Chapter Nine
Everything went so fast, Ashley struggled to keep up. The blasts of sound from a gun firing made her ears ring, and the scent of the body on top of her said Torrin had taken her to the ground.
He was heavy, and his body blanketed her like a shield.
Closer shots said someone was firing back, as Torrin cupped the back of her neck and pulled her face against his chest, keeping her tucked there.
Cursing, shouted responses and, after a few moments of silence, the weight on her lifted.
Hands on her arms pulled her up from the ground, and Ashley forced herself to open her eyes.
Blood on the ground said someone was hurt, and she lifted her gaze to find it dripping from Erik’s fingers. His black coat hid most of it, but then she found the damage to his left shoulder, the coat shiny as blood soaked into it.
Liam appeared unharmed, as did Torrin, though both Erik and Liam held pistols she hadn’t noticed before. They didn’t look like the sweet, kind alphas she’d grown used to.
They looked angry and capable and dangerous.
Then Erik turned a furious look at Ashley and she took a large step backward, away from it.
He turned his face away, though the frustration there didn’t leave.
“Let’s get off the street,” Liam said. “It seems we need to get somewhere safe, then I think our little omega has some explaining to do.”
Her stomach dropped at the idea of doing it, which seemed almost more frightening than what had just happened.
* * * *
Erik gritted his teeth as the doctor prodded the wound.
He rarely got hit, which meant he wasn’t used to bullet wounds. Him letting his guard down chafed, that he’d not only risked himself but Ashley, all because he’d been distracted by her.
He knew better than to ever relax, yet he’d done so around her. Worse, there was no sign of the shooter. The man must have run.
And now, back at the apartment, they’d contacted a local doctor to treat his wound. A hospital would have to report the injury, but their own doctor had more discretion.
Not that Erik had sat still. Upon reaching the apartment, he’d immediately upped their security safeguards. Even as the doctor had examined him, he’d been on his phone.
Ashley sat on the couch, and she hadn’t said a word. Erik was on a stool over the tile in the kitchen so he didn’t stain anything while the doctor worked, and Liam stood near the window, tension lining his body. Torrin was on his phone, pacing, the click of his cane against the floor loud as he dealt with the increased security needs.
At least they didn’t need to worry about securing the other apartment, because there was no chance that Ashley would be sleeping alone there.
Hell, after the close call, she’d be lucky to get to sleep in a bed alone.
The bullets hadn’t been near her, so he doubted she was the target.
Still, they’d been too close. Accidents happened and stray bullets could claim lives.
That fear drew a snarl from him, even when the doctor stitching his skin together didn’t.
It took longer than he would have liked before the doctor placed a bandage on the front and back of his shoulder and declared him well enough. He left a prescription for antibiotics to avoid infections and pain meds before he left.
As soon as the door shut, when they were alone, Erik twisted in the stool to stare at Ashley.
She hadn’t spoken, her knees drawn up to her chest, her gaze on the floor.
She looked exhausted.
The way she’d stepped away from him hurt. He’d been pissed, sure, given the secrets she’d kept that had clearly been dangerous. The terror in her eyes had taken him back, though, back to when the last female he’d risked feeling anything for had done the same.
He’d dealt with distrust, had used it and even enjoyed the power it gave him, but he didn’t like to see that on the face of someone who had no reason to fear him. He’d never escaped that same wariness in Beth’s eyes, the way she’d never let her guard down with him.
He pushed that aside, because they had more important things to deal with than his wounded feelings.
Liam turned around as Torrin hung up his call, all their attention returning to Ashley.
A nod from Erik let Liam know to take the lead.
He was the best at coaxing, and Ashley needed a gentle touch to get her to speak.
Liam took a seat beside her. “You didn’t run because of us, did you?”
She shook her head. It was an obvious answer, but that was how interrogations worked. Ask small, easy questions, and once they answered, a person was more likely to answer the harder ones.
“What’s after you, sweet?”
“Gregory.” The name was whispered with a fear that made Erik’s alpha side snarl. He didn’t like her being afraid of anything.
“Who’s that?”
She sighed, dropping her gaze to follow the lines of tile as if that made it easier. “I met him when I was seventeen. I thought he was nice.”
Given that she was a virgin, he couldn’t have been a serious boyfriend.
Still, she kept going. “We were friends, even though he made it clear he wanted more. He kept getting pushier, more controlling. I tried to tell him I didn’t want him. I thought I could let him down easy and it would be okay.”
Her hesitation said it wasn’t okay, but Erik could have guessed that.
“What happened when you told him?” Liam coaxed.
“One of my fathers got into an accident. His car was almost pushed off a bridge. Gregory met me at the hospital and told me the world was a dangerous place. He said it would be less dangerous if I accepted his proposition.”
Erik lifted his lip, keeping the sound of his reaction in despite the rage that swamped him at the idea of anyone threatening Ashley.
Liam set a hand on her knee and gave her a squeeze but let her go at her own pace.
She shuddered as if the support were enough for her to continue. “That was when I ran, at eighteen. I couldn’t stay and risk my family. I’ve picked up and moved over a dozen times, changing states, leaving nothing behind, but he always finds me.”
Erik frowned as he did the math. She’d run at eighteen, which meant she’d been going on her own for six years. The thought of that sweet girl being alone for all that time broke him. She needed affection. She was the type to thrive on that.
“Did you ever go to the police?” Torrin asked.
“I tried at the start. I sat in an interrogation room for hours talking to them, trying to get them to understand. After that, one detective handed me a phone and Gregory was on the line. I figured out then that he has people everywhere.” The bottomless hopelessness of her words bled through, and suddenly her hesitation and fear made sense.
She’d had no one to trust for so many years, no one to rely on, nothing but herself and what seemed like an endless, fruitless race.
“And you didn’t tell us because you were afraid we’d sell you out like that police station did?” Liam asked.
She nodded. “I’ve learned that Gregory has a long reach. Every time I’ve let my guard down, he’s made me pay for it.”
Fuck. Erik’s chest ached, his anger dissipating.
He’d deal with this Gregory soon enough. He’d remove that problem from her life—slowly and painfully—but right now it wasn’t the priority.
Instead, what mattered was the fragile omega who sat on the couch looking defeated. Despite the fact that she’d outrun and outsmarted someone who had proven to be a brutal and dangerous male, she seemed to feel as though she’d failed.
Which was stupid. After all he’d done, Gregory must have money, power, connections and an unhealthy obsession, yet even with all that, he hadn’t managed to get Ashley beneath his thumb.
Erik considered that one a hell of a win.
Liam caught her chin and turned her to look him in the eyes. “You’re going to give us all the information you have on Gregory.”
“You don’t understand how dangerous he is.”
And she didn’t understand how dangerous they were. Though, given her history with Gregory, Erik doubted it would be good for her to know that. If he’d been sure she wouldn’t react well to their truth before, that had only been cemented because of what he’d now learned.
Liam curled his lip into a smile no doubt meant to reassure. “We know people who can help. First, though, we need more information. So, you will tell us everything, then you will eat, then you will sleep.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow we’ll deal with you trying to run out on us,” Erik said.
She turned to meet his gaze, the first time she’d looked directly at him since she’d stepped away. There was still a wariness in her eyes, one he wanted to wipe clear, but that wouldn’t happen then.
Liam leaned in and brushed his lips to hers, recapturing her attention. “You’ll need your strength, omega, so make sure you rest up. I don’t feel particularly interested in going easy on you.”
And Erik was on board with that plan.
The night crept in on Ashley.
She hadn’t talked about Gregory in so long that recalling their long and unhappy history felt like ripping scabs off festering wounds. Those spots on her now ached, burning as she thought about the man who had stolen so much from her.
The alphas had listened without chiming in other than to ask questions.
Much of it she didn’t know.
Gregory had always been an enigma to her, a mystery she couldn’t quite figure out.
From all the people who seemed to do what he said, she knew he had some amount of power, but she didn’t know what he did, didn’t know anything specific.
The more she spoke about him, the more she realized how little she actually understood about the monster who had chased her. They’d met by sheer chance at a small shop she had worked evenings at. He’d kept coming around, kept showing up where she was, until they’d turned into friends. If she ever asked about his work or his life, he’d side-step the question. She knew his last name was fake, because when she’d first run, she’d tried to search for it without luck.
By the time they’d finished the conversation, during which Liam had given her something to eat, it had been three in the morning.
When she’d been ready to head back to her own place, they’d made it clear she would instead be staying with them.
It was safer, she knew, yet it still felt like a large step she wasn’t sure she was ready for.
There appeared to be four main bedrooms in their apartment, each with a bathroom and office. When she used the one that didn’t smell of the alphas, one with a faint scent of an omega she didn’t recognize, she struggled to feel comfortable.
Whose room was it? Fresh flowers sat on the side table as if they expected whoever stayed there to return at any time.
She lay there for nearly an hour, but by the time the clock hit four, she was done.
She went to the slider, figuring sleeping on that outside sofa again would work well. She could curl up, breathe in the comforting scent of the alphas instead of an omega she didn’t know, and manage a little shut-eye.
The door opened and she took herself to the balcony. The first breeze that caught her hair and ruffled it eased the tightness of her chest.
“You shouldn’t be out here.” Torrin. Of course it was him. He was the shadow who was always there, yet always just out of reach.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“If Gregory has people who are watching, then being outside in the open is unwise.”
Ashley turned to look at the slider to the room she’d stayed in and took her lip between her teeth.
“Ask for what you want.”
“Can I come to your room?” She lifted her gaze to his, throwing it out there.
And she expected him to turn her down, to tell her that if she wouldn’t sleep in the room they’d supplied her, she should go to Liam or Erik.
Except his shoulders dropped and he nodded, then held his hand toward a slider farther down. “Come along.”
Torrin’s room was different from what she’d expected.
He was so well put together, regal and proper. She’d expected black and white silk bedding with bare shelving, everything minimalist and expensive. She’d expected it to reflect the rest of the apartment.
Instead, the room was full of warmth. A faded leather chair sat in the corner, the seat and back worn from obvious use. The bed was unmade, with the beige comforter thrown around and a crocheted throw in a rainbow of colors.
It was comfortable in a way Ashley hadn’t expected, but between that and his scent, she relaxed.
“If it’s so dangerous, aren’t the big windows a problem?” she asked as he closed the door.
“Who do you take me for? This glass is bullet-proof. Anything short of a missile attack, they can easily withstand, and since he doesn’t seem to want you harmed, I suspect that won’t happen.”
Ashley turned toward Torrin and gave him a smirk. “That’s why you let me come in here, isn’t it? I’m your human shield.”
He didn’t smile, but he didn’t need to. Ashley could spot the slight crinkle beside his eyes, the lightening of his gaze. “As I recall, when we were in danger, it was I that shielded you.”
That reminded Ashley of how his body had fit against hers. She hadn’t really felt him before, given the distance he always kept between them.
His body was lean and strong. He wasn’t Liam or Erik, with a lot of bulk, but that hadn’t hidden the hard lines or just how much she wanted to see and feel more of it.
Which was foolish.
She tore her gaze away, trying to still her reaction, to hide it.
“Eyes on me.” His tone brooked no argument. He didn’t speak harshly, didn’t raise his voice, yet it never failed to demand her compliance.
She met his dark eyes.
He pulled her in with his intense gaze. “Why are you here? You could have sought out my cousins. They’ve offered you everything. Why do you look at me the way you do?”
Ashley was drawn toward him, to where he stood beside the closed slider. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it.”
He crossed the touch barrier again when he slid a hand behind her neck, the heavy weight of it reassuring. “I can’t give you the things you want, dove, the things you deserve.”
“Why not?”
“Because it isn’t possible. Now, get in the bed or go back to your own room, because you need sleep.”
When she didn’t move, he used his grip on the nape of her neck to get her going, and her choice was easy. The bed looked too welcoming to ignore, and she was sure the best way to get any shut-eye would involve being surrounded by his scent.
She crawled into the bed, the warmth of it implying he’d been lying there before coming out to the balcony to check on her.
The tap of his cane against the floor had her rolling to face him. “What happened to your leg?”
He didn’t tense, didn’t seem as though talking about it bothered him. He did look down as if he’d forgotten, though. “I shattered my hip in my teenage years. It never healed right.”
“Car accident?”
He shook his head. “No. An angry man with a baseball bat.”
The words had her rising. “How? Who would do that?”
“My uncle. Now, would you like me to sleep in the living room?”
His words scraped along her, so sharp she had trouble accepting or believing them. Her family had been so important to her, her fathers a source of strength. To think of her own family being the ones to do such a thing…
She shuddered and took a moment to say a silent thanks for her own life. The set of his jaw and short words made it clear he’d say no more on the subject, so she let it go.
“Stay, please.” She patted the bed beside her. “I’ll sleep better if I’m not alone.”
He didn’t look happy with the choice, but after a moment, he slid into the bed carefully. He moved surprisingly well given his injury, but then again, if it had happened as a teenager, he’d had a lot of years to grow accustomed to it.
“Lie down,” he ordered her.
Ashley did so, and under the coaxing of his hands, she rolled to her side, her back to him. He didn’t move against her, though he kept one hand on her hip.
Only a thin layer of cotton rested between them from her shorts, and the heat of his palm soaked through it and into her skin.
She moved her thighs, the action forcing her shorts to rub against her, reminding her how badly her body begged her for release.
Funny, since she’d never needed sex before. She’d masturbated, of course, but it hadn’t ever felt like this. It hadn’t ever made her thirst for it before.
His sigh was hot and made her hair rustle. “You’re not going to sleep, are you?”
“I’m trying. I just can’t…” She flushed at the idea of telling him that the problem was that she was horny. “I can’t relax,” she settled for.
He let out a soft hum, as if he knew better.
She waited for him to tell her to go to sleep anyway, to scold her for feelings he didn’t return.
Instead, his deep, smooth voice rumbled through the darkness of the room. “Take your shorts off, dove.”
Nothing could stop the shot of arousal she felt at that command.
The increase of Ashley’s mouthwatering scent screamed what she thought about Torrin’s idea.
Not that he needed anything to tell him that. He had eyes—he could see how much she wanted him. It thrilled him as much as it scared him.
He wanted her. Hell, no, it was worse than that. He was pretty sure he needed her.
And yet despite her requiring sleep, that her body would be dragging come tomorrow if she didn’t lie down and rest, she wouldn’t relax.
His nose was more than good enough to know the reason for it. It had been written in the hungry stare of her eyes, in the way her thighs had rubbed together.
The omega was beyond needy. Her body screamed out for satisfaction he wished he could give her.
He wanted nothing more than to part her soft, warm thighs and slide into her wet heat. He wanted to worship every inch of her perfect body, to indulge in each curve of hers, each delectable spot on her form, until she couldn’t even imagine keeping her eyes open for another moment.
However, he hadn’t been lying about that not being possible. Even if he’d risked crossing the touch barrier, he still couldn’t really have her.
Each time they were in close contact, she would carry some of his scent on her skin. However, it was the exchange of fluids that would truly make him a part of her. If he came inside her, if he licked her, if he left any of himself on her like that, then he would change her scent.
Enemies who got close enough to either of them would be able to tell, and that was a danger he couldn’t risk.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t take the edge off for her, that he couldn’t at least help her get to sleep.
“Excuse me?” Her question made him want to chuckle, from the innocence of it, the surprise.
Torrin sat up, then leaned to his dresser to pull out the vibrator tucked away there. It would provide a barrier, to reduce the risk of her carrying too much of his scent.
“You heard me, dove. You need sleep, but if you can’t, then we’ll have to remedy that. So, your choices are simple. Go to sleep, go see my cousins for relief or remove your shorts.”
He waited as if the answer didn’t matter, which was absurd because it sure as hell did. He wanted her to slide that bit of cloth off herself.
She wore another pair of silly long socks, these with cartoon dinosaurs, and despite the fact that they shouldn’t be sexy, he seemed to have lost his mind when it came to her, because he found everything she did a turn-on.
When she moved, his breath caught, waiting to see if she’d leave. Instead, she slipped her thumbs into the waist of her shorts and worked them down her legs.
Fuck. He lost his train of thought when he spied all the bare skin, since she wore nothing beneath the shorts.
He’d gotten a look when Erik had gone down on her, but now she was all his.
He allowed himself to growl softly in appreciation at the sight of her on her back, her thighs falling open.
Beautiful. He shook himself back awake, the weight of the vibrator in his hand a reminder. It was a wand style, which would be perfect for getting her where she needed to go quickly. He’d kept it in his nightstand like some sort of strange desire for a partner that he didn’t really believe would happen.
It had paid off, it seemed.
Torrin remained seated beside her, not wanting to miss a second of the view. His hip complained at the angle, but too bad. He slid a hand along her thigh, feeling just how soft her skin was, how she melted beneath his fingers. His body was all hard muscle, but hers gave so beautifully.
“You are stunning,” he whispered without even meaning to.
Except, when he did say it, she whined and lifted her hips.
So, she likes praise? It didn’t shock him, and he planned to praise her until she understood how amazing she was.
He moved his hand up over her hip, then slid it along her stomach.
She tensed beneath the touch, which he rewarded with a sharp growl. She had no reason in the world to be self-conscious, and even that second of worry annoyed him.
He didn’t pull away, caressing over her soft stomach and up to her full breasts beneath the loose fabric of her shirt. When he teased her nipple, she seemed to forget her worries, because she arched into his palm.
Which seemed the perfect time to take it another step further. He flicked the button on the vibrator and it came to life. He brushed it against her clit, its power meaning he didn’t need to be as direct.
She gasped at the sensation, moving away from the intensity.
“Be still,” he ordered.
Ashley whimpered but tried to comply, despite the way her muscles twitched beneath her skin. Remaining still was one of the hardest things, so seeing her try to follow the order had his cock hard and desperate.
He teased her clit with the vibrator by easing off then pressing again to tease her. Meanwhile, he toyed with her nipple beneath her shirt, the hardened peak begging for his attention.
He wished he could take it between his lips to toy with it with his tongue. He wanted to lavish attention with his mouth, to bathe each inch of her body with affection.
Since that wasn’t possible, he shifted the vibrator to hit the bottom of her clit so the hood couldn’t buffer the sensation.
Ashley rolled her hips up, and he could only picture how that would feel had he been over her, how her body would move and her little nails would dig into him.
“You are beautiful like this,” he said even as he told himself he should remain silent. Then again, after the day, after worrying he might have lost her, he had no intention of leaving things unsaid. “Surrender to me,” he said. “Give in and trust me.”
She writhed, but he kept the vibrator on her, even as she twitched, as she whimpered and moaned and drew ever closer to bliss.
Her hand shot out, grasping his thigh, digging in when she came, as if she needed him to keep her safe.
He swore then that he would, that no matter what happened, she’d never feel fear again.
She arched off the bed, her legs snapping shut around his hand despite him keeping the vibrator against her. He teased her through the waves of pleasure, his cock aching, ready to have her himself.
Not going to happen.
When her legs fell open, he turned off the vibrator and pulled his hand from her shirt. Her cheeks were flushed pink, her breathing erratic.
He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, breathing her into his lungs, wanting her to soak into him even if he couldn’t claim her like he wanted to.
She shifted, and her still-hard nipples brushed his chest.
Instead of what he wanted, he moved away and settled in behind her. He pulled the comforter over them, rewarded by her scooting back against him.
Ashley’s breathing evened out as she fell asleep and gave in to the exhaustion that plagued her.
Before Torrin closed his eyes, he allowed himself the smallest of tastes by pressing a gentle kiss to the back of her head, a safe way to offer and take the affection he was driven to express but knew he couldn’t.
He had no idea how he would deny them both, but he had to.
Her life depended on it.