Checkmate (11 page)

He nodded and pulled out a chair for her. When he held his hand out to her she went as if tugged by a string. She’d never be able to deny the man anything.

Nikki sat. Eli left her side for a moment and filled a plate with fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon, a biscuit and some delicious-looking melons. She didn’t know how he could eat at a time like this. Her stomach and brain churned with questions and possible answers. It was a good thing she hadn’t needed to take a pain pill this morning or she might not remember having this conversation.

He yanked out the chair next to her and scooted it until the front touched the side of hers. Doing a double take, she glanced up at him.

The plate of food was placed in front of her. A fork and a glass of juice followed. She looked back and forth between the food and him.

“I don’t think I can eat right now, Eli.”

“You can”—he straddled the chair so his knees surrounded her seat—“and you will.”

Before she could huff in protest, a long, lean finger covered her lips. “You need to eat. You’re too skinny.”

Tears welled in her eyes. She hadn’t eaten or slept well in more than eight months.

“Hey.” He lifted her chin with the tip of the finger that had sealed her lips. “It’s okay. You’re safe here.”

Nikki blinked but couldn’t stop a fat tear from rolling down her cheek. Eli swiped at it with his thumb.

“I will never let anybody touch you, Nikki-Raine,” he vowed.

She sniffed and nodded. “I know.” She did know, too. She believed he would never hurt her or, to the best of his abilities, allow anyone else to either. But he couldn’t be with her every moment of the day. The same way Derek hadn’t been able to drop her off at her friend’s house that night. If he had… Christ, if he had, he might be injured too. Or worse, dead.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

The lump in her throat enlarged tenfold but she nodded. She needed to know now, not later. As if her life wasn’t weird enough.

“Do you want to ask questions or just listen to me talk?” His thumb came up to brush a lock of hair behind her ear and stayed to rub the lobe.

Honestly? How the hell did she know? “This is a little overwhelming.”

The soothing rub continued. “We’ll take it one step at a time.”

“How many of you are there?” Might as well jump in somewhere.

“Lots. Whole communities. You wouldn’t know one if you saw one.”

“You think?” she mocked, looking at him like he’d lost his ever-loving mind. She’d known him for how many years and didn’t know? Except for the rumors… Maybe she was the one losing her mind. Maybe this was a dream and she was still lying in bed.

He smiled on a puff of a laugh. “You’re not dreaming.”

Her mouth fell open before she could stop it.

“Sweetheart, I didn’t tell you before because we don’t tell anybody. It could be detrimental to our race.”

“Does Derek know?”

Eli dropped his chin to his chest and she knew she had her answer. “Yes. He’s known since high school.”

“But he couldn’t tell me?”

“I made him promise not to.”

“All those times I asked him about you and he shrugged me off. He knew all along.”

“I wouldn’t have told him either except he saw it happen one time while he was here.”

Okay, fine. She could live with that. It hurt to know he felt he needed to hide something like this, but she could deal. On to the next round.

“Why did Caelan call his wife mate?”

Eli sighed and looked resigned. “Because they are mated.”

“And that means what, exactly?”

“It means they belong to each other. Forever.”

She chuckled. “You make it sound so permanent.”

Eli never took his very serious gaze off her. “It is.”

Oh. “But she’s not a wolf…thingy.”

“No. She’s one hundred percent human,” he agreed, ignoring the wolf-thingy barb.

“So, her
dreams
don’t have anything to do with being a…werewolf.”

“A shape-shifter, Nik, and no, her abilities have nothing to do with us. You’d have to talk to her grandmother about those, I believe they were passed down through her.”

“Why don’t you say werewolf?” Seemed a bit odd since they were, essentially, werewolves.

He shrugged. “The term werewolf had such a negative connotation in centuries past, that for the most part, we’ve adopted shape-shifter. It’s what we do, shift into a different shape, and besides, there are some groups of shifters that change into different animals.”

“Holy shit.” How did the world not know about this?

“We’re very good at keeping secrets, Nikki-Raine.”

“Okay, you’ve got to stop reading my mind, it’s freaking me out.” As if she didn’t have enough of the heebie-jeebies right now.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, we have this connection between us now and your face makes it so easy to guess what you’re thinking.”

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. He smelled so good. Her clit tingled with the contact of his lips, and she squeezed her thighs together.

Wait a minute. “Connection? What the hell are you talking about?”

Eli moved closer until his chest brushed her upper arm. His right arm stretched out along the chair back and his left arm lay along the side of the table.

“We’re mates, Nikki.” His lips nibbled a path on her chin, and his breath tickled her skin.

She shivered at both the sensations on her face and his words. Mates. Her eyes slid closed and she tilted her head to give him better access with his teeth.

Nikki jerked upright, her eyes flying open. “You bit me,” she accused.

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Why?” She’d thought it was all part of the sex. Clearly she’d been wrong.

“It’s part of the way a shifter forms their bond. By filling you with my come”—he laid his palm on her belly and she silently cursed when her pussy jumped to attention—“and marking you with my teeth and saliva, it tells other shifters that you belong to me.”

He showed absolutely no remorse for biting her. A warm fuzzy feeling coursed through her. It felt good, right, to be claimed by him. Did this mean…

“Am I pregnant?” she blurted out, then winced when she realized how dumb she sounded.

Eli growled and stuck his nose into the crook of her neck and shoulder.

“No.” He bit her ear gently.

“Now how would you know that?”
And furthermore, you ditz, why did you ask him as if he would know?
God what a loser she must look like.

“I can smell a conception. I can smell when you’re in heat. Soon, because we’re mated, your body will come to crave mine.”

Too late, it already does.

He backed away to look into her eyes. His were almost glowing a gold-brown. “Mine, Nikki-Raine. No one else’s. No one in my pack would ever dare lay a hand on you now, but human men won’t know the difference. I can become very possessive, Nik. I think you’ll find that out very shortly.”

“You mean like how you snapped at Caelan a few minutes ago?”

“Yes,” he gritted out.

“He’s your brother, for God’s sake. And his wife is pregnant.”

“Doesn’t matter. I won’t like any man getting close to you.”

Nikki took a minute to absorb Eli’s words. Why the hell wasn’t it bothering her to hear all this? Why wasn’t she running out the door? Her heart thumped hard. The same heart she’d given to him long ago.

So what should she do? Accept what he was telling her, as unbelievable as it sounded, or think on it? Nikki trusted him implicitly. He’d proven his love for her over and over the last… How many hours had it been? Despite her scars. She also couldn’t stand the thought of living without him. There was no question as to whether she’d stay, but maybe some time to process was in order.

Nikki stood abruptly, knocking her chair back and surprising Eli, whose eyes widened with her departure. She wouldn’t go far. Couldn’t go far. Her body wouldn’t let her, but she did have to go.

Eli stood too and she noticed the slight tremble in his legs and the fear in his eyes. She started to reach for him, but pulled back at the last second.

“I need to be alone. For a little while,” she said, feeling beyond stupid.

The wounded look on his face nearly ripped her heart apart. She didn’t need to be alone. Didn’t want to be alone. Why was she doing this? She needed explanations, not quiet time to reflect.

She shook her head. By this time tomorrow, she’d be certifiable. Too many thoughts jumbled in her brain.

“I know, sweetheart,” he soothed, surprising her. He was giving her space. He didn’t look happy about doing it, but would just the same. It was one of the reasons she loved him.

“I’ll be here if you need me.” Eli placed a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose. He turned and left her standing there staring at his back.

Need him? She needed him like a fish needed water. There was no question about that. She’d
needed
him since before the news of his ability to do an entirely unimaginable thing.

Chapter Ten

“Ah, there you are.”

Nikki twisted in the overstuffed glider rocker she’d sequestered herself in. Tieran stood in the doorway. When she moved further into the room another woman followed.

“Any reason you chose this room to hide in?” Tieran raised an eyebrow.

Nikki smiled and relaxed. “Nope. Just found it when I was wandering and couldn’t resist this chair.”

“It’s my favorite.”

“The room is beautiful. Did you do it?” Nikki kept her eyes on Tieran as the other woman sidled up next to her.

“Pfft. Are you kidding? You think Caelan would let me near a paintbrush? The fumes are noxious, don’t you know?” she said, rubbing a hand over her distended belly. “And a ladder? Won’t even go there. I did do the directing though. Oh, and thank you.”

“Aye, aye, aye.” The older woman stepped forward. “My sons are big, overbearing babies themselves. Not letting a woman decorate her own nursery. What is wrong with them? My dear Nicole, I am Judith. How are you?”

Nikki felt her face redden.

“Crap, I’m sorry, Judith. I meant to introduce you,” Tieran muttered.

Before she knew it, Judith had pulled Nikki from the depths of the plush chair and enveloped her in a bear hug. “Good grief, to hear Eli tell about it, you’d think half your face was missing.”

The blood that had pinked her cheeks a second ago, drained suddenly. Eli had said her scar didn’t bother him. Now she knew the truth.

The older woman sighed and patted Nikki’s back as if she were a long lost friend. “Oh for pity’s sake, don’t look like that. This piddly ole scar”—she traced a slim finger down the scar’s length, making Nikki flinch—“doesn’t bother my son a bit. I just meant he’d said you were cut up in the crash and that I shouldn’t make a big deal of it when I saw you. I was picturing your eyeball hanging down and your ear out of place.”

Nikki let out the breath she held and a tiny smile tugged at her mouth as she envisioned what Judith described. She liked his mother immediately.

“It’s so nice to be able to hug at least one daughter-in-law. Don’t get to with this one,” she said, jerking a thumb in Tieran’s direction.

Don’t get to? Because she was pregnant? Was Tieran the kind of person who didn’t like anyone touching her belly? Nikki hadn’t gotten that vibe from her at all. Or maybe it had something to do with Tieran’s psychic abilities.

Suddenly it occurred to her what Eli’s mother had also said.

“Oh, Eli and I aren’t married.”

Judith smiled. “Yes you are.”

Tieran snorted. “Might as well be.”

“It’s all right, Nicole, I know everything. Besides, I can smell him all over you.”

Nikki’s stomach dropped and she barely refrained from sniffing her shirt. Mortified, she wondered exactly what Judith could smell.

“Relax, it’s a wolf thing,” Judith teased.

“Yeah. You know, Judith, I don’t care what any of you say, it’s still a little weird what you guys can smell,” Tieran added.

Jesus. What had Eli said earlier? That he could smell a conception or her in heat?

Judith turned to Tieran, her face incredulous. “More weird than what you do?”

Nikki choked back a laugh.

“You got me there.” Tieran sighed and plopped into the chair Nikki had just vacated. “My back is killing me.”

Judith’s eyes popped open. “You don’t think it’s labor, do you? Don’t underestimate back labor. I almost did with the boys. Got to the hospital in the nick of time.”

Talking about babies put more questions into Nikki’s head than she wanted to deal with, but Tieran had said to ask her anything.

“So are you going to have a…um…” God, how did she put this?

“A pup?” both Judith and Tieran said together.

“Yes,” Nikki said, deflating.

Tieran shivered. “God I hope not.”

Judith swatted her knee. “I already told you no, silly girl.”

“I know, but I keep envisioning this hairy little furball coming out of me.”

Nikki couldn’t help it. She laughed. Judith joined in, then Tieran. The three of them laughed until tears ran down their cheeks.

“Oh,” Judith finally spoke when they’d all settled down. “Ladies, I think we should move this conversation into the kitchen where I can get a drink.”

“I asked you if you wanted a drink when you got here, Judith.”

Eli’s mom winked at Nikki and headed for the door, throwing over her shoulder, “Not that kind of drink, dear.”

Nikki snickered again.

“Oh well,” Tieran said, struggling out of the chair. Nikki helped her to her feet. “I could use a Mountain Dew.”

“Isn’t soda bad for the baby?”

Tieran’s lip curled and Nikki sucked in a breath at the fierce look on her face.

Judith returned to Nikki’s side. “One thing you’ll learn about Tieran, dear, is that you should never mess with the girl’s Mountain Dew. I was here the night Caelan tried to talk her out of it until the baby was born.” She sighed dramatically. “I’m not sure my son’s ego will ever recover.”

“Damn skippy,” Tieran hissed. “Just because I’m carrying his furball, doesn’t give him permission to run my life.”

A few minutes later they were ensconced in the kitchen. Tieran contented herself with a Mountain Dew, Judith sipped a glass of red wine and Nikki drank a hard lemonade she’d found hiding amongst the condiment bottles in the refrigerator door.