The dark edge to his tone made Shaya shiver. In a millisecond, he had gone straight from gentle and cool to commanding and assertive. But that was the thing about Nick. Despite his casual posture, despite how supremely composed he seemed and his way of always seeming at total ease with his surroundings, he was never truly relaxed. He was constantly alert, ready to act. That dark energy he was loaded with was now radiating from him. It was a reminder of just how dangerous he was—like she needed that reminder. Although with her he could be gentle, she got the feeling that she might be the exception.
“Shay, I need you to get in the SUV with Derren.” His wolf growled at the sight of the hateful humans slowly and cautiously approaching; he didn’t want them anywhere near his mate.
“Derren?” she echoed, confused. It was only then that she noticed his SUV was parked behind Nick’s Mercedes.
“Take Kent with you.”
Before Shaya could say a word, Kent slipped his arm into hers and began dragging her to the SUV. Derren was out of the vehicle and holding the rear door open for them.
“In,” urged Kent, shoving her inside.
A part of her wanted to stay with Nick, particularly as her natural soothing aura might just stop the confrontation from escalating. But she had to consider that her presence out there might instead cause the confrontation to get out of control—for her to be around the extremists would make Nick’s wolf frantic enough to snap easily. Besides, presenting a united front was what mated pairs did, and they weren’t mated. Her wolf growled and snapped her teeth at Shaya, unhappy with her refusal to stand at their mate’s side in any case.
When Derren returned to the driver’s seat, Shaya frowned. “Shouldn’t you be out there with him?”
“He’ll be fine.”
“You don’t think they’ll attack him?”
He shot her an odd look in the rearview mirror. “Would you care if they did?”
“Of course I’d care.” She might not want to mate with him, but she didn’t want him hurt.
Derren returned his eyes to the spectacle outside. “If they have any sense, they won’t dare threaten him, let alone attack him.”
Distracting her, Kent elbowed her and gestured at Derren. “Sorry, Kent this is Derren, Nick’s bodyguard. Derren, this is Kent, my friend and boss.”
Kent cocked his head, confused. “Nick has a bodyguard?”
“Actually, he said he fired him.”
Derren smiled. “He did. Repeatedly.”
“So why do you stay with him?” She remembered Nick had said it was “personal.”
Without removing his gaze from what was happening outside, he replied, “A few reasons. The main one is I owe him my life.”
That had been unexpected. “And you’re going to stay with him until you’ve returned the favor,” she guessed.
“No. I want to ensure that there’s never a reason for me to have to return the favor.”
“In other words, you’ll always be at his side trying to protect him.” Which was weird. “Are you, like, gay?”
“Depends if I’m in prison or not.” Hearing her gasp, he threw her an amused sideways glance. “Kidding. Be assured I have no designs whatsoever on your mate.”
Kent gawked. “Nick’s your mate?”
Derren gave her an indecipherable look in the rearview mirror. “You didn’t tell him?” There was a big dose of disappointment in his voice. “Whatever you think about Nick, he didn’t choose the position of Alpha over you. He never wanted the position in the first place.”
That surprised her. “Then why did he take it?”
“You’ll have to ask him.”
Seeing that the crowd of humans was now directly in front of Nick, she asked, “Are you sure you shouldn’t be with him?” Derren merely shrugged carelessly.
“You don’t know your mate very well if you think he needs me.”
That comment hurt…because it was true.
“Nick’s a very powerful shifter,” Derren continued. “Much like his wolf, he can be cold, remote, and calculated when he needs to be. Put all that together, and you have a lethal individual. That’s why when he’s angry, people pay attention. And he’s not happy right now.”
“If you truly believe he doesn’t need you, why look out for him?”
“The problem with Nick is that he’ll do anything he has to do to protect the people he believes he’s responsible for. Anything. It means he can be a little reckless with his own life.”
Seeing the almost rabid look on Nick’s face, she asked, “Reckless, or just plain crazy?”
Derren’s lips twitched. “A bit of both.”
“Wow, he’s practically bleeding power,” said Kent with a gasp.
“Yup,” said Derren. “Let’s sit back and watch the show. Wait, is that…? Son of a bitch!”
It wasn’t the first time Nick had found himself surrounded by a group of prejudiced humans. But it was the first time that he was close to losing his self-control—and all because the leader of this particular extremist group was very familiar, and very much despised by Nick and his wolf. He knew he was vibrating with anger; it was taking everything he had not to gut the bastard.
Wearing a ruthless scowl, the human stepped forward, practically spilling hatred and senseless narrow-mindedness. But there was also fear there. “I know you’re a shifter. Don’t bother denying it. I can easily identify one. What I don’t know is your name.”
“You get three guesses,” replied Nick. “But if you get it wrong, your firstborn’s mine.”
“Well, we’ve established that you’re a smartass.”
“Only around stupid people. I’m guessing you’re the leader of the prejudiced humans.”
“Not prejudiced,” the human told Nick. “Enlightened. I want to know what you and your friend are doing in my town.”
“As I told the Sequoia Pack, my business is my business.”
The human’s expression hardened. “This is my town. Trust me when I say that out of the Nazi and me, I’m the one you need to worry about.”
Nick arched a brow. “Really? Then why are you so afraid I can smell it?” His wolf loved the scent of his fear, wanted more of it.
The human froze. “You think if you make my men here believe I’m scared of you, they’ll leave my side?” he scoffed, taking a few aggressive steps forward. “It’s very much for your own good that you leave.”
“Oh, is that so?” As Nick came toward him and invaded the human’s personal space, the guy’s confidence faltered at the power and dominance and alpha energy that spilled from Nick.
The human’s voice was shaky as he continued. “Understand right now that if you choose to stay, I will be watching you. The first mistake you make, I’ll be on you so quick, you won’t know what hit you.”
“Forgive me if I’m not quivering with fear, Logan.” Seeing the surprise on the human’s face, Nick smiled. But it wasn’t a nice smile. “You don’t remember me? Because I sure remember you,” he rumbled.
The human cocked his head, studying Nick intensely. Then his eyes widened. Wariness crept into his expression, and the fear in his scent intensified.
“That’s right,” said Nick, his voice thick with anger. “I also remember how you get your kicks, just like I remember defending myself from you a number of times. Funny isn’t it that you say you hate our kind, but you sure enjoyed sexually abusing the shifters in that place?”
“What’s he talking about?” one of the humans asked Logan.
“I’m talking about the time that your leader worked as a guard in a shifter juvenile prison. Logan has a thing for young boys. I fought him off a number of times. Yeah…those aren’t good memories for me.” Nick gave Logan a pointed look. “So that presents you with a problem.”