Remember the Night (Nightriders MC Book 0) Read online

  Squiggling her nose and upper lip, she considered my blunt invitation. I was never a man for pretty words.

  “Bad things are coming?”

  “Yeah. Probably a turf war. I want you safe. You’re mine, Gem, and they’ll hurt you to get to me. Even if you walk away, they’ll go after you because they know I care.”

  “I don’t want to walk away.”

  I remembered to breathe. Then I stopped. I still hadn’t told her everything, but the rest could wait for a little bit longer.

  “So you’ll move in with me?”

  “Yes. My answer is yes.”

  And, I could breathe again. Her words restarted my world and made everything right.

  “Okay. I’ll get some help packing you up. I’ll deal with your apartment manager on the lease.”

  “No, I’ll deal.” She fisted her hands on her hips. “I won’t let you waltz in and take over my life, Lucas.”

  Which is exactly what I wanted to do. After finding her again, I’d checked, had her movements traced back to the time she ran away. Gem had been on her own since she was sixteen. If I’d known, I would’ve gone looking for her. I wanted to kick myself for not searching as soon as I came back to town and learned she’d disappeared.

  Thankfully, she hadn’t stayed gone. She glowered at me and I changed my mind. She’d had a rough time, but she’d made herself into a smart, capable woman—one strong enough to be my mate. I would keep her safe and love her, but Gemma West was perfectly capable of taking care of her own life.

  “Okay.”

  My reply rocked her back on her heels. She wasn’t expecting my easy capitulation. “Well, okay then.”

  I pulled her back against me and kissed her, branding her with my scent and my intentions. “You wear my colors,” I murmured into her mouth. “Everyone knows you’re mine.”

  Gemma pushed at my chest and jerked her head away from the kiss. “How will they know you’re mine? I don’t share, Lucas.”

  “Good. I don’t either. And they’ll know because I’ll tell them.”

  Chapter 7

  Gemma

  THEY’LL KNOW BECAUSE I’ll tell them. Well, and didn’t that just sum it all up. Strangely enough, I believed him. Knocking around on my own for the past ten years had honed my instincts, especially when it came to men. Lucas Malone was a scary dude. He was into all sorts of bad stuff—really bad stuff. But. He was a loyal friend and he didn’t lie to those he cared about.

  Packing didn’t take long. I didn’t have much. The furniture stayed with the apartment. I basically had my clothes and some thrift-store dishes. Unpacking was even easier—just my clothes into two drawers he’d emptied for me in his bedroom, and hanging the rest in the closet. I didn’t look at the bed—the huge bed that filled the center of the room. We hadn’t taken that step yet—Luc and I. Part of me wondered why he’d asked me to move in with him when we hadn’t. What if sex between us was horrible? I laughed, a snorting giggle I stifled with a hand over my mouth.

  There was no way sex with Luc would be awful. The man was…I laughed again remembering a term I’d read—panty-dropping handsome. He was. I knew other women were drawn to him like…like all the cliches. But when he was with me, Luc didn’t pay them any attention. It was…thrilling.

  Still…having only kissed him and some heavy petting? Like…high school sex. I wanted more. And I’d decided to get it now that I was here in his house. I was bound and determined to discover whatever held him back. I headed downstairs but Luc wasn’t in the great room.

  Walking to the wide window, I surveyed Luc’s domain. His house amazed me every time I came out here. The MC’s clubhouse was an industrial warehouse surrounded by chain-link and barbed wire. Luc’s place was surrounded by trees, on the edge of a wildlife refuge and made of logs. It was rustic, homey. The opposite of all my preconceived notions.

  Luc was a hard man. He did things with the club I didn’t want to know about. Yet in the few weeks since we’d reconnected, he’d never done more than hold me. Kiss me. He wanted me. The bulge in his jeans made that clear. But he never pushed. Didn’t rush me into anything I might not be ready for. Now that I knew he’d read Ethan’s journal, his reluctance made sense. Sort of. I was ready, though. Had been since I saw him standing there in the ER. And here I was, living with him. It was time. Finally.

  A sound alerted me and I turned from the window. Luc stood several feet away and the force of his gaze almost drove me to my knees. No man had ever looked at me that way—as if no one else existed, as if nothing else mattered. Only me. Air whooshed from my lungs and instinct froze me in place. Luc stalked across the room, his agate gaze brittle with flickers of feral red dancing in its depths. Despite his ferocity, the hands that cupped my cheeks were infinitely gentle, and as he lowered his forehead to touch mine, he was panting.

  “Dammit, Gemma. I want you so bad I think I’m going to break if I can’t have you.”

  The raw emotion in his voice melted my bones and I shivered. This was the moment of truth. All I had to do was say yes. Before I could speak, he dropped his hands and backed away. “No. Not like this. We have to talk. You have to know. I won’t claim you without you knowing it all. Even if you leave me. God, baby, you’re everything.” The last word came out as a raspy growl.

  I couldn’t breathe, panic building, but I placed my hand—trusting him—in his when he held it out. He paused at the back door, draped his jacket—his colors—over me and led me out onto the back deck. He wore nothing but jeans and a tee shirt, despite the cold. He dropped my hand, leaving me as he padded barefoot to stand on the far side of the wooden structure. Even more nervous, I watched him, my pulse pounding in my temple. “What’s wrong, Luc?”

  “You have to know the final truth, Gemma. I could seal our fate without telling you, but I can’t. I can’t do that to you.”

  I stepped toward him. “Luc? You’re scaring me.”

  He stepped back. “Stop. Just…stop. If I touch you, I’ll never get this out.” He tunneled fingers through his shaggy hair. “I’m not like you, Gemma. I’m not like anyone you’ve ever known. I’m…” He gulped, continued, “I could get technical but basically, I’m not human. Not entirely.”

  I opened my mouth to laugh, realized he was serious and snapped my jaw shut.

  “I’m a…Wolf.”

  “A wolf?” A hesitant smile hovered at the corners of my mouth. He was joking, right? I watched him and felt the blood drain from my face. He meant what he’d said. Was he insane?

  Luc

  “WHEN I SHIFT, yes. My DNA is different. I can change into a wolf. And there’s more.” I faltered and scraped bare toes against the wood, looking everywhere but at her. “I knew—we knew, my wolf and I, that you were ours. The first time we met. You were twelve. Too young.” I glanced up, saw her pale face. “But I knew. You’re my mate, Gemma, and Wolves mate for life. If I make love to you, claim you, you’ll always be mine. I won’t be able to stay away.”

  I dropped my gaze, fearing the growing horror on her face. “I could have just done it. Made love. Bound you. But that never turns out good for us. For Wolves.’

  “I don’t believe you.”

  I raised my head, nostrils flaring. I caught a whiff of the scorched milk smell of nerves tinged with the ammonia stench of fear and the burnt toast of anger, yet underneath those sharp layers lay other scents—one lavender soft, the other sweetly tart like pink grapefruit. Hope and yearning.

  Reaching over my shoulder, I grabbed the back of my T-shirt and yanked it off over my head. Moments later, my jeans hit the deck. I watched her growing panic through the eyes of my wolf but I called my animal anyway. Shifted. Dropped to all fours. And felt my heart break.

  Gemma backed away until she hit the wall then slid down to huddle, arms around bent knees.

  “No.”

  She murmured the word over and over, panicked, and my heart splintered even more. I couldn’t get the stink of burned hair out of my nose. Tears filled her eyes
, spilled down her cheeks. I hated the fact that I’d made her cry so I padded to her. Nosed her arm. Licked her skin. She tasted like…sunshine and love and all the happy dreams I’d never had. She raised her head, her gaze snared by mine. “Luc?”

  I whined softly, chuffed, and nosed her hand where it griped her arm. Her fingers loosened, sank into the brindled fur of my ruff. I wanted to howl but held still. Waiting. She petted me, her eyes never leaving mine.

  “Luc? You’re in there, aren’t you. I can…I can still see you.” Wonder washed over her face. “A wolf.” A tender laugh escaped. “You never saw my room. When I was a kid. Wolves. I had wolves everywhere. Calendars. Stuffed toys—a big one I slept with. I drew them and colored them with crayons. And they all had your eyes.” More tears came. “That night. I remember that night. I peeked out my window and saw something in the shadows, watching. I thought it was a dog, but then the clouds shifted away from the moon and I saw a wolf.” She scrubbed at her face, shook her head. “I’m dreaming. This isn’t real. It can’t be. But that was you, wasn’t it? That night?”

  Unable to bear it, I shifted. Fur flowed back into skin, bones reknit, paws changed to hands and I drew her against my bare chest. Her arms circled my neck and she leaned in to rest her cheek against mine. I tucked her legs around my waist and stood, lifting her easily. I nuzzled under her chin, licking the soft, warm skin there.

  “I love the taste of you. And it is real. All of it.”

  Gem leaned back, and I saw her eyes, the dark smoke of need drifting over the sky blue. The beat of my blood quickened. My gaze shifted to her mouth, her trembling lips. “Don’t be afraid of me. I couldn’t bear it if I scared you.”

  Her reply was to silence me with a kiss. The bands around my chest loosened and I could breathe easier. “Let me take you to bed. Let me love you.”

  “Yes.”

  I carried her upstairs, laid her on my bed, stripped her with shaking hands. Her nipples were puckered as if I’d already kissed them. Goosebumps prickled her skin. I didn’t touch her. Knew the moment I did, the chain wrapped around my control would break and I’d devour her. Take everything. Eat her alive. I leashed my need enough to touch a hand lightly to her cheek.

  Then she undid me, fisting her hands in my hair, curving her body to mine, flesh pressing to flesh. “Touch me,” she demanded as she crushed her lips against mine.

  That moment of hard-won control snapped. In one violent move, I pinned her beneath me. I couldn’t get enough, feeding on her as my mouth ravaged her delicate skin. I touched—fingers and palms skimming her soft skin, lips and teeth soothing and nipping. My body slid against hers, my ragged breathing—her gasping pants—music filling my ears. She cried out, her body shaking as my fingers teased her pussy, finding her warm and wet. Her inner walls sucked at my fingers and my dick throbbed. I plunged into her warm depths and she shattered around me.

  Desperate, I took more. My mouth closed over her breast, teeth nipping her sensitive flesh. Her nails dug into my back. I paused and she arched beneath me. More. She wanted more. Her need matched mine, urgent, clinging, and we tangled together demanding more.

  “Greedy pussy,” I murmured, my fingers pumping into her.

  Sweat-slicked skin burned against its counterpart. Hers. Mine. There was no telling the difference now. With a savage urge to mate whipping through me, I could think of nothing but her. Of claiming her. Making her mine now and forever. My tongue lapped at her, savored the taste of passion on her skin. Soft and yielding beneath me, I craved more. Craved all of her. My blood simmered, ready to boil over.

  Hot, she was so damn hot and wet as my fingers stroked into her. Slick, tight as her hips pumped seeking more from my hand. I wanted, hell I needed, to see her come again, to know I was the one who shattered her, that everything she was, was mine.

  Her body arched, reaching for more. She sobbed and came a second time, harder, slicking my hand with her desire.

  I gave her no chance to relax, to come down from the high. It was my turn now. I stalked up her body, teeth leaving sharp nips followed by my lips soothing the sting with soft kisses. Then my mouth was on hers, claiming what had always been mine. I continued to work her with my fingers, and when I felt her about to shatter again, I couldn’t wait any longer, I rubbed the head of my dick through her slick pussy, found her opening. I plunged into her, my first rough stroke rocking her over the edge.

  She screamed, her nails scratching at my shoulders. It still wasn’t enough. I wanted more. Still more. I gripped her hips, tilted them, stroked deeper. She shuddered, matched my rhythm. My vision blurred, but through the black haze of the mating lust, I could see her face, her eyes. Deep, dark lakes of blue gazed back, smooth as mirrors. My own reflection greeted me in them.

  “I’m inside you.” I panted the words as my hips pumped. “You’re mine. Always. And I’m yours. Everything I am, everything I have. Heart. Soul. Body.”

  She moaned what sounded like my name, her body writhing, twisting, pushing against mine.

  “Gemma.” Her name tangled on my tongue as she wrapped her hands around my wrists, her blue eyes holding mine.

  “Yes, yours.” She said the words like they were her very breath. “You’re mine. All of you. Let go, Lucas. I’m here. I’m staying. Always.”

  I struggled through layers of emotion to say the one thing I needed to say, the one thing she deserved to hear. “I love you.”

  Pressing my face to her hair, I inhaled the very essence of her scent. Blood pounded in my ears too loud to hear the words she whispered back, but my wolf heard and my heart knew. My soul recognized her. I let go, let my body rule as I emptied into her.

  Later, warm and lazy in our exhaustion, I discovered the truth of us. There was no past, no history, before the time when we came together. There was just the two of us. Then. Now. Always. Swamped with love for this woman, I held her close, caressing her as my body stirred, aroused beyond reason.

  I whispered her name and she rubbed against me. I cupped her pussy, and my hand met moist heat. The scent of her arousal flared my nostrils. She whimpered, her need as alive and demanding as my own. I rolled her to her back, covered her and drove into her, drove hard as we both wanted. Crying out, she threaded her fingers in the thick pelt of my hair. When I lifted her hips, she hooked both legs around my waist.

  I watched her, my wolf just beneath the surface. And she watched me back, accepting the wildness inside me. Inhaling, I tasted her breath, her spirit, drawing it deep into my lungs. I would know her scent anywhere. My wolf would find her no matter where she went. She belonged to us. I slowed the driving pace. Entering and withdrawing from her in long, slow, deep strokes, I watched her eyes fill with the joy of it. With her love for me. Pleasure—all-consuming and endless, swallowed me. With a needy moan, she claimed my mouth with hers and poured herself into me as I poured everything I was back into her. Together. A Wolf and his mate. Two hearts joined forever, forever one.

  Both of us with a second chance at loving each other. Both of us finally home.

  Keep reading for a first look at NIGHT MOVES, Nightriders MC #2, available now from Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

  Night Moves

  Nightriders MC #2

  Chapter 1

  Hollywood

  NO BIMBO HAS ever slept in my bed. If she’s still there at dawn, she hasn’t been sleepin’ and I’ve been up all night. That was the case now as I walked the woman through the clubhouse to the front parking lot and the Mercedes convertible the same color as her clingy red dress. Two of the brothers who’d crashed in the clubhouse offered drunken thumbs up as a third offered to take her off my hands. Her fancy bra and panties were dangling from one of her hands and that dress left nothing to a man’s imagination.

  I got her installed in the driver’s seat, buckled up, car started and pointed in the right direction then I headed back inside. Once she was clear of Nightrider territory, she was no longer my problem. Her voice calling my name made me turn around.
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  “Eric! Did you keep my card, darling? I’m serious about representing you if you want to model.”

  Yeah, like that was going to happen in my fucking lifetime. Why the hell I’d told her my given name was beyond me at the moment. The hulking presence at my back and his mocking laughter didn’t help my mood much.

  “Damn, dude. Fashion model?” Gravedigger Cole, Nightrider MC enforcer and all-round asshole Wolf. Just my luck. “You ain’t gonna go…”

  I waited for it, rolling my eyes.

  “…all Hollywood on us, are you?”

  I growled and threw the first punch. Two seconds later, we were whaling on each other in a friendly free-for-all. Digger had me by almost six inches and forty pounds, but I was sneakier. I wrapped my hand around his balls. First mistake. Second was letting go. I hit the side of the building face first.

  Three minutes later, Hardass Tyree, national VP and all-round medic, was cleaning me up—none too gently.

  “Dumb ass. Keep this up and that face of yours won’t be so pretty anymore.”

  I held the wadded-up gauze he handed me to my nose to help clot the blood. I was Wolf so I’d heal fast—well, faster than a human would.

  Digger slid down the wall beside me and accepted the cold pack Hardy held out to him. “You still hit like a girl, Hollywood.”

  My gaze flicked to the bruise spreading on his jaw. “Yeah, and you squeal like a teenager at a Bieber concert.”

  Hardy choked back a laugh. “Now that’s just mean, Wood.”

  “Hey, gotta get my licks in where I can.”

  “Well, take your licks and get on your bike, since you’re awake. The Russian got word that Hell Dogs have been sighted out toward Topeka. Deadhead asked for some recon help.” Hardy glanced at Digger. “You go with him.”

  Deadhead was president of the Nightriders’ Topeka chapter. The fuckin’ Hell Dogs, a rival MC, had been quiet the last few months. Before they went underground, they kidnapped two of our women—brutalized them and threatened the kids belonging to Easy Cross, another enforcer. Nightriders don’t take that shit. The Russian, our national prez, sent out the call. When we rolled, there was a blood bath. Since then, the fuckin’ Dogs nibbled around our edges but never stuck around long enough to get caught. Our national HQ was in Mission Springs, Missouri, just outside Kansas City, and Topeka was too damn close for comfort.