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I didn’t have the strength to laugh, so the sound that left me was more of a choked breath. “You’re telling me.” I patted his shoulder. “You can do that again to me anytime.”
Ridge laughed as he rubbed his hands up and down my back. His cum started to leak out of me and onto him and the bedspread, but neither of us could move. We were wiped.
Finally, Ridge picked me up and carried me into the shower. He cleaned me with reverent attention, washing every inch of my skin, even shampooing and conditioning my hair. After the bone-jelly-inducing sex, having my body rubbed down was another stop on the heaven train.
But I could tell that even though Ridge had relaxed after the sex, he was still a little on edge. What I had said about choosing to take the cure had made him blend with his wolf, something I hadn’t seen before. He was only Ridge or his wolf, never a blend of the two. And while it had been fascinating and exciting to see, it worried me to think I’d caused him any distress.
Ridge scrubbed the soapy loofah down my back, and even with his body heat and the hot water from the shower, my skin pebbled from his attentions.
I figured it was best to let him out of his misery.
“Ridge, I want you to know… while I’m not exactly besties with my wolf like you are with yours, you don’t need to go all alpha and worry that I’ll try to track down some dark witch and cure myself of the animal.”
He froze in place but waited for me to finish.
“The worst part about being a shifter, at least so far, is how I sometimes lose control. But once I stop being half-feral, I enjoy being what she is. I think I’d be more open to everything when the feral goes away because the crippling fear that I’d hurt someone won’t be at the forefront of my thoughts. I already feel like I’m not struggling as much with the feral side effects as when I first came to town. So please don’t worry that I’ll do anything to harm my wolf.”
A heavy sigh left him, and he kissed my shoulder, turned me around, and kissed me thoroughly. “Little wolf, you have no idea how happy I am to hear that.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “I’m not thrilled that your brother mentioned this option in the first place.” He tensed at the mention of my brother, and I figured he would be defensive of me no matter what when my family was involved.
Old habits were hard to break, and I defended my brother before I could second-guess myself. “Kyle was taught to be afraid of and disgusted by shifters, just like I was. It’s not his fault that William was so hard on him and forced him into the family business.”
I believed that because it had been the same with me. I wouldn’t be here now if I wasn’t a shifter. If I had found this town as a non-shifter, I’d have been hunting them down whether I wanted to or not.
“When I spoke to Kyle, it seemed like he wasn’t truly devoted to the shifter cause. He said that the only reason he helped search for me was because he wanted to give me the option not to be a shifter anymore if that’s what I wanted.”
Ridge couldn’t suppress his growl, but it was instinct, nothing more. I let it slide.
“I think I should talk to him about it again. Now that I know what he was talking about, I can get more out of him. I could ask him what happens to shifters once they lose their wolves and find out if he knows anything more about it. He still might have something on Jaxon Hyde, too. He avoided those questions before, which makes me think he knows more than he was saying.”
After moving me under the spray to rinse the soap, Ridge shut off the water, grabbed a towel, and dried me off. My body heat rose as he saw to every inch of me, and he smirked. He wrapped me in the towel and kissed my nose before drying himself off.
“After I saw Zander, I contacted other packs,” he said. “I’ve been doing it a lot lately because I’m still determined to bring as many of them here as I can to bulk up our numbers and build a solid defense. However, this time I reached out to them to learn more about dark witches. I expect several of them to call me back. I’ll try and get some details about the Everwood Pack and Jaxon Hyde, too. See if any of them know more than what we do. It couldn’t hurt.”
A weight lifted off me. Ridge might be able to get me some information about what could possibly be my past and heritage.
“Thank you. That would be wonderful.”
As I dressed for bed, I debated telling Ridge that we should sleep in separate beds. It would be better if we stopped sleeping together. It was too intimate, and we needed to keep our fling in the right perspective. It was getting more complex with each passing day.
My wolf whined and bared her teeth at me at the idea, but I drowned her out. There were certain decisions I couldn’t let her make. Not when it involved our heart.
Watching Ridge stand naked as he wiped himself dry, my belly flipped. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, especially after the intimacy we’d just shared.
The evening was fantastic, and the glow he’d evoked in me lingered. So when he reached for my hand with that sweet smile of his, then led me to his bed, tucked me in, and wrapped himself closely around me, I let him do it all without complaint.
Relishing each moment—the feelings, the touch, the sounds, the smells—I filed them all away to look back on when I needed them to get through the lonely nights of my future.
“Did you have luck speaking with the Magpies about keeping your job?” Ridge whispered in my ear as he nuzzled my wet hair and kissed the back of my neck.
“No, those two nosy birds were more interested in a wedding invitation than a good employee. It’s fine, I’ll find work elsewhere.”
I needed a job. Even if the hourly wage sucked, I’d made good tips as a waitress, so at least I could accumulate enough cash if I had to run suddenly.
“I also need to get another laptop so I can find some freelance graphic design work. That pays well. I can do it anywhere, and it would allow me to stop mooching off you.”
I heard the frustration in Ridge’s voice when he said, “You’re not mooching. I’ll buy you a hundred laptops if you want, or an art studio if you prefer. Anything you need or want, I’ll get for you right away.”
Irritated, I snapped at Ridge, “Stop throwing your money around. You’ve already done way too much for me. That is your money, and you should do what you want with it.”
