Midlife Dragon Daddy (Midlife Shifters Book 10) Page 8

But only if they have the sense to go quickly.

  And she felt, with a sick sense of certainty, that they wouldn’t go. They would wait to see what had happened to her. They wouldn’t want to leave her behind.

  No, Valerie. Please. Take him and get away before it’s too late.

  She shivered. If those grizzlies got their hands on her son...

  The door creaked in its hinges, jerking her out of her thoughts. It cracked open, allowing a beam of light back into the room.

  “Haley,” a voice whispered. “You down there?”

  Haley’s voice broke on a sob. “Ryker?”

  “Hang on,” he said. “I’m coming to get you out.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  HALEY

  “Jesus,” Ryker muttered, kneeling behind her.

  “Can you get the chains off?” Haley asked. She was trembling with nervous energy now, her body so full of adrenaline that she felt like she might need to run a sprint to burn it off.

  “I think so.” She heard clicking, and then the chains fell loose. “I knew learning to pick a lock would come in handy. Come on, let’s get out of here before they come back. I don’t want to be in a confined space if it comes to a fight.”

  “They’re gone, then?” she asked. “But you didn’t...you didn’t kill them?”

  “I didn’t know if I should,” he said. “I didn’t know if that would make things worse. If there are more of them, I don't want them coming after you again. What did you do to piss them off?”

  “It’s a long story,” she said. “I’ll tell you, but—how did you find me?”

  “I tracked you,” he said. “I came to Shifter Town to look for you, and a friend of yours told me you were missing, so I took to the sky. Didn’t take long to find the trailer. It was the only car around for miles. And then when they stopped and pulled you out of the back, it was just a matter of waiting to see what would happen.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “Come on,” he said, taking her by the hand and leading her up the stairs to the surface. Sunlight had never felt so good in all of Haley’s life.

  “Can you fly?” he asked. “We want to put some distance between us and this place before those men come back. Unless you want to stay and fight them?”

  “No,” she said. “Let’s get away.”

  She spread her wings, sinking into the safety and strength of her dragon self, and for the first time in years, she relished in the presence of Ryker at her side.

  THE MOMENT THEY TOUCHED down, claws shifting back into feet and hands, he was pulling her close, his mouth finding hers, his leg locking around her ankle, and their bodies were flush together.

  “You scared the hell out of me, you know,” he breathed.

  She’d scared herself. And all she could think now was, he came for me. He came to save me.

  She hadn’t dared to hope for it. Her best hope had been that Valerie would run away. It had never occurred to her that Ryker would intervene on her behalf.

  She wanted him desperately, all of a sudden, in a way she couldn’t recall ever wanting him before.

  She wrapped her fingers around him and found him already wonderfully hard, and he groaned as she stroked him slowly. She’d always done this before as foreplay, deliberately, to help put him in the mood, but right now, she just didn’t want to stop touching him. She wanted to lose herself in the pleasure of this experience, to chase away the fear and pain of everything she’d just been through.

  Briefly, she gave thanks for the fact that Ryker had reassured her Valerie had been moved to a safe place. Haley knew her friend would have taken the children with her. There was no need to hurry back. They’d be safe from the grizzlies.

  So she sank to her knees on the ground and took Ryker into her mouth, relaxing her muscles so that she could suck him deeply, burying her face in his stomach.

  He groaned. She could feel him throbbing against the back of her throat. It was so wildly good that she had to touch herself. She was going to lose her mind. She gave herself two fingers to rub against, pressing hard, and then three—

  Ryker grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. Before she could make sense of what was happening, he was flipping her, lifting her so that she was upside down with her knees propped against his shoulders. She grabbed his hips to stabilize herself, and he buried his face between her legs and began to lick.

  Haley’s toes curled with pleasure. Where had he learned to do this? It had never been this wild between the two of them before—

  But she couldn’t think. Her hips were grinding against his face, almost of their own free will, as she chased the orgasm that was nearly within reach. She grabbed his cock again, stroked twice, and then guided it to her lips. She had never needed to suck him the way she did now. It had always been for his pleasure, not for hers. But this moment wouldn’t have been complete, wouldn’t have been perfect, without him in her mouth. And fuck, she wanted him to come on her tongue. She wanted to taste it.

  She hardly knew herself.

  His hands were on her ass now, both massaging and holding her up. He pulled her closer, dragging his tongue in rough circles against her. She spread her legs wider—his shoulders could accommodate it—and felt her hips hitch with desire. God, don’t stop, make me come, let me come.

  She wrapped one of her legs around the back of his head and dragged him closer. She wouldn’t have believed that closer was even possible, but now she could feel the shape of his face pressed up against her—fuck, that was so fucking hot—oh, she was close—

  He shouted, his hips jerking, and her mouth was filled, hot and salty, and she swallowed and swallowed and wanted more, her thighs shaking, ass clenching, arcs of pleasure shooting through her body until she thought she was going to pass out.

  Slowly, carefully, Ryker lowered her back onto the ground and dropped to his knees.

  Haley felt boneless.

  “That was...where did you learn to do that?” she murmured.

  He shook his head. “I’ve never done it like that before,” he said. “I just learned it from you. Just now.”

  She looked over at him, and the wonder in his eyes mirrored her feelings exactly.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  HALEY

  “You’re sure Valerie is safe?” Haley asked Ryker.

  The two of them were sitting side by side on the ground, their backs against neighboring tree trunks. They weren’t touching, but Haley felt as though the air between them was charged with electricity. She was acutely aware of his body beside hers.

  Ryker nodded. “She said she had somewhere to go,” he said. “She said she was going to take her kids and go to a safe house, and that if I found you, I should let you know where it was.”

  “You know where it is?” Haley hadn’t even realized Valerie had bought a house yet. She must have wasted no time.

  “She gave me the address,” Ryker said. “She said she wasn’t supposed to be moving in until the weekend, but that she’d go over a few days early. She didn’t think it would be a problem.”

  “Wow,” Haley said. “She sorted that out fast. I didn’t know she had a place.”

  “Did you buy it for her?” Ryker asked.

  Haley looked at him.

  “Sorry,” he said. “You don’t have to tell me. I mean, I know it’s not my business what you do. It just seems like...well, you did just come into a lot of money.”

  “It’s fine,” Haley said. “I don’t mind telling you. I did buy it. I bought it for both of us.”

  “You know she gave me the address, right?” Ryker said. “I kind of thought you didn’t want me to know where you lived.”

  Haley shrugged. “After today, I’m feeling like maybe it would be in my best interests if you did have that information.”

  “So you trust me now? Is that it?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “I think you do,” Ryker said.

  Haley sighed. The truth was, she didn’t know. Maybe
she did trust him.

  There had been a moment, down in that underground cellar, when she had found herself really wishing that he knew about their son. Because as hesitant as she was to allow Ryker into Danny’s life, she knew that Danny would be much better off with his father than he would be with the grizzlies. Ryker might not raise her son the way Haley would have liked, but he would protect him. He would teach him the ways of the dragon. And he would never involve him in a life of crime.

  And Ryker was strong. He was powerful in a way Valerie just wasn’t. Danny would be safer with him.

  Ryker must have seen the indecision on her face. He moved so that he was sitting directly in front of her, so that she had no choice but to look him in the eye.

  “I know I hurt you, Haley,” he said quietly. “I know that.”

  She wouldn’t pretend otherwise. She nodded.

  “I shouldn’t have done it,” he said. “It’s the biggest mistake I ever made in my life, throwing you out the way I did.”

  It’s just words. He doesn’t mean it. Don’t take it seriously. Don’t let him back in.

  She took a breath and hardened herself. She couldn’t afford to think about what it had been like when they were together—but it was so hard, when they’d just had such mind-blowing sex and her head was so full of bliss. She wanted to crawl into his arms and kiss him.

  Don’t.

  “Okay,” she said. “It was a mistake. I believe you.”

  “Can you forgive me?”

  “I’m working on that,” she said. “I probably can. You saved my life today. I can’t pretend that doesn’t affect the way I see you. It’s hard to be angry with you after that.”

  “I don’t want you to be angry with me,” he said quietly.

  “But, Ryker...I can’t trust you with my heart again. You know that, right? You and I aren’t getting back together. That’s not what we’re talking about here.”

  He searched her gaze. “I guess that’s fair,” he said quietly.

  She felt guilty. She wished she didn’t. There was nothing to feel guilty about. She was under no obligation to take him back. If he wanted her, he shouldn’t have dissolved their marriage and thrown her out in the cold.

  And the fact that he’s sorry about it now doesn’t change the fact that I spent the last ten years living on my own in a shack that you could barely call a home. It doesn’t change the fact that I raised our son on my own.

  But she couldn’t deny the fact that her bond to him was still there. As much as she wanted to hold herself apart, to treat this job she’d taken on as a job and nothing more—she still had feelings for him. She couldn’t pretend otherwise.

  “Why did you save me?” she asked him.

  He looked surprised. “What?”

  “Why did you come after me and save me?” she asked. “You must have known there was at least some risk that you’d have to fight off three men. I think you could have taken them, but you might have been hurt. Why did you bother?”

  “I don’t know why you’re asking me that,” Ryker said.

  “Because I need to know,” Haley said. “Was it just that you needed me for your coup? You didn’t want to bother with finding another dragon shifter? Or maybe it was the fact that you’d already spent all your money on me?”

  “No,” Ryker said. “I wasn’t thinking about the money, Haley. How could you think that?”

  “Then what?”

  “I still care about you,” Ryker said. “We might not be together anymore, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, Haley.” He held up a hand. “I know. I sent you away. It was awful of me. But I couldn’t compound that mistake. I couldn’t let them take you.”

  He really has changed.

  A decision crystalized in her mind.

  “Will you come back to my house with me?” she asked, getting to her feet. “There’s something I think you ought to see.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  HALEY

  “This is the address your friend gave me,” Ryker said. He was looking at Haley with obvious confusion. “Do you think there was some kind of mistake?”

  “No,” Haley said quietly. “No, I’m sure this is right.”

  It was just that she couldn’t quite believe it. She had fantasized about this moment a million times. She had imagined what it would be like to find her own house, a place that wasn’t that shack in Shifter Town. But she’d never dreamed it would be this beautiful.

  Not that it was anything particularly special. As houses went, it was small. It was a split level that only rose one story above the ground. The lawn was mostly dead, and the stairs leading up to the porch were broken.

  But there was something wonderful about it all the same.

  Maybe it was the garden box in front of the kitchen window, where Haley could imagine growing her own vegetables. You couldn’t grow your own vegetables in Shifter Town. Someone was likely to steal them as soon as they took root. No one in Shifter Town ever had enough to eat.

  Or maybe it was the pale pink door that made this house stand out from a thousand other houses. There was something special about that, something that made Haley feel as though the place belonged to her.

  Which it does.

  Maybe that was it. Maybe what made this place so special was the knowledge that it was hers. She’d bought it with her own money—or at least, Valerie had. Money that Haley had earned.

  No one can ever chase me away. No one can ever throw me out. This place is safe, and lovely, and mine forever.

  It wasn’t as nice as the home she’d had when she’d lived with the clan. But she loved it much, much more.

  Ryker was still watching her. “Should we go in?” he asked. “They’ll be waiting for us, right? I know your friend was worried about you.”

  “Yeah, I guess she probably was,” Haley said. “Let’s go.”

  She walked up onto the porch and hesitated. She had a funny feeling that she ought to knock.

  No. I don’t need to. This is my home.

  Hand trembling slightly, she reached out and opened the door.

  “Hello?” she called.

  Valerie appeared in the hallway. She was holding a shotgun.

  Haley started to step toward her friend, but Ryker growled and threw out an arm, pushing her back toward the door. “Drop the gun.”

  “Ryker!” Haley protested. “She’s in her own home, for God’s sake.”

  “Nobody points a gun at my—”

  He went abruptly silent.

  My mate. Nobody points a gun at my mate. She felt as if she had heard the part of his sentence that he hadn’t finished saying.

  He had defended her. He’d had the gut instinct to defend her that came with being a mated pair, even though she hadn’t been in any particular need of defending.

  Nothing could have made her feel surer of the decision she had made to bring him back here.

  Valerie didn’t drop the gun. “What is he doing here, Haley?” she demanded, without so much as a waver in her voice.

  Haley was astounded by her friend’s courage. If it came to a fight, dragon versus wolf, Ryker could have gutted Valerie with one swipe of a claw.

  “It’s all right,” she said quickly. “Everybody, stand down. “I brought him here, Valerie.”

  “You brought him here?”

  “Didn’t you give him our address? This can’t be a surprise.”

  “Are you kidding? I didn’t think you were going to invite him over.”

  “He saved me,” she said. “It was the grizzlies, Valerie. They attacked me. Dragged me into this underground bunker they had. If it hadn’t been for Ryker, God only knows what would have happened.”

  “And so you just trust him now?” Valerie said disbelievingly. “You can’t, Haley. After what he did to you?”

  “I’m not saying I’m ready to let that go,” Haley said.

  “Well, this isn’t just your decision,” Valerie said fiercely. “I live here too. My daughter lives here
.”

  “Hold on,” Ryker said, holding his hands up, showing his palms in a gesture of surrender. “I don’t know you—it’s Valerie, right?”

  She glared at him and didn’t respond.

  “But I don’t have anything against you,” Ryker said. “I don’t have any desire to do you harm. You or your children. What happened ten years ago is between Haley and me, and I know I acted badly, but that behavior doesn’t extend outside my marriage. I’m not that kind of person.”

  “It’s true,” Haley said. “He’s never been bad to anyone other than me. He was a bad husband. But he’s not an evil man.”

  “This isn’t what you’ve spent the last ten years telling me,” Valerie said. “Everything you’ve said to me has been all about how he ruined your life because he’s heartless and only cares about himself.”

  “He does only care about himself,” Haley said. “But you don’t need him to care about you, Valerie. You just need him not to go out of his way to hurt you. And he won’t.”

  “I don’t only care about myself,” Ryker protested.

  “Why did you bring him here,” Valerie said.

  “I’m ready for him to meet Danny,” Haley said.

  Valerie’s jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious. That’s the one thing you always said would never happen. You’ve only been working for him for a little over a week, and already you’re going back on that?”

  “It’s the right thing,” Haley said. “And it’s what’s best for Danny. After what just happened to me, I need to be sure he has someone else in his life.”

  “Who’s Danny?” Ryker asked. His tone was suspicious.

  Haley sighed and turned to face him.

  “This might not be easy,” she said. “But I want you to understand, I had my reasons. Please, try to understand that.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Ryker said. “Who is Danny?”

  “Danny is my son,” Haley said quietly. “Our son. And I want you to meet him.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  RYKER

  Ryker couldn’t have been any more stunned, not even if she had hit him in the face with a frying pan.