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)
“I promise. Now get in.”
She sighed. “I’m trusting you to keep your word. Don’t abuse that trust.”
Once she was inside the car, Nick slowly made his way to Logan, who gave Nick a mockingly sympathetic look that made his wolf growl. “This place looks bad. I’ll bet your girlfriend and her friend are pretty upset.”
Drawing on every bit of control and experience he had at suppressing his emotions, Nick kept his face blank.
When Logan didn’t get a reaction, he continued, “The police think it’s something to do with the turf war that’s going on between the shifters.” He pursed his lips. “It makes sense. You know, you’ll want to be careful that your redhead isn’t targeted next time.”
His wolf growled at the veiled threat, but he didn’t urge Nick to lunge at the human because he knew as well as Nick just what game Logan was playing. “You haven’t thought this through.”
A frown marred the human’s face. “Haven’t thought what through?”
“You may have done this to piss me off, but it won’t have been only me this has affected. As you said, the police are speculating that the local shifters are responsible. The local shifters won’t like that. They’ll know that if they want to find out who is responsible, all they’ll have to do is take one footstep inside the salon—the scent of the perpetrators will be right there for them to sense.”
Logan swallowed hard in a nervous movement.
“Then, naturally, they’ll seek out said perpetrators for not only implicating them in a crime they didn’t commit, but committing that crime on their turf. Congratulations, Logan, you not only just succeeded in uniting all the local shifters on something, you earned yourself more enemies than you’ll know what to do with. Trailing the Nazi was one thing. But this?” Nick shook his head, tsking. “I wouldn’t like to be you right now.”
Logan’s voice was shaky as he spoke. “If you or any of the others touch me, I’ll—”
“Be dead before you even knew anyone was there. They might not do it straightaway, but it’ll be done eventually—you’re a walking dead man. You accuse shifters of being violent, aggressive, and disrespectful. But it hasn’t occurred to you that the shifters you’ve been following could have killed you at any time; you wouldn’t have even seen it coming. But they haven’t. They’ve chosen to ignore you…whereas you and your little gang are not only harassing shifters but pulling shit like this. The word ‘hypocrite’ comes to mind, but so does the word ‘motherfucker.’” With that, Nick turned his back on the pathetic excuse for a human and returned to his car.
“What did he say?” asked Shaya.
“He was boasting,” growled Nick. “I’m sorry you won’t have a job for a while, baby. I get this is my fault, so—” When she slapped his shoulder hard, he flinched. “Hey, what was that for?”
“You don’t get to blame yourself for other people’s actions.” Her wolf fully agreed. “I won’t allow it.”
The fierceness in her tone surprised him so much, he found himself smiling. “Is that right?”
“Yes, Beavis.”
“I am not stupid.”
She patted his chest patronizingly. “No, of course not. You just have bad luck in the thinking department.”
Scowling, he turned on the ignition and began heading back to her house. Unfortunately, he got there to find his mother, Roni, and Amber waiting outside the motor home. Surprised by their anxious expressions, he exchanged a confused look with Shaya. No sooner had they got out of the car than the three females were in front of them.
“My God, I saw what happened to the salon.” Kathy studied Shaya, rubbing her arm. “Are you okay, honey?”
“You saw what happened?” Nick asked, scratching between Roni’s ears.
“It’s all over the news,” Amber answered, standing a little too close to him for Shaya’s liking. Making that clear, Shaya went to his side and laid a proprietary hand on his chest while smiling pleasantly at Amber. Maybe things were doomed for Shaya and Nick, but if anything was going to separate them, it wouldn’t be some interfering bitch.
“The reporter said there’s a pack war here. Why didn’t you say anything to me about it?” Kathy chastised.
“Because it’s a load of shit,” replied Nick, curling an arm around Shaya. “There’s no war going on.”
Amber folded her arms over her chest. “Then what is going on?”
At that moment, Derren appeared at Nick’s other side. “Where’s your phone?”
Nick frowned and patted the pockets of his jeans. “I must have left it in the motor home.”
“Don’t be surprised to find that you have a ton of messages. I’ve just taken at least fifteen calls since we left the salon because you weren’t answering your phone. A lot of people saw the live footage on TV—you and Shaya are in the background. Apparently, there’s also footage that shows you and Logan talking in the background. As you can imagine, a lot of our friends remember that face. They all wanted to know what’s happening and if you need them to come here.”