Nineteen
Frustration beat at Niko until he wanted to howl at the moon even though the clouds prevented him from seeing it. Rylee was quiet—too quiet—she was retreating into her own mind, and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.
He pulled up to the front of the house and killed the engine. Any other time, he’d have put the truck in the barn, or at the very least, gone out there and closed the doors they’d left open when they’d torn out of there to get into town faster, but he didn’t give it a second thought. All that mattered was Rylee.
He hadn’t missed her hiss when she’d reached up to push her hair back from her face a couple of minutes ago. She’d tried to suppress the sound, but he’d heard it loud and clear. Her quick glance at her hand had told him all he needed to know. She might not scent of blood, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hurt. He should have examined her more closely. Humans couldn’t mend broken bones like shifters could. They healed, but it took weeks instead of hours. His wolf paced back and forth in his mind, a low whine accompanying his movements.
“Stay where you are,” he ordered as he hopped out.
Of course, by the time he rounded the truck, she’d opened her door, and already, her feet were on the ground. “I’m capable of walking.”
He wanted to argue. Hell, the need to scoop her up and carry her, regardless of what she said almost overruled his good sense, but he wouldn’t do that. Not to her. If nothing else, her actions that evening had proven one thing—his mate was not a damsel in distress. She’d been scared, but she’d done what she thought needed to be done anyway.
The second they were inside, he flicked the light switch, bathing the room in brightness. Rylee stepped toward the stairs intent on going up, but he reached her first. As soon as he lifted her left hand, he spotted a huge sliver of wood that had embedded itself into the center of her palm.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, I should have taken care of that before leaving the church. Let me get the first aid kit, and I’ll meet you in the bathroom,” he told her.
Her shaky smile jumbled his insides. It wasn’t bright like the one she’d given him when she’d ridden his Chief, but it was just as powerful. Deeper emotion chased the fear in her eyes, and he understood. He was a fucking idiot for not getting it before, but he knew now. He had no doubt she was freaked out over killing the vampire—anyone would be—but that wasn’t what had her quaking. She turned away from him.
“This doesn’t change a thing, mate,” he told her as she climbed the first rise. “You still owe me tomorrow.”
Rylee didn’t face him. She barely paused, but her shoulders sagged a little. “I’ll wait for you upstairs,” she said before heading up.
***
You still owe me tomorrow. Rylee didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. Those five little words promised so much. For a woman like her, who’d been alone for so long, it was almost more than she dared believe possible, yet his eyes didn’t lie. The ferocity in their depths—the intent—all pointed to one thing. He was determined to keep her. And damned if she didn’t want that so much it hurt.
He was right. She had said she’d give him tomorrow. And she’d keep that promise. She didn’t think her soul would survive intact otherwise. As long as the pack allowed her to stay, she would. Luca hadn’t given any indication that he’d found her lacking. If anything, the opposite was true. Maybe the others would feel the same. All she could do was wait and see. For now, she’d take what she could for herself.
She ran the hot water over her hand. The hunk of wood lodged into her palm was bigger than she expected it would be, but once it was gone, and the wound cleansed, she’d be as good as new. She tried tugging on it, but the jagged piece wouldn’t budge.
“Let me see,” Niko said from behind her, startling her. For a man as big as he was, he was light on his feet.
She grabbed the hand towel from the rack to catch the dripping water and met his gaze in the mirror. “It’s stuck in there pretty good.”
“You’re staying.” It wasn’t a question, and he wasn’t wrong.
“As long as they’ll let me,” she admitted. There was no point denying it.
“They will.”
The certainty in his voice unraveled some of the tension still coiling inside her like a boa constrictor ready to strike. She swallowed hard, desperate to believe it as she turned to face him and presented her hand. “Bonnie got hurt tonight. That wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t shown up in your garage.”
Niko turned them so that he leaned against the vanity and spread his legs, pulling her in closer. His brows dipped in the center as he lifted her hand for inspection. “I’m not sure about that.”
When she opened her mouth to protest, he touched the top of the sliver, making her gasp.
“Hear me out. Manchester was already in the area. Whether you showed up or not wasn’t going to change that. The vampires would have come regardless.”
That was true. She sagged closer to him. It wasn’t her, per se, that the vampires were chasing, it was that damned hard drive. The fact that the beast thought to use her to get to it wasn’t her fault at all. “You said vampires. As in, plural,” she said, her heart kicking up a notch again.
“The one you disposed of wasn’t the one that was after you before. No one has seen him, but he may still be around.”
She appreciated that he didn’t lie to her or try to placate her by downplaying the danger. “So, what now?”
“We hunker down for the night and start the search again tomorrow. At least the bloodsucker can’t come after us in broad daylight.”
As much as she wanted to believe that, she wasn’t a fool. “It wasn’t dark when I rolled into the garage. The vampire had been on my tail for a while. The clan he belongs to either has a lot of money, or he works for a billionaire. Not many can afford the outfit he had on that would let him be out in the daytime.”
“You have a point.”
“We’ll be careful.”
“We?” he asked, his whole body going rigid with that one little word.
She tried to tug her hand away and step back, but he refused to relinquish it. “Yes, we. I still have a job to do.”
A growl rumbled from his throat. “I don’t like it.”
“I know.”
He sighed and lowered his gaze to her hand again. “We’ll be extra fucking careful.” He reached next to him and pulled a pair of tweezers from the opened first aid kit.
She didn’t have time to say anything more before he had the tip of the sliver caught in the wannabe forceps, otherwise known as a household instrument of torture. Gasping, she turned her face away. She didn’t need to see her flesh stretched this way and that as he worked at removing the splinter from her hand.
“It’s out,” he said. A second later, he pressed his warm lips to the center of her palm. “All better. Almost.”
She couldn’t have stopped her smile from emerging even if she’d wanted to. He’d kissed her boo-boo to make it better. She couldn’t even remember her mother doing that when she was a kid—before she’d abandoned her. “Almost?”
His expression soured as he straightened and pushed her from his warmth. “This is the part that hurts. I’m sorry.”
Before she could process what he was doing, her hand was above the sink, and a cool liquid poured onto her wound. Fire raced along her palm, and she let out a little yelp. When she would have pulled away, Niko held firm. He curled his free hand around her neck and tipped her head up. Then his lips were on hers. The bite in her flesh faded to nothingness as he coaxed his tongue between her lips. When he finally released her, his eyes were glazed and his pupils dilated. He leaned his forehead against hers. “No more pain. Only pleasure,” he whispered as he rinsed her hand under the warm, running water.