“The extremists?” echoed Shaya.
Kent’s voice was gravelly with emotion. “All I can think is they discovered I’m a half-shifter.”
Before Kent had even revealed the extremists’ involvement, Nick had known they were responsible, because he could clearly see Logan among the gathering humans. His expression was smug and daring.
Little bastard.
Vandalizing Nick’s mate’s—or girlfriend, as Logan believed—place of work
definitely
counted as personal and was definitely one very good way to rile him.
As both Shaya and Kent tracked Nick’s hard gaze, they each snarled at Logan as the same realization dawned on them.
“He’s got balls, showing up here after what he’s done,” hissed Kent, moving toward him. Derren’s hand on Kent’s arm stopped him.
“Not balls,” said Derren. “He’s hoping Nick will react.” Derren briefly explained the situation. Nick had expected Kent to be pissed with him, to blame him to some degree for bringing this trouble to his salon. But Kent gave Nick a look of sympathy.
“I can’t imagine what you must have gone through in that place. A lot of shifters don’t last in juvie.”
“You’re not going to blame me for what happened to your business?”
Kent frowned. “Why would I do that? He did what he did because he’s a bastard, not because of you. Besides, I was expecting it to happen sooner or later—though I thought it would be because they discovered I’m a half-shifter.”
As Nick’s eyes again locked on Logan, Shaya could almost feel his fury. Enraged though she was, she knew better than to confront Logan, particularly right now in front of all these people and a news reporter—oh yeah, any crime that might possibly be related to shifters counted as news. “Nick, don’t give him what he wants.” He didn’t respond. “Look at me.” Finally, he did. “Don’t play into his hands.”
“Right now, I need to make some calls,” announced Kent. “I need to get some people out here to deal with this mess.” He patted Shaya’s hand. “You need to go home.” When Shaya opened her mouth to object, he raised a hand. “There’s nothing you can do here. All you’ll be doing by sticking around is upsetting yourself. Now go. You’d say the same thing to me if it was the other way around.”
Sighing in defeat, she nodded and gave Kent another hug. Then Nick was leading her back to his car, his eyes again on Logan. “Nick, don’t play into his hands,” she repeated.
Oh, Nick had no intention of doing that, despite how livid he was. Still, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have a little chat with the human. “Baby, I need you to get inside the car.”
“Nick, don’t.”
“I’m not going to touch him. I just need to have a little talk with him.”
“Your version of ‘talking’ is often fighting.” He stubbornly didn’t budge. “Promise me you won’t rise to anything he says.”
“I promise. Now get in.”
She sighed. “I’m trusting you to keep your word. Don’t abuse that trust.”
Once she was inside the car, Nick slowly made his way to Logan, who gave Nick a mockingly sympathetic look that made his wolf growl. “This place looks bad. I’ll bet your girlfriend and her friend are pretty upset.”
Drawing on every bit of control and experience he had at suppressing his emotions, Nick kept his face blank.
When Logan didn’t get a reaction, he continued, “The police think it’s something to do with the turf war that’s going on between the shifters.” He pursed his lips. “It makes sense. You know, you’ll want to be careful that your redhead isn’t targeted next time.”
His wolf growled at the veiled threat, but he didn’t urge Nick to lunge at the human because he knew as well as Nick just what game Logan was playing. “You haven’t thought this through.”
A frown marred the human’s face. “Haven’t thought what through?”
“You may have done this to piss me off, but it won’t have been only me this has affected. As you said, the police are speculating that the local shifters are responsible. The local shifters won’t like that. They’ll know that if they want to find out who
is
responsible, all they’ll have to do is take one footstep inside the salon—the scent of the perpetrators will be right there for them to sense.”
Logan swallowed hard in a nervous movement.
“Then, naturally, they’ll seek out said perpetrators for not only implicating them in a crime they didn’t commit, but committing that crime on their turf. Congratulations, Logan, you not only just succeeded in uniting all the local shifters on something, you earned yourself more enemies than you’ll know what to do with. Trailing the Nazi was one thing. But this?” Nick shook his head,
tsk
ing. “I wouldn’t like to be you right now.”
Logan’s voice was shaky as he spoke. “If you or any of the others touch me, I’ll—”
“Be dead before you even knew anyone was there. They might not do it straightaway, but it’ll be done eventually—you’re a walking dead man. You accuse shifters of being violent, aggressive, and disrespectful. But it hasn’t occurred to you that the shifters you’ve been following could have killed you at any time; you wouldn’t have even seen it coming. But they haven’t. They’ve chosen to ignore you…whereas you and your little gang are not only harassing shifters but pulling shit like this. The word ‘hypocrite’ comes to mind, but so does the word ‘motherfucker.’” With that, Nick turned his back on the pathetic excuse for a human and returned to his car.
“What did he say?” asked Shaya.
“He was boasting,” growled Nick. “I’m sorry you won’t have a job for a while, baby. I get this is my fault, so—” When she slapped his shoulder hard, he flinched. “Hey, what was that for?”
“You don’t get to blame yourself for other people’s actions.” Her wolf fully agreed. “I won’t allow it.”
The fierceness in her tone surprised him so much, he found himself smiling. “Is that right?”
“Yes, Beavis.”
“I am
not
stupid.”
She patted his chest patronizingly. “No, of course not. You just have bad luck in the thinking department.”
Scowling, he turned on the ignition and began heading back to her house. Unfortunately, he got there to find his mother, Roni, and Amber waiting outside the motor home. Surprised by their anxious expressions, he exchanged a confused look with Shaya. No sooner had they got out of the car than the three females were in front of them.
“My God, I saw what happened to the salon.” Kathy studied Shaya, rubbing her arm. “Are you okay, honey?”
“You saw what happened?” Nick asked, scratching between Roni’s ears.
“It’s all over the news,” Amber answered, standing a little too close to him for Shaya’s liking. Making that clear, Shaya went to his side and laid a proprietary hand on his chest while smiling pleasantly at Amber. Maybe things were doomed for Shaya and Nick, but if anything was going to separate them, it wouldn’t be some interfering bitch.
“The reporter said there’s a pack war here. Why didn’t you say anything to me about it?” Kathy chastised.
“Because it’s a load of shit,” replied Nick, curling an arm around Shaya. “There’s no war going on.”
Amber folded her arms over her chest. “Then what
is
going on?”
At that moment, Derren appeared at Nick’s other side. “Where’s your phone?”
Nick frowned and patted the pockets of his jeans. “I must have left it in the motor home.”
“Don’t be surprised to find that you have a ton of messages. I’ve just taken at least fifteen calls since we left the salon because you weren’t answering your phone. A lot of people saw the live footage on TV—you and Shaya are in the background. Apparently, there’s also footage that shows you and Logan talking in the background. As you can imagine, a lot of our friends remember that face. They all wanted to know what’s happening and if you need them to come here.”
“Who’s Logan?” asked Kathy.
“I hope you told them it’s not necessary,” Nick said to Derren. He had enough people hanging around as it was.
“I explained there’s no pack war and that you don’t need any backup, but a number of them are concerned about what’s going on with Logan. I’m guessing you’ll be getting a lot more calls from our friends.”
“Nicolas Axton, you need to explain a few things.”
Seeing that his mother was doing that hands-on-the-hips thing, he sighed and gestured to the motor home. “We can talk inside.” They all piled in, one by one. His mother and Amber seated themselves at the dinette while Derren plonked himself on the sofa beside Nick, who’d pulled Shaya onto his lap. Roni settled near Bruce in front of the TV.
“Well?” pressed Kathy.
“The problem around here isn’t the shifters, it’s the human extremists.” Nick spoke about the Sequoia Pack and the false rumor surrounding its Alpha, though he omitted the detail of the game preserve. He wanted to keep it as quiet as possible for as long as possible. Plus, he didn’t want Shaya, his mother, or Roni worrying. “The leader of this particular group, Logan…He worked as a guard when I was in juvie.” Kathy shuddered. “He’s intent on provoking me into reacting, most likely intending to use me as evidence of just how violent shifters can be to support the extremists’ argument. Vandalizing the salon where Shaya works was part of that.”
“But you don’t intend to retaliate.” It wasn’t so much a question as an instruction from his mother.
“Not right now, no.”
“Nick, please don’t risk yourself.”
“I won’t. But I have no idea how he’ll react when the court hearing is over. If he gets the verdict he wants, he may be smug enough to leave me alone. If the ruling of the judge goes in our favor, I can’t see him accepting that. If he comes at me, I won’t stand there and take it.” He’d never taken Logan’s shit before, and he wouldn’t start now.
“Maybe it’s best if you leave here, taking Shaya with you of course.”
“It won’t make any difference,” Derren told Kathy. “Logan has people following Nick constantly. He’ll have them follow Nick wherever he goes. Besides, running away from extremists isn’t the answer for any shifter. It’ll only encourage their behavior.”
Kathy sat in silence, considering that. When she eventually met Nick’s gaze, it was to give him an accepting nod. Then her eyes danced from him to Shaya, and she half-smiled. “I take it this means you two are making a go of things.”
“But you haven’t claimed each other,” said Amber tonelessly.
Nick kissed Shaya’s hair. “Yet.”
Shaya smiled sweetly at the bitch. “I’m sure you wish us all the luck in the world.”
When Derren’s phone began ringing, he fished it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. “Looks like another of our friends is interested to know what’s going on. I’ll take the call outside, give you guys some privacy.” He looked at Kathy then. “Hint, hint.”
Kathy’s eyes widened, and then she nodded. “Well of course. Roni, Amber, let’s go.” Roni gave Nick’s hand a brief lick before following Derren and Kathy outside.
Amber slowly rose from her seat at the dinette and shot Nick and Shaya what was clearly a forced smile. “See you both later.” It sounded more like a threat than a farewell comment, but Shaya once again gave her a sweet smile and waved.
When the bitch was finally gone, she breathed a sigh of relief. “I can’t blame her for wanting you, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’d like to sneakily pour bleach into her shampoo and watch what happens with glee.”
Laughing, Nick twirled Shaya around to face him as she straddled him. “Vengeful. I like it. But, baby, don’t let her bother you. She’s not important.”
“At least you’re no longer denying that she wants you.”
Nick might have continued believing otherwise if he hadn’t seen jealousy briefly shimmer in Amber’s eyes at one point. “You know, it could be
you
that she wants.”
Shaya snorted. “I’m pretty sure it’s you, Beavis. Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer someone like her? Dominant with the physical strength to match yours?”
Though Nick’s expression was reprimanding, he kept his voice low and sensual. “Don’t make me bite you again.” Her pupils dilated, and she took an unsteady breath. “Oh, you liked it, did you?” Her snort said,
Don’t flatter yourself
. He placed his mouth to her ear. “I can smell your arousal, Shay.” The tips of her ears were suddenly as scarlet as her cheeks. “What I really want is to taste it again. What I want more than that is to be inside you. You have no idea how badly I need it.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
He smiled against her lips. “For you to beg.” Because he needed an element of surrender on her part—he knew he wouldn’t get her total emotional surrender yet, so if he had to settle for this, it was enough for now.
Her mouth fell open. “That’s
so
not going to happen.”
“We’ll see.” He cocked his head, running his finger along her collarbone. “You didn’t give away the movie tickets I gave you, did you?”
“No. Actually, I was going to suggest we go see a movie together.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do tonight.”
The deviousness in his tone made her narrow her eyes. “I don’t like the way you said that.”
He just smiled before kissing her hard. “I’ll be at your door at six. Be ready.”
“Huh?” She’d thought he would be eager to answer those mating urges that had been riding them both so long.
He cupped her chin and rubbed his thumb along her jawline. “Baby, I want you more than you know. But you’ve had a shock this morning, and it was a blow to your system. What you need to do is go inside, take a long bath, and relax for a little while.” And then she’d be in an emotional state where she could deal with him, because Nick wasn’t “nice” or “tame” in bed. “Then later, you can get ready for our date.”
“Where are we going exactly?”
“We’ll get something to eat—you can choose where we go. Then we’ll go watch that movie you want to see, although I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to concentrate because I fully intend to make out with you the entire time.”
“Sounds promising. And then?”
“There’ll be foreplay. Lots and lots of foreplay.”
“I don’t like foreplay. I say we skip it and go straight to the main event.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry, you’ll like the foreplay. Then as soon as you beg, I’ll give you what you want.”