Chapter 36 #2
Stepping into the shower, she cleaned herself off, humming happily when Murphy’s scent remained constant, even after a thorough wash. Once she finished, she got ready for the day before leaving her room in search of her man.
She heard sounds from the kitchen as she rounded the corner, spotting Murphy at the stove making breakfast. He had on a pair of low-slung jeans and nothing else, his chiseled back on display as he flipped a pancake.
Several scratch marks trailed from the top of his shoulders downwards, cutting through several old scars.
Nessa gasped. “I can’t believe how much damage my nails did to you!” she exclaimed, the color draining from her cheeks as he turned around. “It looks like a wild animal clawed your back, Murphy. I’m so sorry!”
Moving the pan to a different burner, he turned to face her; the desire reflected in his eyes causing a ball of need to knot low in her belly.
If he picked her up, dropped her onto the counter and ravished her right this second, she wouldn’t object, no matter how sore she was. In fact, she almost begged for it.
“Don’t be sorry, Nes. I love them; it means I did my duty as your mate.” Murphy crossed over to her, pulling her in for a light kiss. He backed her up against a countertop, planting both arms on either side of her. “One that I thoroughly enjoyed,” he murmured, taking her mouth once more.
That made two of them.
“Does it hurt?” she asked, reaching behind him and gently trailing her fingers along the marks she’d left behind, afraid that she’d done some serious damage. He’d taken care to not put a single bruise on her, and what had she done in return? Sliced his back up like a maniac.
“No.” Murphy’s lips brushed against hers again. “They’re a nice reminder of how well I pleased you.”
Oh. That was kind of sweet—in a cocky, alpha male kind of way. Which he definitely was. She smirked.
Nessa bit back a whine of protest when Murphy went back to the stove, picking up the spatula.
“How long have you been up?” She grabbed her kettle, taking it to the sink to fill it.
“A few hours. Tank and the others took my SUV back to our territory; they needed to get the keys from me.”
Mortified, Nessa lost her grip on the kettle. It hit the sink with a sharp clang as she whipped around to face him. “Oh, my god! I forgot they stayed the night. They heard us going at it! They heard me screaming like a—like a—” She stumbled over her words, unsure of what to say next.
Murphy looked over his shoulder, smirking devilishly. “Like a well-fucked mate?”
“I was going to say ‘like a sex-crazed fiend,’ but yes!” she hissed, slapping her hands over her face in horror.
“It’s okay,” Murphy reassured her, his smirk shifting into a teasing smile. “I’m sure they just tuned us out.”
Her face was on fire as she turned back to the sink, refilling her kettle just to keep her hands busy. “Yeah, well, I doubt they could.” Not when she’d wailed like a cat in heat for half the night.
How embarrassing!
At least Jasper wasn’t here. He’d find a million ways to torture you about this until you died of old age.
“They congratulated me on completing our mating before they left,” Murphy stated casually, returning his attention to his task.
Walking up beside him, she placed her kettle on a free burner before turning it on. “Were you shirtless when they did that?”
“No. I had a sweater on.”
“So they didn’t see the bite mark.” And he’d already said her scent wouldn’t transfer to him when they mated.
So they’d just heard her screaming for him to claim her while in the throes of passion.
Nessa groaned in despair.
Murphy chuckled, his shoulders shaking as he stacked a finished pancake onto a plate already filled with nearly a dozen more.
Crossing her arms in outrage, Nessa narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s cute that you’re embarrassed by this. Shifters don’t care if they notice acts of sex, loud or otherwise. And I’m happy that you’re officially a claimed female. My female.”
Nessa softened at the affection in his tone. “You’re a claimed man, too.”
“Yes. Yes, I am,” he answered smugly.
She couldn’t help but grin in return. “So what’s on the agenda today? Are you coming with me to work?”
“Only for a bit. Jasper is going to meet me there this morning and stay with you while I do some work at my place.”
She raised a brow. “He’s on babysitting duty?”
Murphy nodded, gathering the plate of pancakes and bringing them to the breakfast nook. “Until we know for sure whether Angelo is actually here, I don’t want you alone. I know you can handle yourself if you need to, but I won’t let it come to that.”
“That’s fine.” She wouldn’t mind the extra protection, especially since she couldn’t fully convince herself that what she’d seen had only been a figment of her imagination.
Helping Murphy bring a bowl of scrambled eggs, silverware and their drinks to the table, she sat down across from him, ready to dig in.
“I need to ask you something,” Murphy said, staring at her intently.
“Colter, along with being one of my enforcers, often runs background checks on humans we handle business with and looks into various people for me as needed. I think it’s best, especially after yesterday, that he looks into your ex-fiancé and your brother.
Just to make sure they’re still in Chicago and completely unaware of your location. ”
Anxiety hit Nessa like a ton of bricks, and she forced herself to swallow past the bile rising in her throat.
She didn’t want Murphy involved with Tony in any capacity.
“Tony’s got connections all over the city, Murphy.
What if someone gets wind of what Colter is doing and tells him he’s being monitored? ”
Then he’d do his own digging, and if he looked deep enough, he’d find her.
“Colter works exclusively with other shifters, so no humans would be involved to divulge anything to Tony. Aside from that, most of his other skills involve hacking into databases, networks and surveillance systems. He’s done this for years, and he’s always discreet.
” Murphy reached under the table, squeezing her knee in reassurance.
“I wouldn’t ask you this unless I was completely sure it wouldn’t get traced back to you. ”
“And it’s only to make sure they’re not still looking for me?” Nessa studied her mate closely. “You’re not planning to go to Chicago and …” She trailed off.
“Rip that piece of shit to shreds with my bare hands?” Murphy finished point-blank.
“Bare hands or bear hands?” she joked faintly.
Murphy grunted. “I’d love nothing more than to rid the world of him. Your brother, too, if I’m being completely honest. But I don’t know if you’d look at me differently if I hunted down the people that hurt you and killed them without a flicker of remorse.”
“I don’t think I would …”
“But you’re not sure.” Murphy’s thumb rubbed soothingly over her jeans.
It was a difficult question to answer. Had she fantasized about shooting Tony? Absolutely. A thousand times. But she wasn’t a killer, and she didn’t want Murphy to be one either. It was different if he took a life in self-defense or to protect his clan and family.
But to purposely hunt down and murder someone …?
Hell, she’d shot Jason, intending to put him down permanently. But she’d only reacted so aggressively because she’d been terrified he was about to kill Hunny. When Murphy had killed him, it had been to save Nessa’s life. Not solely out of hatred.
If he tracked Tony down tomorrow and murdered him, could she justify his actions? She hadn’t seen that monster in years; he might have forgotten all about her by now.
Would she be okay with him killing someone in cold blood for her?
Murphy’s eyes softened. “I won’t ever do anything to jeopardize our relationship, Nessa.”
“I believe you.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “I’m fine with you looking into Tony. I can give you his full name and last known address to help with Colter’s search.”
Murphy removed his hand from her knee, leaning back in his seat and nodding. “I’d appreciate that.”
“Do you want to talk about Dante and Marcus?” She kept her voice light despite the tense topics they’d found themselves discussing so early in the day. Especially after such a deliciously delirious night.
“I’m hurt.” Murphy sighed, looking down at his plate.
He’d barely touched his food, which worried her.
“It’s been rough, trying to accept what Dante did.
Knowing what I’d have to do when I eventually caught him.
But Marcus? Losing one of them was difficult, but losing two friends?
How do I manage that? How can I make the decision to damn them both? ”
“Murphy,” Nessa said softly, her heart aching at his turmoil.
“Take a few days and really sit with this. Dante isn’t going anywhere, right?
You put him somewhere secure.” Hopefully not some secret dungeon on his property.
“People are guarding him. Just … Don’t do anything today that you’ll regret for the rest of your life. ”
“Dante has to be executed, Nessa,” Murphy grated out. “If I let him live after all he’s done then I’ll be viewed as weak. So will my clan, and other shifters will see that as an opportunity to attack, hoping to take us down.”
“Mercy is never an act of weakness,” Nessa informed him. “And if someone threatens your family, I have every faith that you’ll deal with them however you need to. Promise me, you won’t deliver any punishment to either of them until you can be clear and concise with your decision.”
Murphy looked across at her, his expression somber, and nodded mutely in answer.
Nessa nudged his leg with her foot, jutting her chin toward his plate in a silent demand to eat. With a disgruntled huff, he grabbed his fork and the bowl of eggs, placing a heaped serving onto his plate before he began eating. Relieved at the sight, she rubbed her foot over his calf in gratitude.
“While we’re on the topic of dealing with issues,” Nessa began after a few minutes, cutting into her pancake. “I need to talk to your bear.”
She hadn’t forgotten her talk with Hunny yesterday, and she was eager to find out if her mate’s bear was as cleverly diabolical as she was beginning to suspect.
Murphy furrowed his brow. “My bear?”
“Yeah. How does that work exactly?” She slid the pancake into her mouth, chewing quickly. “He can hear me all the time, right? But can he talk through you when you’re like this?” She waved at him with her fork.
“What, like, can he use my voice to communicate with you?” Murphy snorted. “No. I can tell you how he’s feeling or what he expresses in my mind, but it won’t be him talking to you. It’ll be me relaying a message.”
Nessa sighed in irritation. “That’s what I thought.”
“What do you need to discuss with him?” he asked, voice heavily laced with curiosity.
“Oh, I’m sure he knows exactly what he’s done.”
Murphy’s eyes flickered golden before returning to their normal shade of brown.
Aha! So that son of a bitch was listening in. And he looked guilty as hell. Kind of. Actually, it was a little hard to tell. Regardless, she glared at her mate, hoping his bear realized who her ire was actually aimed at.
“Did something happen?” Murphy asked in obvious confusion.
“Yeah, you could say that. I had this revelation yesterday, and since it’s not fair to yell at you, I think it’d be best if you whipped out your bear so he and I could talk.” And by ‘talk,’ she meant she was going to give the animal a severe scolding.
“Whip out my—” Murphy shook his head. “If I shift now, your claiming bite and the marks on my back will heal instead of scar. You’ll have to wait a day or two to discuss … whatever this is.”
Nessa smiled coldly. “That’s fine. I’m sure your bear won’t mind waiting for this particular conversation.”
Murphy tensed. “Why did I just feel a sudden burst of nervousness?”
His bear was nervous? Good.
Feeling smug, Nessa took another bite of her food.