Carnal Secrets (16 page)

“How can it not bother you that he’s inhuman? You’re a traitor to our race.”

“And you’re a pedophile, a rapist, and a sadist…aren’t you, Logan?” said Derren, ending the sentence with a snap of his teeth. “You have a fondness for young boys, as I recall.”

Shock crashed into Shaya as the implications of that comment settled in. Now she understood where Nick and Derren knew him from, just as she now understood the source of Nick’s and Derren’s rage. She also understood that if Logan had succeeded in abusing either Nick or Derren, they wouldn’t have allowed him to speak—he’d have been dead before he could blink. And she’d have looked on, clapping. Sick bastard.

Logan’s attention shot to Derren. He narrowed his eyes, his expression nostalgic. “I should have known that his guard is you. You always did follow him around.”

“So did you.” Derren cocked his head. “But you weren’t like the other guards at first, were you? No, in the beginning, you wouldn’t play a part in the torture that went on in that place. But then eventually you gave in, and you found that you liked it. But you hated that you liked it, hated that you enjoyed sick shit like that. A little voice in your head reminded you it was wrong. So it had to be someone else’s fault, didn’t it? It had to be the shifters’ fault that you got a hard-on for them, that you couldn’t stop. And
that’s
why you truly hate us—what you did to the shifters in that place made you see who you really are and how sick your desires are. The truth is, though, that you have the same desire to hurt humans, don’t you? The people who should be isolated from society are sick motherfuckers like you.”

At this point, Logan had turned an odd shade of purple and looked close to hyperventilating. The other humans seemed uncomfortable and confused. “The laws will be put into place—make no mistake about that.”

“Maybe they will,” said Nick. The only thing that stopped him from throwing accusations about the game preserve at Logan was that he didn’t want to make the people behind it nervous. If Logan
was
involved, he would tell them. “But you’ll still always be an evil bastard who lost his right to live a long time ago.”

Both Shaya and her wolf shivered at the silky menace in Nick’s voice.

“Now back the fuck off,” growled Nick. Very wisely, the humans returned to their van. They didn’t drive off, clearly intent on remaining on his tail.

“No one who abuses another person, particularly a child, deserves to live,” stated Shaya firmly. “No one. But you can’t let him trick you into attacking him.”

Nick stroked a hand over her hair. “I know. Don’t worry, I can be patient. Come on, let’s go—your lunch hour’s over, and you need to get back to work.”

Once in the car and clicking on her seatbelt, Shaya tilted her head as she considered the situation. “So…you have two of the Nazi’s wolves watching you, human extremists are tracking you, and you also have the rebels hovering around you.”

Nick smiled, though his mood was grim. Only Shaya could have made him smile right then. “I thought you wanted me to make friends.”

“This isn’t in the least bit amusing. You have dangerous people on your ass.”

His expression fierce, he assured her, “I won’t let them harm you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s
you
I’m worried about, Beavis.”

Nick smiled again. “I knew you cared.”

It was no surprise to Shaya when he later appeared at closing time to give her a ride home from work. She resisted, of course…though, if she was honest, she resisted more because she
thought
she should than because she
wanted
to. He played her well, using her own words against her that giving her a ride was totally innocent. He also did the whole “show me I’m making no difference” thing, too. The bastard was good at this.

Minutes later, she was sliding into the passenger seat with a huff. Instantly, the delicious smell of Bolognese wrapped around her. He’d cooked for her. Again. Asshole. “You know, I’m perfectly capable of fending for myself,” she said when he joined her inside the car.

“It doesn’t mean I can’t cook for you and make your evening simpler, does it?”

“You already commandeered my lunch hour. Wasn’t that enough for you?”

“Nope.”

She shook her head. “You are so selfish.”

“Not selfish, baby.” His expression was all innocence. “I just like things my way. As long as they are, I’m very reasonable and accommodating.”

All she could do was growl. When they arrived at her house, it was to be greeted by the deafening noises coming from her neighbor’s place. Great. He was throwing another house party.

“What the fuck is that?” asked Nick.

“It’s Eric’s Friday-night ritual, though sometimes he has a party on a weeknight too.”

“That’s not a house party. I’ve heard quieter concerts than that.” Outside the car, he asked, “Haven’t you said anything to him?” Not liking the odd look on her face, he pressed, “Shay?”

Huffing, she replied, “Of course I’ve talked to him.” The first time it had happened, she’d nicely asked him if he could turn down the music. He’d said of course he could…but that he wouldn’t and she could fuck off—and all because she’d politely declined his offer of a date. So she’d argued with him a little, and usually Shaya was pretty good at negotiating with people. But this guy was determined to make her pay for being “stuck up” and rejecting him. He’d even spat at her.

Shaya hadn’t done too well with that, and her response had been to dig out her baseball bat and attack his car; the amount of noise coming from the house meant he hadn’t even heard her. Naturally he’d turned up at her home the next day, automatically suspecting it was her. Naturally she’d denied it, as time in prison wasn’t appealing. Since he hadn’t been able to prove it was her, the police hadn’t acted.

“And?” prodded Nick.

“And nothing. He’s an ass to me.”

“He’s
an ass
to you?”

It turned out that telling him that had been an extremely bad move on her part, because then Nick was marching toward her neighbor’s house. She hurried after him. “Nick, just leave it.”

“Leave it?” he scoffed without breaking stride. “Not a chance.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters.” That kind of disturbance would be bad enough for human hearing. For shifter hearing, it was painful.

“He’s doing this to get a reaction because I pissed him off by rejecting him and vandalizing his car. Don’t give him that reaction.”

“You vandalized his car?” He’d bet that her beloved bat was involved.

“It’s just a party.”

“That’s not a party. That’s an attempt to aggravate you.”

He was right about that. “Did you forget that two of Logan’s men are watching you?” The last thing she wanted was Nick being violent right now.

In truth, for a few seconds, he actually had. “Not a problem. They’ll just assume we’re going to the party. And if they look to be suspicious, Derren will know to distract them.” Then Nick was marching up the driveway of her neighbor’s house.

“Nick, for God’s sake, listen to me!” But he didn’t. Instead, he began pounding his fist on the front door. A few seconds later, the door swung open and a tall blonde dressed in…pretty much nothing was eying Nick like he was a snack. Shaya didn’t like that. So she growled. As if to reassure her, Nick closed his hand over hers.

Keeping Shaya close, Nick pushed his way inside and closed the door behind him, not wanting the extremists to see anything. “Where’s Eric?” he asked the blonde.

Looking suddenly nervous—though it didn’t seem to stop her from ogling Nick, which pissed Shaya the hell off—the blonde pointed down the hallway. “He’s in the kitchen.”

With a tight hold on Shaya’s hand, Nick strode toward the kitchen. His expression must have been bad, because people parted to let him through as he advanced down the hallway. He’d gotten a glimpse of her neighbor a few times, so he knew exactly who he was looking for. No sooner had he spotted the guy than Nick was in front of him with his free hand curled around his throat.

Shock took over Eric’s face, and his eyes bulged. “What the—”

“Don’t speak. Just listen.”

The chattering in the room suddenly stopped, and Shaya was pretty sure that if Nick had been anybody else, people would have intervened. But it was like Derren had once said: When Nick was angry, people paid attention. At that moment, he was absolutely livid, and only a fruit loop would have wanted Nick’s wrath shifted to them. Her wolf was feeling pretty smug about the whole thing, liked that her mate was protecting her; it was important to her to know that he could.

“You can see Shaya beside me,” growled Nick. Eric’s eyes briefly flickered to her. “So I don’t think I need to explain why I’m here or why I’d like to snap your neck, do I?”

Eric did what was typical of any bully—he stood down the second someone stronger than him confronted him. Rather than fighting Nick’s grip, he stayed very still. “No.”

“I don’t think I need to explain what will happen if you don’t stop making yourself a problem for her, do I?” When Eric’s eyes again moved to Shaya, Nick tightened his hold on the bastard’s throat. “Don’t look at her. Look at me. Now answer my question. I don’t need to explain what will happen, do I?”

Eric shook his head as much as Nick’s grip would allow.

“Tell me,” rumbled Nick. “Tell me what I’ll do to you if you ever even try to upset her again.”

His voice came out strained and hoarse. “You’ll beat me up.”

Nick
tsk
ed. “Wrong. I’ll slash you open, rip out your intestines, and string you up by them. Because Shaya’s very, very important to me. And you know that voice in your head that tells you not to do wrong? I have one of those, but it doesn’t give a shit about right and wrong when someone upsets her.”

Seeing that not only was Eric likely to piss himself but that Nick was having difficulty staying in control, Shaya squeezed Nick’s free hand lightly and supportively, whispering low enough for only him to hear, “It’s okay. Let him go.” His hold on Eric loosened, but he didn’t release him. “Let him go, Nick. Come on.” She squeezed his hand again, pressing herself against his side. Inhaling deeply, Nick released Eric and locked his arm around Shaya. She should have moved away, but instead she melted against him, knowing he needed it. “Let’s go.” Turning, she realized that—no surprise—Derren was in the doorway of the kitchen.

He raised a questioning brow at her and Nick, asking, “Everything okay?”

Nick began leading her out of the house with Derren at their side. “Just making friends. Shay thinks I should get some.”

She snorted. “Shaya also thinks you should be keeping a low profile right now,
not
confronting idiotic humans.” He simply shrugged, like that was irrelevant when the subject matter was her. He truly was a law unto himself. And that was when something occurred to her. She’d originally thought he’d give up on winning her over after a series of rejections, but now she wasn’t so sure. Outside, she turned to him. “You could never be ‘handled’ by anyone, could you?”

Derren barked a laugh. “People have tried.”

Having thrown Derren a scowl, Nick met her gaze. “You’re beginning to realize that getting me to leave won’t be as simple as you thought,” he surmised. “Good. By all means keep trying to push me away if you feel you must, baby. But it won’t make a damn bit of difference.” It was a warning as much as it was a vow. He trailed the tip of his finger from her temple, down her cheek, over her jaw, and along her neck until he reached the collar of her T-shirt. “I won’t give you up. Not for anything. Not even for you.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

N
ick had never had so much trouble putting one foot in front of the other. But while an ass like that was right there in front of him, he had no interest in moving anyway. As Shaya was bent over riffling through a shelf of canned foods, Nick simply gazed at her ass in awe. What he wouldn’t give to know what kind of underwear she wore under that skintight denim. Normally he didn’t like jeans on a woman; they didn’t allow him easy access and they hid way too much, but with Shaya it was a sweet torment having it all left to the imagination. He looked for a panty line but couldn’t make one out. Maybe she was wearing a thong. Maybe she was going commando.
Fuck
.

As usual when he was around Shaya, he was assaulted by a number of erotic images. He could imagine her being bent just like that, but naked and over a table while he was slamming into her. Or sprawled across his lap while he spanked her ass over and over until she begged him to take her.

And now his cock was hurting like a son of a bitch.

In the middle of a damn grocery store.

Knowing she didn’t work on Sundays and she was always so exhausted after working long shifts, he’d figured she would sleep most of the morning. Apparently his Shaya liked to be up at the crack of dawn on Sundays to go shopping. He had been on his way to the gas station when he’d spotted her heading inside the store.

Either she’d picked up his scent or had sensed someone’s gaze on her, because she suddenly glanced over her shoulder. He almost laughed when her eyes widened and she straightened abruptly. No doubt she had a good idea of the kind of thoughts and pictures that had been forming in his mind.