ignoring that seductive call. I managed to challenge myself before, when I trusted Mari to cut the arrows out of me. I hadn’t felt that scared in years, and for a moment, thought I might not survive it. But I did.
I was changing. The meek, silent man who once clung to Jandro as his only friend was someone I didn’t recognize anymore. Now I could hang out in a bar with other guys, hug a woman I cared about, and talk to her without issue.
When looking at it that way, a dinner party no longer sounded like the worst thing in the world.
I might even survive it.
Twenty-Six
GUNNER
They looked like ants marching through the dust, but we knew it was them. I urged Horus to fly closer, just to make sure.
He sailed overhead, the details of the riders becoming clearer as he approached. There was no mistaking Jandro’s tricked out ride in the middle of the pack, or Mari wrapped around his waist. Shadow rode a few bike lengths behind them, while T-Bone, Grudge, and Larkan guarded the front.
My human body was moving before my consciousness slipped back into it, and I nearly tumbled over the small table.
“Watch it, bird brain,” Reaper growled.
“They’re heading back,” I said. “Maybe three miles out.”
He looked up from his maps. “All of them?”
“Yeah, everyone.”
The president slammed his palms victoriously on the wood surface as he stood up. “Fucking finally.”
It felt like they took three hundred hours to travel three miles. We stood anxiously outside of the B&B, our temporary home, while the roars of their bikes grew steadily closer.
My heart went nuts at the sight of them with my human eyes coming down the street. I bounced on my toes, eager to see my woman’s smile and taste her kiss again. Reaper stood like a monument next to me, his emotions on a tightly-held leash.
When Jandro pulled up and Mari threw her leg over the bike, Reap was on her in a flash. Her helmet went crashing to the ground as he shoved it off her head and grabbed her nape for a rough kiss.
“Lark, Shadow.” I nodded at our guys who were also dismounting. “Glad to see y’all back in one piece.”
“Glad to be back.” Larkan looked around, in search of Noelle most likely. “That territory was fucking weird.”
I looked back at Reaper, still wrapped around Mari and playing tonsil-hockey with her like they were in their own little universe. Jandro saw me and laughed. “Give them a few seconds. He deprived her, remember?”
“Yeah, and whose fucking fault is that?” I crossed my arms.
Mari finally came up for air and looked at me, a dreamy smile on her face that made my heart leap. “Gunner!” Thankfully, Reaper released his hold and allowed her to come over to me.
“Baby girl.”
I took her face in my hands and kissed her sweetly at first, but that single taste awakened just how badly I missed her. I pulled her sweet curves flush to me and devoured her mouth just as Reaper did.
“Never leave us again.” The taste of Reaper’s cloves and whiskey on her dissolved quickly, and my tongue found her sweet, feminine flavor underneath.
“I won’t.” She pulled at my shirt, nails scraping over fabric and skin as she devoured me just as hungrily.
A growl ripped from my throat as she nipped my neck, hands roaming under my shirt shamelessly. Meeting Reaper’s eyes over her head, I knew we had to be briefed on what happened, but fuck it. Everyone was home and alive. It could wait.
Reaper walked up behind Mari, pinning her against me with his own body against her back. Dragging his fingers through her hair, he raked the dark strands away from her ear to growl, “Inside.” Then he nipped at her earlobe and released her.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I pulled her by the hand to our room in the B&B, leaving it open for him and Jandro before I lifted her up. Knowing where I was headed, she wrapped her legs around my waist, arms around my shoulders.
“Fuck, I missed you.” She let out a soft gasp when I pressed her back to a wall.
“Baby girl.” With my hips anchoring her to the wall, my freed hands roamed my woman’s gorgeous body. “You’re about to find out exactly just how much I missed you.”
I got her topless before the other two got there, Jandro nearly tripping on her discarded bra before he locked the door with a definitive click. “Remember to