In the shadows, one hundred yards away from the apartment building, a man stood watching the third-floor balcony window. Fury was burning within him. He was surrounded by fucking idiots who couldn’t do one simple job. Just one! He watched, expectantly, waiting for the fucker to come back downstairs to his car. But the piece of shit was taking forever to come downstairs. He saw her appear at her balcony window and his heart started picking up its pace. He assumed she was waiting for her company to appear since his car was parked right under her balcony. The man’s body went rigid with the anticipation of violence. He even started thinking about all the ways he was going to defy Nyla. His eyes drifted to the stairway expecting to see Pierce.

Any second now… Any second…

Darrius kept his eyes glued to the set of stairs coming from Nyla’s building, but he never showed. Suddenly, disappointment and doubt began to run through his veins as his eyes drifted back to Nyla’s balcony. Then just like that, he felt as if he was just hit by a freight train. Her lights went out.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he yelled bitterly and slammed his fist against the car next to him. He closed his eyes tight, trying not to think about what she was doing with him. He couldn’t believe this shit. For all he knew, shit could be going down now. That bitch!

“You had one fucking job!” he scolded heatedly. “All you had to do was bring her to me. That was it. And you fucking blew it.”

Darrius opened his eyes and looked to the quiet figure behind him. Disgusted and fighting the urge to put a bullet right between her eyes, he turned from the quiet statue behind him back to the window.

“I had set her up masterfully. She was putty in your hands and you fucked it up.” He rolled his eyes and folded his arms in front of his muscled chest. “And they say your species is supposed to be superior,” he mumbled to himself. He then stood up straight, leaned his back against the black Land Rover, and closed his eyes again. He then rested his head against the passenger’s side window of the SUV. He took a few deep breaths and tried to think of a way to get out of this mess with his life. His blood pressure was in overdrive; his heart pounding against his chest. The summer night breeze picked up around him, trying to do its best to cool him down. Darrius removed his belt holster that housed his 9mm semi-automatic handgun. He took in a few more deep, relaxing breaths and once he felt some type of calm, he spoke again.

“I should just kill you now or give you to him and be done with your useless ass, but I’m gonna to give you another chance to make it up to me.”

“Yes, sir,” came from the cowering figure behind him and he scoffed in disgust at her weakness. He placed his gun, which was still holstered, on top of the SUV’s roof.

“Now, you best figure out a way to take my mind off of your fuck up before I take my anger and frustrations out on you. Thanks to you, I need to come up with a plan B for both our sakes.”

Darrius didn’t have to wait very long for the woman behind him to move. She walked around the truck to face him and reluctantly went to her knees. Darrius breathed out as the sound of his zipper being pulled down reverberated into the night. Her grip was light and hesitant, but the warmth from her mouth made the tension in his body relax. His eyes drifted up to the third-floor window again just as he saw the balcony light turn on.

He saw her. Actually, he saw both of them. Nyla was hemmed up against the partially opened balcony door, and they looked to be kissing each other frantically. Damn, if he didn’t have the slurping sounds coming from the woman on her knees, he could probably hear them going at it all the way from here. They looked that intense. He started to tell the woman to shut up so he could hear, but he couldn’t mouth a word. He just watched, mesmerized at the spectacle that was going on in front of him. He saw her anchor her leg around his, and her hands disappear in front of her. Darrius assumed she was hugging him, maybe even touching him. Andrew’s hands were roaming over Nyla’s body, squeezing her flesh everywhere, especially her ass.

Darrius groaned uncontrollably just thinking about the woman against the window. Nyla had a beautiful ass. He had often wondered what it would feel like in his hands. He bet it was soft. He bet she could work her ass too just the way he liked it.

“Deeper…” he commanded, his imagination picturing Nyla kneeling in front of him instead of this bitch; his big dick in her mouth, giving her everything she wanted and more.

Darrius, feeling his balls tightening, unfolded his arms from his chest and placed his fingers into the woman’s hair. He gripped her hair as tight as he could and started grinding against her mouth. A glorious sensation began to flow through his body. He grunted his pleasures into the night, wanting to move his eyes off of the couple and onto the woman on her knees, but he couldn’t. He was transfixed on the couple, waiting for them to give him more, but also pissed off because he’d never gotten the chance to fuck her. And oh, did he want to…

“Fuck,” he growled as he felt his release building. He started circling his hips against the sensation faster, ignoring the gagging sounds coming from the woman. He closed his eyes as his impeding orgasm began to paralyze his body. He cursed into the night just as his hot seed sprayed into the woman’s mouth. His body weakened quickly as he pumped a few more times before he pulled out of her mouth and with his eyes still closed, he fell back against the SUV spent. Darrius tucked himself back into his pants. His chest was heaving just as fast as his heartbeat was and the tingling that had once run through his veins began to subside.

But, because Darrius’ eyes were closed and completely distracted, he had missed the warning signs that his life had become endangered. He hadn't felt the air around him drop twenty degrees; despite the summer air. He had missed the utter silence that immediately encircled him and most importantly, he failed to notice the moment when a pair of rage-filled, crimson eyes locked on him in the dark shadows of the parking lot.

What he was fully aware of, however, was how the hairs on the back of his neck had awakened and risen. His eyes shot open and he looked around, expecting to see something or someone, but there was nothing there. Then Darrius looked up and noticed that the lights to Nyla’s balcony had been turned off. They were gone.

He frowned and sucked his teeth. Fucking whore, he said to himself and shook his head. He buckled his pants and looked at the woman in front of him. He started to tell her to go knock on Nyla’s door just to interrupt whatever was going on in her apartment, when her eyes widened and her head swiveled to her left, panicked.

Darrius stiffened and grabbed his gun and holster from the roof of the Land Rover.

“What is it? Is it Pierce?” he asked her, looking in the direction she was now facing.

“No, but close enough. We gotta go now!” the woman barked and quickly walked around the driver’s side door to the truck. She jumped in and started the engine before Darrius even had time to react to her words and get inside the truck.

“What the fuck is going on?” Darrius looked at her as she sped out of the parking lot, tires skidding on the asphalt. Darrius noticed the fear in her eyes, something that he hadn't seen since the months he had known her. And how she looked as if she was running from death itself. "Who’s out there?"

“Believe me, you don’t want to know. I just hope he didn’t see us,” she replied and continued driving as fast as she could.

Darrius, growing tired of her cryptic responses, grabbed her arm and snatched it toward him. The movement didn't do much, but she at least brought her golden eyes to him.

“Who are we running from?” he asked her again, calmer this time.

But the woman didn’t respond. She was too busy trying to weave through traffic safely as well as creating a sizable distance between them and the apartment complex. She looked in the rearview mirror to see if anyone was following her. When she didn’t see anything or sense anything, she breathed out a sigh of relief. She smiled and started to tell Darrius that the coast was clear when blue and red strobe lights appeared behind them.

Shit…

* * *

Andrew and Nyla had been going at it up against the window for longer than they’d anticipated. Neither of them could help themselves. The moment Andrew grabbed her by her neck and invaded her mouth with his tongue, they were all over each other. Nyla caressed Andrew’s chest and back, gripping his muscles as he kissed her furiously. His lips were everywhere; along her neck, her shoulders, kissing, sucking, and biting her soft, sweet skin. He kept telling her how good she felt, how he craved to taste every bit of her body.

All she could do was bite her lip and moan her pleasures. The euphoric feeling that he was producing all through her body was making her lose her mind. Her fingers were reaching for anything she could hold on to and squeeze to help lessen the throbbing between her thighs, besides his engorged dick that looked as if it was going to bust through his sweatpants. Oh, how she wanted to release the beast and put him inside her. Before she did just that, Andrew’s hands cupped her breasts. He squeezed them, massaged and pinched her sensitive nipples through her dress.

Andrew leaned over and kissed her supple chest, licking between her breasts. He pulled down her dress slightly, trying to free her. When that didn’t work, and before Nyla could help him, he seized the top of her dress then split the defenseless material down the middle, her breasts tumbling out no longer being caged by the spandex material.

Nyla gasped from the sheer force of his movements and started to laugh when she saw a frantic hunger in his eyes as he looked down at her breasts. He seemed so transfixed as he licked his lips that she wasn’t even sure he knew what he did.

When Andrew finally realized what he had done, he shrugged and ran his fingers between her luscious twins and underneath them, circling her areolas before he scraped his finger over her nipples. “I needed to touch them.”

Nyla shook her head and leaned against the balcony door as Andrew continued to lightly fondle her girls. She took a few deep breaths to calm her heartbeat and looked up at Andrew. His face was dark, his eyes intense and drenched with desire as he studied her exposed body. His eyes then traveled to hers as a grin slowly materialized along his lips.

“So much for taking it slow,” he admitted, dropping his hands from her breasts and resting them on her hips. He still needed to touch her somehow.

Nyla blushed and smiled shyly. “Yeah.”

Andrew moved closer to her and cupped the side of her face in his hand. He caressed his thumb along her cheek and leaned down to kiss her mouth. “You are so beautiful, Nyla, and you’re all mine. Controlling myself around you will be hard. But, I’ll do my best to contain myself for you.”

Nyla clasped his wrist and leaned into his touch. She closed her eyes and breathed him in before she looked up at him. She smiled. “I don’t think I’ll be able to contain my needs.”

Andrew placed his other hand against her cheek. He tilted her head up so her eyes were only on him. “The moment you don’t want to, be sure to let me know. I’ll take over from there.”

Nyla chuckled. “I bet you would.”

Andrew wrapped her in his arms and she buried her face in his chest, kissing the smooth soft hairs that lay against his skin before she wrapped her arms around him. She started to ask him to stay with her when she felt his body tense. She moved back from him and looked up at him to find him staring out of the balcony window behind her. The lust-filled look in his eyes had disappeared, replaced with something else entirely.

Nyla covered her breasts with her hands and looked over her shoulder out into the darkness beyond.

“Is everything okay?”

She struggled to see out into the blackness at whatever had Andrew’s attention, but she couldn’t see a thing. Andrew, however, looked as if he saw something. He was transfixed. Not moving his eyes whatsoever. It was beginning to freak her out.

“Andrew, say something. You’re scaring me. Is someone out there?”

Andrew visibly relaxed and looked down at her. He leaned over and kissed her on her forehead. He then pulled her away from the balcony door, closed the blinds and turned off the balcony lights. Nyla blinked as her apartment fell back into darkness. She moved, by memory, to the lamp closest to her and turned it on. She turned just as Andrew walked away from the door.

“Did you see someone out there?” she asked again, her eyes looking at the closed blinds.

Andrew reached her and started to rub his hands along her arms soothingly. “No, baby. I thought someone was by my car, but it was just shadows.” He caressed her cheeks and touched her lips with the pad of his thumb.

Nyla giggled slightly, thinking about their kissing fest. “I didn’t even realize the light was on. I must have turned it on by accident.”

“Yeah, that kiss did get a bit out of hand,” stated Andrew. He then ran his fingers through his hair and rested it on the back of his neck.

“A bit out of hand?! One minute we were standing right there.” Nyla pointed to a spot by her couch, closest to the front door. “Then the next minute I was pinned up against my balcony door. How did that happen?”

Andrew shrugged. “What can I say? It’s what you do to me.”

Nyla laughed and shook her head. She grabbed her ripped dress. “And can you explain this?”

Andrew touched the torn fabric and tried to pull the two pieces back together. Nyla slapped his hand away and quickly covered her exposed girls. Andrew laughed.

“Sorry about that. I couldn’t get to your tits so…” he explained and shrugged.

“Uh-huh, if you would have given me a second I would have helped you.”

“Why wait for you to help me when all I had to do was rip the damn thing?”

Nyla smacked his arm as he laughed. “Yeah, laugh it up, Pierce,” she turned and walked away from him. “You owe me another dress, mister.”

“Does that mean I can rip the rest of it off?” he called after her, shaking his head as he watched the seductive sway of her supple ass.

"No!" she replied over her shoulder as she disappeared into her bedroom.

* * *

Andrew stood there for a moment, smiling to himself. His smile then quickly dropped. He walked back to the balcony to double check the lock and then walked to the front door. He double checked that the door was locked before he turned off the lamp and followed her to her bedroom.

“Hey, have you spoken to that so-called friend of yours from the diner?” he quizzed her as he strolled into her bedroom. He looked around when he didn’t see her. However, his gaze quickly fell on the opened closet door in front of him.

“What friend?” Nyla called out from her closet.

“The son of a bitch with the staring problem.”

Andrew studied the full-size bed in the middle of the room, contemplating his life and comfort. He shrugged out of his jacket. He had no intention of leaving her tonight. Therefore, her bed would have to do. Hell, he’d slept on worse; exhibit A being the couch in the other room. Andrew folded his hooded jacket and placed it over Se’Nya’s crib. Next, he took off his boots, placed them next to the crib as well, and then stepped out of his sweatpants. He placed the pants over his jacket and walked naked to Nyla’s bed.

Andrew pulled back the blanket and sheet before he realized she hadn’t answered him yet. He turned to glance at the closet and she still hadn’t emerged.

“Are you all right in there?” he asked.

“Yes, of course. Why do you ask?”

“Because you haven’t answered my question,” he called back.

Andrew climbed into her bed, pushing two of her pillows behind his head as comfortable as he could get them. He pulled only the sheet over the lower half of his body just as she appeared from her closet. She cleared her throat and he looked over at her.

“I take it you’re staying the night,” she quipped, leaning on the door frame of her closet. She stood there, the side of her mouth elevated into her cheek, her arms folded in front of her. She was dressed in a tank top and a pair of cotton shorts that had Andrew’s eyes locked on her thighs.

“What kind of observation is that?" he rebutted, his eyes lingering before they returned to her face. "Of course, I’m staying. Now, turn off the light and get in this bed.”

Nyla remained where she stood, watching him intently; mainly, she caressed his upper body with her bright brown eyes. She took in his bare chest and noticed a slight bulge underneath the sheet. Puzzled at first, Nyla looked around the room until she found his clothes folded over Se’Nya’s crib. Her eyes then grew wide and she straightened. She quickly looked at Andrew.

“Are you naked in my bed?”

“Yes, I am. I can’t sleep any other way.”

Seeing the alarm in her eyes, Andrew added, “Don’t worry, Nyla. I won’t attack you tonight. As long as you stay clothed you’re safe. However, I must warn you. The minute you start shedding clothes, all bets are off.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Nyla shook her head and laughed. She walked closer to her bed, keeping her eyes on him. Still grinning, she asked, “Okay, but, what if I can’t handle the fact that you’re naked in my bed?”

“You’ll be fine. Quit stalling and bring your ass over here.” Andrew flung the sheet off the bed next to him and patted the space.

“But you’re sleeping in my spot,” she informed him.

“Uh, no sweetheart. As long as I’m sleeping with you, you’ll never sleep close to the door. That’s my place.”

“And how do you figure that?” Nyla responded, narrowing her eyes.

Andrew stared at her puzzled at first, wondering if she was kidding when she asked that question. However, as he considered her further, he realized quickly that she wasn’t joking. She really didn’t know. That pissed him off a bit. He sat up and said to her, “Because that’s just the way it is. It’s a protection thing. Now, get over here before I have to come and get you.”

Nyla still didn’t move. She just stared at him. Her eyes wide, but not with fear; it was more astonishment than anything else. That also pissed him off.

“Baby, turn off the lights and get in this bed before I renege on my last statement, rip your clothes off and violate every part of your body.”

That little warning got her moving; not that she would mind him violating her body. It was the look in his eyes that made her move. They were so intense, dark, and deadly. If he did violate her body, she wasn’t sure if her womanly parts would be able to handle his violation.

Nyla turned off the light in her bedroom and then moved in the dark toward her bed. She crawled over Andrew’s body, with his help, and settled next to him. Andrew pulled her to him and covered her with the sheet. Nyla went to pull the blanket over them, but Andrew hugged her closer to him.

“Don’t worry about the extra cover. You have plenty of warmth around you, trust me.”

Nyla didn’t argue, she simply rested her head against his chest, her fingers teasing his chest hairs. Andrew wrapped his arm around her protectively and sighed.

“You good?” he asked.

She snuggled closer to him and placed her arm over his chest. She then nodded and whispered. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“What about the question I asked a minute ago, about you and your friend? Are you two cool?”

This time she didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, we’re cool.”

Andrew didn’t believe her, but he didn’t push. He kissed her forehead and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep that he knew wasn’t going to come; at least not yet. He lay still, keeping Nyla close as he waited for her to fall asleep. Once he was sure that she was knocked out, he slid from underneath her and padded to his jacket. He pulled out his cell phone and walked quietly out of the bedroom toward the living room. He awakened his phone, looked up the number he needed and hit send.

As the phone rang in his ear, he pushed the blinds open and peered outside. Andrew had lied earlier about what he had seen outside her window. It wasn’t a shadow by his car. He had seen someone, about one hundred yards or so, leaning against a large SUV. A man. He had been watching her balcony in the deep shadows of the parking lot. The man thought that he was hidden from view, but Andrew could see him quite clearly. It was Darrius. He was with a girl getting head, and by the look of things, that was all that was going on. Except, Andrew knew that it wasn’t. For one, why was the son of a bitch standing there in the dark like that in the first place? He didn’t live here anymore. Nyla had told him as much a while back. Also, he had been staring up at Nyla’s balcony watching them. Why?

Another thing that had him perplexed was the woman on her knees. At first, he couldn’t place her, but ironically, she was like him; a wolf. He had sensed her disgust as she performed on her knees. It shocked the hell out of him that a wolf would’ve given Darrius a second glance until that is, she stood and turned slightly. Damn, he was losing his shit. He had recognized her and that also didn’t sit well with him at all.

Andrew felt the tension in his body spread along his spine as he thought about what this all meant. It had taken everything in him not to go down there and ask him, when he first recognized him. It wouldn’t have ended well for Darrius. The way he was feeling, it wouldn’t have gone well for him and the girl. Plus, it would have been a waste of time. He wouldn’t have gotten the answers that he wanted anyway. He also would have killed them both. There would’ve been no good reason that they could’ve given him that would’ve explained their presence. So, instead of him going down there, he had sent someone else.

“Deac, where are you?” Andrew asked once his call was answered.

“I’m close to you. I’m outside in the parking lot,” Deacon answered.

“Did you find out why Nyla’s apartment was being watched?”

“No. By the time I got to them, they had bailed out. But, they didn’t get far. Stevie pulled them over about a mile down the road for speeding.”

Andrew grunted his reply and listened to the report Deacon had gotten from Stevie. Stevie was also one of Andrew’s brothers. A complete asshole but efficient. He worked for the FBI in the criminal investigative division.

Andrew walked away from the balcony and into the kitchen. He opened Nyla’s refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water. He twisted off the cap and took it halfway down as Deacon spoke.

“That little shit friend of Nyla’s is a piece of work. Stevie said he gave him some shit when he pulled them over and when he asked for his name.”

Andrew grunted again. “Yeah, the little fucker has some balls,” Andrew told him about his first encounter with Darrius at the diner.

“Yeah, well it sounds like you should have introduced yourself to him back then. Maybe the trip through the window would have done him some good. It definitely would have put him in his place.”

“I agree, but don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll get that chance again.” Andrew emptied the bottle, located the trash, and threw the bottle away. He then leaned against the counter and instructed, “Okay listen, let Stevie know that I want everything on both Darrius and the girl. What was her name?”

“He said that her license said Dayja Teare, but from what Stevie said, the ID was a fake.”

Andrew nodded, his mind calculating his next move as Deacon spoke.

“All right, tell Stevie that I need a full work-up. Give him Nyla’s address and tell him that Ms. Teare lives somewhere around here. I believe in the same building as Nyla, so tell him to start here. Also, put a body on Darrius. I want to know everything that little fucker does and who he does it with. There was a reason why he was here and I don’t think it was to get some head from Nyla’s neighbor.”

“You said that they were friends?”

“Yeah, Nyla says that they are, but when I asked if they were cool, she took too long to answer. Also, I got this vibe from her that something was off between them. She won’t say what it is of course, but it must be something heavy if he’s resorted to stalking. The sooner we find out what he’s up to, the sooner I can get rid of him.”

Deacon grunted and chuckled. “I can’t believe he’s actually still breathing.”

Andrew let that comment slide and informed his brother, “Yeah, well it won’t be for very long.”

There was a slight pause in their conversation before Deacon asked, “And what about Luna and her daughter? You want me to stay on her or do you want me to get someone else on the job?” Silence… “AP?”

Andrew heard his brother talking to him, but it seemed so far away. The second the word Luna fell from Deacon’s mouth; Andrew’s own mouth went dry. His heart practically stopped and he could barely breathe. He hadn’t heard that term in a very long time. Hearing it used to reference Nyla was not only a shock, but it actually felt right.

Luna was a title used for the female alpha of a pack. It was right up there with the term used to describe him; Alpha. But, most importantly, it was the name used for an alpha’s mate. Andrew hadn’t heard that title in a very long time. He used to affectionately call his late wife Luna. She wasn’t officially the packs Luna. He wasn’t able to claim her the way he wanted. But, he still called Mikaliah that anyway. She was a female alpha, she just wasn’t his to claim.

“AP, are you there?”

Andrew blinked a few times and finally registered Deacon’s voice. He breathed out, his chest feeling as if weight had been lifted. He finally replied, “Yeah, I’m here.”

“You all right?”

Andrew sighed and blew out a breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. Stay on Nyla at all times. When she drops off baby girl, I want you to put someone on her too. Choose someone from the pack that you trust to give you a play by play. In fact, see if the place is hiring and get someone to apply for the position. I want someone close enough to Se’Nya so that if something were to happen and they had to grab her, the baby wouldn’t freak out.”

Deacon and Andrew spoke for a few more minutes, ironing out a rotating schedule between Nyla and Darrius. They also spoke about the pack they had run into at the apartment complex. The pack was let go about forty-five minutes after he and Nyla left the scene. Deacon advised that Leonard and his pack had been put in their place and warned properly. They wouldn’t be a problem for Nyla. Andrew grunted, but deep down he knew he’d have to speak with Leonard himself. Leonard wasn’t the type to let something like this go easily. He had too much pride. A verbal warning wouldn’t be enough for the young, eager leader. Andrew sensed that the man thrived off of violence. He understood it more. So, sooner rather than later, Andrew would have to speak to him in a way that he would understand.

Andrew ended his call by telling Deacon to call him if Darrius returned or if he found anyone else creeping around Nyla’s apartment. Deacon confirmed he got the message before they hung up.

Andrew stood in the dark kitchen for a few moments longer thinking about everything Deacon had told him. Darrius was a problem and so was Nyla’s neighbor. He wasn’t sure what kind of problem, but there was something going on.

The words of Cedric came flooding back to him. Could she be one of us and not know it? Andrew shook his head. If the answer to that question was yes, it could explain Darrius’ behavior. He either wanted her for himself or he knew how special Nyla was to him and wanted to claim her before Andrew could do it. But, Darrius wasn’t a wolf. Andrew knew that for sure. If he wasn’t a wolf, then what was he? Why stand outside of Nyla’s balcony window watching her?

Andrew yawned. He wasn’t going to get any answers tonight. He needed to get some sleep. Then in the morning, he would press Rinic to get his shit together and tell him what in the hell was going on with Nyla. Until then, he would keep an eye on her and Se’Nya. Their lives were his now to protect and he would do so by any means necessary. He would not fail them!