Yeah, this has disaster written all over it.

She shouldn’t trust him. Not really. But her instincts were never wrong. The only power she inherited from her grandmother. When she met Sara and Marrec she automatically knew they were different, but good people. And before Sara’s grandmother ever spoke, she smelled the woman’s evil and insanity all over her. Those same instincts told her clearly this big idiot could be trusted. At least with her life he could.

“Zach, I want you to do something for me.”

“Anything. Name it.”

“Wait till the Pack’s there. Protect Miki.”

“Ang, I can’t leave you there. If for no other reason, your friend will have my head.”

“And if something happens to Miki?”

Zach had no answer for that. And with good reason. “Please, Zach. Do what I’m asking. I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t even know who you’re with.”

“Hey, Hillbilly.”

He looked up at her, his head back against the bed. “Stop calling me that.”

She wouldn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. “What’s your name?”

“Nikolai Vorislav, but I wouldn’t tell him that.”

She ignored him, “Nikolai Vorislav.”

A cold, brutal silence hit her from the other end of the phone. Uh-oh. “Zach?”

“Put him on.”

***

Nik stared at her feet. She had the prettiest toes he’d ever seen on a woman. And her skin. Christ knew how she kept it so soft. When he marched upstairs to let her out of the closet, his anger marched right beside him. But one look at her, leaning back in the closet like the queen of goddamn Sheba, and his dick almost pounded past his zipper. Lord, the things he could do to that body.

As it was, she still only had on the sheet. She wore no underwear and he was dying to get another look at that tattoo on her back. Especially if that meant he could see her completely naked. He already knew she looked good completely naked.

Human, you idiot. She’s human. He’d sworn off full-humans a long time ago. They were too much trouble. Too needy. Too…boring. Of course, how boring could this woman be when she used toilet parts as weapons?

No, he needed her gone before he ended up doing something he’d regret for a real long time.

She stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head and muttering under her breath, “Those goddamn bitches better be worth this bullshit.” She covered the receiver of the phone. “I need to stay.”

Nik’s eyes snapped up to her pretty face, “Where?”

“Here.”

Nik shook his head and turned over on his stomach. “I don’t think so, Sugar. You hit me with a toilet.”

She raised oneeyebrow and he felt little comfort from that expression. “And your brothers snatched me across state lines… several of them. Your choice, Hillbilly. I stay here for a couple of days and you keep me safe or… your brothers go where they so clearly belong and learn not to bend over. And since they let my friends twist for the last few hours, you know I have no problem with that.”

Nik let out a growl. A low, threat growl. They normally lasted no more than a few seconds. His stretched out for about fifteen. The woman pissed him off that much. She didn’t react. She didn’t move. Didn’t cower. Didn’t do anything except stare at him. She was like a freakin’ house cat. Except he did see the tiny goose bumps that ran down her arms and across the exposed part of her upper chest.

“Is that a yes?”

He blinked, his nostrils flaring. If he didn’t know better he’d swear his growl just turned her on.

Okay. Now this woman is starting to scare me.

“Do I have any choice?”

“No,” she responded coldly. “Now you talk to him, assure him that you’ll keep me safe, and you be goddamn nice and charming.”

“Or what?”

“Or I start setting things on fire.”

And he knew she meant it. He at least knew she’d try.

He held his hand out and she tossed the phone to him. He brought it to his ear. “Hello?”

“Vorislav?”

“Yeah.”

“Zach Sheridan.”

Nik smiled. “Hey, Sheridan. How’s your sister?”

“Great. How’s your balls?”

Ah, yes. What a college graduation that was. Degenerating into an ugly fight between two families. They didn’t even shift, just began beating the shit out of each other. And Nik clearly remembered Zach Sheridan trying to put his balls through the roof of his mouth. Actually, that was the last thing he remembered about that fight.

And the only ones who didn’t fight? Alek and Nessa. After all that, the two were still friends, although long-distance ones.

“So, why exactly did your brothers pull her out of Wolf territory?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them. But I’m sure it had something to do with impressing your sister.”

Nik reared back as that dog growl leaped at him through the phone. “Keep your brother away from my sister.”

Oh, this could prove to be mighty fun. “I don’t know. My brother thinks she’s awfully cute.”

“I wonder how cute she’ll think he is when they start finding pieces of him all along the Eastern Seaboard.”

“Do you have a point, little puppy? Or you gonna keep nippin’ at my heels?”