Her blood boiled with rage. She was so close. Then she was in front of him as he readied to pick Michelle up. With a single hard kick, she sent him careening backwards, away from her body. She’d learned a lot from the shifters while growing up. One of those things had been how to defend herself.
Chapter Six
“You’re going to regret that.” He barked, jumping to his feet.
He came at her fast, but she dodged his fist and kicked his side. A meaty hand slapped his side rubbing the spot she’d kicked. He turned angry eyes her way.
“I’m gonna kill you and take her with me and you can’t do anything to stop me.” He hurtled himself at Cici. He moved a lot faster than she expected. He grabbed her wrist with one hand and dodged her leg with the other. Then he slapped her.
Pain radiated all over her cheek. She slammed a fist into his jaw. He howled in anger. Take that, asshole! Before she got a chance to grab her hand back, he took hold of her other wrist. Shoving her backwards, he pushed until her back hit a tree. His large body rubbed over hers. Disgusting.
“Maybe I’ll have some fun with you before I take her home with me.” He grinned, beady eyes staring at her breasts.
“You think you have the balls for that?” She watched his eyes widen. He probably didn’t understand why she wasn’t running scared. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, ignoring all signs of fear.
She knew what was coming. His head dropped closer. She reeled back and slammed forward, hitting their foreheads together. Cracking sounded. His loud yell made her wince. He ran back and away from her. Everything ran around in circles and her head pounded like a bitch.
“You crazy bitch!” He screamed repeatedly, rubbing his forehead while on his knees. Then he threw up. That was just nasty.
Ryker, Chris and a bunch of enforcers ran into the hill from the forest. That’s when shit got real for Michelle’s ex Todd. “You think I’m bad, you’re about to meet your maker.”
Chris shifted, dropping his large gray wolf on the intruder. The animal had no mercy. He bit and clawed at Todd without hesitation. Todd screamed, but the wolf didn’t stop. He clawed at Todd’s chest. Blood spurted everywhere. The wolf bit down repeatedly, tearing him limb from limb.
“Ahhhhh!”
Todd screamed multiple times until his life was torn from him by Chris’ massive canines. Blood covered the grass in a dark red circle around his remains. Even then, the wolf wouldn’t stop. She’d known her brother was strong. But seeing his animal in action was different. The air was pungent with fear, anger and blood. She was so taken by watching the wolf coat himself in the dead man’s blood and continue to chew on his body as if he were a chew toy, that she almost missed Ryker reaching her side.
“Are you okay?” Ryker’s deep gaze focused on her forehead. She rubbed it. Sure enough there was a bump the size of a golf ball on there. Lovely.
“I’m fine,” she whispered, feeling all kinds of weird. They had to talk.
More people filled the hill clearing until the place was packed. Ryker twined his fingers with hers and pulled her forward. What the hell was he thinking? Had she been of a weaker constitution she may have fainted. Plus, her head pounded something fierce. Thank God for the shifter self-defense lessons she’d taken growing up and those she’d followed up while living in the city on her own. Kick-boxing rocked.
“Ryker, what do you want from me?” She asked once they were by the creek. The sun started to go down and the trees made it appear even darker outside.
He cupped her arms and turned her to face him. The look in his eyes left her breathless. “You. I only want you.”
She bit her lip and thought about the girls and women that had told her all her life she wasn’t right for him because she was the wrong species. “You need a shifter in your life.”
He crowded her, pushing her back against the closest tree. Her back hit the unforgiving trunk and she whimpered in the back of her throat at the feel of his hard body pressing her front.
“I only need you, Cici. You’re my everything.”
She wanted to laugh at his silly words. Not feel her heart beat double time. “How can you say that? You hardly know me. We went on one date, Ryker. One. And we were teens.”
He lifted a hand and ran his fingers into her hair, cupping her neck and caressing her jaw with his thumb. “I know you are it for me, Cici. I knew it the first time I saw you. My animal and my instinct to connect with my mate told me it was you.”
She swallowed back the knot forming in her throat. Most of her life she’d dreamed of hearing him say that. She wanted to be his everything. But she’d been jaded with the years of being told humans were not good enough for a shifter. “I thought humans were too weak to be shifter mates?”