Burn For Me (Year of the Dragon) Read online

  No, this was the predator, the one she’d been warned about many times over. Catori didn’t kid herself into thinking that if she ran right now she’d make it out of this room without being thoroughly fucked. As a matter of fact, that was what she was counting on.

  But a game of cat and mouse couldn’t hurt, right? It would take one small push to send Ryker over the edge and have him pull her into the abyss that was uncharted territory between them.

  So Catori shrugged off her own holster, tossed away her favorite hunting knife, turned on her heel and tried to run. She didn’t make it three feet before Ryker was on her. He grabbed the back of her tank and yanked her into his chest. Her heart hammered as his nose ran along the back of her throat and shoulder.

  The growl he let out caused her pussy to clench and spasm with every breath that she took.

  “You scared yet?” he breathed in her ear.

  She simply shook her head and bit her bottom lip as his hand wandered up her torso. Without warning he ripped the front of her tank and pulled away the tattered remains. Then Ryker spun her around to stare directly in her eyes when he said, “Good” right before his mouth clashed with hers.

  His tongue probed between her lips, the muscle finding hers and tangling in a dance that made Catori’s knees go weak. Big rough hands slid down her sides and squeezed her hips, then worked the front clasp of her jeans loose. Ryker stopped kissing her for a moment to demand that she kick off her boots. She did so, and he shoved her jeans down her legs and with them her panties.

  When he dropped to his knees in front of her she had a brief moment to question what he was doing. Rather than answer, her mate gave her a wicked grin, spread her legs further apart and shoved his tongue right between the folds of her labia.

  A hoarse cry left Catori’s throat as she came instantly, her body shaking and finally sated. When Ryker slowly stood back up, his gaze never once wavering as he stripped in front of her, she knew it was his way of saying, “My turn.”

  ***

  She smelled so goddamned good and tasted even better. That was the only thought that kept crossing his mind. He had to get inside her or he was going to fucking lose it. That much he knew. They’d been dancing around this for two years. No more playing, no more hiding. He was going to mate her, then mark her and figure out how to keep that unstable bastard John away from her.

  When Ryker’s boxers hit the floor he was on her within seconds. Grabbing her hips, he picked her up and allowed her to wrap her legs around his waist. He pressed her back to the nearest wall and allowed the head of his cock to rub between the wet folds of her pussy.

  “Be sure, Tori. Because once I mark you there is no going back,” Ryker warned.

  When he looked up he was staring into eyes that mimicked his own at the moment. Catori panted as she gripped the back of his curls and tugged. “If you don’t fuck me now I might hurt you.”

  Ryker smirked. That was all the permission he needed. In one sure thrust he filled her and they both groaned. There was no pause, no time to adjust. As soon as Catori’s inner muscles clenched around him he pulled his hips back once again and slammed inside her, then he simply repeated the pace over and over. Soon she was begging, sobbing into his shoulder, her nails raking down his back. When she nipped his chin that was the final straw.

  Gripping the back of her neck, he moved her head to the side. After drawing in a few deep breaths to calm himself so he wouldn’t hurt her, Ryker sunk his canines into her shoulder.

  ***

  Stars exploded behind her closed lids. There was a small bite of pain, then pure nirvana as her lover finally marked her as his own. Catori clawed at Ryker’s back, spasm after spasm seizing her womb. She came in jags, panting against the top of his head as he laved her new mark with his tongue.

  Catori felt it the moment he gave in and followed her over the edge. Ryker pulled back and gazed up at her. “We’re not done.”

  Her eyes widened. “No?”

  He shook his head and gripped her better to carry her through the house. “Not even by a long shot, sweetheart.”

  Well…shit.

  ***

  Ryker didn’t hesitate. As soon as Catori drifted off he made a call. His fingers tapped against the granite top of her kitchen counter as he listened to every ring on the other line.

  By the third one a gruff voice picked up. “Yeah?”

  “I need your help.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I need info. As many files as you can get.”

  “On?”

  “John Akita.” John needed to be dealt with, but killing him wasn’t the answer. Forcing the old man into retirement would go over better for all of them.

  There was a pause, then a low whistle. “You’re taking this all the way to the top, huh?”

  Gritting his teeth, Ryker wiped away the memory of the hateful glare John had speared his daughter with. “Yeah, I am.”

  “Alrighty then.”

  “No objections?”

  “I hate the bastard. I don’t really give a shit what happens to him, but to see his high and mighty ass fall will be more than pleasurable. I’ll make a few calls, see what I can get and hand it over tomorrow.”

  Ryker grunted. “Cool. Oh, and Jace?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you.”

  There was a pause. “Hurt her, and by the time I’m done with you I’ll be wearing your horns on a custom-made Viking’s helmet.” With that, the Fae hung up.

  Ryker chuckled before heading back to bed and back to his mate.

  ***

  Catori didn’t know how long she dozed. Did it really matter? It was the first time she’d been able to sleep in months. She felt it the moment the bed dipped and Ryker slid in behind her, spooning her.

  “Hi,” he whispered in her ear as he pulled her by the hips so her ass rested fully on his groin.

  “Hi,” she whispered back as she rubbed the arms that had wound around her waist. “Did you leave because I was snoring?”

  He snorted. “You don’t snore. You kind of…snarl in your sleep. It’s a little sexy and a little disturbing.”

  Catori smacked his arm. “Lies.”

  “We all have our flaws, Tori,” Ryker teased, his fingers beginning to trail on her tummy.

  “Really? What’s yours?”

  He pushed his hips into her and she felt his dick, as hard as velvet-wrapped steel, nudging her. “I can’t seem to stop wanting you.” Ryker turned her over on her side to face him and propped her leg over his hip.

  The head of his cock rubbed against her clit, and she purred.

  “I like that sound too,” he said softly, cupping her breasts in his huge hands and thumbing her nipples.

  She rubbed against him, seeking more friction than what he was already giving. “Ryker,” Catori moaned.

  Those twinkling green eyes peered at her. “Yes?”

  “Fuck me.”

  Ryker shook his head. “No.”

  She frowned. “No?”

  “This time we go slow. If I fuck you now your bed won’t survive it.”

  Catori pouted. “I don’t care about the damn bed.”

  Laughing, he rolled them over until he was on his back and she was straddling him. “You say that now, then you’ll hit me later when I tell you that you need a new one.”

  She ground against him, not really listening to what he was saying, just focused on what he was doing—making her feel good.

  “Ride me,” Ryker demanded.

  All too happy to oblige, Catori gripped the thick, long length of him in her hand and sank down slowly, savoring every inch. Her lids fluttered as he filled her completely. Her hips rolled in an unhurried pace. Catori enjoyed every moment of having this man underneath her.

  This time was just for them. No dragon heat to compel it. No rage to spark it. No beasts to make them want it. Just two people who understood that they were now irrevocably connected for the rest of their lives, and they accepted i
t.

  Ryker’s hips pushed upward with every one of her downward thrusts. Whimpers of need clawed their way up her throat and spilled from her mouth. He felt so good, too good. Eventually Catori felt herself dangling on the cliff of euphoria. One push and she’d tumble over.

  When her mate sat up and nipped her still healing mark, it was the push she needed.

  Burn For Me

  Chapter Five

  Ryker stared blindly down at the words in front of him. Each piece of paper had already confirmed what he was sure of. John Akita wasn’t Catori’s biological father. He held not an ounce of DNA that resembled her own.

  Twenty-five years prior, after his wife had died in a house fire with her lover, he’d adopted Catori and gotten a position in the unit. Other than that, there wasn’t even the slightest smudge on his record. Yet everything inside Ryker was telling him that house fire wasn’t just an accident caused by a lover’s quarrel as the report said.

  The higher-ups had offered him the chance, knowing that the man now had a daughter to take care of and apparently knew too much about the supernatural world. The second option had been to quietly dispose of him, but that would still leave the issue of an orphaned baby girl.

  It was documented that Calla Akita, John’s wife, had been very much human—which only left one person to be responsible for Catori’s shifter half—Calla’s lover. Ryker pulled the pictures of both. Catori looked like replica of her mother aside from one detail—her eyes. They mirrored her father’s.

  Everything slowly clicked into place; John’s position, Catori’s ignorance of her lineage, and her adoptive father’s hate of shifters. The man’s wife had left him for one. The effect was a bitter old man bent on keeping his daughter from becoming what he deemed a “fucking animal.”

  “You got everything you need?”

  Ryker sighed and sat back in his desk chair. Neither John nor Catori were in the office today. Catori was home resting, and John was probably sleeping off his drinking binge from the night before. Ryker was grateful for both.

  He looked up at Jace. “She was right.”

  The Fae simply arched a brow.

  “She told me her father hates her, and she was right.” Closing his eyes, he rubbed his temples.

  “You’re not about to start sobbing over the injustice of it all, are you?”

  Ryker glared at him.

  Jace smirked. “Had to ask.”

  “I have to go back to her and tell her that the man who raised her, the man she’s known all her life, isn’t her father. And, oh, he’s also possibly the reason her real parents are dead.”

  The other man sighed. “Sucks to be you…”

  “So not the time to be a comedian.”

  “Okay,” Jace said easily. “I’m sorry that you have to go and inform my best friend and your mate that her father’s a baby-stealing, homicidal, prejudiced Looney Toon. Better?”

  Ryker shrugged. “Amazingly…yes.”

  “We gonna pay the good commissioner a visit?” the Fae questioned, eagerness in his gaze.

  “Did you really need to ask?”

  ***

  His head was pounding and his mouth tasted like it was full of sand, dry and gritty. But still he attempted to sit up in bed.

  “Need some water, Johnny boy?”

  His eyes opened wide at the question that came from his bedside. In a chair sat Ryker, his eyes devoid of all emotion. It sent a chill down John’s spine.

  “Wh-what are you doing here? Get…get out!” His heart picked up in his chest.

  “Not until you and I have a little talk.” Ryker threw a folder at John’s chest.

  With shaky hands, he opened it. The first thing he saw was Calla’s face, and his stomach dropped. “These…these are supposed to be buried.”

  Ryker snorted. “Well, I happen to have friends in very high places.”

  “Friends who don’t like you very much,” another voice stated.

  John’s head swung around to see Jace sitting on the other side of his bed.

  “Seems you’ve stepped on a lot of toes during your stint in the force, Commissioner,” Ryker mocked.

  “What…what do you want?”

  Ryker leaned forward in his chair, eyes glittering with rage, changing into something different. Then John was suddenly staring into the eyes of a…a…dragon.

  “I want you to bow out of your coveted position and leave Catori alone,” Ryker answered; his voice barely above a whisper.

  John puffed out his chest, deciding on bravado rather than fear. “And if I don’t?”

  “I tell her what I think really happened to her parents. Then I kill you.”

  ***

  “Where are we going?” Catori asked for the thousandth time. Ryker had driven back to her home just a few short hours ago, claiming that they had the night off.

  Ryker sighed. “You’re never gonna stop asking that, are you?”

  “Not until I get an answer, no.”

  “We’re headed up to the mountains, where we’re gonna talk and fly.”

  She did a double take at his profile as he drove. “Wait…what?”

  “There are some things I need to tell you and something you need to learn.”

  “So…I’m gonna, uh…”

  “Shift for the first time? Yes. Now quiet, impatient woman.”

  Catori stuck her tongue out at him and ignored his chuckle.

  An hour later they were finally stopping in the middle of a heavily wooded area, surrounded by high peaks and low valleys. It was beautiful and vast.

  “What is this place?” Catori asked in awe as she stepped out of the truck.

  “This,” Ryker said with pride in his voice, “is where shifters get to be shifters; hunt, mate, eat, and sleep. This is our utopia.”

  “You really like the melodramatics, don’t you?”

  He laughed and grabbed two backpacks out of the truck. Grabbing her hand, he started up the trail. Sometimes, yes.”

  She rolled her eyes but kept her comments to herself, excitement brimming inside her chest.

  When they finally stopped walking and set up camp, Ryker sat her down with a solemn look on his face. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  Catori listened closely and absorbed every bit of information as he explained slowly and clearly what he’d found out.

  “It’s up to you what you want to do from here. He’s supposed to hand in his resignation tomorrow and—”

  She held up a hand to stop him. “Just…give me a minute…’kay?”

  He nodded and sat quietly as she contemplated her options. “I want him to stay away from me,” Catori finally said.

  “Done.”

  Letting out a bitter chuckle, she asked, “Shouldn’t you be running for the hills right now? I mean anyone else who found out about the obvious psychological problems in their significant other’s family would be quick to—”

  “Tori,” Ryker interrupted softly.

  She looked at him.

  “I’m gonna be really honest with you right now, okay?”

  Nodding, she waited. Ryker took a spot next to her by the campfire that she’d created. “You have to be one of the strongest people I know. You lived with him for most of your life, and instead of letting him turn you into a cold, emotionless husk, you decided to do things your way. You decided that his approval or disapproval wouldn’t affect you anymore. And I know that had to be hard for you, seeing as how he’s the only parent you’ve ever known.”

  He tilted her head up to look at him. “I can’t swear that I love you, and I know you don’t love me. Hell, I can’t even claim that we fully like each other.” That made them both smile. “All I know is that I belong to you and you belong to me. That’s the way things are, and that’s the way they’re going to stay. We have loyalty, and it’s more than most can claim. You and I have the rest of our lives to learn how to love one another, and I’m more than willing to try if you are.”

  “I am.”


  Ryker grinned. “Great. Now it’s time for your flying lesson.”

  Oh shit…

  ***

  It was happening again. One of those things was ruining his life. Everything he’d done, everything he’d built was all diminished. Catori would hate him now. She would leave. Just like Calla; just like her mother. She would walk away with Ryker and forget that John existed; forget all that he’d done for her.