“Adrenaline,” said Nick. “I’ve experienced it in battle many times. It’s crazy how the simplest things become difficult.”

  Kara nodded. “Well, I didn’t miss the second time. Jerry made a sound that was inhuman, like a sow being poked with a branding iron. He rolled over just as I was bringing the bat down again. It hit him, right here.” Kara pointed to a spot over her left eye. “There was a crunch. I almost dropped the bat when I heard that. But now that he’d rolled over, I could see Lizzy laying there. She looked like a statue. If I didn’t know better, I might’ve thought she was just sleeping. But I did know better. Instinctively, I knew she was gone. No! No! No! With every word I brought the bat down again and again on this bastard.

  “I didn’t stop until he was a bloody mess. His face was unrecognizable. It looked like a pumpkin painted red and dropped onto the sidewalk. I don’t know how long I stood there, just staring down at him. But eventually I heard hysterical screaming. I turned around and saw Justine, his sicko wife, standing in the doorway. Her eyes were bulging, and she was yelling at me. ‘You killed him! You killed him!’” Kara closed her eyes, trying to remember every detail. Now that she’d finally told her story, she didn’t want to leave anything out. “Justine grabbed my arm, but I jerked away. I turned on her and swung the bat at her head. I honestly don’t remember hitting her, but I must have because she dropped like a bag of bricks and went still. I let the bat fall to the ground, went to Lizzy, and knelt by her side. I felt for a pulse already knowing there wouldn’t be one. I tried to do CPR, though I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.” Kara rubbed a hand down her face and let out another shuddering breath. “I just tried to do what I’d seen done on some freaking television show.” Her voice faded off as the memories continued to play out.

  “That’s enough, sweetheart,” Nick told her. “Let the rest lie for tonight.”

  She shook her head. “I need to get the rest out.”

  He pulled her closer and pressed his lips to her neck, right on his bite mark.

  “Someone must have heard something, probably Justine screaming. I don’t know how long I did CPR, but the next thing I remember was a cop pulling me off Lizzy. I was dripping sweat and so exhausted I could barely stay upright. Even so, I tried to fight them. They grabbed me and dragged me outside. Before I knew it, I was handcuffed, lying face down in the gravel. I don’t know what happened to Lizzy’s body. They never told me about a funeral. No one I asked—the police, social workers, foster parents—would tell me anything.”

  Tears tracked down Kara’s face. Nick’s hand moved slowly back and forth across her back. “Did you have to go to jail?”

  “Not for long. I wasn’t charged with anything. Apparently the self-defense laws apply to protecting others. One of the social workers told me that no prosecutor in the world would be dumb enough to bring charges in that situation. I remember she said, ‘You really think they want pictures of that poor little girl dead on that carpet blown up and plastered all over the projector screen in the middle of the courtroom? And then you’d get a chance to go to the stand and describe what you did and what you saw. It’d be career suicide. Hell, the jury would probably jump up and applaud you before it was all over.’

  “I said I didn’t want applause. I just wanted my friend back. ‘I know you do,’ she had said. She patted me on the leg. ‘But I’m glad that son of a bitch is dead all the same.’

  “After that, they sent me to a new foster home in a new town. I didn’t make any more friends. Just acquaintances. I was a coward, but I didn’t want to feel responsible for someone again. I haven’t thought of Lizzy until now. I buried the memories as far down as I could.”

  “That’s an unbelievably traumatic event, Kara.” Nick’s voice was rough with the anger she could feel through their bond. “Your mind went into survival mode. Now you’ve been through something else incredibly similar to what Lizzy went through. Maybe that’s what has triggered the memories.”

  Kara felt her wrath at Ludcarab fill her anew. She wished she could bring him back from the dead just to chop him to pieces all over again. “I wanted to go to her funeral. I needed to say goodbye.”

  Nick pressed his forehead to her shoulder. “I would give you that if I could. I would do anything you needed in order to help heal the parts of you that are wounded.” He let out a sigh that sounded full of frustration. “Dammit, Kara, why couldn’t I have found you sooner? Not in some weird sick way,” he added quickly, not that she’d thought he was being a weirdo. “My wolf would have felt protective of you. It wouldn’t have been the feelings I have for you now. The mate bond doesn’t make itself known, but I wouldn’t have been able to leave you. I’d have considered you part of my pack even if I didn’t understand why. At least not until you’d come of age.”

  Kara turned her head and pressed her lips to his cheek. She cupped his face in her hands and watched as he closed his eyes and nuzzled into her touch. His chest rumbled as it often did when he felt powerful emotions. Then she leaned forward and kissed him. Nick’s hands tightened around her. She felt one of his hands fist the material of his shirt that she wore. The passion he often kept tamped down flowed through the bond, but still Kara could tell he was trying to control it. He was always careful with her, so afraid he would do something that scared her. Kara didn’t want him to be careful. She wanted him to show her just how much he needed her.

  “Not yet,” he said through their bond. “You’re not ready for that.”

  “You don’t get to tell me what I’m ready for, mate.” She bit his lip to punctuate her irritation with him.

  One of his hands slipped under her shirt and ran across her skin until it rested over her stomach. Nick had told Kara how much he loved to touch her over the place where their child grew. He loved to kiss her there and talk to their daughter. They’d only been back for a week, but he’d spent most of week with his head resting on her abdomen. He only left her to get food, and during those brief moments, he talked to her through the bond the entire time. Kara appreciated it because as much as it annoyed her to be clingy, she hated being away from him for even ten minutes.

  She shivered as he deepened the kiss and ran his other hand across the markings on her back. That was the other place he liked to touch. When he wasn’t touching her stomach, he was tracing what he always referred to as “his” markings. Kara loved the possessiveness she felt from him. She reveled in feeling so wanted.

  She pushed at his shoulders, turning her body until she rested on her knees. Then she pushed him harder until he finally relented and laid down on his back. Kara followed him, and he had to move his hand from her stomach. He kept it under her shirt and ran it around her ribs until it was on her back. She let her hands run along his warm flesh, over his shoulders, down his arms, and back up again. He remained shirtless while in bed with her, but she always made sure he put one on before he left their room. Apparently Kara was a little possessive herself. She didn’t like the idea of any other females in the pack seeing his impressive chest and abs.

  “I love that you’re possessive.” He pulled her until she laid on top of him. She gasped as she pressed against him. It was a new position, one she liked immensely.

  Kara’s hands rested on the top of his chest, and her nails dug into his flesh as her passion grew. She knew she must be hurting him, but she couldn’t stop. His lips left hers, and he trailed kisses across her jaw and then down her neck.

  “I like it when you sink your nails into me. I enjoy knowing you need me as badly as I need you.” He growled, and then she felt his teeth sink into her flesh where his mark was. The pinch of pain lasted an instant before the pleasure flowed through her. The blood in her veins heated, and Kara felt as though she might combust.

  He began to pull away, but she pressed her hand to the back of his head. “Don’t stop.” She breathed out, her voice desperate, needing the connection between them.

  “Sweetheart,” he whispered, and she felt his touch all over.

  “Nick?” she moaned.

  He chuckled. “The mate bond is good for more than just communicating.” Then, despite her whimper, he pulled his head away and then licked the wound that would heal almost immediately.

  Kara could feel him attempting to gain control of himself. She saw the thoughts in his mind before he even told her they needed to stop. “No,” she growled. She wasn’t a wolf, but she still could let out a decent sound when she was frustrated with him. “Please. I need you.” She pushed up, and before he could stop her, she pulled her shirt over her head.

  “Bloody hell, female,” Nick snarled and tried to cover her with the sheet.

  Kara slapped it away and narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t reject me. I couldn’t stand it.”

  His eyes softened. “I’m not rejecting you. I’m protecting you from me, yeah?”

  “No, not ‘yeah,’” she bit out. “I’m not putting clothes back on until you give me what is mine and take what is yours.”

  His eyes stayed on her face, but she felt the struggle in him. Kara was impressed with his self-control, but it also pissed her off. Was she not tempting enough?

  “Of course, I’m tempted, Kara.” He pushed up into a sitting position. “But you’re vulnerable right now. You’ve just told me how your friend was raped and murdered, and you killed her murderer. And you did this as a freaking teenager.”

  She cringed at his stark words.

  “I won’t take advantage of you while you’re so emotional.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not taking advantage of me, Nick. You have access to my mind and emotions. How about you use that damn bond and see for yourself if I’m remotely unsure about what I want right now?”

  He snapped his teeth at her, but then she felt him push into her mind. Kara’s eyes closed as she enjoyed the intimacy of the mate bond. Having him in her mind, seeing all of her, was almost as intimate as him seeing her body.

  The bed shifted, and then Kara gasped as both of his hands rested on her ribcage, just below her breasts. “Please don’t regret this,” he whispered. “It would destroy me if I did something that caused you pain.”

  “I would never regret anything we do together out of love,” she said, and she meant it with everything inside of her. “Please, mate.”

  Nick groaned. “Open your eyes, my female. You will keep them on me the entire time. You will know who is touching you, yeah?”

  Her lips turned up in a small smile as she obeyed him and met his gaze. The hunger she saw there took her breath away. “Yeah.”

  Finally his eyes dropped from her face. Kara felt heat bloom in her cheeks, and she suddenly felt self-conscious. She raised her hands to cover herself, but Nick growled at her. “Don’t.” He slowly pushed her back until she was pressed against the cool sheets. His eyes stayed on her chest as his hands moved up.

  Her eyes fluttered closed, but he stopped just short of touching her where she was dying for it.

  “Eyes open, sweetheart,” he said, and when she looked at him again, he waited a few heartbeats before his hands began moving again.

  Kara felt him open their bond as much as he could, letting her feel his desire. It took her breath away and caused her own need to grow to a feverish pitch. Time seemed to slow as he discovered her body and made himself very well acquainted with it. Kara was pretty sure she would die from pleasure before they ever made it to the part where they became one.

  Nick smiled wickedly. “Patience, female.” His voice was a purr she’d never heard before. “I have no intention of letting us leave this life until I’ve had my fill of you and you of me.”

  Kara breathed hard, attempting to stay still as he touched her.

  “And I will never have my fill, so it’s going to be a very long life.”

  She couldn’t respond as his body came over hers. Every thought fled as Nick made love to her. They moved in sync with each other, and because he was in her mind, he knew what she wanted without her having to say a word. Kara didn’t know it would be like this. She couldn’t have imagined the intensity, pleasure, or love that being this close to him would evoke. Kara was pretty sure she never wanted to leave their bed.

  Nick moaned. “I agree.” He breathed against her neck just before he bit her again.

  Words she rarely said rushed out of her, and before she realized what she was doing, her own teeth sank into the spot where she’d bitten him when they’d completed the Blood Rites. She lost herself in their lust and love and basked in the attention her mate lavished on her.

  “I love you, Kara,” he whispered in her ear. And then he continued to show her with his body just how much he meant those words.

  Chapter

  Three

  “I love my mate. I love my mate. I love my mate. Sometimes, I must repeat this mantra to myself so I don’t say something I might regret. Even though what I might say is probably true at the moment, it isn’t necessarily not true all of the time.” ~Jacque

  “I still say we should have brought something to throw at them. Their faces are handsome, but I wouldn’t mind giving them each a few scars,” Bethany grumbled. She and the other pack females waited outside the door to Fane’s office.

  Jacque’s lips turned up in a small smile. Her female pack members were becoming blood-thirsty mates. She knew the pride was evident on her face. Jacque’s smile widened as she thought of Alina and how proud she would be that the women had stood their ground. She’d never forget the time that Alina had forbidden Vasile from touching her and given him the single-finger salute. It was something that would go down in the history books as one of Jacque’s top-ten favorite moments in her life. Damn, I miss my mother-in-law.

  “I miss her as well, Luna.” Fane’s voice infiltrated her mind. She felt his caress on her face. She wished it was his actual hand so she could bite him. “Quit standing there staring at the door and come inside. I might just indulge your desire.”

  “I don’t want to bite you out of desire, fur butt.” She growled at him. “I want to bite you because you’re being all alpha-bossy with me. Passing out ultimatums like they’re Halloween candy, expecting us to gobble them up gratefully.”

  “Mate, get your beautiful backside in here. Now!” Fane’s voice was loud enough that they could hear it through the closed door.

  “Wow.” Jen blew out a breath. “Alpha man sounds pissed. It’s kinda hot.”

  “I’m too ticked off to be annoyed with your comment, Thelma.” Jacque gripped the doorknob. “But later, I make no promises. I might have to wipe the floor with you for getting kinda turned on by my man’s pissy-ness.”

  “Noted, Red,” Jen said. “I’m itching for a good fight, so don’t let me down.”

  “Jennifer!” Decebel’s voice boomed from inside the room.

  “Geez.” Crina huffed. “What has put them all in such crappy moods? Even Adam is feeling a little grumpy.”

  “Mm-hmm,” Zara agreed. “Wadim’s not his usual perky self, either. He’s rarely irritated with me.”

  “That’s because he’s still enamored with your relatively new ta-tas.” Jen said. “If I was a man, I wouldn’t be irritated with you, either. Otherwise, you might restrict access to those beauties.”

  “Can we please just get this over with?” Elle snapped. “I’m in the mood to spar, and Sorin is an excellent opponent when he’s vexed with me.”

  Jen turned to look at the fae. “Sometimes I forget you’re old as dirt. Until you use words like vexed. I like it. It expands my vocabulary, which, if I do say so myself, is already extensive.” Jen held up her hand for a high-five. Elle looked at it and then back at the she-wolf. Jacque’s blonde friend shrugged and high-fived herself.

  With a resigned sigh, Jacque opened the door and stalked into the room. She somehow managed to keep from stomping her feet, but only just. Her eyes immediately found Fane’s. There was a slight glow to the bright blue orbs. She wasn’t surprised, considering his mood. His wolf often surfaced when they were frustrated with her.

  Jacque walked over to Fane and lifted up on her toes so she could reach his lips. She placed a chaste kiss on them, but backed up quickly before he could grab her and deepen it. She could feel his need to put her in her place, so to speak, by seducing her. Sometimes she humored him and allowed it. Not this time. This time, she had to stand her ground.

  “What the hell happened?” Jacque whipped around when she heard Bethany’s angry voice. The woman stood in front of Drake, who sat on the arm of the couch. His shoulders were relaxed, but his jaw was clenched, betraying his nonchalant appearance.

  “What are you talking about, female?” His eyes roamed over her, but not at all sexually. He looked as if he was searching for anything out of place, such as an injury. And though she had felt his pain when he’d been injured, she didn’t actually have the cut arm, and Peri had helped ease the pain. Despite the lack of blood or actual injury, Bethany cursed like a sailor the entire time.

  “I’m talking about the fact that my arm felt like it was being cut off while you were gone.” She stepped closer and poked a finger in his chest.

  Jen raised a finger. “I’d like to add to her grievance that none of you mentioned you were leaving on your little field trip. You just up and disappeared.” She looked pointedly at Adam.

  “I was just following orders,” Adam motioned at Fane who simply shrugged, looking completely unrepentant.

  Then Jen looked back at Bethany. “Carry on, you’re doing great.”

  Decebel reached for Jen, but she slapped at his hand and gave him a look that would have sent a less dominant wolf to cower in the corner. Her man just smirked at her and winked.