Moon Dancer - Hidden Wolf 1

Grayson

The moon was overhead in the dark sky when Ryker and I finally reached my house. Larkin's purple aura of power was gone, leaving the house completely in the open.

Ryker squeezes my hand from where he stood next to me. "You okay, Sparks?" I look up at him and nod, a small smile resting across my mouth.

"I feel much better. I'm ready for bed though." My eyes were practically shutting by themselves.

Ryker chuckles at me and leads me through the clearing. He stops in front of the house, turning around and thrusting his hands up in the air, his fingers trembling the tiniest bit. "There." He says, slightly out of breath.

I look out at the barely visible shield he threw over the house. It didn't conceal the house like Larkin's barrier had, but I couldn't stop the comforting feeling of being safe spread through me.

Ryker turns to me. "Let's get you to bed." He takes my hand again and we walk through the door.

"Hey, Ry?" I ask quietly.

Ryker brushes his thumb over the back of my hand. "Yeah, Sparks?"

I look at my feet. "Can you sleep with me? My bed is small, but I don't want to be alone."

Ryker brings his fingers to my chin and gently guides my face up so he can meet my eye. "I would love to sleep with you." He smiles. "But I can always take the couch if you want me to."

An unpleasant shiver runs down my back, and I immediately shake my head. "No. Don't use the couch."

I don't want to have to explain myself, and maybe Ryker reads that through our link. But his eyes still darken dangerously. "And your bed?"

Tears press against the back of my eyes and I swallow. Ryker tracks the movement with his eyes. "I- only during-" I put a hand to the side of my head. "I don't remember those times well. I wasn't fully aware of what was happening." The only times Larkin had raped me in my own bed were during my suppressed heats, when I had been too out of it to leave my room to greet him.

Ryker's eyes only darkened. He raised his hand to cover mine, his fingers entwining with mine, the tips of his fingers pushing into my hair. "Gray. I am so fucking sorry for what he did to you." He says in a guttural voice. "So fucking sorry."

I bit my lip and nodded, looking away from him. How was I supposed to respond to that?

When I drop my hand back to my side, Ryker doesn't let go of it, instead wrapping my fingers in his. He circles his thumb across the back of my palm. "Come on." Ryker guides me across the creaky wooden floor, slowly and carefully placing his feet on the stairs as he makes his way up. The dislodged railing lay on the floor, pieces of the wall crumbling around it.

Ryker steps into my room and swings the backpack off his shoulder, never dropping my hand. He drops the bag at the foot of my bed and glances around the room, quickly surveying the space. Nodding once, he drops my hand with a quick kiss placed on my knuckles.

He kneels down next to my mattress and begins to strip it from the countless blankets I had gathered. "What are you doing?" I ask.

Ryker doesn't answer me right away. When he had begun to place the blankets back down on the bed, he looked back at me with a sheepish expression. "I've never made one before, so it might be rough."

Made of one of what?

He turned back to the bed and bundled a blanket around the edge of the mattress, forming a ridge.

Oh hell.

He was trying to make me a nest.

A fresh round of tears welled in my eyes. When the first tear fell onto my cheek, Ryker whipped around to look at me. "Do you not like it?" He asked quickly. "I'm sorry if it's too much, I just-"