Read Razor Online

Authors: Ronin Winters

Tags: #Romance, #Fiction, #Paranormal

Razor (5 page)

BOOK: Razor
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The image of Razor in uniform hit Aaliyah so hard, she had to stop walking right then or she would fall over. Razor was by her side in a minute. “You alright?”

“Um, yeah, yeah.”

She tried waving him off, but Razor was looking hard at her, and then he must have seen too much, because he broke out into a smartass grin. “Want to see me handle the hose?”

“I will hurt you.”

He laughed at her waving finger, enfolding it in his own hands and giving a quick kiss to the tip. Her breath went sharp at the action, and his eyes sought hers. But he didn’t follow it up, only tucked her hand back in his arm and began walking again.

The night was gorgeous, clear sky and bright moon, and with Razor she had always felt absolutely safe, so there was no nervousness. Hell, he was probably as big as any forest creature they’d come across.

“Why’d you and your husband get divorced?”

Well, she hadn’t been expecting the easy questions. Besides, this was something he needed to know, and she shoved ruthlessly at the pain that was threatening to rise up. She and Razor weren’t anything, and she refused to mourn the fact that after he heard this, they never would be. “I can’t have kids.”

His big body whipped around in shock. She refused to look at him, though his eyes on her were a brand. “Cervical cancer. I have a clean bill of health, but I had to get a hysterectomy.”

Their breaths were loud in the quiet, and from the corner of her eye was the sight of Razor’s big chest rising and falling rapidly.

Aaliyah wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye, not letting it fall. She’d cried enough, and if cancer took yet another thing from her, she’d survive it. She’d survived everything so far. “Damon was still wrong to do what he did. He took a coward’s way out, and I’m ashamed of him. But it’s why I can’t hate him. He always did want kids.”

There was nothing else to say, and this was the end of it, because what twenty-six year old wanted a woman who was older, already with a history of cancer, and wouldn’t be able to give him a family?

It wasn’t until just this minute that Aaliyah realized inside her, small and meager, there had been a fantasy carefully nurtured, a fantasy involving this man, where she would meet him, strong and handsome, and he’d sweep her off her feet, and kiss her, and tell her everything would be fine.

Absolutely ridiculous. She was the one who left, after all.

Then she was swept off her feet, crushed against a massive chest, a big hand stroking her head, and above her, choked off whispers on repeat of
“I’m sorry.”

She curled into him, no tears, because she had already cried the tears, but letting his warmth soak into her inch by inch, thawing so many frozen parts.

It took several long moments before she came to herself enough to realize she was literally in his arms, his body holding her weight and had been for several minutes. She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, you don’t need to hold me.”

“One word about your weight,” and here his voice was dark and deep and so commanding, a thrill of submission swept over her, a desire to do whatever that voice ordered. “And I
will
beat your ass. I can hold you all night like this. Don’t you dare play mind games with yourself.”

Fuck
, that was hot. And unexpected. And hot. And why the fuck were the only thoughts running through her head now all involving her on her knees in front of him?

His head cocked, and he did that sniff thing she’d caught several times, and before she could ask his eyes met hers, a fire burning in them so strongly she swore they shone for a minute.

The kiss is messy, an attack on her, all direct pressure and frontal assault. There is no time to take a breath, only hold on as his mouth plundered hers.

This was nothing ever experienced. This was new, because it went beyond the physical. Desire mixed with adoration, mixed with gratefulness, and from it all came
this
amazing realization on how well they blended together, on how together, it was
perfect.

A loud snarl sounded from behind them, and before it had even penetrated her hazy mind, they were knocked to the ground. Razor shielded her as much as he could, catching himself and rolling in such a way that he didn’t land on top of her, but the fall caused a sharp exhale, and she couldn’t breathe air back in for several moments. As she struggled to breathe, she turned to find Razor.

A wolf was attacking him, and he used one big foot to kick it in its head, but before she could process anything else, she was being grabbed up, an arm around her throat, and Razor snarled at whoever was behind her. “What the fuck you doing here, Devil. You’re banished.”

The arm around her neck tightened, and the voice held the same quality every bully had ever had through the history of time. “The new boss-to-be seems to like me well enough. He said there’s no problem with me hanging around.”

Razor’s face contorted with disgust. “You’ve aligned with Jacobson?”

“Any wolf with pride has aligned with Jacobson.” The words were rapid-fire, filled with disgust towards Razor. “Steel might think we should all be crawling on our bellies, but I refuse, and now, there are others like me. Steel’s time is over. Might want to rethink which side your on.”

Chapter Six


“L
et the woman
go. She isn’t part of this.” Razor’s wolf was going feral underneath the skin, seeing Aaliyah trapped in Devil’s arms. Aaliyah was steady, not making a move, and as much as it was killing him, Razor had to look away from her and keep his eyes on Devil and the other wolves, or Aaliyah wasn’t going to make it out alive.

She was a fucking ER nurse. He’d seen her deal with shit before. He had to trust her to keep her head now.

Devil ignored him. “She’s pretty. Is she your mate, or are you having a bit of fun?”

“She’s fun. She doesn’t know about our little
spat
.” He doubted it would matter to Devil either way, but Razor had to try.

Devil’s low, cruel laugh said it was hopeless. “Well, I guess she’ll be
fun
for us as well.”

He couldn’t think what they’d do to Aaliyah or he’d go insane. He needed a plan to get them out, and to make one, he needed a clear head.

And then Aaliyah – brilliant, beautiful Aaliyah – stabbed something into Devil’s arm. The wolf howled, throwing her away from him, and Razor couldn’t waste any time, couldn’t think on consequences.

He
shifted
, his wolf coming out, and the first to go down was the hurt one, the one who already smelled like blood, but positively reeked of it when Razor was through.

Claws were on his back and teeth at his neck, and he threw the other wolf away, jumping on it, his own fangs bearing down on the other wolf.

Howls and wails and growls filtered through the forest night, because the wolf wanted
blood
, it wanted its enemies ripped apart, nothing but exposed flesh and the scent of carrion, and no matter how many enemies came after him, no matter how many sunk their teeth and claws into his flesh, he would devour them all, would lay waste, would spill their blood on the forest floor.

Pain was ignored. Screams were absorbed. Movement became heavy, then became an agony, and he still went forward. His mate. His mate was here, and she needed to be safe.

Protect. His beautiful mate.

The wolf kept on attacking, until, the last of its enemies laying on the forest floor, the wolf fell over.

*

It was the
loud
crash
of the big wolf falling that finally had Aaliyah coming out of her shock.

Razor had turned into a wolf. She hadn’t just imagined that. She
hadn’t
.

He turned into a wolf, and saved her life.

Several…bodies?…wolves, something were laying on the ground, as well as the man who had been holding her.

There was probably something they should do. Leaving someone as evil as that Devil was always ended up being a bad idea. At the least, there should be some sort of cops to call.

But Razor was hurt, and if those wolves had any reinforcements coming, she and Razor would be dead before dawn. As much as she hated just leaving the creatures without somehow containing them, she and Razor needed to leave now.

“Razor,” she called out, and the wolf whined, low and non-threatening. “Razor, I need to touch you. Can you hear me?”

Another whine, and was she stupid, because if she touched him, he could lunge at her and rip her throat out. Could he even have human thoughts right now?

Slow, soft movements, and all Razor did was nuzzle into her as she came closer. “You have to work with me. Please, you’re too heavy. Please help me get you into the car.”

Whether the wolf understood her or it was instinct, it did help. Every movement was agony if the whimpers and whines spoke true, but he kept moving as she kept talking, and all through the car ride she kept speaking, kept letting him know she was near.

After she parked in front of her house, she was able to settle him into her bed the same way she got him into the car. The stairs were the trickiest part, but they managed, and now a wolf lay in her bed, a wolf that transformed before her eyes into a human being, with a lot less wounds than his wolf counterpart had.

It took time, but she got him cleaned up, got herself put to rights, put on some boxers that she used to sleep in. Then she sat in the chair beside the bed and settled in for a long night, and answers that would come in the morning.

Chapter Seven


H
e was surrounded
by softness and Aaliyah’s scent, so despite the lingering aches, Razor was overall content as he opened his eyes, smiling as what had to be Aaliyah’s bedroom came into view. Then he focused, and there was Aaliyah, sitting next to the bed, her unsmiling mouth and direct eyes slamming into him the reason for the aches and why he was currently in her bed, and all contentment vanished.

Swallowing hard, he pushed himself up, the sheets dropping to his waist and revealing he was wearing nothing but some underwear. Aaliyah said nothing, just kept looking at him, steady and stable.

Well, at least she hadn’t run screaming into the night or called some mad scientist to start cutting him up.

Refusing to give into the tension threatening to eat him up, Razor settled back and made himself as unthreatening as possible, pretty hard for a guy who stood six-sixish and considered football players underweight. “I’m sorry you saw that.”

“I’m not.”

Aaliyah’s forthright words had him jerking his head up and without a doubt, his eyes had to be taking up half his face right now. “What?”

“For a short while, I used to think you guys around here were some sort of cult or something. Even when I realized that wasn’t the case, I knew something now exactly normal was going on. It’s nice to finally know the truth.” Straight-forward and to the point – that was who Aaliyah was and always had been. It’s why she had fit in so well, though she didn’t know the secrets of the pack. Around here, those were traits to be admired and respected.

In for a penny and all that. There would be no better time to tell her, and being a nurse, he had a feeling Aaliyah would appreciate tearing the bandage off quickly. “I’m a werewolf.”

BOOK: Razor
13.89Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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