2
Shifters might heal faster than humans, but he’d been shot not twenty-four hours prior to the deputy taking out his life’s frustrations on Luca.
Sure, he could’ve fought back, could’ve torn Gilmore apart, but all Luca had been thinking about was keeping his lycanthrope from getting free, of not terrifying his mate with that massive form.
“I’m gonna do what most do in this situation.” Darcy looked up at him. “Bury it deep and forget it exists.”
“You’re aware that’s about the unhealthiest thing you can do, right?” Who was he to talk? Luca made a sport out of burying shit deep. He practically had a graveyard full of things he fought not to unearth.
“Are you my therapist now?” A dark brow rose a fraction.
“Me?” Luca chuckled. “With as much garbage as I’ve got shoved down, I wouldn’t be qualified to hold a shrink’s water.” He rolled to his back to ease some of the pressure in his arm. “If I was a therapist, I’d be too busy untangling the mess inside my own head.”
Darcy pushed to his knees, hands resting in his lap. “Dr. Darcy Doolittle at your service.” He pretended to adjust glasses he didn’t wear. Next, he held his hands as if he had a pen and pad. “Today we shall talk about how to keep our crap tightly on lockdown,” he said with a fake accent.
Luca was pretty sure he was going for German, but it sounded more like that cartoon owl trying to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.
“First rule of dysfunctional therapy is not to talk about therapy.”
As he spoke, Luca wore the dumbest grin. He could listen to his elegido’s goofiness for the rest of the day.
“If we can’t talk about therapy, what exactly is the main purpose of this group?” Luca kept his hand on Darcy’s hip. Touching his mate settled him in ways a thousand hours on a shrink’s couch never would.
Darcy tapped his chin, like he was seriously thinking about the question. “New rule!” He held his finger up like a lightbulb just lit up over his head.
God, he was so fucking gorgeous.
“Mandatory snacks. I’m talking the good stuff, not the knock-off brands. Gotta have milk, too, if cookies are involved.”
Man had his priorities straight.
“New rule.” Luca slid his hand over his mate’s side, watching how the male’s breath hitched and his pupils widened.
“What’s…” Darcy licked his lips, and goddamn right Luca’s gaze followed.
“The rule?” Oh, this was too fun. Just watching how his elegido reacted to his touch was arousing.
“Yeah, that.”
“ Prefiero tenerte como bocadillo, hermoso .” Luca used his core muscles to sit up. “ Preferiría mordisquear tu pálido cuerpo y lamer tu crema .”
“What did…” Darcy’s gaze lowered to Luca’s mouth, his lips parting, tiny puffs of air escaping. “I need a shower.”
To Luca’s confusion and shock, Darcy slipped from the bed. Was he simply nervous? Was that why he just pulled away from what was just getting started?
“Crap, my job!” Darcy patted his pockets with a furrowed brow.
“Already taken care of.” Luca maneuvered to the edge of the bed and stood. “Your boss, Lacey, said to call her when you’re ready to come back.”
“She did?” He smirked. “I guess finding my inner badass has its perks.”
Luca still couldn’t believe Darcy had gone up against Gilmore. No one in their right mind would have done that, especially not someone Darcy’s size. Gilmore wasn’t a small man, and he wasn’t a kind one, either.
So why did Darcy’s bravery turn him on? Why had Luca been so proud that Darcy defended him? He should be angry that his mate put his life in jeopardy, but Darcy had been defending his “boyfriend,” and that sealed it for Luca.
Despite being proud of his mate for defending him, Luca still had to get it into Darcy’s skull that going against a seasoned, corrupt cop wasn’t a bright idea. “Next time I want you to stay in the shop like I told you. In fact, there won’t be a next time.”
Darcy narrowed his eyes. “What’re you saying? Are you trying to put me back into my safe little box, the one I just broke out of? What happened today wasn’t my fault, and I shouldn’t be penalized for my heroic actions.”
Luca clenched his jaw. Did his mate have a death wish? Was he that na?ve? “I understand protecting someone you care about. I honestly do, Darcy. But Gilmore isn’t someone you want to mess with. He won’t hesitate to arrest you.”
“I can handle a cell,” he huffed.
“And what if you don’t make it to that cell, carino ?” What if he ended up like Mike? Dead and discarded in some brush like trash?
“I couldn’t let him hurt you, Luca!” Darcy crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know why, but I had a feeling I would never see you again if he put you in that car.”
As out of it as he was, that had been Luca’s thought at the time too.
He still didn’t know why those hyenas had targeted him.
It could’ve been opportunity and not a specific wolf, but Luca had come close to dying too many times over the last two days.
And then Gilmore using that same corpse for his own agenda?
Either Mike’s luck, even in death, was really that shitty or something else was going on that was flying under the pack’s radar.
Gilmore wanted the pack out of town, which would never happen.
The hyenas were clearly setting them up. Had the new alpha orchestrated this? Since no one knew who the guy was or his motives, it was a wait-and-see game for now.
“I’m not trying to tell you what to do, lucerito , but I’m also not going to let you become a victim.
” His mate was out to give Luca a heart attack.
Images of Gilmore killing Darcy looped in his mind.
The more he imagined it, the angrier he became.
Not at Darcy but Gilmore. “I’m just trying to keep you safe. ”
“First off, I know you’re not going to tell me what to do.” Darcy scowled. “Second, if you’ve forgotten that fast, I was trying to protect you.”
“ ?Me vas a sacar canas! ” Luca threw his hand up in frustration.
“What did you just say to me?” Darcy snapped. “If you’re going to insult me or threaten me, at least let me understand you.”
“You’re going to give me gray hairs.” Luca ran a hand over his head. He needed to calm down. He was normally very cool headed, a thinker, but knowing how badly this could’ve gone…
“Okay.” Darcy held his hands up, palms out. “Let’s defuse here. Deep breaths. I’m fighting hard against that trigger, so we’ll discuss this later. I’m tired and want a shower. So, do you have a brush around this place that I can use to get out the knots in my hair?”
Luca’s anger vanished. Damn it. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Darcy had him wrapped around his finger. They’d only known each other for three days, and in that short amount of time, Luca had fallen hard for the human.
He couldn’t even stay mad at the guy.
“I’ll go look in the bathroom.” Luca walked away, forcing himself not to picture Darcy naked, with all that water cascading down his slim body, the suds clinging to all that creamy flesh, slowly making a descent toward his cock.
Fuck, he needed to shut those thoughts down because he hadn’t even talked about their bond yet. How Luca’s wolf had chosen him.
Darcy followed him into the bathroom and began to undress. No shyness, nothing. Just started taking off his clothes as if he got naked in front of Luca all the time. He checked the cabinets, fully aware of what Darcy was doing behind him and trying not to make things awkward. But damn it.
Luca curled his hand over the cabinet door, taking in deep breaths. Don’t you dare turn around and drool all over him.
“Here we go.” He grabbed the brush. When he turned, he nearly dropped it. Darcy was completely naked, looking at Luca as if being nude was no big deal to him. It wasn’t among shifters, but Darcy wasn’t a shifter.
He was Luca’s mate, and Luca would have to be dead not to be attracted to Darcy and turned on by the length of his nude body.
“Give me the brush.” Darcy held out his hand. “Or did you want to brush it for me?”
The little shit had to know what he was doing. A light blush stole across Darcy’s cheeks as he waited for an answer.
Clearing his throat, Luca turned and closed the cabinet, giving himself time to breathe.
“Do you have a brush or not?”
Why did he sound much closer, as though he stood right behind Luca. Like, almost pressed against him.
Luca closed his eyes. “Darcy, I don’t know what game you’re playing, but be very careful.” He clenched his jaw. “Don’t start something you don’t want to finish.”
“What’re you talking about? I just want my hair brushed.” He moved to stand next to Luca. “Oh, sweet! It’s a detangler brush. Exactly what I needed.”
He flinched when Darcy placed a hand on his back, leaning over to grab it. The touch was pure magic, sending ripples of pleasure through Luca’s body.
“Is something wrong?” Darcy arched a brow. “You look tense.”
Luca muttered to himself before he took a step back. “Do you need me to do it for you?”
“Nope.” Darcy smiled at him. “I can do this.”
Before he lost control, Luca exited the bathroom, breathing deeply as he listened to Darcy hum, and then the shower turned on. Luca wiped a hand over his face, walking toward the bed, sucking in much-needed air.
Ten minutes later, his mate emerged from the bathroom, a waft of steam billowing out as Darcy opened the door. “God, that shower felt good.”
He had a towel curled around his slim waist, tempting Luca in ways he’d never been tempted before. No one had ever turned him on so badly.
“Since I have some time off, which never happens, what do you want to do?” Darcy pulled the towel free and began to dry off. ?Dios mío! “We still need to get your motorcycle from my place. Ooh! We could get something from the bakery downstairs while we’re there. How does that sound?”
“Bakery. Yeah.” Luca turned toward the open window, concentrating on the leaves that rustled in the wind, the smell of pine, and the sound of birds in a nearby tree. Anything to take his mind off the luscious body behind him.