Chapter 2
2
I t’s been one day since I arrived in Rosenwood, and already I’m living like a slob without Martha to rein in my slobbish nature.
It doesn’t help that my motel room, a double-double, came with two beds. Give me space to spread out my crap, and I will take advantage every single time.
Grumbling at the injustice of it all, I grab a trash bag and spend the next couple of minutes picking up after myself now that I no longer have a clean freak big sister to prod me into action.
Martha is twenty-five, and I’m twenty-two. Ever since I was five or even six, I was leaving my crap everywhere while Martha would carefully put away her toys when she was through playing with them.
It doesn’t take long, and the mess isn’t as bad as I thought. Mostly it’s the remnants of snacks I picked up from the grocery store on my way back to the motel. I didn’t have to worry about dinner.
O’Shane let me eat for free at the diner and packed up a burger and fries in takeout containers for me to eat when I got back to my room. I stuck on a TV dating show, made myself comfortable on my spare bed, and inhaled my food in seconds.
Minutes later, I have a bulging bag of trash in hand. The bathroom isn’t too bad. I have a habit of leaving dirty towels on the floor to trip over in the middle of the night, so I pick up the towel and hang it behind the door.
On my way out, I trip over my brand new hairbrush, insanely overpriced from Rosenwood’s grocery store. But I needed a brush to tame my shoulder-length, blonde hair that, at the slightest hint of humidity in the air, I resemble a fluffy poodle.
After placing my brush next to the sink and wondering how it wound up on the floor in the first place, I head out of my room to dispose of my trash in the dumpster near the motel’s entrance.
My room faces a parking lot, so I don’t bother putting my shoes on or even brushing my hair. It’s 9 p.m. There won’t be anyone around to see me in all my scruffy glory.
No sooner have I pulled the door open than I’m jumping out of my skin as a tall figure peels away from the wall beside my room.
Nathan Blackshaw.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss as my heart stops pounding.
His eyes flick to the bag in my hand. “Taking the trash out?”
“Yes. But?—”
He pulls the bag from my hand. “I’ve got it.”
“Why are you here?”
“I told your sister I’d keep you safe, and I told my alpha I’d bring you home,” he says as he walks away.
I watch him dump my trash in the dumpster. When he returns, he drops to the ground outside my room.
“What are you doing?” I frown.
“Keeping watch over you.” He peers up at me. “Why? You got more trash that needs to go out?”
“No, I don’t have any trash that…” I shake my head. “You can’t be serious. You’re not sitting out here all night.”
He isn’t even wearing a coat. Just the same black T-shirt and jeans from the diner.
“Of course I am.”
“No, you’re not.”
He winks at me. “Kinda looks that way to me.”
I glare at him. “You need to leave.”
“And I will. I’ll be going back to Hardin when my task is complete.”
“And that task is?”
“Bringing you back with me.”
“I’m not going.” My fingers tighten around the door handle as I prepare to slam it shut the second he looks like he might try to force himself into my room.
He leans back, crosses his arms, and closes his eyes. “Well, then, I’ll see you in the morning.”
I stare at him, positive he doesn’t mean it. Then I close the door and walk over to my bed, grabbing my remote from the bedside table as I slip under the sheets.
I was going to take off my jeans and just wear a T-shirt to bed, but no way am I sleeping with no pants when I have a shifter parked up outside my room.
I flick through channel after channel, but my eyes keep straying to my motel room door.
He’s still out there. He cannot still be out there.
I get up, stalk across the room, and pull my door open. “You’re still here.”
He has his eyes closed, arms still folded over his chest, but I’m convinced he’s not sleeping.
“I’m still here,” he echoes.
I stare at him a little longer, then shut the door again and return to my bed.
I try to watch a movie but I can’t focus. He’s out there sleeping on the ground outside my room to protect me, and I have a spare bed that I’m using to eat snacks.
When a wind whips up outside, guilt is an acrid burn in my belly.
I get up and return to the closed door.
Nathan Blackshaw has not moved.
“I have a spare bed.”
He cracks one eyelid open. “Will I survive the night?”
Smart man.
I tilt my head, squinting as I consider my response. “Depends if you stick to your side of the room. One finger on my side… well. No promises.”
He opens both eyes and bounces to his feet. “Warning heard and delivered.”
I walk back in and slide under my sheets as he closes the door and moves to my spare bed.
He reaches for his jeans and I panic. “What are you doing?”
“Getting undressed. I can’t sleep wearing jeans.”
I did not think this decision through long enough. “You can’t sleep naked in the same room as me.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “I’ll be in this bed. You won’t see a thing.”
But I’ll know it. Boy, will I know it.
“Didn’t you bring clothes with you when you came here?”
He nods. “I did. But I have a feeling this offer will expire the second I take a step out of this room.”
Definitely a smart man.
I bite the inside of my cheek to hide my smile. “Well, then you’d have the option of sleeping in your car, booking a room, or how about the most brilliant idea of all and driving yourself back to Hardin?”
“No can do.” He counts off with his fingers. “One, there are no more rooms available. Two, I can’t keep watch over you while I’m sleeping in my car. And the third isn’t happening, so I’d stop hoping sooner rather than later.”
I knew inviting him in here was a bad idea.
“Is it too late to kick you out?” I ask sweetly.
He flashes me a grin. “Yup.”
He says it so cheerfully, and the wind is getting pretty wild out there, that I can’t bring myself to throw him out like I know I should.
I turn my back on him as the sound of rustling fabric fills the room. It’s almost impossible not to imagine Nathan Blackshaw stripping out of his clothes feet away from me. I’m a little jealous of how comfortable he must be over there as my skinny jeans pinch my thighs.
Obviously, I have no interest in him. Or in going to Hardin.
Someone trying to kill him rearranged my priorities.
“What happened in Dawley?” I ask, as I listen to him undress.
“Oh, a wolf jumped in front of my car. Another swiped my tire. I thought Jackson’s packmates were playing around, so I nearly rammed into a tree trying to dodge them. Wasn’t until I realized it didn’t matter who they were. They were trying to kill me.”
Shit.
Jackson and some of the others had rushed off after Nathan’s panicked call to Regan, claiming someone was trying to kill him. I’d taken advantage of Martha’s distraction to run off. “What happened to the wolves?”
“Not sure. By the time I got out, they were gone. Jackson tracked their scents a few miles down the road, but they must’ve had a car waiting.”
“Why did you come after me?”
Mattress springs squeak. “To bring you to Hardin, and I intend to keep you safe until I deliver the package from A to B.”
“I am not a package.”
“Maybe not an actual package. But I can’t say you aren’t deliciously wrapped.”
I snort at the wall, waiting until I’m positive he’s in bed, and I’m in no danger of seeing more than I should by glancing in his direction.
Like his body.
Or the fact he has a smile that I don’t mind. Or?—
Focus, Clara.
“And your car?”
“I took it into a shop for a tire replacement. The rest of the damage was just scratches and dents that I can deal with back in Hardin.”
I’d known someone would eventually track me down. It hadn’t helped that there was so little between Dawley and Rosenwood. There was no big or even small city that Ivy could pull off the highway that I could lose myself in. Just long stretches of open road and highways.
Before I switch out the lights, I look Nathan in the eye, needing to lay out some ground rules if we’re going to be sharing the same room until he realizes I’m not going to Hardin. “If you try to touch me in the night, I’ll kill you.”
“I have no intention of touching you in the night, Clara Vincent.” He winks. “It’ll be more fun for the both of us when you’re awake.”
My eyes narrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” he says, pulling the sheets up to his chin.
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“My priorities have shifted.”
“To?”
“Keep you safe. Get you to Hardin like I promised my alpha. And…”
“And?” I prompt.
“A kiss.”
I blink at him. “A kiss ?”
“Yep. I decided back in the diner that we’re going to kiss.”
“You just decided that, did you?” I glare.
His gaze dips to my mouth. “I did. Nothing looked good on the menu, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t anything in the diner that I didn’t want.”
Ah. The source of that mystery smile.
I lie back down, ignoring the tiny flutter in my belly at his heated look. “Well, decide all you want. It’s not happening.”
“Okay,” he says simply.
“You just said that to shut me up.”
“Of course I did. Goodnight, Clara Vincent.”
I switch off the lights and close my eyes, positive there is absolutely no way in hell I’m sleeping with Nathan inches away. Especially after he just admitted that he wants to kiss me.
Blood and death taints the air, and I shiver, afraid of what’s on the other side of this tree Martha and I tucked ourselves behind.
“Wait here, Clara,” Martha quietly orders, her fingers digging into my arm in a subtle warning.
But I don’t wait.
I creep after her, waiting until she’s disappeared through the trees, and I stare in horror at the blood and bodies of my pack. Everyone is dead.
“It wasn’t your fault,” I whisper under my breath.
But that isn’t true.
Our pack had a new omega. Me. They did this because of me.
“Clara?”
A hand grips my arm. Screaming, I shove as hard as I can.
“Ah!”
Thump .
“Yeah, that wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had,” a familiar male voice says calmly.
My eyes snap open.
The room isn’t as dark as it was before. Faint light creeps around the edges of the motel room’s blinds. It must be nearly morning. The spare bed beside mine is empty, but it wasn’t when I turned off the lamp.
I lean over the edge of my bed.
Nathan Blackshaw is buck naked on the floor.
“You touched me,” I accuse him, keeping my eyes firmly on his face.
“No need to make it sound like I was up to no good.” He gets to his feet, rubs his tailbone and climbs back into his bed. “You sounded like you were having a nightmare. I was just trying to help.”
“No, I wasn’t,” I lie.
He covers up delicious tanned skin and looks at me, his expression still amiable. “You were mumbling something about blood and bodies.”
I turn away, pulling the comforter up high as I stare at the ceiling. When I’m with Martha, I rarely have those nightmares anymore. Something about her presence makes me feel safe. But she’s not here. Now I have only myself to rely on.
The silence stretches out.
“So, I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about it?” he prompts.
“Whatever gave you that idea?” I immediately regret the bitchy note in my voice. More so when Nathan doesn’t respond. I roll onto my side, facing him. He’s looking at me with a furrowed brow, concerned. “I didn’t mean that. I just don’t want to talk about it.”
He nods. “Fair enough. I have a cell phone if you want to borrow it.”
“Why would I want to borrow your cell phone?”
“To speak to Martha.”
More guilt burrows into my heart, constricting it.
I swallow hard. Running away from Martha wasn’t a good thing to do when I know how much she worries about me.
“Clara?” Nathan prompts.
“She’ll try to convince me to go back.” Martha has her own life in Dawley with her mate Ty. She shouldn’t be spending all her time picking up after her kid sister anymore. She deserves to focus on making herself happy.
“And that’s a bad thing, because?”
Enforcers grabbed Martha back in Dawley. Martha threw herself at them and screamed at me to run. They were there for me, but Martha protected me. She is always protecting me, and I’m always the one putting her in danger.
“Clara?” Nathan’s voice softens. “When I’m not cracking the funniest jokes you’ve heard, I’m not a bad listener if you ever wanted to talk about stuff.”
“You sound pretty full of yourself, Blackshaw,” I say, hiding my smile.
“I am.” He throws his sheet back and I yank my eyes away.
“ Jesus , Blackshaw. Warn a girl first before you flash her. You nearly blinded me.”
“Sorry,” he apologizes as he goes on a slow stride past my bed. “Want to share a shower to conserve water and save the planet?”
I crack open an eyelid to confirm he is indeed moving at the glacial pace I think. He is, and he’s also not doing a thing to hide his nudity. “You need to work on your pickup lines. They’re not even close to convincing.”
But that doesn’t stop me from checking out his ass before he closes the bathroom door.
It’s right there.
Anyone would do the same.