to the tenth woman this year."
"No, really, Rikki." He reached up with his hand and brushed my hair back with his callused fingertips. "You're not like anyone I've ever been with. I fucking paced the floor out there just waiting for you to reach my door. I think about you all the damn time." He kissed me again.
The rumble of motorcycles rattled the windows on the small house.
Maximus lifted his head to listen. "That's Flint and Wilder coming home from the bar. Which reminds me, you need to watch out for a motorcycle club with the words Masters of Mayhem on their cuts. They aren't who they appear to be. In fact, I think they have something to do with Vapour kidnapping your dad. I'll know more after I go see Nessa tomorrow on Oldfell Island."
I sat up on my elbow. "Nessa? She's one of the caretakers, isn't she? She raised you and the others?"
"Yeah. I'm not really supposed to visit her on the island, but I think these special circumstances call for it."
"I don't understand."
"Nessa is half witch. I think Vapour has employed a witch t
o help him reanimate some of the souls in his realm. It's only a theory and there are some big holes still, but after talking to your dad, I thought Nessa might be able to help."
"Dad mentioned the hair and cell samples, but I had no idea what any of it meant." I sat up and leaned my back against the headboard. "Max, I need to tell you something too, and I hope you won't get too mad. I haven't told anyone yet. Not even my dad. He looked so relieved to be home, I didn't want to upset him."
Maximus sat up. "Hold that thought. Need to hit the bathroom and grab a beer. Is this a one beer or two beer confession?"
I forced a smile. "Do you have a twelve pack in that fridge?"
"Oh shit. That's not good. I'll be right back."
I listened to his footsteps as he walked around the house. All the while I tried to come up with the least distressing way to break the news. But after a few minutes wringing my brain for ideas, I came to the dire conclusion that there was no way to soften the impact. When Maximus walked back into the room with two beers, my mouth opened and the words sprayed out.
"Max, yesterday when I went to work, someone saw me disappear through the portal." The worst part of the confession was out. He looked stunned, but he was still listening so I tried to smooth the edges by adding in the details. "I got to the rock marker that the real Trex had placed so he could easily find the portal. It's been sitting there untouched for years. As I stepped into the clearing, I smelled that rancid, stringent smoky smell that follows us out into the mortal world. You know the smell."
"Yep. Too well."
"I hadn't been through the portal in at least twelve hours, so it couldn't have been from me. And Feenix has that portal set to only open for Trex's touch. As it turned out, any descendants from Trex can open it too. As I lifted my hand out for the portal, I heard a noise in the forest. I turned around quickly and this man was standing in the shadows. I was so startled, I fell back over the rock marker. Next thing I knew, I was swallowed up by the plasma and taken into the underworld."
Maximus hadn't said a word, but the tension in his shoulders said it all. He lifted the beer and emptied the bottle.
"Say something, Max."
"Fuck."
"I know." I held back a sob. "I think I might have just ended my family's legacy in one clumsy fall."
"Did you recognize the guy? Was he a local?"
"I've never seen him before. He was a big beastly guy, and he had this horrible pale, dead stare."
Maximus turned to face me. "Anything else you can remember?"
"Not really except the sight of him made the hair on the back of my neck stand up."
"Well, double fuck. I don't think you have to worry about the guy telling the papers or the police about any of this."
"You don't? Why not?"
"Because that creep standing in the shadows came from the underworld. I think he was one of Vapour's creations." Maximus got up and walked to his bedroom window. He opened the blinds and stared out at the beach. "Rikki, I know you don't want to give up your secret and I've been keeping it for you. But it's not easy." He turned back to face me. "Stryker, Flint, Wilder and I never keep stuff from each other. It's hard, and they all know something is up. Under any other circumstance—"
"I know." I climbed off the bed and walked to him, needing more than ever to be in his arms.
Twenty-six
Maximus
As I rode the wave, a movement on shore caught my attention. Rikki had walked down to the water's edge. After waking her twice before daybreak for sex, I'd decided the gentlemanly thing to do would be to let her sleep late. Although, I also had ungentlemanly motives because after surfing, I had every intention of waking her from her late morning sleep just as I'd done in the middle of the night. I couldn't get enough of her.
Stryker shot past me on a wave as I slowed and sat down on my board. Flint and Wilder had already given up on the disappointing surf. They sat on the beach devouring a box of donuts, watching Stryker and me squeeze out the last few rides of the day. Soon, the offshore breeze would start up and knock the waves into useless, choppy curls.
Willow appeared in the distance. She had taken a walk down the sand to visit the elephant seals. Her extreme, nymph-inherited gift for taking care of the animals had come in handy for the critters living along Whitecrest Beach. She had already saved a seal pup, two seagulls and even a pelican from premature death. Before she met Stryker, or, more accurately, before he landed half dead on her doorstep, Willow had been the guardian and healer for the tundra animals. But now that she lived on the coast, her focus had turned to the ocean habitat animals. She felt it her duty to keep track of the health and well being of our resident elephant seal population. No one else could get near them without being chased off, but Willow walked amongst them as if she was a well respected member of the colony.
Rikki waited for me on shore. I hadn't introduced her to anyone yet, which seemed comical considering she knew everyone by name. Not to mention she'd had numerous conversations with all of them. We'd ended last night on her understanding of why I needed to tell the guys her true identity. But we'd been too tired to hammer out any details. I was still trying to figure out a way to let my pack know everything without actually letting them know Rikki's secret. So far, nothing brilliant had come to me.
I waded to shore with my board and headed straight to Rikki, knowing full well all eyes were on us. But I didn't give a damn. I kissed her. "I guess I should introduce you to my friends." I winked. "Sure hope you like them."
"I feel like I know them already," she said with a smile.
Stryker left the water and walked to meet Willow. I'd made fun of him so many times about being so strangled by love he couldn't think straight. Now I was right there with him.
The four of us reached Flint and Wilder at the same time. I ground my board into the sand and waved to my towel so Rikki could sit.
"Everyone, this is Rikki. Her family owns a fishing trawler down in the marina." Since we hadn't talked enough about it, I decided not to mention the other family business yet. "Rikki, this is Flint, Wilder, Stryker and the pretty one of the bunch, Willow."
"How do you do?" Willow offered Rikki her hand. "It's nice to meet you."
"You as well. I've heard a lot about you." Rikki pulled in her bottom lip and seemed to rethink her words. "I mean, Max mentioned that you loved animals and that you were going to work with them."
"Yes, I'm studying to be a vet tech. You work on the fishing boat?"
"Sometimes. It's fun when the weather is nice and the catch is good. Gosh, I hope that doesn't seem insensitive." She pulled in her lip again.
Willow waved her hand. "No, don't be silly. Everyone has to make a living."
Stryker wiped his hands on his towel. "So how long has your family been fishing out here?"
"My dad is the third generation."
"Wow, that's what you call a legacy. Have a donut." Wilder winced in pain as he reached forward for the donut box.
Rikki reached into the box for a glazed. "How is that tail bone feeling?"
"Still hurts like—" Wilder looked up at Rikki. In fact, all eyes fell on her. She was one bite in before she noticed or even realized her mistake. The donut fell from her fingers into the sand.
"Shit," Rikki said quietly. Her worried gaze shot to me.
I shrugged. "At least you saved me from having to come up with a good way to break it to them."
Flint sat forward. "Max, what's going on? How does she know about Wilder's fall from the horse?"
Rikki's face was smooth and white like marble, and she was frozen to the spot. All I wanted to do was hold her.
"She knows about it because she was there." I looked at Rikki to make sure I should continue. She nodded weakly. "Guys, this is Rikki or as you might know her better, Trex, the ferryman."
"Bullshit," Stryker said. "There's no fucking way."
Rikki dropped her voice low and gravelly. "Stryker, don't track that Wynter muck into my ferry."
/> "Holy shit." Flint sat back hard in the beach chair, nearly upending it.
"Maximus, looks like you've got some explaining to do." Wilder stood up from his chair. "Let's head inside. Seems like this is something we should all talk about behind walls."
Twenty-seven
Rikki
The curious stares of disbelief had hardly faded, even after I'd sat on the couch amongst all of them, telling them the long story of Trex and our family legacy. Willow came out with some tea, just for us women. It was nice having her there for support. She knew too well what it was like to be surrounded by the Boys. They were a pack, and you could never miss that when they were together. Even Maximus acted a little differently when his buddies were around. It was nice to have someone like Willow, who knew them well from a feminine perspective.
Flint had stopped shaking his head. "I never once noticed anything was amiss or that the ferryman was a petite brunette. With a nice sultry voice, I might add. I always looked at that veil and pictured the same deformed, grainy speaking character who had been at the rudder all these years. You slipped into the role perfectly. Well done."
"Thank you. I'll admit it took some getting used to the atmosphere and the souls and the goblins. And well, pretty much all of it."
Willow placed her tea on the coffee table. "So your first day on the ferry was also your first experience in the underworld?" A visible shiver raced through her. "I had only one short stint there, and I still have nightmares about the place. You must be brimming with courage, my friend. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be thrown into the job of running the ferry and all while having to worry about your father's safety and whereabouts."
"It was a cold slap in the face from life on this side of the portal. That's for sure. But then my dad and even my grandfather had told me many stories about the underworld, so I knew what to expect. Just as they'd always told me tales about the Boys of Wynter." I smiled at my handsome audience. "Both flattering and not so flattering. And being local, I knew these guys long before I saw them ride through Wynter on their horses."