“Go to a Ravager bar called The Cave tomorrow and leave your number. Don’t fuck with me, or you’ll wish for death by the time I’m through with you.”
“I get it, I swear.” He glanced at Dom then looked away again. “Savage Clan, right?”
Dom stepped between Eric and Walker. “Yeah.”
“One other thing you might want to know.” Walker inched back, keeping his gaze averted. “The Lawlesses have been sniffing around Chen, trying to make a deal. Just something to keep in mind.”
Dom grunted. “Take off.”
Walker disappeared without sound, running down the alley the way he’d come.
“That sucked.” Logan shook his head and morphed back into his more human frame. “Not enough time to really get into a good lather.”
Dom waited until Eric had resumed his human form before changing back as well.
“We were ready to get into ‘a good lather’ before we were interrupted,” Dom reminded him. “I’m still hungry. Let’s head back to the homestead and finish marking Vicki before someone else shows up.”
Eric chuckled. “She’s not boring. I’ll give her that.”
Logan and Dom joined him in the vehicle. Kate and Diana had already driven off with Sean—the other non-Ravager Eric would be forced to deal with.
“What do you think?” Eric asked Dom from the backseat of their SUV as Logan drove.
In tune with each other, Dom didn’t have to ask what he meant. “I think the female’s going to lead you on one hell of a chase. And let’s face it. You need the challenge. What’s the last thing you’ve hunted that got away?”
“Vicki,” Logan answered with a snicker. The obnoxious pup.
Dom smacked him in the back of the head.
“What?” Logan was still grinning.
“Watch your tone.” Dom’s growl turned into a sigh. “You’re the least disciplined of the pack, yet we keep you. Why is that, Prime?”
Eric chuckled. “Because he’s good with his mouth?” Dom flushed, and Eric laughed louder. “Why is my guard so shy when it comes to sex? You’re turning human on us, Dom.”
“Not one word,” Dom warned Logan when he opened his mouth.
Wisely, the Ravager closed it.
“I can’t remember the last time we fucked a decent female,” Eric grumbled. “The humans around here aren’t satisfying.” Playing devil’s advocate, he sought his pack’s opinion. “Maybe Jesse has the right of it. We should make peace with the Lawless clan and look for a mate there.” The horror on Logan’s and Dom’s faces reinforced his original decision. “Relax. I was just thinking out loud. Obviously, you’re on the same page I am. None of them are to be trusted, leaving the future of our clan to non-Ravager Voiders.”
“And Conduits,” Logan offered. “Vicki smells right.”
“Yeah.” Dom exhaled heavily. “Everything about her vibrates on your level, Eric. Physically, mentally. Even her guer, as untrained as it is, suits you.”
A Ravager’s guer, or fighting spirit, was all to their kind. The wilder the guer, the stronger the Ravager. Animal instincts went hand in hand with resilience. Coming from a world where only the fittest survived, Ravagers had to choose the best to carry on their lines.
With a slim ratio of female to male Ravagers, they’d had to make a decision. The king before Eric, like all the rest, had refused to allow Ravagers to procreate with others outside their species. The stress of life in this world, and his cruelty, turned his into a short-lived reign and fractured the Ravagers into two clans. One followed Eric—the Savages. The other followed Nev Lawless—the Lawless clan.
Nev was a sick bastard, one who reveled in brutality over his Ravagers and the humans unfortunate enough to come into contact with him. The Salinas couldn’t contain him, but Eric and his warriors did. Though mostly banished to the fields skirting the Boundary, and smaller in number than the Savages, the Lawless clan posed a constant threat. If he could have, Eric would have killed every last one of them. But he couldn’t rule his kind and push for their future while engaging in a clan war. His Ravagers needed the promise of family, of tomorrow, not more death over territory disputes and the validity of Ravager mating practices.
“Prime?” Dom frowned.
Eric shook off his worries about tomorrow. Did he really want to dwell on Nev Lawless when he had a nearly-marked female waiting at home for him? “Drive faster, Logan. I’ve got things to do at home.” Things involving a naked Vicki.
Logan nodded. “Can’t argue with that. Don’t hit me again, Dom.” He shot Dom a dark look. “It’s a figure of speech. I wouldn’t really argue with Prime. Hell, I’m having a hard time thinking about anything besides sinking into Vicki. This is the first time Prime’s ever marked a female. I didn’t think it would be so… The need has never been this intense before.” He sounded confused.
Join the club.
“So how long are you going to keep her, anyway?”
Eric started. He didn’t know. It wasn’t as if he could take her to mate, to claim her. Marking her for sex was one thing, but a permanent joining? And why was he even thinking about forever with a virtual stranger?
Dom licked his lips. “I’m thinking Prime is going to need some time to break this one in.”
Vicki wouldn’t give in easily. He knew she wouldn’t. It wasn’t in her nature, just as he knew sex with her would be incredible.
“She’ll need a firm hand, Prime. Guidance. Others to show her what you like, what you need.”
“Damn it, Dom.” Logan shifted in his seat. “I’m trying to drive and this hard-on isn’t helping.”
“No shit.” Eric glared. “Shut up already, or consider yourself last in tonight’s lineup.”
Dom turned to stare at Eric in surprise. He met Eric’s displeasure for several heartbeats before he slowly looked away. “Touchy bastard,” he muttered.
“What’s that?” Eric forced himself not to smile. Trust Dom never to give an inch.
“Sorry.” Dom sounded as if he wanted to shove that sorry down Eric’s throat, and Eric knew, had Logan not been present, he probably would have tried.
Logan coughed but didn’t quite hide his laughter. When Dom snarled, Logan quickly changed the subject to Kate and Diana. While Logan and Dom discussed Sean Morely and what the girls might really want with him, Eric envisioned Vicki and the brewing battle he’d have winning her over.
How long would he keep her? His guer didn’t like the question. As long as I need to, he told himself. Or longer.
Chapter Eight
Vicki’s head pounded, waking her from a deep rest. Memories of Ravagers and her cousin returned, and she wondered what mess she’d landed in now. The last thing she recalled, Jesse had tossed her over his shoulder.
“Why am I in a bed? Where is this place?” After sitting up, she edged off the gigantic bed and stumbled to the window to gather her bearings. She took a deep, cleansing breath and looked out at a forest under the breaking dawn. No Salinas, no criminals or crowded streets. Jesse must have taken her somewhere outside the city limits, because the picturesque background seemed far from the overcrowded city that was Cross Step.