Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Shaya, ever the peacemaker, smoothly slipped in front of her mate. “Now, Nick . . .”
He glared at Roni over Shaya’s shoulder. “Do you think I give out orders purely for fun, is that it?”
“No, I don’t,” replied Roni calmly. Her cool demeanor seemed to further anger him.
“Shaya’s your Alpha female, she’s pregnant with your niece or nephew, and you put them in danger!”
“That’s not fair, Nick,” reprimanded Shaya. “She had no way of knowing what would happen. I asked her to get me out of there; I needed to breathe. You’re so overprotective, it’s suffocating!”
Roni knew exactly how that felt, as she dealt with it daily from her mother and Nick. She loved and respected her brother, trusted him more than anyone. But his level of overprotectiveness made her feel hurt, offended, and stifled. There was nothing more insulting or disrespectful to a dominant female than treating her like she couldn’t take care of herself.
“I’m just trying to keep you and our baby safe. And you would have been safe if Roni hadn’t disobeyed me!”
“And what makes your word have more weight than Shaya’s?” Roni felt compelled to ask.
“Excuse me?” Nick’s voice was quiet, menacing. Derren winced.
“You can’t call her Alpha female and then undermine her by dishing out orders to everyone that effectively give her no say in her own life.”
“That isn’t what I’m doing!”
“It is.” Shaya’s voice was gentle but firm. “I was ready to explode; that’s not good for either me or the baby.”
“It’s better than you being in a car accident!”
Roni barely refrained from growling in irritation. “You’re not listening to a word either me or Shaya is saying.” Nick advanced on her, teeth bared.
Marcus blocked the Alpha’s path. “Don’t touch her.”
Nick drew back, glowering. “What does this have to do with you? With any of you?”
“Roni protected my son,” said Trey. “She now has the loyalty of everyone in this pack. They’ll protect her from anything, including you.”
“I’d never hurt her! She’s my sister!”
Roni sighed. Shifter male posturing was boring as shit. “I can speak for myself.”
Mouth curved into a small smile, Marcus very briefly glanced at Roni over his shoulder. “Yes you can, sweetheart, but your brother’s not interested in listening to you right now. Blaming Roni isn’t fair, Axton, and you know it.”
Nick’s eyes flared with anger. “If she hadn’t—”
“Do you really want to play the ‘if’ game?” Marcus tilted his head. “Okay, if you hadn’t ignored your mate’s anxiety—and don’t tell me you didn’t know exactly how she was feeling through your mating link—Shaya wouldn’t have needed a break. The shifters who crashed into her car are the ones who deserve your anger.”
That seemed to take some of the hot air out of Nick. Shaya slipped her arms around him, whispering soothingly into his ear. When he focused on Roni again, his breathing had regulated and his rage was under control. But she knew that it was only the feel and scent of his mate that was keeping him composed.
“Roni was hurt too,” Shaya gently pointed out.
“What?” Nick studied Roni intently. When his eyes settled on the cut on her forehead, a low growl escaped him. Great, he was back to being overprotective. She preferred his anger.
“But thankfully,” Taryn quickly injected, “everyone is fine. So how about we all sit?”
It was as Roni returned to her seat and Marcus again settled on the arm of the chair that she noticed someone was missing. “Where’s Tao?”
Marcus bent his head, putting his mouth to her ear, and almost groaned as her scent furled around him. God help him, she smelled like warm cinnamon rolls and pumpkin pie. “He’s off somewhere, feeling sorry for himself. It nicked his pride that he blacked out and couldn’t help.”
Roni could understand that. “Why are you hovering over me?” And why, exactly, had he shielded her from Nick? Standing at her side or her back was one thing, but shielding her was a whole other thing. She shooed him away, but he simply smiled.
“Do I make you nervous or something?”
Yes. “Of course not.”
“Then you won’t have a problem with me staying right here.” He smiled when she narrowed her eyes and shrugged.
“Grace said you had some pretty bad cuts.” Derren came over and lifted Roni’s hands to examine them. Instinctively, Marcus draped his arm over the back of the chair and laid a possessive hand on her shoulder. Noting the move, the Beta smiled in amusement.
Roni pulled free of Derren’s grip. “Really, I’m fine.”
“You sure look fine.” Dominic smiled flirtatiously. “I swear, I could fall madly in bed with you.” Jaime laughed while everyone else groaned. The unfairly hot blond had a habit of dishing out cheesy chat-up lines that should act more as repellents than seductive techniques. Yet, they somehow worked for him.
Roni believed in giving as good as she got, so she did what she always did: she hit him with another line. “Are you a water fountain, Dominic? Because you’re getting me wet.”