Carnal Secrets (37 page)

Drawn to the mark on her neck like it was all that existed, Nick licked it again and again, filled with self-satisfaction and elatedness and a sense of completeness. He could
feel
what Shaya was feeling—it was the same things that he himself was feeling. His wolf felt at peace for the first time. Oh, he’d always be moody and remote in many ways, but he no longer found the world so bleak. How could he when Shaya’s warmth was filling the empty spaces inside him?

A dark voice whispered in Nick’s mind, reminding him of why he’d been fighting this, but Nick wouldn’t let fear creep in and fuck with this. He’d do what Shaya said, he’d battle this with everything he had. And now he had the biggest incentive possible—his mate’s happiness depended on him winning that battle.

“I’ll be right there with you the entire time,” said Shaya.

Yeah…this sensing his feelings thing would take a little getting used to. “I know.” He kissed her mark, licking over it one last time before standing upright. Surprised to find that he was steady on his feet considering that it felt like his whole world had tipped on its axis, he slowly withdrew from her and stepped back. When she, too, was standing, she turned to face him and smiled up at him—a free, easy smile he’d never seen before. “I hope you meant it when you said you could handle this, Shay, because I’ll never let you leave.”

“Same here, Beavis.”

“For the millionth time, I’m
not
stupid.” Before she could tease him further, he loosely collared her neck with both hands and shook her playfully. She laughed—a sound as free as her smile. And he knew right then that he’d do whatever it took to keep hearing that sound and seeing that smile.

Half an hour later, Nick and Shaya returned to the house, where she quickly dressed in fresh clothes…clothes that were then removed so he could be inside her again. They then made their way downstairs to find that everyone had gathered in the backyard. Nick could only gape at the sight. Many of the shifters were swimming in the pool while music was playing and lots of food was being passed around. Nick turned to Shaya. “They think this is a summer camp or something, don’t they?”

Shaya could only smile at the consternation on Nick’s face. He’d apparently had enough of their constant company and was on the verge of snapping. “Guys? Guys?” Finally they all turned to look at them both, smiling. Then eyes zoomed in on the claiming marks, and everyone was talking at once.

“
Finally
,” drawled Derren, grinning, from his sun lounger.

Simultaneously, Roni, Kathy, and Amber hopped out of the pool and all hurried over to hug Shaya and Nick. Not liking even the thought of another female with her hands on Nick—particularly when said female coveted him and was only dressed in a skimpy bikini—both Shaya and her wolf wanted to slash Amber’s face. But Shaya pasted on a smile, settling slightly when Nick stepped away from Amber and curled an arm tightly around Shaya before kissing her temple.

Trey, Tao, Bracken, Jesse, and Zander came over to pass on their congratulations, shaking Nick’s hand and merely nodding at Shaya—they weren’t dumb enough to hug her right now. From her spot on a lounger, Greta raised her teacup and smiled. Shaya tensed the second Dominic came over, knowing he had no sense of self-preservation. But he wasn’t wearing his usual flirty smile.

When Nick growled warningly at the blond pervert, Dominic raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “I only want to pass on my congratulations like everyone else. I won’t lie—I had my reservations about you, Nick, but Shaya’s a good friend of mine, and I want her to be happy. If you make her happy…well, that’s good enough for me.” He offered his hand to Nick, who slowly shook it. Dominic then gave Shaya a nod, just as the others had.

“So just like that, you’re fine with this?” asked Nick, skeptical.

Dominic shrugged. “I learned a lot about you today. Not really personal stuff. But your mom talked about you a lot, told me how you pulled through for your old pack at a time when they needed you, even though you’d only just got out of juvie. I can respect that.” He tilted his head. “Your mom told me you had some Portuguese in you. I never would have guessed. I have some Irish in me, like Shaya.”

Frowning, Shaya shook her head. “I don’t have Irish in me.”

“You don’t? Really?” That flirty smile crept onto his face. “Would you like some in you?” Anticipating that Nick would make a grab for him, Dominic quickly jerked out of the way. But Nick was too fast; he grabbed him and launched him into the pool. When Dominic burst to the surface of the water, he shouted in exhilaration and went into a fit of laughter.

Trey growled at his enforcer. “Could you try being normal for just a little while? I’d rather not have to take you home in a fucking casket.”

Shaya moved her attention to the person whose support she needed most. Taryn was sitting at the patio table beside Trey, her expression slightly sulky. “You’re uncharacteristically quiet.”

“If you’re going to tell her she rushed into this or some shit like that,” began Nick, “you should—”

Taryn snorted. “Easy there, Axton. I’m actually happy for you guys. I’m not saying I think you’re good enough for Shaya—
no one
will be good enough for her, in my eyes.” A huge sigh. “But it just occurred to me that this means Shaya will never be part of my pack again. Face it, Nick, you can’t obey Trey—or any other wolf, for that matter—and we all know it. But that means I can’t have Shaya back, and I hate that. Yeah, that’s selfish, but I never claimed I was unselfish.”

Nick stifled a smile at her petulant expression. “It’s not like you’re losing her. She’ll still be visiting you and stuff.”

“Will you be coming, too?” Taryn smirked—she knew the answer.

“I’ll be waiting for her in the car. You people annoy the shit out of me.”

Taryn leaned forward in her seat, her face imploring. “Please say you guys will have your mating ceremony on Phoenix territory? That’s your real home, Shaya. Nick’s family and Caleb can come too, obviously.”

Shaya looked up at him. “I’d like that. Is that okay for you?”

Nick shrugged. “If you want us to have the ceremony there, I’m good with that.” Trey chuckled, drawing Nick’s attention. “What’s funny?”

“I just find myself reminded of that time when you visited my territory and the subject of a mating ceremony for Taryn and me was brought up. I said if she wanted to have one, we’d have one, but that if she didn’t, we wouldn’t. What was it you said? Oh, that’s it. You said I shouldn’t let my mate have her own way all the time. Hmm. Right back atcha.”

Nick scowled at him. “Whatever, asshole—you mated a psycho.” Trey nodded in agreement, looking proud.
Twisted
.

Chuckling, Shaya shook her head against Nick’s chest. When she nipped it, he peered down at her. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

His arm contracted around her. “Where are you going?”

“To make some coffee. Want some?”

“Sure.” For the hell of it, he bit her lip hard before she pulled away.

Giving him a mock frown, Shaya turned and waltzed back into the house. She had only just switched on the coffee machine when she picked up Amber’s scent. Her wolf growled.

“I just wanted to say congratulations once again,” said Amber as she appeared beside her. Her eyes bulged as she added excitedly, “We have to get started on the plans for the mating ceremony!” Not only was she effectively inviting herself to the ceremony, but she was doing the BFF thing. Shaya had had enough of it.

As everyone was still outside and the music was blaring enough to keep the conversation private, Shaya figured that now would be as good a time as any to get things straight with her and Amber. “Listen, I appreciate the offer, but we both know that it wasn’t made out of the kindness of your heart.” Amber looked appropriately offended. “You don’t want to befriend me. My guess is that, on the contrary, you hate me…because you want Nick and I have him.”

Amber’s expression darkened, and her eyes became diamond hard, no longer hiding the hatred she had. At least she wasn’t going to play the “Oh, you’ve got it all wrong” game.

“I can’t be pissed at you for wanting Nick—it would make me a huge hypocrite. But if you care about him, you won’t try to mess things up for him. I say ‘try’ because it’s not something you’ll succeed in doing if you do make an attempt at it. But hopefully, you won’t want to.”

In a sickly sweet voice full of contempt, Amber said, “Of course I wouldn’t mess things up for Nick. I want him to be happy.”

Shaya gave her a beaming smile. “Great. I’m glad that’s settled.”

Amber turned on her heel and marched away, but then she suddenly halted and pivoted to face Shaya once more. Deviousness twinkled in her eyes. “I really do hope you two will be happy. I know a few mated dominant/submissive pairs. They’re all happy. Even the ones whose bond hasn’t completely snapped into place. Not
totally
happy, but happy enough, given the circumstances. Oh, did you not know that
fully
mating can be a problem for dominant/submissive pairs?”

No, Shaya hadn’t, and her expression must have given that away because there was a glint of smugness in Amber’s gaze.

“No one knows exactly what the issue is,” she said as she did a cocky strut around the room, “but it seems to be that taking the very last step is hard because it requires both shifters to accept what that means. Dominants often have to give up any ambitions of being Alpha or holding positions of authority within their pack. Submissives have to accept that they hold their mate back and that their strength will never match that of their mate. Some dominants are okay with that, but the submissive of the pair isn’t always so okay with it because knowing they hold their mate back is hard. Especially if it’s the guy who’s submissive, or if the dominant of the pair is a born alpha. But hey, don’t worry, it doesn’t mean that will happen to you and Nick.”

But Amber would try her best to ensure it did happen, Shaya understood. It wasn’t an uncommon thing for jealous ex-partners or shunned pursuers to try to stop the shifter they wanted from fully bonding with their mate. It was the ultimate form of revenge and, in a lot of cases, it could work. In this case, it had a high chance of happening without Amber’s help because the difficulties Nick and Shaya faced were exactly those she had described.

“Can you imagine how hard that must be to have your mate so close but for him to never totally want and accept you? That would be a hell like no other, wouldn’t it?”

Yes, it would. If a bond seemed to be taking too long to click into place, resentment and anger and depression would build—not a good combination. That combination would then make it more difficult for the bond to fully form. Shaya had seen it happen. But she wouldn’t let it happen to her and Nick. “I guess I should make it clear to anyone who thinks of trying to interfere with the development of the bond that I won’t stand for it.”

Amber gave a short laugh, regarding Shaya like she was ridiculous. “What is it you will do to these people? Other than cower and submit, I mean.”

Shaya smiled. “I’d warn them that they
really
don’t want to find out the answer to that.”

“But for them to defeat you…all they would have to do is this.” Amber’s dominant vibes crashed into Shaya, attempting to force her to submit. When that didn’t happen, Amber’s eyes widened in both surprise and anger.

“Hopefully that would be enough to make those people think twice about coming at me. What do you think?”

Clearly too infuriated to remember to keep up her sweet, friendly-friendly act, Amber curled her upper lip at Shaya…and it was apparent
exactly
what Amber intended to do. Before the dominant female had the chance to charge at her, Shaya quickly grabbed the knife block beside her and whipped out a knife, hurling it in Amber’s direction. Just as quickly, she threw another, and another, and another, and another…and smiled at the end result.

As Nick walked into the kitchen in search of Shaya, he came to an abrupt halt at the sight he found. There was Amber, plastered against the wall with five knives stabbing into the wall and framing her body. And Shaya…well, she was smiling cheerily and somewhat sweetly. “What’s going on?” he asked dubiously. His mate shrugged, still the image of innocence.

“I was just showing Amber my knife trick,” Shaya told him, pulling the knives from the wall. “Cool, huh?”

Pretty certain there was a
lot
more to this, Nick narrowed his eyes at Amber. But then Shaya was in front of him, kissing and holding him…and he decided that if she didn’t care, fuck it. Having shot Amber a cautioning look—which received a gulp and made her quickly depart—he locked his arms tight around Shaya. “Are you sure everything’s okay?” Her smile wobbled slightly. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Or, at least, nothing I want to talk about right now.”

Pleased that she wasn’t trying to blow him off, Nick planted a firm kiss on her mouth. “Then we’ll talk about it later.”

As Taryn then entered the room with Roni close behind, she smiled awkwardly at Shaya. “We might have a problem. A problem other than that Greta’s still alive and kicking, that is.”

Shaya rolled her eyes. “What?”

“When I spoke to Caleb on the phone yesterday, I told him about how Nick tracked you down—he was harassing me and making me feel guilty, saying we were leaving him out of everything.”

“I don’t mind you telling Caleb.” When Taryn’s awkward expression remained, Shaya narrowed her eyes. “That’s not the ‘problem’ you mentioned, is it?

“No. He called me just now and, well…Remember I said he complained we were leaving him out of everything? Well, he thought it was only
him
who we hadn’t bothered to tell about Nick finding you. So he sort of might have mentioned it to your parents, thinking they already knew.”

“
What?
”

“And they sort of might have demanded to know if he’s claimed you yet and when the mating ceremony is.”

“Taryn!”

“It’s not
my
fault. Blame Caleb.”

Running a hand over Shaya’s curls, Nick asked, “You didn’t want your parents to know you’re mated?”