Second Chance Desire (Hot Moon Rising #8) Page 9

  He’d earned it.

  In the distance, he could hear his wrecker reducing the distance between them, and, before him, the sound of an ’82 Chevy rumbling to a stop on a dirt road. He pounced at the first man to jump out of the two-door car. A yelp passed the man’s lips followed immediately by a scream as Knox bit down until he reached bone, the metallic taste of blood fueling his desire for vengeance. Instinctively, he knew this was the leader. He had been the most vocal at the diner, and he’d no doubt instigated the whole series of events that had befallen Emerson. He pulled the man into the woods, throwing him around like a rag doll. Bones cracked, and when the arm went limp from dislocation, he hurled the asshole at a tree, knocking him unconscious.

  He returned to the car where three men were standing around in a panic like idiots. Two pointed shotguns at him, the last a revolver. The kid shook so bad, he was more likely to shoot himself than anyone else. He took the moment to shift, knowing the men would be caught off guard. He swung at the first, grabbed the hair of the next, and, in a split second move, connected the man’s forehead with the metal frame, knocking him unconscious. The last one threw his hands in the air and pissed himself.

  Eden jumped from the still-running truck and threw Knox his pants before tying the man up with one of her Dominatrix techniques. He ignored the clothes and leaned into the back of the car. Emmy remained unmoving, gag in her mouth, hands tied in front of her. For a second, he feared she was dead. With shaking fingers, he worked the gag from her mouth. A harsh sigh of breath left her, followed by a quick cough. Relief like he had never imagined rushed through him as he worked the rope from its knots to release her. Easing her from the car, he carried her to his truck.

  Her blue eyes fluttered wide as he opened the door, and she fought, flailing her arms. “Emmy, you’re safe. I’ve got you, baby.”

  She paused; on a sob, she threw her arms around him, clutching his neck so tight he wasn’t sure he could breathe. She cried, each sniffle tearing at him, until she calmed and, as one sob turned to a hiccup, she pulled back. She shook, and as Eden walked to the car with one of her attackers, she scurried backward across the truck’s bench seat until her back was against the driver’s door.

  With some distance, Knox could take stock of her injuries. Her wrist, raw from the rope, ranked minor in comparison to the purple bruise forming under her eye, and her lip was cracked and swollen. “Did this one hit you?”

  She shook her head, looked over the dashboard, and pointed to a man in a trucker’s cap who had just come to. Knox yanked his pants on and, grabbing the other man by the T-shirt, pulled him to his feet. “This one?”

  She nodded.

  “Did you hit my mate?” His wolf demanded to take care of the asshole.

  The other man tried to back away. “No.”

  “So, now you are also calling her a liar?” He turned to Emerson while at the same time landing a punch on the man’s nose. “Did he hit you like that?”

  She shook her head.

  “Hmm.” He undercut and with a powerful punch connected up. “This?”

  “Fuck, you broke my nose.” The man spat out a tooth.

  Emerson let out a nervous giggle. “No, it was more…”

  “Shh, baby, let’s take our time and let me guess how he punched you.”

  “Fuck, dude,” the man mumbled spitting out blood. “I backhanded her okay.”

  Confirmation. Growling deep in his throat, he put his nose within millimeters of his broken one. “So you think it’s okay to hit a woman?”

  Wisely the man stayed quiet, because no answer would have satisfied Knox. Letting the man stand on his own two feet, he took a step toward Emerson, shrugged, then rounded on the other man, backhanding him with such force he flew five feet and landed on the trunk of the car. As Knox leapt over him, the metal buckled under his bare feet. “Let me say this. Your boss over there isn’t going anywhere but a nine-by-nine cell. You have two choices. You can stay and join him, or you can go and disband your little bigoted gang and never darken my town again. Because you just saw a glimpse of what I can do. Imagine the hell my entire pack can bring down on your head. If I ever hear of you hurting another person because of their gender, religion, color, or sexual orientation, I will hunt you down, and there won’t be enough body parts left to identify who is who.”

  The man beneath him nodded, convinced he spoke nothing but the truth. He glared at the other two men still tied up. They shrank into themselves as if trying to get out of his line of sight. As he jumped to the ground, his eyes fully focused on the woman still in his truck. He said in a matter of fact tone, “And don’t even think about telling anyone what you saw here today. They will only think you’re nuts.”

  Standing in the open passenger door, he widened his arms and waited for her to come to him. Shaking, she did as she was bid. But he didn’t take her into his arms. He positioned her into the center of the seat, buckled her seat belt then checked over her injuries. Every scratch and mark marring her perfect skin raised his temper a degree. He reached under the seat and pulled out the red first aid kit. Finding what he was looking for, he broke the icepack and, with gentle hands, placed the cool bag on her swollen cheek. “Let’s get you home and get you some pain meds for that. Eden!”

  “Dealing with the asshat in the woods,” she yelled back. “Give me a second.”

  He waited for her in front his truck. She came out of the tree line, brushing her palms on her jeans. “Don’t think he’ll wake anytime soon, but I tied him to the tree. What do you want me to do with these guys?”

  “Leave them. If they get out of your ropes, they can run; if they’re here when the cops get here, so be it. As long as that one doesn’t see the light of day again, I’ll be happy.”

  “What if he does?” Eden questioned, climbing in beside Emerson.

  Knox followed them in and slammed the stick shift into reverse. “I’ll be waiting.”

  “You should have killed him,” Eden said as if they were discussing where to get coffee.

  Knox gripped the steering wheel hard enough his knuckles whitened. “I wanted to. Trust me, I was seconds from ripping the leader’s arm off completely, not just dislocating it. I wanted to go for his jugular.”

  “So why the hell didn’t you? That piece of dirt didn’t deserve a second chance.” Anger laced Eden’s voice.

  “It wasn’t about him.”

  “Then who, Knox? Because I sure as hell don’t understand you.”

  “He did it for me.” Emerson said, looking up at him. “For us.”

  “Now, that makes no sense whatsoever.” Eden threw her arms up in disgust.

  Knox didn’t think Eden would understand killing wasn’t in Emerson’s nature. Emerson was a medic. They healed, not harmed. So he went with the explanation she might understand. “Put on that bodyguard hat for a second. How would it appear if the only suspect who can 100 percent exclude me as the arsonist happened to be found dead not seconds after the fire captain lets slip the man’s name to me. Even if we hid the body really well, suspicion would surround me.”

  Emerson gripped his arm “What happens if he talks about what he saw?”

  “What did he see? A wolf? He never saw me in human form. Only the three idiots out here did, and no one will believe them if they talk. I don’t think they want to be tied up with the arsonist when he goes to jail.”

  “Fair weather friends,” Eden grumbled.

  “In the end, killing any of them would only hurt the pack and increase my odds of landing in jail, even if it was justifiable homicide.” Knox still wasn’t sure he shouldn’t have killed him. But he made the call, and he needed to live with it. “The others will disappear, and no one will think it’s anything more than trying to put space between them and prison.”

  “Well, I know where they live now. I think I’ll take a few wolves out there later to make sure they skip town.” Eden placed one of the men’s IDs on the dashboard. “Insurance. You still have that satellite ph
one in here?”

  “Glove compartment.”

  Once Eden made a couple of calls, first to Jesse and then to their alpha, Derek, the rest of the ride was quiet. Emerson placed her head on Eden’s shoulder for comfort. She had tried his, but the bruise under her eye prevented it. Eden placed a comforting arm around her shoulder, rocking her much like she would a young child.

  “Do we need to go to the emergency room?” Eden was a she-wolf full of contradictions. On one side stood a strong bodyguard who would protect her charge to the death and kill with no qualm. On the other, lay her voracious sexual appetite. He hadn’t exaggerated how high her kink level rated. But then there was this second softer side, where she could comfort and ease the fears of another.

  In a voice so small it broke his heart, Emerson said, “No. I just want to go home.”

  As they pulled into his parking lot, Eden jumped out to deal with a customer who was waiting to pick up their car. Knox lifted Emerson and took her back to his room. He placed her on her feet so he could right the overturned furniture. She shook, wrapping her arms around herself, taking in the state of the room.

  He stopped cleaning to cup her cheeks, his eyes searching hers. “Do you want to go somewhere else tonight?”

  “No. As long as you’re here, I’ll feel safe,” she said, as much to herself as to him.

  He stripped the bed. Even the tiny drops of her blood offended him. He went into the closet and pulled down a clean set. Bed made, he removed her clothing, careful not to cause more pain. She had marks on her forearms, thighs, and under her breasts. He doubted she even remembered how she got the marks, and he wasn’t sure what made him angrier, that they had mauled her while she was unconscious or that they had done it at all.

  “I shouldn’t have left you alone.” Guilt racked him. He knew they were waiting for an opening to get around him to her.

  “You can’t be with me twenty-four seven. And you couldn’t have known.”

  “But I should have suspected that fire wasn’t random.”

  “How?” She climbed up onto her knees. How had the tables turned? She was now soothing him. She linked a finger through a belt loops on each hip, pulling him toward her. “You are powerful, you protected me—”

  “I didn’t.

  “I have a few bumps and bruises. I suffered far worse overseas. You were so quick. I still can’t imagine how you got to me as fast as you did. You also understand me. Killing those men would have been hard on me. You are this amazing man who also happens to have this great ability to turn into a wolf. But you are not omniscient. You cannot be everywhere or see everything.”

  His gaze raked down her naked body. “I can see everything now.”

  Her nipples beaded to hard nubs under his hungry perusal. She licked her lips, reaching for his belt. “I can’t, not yet anyway. You still have too many clothes on.”

  Her warm palms pressed against his heated abs. His cock came to attention, demanding her touch. And as nimble fingers moved between his skin and the waistband, he groaned. Damn he needed her, needed to drive deep within her until he forgot everything but the two of them. He grabbed her wrists to still her process. “You’re hurt.”

  “You can be gentle.”

  Not that gentle. “You need to rest.”

  “I need to forget.” Settling on the edge of the bed, she brought him closer within the V of her thighs. “Perhaps it’s crazy, but I feel like the best thing for us both is to make love. To become one.”

  “To mate.”

  Their eyes met, and hers flared. “Yes.”

  Primal desire blazed within him like nothing he’d felt in eight years. He had claimed her once, but she hadn’t been ready. Now she was, and he wasn’t going to let her go a second time. Slow and agonizing, she undid the first button of his pants, revealing the tip of his red cock. He watched as she leaned over and stuck her tongue out enough to lick the precum from the head. “Hawt fucking hell.”

  The next button released, this time allowing her to place her lips around the tip of the head. Enough to drive his need further into the stratosphere. He pulled back. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “Don’t stop me, please. I need this. I need to be in control.” Emerson glanced up at him wide-eyed and pleading. “Don’t take this power from me right now.”

  “I am yours to command.” How could he say no to her? Although the need to throw her on her stomach, yank her ass up in the air, and claim her wouldn’t recede, in his submission to her, he would find power and give her back what her attackers had taken—her control.

  She popped the next two buttons. Her touch followed his jeans all the way down his legs, her gaze never breaking with his. On the return, she brought her hands from the outside of legs to the inner thighs until she cupped his balls and took him into her mouth. With nothing to grip onto to help maintain control, he clasped his hands behind his neck, praying the sweet torture would never end and simultaneously hurry up.

  Her small tight mouth worked over his head and down his shaft. Her eyes watered as she fought to take more. Taking a steadying breath, he pulled away. “Relax. Don’t try so hard.”

  “I’m a little out of practice.” She bit her lip.

  He groaned. Imagines of her practicing on him years ago flooded his brain. The way she had explored his body with touch and taste had been enough to drive the strongest of men insane, and, where she was concerned, his strength dwindled. “Relax. As long as you’re touching me, it’s perfect.”

  “Are you done talking?”

  He hid a smile. “Make me be.”

  A challenge she would take, and he knew it. Licking her lips and keeping her eyes locked with his, she took his painfully hard cock into her mouth. He sensed her relax as she took a breath in and brought him deep into her throat. She held him there for a second working back up to the tip. She repeated the exercise over and over as he gripped her hair in his fist, helping her create a rhythm guaranteed to keep him from uttering a single word for the very simple reason there was no blood running to his brain. When she took him deep and her tongue shot out, licking the underside of his balls, he threw his head back, growled, and could no more stop his orgasm from happening than he could stop a meteor from hitting the earth.

  His legs shook. By the time he could focus again, she was sitting back wiping her bottom lip with her thumb. She resembled a kitten who had found a bowl of cream. “Out of practice my ass.”

  He fell onto the bed, pulling her into his arms. As the full moon crested over the horizon, every molecule in him demanded he claim her as his—again. His mouth crashed over her, tasting his seed on her tongue, and it spurred him on. When they finally, by mutual need, came up for air, he knew this was the moment she needed to decide.

  “Do you feel the moon? Its pull, the need to merge your life force with mine?”

  She gulped. “Yes.”

  “If we have sex right now, there is no going back.”

  She looked down at his fully erect penis, and, her eyes wide with shock, she sputtered. “But you just—”

  “I’m not a human guy, and, believe me, when the moon is full, so am I.” He kissed the hollow of her jaw below her chin. Reaching between her thighs, he found her wet, and when her hips rose begging for more of his touch, he knew she was his, but she had to say it. He never wanted to have her regret this night or come back and say she didn’t understand what she was agreeing to. He climbed above her, easing her knees apart. Balancing on one arm, he cupped her cheek. “Eight years ago, I claimed you as my mate under the full moon. But I wasn’t confident enough in your feelings for me to let you in on who I really was. Tonight, you know me, all of me, but you also, I hope, know my heart. I have loved you in silence during your absence, and now that I have you, I need to claim you again. Bind you to me forever.”

  “What does it involve?”

  “I have to bite you.”

  She stared in silence, eyes locked with his, the stillness in the room so absolute he
could hear the pounding of her heart. He was convinced she had nothing positive to say, so she didn’t say anything in order to avoid hurting him. Closing his eyes, he rubbed against her once more. Because he needed it if this was the last time, he would do so. He didn’t know what he would do without her by his side, but he couldn’t stay here. Pushing away, he opened his eyes when her legs wrapped around his hips preventing his departure.

  “Kn…Kn….”

  And then it hit him, she wasn’t speaking no because she didn’t want to, but because she couldn’t. So he did the only thing he knew, he kissed her hoping to pass to her his strength. She pushed at his chest, but when he pulled away, she cupped his face.

  “I love you, and I don’t ever want to leave you. I don’t want to be scared anymore. I want to live and love. So whatever you need me to say yes to…yes.”

  “You sure?” He had to be certain.

  “Never more so.”

  He nearly howled as moon lust filled him. He positioned himself at her opening. She lifted her head and demanded he kiss her. He could do nothing more than give her what she asked her. As his tongue entered her mouth, his cock plunged deep within her. They groaned in unison, and then they moved together. She recognized what he needed before he did, and, by instinct, he gave her what he knew she longed for.

  Two becoming one, and, for the first time since their reunion, he didn’t feel rushed or frantic. He could take his time with her and give her everything he had. Now that he understood they had a lifetime, nothing else mattered. He spoke the words of his soul. Their bodies worked in tandem, picking up the pace as they pushed toward the ultimate climax and the binding of their life force.

  As his balls tightened and her inner walls clenched around him, he threw his head back and howled before sinking his teeth into her shoulder. They fell over the edge together. He reveled in the pain as her nails scored his back.

  She was his, and nothing in the world would tear them apart now.

  ***

  Every muscle in her body ached. Leaning over the bathroom sink to get as close as possible to the mirror, she noted the left side of her face had turned fantastic shades of green and purple. The swelling made her look like she had eaten a whole bushel of shrimp and was in the middle of an allergic reaction. She prodded at the puffy skin and wished she hadn’t. She sensed Knox before she saw him. He leaned against the doorjamb, his jeans unbuttoned, giving her a teasing glance of the patch of hair pointing to his cock.