Chapter Ten
“How do I look?” Nory whispered, feeling self-conscious in her oversized night shirt that hung to her knees. She hadn’t exactly been thinking straight enough to pack lingerie earlier today after the Jackson fiasco.
Liam was lying on the guest bed in Nate’s house, no shirt, abdominal muscles perfect, his big hand resting on his stomach, and his other arm resting behind his head. He wore this crooked grin that was so sexy. Oh, that man knew he looked good.
“It’s pretty sexy, but you would look better in one of my T-shirts.”
“Well, I don’t have one of those,” she said primly as she crawled across the bed and scurried under the covers he held up for her. “Why is it so cold in here?”
“Most houses in a werewolf territory don’t have heat. It’s a waste of money. We don’t get cold like you humans do.”
“What about when it’s snowy and freezing?” she asked, appalled.
He shrugged. “A little fire in the fireplace is good enough.”
“You know, I’m not going to hang out with you anymore if you keep making me realize how fragile I am.”
He chuckled and tucked the blanket around her tightly like she was a little burrito.
He still lay on top of the covers, and when she felt his skin, she could understand why.
He was burning up. In fact, that side of her body was heating up just laying this close to him, so that was good.
At least she wouldn’t get hypothermia tonight.
He brushed a strand of flyaway hair from her face and traced her hairline thoughtfully.
Only the small lamp in the corner was on, and it cast his handsome face in gold light.
His eyes were lighter than they should’ve been.
She was starting to read him in that way.
His eyes were like a mood ring she’d had in second grade.
“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly, afraid of keeping Nate and Delta awake with talking too loudly.
“Jackson shouldn’t have done that to you.”
She sighed, puffing air out of her cheeks, and scooted closer to Liam.
Like it was the most natural thing in the world, he put his arm under her and pulled her in against him.
She could feel the steady bum-bum, bum-bum of his heartbeat, and wished they didn’t have to talk about Jackson in a moment like this.
“That’s a problem for tomorrow,” she said, reciting the words he’d said before.
“I need a plan, Nory. It’s how I’m built. And while I’ve come up with three foolproof plans to get rid of him forever so he never scares you again, you’re different than me, and you have a different moral compass, so I’m asking you.”
“Asking what?” she whispered, looking up at him.
“To help me with the plan. Say what you need, and I’ll do it.”
She shook her head, confused.
“If you told me you wanted him to disappear, no one would ever hear from him or see him again. Do you understand?”
And she did. She could hear the gravity of his oath in his voice, and see his honesty in the steadiness with which he held her gaze.
“I would do terrible things to make sure you are safe,” he rumbled.
A long, low snarl rattled from his throat, and he closed his eyes and took three deep breaths.
Nory pulled his hand from his stomach and kissed his knuckles there.
“The plan is that you never have blood on your hands on my account. I’ll talk to Layla tomorrow and get out of my lease, and like you said, you will take off work and come with me to shop for apartments.
I think my boss will advance me enough for a deposit on a new studio apartment.
I’m only two days away from getting my paycheck, and she’s known me a long time.
We will find a place on the other side of town from Jackson.
I already let Alese know what’s going on and deactivated all of my social media accounts until I can get in there and up the privacy on them. ”
“You shouldn’t have to do all of this while he just gets to stay comfortable in that place. What’s to stop him from targeting someone else after you leave?”
“I don’t know, Liam. I’m winging this. I do think I should go back to police and add the new stuff to my harassment case against him.”
“Police,” Liam said absently.
“I know it’s not the way you do things here, but I still have my human world, and that’s what I know. Maybe I should run away to my mom’s for a while. Take a few weeks off work and just disappear. I don’t know.”
“Whoa, where does your mom live?” he asked.
“My entire family is in Boise.”
Trouble swirled in Liam’s lightening blue eyes. “That’s a drive. How long do you want to go for?”
She shrugged miserably. “I didn’t really want to talk about this tonight. It’s been a good evening. Everything just got so messed up.”
“In your world.”
She stopped talking, uncertain of what he was saying. “In this world, Jackson doesn’t exist. If you are determined to run for a couple of weeks, okay.” He inhaled deeply. “Run here.”
She looked around the room. “I can’t ask for that kind of hospitality from Nate and Delta.
We can just focus on finding an apartment tomorrow.
I made a list of some options while you were in the shower.
Gah, this is so strange. I feel like I’m orbiting in outer space right now with no real anchor, and you must be feeling the same way.
You’re having to rebuild your entire house. ”
He huffed a laugh. “It is strange times for both of us.”
“Maybe if I find a new apartment, we just won’t tell them you will be visiting me there, or that you’re a werewolf, and we can do slumber parties.”
“Slumber parties?” he asked, skeptical.
“Yeah! We can do manicures on each other, and matching skin care routines. Maybe I’ll get wild and crazy and let you keep a toothbrush there.”
He tickled her ribs, and she let off a peel of giggles.
“I can cook you frozen lasagna,” he teased.
“And I can cook you—”
“Whatever that was tonight. I could eat that every day for the rest of my life and die happy.”
She snorted and settled beside him again. “You’re easy to impress.”
“Mmm,” he rumbled. “You did good today.”
“Me? I did good at what?”
“At being you.” He said it with such genuine softness to his tone, it drew a blush to her cheeks. He really meant it.
“You like me, don’t you?”
“Very much,” he said, stroking a loose tress of hair out of her face once more. “I like you too much.”
“Is it bad?” she whispered.
He nodded. “We will figure it out.” He was quiet for a little while, and looked lost in thought before he said, “If you want to do your plan, we can. You can go to the police and move your life and see if you can curb Jackson from targeting you.”
“What if I can’t stop him?”
A slow smile took his lips but failed to reach his eyes. “He will be stopped either way, and you will be safe.”
“You’re dangerous, aren’t you?”
“Everyone’s dangerous,” he said.
“But you specifically. You became Alpha of this Pack because you are dangerous.”
“Because I can lead.”
“And because you can fight.”
“Would you look at me differently, I wonder? If you saw the wolf?”
“I don’t know. I thought Vic’s wolf was pretty neat.”
“Pretty neat,” Liam repeated in a teasing tone.
“Hey, that’s a great word. It doesn’t get used nearly enough these days. His wolf was neato-mosquito.”
Liam’s chuckle vibrated through his chest, where she was resting her hand. “You’re the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”
“What color is your wolf?” she asked.
“Black as night.” He offered the answer so easily, and a part of her wished she could see him right now.
“Can I see him someday?”
Liam didn’t answer right away, but his glowing blue eyes were so soft on her. “You won’t be scared?”
“Will he bite me?”
“Never,” he answered immediately.
She allowed a slow smile, and whispered, “I can’t wait to meet him then.”
Liam’s gaze lowered to her lips, and back up to her eyes. “I want you,” he said, and there was a rumble to his voice.
Her stomach fluttered with anticipation, and she whispered, “I…” But the rest of her words stayed lodged in her throat.
“That’s not me asking tonight, Nory,” he said softly. “That’s me saying my honest feelings. There is no rush.”
“It’s not that,” she whispered, already feeling the weight of this huge bond she was building with him. “I just…I think you should know something.”
“Okay,” he murmured, tugging gently on a lock of her hair.
God, she loved how comfortable she was with him. “I just don’t have a lot of experience.”
His eyes sparked with intensity, and he sat up on his elbow, and cocked his head. “Wait, how much experience is not a lot?”
She cleared her throat and ducked her gaze as heat crept up her neck.
“It’s not like I didn’t want to. I just didn’t have opportunity.
And I never got comfortable with men I dated, and really I didn’t make it out of the talking stage because I would clam up and get uncomfortable and then they would react to me and think I was cold and then sometimes there were insults, and… and…”
“Nory,” he whispered. “Have you ever?”
Mortified, she shook her head slightly. “Okay, I’m going to go into the other room now. I need to wash my face.” She moved to leave, but Liam held her there and dragged her closer. She could feel his heart rate right now, and it was racing.
“Okay,” he murmured. “Okay.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Fuck, woman, you don’t have to say you’re sorry for that. You’re a freaking unicorn.”
She was so embarrassed. So embarrassed. “I just didn’t want to start and not know what I’m doing, and I make it awkward, because I really like you and I want you too, but I don’t want it to, you know, happen and you be disappointed or something.
I mean, I take birth control, but it’s mostly to just control all of my lady-stuff, and I mean I want to have more experience, but you know.
” She gave off a nervous laugh. “I just haven’t jumped head first into the whole, you know, doing it thing—”
“Nory, stop.” He eased her back and searched her eyes. “I think it’s awesome.”
“W-what?”