Only, the hard surface below me reminded me of cold concrete, not the warmth of Ryder’s bed.
For one heart-wrenching moment, I wondered if my time with him had been a fantasy. One contrived by my mind to save me from the horrors of my true existence. But I could smell his minty aftershave, the familiarity a balm to my raging senses as I stretched to loosen stiff joints.
“Ryder?” I whispered, my voice hoarse as though I’d slept for too long. And perhaps I had. That’d been a messed-up cycle of dreams. I vividly remembered it all as if it’d been real, the dual worlds still very much alive within me. The scents were with me, too. Alpha lycans and an ancient vampire.
My nose twitched, and I slowly opened my eyes to find myself at the bottom of the stairs in Ryder’s house, curled in a ball.
I blinked and glanced up to see the alpha male from my dreams smirking at me. Ryder stood a few feet away, his shoulder braced against the wall. “I thought you said your method would hurt,” he drawled.
“It would have had I forced her to shift. But she did that on her own,” the male replied, still staring at me. “All because her inner vampire wanted to challenge my wolf.” His eyes ran over me with interest. “I’m ready to dance when you are, sweetheart.”
“She’s not yours to play with,” Ryder informed him.
“I didn’t say I wanted to play,” the alpha returned.
Silas wrapped his arm around the other male’s waist and leaned in to nip the man’s neck sharply, eliciting a growl from the alpha. “That’s a challenge, Alpha,” Silas said.
“Protecting your friend, Enforcer?” the alpha asked.
Silas nipped him again. “Just providing you with a better match.”
The sweet scent of oranges tickled my nose, making me sneeze. It was coming from one of the lycans. The female, maybe?
Why can I smell that?
“If you’re preparing to frolic on my lands, then ask Damien to turn off the security,” Ryder said. He bent down to scoop me up into his arms. “I’ll be upstairs having a long talk with my pet.”
25
Willow
Of course, now Ryder decided to carry me.
Not when I couldn’t figure out how to use four legs and needed help, but when I had two legs again and could walk just fine.
As much as I wanted to say something, I couldn’t, because the thought of four legs evaporated whatever amusement I had at the situation.
“I’m a wolf,” I whispered, more to myself than to Ryder.
“Are you?” Ryder asked. “I hadn’t noticed.”
I glared at him.
He smirked back.
And somehow that lightened the situation again just a little. He carried me into his room and kicked the door closed with his heel before setting me on his bed. Then he leaned down to place his hands on either side of my hips, causing me to fall backward into the mattress. He hummed in approval as he lowered himself over me to touch his mouth to mine.
“In fact, you feel very human to me, Willow,” he said softly, nibbling my lower lip. He winked and rolled off me to lie on his back beside me with both of our legs dangling off the bed. It was an almost playful position and so very Ryder-like to me.
“Tell me what happened.”
“A demand?” he asked, shifting again up the bed to rest on his side with his head propped up by his hand. “How very wolfish of you.”
I crawled backward to join him, then moved into a similar position. His gaze dropped to my breasts, only then causing me to realize my nudity. “You’ve seen it before,” I said. “Now tell me what happened.”
“Hmm,” he hummed. “Perhaps I’m still intrigued after all.”
“Ryder.”
“Willow.”
Ugh, this man! “Tell me what happened.”
He sighed as if it were some big deal to inform me how I’d become a wolf. Or a hybrid. Or whatever the hell I was.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked softly, reaching across the small space between us to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. His touch relaxed me almost instantly, his power over me lost somewhere between enthralling and terrifying. He’d become my lifeline these last few weeks, a beacon of light in a sea of darkness.
Nothing he did matched what I expected, including now as he traced a line down my neck to my collarbone, his dark eyes hypnotically beautiful.
“I remember being in bed with you,” I whispered. “I think I fell asleep while you were in the