A primes passion, p.26
A Prime's Passion, page 26
“Why is he yours, Zee?” He grasped her neck and pulled her closer, forcing her to meet his gaze.
She didn’t want to look away from Brandon—she’d had so many nightmares about that night, hated herself for how they’d made her feel so... shattered. So weak. And now one of her tormentors stood right there.
But she looked away, meeting Niko’s gaze as she reached for the hand on her neck and brought it around, pressing it to the front. “It took years for me to wake up from my nightmares and not feel hands on my neck, choking the air out of me. I always looked at him and saw a monster. A monster. But he was just a skinny teenager, somebody terrified of my brothers. He was weak and the thugs he ran with in the Greylock pack made him feel bigger than he was.”
Movement caught Zee’s attention and she whipped her head around, staring at Brandon, who’d shifted the barest inch closer to the window.
“He was weak. Now that I look back and think about it? I can see it even in my memories. I probably could have torn him apart even then—if it had just been us. And my brothers would have torn him to shreds. Maybe that’s why he disappeared so quickly, why he changed his name.”
Niko blew out a low, controlled breath. “Brandon.”
The Therian snarled and lunged back against the window once more. This time, it shattered and he half-turned mid-lunge so he could brace his feet on the sill as he jumped, propelling himself through the window.
Zee growled.
Niko was already on the move, shifting between one beat, and the next, his body in his full animal form, a seamless meld between wolf and big cat, broader through the chest than either animal would be in nature, legs built for running—and leaping.
The sound that came from his throat was neither howl nor roar but in a way, a mix of both.
Zee felt an answering howl in her throat, but before she could move, Saint caught her, both arms wrapping hers in a bear hug.
“No, Zee. He’s caught in the killing rage.” Saint hauled her back against his chest.
“Let me go, Saint!” She jerked and twisted, swiveling her hips. She almost broke free, but Saint spread his legs wide and hauled her off the floor, taking away all leverage.
“No. You aren’t getting between a Prime and his target when he’s in a killing rage. No way.”
“Brandon should be mine.”
“He should.” Saint was doing that thing with his voice again.
Zee squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block him out. “Don’t pull that mojo voice magic on me, Saint. Try it and see what happens. I’ll send your balls all the way up to your throat.”
“And I’ll let you because I deserve it. But you can’t get between a Prime and his prey.” Saint continued to talk.
She felt his spell winding around her, felt the adrenaline charging her veins starting to drain away. Letting her claws free, she scraped them down her thighs and the pain cleared her mind.
The iron-rich scent of blood had the added benefit of distracting Saint.
That was all she needed, for him to loosen his grip the slightest bit.
Driving her head back, she slammed it into his nose.
He swore as she managed to break free. He made a wild grab for her, but she’d already leaped, putting the bed between them.
“You’re going to be sorry for that,” she warned.
Saint gave her a charming smile. “I already figured as much. Damn, Zee. You figured out a way to counter it quicker than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
Her reply was cut off by the arrival of another brother—Etan, who, instead of coming through the door, jumped lithely through the window and landed on his heels, taking in the room and his siblings in one quick glance.
Dark eyes landed on Zee and he cocked a brow. “Judging by the pissed-off look on your face, I’m going to assume Saint showed you some of the fairy magic he’s picked up over the years.”
“Fae,” Saint said with a roll of his eyes.
Etan ignored him as he pinned Zee with a level look. “Why did I just see the Prime tearing across the road after a skinny wolf stinking of fear? And why did that wolf’s stink seem familiar?”
His frown deepened as he sniffed the air. “One other thing—what the fuck is that smell?”
Both Saint and Zee froze, gazes flying to the still form of the man on the bed.
“Fuck,” Saint muttered.
Zee’s gaze moved to Shale. “Saint, go get a nurse. Now.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Grady—Brandon—had to know he could never outrun his Prime. Niko watched as he gained on his prey, lips peeling back from his teeth in feral anticipation.
We can’t kill him, he reminded the wolf. We can’t kill him.
The cat, he didn’t have to remind and argue with so much. A cat understood that sometimes it was best to let prey run itself down.
The two beasts inside him were rarely so in sync as they were now. Catch. Hurt. And when the time was right, kill. His powerful form flew over pavement and grass, the space between them and their prey shrinking.
Movement ahead had him jerking his eyes from Brandon’s hindquarters. He saw the woman, saw her grow aware of the advancing threat even as her daughter squealed in delight and pointed at the two Therians.
“Mommy!” Clapping her hands together, she started toward them and that put her directly in Brandon’s line of sight.
Her mom screamed and reached out.
But human reflexes are nothing compared to a Therian’s. Brandon lunged, snapping out with powerful jaws to close them around the girl’s hood, hanging down off her head with a shiny, glittery fluffy fringe rimming the edge. Her thin, high-pitched cry pierced the rage wrapping around Niko and he shifted to human form in another lunge, putting himself between the terrified mother and Brandon who was slowly backing away, teeth buried in the girl’s silly, cute hood.
“You don’t want to do this.” Niko put every ounce of his will into his voice and slammed the full force of his dominance into Brandon.
The weaker wolf whined in his throat, eyes rolling as he fought to obey. But the man’s fear was strong and Brandon continued to slink away with his tiny human shield, teeth mere inches from her delicate throat, from her skull. His jaws were big enough to crush the girl.
Brandon was a caged animal now and his hindbrain, the wolf’s instincts to obey his Prime, all of it had been overridden by the man’s panic instincts to survive and fight in any way possible.
“Shift,” Niko ordered, the word barely above a growl.
“Please—”
He held up a hand to the woman behind him. Fear and desperation oozed from her pores, souring them but he couldn’t worry about her if he was going to save the child.
Brandon remained in his wolf form, cowering. Eyes on the ground, he scraped another few inches backward, his belly into the dirt as the little girl kicked and sobbed, her blue jeans now damp with urine.
“Shift!” It tore out of Niko in a growl this time, so loud everything went silent, the birds in nearby trees, the mother choking back a sob. Even the crying child went quiet.
But it wasn’t just authority Niko punched into his voice. The primal, aggressively protective instincts that forged a Prime echoed in the order.
The effect was immediate.
Brandon yelped in pain as his wolf reacted to his Prime and forced the shift on him. It was painfully slow as wolf and man struggled against each other.
A flash of black light appeared at the corner of his eye, the magic snapping around them tearing another yelp from Brandon.
Then Saint was there, emerging from that mist of black and grabbing the girl before retreating right back into that strange void.
The young mother whimpered.
Brandon, now on his knees and covered in a thick, viscous film too rancid to be called sweat, jerked his eyes from his Prime to the woman.
Niko changed position subtly, hiding her behind him and forcing the Therian in front of him to meet his gaze.
“On your feet,” he said in a low, tight voice.
Everything in him cried for blood. His claws tore at the ends of his fingers from inside his skin, a brutal pain as he fought back the urge to shift into his beast and rip out the man’s throat here and now.
“Niko.”
Zee’s voice called to him and pulled him from the icy-cold grip of the killing rage now centered on Brandon.
“You can’t kill him here,” she said and she touched him, her hand on his bare arm.
He’d sensed her approaching, her and one of her brothers, as he stood before Brandon and the child, but he hadn’t let himself look at her. Even now, he couldn’t do that, because if he did, his mind would replay what she’d told him just minutes ago.
“The girl,” he said in a tight voice. A cool wind, rich and earthy with the promise of fall, slid over his naked body, reminding him he’d shifted in public. As a rule, Therians tried to avoid such things when possible. He didn’t give a shit if he’d terrified humans the world over when they saw him shift forms. Nor did he care that he was utterly naked as he walked over to the man now huddled on the pavement and clutching his knees to his chest.
“She’s fine.” A man’s voice—the human part of his brain that could still function on a logical level told him it was Saint.
When Niko dragged in a breath of air, he could scent the girl, behind him now and likely in her mother’s arms. Saint was also there and Niko could scent the magic in his blood that had let the Therian male do what he’d done earlier. Fae magic, prickling over Niko’s skin.
“Get up,” he said in a low voice.
Brandon’s limbs seemed to fight him as he went to obey, making his movements awkward and ungainly.
Somebody unceremoniously threw a duffel down in front of Niko. Etan, another one of Zee’s brothers stepped forward to place himself in Niko’s line of sight, close to Brandon. “I’ll stand over him while you pull some clothes on, Prime.”
Niko gave a sharp nod and grabbed the duffel. His inner animals didn’t give a damn about his naked ass being on view for the world to see—the beasts wanted blood and pain from the man who’d betrayed his pack by attempting to harm a child—the man who had dared to harm Zee.
Yet the instincts that made him Prime rose to the fore and reminded him of who he was, who the world needed to see when they saw him.
It took only seconds to find a shirt and loose athletic pants in the bag. The scent marked them as Etan’s and his wolf curled his lip in irritation, but it faded as he dragged on the garments, giving him the needed veneer of civility.
Never looking away from the still-cowering traitor on the ground, he forced his rigid muscles to unclench, forced the raging beasts in him to remain calm.
Zee had her back to him and he walked over to her, covering the back of her neck with his hand. Her hair was in the way and he shoved it back impatiently, needing the feel of her skin against his, even if only for a few seconds.
A subtle tremor went through her but she didn’t look away from Brandon.
“Th—thank you.”
The broken voice, thick with tears, forced him to face the human woman.
“Don’t thank me,” he said, throttling his rage and tempering his voice. “It was one of mine who threatened your child. That puts this on me.”
The woman blinked big brown eyes and clutched her daughter close. “You protected her. Thank you.”
There was no point in arguing with her. Humans didn’t understand Therian ways. He gave a short nod. “Take your child and go. I must... deal with this. He won’t ever be a threat to her again or another child again.”
With that, he dismissed her and focused on Brandon.
Saint, still standing close to the human woman and her child, led them away, speaking softly.
Alone now, save for Zee and Etan, and the coward quivering before him, he stepped closer to Brandon. Rage twisted and tore at his guts. Under it though, there was a crushing sense of betrayal—his father had told him it would be like this if and when one of his own betrayed the bonds between them.
Once more, he put his hand on Zee’s neck, feeling her warmth and strength, letting it temper some of his rage.
Brandon hung his head, shoulders rounded and slumped forward in defeat. He shuddered from head to toe. With every move Niko made, Brandon flinched.
The smell of his fear made the great cat inside Niko purr in satisfaction. He fisted his hand against the press of claws that demanded release.
“Zee.”
She moved closer, one hand coming up to rest on his back. He breathed easier when she slid her hand under the hem of his shirt and placed her palm flat against his skin, her thumb moving in slow, calming circles.
“Where is your car?” he asked.
If the question surprised her, she didn’t show. “A few lanes up and over.”
“Get it, please. Bring it here.”
She hesitated. It seemed almost... natural for him to sense her in the back of his mind. They’d shared a bond like that once—before he’d broken it. Feeling her again soothed the raging monsters inside him that demanded blood. Looking away from Brandon to meet her gaze, he said softly, “I’m not going to kill him while you’re gone.”
Her eyes searched his for a long moment before she nodded.
He listened to her footfalls as he went back to gazing at Brandon.
A few feet away, Etan sighed. “I guess Saint and I don’t get to draw straws to see which one of us gets to tear your head off for what you did to her, do we?”
Niko didn’t reply.
He knew there was no forgiving or excusing his actions from years ago.
“Are you in there, Niko?” Etan asked, voice soft this time and lacking the sardonic humor of his previous question.
Niko knew what Etan really meant—was he still caught in the grip of the killing rage?
Caught? No. But the rage hadn’t drained away and the physical effects of that powerful anger had him on the edge.
“I’m maintaining, Etan.” It wouldn’t take much to make him decide to not maintain—one wrong move from Brandon and the weak wolf would be nothing more than strips of meat and bone and bloody memories. Killing him would satisfy Niko’s beasts—for now.
But this wasn’t the time or place.
He forced himself to focus, to think. “Shale?”
“He’s being taken care of. Brigid was still in the hospital, got to his room right before security and the Pretern specialty team. He’s safe. But I texted Boone, just in case.”
A breath shuddered out of him, one less burden to carry as he struggled with the gut-deep rage. “Thank you.”
Etan only grunted in response.
“Did you drive?”
“I did.” Etan drew the word out slowly, his reluctance to answer clear in his voice.
“Get your car.” He glanced away from Brandon, finally, and bared his teeth in a sharp-edged smile as he met Etan’s gaze. “We need to transport this sorry fucker back to Appalachia lands and if I put him in the car with Zee and me, he’ll never make it alive.”
A bright, savage grin on his face, Etan replied, “But you expect me to behave?”
“You will.”
Heaving out a sigh, Etan muttered, “Yeah, I will. But I won’t like it.”
Niko ignored him and focused his eyes on Brandon.
“Prime, I—” The words ended in a pained yelp, followed by an indrawn breath that sounded more like a sob as Niko struck out, claws sliding free as he slapped Brandon.
He tore four bloody furrows down Brandon’s face, barely missing an eye and laying the cheek open to the bone.
As the scent of his blood rose in the air, Niko said, “Be silent. Unless you want me to start flaying the skin from your back... here and now.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Hands to the wall of the shower, Zee bowed her head and let the hot water rain down on her.
Etan and Saint had brought Brandon back to Appalachia territory.
She didn’t know where they’d taken Brandon. If she wanted to, she could track him. Part of her, wolf, woman and Fae, wanted to do just that. Especially the wolf, because she remembered the pain, the fear, the certainty that she might die.
But Niko held her here.
He hadn’t said a word.
He hadn’t come into her rooms.
They’d come to the big house and he’d opened the door for her, led her inside and to this room, then he’d left.
But she could feel him.
He was a pulsating warmth in the back of her mind, present in a way she’d never thought she’d feel again.
She hated that something inside her wanted to shy away from that bond—he’d hurt her so badly, savaged her when she’d finally started to feel strong.
But she could feel him. His pain, the self-directed rage. She felt his need—a need to claim vengeance for her, a need to punish the wolf who’d betrayed the pack when he’d grabbed the child earlier—such a deeply personal betrayal, a Therian repudiating the laws and governances of his Prime and pack.
Strongest of all was the need for her.
It made her weak in the knees and it clouded her thinking.
She’d hoped a shower would wash away the stink of her childhood abuser, the lingering tinge of disinfectant and hospital, hoped it would clear her head. But it wasn’t working. Not when she felt Niko’s need for her with every breath she took, every beat of her own aching, needy heart.
“Niko,” she breathed out, giving in to the urge to open herself to the bond.
She wasn’t prepared for the consequences.
A torrent of emotion flooded her, filling her to the brim with everything that Niko was, their hearts all but flinging the two of them together, a resounding denial of the years that had separated them.
Weak-kneed, she swayed.
