Chapter 7
7
I wake up tucked up so close to Nathan Blackshaw, it’s hard to know where I end and where he begins.
He feels… amazing .
“Awake, peach?” He breathes against my hair, gently hugging me.
“I’ve warned you about that nickname.” I muffle a yawn. “It’s not too early for me to shove you off this bed.”
He kisses my forehead. “Except it isn’t early at all. It’s midday.”
I sit up so fast our heads crack together, and we both yelp.
“ Ouch .” I rub the sore spot as I glare at him as if it was his fault.
“There’s no in-between with you, is there?” he grumbles, wincing.
“What do you mean?”
“Awake. Asleep. Relaxed. Violent.”
Sitting up, I turn away so he can’t see my smile. He doesn’t sound like he has a problem with it. But he’s right. I bounce from one extreme to the next. For someone who hasn’t known me all that long, he sure does know me.
“How’s your arm?”
He must have removed the cloth I tied around his arm as I slept because it’s missing, and there’s not a trace of blood or even a scratch on him. “All healed up. I think it’s because of your first aid.”
I snort. “It’s because you’re a shifter, not because I tied a dirty bit of cotton around your arm.” And after my tumble down a hill, it definitely would have been dirty.
Muffling another yawn, I slide my bare legs out of bed and try not to notice Nathan eyeing me like I’m the most interesting thing he’s ever seen.
“Where are you going?” he asks, pillowing his head with one arm as the sheets slide down his bare chest.
I rip my eyes away before he can accuse me of staring.
Long shadows stretch across the floor. Not only is the curtain covering the window over the kitchen sink open, Matilda and Simon’s bedroom door is ajar. “Where are Simon and Matilda?”
Nathan pushes himself to his feet and holds his hand out for mine. He’s not sleeping naked. Thank God. He must have borrowed a pair of shorts from Simon last night.
“They went to check the road to make sure those shifters weren’t causing trouble.”
“Was that a good idea?” I frown at the cabin door, and Nathan takes advantage of my distraction to snag my hand and pull me to my feet.
“Yeah, I know. They insisted. And—” He tugs me back as he steps in front of me when footsteps head this way, his posture nothing less than protective.
My fears about trouble finding us fade when two familiar scents reassure me that Simon and Matilda are safe.
Seconds later, a large brown wolf butts the door open and walks in, followed by a smaller blonde wolf. Nathan urges me toward the dining table as Simon and Matilda pad toward the bedroom. “Come on, I’ll make us coffee while they shift.”
“Any trouble?” Nathan asks Simon when he and Matilda slip out of their bedroom, dressed in sweats, having finished shifting back to their human form.
Simon takes the mug of coffee that Nathan hands him with a grateful smile and leans against a kitchen counter. “Just your car parked up on the side of the road. It smelled like the shifters sniffed around your car but didn’t touch it. There were some claw marks on your car.”
Nathan’s shoulders relax. “Those claw marks were there before. Thank fuck. I left my cell phone in there and I need to call Dayne and let him know we’re safe and on our way.”
Matilda’s face freezes. “ Dayne ? That name sounds familiar. I hope you don’t mean…”
“Yep. He does mean the cold-blooded alpha.” I keep talking when her eyes widen in alarm. Her response is a familiar one. Martha looked like she was getting ready to grab me and run for the hills when she found out who I would be staying with. “But everything you heard was just rumors.”
Her wariness doesn’t fade. “I heard a lot about him.”
If I didn’t have Regan—an omega—I trust, reassure me, I’d be a lot more wary too.
“Like Clara said, just rumors. How about I make us breakfast?” Nathan suggests.
Matilda and Simon share a long look. I’m not surprised when, after Nathan has thrown together a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon for us all, Simon and Matilda say they won’t be joining us in Hardin. At least, not yet.
“Well, stop by whenever you want,” Nathan says, like it’s no big deal. “You have paper and a pen?”
“We do.” Simon gets to his feet and crosses the room to a small desk, returning to the dining table with a pad and pen.
Nathan nudges his plate aside and writes his message. “Here’s our address and my cell phone number if you want to talk. Stop by and have a meal with us or stay a couple of nights. You saved our lives and gave us a place to stay. I’d like to return the favor.”
I think I like Nathan Blackshaw a little more for that offer.
Simon nods, taking the pad and tucking it away before we resume eating our breakfast.
Nathan and I don’t stay long. He wants to check in with his pack so they won’t worry, and I’m conscious that just because Adrian has left for now, he could soon return to cause trouble for Simon and Matilda.
We use the bathroom and Simon and Matilda walk us back to the road, waving us off to continue the long drive to Hardin.
“It was nice of you to invite them to stay,” I tell him after we’ve lost sight of Simon and Matilda.
“It was the right thing to do, and I meant it.”
I study him as he drives down the lonely stretch of road.
He’s a good guy, I think.
“I feel you watching me,” he says, changing gears.
I shake my head and turn away, focusing on the trees outside my window. “No, you can’t.”
We make good time, only stopping to fill up the tank at a gas station or for fast food at a drive-thru. I periodically check the rear-view mirror, and I catch Nathan doing the same. There is no sign of a green Ford anywhere.
“The sooner we get home, the sooner you’re safe,” he says when I ask him why we’re not parking up somewhere to eat.
I take the paper wrapped burger he’s struggling to unwrap with one hand as he drives. “Don’t you mean the sooner you get me to Hardin, the less chance I have of changing my mind along the way?”
I hand him the unwrapped burger, and he smiles at me. “Thanks, peach. Something like that.”
“Let me know when you want your fries,” I say as I pick up my burger.
“So you can feed me?” There’s a sparkle in his eyes.
“So we won’t crash into a tree and explode into flames while you’re busy trying to dunk fries into ketchup,” I say dryly.
But that’s not all it is.
I’d prefer to be on my own so no one else can get hurt saving me. But there’s something nice about having someone watching your back. Not just someone. Nathan.
We’re on the road for hours. It was stupid to hope we’d make the hours-long drive in one day. The sun is disappearing into the horizon when Nathan pulls the car off the highway and into a motel parking lot.
I look at him and narrow my eyes. “This had better not wind up in a one bed situation, Blackshaw.”
His expression is innocent. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
He’s out of the car before I can reach for my seat belt, and I’m not even the least bit surprised when he’s back a couple minutes later, opening my door before I can.
“Would you believe me if I told you they only had one room with one bed left?”
“Not really.” I peer through the glass-fronted motel reception. The counter is tall, but I can just about make out a computer and the top of a man’s gray head behind it. “If I went in there and asked him, he would lie because you paid him to, wouldn’t he?”
“ Me do a thing like that?” Nathan grins. “Come on. I could do with a shower and brushing my teeth.”
Same.
After greasy fast food and sugary sweet sodas, not even the mints we sucked on helped get rid of the need to clean my teeth.
I climb out of the car and Nathan slams my door shut, grabbing a small black duffel from the trunk before he leads the way to our room.
Yes, I could argue, but I haven’t forgotten the only reason I have a motel room to sleep in is because he’s paying for it. I could offer to sleep in his car overnight, but with the way Nathan has been, I have a feeling I wouldn’t be sleeping in the car alone.
I’m ahead of him, yet he beats me to the motel room door, unlocks it and swings it open, stepping aside. “After you, peach.”
I take a step inside the beige, ordinary motel room I was expecting and grind to a halt. “What is that , Blackshaw?”