Chapter 9

She was walking along the shoulder of the road, again, and didn’t move over when I neared.

“No sense of self-preservation,” I said to myself as I slowed.

She did, however, turn to watch me as I came to a stop beside her. Her lips were tinted blue with cold. Shivers racked her body.

“Are you mental?”

Using more force than necessary, I kicked the stand on the bike and dismounted as I removed my jacket. She needed the warmth more than I did.

“You’ll freeze out here,” I said when I reached her. Within seconds, I held her bag and had her covered with my jacket.

She looked up at me. The way she studied my face gave me equal hope and discomfort.

“Tell me about my sister,” she said, putting her arms through the sleeves of my jacket.

“Sister?” When I’d checked her house, there had been two scents. Hers and another very similar. I’d assumed it belonged to her mother.

“The one who sent you to find me. You said she was weak. Did you hurt her?”

Hurt Gabby? I snorted.

“Not a chance. Her guard dog doesn’t let anyone near her.” Not true. I’d managed. I smirked at the memory. “Well, he tried to keep us away.”

Thinking back, I could almost empathize with how he tried to keep us from Gabby. At the time I’d thought him a pompous prick for keeping us away from a Mate who showed no inclination to Claim him. Now, I understood. Kind of. Gabby was quite a bit older than Bethony, and Clay was still a prick.

I realized my thoughts had drifted when her eyes narrowed, and she closed the distance between us. Uncertain of her intent, I tensed, ready to defend my jolly boys.

Instead of a raised knee, she reached up and placed her hands on my shoulders. The cool touch seared me more than any heat ever had. My tired brain shut down completely as the tips of her fingers dug into my skin and she rose on her toes, bringing her mouth close to mine. The urge to take, to touch, to taste nearly overwhelmed me. Her scent wrapped around me, beckoning for more. I inhaled slowly and glanced at her lips. Would she taste like she smelled? I almost leaned in, but something tickled my mind. There was a reason I shouldn’t. She exhaled, her breath heating my face. I licked my lips, savoring the hint of flavor she’d left. I wanted more. My vision started to change, and I tried to concentrate on maintaining control.

She leaned in, rubbing her cheek against my jaw. The move brought her dangerously close to my neck as she pressed against me. The zipper of my loaned jacket dug into my chest. My legs felt unsteady, and I gripped her waist, unsure if I wanted to hold her in place or nudge her away. The feel of her under my hands set my pulse thundering.

“I will not choose you,” she said, her soft words brushing the shell of my ear.

Reality crashed upon me. She was too young for Claiming. What was I doing? I was supposed to be keeping her safe, not snogging her on the side of the road.

When she pulled back, I loosened my grip on her waist and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to frighten her with the evidence of how close the change was. The effort didn’t seem to work because on my next inhale, her fear nearly choked me.

I forced the change back and opened my eyes.

“Good,” I said as if nothing had just happened. “Someone your age shouldn’t be choosing.”

I walked away from her and carefully mounted the motorcycle. My body ached because of what she’d done. Maybe later, when my brain moved from south to north, I’d start to wonder why she’d done it. Right now, I couldn’t stop feeling her tiny frame against mine.

“Coming, Bethony?” I asked, holding out her bag.

“Bethi,” she absently corrected as she stared at me.

Her nickname turned over in my mind a few times. Bethi suited her more than Bethony.

Finally, she nodded and slowly approached the bike. When she reached my side, she took the bag and settled the strap across her body.

After her declaration, I’d thought she would have hesitated to touch me. No touching would have helped calm me. However, as soon as she settled on the seat behind me, she wrapped her arms around my waist. It felt too good. Too tempting. Fatigue wanted to rob me of resistance. I clenched my jaw and steeled myself.

“Stay away from my neck,” I said as I lifted my feet and twisted the throttle.

As soon as I’d managed a decent cruising speed, she leaned into me, pressing her chest against my back. The bike swerved ever so slightly, and I tried to create some distance between us, but she kept following.

“Hold still,” I said.

She backed away for a few seconds then returned. In addition to her chest against my back, her hands also wandered around on my stomach every few seconds. The touching was driving me crazy. But it was nothing compared to when she pressed her cheek to my shoulder blade. The trust in that move struck a chord I wasn’t ready for.

She sighed heavily, a sentiment I wanted to echo. Why did she have to feel so good?

Her hold on me loosened. That was the only warning I had before she started to lean too far to the right. Panic gripped me as I caught her with my right arm and started to brake. As soon as we were stopped, I twisted to look at her.

Her eyes were closed, her face relaxed, and her breathing light and even. She was sleeping. I pulled her into my lap, shaking.

“What the bloody hell was that?”

Her eyes popped open, and she blinked, seeming not to see me.

“Well?” I demanded. She blinked again. Didn’t she realize what had just happened? If I hadn’t moved when I had…If I had been human or slower…I swallowed hard. Then, her eyes widened. She glanced around before she pulled away and eyed me as if just realizing her position in my lap.

“Crap! Did I fall asleep?”

“While I was flying down the road on a two-wheeled death trap? Yes!”

She stiffened in my arms.

“Put me down. Please.”

“Gladly.”

Lifting her off my lap, I gently set her on her feet beside the motorcycle.

She rubbed a hand over her face, then met my gaze.

“I’m sorry. I’m tired.”

All my anger evaporated. Thin, tired, and cold. And I was yelling at her. She seemed to sense the direction of my thoughts because her gaze hardened.

“Save your pity. I don’t need it.”

I held up my hands to stave off any argument. It seemed to be all she wanted to do. That and sleep. I voted for sleep, but not until we reached a bed.

“Are you going to fall asleep again? Because we won’t get far this way.”

“Yes, I’ll most likely fall asleep again. No matter what I’ve tried, I can’t seem to avoid it.”

“Maybe you should stop avoiding it,” I said, exasperated. Humans needed sleep. It was a fact of their lives. I could see she wasn’t prepared for the facts though. I sighed, knowing I was going to regret my next words.

“Loosen the strap of your bag as far as it will go, then get on.”

Bethi did as I asked, and once she was behind me, I lifted the strap over my head and tightened it, effectively strapping her to me.

“Take both arms out so it’s around your waist,” I said. If there was frustration in my words it was because I could feel too much of her front against my back. I hated that I loved it so much.

“She’s a little more than a child,” I said under my breath, in an effort to bring the situation in perspective. The words didn’t help as she wiggled against me to position the strap.

“Aren’t you done yet?”

“Don’t bark at me. This is your idea.”

She finally stopped moving, which I took as a sign she’d finished, and I quickly got us back on the road. I hadn’t even managed to gain the speed limit when I felt her go slack. The strap seemed to keep her in place, though, so I kept to the road.

Everything was going fine until she began to twitch. First, just her fingers moved a bit. Then her head started to jerk slightly. When her right leg kicked out, she unbalanced the bike and herself to the left. I leaned right to counter balance and used my right hand to try to right her as the bike started to slow. Instead of connecting with her arm, or preferably her shoulder, my palm cupped her breast.

“Bloody hell.”

My brain short circuited at the feel of her soft curve, and instead of squeezing the brake lever, normally an action completed with my right hand, I squeezed her. Panicking, I jerked the handle bar and almost drove us into the opposite ditch. Some sense of preservation had me using the rear brake with my foot—as I should have done in the first place.

A car honked and swerved around us. I realized two things: I’d stopped the bike on the yellow lines; and I still held Bethi’s breast.

Whipping my hand away, I swore again. She moved loosely behind me but didn’t wake. How could she still be sleeping? Not that I wasn’t thankful for it.

I rubbed the sweat from my forehead then moved the bike to the shoulder until my shaking stopped. It took a few minutes because I could still feel the ghost of that soft mound in my hand. Rubbing my palm on my pants didn’t help remove the sensation. Chanting her age in my head did. Eventually.

Once we got back on the road, she continued to twitch. I didn’t try to straighten her, trusting the strap to keep her in place. However, each twitch rubbed her against me, driving me mad.

When I saw a motel ahead, I didn’t hesitate to pull in to the small parking lot.

Bethi’s head jerked upright. “What are you doing?”

Now she woke up?

“You keep twitching. You can’t ride sleeping. It’s not safe.”

“Safety isn’t relevant,” she said.

I parked the bike and started to loosen the strap as she continued to argue.

“Sleeping strapped to you is better than sleeping here. We need to keep moving.”

“Believe me, I’m all for hurrying, but I’m not going to risk you falling off.” I lifted the strap over my head, freeing her from my back. She hurried to dismount.

“I’m not tired anymore.”

Her pulse and scent gave away the lie.

“I don’t want to stay here,” she said, her scent changing to panic.

“Too bad. Inside. Now,” I said, pointing toward the door marked “Office.”

Her pleading gaze wouldn’t sway me. She needed sleep, and I needed a few hours to try to forget what had happened on the road.

She huffed, turned, and made as if she would start walking down the road. She made it one step before I used my speed to block her. We scowled at each other. Then she yawned hugely and shook her head in an effort to stay awake.

“You are so tired, luv. Please. Sleep a few hours,” I said.

Her gaze narrowed. “As if sleep is what you really have in mind.”

My pulse leapt in panic. Did she know I’d touched her? I quickly held up my guilty hands, praying she didn’t know.

“Sleep. That is all. I can’t drive fast with you sleeping. Too many things could happen. I might not be able to catch you in time. If we keep going as we are, snow will cover the roads before we reach the Compound.”

“Compound?”

“It’s where Gabby said to bring you. She promised she would be there.”

She gave me an odd look. “No one is holding her there?”

“Holding her there? No. She...visits. Honestly, she doesn’t seem to like it very much.”

Probably because it was just a bunch of overcrowded shoddy buildings. The only reason there were so many of us was because the women had gotten crazy ideas about four walls providing more safety than their own men. I wasn’t opposed to walls. I was opposed to the number of people who were all trying to fit in them.

Bethi studied the blacktop a moment before aiming her cynical gaze at me once more.

“I don’t trust you. But...” She looked at the motel. I could see longing in her expression as much as distaste. “Fine. I’ll stay. Just not with you in the same room.”

“Agreed.”

I needed the time away from her as much as she needed the sleep.