Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 131137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 656(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 437(@300wpm)
“Ah, and then it would make Nick and I upset with each other, and we’d both turn to her for advice, enabling her to interfere in a big way.” Sneaky. So sneaky it was almost worthy of respect. “That won’t happen. You’re on my side, right?” She had the feeling that Derren was a good person to have on her side.
“Are you planning to hurt Nick again?”
“No.”
“Then yes, I’m on your side.” As Roni butted his leg, Derren reached down and petted her. “And you’ll have Roni on your side, too. She can see right through Amber’s act. Unfortunately, Kathy can’t, but she wants Nick to have his mate—and that’s you.”
“I guess all I can do is ignore her. If that fails, I have rat poison and a shovel.” As Nick then came over and locked his arms around her, Shaya smiled and sank into his arms. Over his shoulder, she noticed that Amber was watching her from the far side of the room. The female shot her a friendly smile, but Shaya hadn’t missed the anger that had momentarily sparkled in her eyes. Still, Shaya returned the smile while at the same time tightening her hold on Nick, conveying a clear message that he was hers. That wasn’t enough for her wolf; she wanted Shaya to bite him. So Shaya did, right on his pectoral.
Nick winced, peering down at his mate, who was grinning in self-satisfaction. “Did you just bite me, baby?”
“Yep.”
The possessive glint in her eyes made him smile. Leaning down, he bit Shaya’s bottom lip hard and then licked across it to soothe the sting. “You’re never going to get away from me, you know. You’re mine. I’m keeping you. For good.” He’d expected her to snort at him or maybe look wary, but she surprised him by relaxing slightly in his arms. His wolf growled in contentment, convinced that his mate was coming around to the idea of being claimed. But Nick often found himself wondering if it was something she would ever be ready for.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Shaya had always been good at defusing situations and calming tempers, which was ironic considering her own temper was pretty bad. However, defusing any arguments that occurred between Taryn and Amber took a great deal of effort—something Shaya had quickly come to learn over the last four weeks. As such, she was tapping her foot impatiently while she stood between the two females in the living area who ranted at each other, pointing fingers and scowling. Meeting her mate’s gaze, who was sitting on the sofa looking both amused and exasperated, Shaya struggled not to laugh at the insults being exchanged.
Amber had done exactly as Derren had said she would—she’d tried extremely hard to become close friends with Shaya. But when that hadn’t worked, she had instead taken to trying to provoke Shaya with sugar-coated insults and backhanded compliments that had been so cleverly delivered they sounded totally innocent to most people. Taryn, however, knew exactly what Amber was doing. Whereas Shaya’s response to Amber had been to act sickly sweet rather than snap—which would have made her seem unnecessarily bitchy and hostile toward Amber—Taryn was much too direct to cope with her shit. And now the bitch had done what she knew would piss Taryn the hell off: She’d touched her mate.
Amber threw her hands up in the air. “All I did was touch him with my fingertip—I was trying to heal the cut on his hand!”
Taryn sniggered. “Well thanks, E.T., but I can heal him myself! Touch him again, and—”
“Girls, girls,” intervened Shaya, sighing. She kept her tone even and calm as she spoke. “You’ve both made your point. The solution here is clear: Amber, it would be extremely smart if you didn’t touch Trey again.”
“It was just his hand!”
Taryn pointed hard at her. “That’s not the point, and you know it. Don’t think I don’t see you for the cunning little bitch that you are.”
“I just wanted to heal him.” Oh, Amber’s innocent act was good. “Nick, surely you’re not going to let Taryn speak to me this way!”
Nick simply shrugged. “I’m not your Alpha anymore, Amber. Your problems are yours to deal with.”
Right answer, thought Shaya.
“But I just wanted to heal him! It’s part of who I am.”
Playing along to end the whole thing by being impartial, Shaya nodded. “And kind though it was, it truly wasn’t necessary—Trey’s paper cut was certainly not fatal, and Taryn was right beside him in any case, so she could have healed him if necessary. Plus, touching a mated male when you’re not mated yourself isn’t totally wise.”
Amber planted a hand on her hip. “Dominic touches you all the time. What’s the difference?”
“Maybe you haven’t noticed that the pervert is covered in nettle stings after I threw him in the bush for kissing Shaya,” said Nick, not even bothering to stifle his smile. Annoyingly, Dominic found the whole thing funny too. To Nick’s surprise, he’d actually come to like the pervert over the last month. The guy was pretty smart, very observational, and extremely loyal to his pack…but he just couldn’t resist provoking Nick from time to time.