Chapter Fourteen

King

Aziz and Hammer had to come get me. It took what seemed like a year for me to crawl from the floor of the garage to my car and retrieve my phone. Stupid of me to leave it behind in the first place.

They drove the distance, and I slumped myself into the back seat of the SUV and slept the entire way back.

My lion burned off what he could of the drug and, when we pulled up to the warehouse, I was tired and dirty, but alive.

All I wanted was a shower and to find Ryan. Not in that order.

"What the hell?" Ryan said once he saw me. He stood up from his seat at the table where he had been laughing and smiling with the other omegas. "King?"

When he said my name, I became ten feet tall.

"I'm okay," I said, using the counter to hold myself up.

"You aren't." My omega nearly tipped over the chair on the way to me. He wrapped one arm around my waist and put my arm over his shoulder. "Let's get you cleaned up."

I allowed him to help me down the hallway toward my room but stopped at the door. "I can do it. It's the little ones' bedtime. You have stories to read and tucking in to do. It's okay. I've got it."

"They're having a movie tonight. Some princess and frog movie. They're making beignets. Probably don't even know I'm not there. Please, mate. Let me."

As if I could deny him.

We walked into my room, and my lion rejoiced at my mate being in my den.

When we got to the bathroom, I put my hands on his shoulders, stopping him. I didn't want him to see me this way. Bruised and bloodied. Didn't dare look in the mirror, afraid of what I'd see.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to see me like this."

He cracked up. "You're apologizing for how you look after some hoodlums beat you up? Wow."

"I thought I was the hoodlum."

"You're no hoodlum, King. You're my mate. My alpha. My king. Stop fussing and let me do what I want to."

He stripped me down until I was naked before him while he ran a hot bath. He held onto my torso while I stepped in, groaning at how the temperature eased some of my aches.

Then he took off his shirt. His pecs were well-rounded and strong, his biceps full yet not veiny. Abs that went on for days. He was soft and strong where I was hard and dented and scarred.

Different but the same power.

Ryan rubbed soap into a cloth and began at my shoulders. He kneaded my muscles and washed away the blood and my cares. Humming some tune, he made his way down my stomach and then paused right above my groin. My cock was hard for him. Throbbing. Bouncing at the chance for one touch.

In that moment, with my mate taking care of me, I fell in love with him. Not because he was my mate or because Fate deemed it so but because he was the most kind and caring being. He loved beyond what I thought was possible and gave of himself freely—no expectations in return.

For that, I would give him all of me. No more holding back.

"Touch me anywhere you want, omega mine," I breathed, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. "Thank you for helping me."

With a soft smile, he leaned forward and kissed my lips gently. The cuts on my mouth and the rest of my body would heal quickly, but those men had done a number on me.

I fell asleep when he was washing my legs.

He didn't miss an inch. "Lie back so I can wash your hair." He wasn't naked and the water had cooled to tepid, but as his finger caressed my scalp, I felt alive.

Alive and intensely cared for. His bear poured his love into our bond, and I did the best I could to send it right back.

I swayed in and out of consciousness but managed to make it out of the bath. Ryan dressed me in some boxers and lay me in bed, whispering something about taking a shower. I heard the water. Smelled his scent wafting through the room, enhanced and heightened by the hot water.

The mattress dipped once he was in bed, and my lion finally relaxed once his body covered mine.

His skin touching mine was everything.

"Good night, Ryan. I love you." I thought I said it out loud but, as sleep claimed me once again, I couldn't be sure.