NATALIE“ You want to sleep? ” Ryker scoffs from behind me.I grin, keeping my eyes closed. “ Yes. ”“ Okay. ” He sighs.The grin wipes off my lips as I get suspicious of his simple ‘okay’. The next moment, his hand is sneaking to my sides. I giggle, twisting around as he starts tickling.“ R—Ryker! Please! ” I scream through the bubbles of laughter.He pauses, his chest vibrating against my back. “ You still want to sleep? ”I sniff, leaning back against him before shaking my head. My giggles turn into a wide smile as I glance at his smirking face from over my shoulder. “ You are so mean. ” “ Am I? ” His hands rest over my stomach.I nod my head, watching the amusement shining in his eyes. Tilting my head, I let my lips meet his plump ones.His hands slide down my side, to my thighs, stroking my skin gently. I detach my lips from his and turn my head back.He pushes my hair away from the nape, planting an open mouth kiss on the mate mark. I shudder in his arms, before sighing softly
NATALIEAll the way back to the house, I continue to look outside and find it hard to speak a word to Jake. Luciana kept convincing me to get an ultrasound scan but I refused. I don’t know if she can detect the baby’s identity by conducting some any other tests or scans. It’s safe for me to let her give me the diet plan, the necessary supplements and go home with them.She reminded me to inform Ryker about my pregnancy as soon as possible even when I was on my way out of her office. For a moment, I froze, turned, stared, and felt cold again. Am I supposed to tell him I am pregnant and then let him know that it’s complicated? He lost one child before…what will he feel when he gets to know even the birth of this child is threatened?Tears prick my eyes as the car rolls into the driveway. Closing my eyes, I push the tears back and breathe in.With this connection between us now, I can always tell where Ryker is. The bond pulls me to him, letting me know he is close, possibly at Zio’s h
NATALIE“ I am telling you. It’s a whole fucking plan and you almost screwed it by going there unannounced. ” Anne huffs, folding her arms over her chest.Right as I sprinted out of Zio’s house, I took Jake’s cell phone and called Anne. I cried and told her that I fucked up, once again and she needs to come down here and let me know about some antidote shit.To my surprise, she told me she was already at Ryker’s office. I didn’t waste a moment thinking why she was there, to begin with, and rushed here.Now, she is telling me that Ryker knows about the potion already and he planned something which I almost ruined.“ Plan? My ass! He almost rejected me! ” I shriek, restlessly tapping my foot on the floor.“ Your bond with him wouldn’t have broken even if he rejected you. You need to reject him too for the mate mark to disappear. ” She rolls her eyes while pacing in the office in nothing but a black oversized shirt covering her slender frame.I shake my head, wiping my wet cheeks for the
ANNE “ Do you think they will be fine now? ” I ask Zero who is walking in front of me.He doesn’t reply and continues to walk towards the pack house which is close now. I don’t get why we needed to walk everywhere. My legs hurt. We could have taken a car. But, he clearly didn’t like that idea.“ Zero.” I rush to catch up with him before glancing at his side profile.His ashy black hair is ruffled, falling over his forehead and covering half of his deep eyes. I suck in a sharp breath to not let the irritation show on my face.First, I oddly want to push his hair back which is shit.Second, I hate that he sometimes doesn’t answer me which is even more shit.“ Ryker and Natalie would be fine even without our help. ” He answers when we enter the driveway.I hum, falling back and looking down at my feet. I look like a homeless beggar while he looks like a shirtless hot hunk taking a walk around. This is so unfair.“ Anne. ” He calls my name all of a sudden.I pick my head, after quickly f
NATALIERyker and I came back home. He held my hand throughout the way and let Jake drive the car. He didn’t say anything else so I was worried about him. His pain jabbing my insides at intervals didn’t let me speak either.Just as we enter the house, he leaves my hand and climbs the stairs. My eyes follow him until he disappears out of sight. Sucking in a sharp breath, I follow him to the first floor, wanting to find out what he is about to do now.I am reluctant to go inside the room Britney and Ryker shared but I can’t leave him alone. He stands in the middle of the room and stares at the wall behind the bedpost. I gulp, watching him for what seems like more than five minutes. “ Do you want to talk about it, Ryke? ” I whisper.Ryker turns to look at me and nods. Getting the message, I stroll to him slowly. He grips my hand when I stop right in front of him.“ We need to get rid of everything in here. I can’t stand anything she touched. ” He tells me, his tone betraying the inner
ANNE I have become a zombie. I ran back to my room earlier and tried my best to sleep, like just turn off my thinking side of the mind and play dead for a while but I couldn’t do it. My thoughts kept drifting to the shit that happened between me and Zero. The mate bond played with me, pulled me in, made me kiss him, and then also worked its magic on him and made him turn into someone he is not.Oh, the sparks, the feel of his skin under my fingertips and his shit dangerous lips. I tried forgetting about all of it, but I can’t which is yes. Kind of shit. I groan, rolling around the bed like a love-sick teenager. The whole day has passed and I am still cooped in here, unable to sleep or to even go outside and do something else.Losing the war with myself, I finally decide to throw all the pillows down and get up from the bed grumpily. I need to go bring a bottle of water, I drank the one placed in my room while trying to wash off his fucking taste from my lips. I don’t want to recall
NATALIEThe burning woman walks to me, her steps small. The more she walks, the greater the distance between us becomes.I am desperate. I need to communicate with her. I have to find out about a lot of things.Her shimmering ambers leave mine, lowering to my stomach. The fire burning her, lightens. I watch in awe as she shakes her head, her glowing hair swaying with the movement.“ Don’t let them know about it. ” She didn’t open her mouth, just stared but her voice still sounded somewhere at the back of my mind, as if it was my second conscious talking and not her.“ What? ” I manage to ask the voice as I try to walk forward and end the distance between us both.“ Don’t let them know about the child. They won’t let it live. ” The voice warns.It’s like a bucket of cold water is dumped over me. I wake up, gasping for air. The lights are turned off in my room and I can only lie there, panting like a fish out of water.She finally spoke up. I thought I will never be able to talk to her
ANNEWhat the fuck? I groan, sliding inside from the open door of my room.My legs are still a little shaky waky after the encounter with Zero in the kitchen. I lost my head there for some time and gave in like a desperate bitch which I am surely not going to regret. If I do regret it, this will mean he won. Well, I don’t let others win.I huff, walking straight to the bathroom and stripping so I can take a bath. My cheeks are heated even now. His touch is still lingering on my skin, the pleasure buzzing at the back of my mind.Turning on the shower, I stand under the running water as I replay the intense moment in my head. My hands work on their own, grabbing the things, helping me take the bath while my mind remains absent.What kind of reaction was that? Like…we are even? Or what? Was he doing it to pay me back for the blood? I never asked him to pay me back though. I was helping him. Bloody blood-sucking psycho prick.Why the fuck was I helping him in the first place? This is al