Authors: Jennifer Salaiz
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twisted at the confirmation. She felt like her heart literally dropped to the floor.
“We should get to the hospital.”
So many questions and emotions swamped her mind. Numbly, she shook her head.
“Yes.” Nicole walked over, grabbing her purse, and slid on a pair of flip flops. She wasn’t sure how to take the news of what he claimed to be any more than what she planned to do about their future.
Ayden grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. “This wasn’t how I wanted to tell you. But you need to know this
isn’t
your fault so please don’t worry. And I’m sorry I’ve made your life a mess. From the moment you’ve met me we’ve been through one thing after another. I should have just told you the truth from the beginning.
Maybe things might have been easier.”
Nicole remained quiet while she held his hand. They walked down the stairs, and they both got in the cruiser. After a few minutes of driving in silence, Ayden turned to her.
“I’m going to drop you off and come back later. Will you be all right there at the hospital?”
“I’ll be fine. Michael doesn’t have any family. I should probably stay there with him until we find out something. If I need a ride home, I’ll call Tara. She’ll come to get me.”
Ayden nodded, and the car remained quiet for the rest of the drive.
Slowly, Nicole leaned over and kissed Ayden’s lips tenderly while she looked into his dark eyes.
“Don’t blame yourself, Ayden. No one but Michael is to blame for getting in his car and driving while he was under the influence. I think we’re both going to have to accept that.” Nicole got out of the car and shut the door to the cruiser.
The pain lighting his face was evident. She felt her heart grow heavy at how hard he was taking it. Turning around, she looked at the large red letters spelling EMERGENCY. Slowly, Nicole made her way to the receptionist sitting behind the window.
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“My…friend was brought here. He was in a car accident.”
“Name, please,” the older woman echoed through the small hole at the bottom of the glass.
“His name is Michael Jensen.”
The woman messed around with the computer while she picked up the phone. The words she spoke couldn’t be heard no matter how hard Nicole strained her ears.
“If you’ll have a seat in the waiting area, someone will be out to talk to you shortly.”
She looked around the room, already packed with people. A baby cried while a woman Nicole assumed was the mother tried to comfort it.
Nodding her head at the receptionist, she took the seat farthest away from everyone. Finally having the chance to go over everything she’d learned, she let her thoughts consume her. The question to stay with Ayden weighed heavily on her mind. Deep down, she knew she didn’t want to lose him. But the thought of him being a werewolf scared the shit out of her.
What did werewolves do? How many existed? Surely, he wasn’t the only one. Would they get past this accident involving Michael?
And most of all, could the pain she’d been feeling have anything to do with what he was?
Two hours flew by and Nicole jumped the moment a man in scrubs walked out of the double doors. She rushed to him, not caring if he planned to come to her or someone else.
“Do you have news on Michael Jenson?”
“Yes, I’m sorry it took so long. Mr. Jenson is in surgery. He’s suffered a broken arm and a severe concussion. We gave him a few stitches where the glass cut him, but ultimately he’s very lucky. He should be fine in a few days.”
Adrenaline crashed through her, nearly causing Nicole’s legs to crumble beneath her. “Thank you, doctor. Is there any way I can see him after he gets out of surgery?”
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“Ma’am, visiting hours are over at eight. From the way things look, I don’t expect him out of surgery by then. It would probably be best to come back in the morning. He’ll be set up in a room by then.”
Perplexed, she went over her options. She didn’t want to leave until she knew what happened, but there was no point staying all night if she wasn’t going to be able to see him.
“Thank you. I’ll be back in the morning.” Nicole reached for her phone and walked outside. She called Tara and waited for her to come. Once again, she found herself lost in the decisions she needed to make. All she knew was she wanted to see Ayden. She felt lost without him, and the pain began to sink back into her chest, increasing as the minutes flew by.
The indescribable pull toward the werewolf left her crazily pacing. She didn’t know how or why, but something changed.
Uneasiness gripped at her insides. She knew in that moment it didn’t matter what he claimed to be. She couldn’t lose him.
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Nicole had fallen asleep on the couch, waiting for Ayden, when a light tapping woke her. Groggily, she stood and walked over, opening the door and turning around to lie back down on the couch.
She bolted to a sitting position on the cushions when she noticed the man standing in her doorway was not Ayden.
“I’m sorry, I was still half asleep. Can I help you with something?” Slowly, she walked back over to the door. She didn’t want this man coming in any farther until she knew who he was.
“I’m Trevor, Ayden’s friend. He sent me over here to check on you.”
Confused by his words, Nicole waved him in and climbed back on the couch. She caught a glimpse of the clock on the cable box and blinked twice to adjust her eyes to see if the time she saw was right.
Two-thirty! In the morning!
Had she been asleep that long?
“Where is Ayden? Why didn’t
he
come to check on me?” Nicole asked, gesturing for Trevor to sit down.
“Well, it’s kind of complicated. He had…pack business to take care of.”
Looking deeply into Trevor’s eyes, she nearly gasped when the pain in her chest lightened and a feeling of electricity shot through her. Startled, she shook her head and focused on what he told her of Ayden.
“When will he be back? Did he say?”
Trevor sat down, facing toward her. He remained quiet for a few
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seconds. The way he stared at her only intensified the tingly feelings coursing through her.
“Ayden made me promise to take care of you. He told me to tell you he’s sorry. Tomorrow, he wants me to take him off of the lease, and he’s already informed the station. I don’t think he’s coming back.”
Nicole bolted from the couch. “What do you mean, he’s not coming back? He’s just going to leave?” She began to pace. “Why?
What did I do? Did he say anything else?”
Just when she thought everything was going to be fine between them, he leaves? Hadn’t she just accepted what he was? Now she was left to deal with knowing and not having him around? How was that fair? How could he just let all of this happen and run away to leave her to adjust to it by herself?
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t talk to me.” Trevor walked over to her. “I’m supposed to do whatever you wish. Is there anything you need?” He lifted her chin to look into his blue eyes.
If Nicole had been in the same frame of mind she was in when she found Ayden, she would have begged Trevor to take her to the bedroom and fuck Ayden out of her mind. But she wanted Ayden.
She didn’t want to forget the passion they shared. She couldn’t believe he’d just leave and call it quits.
“If you talk to him, tell him to call me or come by. He doesn’t have to leave. I don’t want him to,” she whispered.
The tears were coming. Too much happened today. The last thing she wanted to do, though, was cry in front of this gorgeous stranger.
The rough fingers traveled from her chin down to her throat. She hadn’t even realized he still touched her until the trembling shook her body.
“Ayden did tell me to take care of you, in all ways. I would love to make your night better,” Trevor said, stopping at the junction between her neck and shoulder. Nicole fought not to close her eyes.
“Can you feel it? The connection we share? From the moment I
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really looked at you, saw into your eyes, I knew. Tell me you feel it, the heat, the need to be close to one another. It’s the pull. You can’t escape it no matter how much you try. No one ever does. Ayden marked you, didn’t he? Bit you somewhere on your body?”
Nicole’s hand immediately lifted to where she remembered the bruise. “Yes.”
“I don’t understand. Do you feel this pull to Ayden? Surely, he wouldn’t mark you if you didn’t.”
“Yes, I feel the pull. When we’re not together, my heart hurts. I feel empty like I’m not myself at all.”
“Tell me what you felt when you first looked into my eyes, Nicole.”
She stared at the tall blond. His blue eyes touched something deep inside of her.
“I felt the pain ease a little and electricity.”
“Impossible,” he whispered.
Placing his body against hers, she felt her breathing quicken. The reaction he caused in her body felt just like the way Ayden’s did when he neared. The need to touch his skin, to taste him pushed into her mind.
“Can I kiss you? I have to see.”
Nicole couldn’t speak, couldn’t move past the thought of him placing his full lips against hers. Not only did it excite her, it left her needing to be touched.
He lifted his hands and cupped her cheeks. The heaviness of his breathing resembled hers. Placing her hands on his chest, she tried to process what exactly was happening. Hard muscle tensed under her fingers and he moaned pulling her impossibly closer.
Lips crushed into hers filling her whole body with a passion she only felt for one other, his best friend Ayden. It took every bit of her control to pull back.
“Stop, we can’t do this. Nothing makes any sense to me.”
“I know and I’m sorry. How about I let you go to sleep, but you
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meet me for coffee in the morning before you go to the hospital? I’ll try to fill you in more, then.”
“You know about that?” Nicole asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
“I was on scene. Fire crew is always called in when major accidents are reported. I would love to go to the hospital with you.
Maybe we can ride together?”
Nicole nodded mindlessly. “Sure. I was going to head up there around nine. Is that all right with you?”
“Sound’s great. I’m afraid we’re going to have to go in your car, unless you don’t mind motorcycles.”
“We can take my car. That’s fine. Trevor, are you sure Ayden didn’t tell you anything else that might indicate he was coming back for me? I just thought…”
Anger began to replace the hurt. It was always better to be angry than to feel rejected.
Trevor smiled sadly. “He just told me to take care of you in all ways. He said that you deserved to be happy, and he didn’t think he could do it. He’s marked you, and that makes you his mate. I’m the only one he’s allowed the exception, unless, of course, you find someone who isn’t pack.”
Nicole bit her lip. “Why would he allow his best friend to sleep with the person he marked as a mate? It doesn’t make sense to me.
Wouldn’t he be angry?”
Trevor laughed. “Ayden is a jealous person, but not of me. We’ve shared before. You’re the only person he’s hesitated with, but since he and I are blood tied, he feels what I feel. Maybe he felt desperate to feel you without feeling guilty for actually touching you. I think he blames himself for what happened, so I guess in some weird way, it makes sense.”
“What is blood tied?” Nicole asked, curious.
“Well, it was Ayden’s idea actually. I’m his most trusted man. To make sure I’m always loyal to him, he’s bitten me three times, which links him to my feelings. Do you understand?”
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“Yes, I believe so. You’re saying if we…had sex, he could feel it?”
Trevor’s face transformed into a smile so wicked she could almost see Ayden looking back at her.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
A million thoughts rushed into her head. But most of all the anger overshadowed everything. Just from his smile she knew one thing.
Ayden and Trevor were more alike than she first thought. She closed her eyes and prayed. She was going to need all the help she could get.
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Trevor placed both of his hands back around Nicole’s face.
“I think Ayden would enjoy feeling you once again. But more importantly, I want to experience what it feels for true mates to touch each other. You may be linked with Ayden, but now you’re link to me. Let me taste you.”
The words sunk in Nicole’s mind, but with everything else already there, she still pulled back. As much as she wanted to pleasure not only herself, but Ayden and Trevor as well, the thought suddenly wasn’t as appealing as before.
She stepped completely away and looked into his eyes.
“I’m sorry, but Ayden leaving me doesn’t gain him a reward and, sadly, makes you unfuckable. It’s a pity, too. I’m sure we would have had a great time. Link, pull, mated or not, the three of us are now in a messy predicament. Until I can get things straightened out with him, he’s sure as hell not going to have the pleasure of feeling what he could so easily leave.
“Now if you would still like to go to the hospital, be here at nine.
If not, give Ayden a message for me. I don’t need a fucking keeper. If he wants me watched over, he can do it himself. Please don’t take this personally, Trevor, but it’s time for me to find myself, and it’s not going to happen if I have a bodyguard.”
A streak of independence poured through Nicole. She didn’t need a man. They might all be mated somehow, but that didn’t mean she needed to give in to her cravings. Plus, maybe what she needed existed outside the walls of this apartment. Maybe she’d go out again.
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Nicole walked over and held open the door for Trevor, who looked completely shocked.
“I’ll tell him. I’m sorry. I feel like an ass, I…” he laughed.