“You all right now?” he asked in a low voice.
“I think so.” She stared at the plate of pancakes in front of her. “I guess I made a fool of myself, huh?”
“No. You had a point to make with your father. You wanted him to know you’re no pushover.”
“And instead he handed me my ass.”
He grinned, trying to lighten the mood. “And then some.”
She rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”
“Eat something, baby. I know you must be hungry.” She was staring at him strangely. “What?”
“You called me baby. I sort of like that,” she murmured.
“Good. Then I’ll be sure to call you that often.” With a wink, he tore into his pancakes, gratified when she did the same.
They were talking with Jax and Blue, finishing their breakfast, when Nick came into the dining room. Selene went tense beside him, stiffening even more when the commander strode to their table.
“I need an extra pair of hands,” he said without preamble. “Most of the others are still working out.”
“What’s up?” Jax asked, crunching on his last piece of bacon.
“I need to go down to Block T and question that rogue vamp from the ranch again, see if he’ll budge this time.”
“You know he’s not going to give up shit,” Zan said with a grimace. “Those bastards are as stubborn as they are stupid.”
“Be that as it may, I have to give it one more try. If there’s any chance he’ll slip and tell us something, I need to learn what he knows.”
“I don’t like it, boss,” Jax said with a frown. “He nearly got you last time, and that was with several of us in the cell.”
“What?” Selene’s gaze bounced between Jax and her father. “What do you mean?”
“The vamp nearly killed him. That was right after we captured him and brought him here, before you came. Don’t worry. We’ll be more careful.”
Zan tossed down his napkin, surreptitiously watching his mate from the corner of his eye. She was worried for her father. Well, wouldn’t you know? His mate wasn’t nearly as against Nick as she appeared.
“We’ll go,” Zan said, and Jax nodded. To Selene, Zan said, “I think you should stay here and keep Blue company.”
“No! I’m going with you, and that’s final.”
Leaving their plates, they walked with Nick to the elevator, then rode it down to the basement. As he’d predicted, the questions started.
“How do you terminate the creatures who stay down here?”
“In the most humane way possible, depending on what type of creature it is,” Nick answered, glancing at her. “In this vampire’s case, a quick stab to the heart will kill him. Beheading him will make sure he stays that way.”
“I’ve heard they can rise if you don’t take their head.” She appeared none too happy about that.
“True.”
The elevator doors opened to an industrial-type area, the starkest place in the entire building. Zan came down here very rarely, and in truth, hated doing so. There wasn’t much that was more depressing than interrogating creatures who were doomed to die—even if the creatures deserved it.
“What did this rogue do?” Selene asked, as though reading his thoughts.
“Murdered a young ranch hand. Drained him and savaged the body. It was a real mess.”
“God!”
They fell silent as Nick led them to the last cell. They stopped and studied the pitiful-looking vampire through the bars. His clothes were stained with dried blood and God knew what else. They were filthy, and the creature stank so bad, it was like a rabid skunk had sprayed the entire basement.
“Come to gawk at the poor prisoner,” it hissed, raising yellowed eyes to study them in return. Behind him, chains rattled, securing his wrists, though they couldn’t be seen.
Beside him, Selene sucked in a breath.
“There’s nothing poor about you. You simply made your choices,” Nick told it.
“Choice? What do you know about hunger? An aching belly that’s never filled?”
“More than you think. There’s never a reason to harm someone when you feed. Prince Tarron has a hard-and-fast rule about no killing of blood donors. If you had—”
“Fuck you, mangy wolf!”
“Tell me who’s behind these rogue attacks. There are far too many to be a natural occurrence. Who’s responsible? Why?”
“Do you still think I’m going to tell you shit?” it screeched. Then it began to cackle, an eerie noise of insanity that made Zan’s blood run cold. “That’ll never happen.”
Jax shook his head. “Boss, he’s not going to talk. Let’s just get this done.”
“Dammit! All right. I’m tired of listening to his ass, and it’s not like we can put him back on the street.”
Nick punched in a code beside the door and it slid open. He walked in, Zan and Jax behind him. Then the vampire stood, and Zan realized their mistake.
The rogue was no longer chained. He’d done something he shouldn’t have been able to do—he’d broken them in half.
“Hit the button and close the door!” Zan shouted to Selene. He was vaguely aware of the bars clanging shut again and felt momentary relief. Whatever happened, Selene was safe on the other side.
He caught a glimpse of her standing with her hand over her mouth, eyes wide, and then the rogue was on top of Nick, slashing, trying to lay open his throat with claws and fangs. They slammed against the bars, and the commander did a partial shift, utilizing claws of his own to drive them into the rogue’s side.
It howled, and Zan hauled it backward. Jax helped him tackle the thing to the concrete floor, and the two of them made quick work of it. Zan stabbed his claws under the sternum and up, skewering its heart. Jax slit its throat, then hacked until the head went rolling away, the rogue’s eyes surprised. It was a macabre sight.
“Great,” Jax bitched. “I got stinky rogue blood all over my new jeans.”
“Hey, he’s hurt!”
At Selene’s cry, they spun to see Nick stagger and sit down, hard. They rushed to him, and Zan whistled.
“Nasty bite wound. He did get you. Stay still while we call for a stretcher.”
“No, I can walk,” Nick said stubbornly.
“You sure?”
He eyed his boss. The man wasn’t going to be budged, so he and Jax gave in. “Fine, but we’re helping you. Baby, can you punch in the code to let us out?”
He called it out to her, and in seconds the door was open. He and Jax hauled Nick off the floor, getting him between them and slinging one of his arms over each shoulder. The position wasn’t unlike the many times they’d assisted a SEAL buddy wounded in combat. They walked him out to the elevator.
Zan didn’t miss the sheer horror on Selene’s face as she studied her father’s wound.
“You could have been killed,” she scolded him.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” he rasped.
His mate looked like she’d been slapped. Zan thought it truly hit her then, the ramifications of her anger. Whether it had been unjust all this time. The self-doubt and the first glimmerings of remorse. All of her emotions were there and gone in a flash.
His mate would need him, later.
They hauled Nick all the way to the infirmary, and Melina met them in the lobby with Noah. They took the commander off his and Jax’s hands, which was quite a relief.
“Goddamn, he’s heavy.” Jax groaned, rotating his shoulder.
“He’s going to be okay, isn’t he?”
Zan took his mate’s hand. “He’ll be fine. A bite wound like that is just a scratch compared to some of the injuries we’ve had.”
“Somehow I’m not sure that makes me feel any better.”
“Sorry. But he’s going to be good as new by tomorrow. Trust me. He’s got that shifter healing going for him.”
She blinked at him then. “Why didn’t you heal him?”
“Because it wasn’t a life-threatening wound, baby, or I would have. I have to conserve my energy for the really, really bad stuff. Okay?”
“Sure. I understand.”
She was truly rattled by her father’s injury. This had been a day of revelations for her all around, and he needed to see to his mate. He tried to get her to leave, but she wouldn’t be budged until they heard something.
Finally, Melina came out, Nick on her heels. He was a bit pale and had a fresh bandage at the curve of his neck and shoulder.
“Our patient will live,” she said, then smiled kindly at Selene. “I’ll check the wound again tomorrow, but by then it should be fine. No aftereffects from a vampire bite wound but some pain.”
Selene almost sagged against him. Then she found her voice and met her father’s gaze. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
His eyes softened. “Thanks. Why don’t you let your mate take you to rest now? I think I’ll do the same.”
Zan knew that was just for her benefit. The stubborn wolf would head straight to his office to work.
“I think I will,” she said.
“Come on, baby. Let’s go lie down for a while.”
After one last look at her father, she let Zan take her hand and lead her back to their quarters. Theirs. He was liking the sound of that.
Once inside, he gently removed her clothes and then his. He scooted her into the bathroom and started the shower, making it hot enough to soothe their muscles and relax them. Then he pulled her inside with him.
He washed the blood from himself, scrubbing from head to foot. Then he got her good and wet, soaping her from top to bottom as well. He made sure to get every cranny, taking care of his mate as nobody else would ever do. It made him proud to care for her, see to her needs.
And right now, what his mate needed wasn’t sexual.
She needed her mate to hold her, to let her know he was there. Would always be there to cherish her. Come what may, she was his.
She’d suffered quite a blow to her Get Nick campaign, and her world paradigm was shifting. Without her anger to use as a shield against the world, she was lost.
She was simply a woman who needed her man to hold her bruised heart.
So that’s what he did. All through the afternoon and the night. He tucked her close to his heart and let her know, without words, that she could trust him. That she was his.
Sometimes, words weren’t necessary at all.
Eight
The next day, Selene walked around in sort of a daze.
She didn’t see much of her father, but Zan was there, hovering all the time. She thought it was sweet, but really he needed to train, to do whatever he and his Pack did when they weren’t fussing over and fucking their mates.
Not that the fucking part wasn’t fun. She and Zan had done plenty of that when they’d woken up this morning, eager to explore each other’s bodies. Again. They’d been so enthusiastic, they’d chipped the wall because the headboard had been banging against it so hard. The memory made her smile.
She spent the rest of the day fending off her mate’s roaming hands. Horny wolf.
That night, however, was the party with the other women. Selene couldn’t contain her nerves.
She’d never had a gaggle of girlfriends, hadn’t been invited to many birthdays or slumber parties. After her mother’s murder and her father’s subsequent abandonment, she’d become even more unreachable emotionally, and eventually the invitations had ceased altogether.
The emotional distance she put between herself and others that made her perfect for a job as one of her uncle’s enforcers also made her a social misfit in every other respect.
As she peered at herself in the bathroom mirror, a pair of manly hands clasped her shoulders. “Relax. You’re going to be fine.”