Nighttime at Willow Bay (8 page)

He didn’t understand.
She
did
like him. That was the problem. She liked him too much.  But, wolf or human, she couldn’t let a man derail her life again, not after everything she’d experienced with Malcolm, and not when her life was on the line. She had come too far. She had to focus on what mattered: escaping the demon spawn stalking her. Even so, she couldn’t get the memory of the kiss they’d shared out of head.

It had been wonderful.

Naomi took a sharp turn, and followed Ryder Jory through the darkness.

Chapter Ten

Faint moonlight slipped through the cavern where Ryder and Naomi lay. After their heated exchange, he had suggested rest and she had promptly fallen asleep in the corner of the cavern, just before citing that she wasn’t actually sleepy. Ryder grinned, recalling her passionate outburst.

“You expect me to sleep
now?”

“Sleep.”

“You are out of your mind.”

“Sleep.”

“You’re insane.”

“Sleep.”

With a huff, she’d stormed to the corner of the cavern to lay down, and had fallen asleep so fast that Ryder had briefly feared she’d hit her head. After checking on her, he’d returned to the opposite end of the cavern to stare at her sleeping form.

Damn
, she was something.

And he was a monster…in her eyes.

He turned away. She was obviously looking for something more. Some suit and tie nine to five prick. 

A human.

Ryder seethed with regret. He could never be like that. He didn’t fit in with humans, something his cousins up North seemed to do well. His problem was that he was too rough, too big, too intimidating for most of them. ‘
A wild one’
, his momma had said often enough. ‘
When you come into the room, love, your presence demands attention.’

The men at the engineering plant respected him, as did his co-workers at the park, but they were all wary of him, too, perhaps because they sensed the beast lurking be
hind the shadows of his eyes. By the end of a long workday, he could be downright surly if he didn’t get his space. At home, he often contemplated leaving and starting over in a new town, where no one knew him, but he now understood why all of those plans had fizzled out. He was
supposed
to remain in Jacksonville, NC. In Willow Bay. He was
supposed
to find her—Naomi—his mate—his better half. The thought of returning home without her was unbearable.

But still, m
aybe his great, great grandmother had been wrong, because Naomi seemed to be disgusted by him. Weren’t better halves supposed to experience love at first sight?

Ryder cursed.
Hell if he knew. He shouldn’t have told her about his heritage like that. What had he been thinking? But the kiss had made him talk from his dick instead of his brain so that was that. He sighed. He should take her back home and forget he ever met her. Her life was bound to change because of him, and she might ultimately end up resenting him.

A sudden sound resounded in the night. Ryder’s eyes flew to the entrance way
.

The Spades.
Had to be them.

Ryder turned toward a sleeping Naomi.
Could they make it to his brothers’ land in time?

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Naomi awoke a minute later.  When she opened her eyes, she spotted Ryder standing at the cave entrance, and heard vicious howls from outside. Ryder just stood there, looking down at the ravine.

“What is it?”

He glanced at her. “The Spades.”

Her mind worked to remember what she knew about the Spades…her captors…demons…dangerous
…had to escape them.

Her back stiffened.
“But you said we were safe in the caves!”

“
Everybody in Willow Bay knows that the caves are off limits except for Jorys. I didn’t think the demons would be stupid enough to tread on our holy ground.”

Those demons wanted her! And from the looks of it, the cave had one entrance. Good God, they were trapped. 

Ryder came for her.  “Let’s go.”

“How the hell are we getting out of here? There’s only one entrance.”

“There’s a way.”

Once again, the earlier vision she had of his death seared through her mind, and she clung to his arm in fear.

“Ryder, I have to tell you something.”

“It can wait.”

“But you should know something.”

“Not now.
I think we’ve talked enough. We have to move.”

She frowned at that. He was still mad at her.

He took her by the elbows, and pulled her up in a standing position. “Remember, when I say move, you move, and I’m saying move.”

Naomi rolled her eyes. Not this again. “You are so obnoxious.”

“I know.”

“I can’t believe they’d risk entering holy ground.”

“I know.”  There was absolute anger in his eyes, and Naomi knew not to say anything more. The man was seriously pissed about the trespassers. She didn’t blame him. If someone disrespected her people’s holy land, there’d be hell to pay.

He took her hand and guided her deeper in the cave; this time they passed the gallery of pictures and moved into a different set of narrowed hallways. Naomi frowned at his backside, wondering where the labyrinth ended. For all she knew, it went on forever. Her legs worked to keep up. Her brea
thing came out in airy spurts. From behind her, voices sounded. The Spades had breached the cave.

Suddenly they came upon a gushing underground river.  It was the stream she’d heard earlier!

Ryder stopped. “We’ve got to get in and ride the river down to the lake. My brothers’ property isn’t far.”

“Uh…” She cleared her throat. “Ride the river?”

Ryder looked down at the river and then, slowly, looked back at her.  “Don’t worry,” he said.  “I’m a good swimmer.”

“I don’t know about this.”

“What’s wrong?”             

“
You see, I’m a lousy swimmer.”

“I’m good enough for the both of us. C’mon, it’ll be easy.”

He tested the water with a foot and stepped in, all the while clutching a nearby boulder to keep from careening down the lane. His arm muscles flexed, and she couldn’t help ogling him. When he held out a hand to her, she shook her head. His lips thinned. “Naomi, trust me. You’re not going to drown.”

She moaned
, a sound that echoed in the chamber. “You just had to use the word ‘
drown’,
didn’t you?”

“Sorry, darling.”

“And how do you know I’m not going to drown, old wise one?”

Ryder pointed to his biceps. “Because these bad boys won’t let you.”

Naomi laughed. The man was ridiculous! Here she was petrified about drowning in the  murky water, and he was making some corny joke about his muscles being able to save her, which they probably could…damn beefcake.

“Okay,” she finally said. “Just don’t let go of my ass.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Grabbing her by the waist, he hoisted her down into the water. 

Naomi gasped at the frigid current, and whispered, “It’s cold.”

“Hold on to my arms.”

She did just that, marveling at the warmth radiating from them.

“You’re like a furnace.”

“Body heat.”

“Are you always like this?”

“Yeah—always run hot in cold situations.”  Interesting. Cause she was running a little hot herself. Naomi looked down at the large arm secured just below her breasts, and suddenly imagined it dipping lower, closer to her sweet spot.

A sound erupted from the
passageway. The Spades!

“They’re
close!”

“Hold on tight
and hold your breath when I tell you to!”

“Let’s get out of here!”

He quickly maneuvered her into a sitting position and pushed off from the rocks.  Before she could catch her breath, they were off, traveling through an underground stream as slick and wide as a Slip ’n Slide.

Naomi squeaked.
She clutched Ryder’s forearms and wondered if they would plummet to the bottom of the cave in a horrible disaster. But, thankfully, they didn’t. They kept riding the slide. Slushes of water flew into her face, and to her, it felt surprisingly refreshing, like a really good shower. She thought about the one time she’d made the trip with her family to Hideaway Grove at the Marbles Kids Museum in North Carolina. This felt like the ride she’d ridden at the museum—minus the deranged demons on her tail.

And it was nice that Ryder was there to break the bumpy falls and protect her from the craggy rocks.  Her body would have definitely suffered a tougher beating had it not been for him. Any minute now they would break through the surface and be in the lake. Any minute…

Suddenly they were plunging to the bottom. Oh God, they were going to drown. She was lost!

“Hold on to me!” yelled Ryder.
“And hold your breath!”

He pinned her against his body just as the floor dropped and she
plummeted into a large body of water—separated from Ryder. Sinking. Alone. Lord, she was sinking.  Alone.  Going all the way down, because her arms were too heavy, and the water was too deep, and everything was so dark and cold, and it was so much easier to give up. 

An awful thought crossed her mind.

He’d lied to her.

Dear God, s
he
was
going to drown.

But then a tremendous force yanked her to the surface of the lake.

For several dramatic moments, she gasped for air, thanking the stars for the lifesaving oxygen.

Not far, a panicked Ryder swam frantically in her direction. Fear and relief flooded his eyes, and a part of her realized just how much he cared for her.

Weakly, she clung to his shoulders. “I…almost‍… drowned.”

“Shhh. It’s okay
, baby. I’m here.”             

He guided her to the shore.

Once there, she collapsed onto the ground.  “I’m sorry…I let go,” she said with a tremble. “I wasn’t supposed to let go.”

“It’s my fault,” he replied.  “Don’t blame yourself.”

“Something saved me, Ryder. Something pushed me up from down there.”

“Yeah, I saw,” he
growled. Naomi stared at him, waiting for him to clarify. When he didn’t provide additional information, she pounced.

“Well, what was it?”

“Probably a merman.”

“Merman!”

Jesus, how many creatures lived in Willow Bay?

“Sure,” he said with a shrug.  “This is one of their favorite hang-out spots.”

Her gaze swept over the lake, expecting to see a gang of mermaids throwing back booze and tossing a peace sign, but she only saw a huge fin sticking from the water. Someone, or something, was listening to them, but didn’t want to be seen.

Wow. A merma
n. That was kind of cool.

Naomi shouted to the lake
, “Thank you!”

Then plopped to the ground in an exhausted heap. Jesus.

She never wanted to do that again.

Chapter
Eleven

Ryder appeared next to her.  “Naomi, we have to move.”

No. She was too tired to move. She was so, so cold.

“You are nuts!”

“D
arling, I’m sorry, but it’s still not safe.”

When he tried to help her up, she brushed his hand away.  If he touched her again, she’d scratch his eyes out! She focused on his face and something possessive flashed through his beautiful pale eyes.

“We escaped, Ryder,” she offered. “Gimme a break.”

A vein ticked in his neck. “Not until we’re on my brothers
’ property.”

Her temper flared.  “Can’t you see that I’m
spent? Newsflash, I’m not a werewolf. Us humans get tired, okay?”

He pressed his lips together. She had a feeling he was trying not to laugh
at her.

“So help me God, if you laugh right now
, Ryder, I’ll scratch those pretty little eyes out.”

“Darling, I’m not laughing.”

“You better not be.”

He heaved a great sigh.
“Let me carry you, darling. Let me help.”

And then she found herself being lifted into
some of the strongest arms she’d ever felt. Sighing, she rested her head on his shoulder. Her mind wandered. He’d cushioned her falls in the underground tunnel. He’d come for her in the water. God, he was amazing. So caring and sweet. It would be nice having a guy like him around the house. She pulled back a bit, and wiped a line of water from his upper lip. Perhaps she’d reacted too dramatically about his news of being a werewolf…but he had come on so strongly in the cave.  Why did he have to be so overbearing?