I woke up warm and safe and content. It lasted maybe ten seconds before I lifted my head and recognized where I was, and that Nick slept beside me, and everything came rushing back. The Alphas Council and fighting Cassidy for the throne I didn’t want loomed over me, and I just wanted to go back to sleep.

Some days I got really sick of being an adult.

When I started to sit, Nick stirred and looked around with bleary eyes. “What’s wrong?”

The hyena knew exactly how she wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon, and though it meant staying in bed, it wasn’t quite as sedate as going back to my nap. I studied Nick, wondering at what twist of fate brought us together. He wasn’t anything like the men I was used to having around. Hyena males didn’t tend to be assertive at all, and Cal had been so laid-back that he let me take the lead anywhere and how I wanted. Nick, though...

For once I tried not to think too hard about what I wanted to say. “I don’t know.”

His eyebrows rose and he yawned, reaching for where his phone lay on the bedside table. “It’s not past noon.”

“Good.” My heart started to pound and I rested my palm on his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. “I don’t know what this is, Nick, between us. The hyena... wants you.”

Nick managed to look sexy and surprised at the same time. “I’m not that worried about what the hyena wants, Lacey. What do you want?”

“I don’t know,” I said. I couldn’t meet his gaze and instead studied the fabric of his T-shirt, tracing shapes across his chest. My heart beat faster than it should have for just lying in bed, and tension constricted my chest until my breath hitched and I couldn’t breathe. “It’s been so long since... since anyone was nice to me, since anyone bothered to treat me like I was something other than just the hyena queen, I don’t really know what to do. Everyone sees Val Szdoka’s daughter, a ruthless killer ruling her clan with an iron fist, and no one looks beyond that.”

He waited, eyes half-closed, and his palm rested on my back, so at least I could lean against him as I lay on my side and tried to breathe normally. Nick seemed content to let me fumble for words, not rushing me, and I wondered at where the hell he came from, what his life had been like before he showed up in our lives. For a man who behaved like a ridiculous immature teenager, he knew when to shut his mouth and listen. My voice dropped to a whisper as my vision blurred and I couldn’t even see where I touched his chest. “You’re the first person, other than Eloise, who dared hug me in months. Maybe a year. The only man who treated me like a woman, even when I tried to scare you off.”

“I don’t scare easily,” Nick murmured, and the corner of his mouth crooked up, assisted by the scars. He played with the ends of my hair, twining the strands around his fingers, and made a comforting, grumbly noise in his chest. “And I don’t know how anyone could not notice you’re a woman, Lacey.”

“I don’t need flowers,” I said, gazing across the room because it was easier than looking at him as I admitted things I hadn’t even dared tell myself. “I don’t—I’m not a girly girl. I’ve never been a girly girl. But it still hurts to be treated like one of the guys constantly. I had to fight to be taken seriously by the other alphas, like all the hyenas have to, and that doesn’t leave any room to want to…to want to be asked out to dinner. Who would dare call up the hyena queen for a date?”

Nick reached up to touch my other side, his grip gentle but solid, but he didn’t try to drag me down or do anything other than support me. Which only made me want to cry more. A tear escaped and I brushed it away angrily. “It’s just…I thought I would have a partner. Someone who makes me better and who I make better. An equal. And he’s gone, and I’m going to be alone forever because there’s no one in this city with the balls to ask me out for a drink.”

“Well,” Nick said, the hint of a smile growing just a bit. “For the record, I asked you out just two nights ago.”

“Yeah, after we killed a couple of guys in a back alley,” I said. “That’s not normal.”

“We’re not normal.” When I frowned at the glib answer, Nick shook his head and caught my face in both his hands before I could draw away. “Listen to me, Lacey. Normal isn’t interesting. Normal is boring. There’s a hell of a lot going on in this city that isn’t normal, and later tonight we’re going to meet some of the craziest bitches I’ve ever crossed. It’s just another night. But that’s a good thing. I like our normal. I like knowing you’re a bad-ass chick who can take care of herself, but I like it even more that you can lie here next to me and let your guard down. That’s the rare thing. That’s what’s special.”

It didn’t make me feel any better.

But Nick wasn’t done. His thumbs caressed my cheeks and a hint of gold flashed in his blue eyes. “And you’re not going to be alone forever. You’re not alone now.”

“You’re just temporary,” I said. It hurt to admit, but it felt too much like the truth to let it remain unsaid. “You’ll finish this job and find Smith, and you’ll move on. Why would you volunteer to hang around as the consort to the hyena queen?”

“Maybe because I love the hyena queen?”

He said it like it was obvious, but he might as well have socked me in the stomach. I hoped it was a joke. I even tried to laugh. “You don’t love me. You’re just trying to be charming.”

“I’ve already got you in bed twice in the last two days, darlin’.” Nick smiled in that lazy, self-assured way that should have driven me crazy but instead just ignited a wiggle of need deep inside. He stretched and his hands drifted down my sides. “And I do love you. You are the only thing that calms down the wolf, and you brought me back when I was pretty sure everything was too far gone to salvage. Just you. I’d do anything for you. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.”

He scared me on a deep level. That kind of intensity from a man like that... I shook my head. “But you don’t know me.”

“I do,” he said, and craned his neck enough to brush his lips against mine. “I know enough to know I want to know everything, and that I will do whatever it takes to have the time to learn all of your secrets.”

I bit my lower lip as I studied his mouth, remembering the intensity of the last time he kissed me. My thighs clenched in anticipation as his leg moved and the gentle friction of his rougher skin against mine sent shivers through me. “I don’t have that many secrets.”

Nick chuckled. The skin around his eyes crinkled as he smiled, and the hint of gold in his eyes blazed into an inferno as his hand slid low on my hip and brushed my bare skin. “You have a couple that I’m very interested in.”

And the thin sweats he still wore didn’t do much to disguise that interest.

I wondered if he would reject me again, if I propositioned him. Even though my muscles ached pleasantly from the earlier fight, I still felt restless and uneasy about the Council meeting and confronting Cassidy. What if I had it all wrong and she didn’t set me up? What if she did and really wanted me dead? What if the whole family wanted me dead? Plenty of people in the family didn’t agree with the direction I took us after Mother’s death, though I thought everyone came around after a few months and the results of our hard work started to show. I’d never felt so uncertain and off-balance; I’d never questioned my decisions so much before I became queen. And I’d lost my way. I’d lost Cal, my rock and compass, and just... drifted.

I pushed away the thought and focused on the here and now. I needed to feel something real, something good. Nick thought he loved me and thought he knew what being the queen’s consort would be, but I knew in my heart he wouldn’t stick around. A man with an ego that size couldn’t play second fiddle for long, even for someone he lusted after. A couple of months and he’d be long gone. But at least I could enjoy him while he was there.

Guilt still waited in the back of my head, ready to break free the moment I started to think again, but I needed to act. I needed something to burn off all the nervous, guilty energy. Maybe sleeping with him would clarify everything and I could go back to the cackle with a clear head.

Nick still waited for me to respond, his fingers drifting up and down my side along my ribs. I’d never considered him a patient person, but he certainly earned the title being tangled up with me in bed, just watching me breathe as I struggled with my thoughts.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax into his touch, and hoped he didn’t ask me too many questions. “Make me feel good, Nick. I just need…I need to feel something good, something real. Please.”

He squeezed my waist and leaned to kiss me again, though his lips lingered long enough that I closed my eyes and kissed him back. Nick nudged me to my back, following me so he could deepen the kiss and tangle his tongue with mine, and my heart sped up. Being on my back, in a submissive position, immediately made me anxious. I wanted to shove him on his back and have my way with him, use him up until I felt what I needed and could walk away without regrets. The hyena didn’t want to wait; she wanted immediate gratification.

But I stayed where he put me, testing myself as much as I tested him, and Nick broke the kiss, his mouth leaving a heated trail down the length of my throat. He nibbled on my shoulder, squeezing my hip before letting his hand drift down to the back of my thigh. “Why are you so tense?”

“This is different,” I said. I closed my eyes as he tugged at the hem of my shirt, then I sat up and dragged the shirt off, reaching for his as well. “Not being in charge.”

“Do you want to be in charge?” Nick grumbled as he spotted my breasts, his rough palms cupping their full weight as his thumbs rubbed against my nipples. He didn’t sound particularly enthusiastic about letting me take over, and pushed up on his elbows so he could see me.

It would have been easy to say yes and been done with it. But it felt safe enough to try something new. Something different. And my body thrilled at the idea of just lying back and letting him call the shots. For once, I didn’t have to make the decisions. I didn’t have to give orders or figure out what to do or have a plan. I just got to feel. I shivered and my heart raced, and I almost couldn’t breathe as I stretched my arms over my head and exhaled all that stress. “No. I want you to... take over. Just for now. Just for this.”

There was no mistaking the smile that spread across his face. Nick rubbed his stubbled jaw against my middle and I jumped, and he chuckled again. He growled a little in his throat, though it wasn’t a threat—more anticipation and eagerness. A readiness to play. Nick tugged at the waist of my borrowed jeans with enough force that the button strained, and I shimmied out of them quickly so he wouldn’t tear them. I still needed to wear them, and I didn’t want to beg more clothes from Kara. Nick’s eyes glinted gold and it was the wolf watching me as his hands slid up and down my legs.

I closed my eyes and exhaled, wanting to just feel. To be transported. To enjoy the moment and let go.

Let go.

Nick kissed his way down my chest to my stomach, though he continued to play with my nipples, and my breath caught. My underwear disappeared and Nick lay between my legs, pushing my thighs apart. Every movement was deliberate and decisive, with no hint of hesitation, and I tensed in anticipation and desire. We hadn’t showered, after the fight. Everything still felt a little raw and sweaty and real, and what if –

Nick gripped my thighs a little tighter to keep them from closing. “No, you don’t.”

I sucked in a breath, lifting my head to look at him. “Wha—” but I cut off as his tongue flicked across the top of my slit. Nick locked eyes with me as his lips sealed around my clit, teasing and sucking and even biting with a rough touch that made me arch off the mattress.

I groaned and started to work my fingers through his hair, but Nick shoved my arms back toward the headboard and paused the madness long enough to say, “Arms up. Don’t distract me.”

My hips lifted in response as my head fell back on the pillow at the gruff command, and my breath came faster as Nick’s broad fingers teased my opening. I wanted more, moving to encourage him, but Nick backed off the incredible torment as soon as I felt the climax approaching. I cursed and gripped the headboard until my knuckles ached, but the bastard only chuckled and feathered delicate touches against my clit that nearly drove me insane with desperation.

“More,” I said, though it came out a groan. “Come on, Nick.”

“I love the way you say my name,” he said. “But I want to hear you beg.”

The rough stubble on his cheek scratched the inside of my thigh and I jumped, trying to close my legs around him, and Nick grabbed my ass to tilt my hips. He growled and returned to devouring my aching core. I cried out and squirmed as his broad fingers plunged into me over and over, matching the unpredictable rhythm of his tongue and teeth. Ecstasy built low in my stomach, sparking up to my breasts as Nick pinched my nipple and didn’t let go. He increased the pressure until it twisted into pain and connected with a sudden overwhelming surge of sensation as he sucked my clit against his teeth. I froze as everything else disappeared except the raging pleasure that tore through me, sending shocks over me as I jerked and thrust and came apart in his hands. Still he didn’t relieve the pressure on my sensitive flesh, only holding on as the aftershocks of ecstasy made me pull against his unforgiving grip and torment myself even more.

Nick pressed his fingers deeper, curving them up to reach every part of me, and growled against me. “Say my name.”

“Nick,” I moaned. My hips jerked as he licked my slit in a long drag that stole all the oxygen in the room and froze my lungs until I couldn’t breathe or move or do anything but hold onto the headboard. “Please.”

“Please what?” Nick finally released my nipple and squeezed my ass instead, his fingers digging into the soft flesh, and he bit the inside of my thigh.

I couldn’t take it. It was too much. Another orgasm hovered too close, so close it was painful. It terrified me with its intensity. I didn’t think I would survive it. “Please wait. Oh my God, please wait.”

His hand pressed against my stomach, pinning me to the bed no matter how much I moved. Even trying to thrust my hips against his face didn’t help. Nick started to pinch and flick my clit, watching my face as he did it, and I panted and cursed him and gave up on holding onto the headboard so I could grab his head instead. I didn’t know if I wanted to hold him close or push him away, but before I could decide, Nick’s thumb slid between my cheeks and pressed against my asshole and my brain shorted out. I came straight off the bed as a tsunami of ecstasy shoved me into darkness and complete overwhelming pleasure from the unfamiliar sensation.

I could only feel. My body shook and spasmed, my muscles clenching around his fingers and my hips bucking against his mouth. I’d never felt anything like it as I fell to pieces and collapsed on the bed, sweaty and too weak to move. Nick withdrew his fingers from my channel with agonizing slowness, and I twitched with each tiny movement; even that sensation overwhelmed my nerves. I choked on air, gasping and desperate, and couldn’t even lift my head to beg him for…something. I didn’t know what I wanted anymore.

Nick dragged himself up the length of my body and captured my wrists. I forced my eyes open, unable to form a coherent thought, and he nuzzled behind my ear as he put my hands on the headboard once more. His whisper against my ear sent shivers all the way to my toes. “I thought I told you not to distract me.”

My eyes nearly rolled back in my head, and an aftershock of pure pleasure raced to my clit. Jesus Christ. I shivered and tried to regain some of my composure, though my voice came out throaty and unfamiliar. “I didn’t expect… that.”

“Get ready,” he murmured. “That was just the beginning.”

I managed to wet my lips, though I couldn’t swallow. I didn’t even know what I wanted to say; all the words evaporated from my head when I saw his expression—hungry and dominant, the wolf nearly in control. Yet I still felt safe. He wouldn’t hurt me.

Nick let me feel the hard line of his cock as his hips settled against mine, although he still wore his sweatpants. His teeth dragged along my throat. “How should I have you, Lacey? Like this, on your back? On your knees? Should I put you up against the wall? In the shower? Hmm?”

I groaned and closed my eyes as the mental pictures of all of those possibilities ran through me. Any of them. All of them. He could do whatever he wanted, and I knew I would love it.

He toyed with my breasts, now and then pinching my nipple to draw a gasp from me. “Tell me, Lacey. How should I have you?”

The hyena knew. She knew there was only one way. My thighs parted again as his hand drifted down my stomach, teasing the top of my slit. “Knees.”

“What was that?” He nipped at my earlobe, hands bolder as they grabbed my ass. “Say it again. “

“On my knees,” I whispered.

Nick chuckled, though it was mostly growl, and flipped me to my stomach. “Your wish is my command.”

I closed my eyes and exhaled, ready to feel more.