Page 70 of Trapped for Her Blood
Ember
Ryker stokesthe fire and I stand close to him, my fingers moving, but not daring to touch his muscled shoulders or his scarred back as he works. The burns are gone, but the scarring has returned, with raised stripes like perhaps he was once whipped. I want to ask him about it, but not now.
He shifts back to sit cross-legged on the pelts and reaches up for my hand, pulling me down to join him.
Anticipation has captured my ability to think or breathe or even move of my own volition, but my arms drift around his neck as I sit across his lap, his hardness pressing against my hip.
“You sure about this?” he asks. “I can wait. Or find another vein. They must feed the prisoners down here.”
“Not again for nearly a month,” I say.
He tips his head to the side.
“They only bring humans down once a month, or once every new moon, I should say.”
“That bitch…” His eyes narrow. “Should have figured.”
I slide my fingers into his dark hair, marveling at how thick and soft his shoulder-length curls are, given how it was all burnt off not that long ago. “Are you really okay now?”
He nods. “Can’t lie. Those burns fucking hurt. But I’ve been through worse…” He draws a long breath as if remembering other bad times.
‘Worse thanthat?” I shiver in his arms and he nuzzles my cheek and rubs my arm.
“All in the past,” he murmurs. “And ancient history is the robot’s domain. I prefer the present.” He grins as the backs of his fingers slide down my throat, then continue between my breasts.
I gasp, squirming with desire.
“How long were you bound up like that?” I ask as the fire’s flames dance inside his brilliantly blue eyes.
“Hard to judge.” His brow furrows slightly. “The silver was bad, but the fucking sunlight… Based on the sun though, I’d guess I was bound in silver about a day and a half?”
“Oh, Ryker!”
He looks into the distance, over my head. “The sun was down when they dumped me, but soon rose. It wasn’t on me all the time, but I spent about ten hours fighting to roll myself away from it, then more darkness, and then… Well, then your bear man found me not long after dawn of my second day.”
A wry smile captures his lips and eyes.
“What?” I ask sliding my hand over his chest. He just described horrible torture. “How could anything be funny right now?”
Chuckling, he looks into my eyes. “Just thinking how pissed Octavia’s gonna be when she finds out.” He shakes his head. “Pretty sure I wasn’t meant to be found and another few hours I would have been dust.”
I nod thinking how lucky we were to find him. “Psycho was showing us the tunnels in and out of here, and how they’re all blocked or booby trapped or guarded.” Despair threatens my happiness, but I push it back down. “Psycho knew these tunnels when the mob used them to move liquor or something.”
“That tracks, given Tavi’s history.” Ryker nods. “Is his name really Psycho?”
I shrug. “He must have another name, but that’s what everyone calls him down here.”
I decide not to tell Ryker how I met Psycho, or what he threatened to do to me. If it weren’t for Psycho, Ryker would still be burning, and I don’t see any need—at least not right now—to turn Ryker homicidal.
“By Jove, you are beautiful,” Ryker whistles through his teeth.
“By Jove?” I grin as his compliment stirs inside me and his fingers gently explore my body.
He chuckles. “Your beauty has dragged up expressions from my past.”
“How old are you?” I lean back from him, realizing we never discussed it.
“I was about twenty-one when I transitioned. That’s why I’m so pretty.” Grinning, he winks.
