Page 26 of Running on Empty

He dipped his head down and cut me off with a kiss, just a soft press of the lips that was there and gone again so quickly it was as if it’d never been. And then he moved us again so that we were lying beside each other with the quilt over us, me the little spoon and him the big one. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.

“Blood is coming,” he murmured in my ear, his voice reverberating with something of the new Ronan’s intensity. “There’ll be lots of it before this comes to an end. But you’ve had enough pain over the last few days, Stevie. I don’t want you experiencing mine, yet.”

Yet.

My mind grabbed onto that word and all that it conjured up and I pulled my arms in towards my chest as if clutching the thought to me, as though I was shielding a flickering flame. And just as I cradled the idea to me, Ronan did the same with me. His lips pressed against the nape of my neck, his breath stirring the fine hairs there.

“Sleep, omega. Sleep with me. I’ve never slept as well as I have when you’ve been in my bed. Sleep now and heal, because tomorrow, believe me, we’ll be the ones dishing out the pain.”

Chapter16

Ronan

I didn’t lie when I said that I slept better with her than anyone else, but still, it wasn’t like the way normal people sleep.

Because I wasn’t normal people.

I was the one who’d woken up early the night we first met Stevie and I woke up before her now, moving slowly so I could watch her. There was nothing, I mean nothing that I’d rather do, my fangs aching, my mouth filling with a coppery taste as I bit down. Anything to stop myself from claiming her before she was ready. Knights of old went on quests to demonstrate their love for their ladies, but I was a modern man.

Wolf.

I didn’t want to save my beautiful girl. I wanted to help her do it herself. So I reached out, tracing a hand down her arm, even though my cock felt like it thumped against my stomach in response, achingly hard. He wasn’t getting a look in though. Her brow creased in the darkness, her body shifting and I smiled as I stroked her slowly awake, when she made that noise.

Just a pained little whimper.

My body went ice cold, any thoughts as to sex and her warm body under mine died a vicious death as surely as if I’d killed them. That noise was because of what they’d done to my girl…

“Stevie…” I breathed out her name, giving her a slight shake as her cries grew louder. “C’mon beautiful. Come back to me.”

Her eyes flicked open then, way too fast. She didn’t need time to focus, her brain coming instantly online. Because it was always ticking away, way too fast, thinking, thinking. Of all the things she wanted and needed and couldn’t seem to get, I was willing to bet, which made my heart ache.

But today it wouldn’t be her that hurt, it’d be someone else.

“Morning, gorgeous girl.” She watched me warily as I stroked a hand down her face and I treasured the moment she relaxed into it. “We need to get up early and slip out of the house before the others wake up.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve got a job to do and I need your assistance.” I winked at her. “One Ash won’t approve of much.”

She didn’t ask questions, because she knew. I was the one her wolf would come to first, knowing I’d give her what she needed. Ash was overly protective, Jax was a soft place to land, but she didn’t need coddling or protecting right now. My beautiful girl was done being a victim and I saw that in her face as she rose up from the bed.

“Blood?”

Just one word, but it was the right one. I tilted my head to the side and then smiled.

“Yes, beautiful. Blood. Now, I have some things for you.”

Mum told me that girls generations before used to create hope chests, stuffing them full of all the things they’d need when they got married and I’d been inspired to create something like that myself. I opened a set of drawers I rarely used, the wood sticking, needing a sharp jerk to pull it free. But inside there it all was. I grabbed dark clothing, socks and shoes, a bulletproof vest and whatever else I thought Stevie would need. Her eyebrows shot up as I handed everything to her and I watched with satisfaction as she put it all on.

The underwear fit perfectly. I’d slipped over the fence a few times and snooped the labels on her clothes, contenting myself with buying these things for her to wear when all I wanted wrapped around her was me. She looked quizzically at me, then at the solid black clothing.

I’d be wearing the same, the tight fitting dense fabric turning the two of us into shadows, and blood wouldn’t show up if we got splattered. My girl was getting geared up for wet work and that made me smile. But rather than stand there and watch her like a creeper, I pulled my own gear on, not bothering with a vest, though I made sure hers fit correctly once she was fully dressed. I tried to be brisk and business-like about it, as if I was sorting out any other noob’s gear, even as her scent flooded my nose. Pretty, floral with just an acidic edge of fear and confusion, I wanted to lick it off her skin, taste it at its source, but now wasn’t the time for that. I tucked her balaclava into her back pocket, grabbed my roll of knives off the bedside table then opened my door a crack.

All was quiet and still. My brothers slept the slumber of honest men, and I wondered if they thought I did too. They knew about some of my little forays and chose to ignore them, most of the time. But I was surprised Ash hadn’t stationed himself outside the door, because he had to know my intentions. I couldn’t let what those fuckers had done stand and while he liked to tell me the wheels of justice moved slowly; I was pretty intent on forcing them to go faster. I nodded to Stevie, jerking my head to indicate she should follow me and then we slipped noiselessly along the hall.

We left through the front door, and Ollie wagged his tail as we emerged, getting to his feet to greet us. But when I put my finger to my lips, he instantly went back into a sit, because I had trained him well. I reached into the bag I’d slung across my body and grabbed a dried pig’s ear, tossing it to him. He carried it out onto the grass and settled down to chew on it, leaving us to our own devices.

I unlocked my car, helping Stevie in, putting on her seatbelt before whistling under my breath as I walked around to the driver’s side. Wolf shifters lived all over Australia, imported here when the convicts were brought over by the British, but few of them got to enjoy what I did.

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