B008IJW70G EBOK (13 page)

      
She looked up hopefully, wishing he’d show her. That he’d do something to make her believe him. That he wasn’t just saying it because he felt he had to.
Because they were meant to be together, to like one another. 

      
Hunter’s lips fell to her forehead. She tilted her face up to him, wishing he’d just kiss her properly. She’d dreamed of kissing him again, of his lips on hers, of them pressing against hers over and over again until he couldn’t kiss her anymore. 

      
His hands were still planted on the leather seat on either side of her. She could feel him tense as he moved further forward, thrust his body so it fit snug against hers. 

      
“Riley.” He whispered her name. She watched the shape of each syllable play over his mouth. 

      
His lips came swiftly towards her then, met hers firmly yet softly all at the same time. Riley sighed into his mouth as he kissed her, as his mouth grazed hers. 

      
“What do we have here?”

      
Hunter’s lips left hers as quickly as they’d found them. She watched him snap up straight, his stance angry. 

      
There were three guys standing near them, two eyeing his motorcycle, the one who was speaking looking straight at her. They’d both been so distracted they hadn’t noticed them approach. 

      
It didn’t feel good. Fear touched every inched of her skin. 
      

      
“Hunter,” she whispered, loud enough for only him to hear. 

      
He raised his hand in her direction, the smallest of movements. She bit the inside of her mouth so hard she tasted blood. 

      
Hunter’s body was angled toward the men. He looked like he was going to kill them. His back was straight, feet planted evenly apart, eyes flashing with anger, with a wildness that she hadn’t seen before. 

      
Riley almost swallowed her tongue she gulped so hard. He
could
kill them, all three at once,
if he changed.
Could wipe the smirks off their faces quicker than they could run. But she didn’t want that. 

      
“We don’t want any trouble.” Hunter kept his voice even. Steady. Just like his stance. 

      
The guys snickered. “Yeah?” said the one who’d spoken first. 

      
Hunter stood tall, eyes fixed on the guy who appeared to be the leader. “I think it’s time you moved on.”

      
That only made them come closer. 

      
“Hunter, let’s just go,” she said. 

      
“Listen to the girl,” one of the guys taunted. 

      
“
No!
” The word hissed from her as Hunter launched at them. 

      
She was scared he was going to change, but his control was faultless. He grabbed the first guy in a movement so fast he didn’t even see it coming, then slammed him into the ground. She could see how tight he was holding him, knew he could snap his neck in an instant if wanted to.
If he let himself go.

      
Hunter’s foot kept him pressed face down while he stared at the other two. She watched the animal within him flicker, could almost hear the growl echoing in his chest. 

      
“I think it’s time you went home.” His voice was cool.

      
The other two men disappeared. Hunter let his foot go and gave the guy on the ground a shove forward. “You too.”

      
Riley was too shocked to move. Hunter pulled her arms up and helped her into his jacket. 

      
“Riley, let’s go.”

      
She took his hand as he pulled her up, let her head fall back as he planted a rough kiss to her lips, before dropping his helmet gently on her head. 

      
“They’ll be back soon, with more guys and tire irons,” he said grimly. “I’d rather not change and take them all. Not here.”

      
All she could do was nod, even as he lifted her off the pavement and put her on his motorcycle. 

      
Hunter stood back then, eyeing her. She watched as he rocked back on his feet, eyes set softly on hers. “I’m sorry you had to see that.” He looked guilty. “I didn’t scare you, did I?”

      
Riley shook her head. The situation had scared her, but Hunter hadn’t. All she’d know for sure was that Hunter wouldn’t let them hurt so much as a hair on her head, and he’d been more in control than she’d expected he could be. Given the threat. 

      
A sad look passed over his face, one she couldn’t read. 

      
“I know I look like the bad guy, Riley, but I’m not.” He gave her a wry smile, shuffled his boots before meeting her eyes again. “I’m the good guy here. I would never, ever hurt you.”

      
Riley’s face flushed hot. “I know.” Her voice came out as barely a whisper. “I know.”

      It was like he had more to say. Like there were things he wanted to tell her. But she understood. Hunter was her ally. Her friend. Her protector. 

      And he wanted as much as she did for that to develop into more. She could see that now.

      He gave her a quick grin before jumping on the motorcycle in front of her. Her hands found his waist again before they sped off, happy to touch him, be close to him, especially when she didn’t have to meet those green eyes that seemed to see straight through to her soul. 

      She snuggled against him, face buried into him, but her mind was still racing. 

      Riley didn’t care what he’d done to that guy. He’d had it coming. The challenge she’d watched scared her because she knew he’d fight to the death for her. Knew that more than ever now.

      
But the kiss before?

      The murmur of his mouth on hers, the burning she could still feel there, made her realize she might have been wrong about him just going along with Sophia’s hopes for them. Hunter couldn’t have acted that. Surely? Couldn’t have said those things or kissed her like that if he didn’t mean it. 

      If he had, there were roles waiting for him in Hollywood.

      No matter what happened, regardless of what her destiny was, she would never forget Hunter. How could any other boy compare when she knew what it was like to be in his arms. To have his lips touched to her own. But twenty years old? 

      But if Hunter died protecting her, protecting her pack, she had a feeling her fate would be the same as Sophia’s. A life alone, without a mate. 

      Because Hunter would be impossible to replace once she’d accepted him. 

      She pressed her body closer to him, lips to his back, as if she could inhale him. If only the ride home was longer.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Riley didn’t want him to go, but she was too embarrassed to ask Hunter to stay over again. And after the way she’d reacted to his kiss, she wasn’t sure if either of them had the self control to spend the night in close quarters. Not tonight anyway.

      “Thanks for dinner.”

      Hunter gave her that heartbreaking grin he seemed so happy to throw her way. “Sorry about, you know, what happened.”

      She shrugged. “I don’t think a polite
go away
would have worked, somehow.”

      Hunter was still seated on his motorcycle. She wondered if he didn’t trust himself either. If he didn’t want to test his self control. Or maybe that was wishful thinking. 

      “I guess I better let you get some rest, huh?”

      She nodded, twisting a section of hair between her index finger and thumb. It was weird. Just before, it had been so easy between them, and now it was awkward. Like she didn’t know what to say or where to look all over again. 

      “See you in the morning,” he said.

      Riley wished she had the nerve to walk toward him, plant a kiss on his lips and whisper goodbye. But she couldn’t. 

      Just thinking about doing it made her feel… nervous. Sick. Scared. 

      “Bye.” She raised her hand. 

      Hunter gunned his ride into life, started to roll away, then slammed on the brake again just as fast. He thumped down the stand. 

      Riley swallowed. Hard. She still hadn’t moved, not a muscle.

      He jumped off, stalked toward her, his mouth set in a firm line. She wanted to step backward, away from him, but her feet wouldn’t move. He scared her and thrilled her, all at the same time, her senses burning at the sight of him covering the ground between them. 

      Hunter didn’t stop. He grabbed her around the waist with one arm, the other hand tangled in her hair, dragging her forward. 

      Her head fall back, eyes closing as Hunter dipped his mouth to hers. He didn’t so much graze her lips this time as press them so hard it almost hurt.
But it didn’t
. His tongue searched out hers, teased her, as he held her tight against his body. She could feel the heat of him, the hardness of his frame and the thump of his heart, crushed to hers.
She’d never experienced a kiss like it.
 

He knew what he was doing, was so sure of himself, and she loved it. 

      When Hunter pulled back, she opened her eyes, bravely meeting his. He traced a finger down the side of her face, like a feather trawling her cheek until it came to rest on her chin. Tucked under it to tilt her face to his. 

      “Good night,” he said, voice husky, low. 

      “Night,” she whispered.       

      He dropped a kiss to her forehead, then to her cheek, and then to her eyelids, both of them, as she let them flutter shut. 

      Hunter stepped back and dropped his hand from her waist, a smile still lighting his face.

      She watched as he got back on his Harley, gave her a few fingers raised in a wave, then slowly pulled away. Riley watched until his taillight had disappeared. 

      
Damn
than leopard. 

      A word flickered through her mind that she wanted to ignore but couldn’t. A word that had been circling through her brain like an eagle over its prey all night. 

      
Love. 

      There was a chance, just a chance, that maybe she was already in love with him and that scared her more than the kiss. More than anything. 

      Because now she knew that she was at serious risk of a broken heart. And it was going to make her decision that much harder. 

Riley reached for her mobile phone when she walked into her room, hitting the on button with her thumb. She’d completely forgotten about it since she’d arrived. Sophia didn’t have a phone line, and she’d been too busy to even think about it. 

      The phone bleeped to life. Then bleeped and bleeped some more. 

      She sighed. A week or so ago, her phone had been like an extension of her hand. Now, it just annoyed her. She didn’t even care who’d called or what she’d missed out on. Nothing seemed important anymore.

      Riley didn’t even bother to check the texts, voice mail only. Her mind was too full of Hunter to bother with texting anyone back.

      She pressed her ear to the phone. Her mailbox was full. 

      The first message was her mom. It was nice to hear her voice. 

      The next was her friend Lisa. She listened to the first part of her gabbing away and hit delete. Then a boy she’d been out with once. Hearing his voice made her backbone shudder. Delete. There was only one boy she was interested in now and she doubted he even had a cell phone.

      Her mom again. Worried. Then her dad, telling her that her mom was hysterical and needed to hear from her. She deleted a few more from friends, then heard her mom’s now frantic voice. 

      
Oh no.
If she didn’t hear back from her soon, she was driving down herself to see her. To take her home. 

      Riley didn’t bother listening to the rest. She hit speed dial and waited. She hoped they weren’t already on their way. Besides the fact that she wasn’t quite sure how she’d deal with them being here, she wasn’t going home. Not now. She wasn’t ready for braving her old world again yet.

      Plus she didn’t want to leave Hunter. Possibly ever. Or her sister. 

      She was dying to see Claudia, and she didn’t want to see the haunted look on her mom’s face again any time soon. The look she’d had since the day Claudia had passed. 

       Before coming here, the word
passed
had only made her angry. Her sister had died. She’d believed she’d gone forever. Saying
passed
made it sound okay, like nothing bad had happened. Like she’d just moved on and headed elsewhere. Like it wasn’t permanent.

      Now it turned out that
passed
was a pretty good word for what had happened to her. But her mom wasn’t ever going to see Claudia again, which would only make her feel guilty about her new ability. About what she’d have to keep secret for the rest of life, while her mom agonized over what she could have done differently. About whether it was somehow her fault. 

      Her parent’s answer phone clicked in. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. It was pretty late, but still. Surely they hadn’t packed up and headed out here yet?

      “Hi Mom, hi Dad, just wanted to …”

      “Riley.” Her mom literally screamed down the phone at her. “Riley is that you?”