The pair eyed each other for a full minute before Angie couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “Well,hillbilly, ya lettin’ me out? Or are you going to stand there staring at me all day?”
He scowled and stepped back from the door. “Fine. Get your skinny ass out here.”
Angie’s attempt at being elegant flew out of the room, because his words caused her to trip right into him. She didn’t know whose skinny ass he was talking about, but it couldn’t be hers. She hadn’t been skinny a day in her life and thankfully never wanted to be. Angie had many issues, but problems with self-image had never been one of them.
He grasped her by her arms to stop her fall and she felt the heat from his hands go right through her skin. His gruff tone from a mere second ago changed, as he asked, “You okay, sugar?”
She yanked her arms away from him. She detested being touched. Always had. And she found his touch particularly annoying. His voice, though, with its damn Southern accent sent her pulse racing through her entire body like an out-of-control wildfire. “I’m fine. And don’t call me sugar.” She walked into the middle of the bedroom. “Now what, country?”
He shrugged, an annoying smile tugging at his lips. Then he walked over to the side of the bed, grabbed the cordless phone off the bedside table, and tossed it to her. She caught it with one hand, but she didn’t know what he expected her to do with it. Did he want her to call and make a ransom demand? Or just shove it up his tight ass? More likely that before she made Sara pay the bastard one damn cent for her freedom.
“What the fuck do I do with this?”
“Well, sugar, it’s called a phone. They’re these amazing new inventions—”
“I know what it is, you mother—” She gritted her teeth, cutting off her curse. If she let the full weight of her fury go, she’d stand there and curse him for the next seventy-two minutes.
She clocked it once.
“I’m not going to ask them for ransom.”
“Ransom.” He laughed. “Who’d pay ransom for you?”
“Why you slimy little—”
“I’m giving you the phone so you can call your friends and tell them to pick your skinny ass up. Today.” At her frown of confusion, he added, “Trust me. I didn’t kidnap you. My idiot brothers did. Thought they were doin’ a good thing. Personally, I would have left your ass there. Let the dogs take care of ya.”
She didn’t ask for hillbillies to kidnap her, but she sure as hell didn’t need to hear she wasn’t worthy to be kidnapped either.
She quickly punched in a number on the keypad and put the phone to her ear. The phone rang while she moved past the hillbilly and easily pushed herself up onto the empty dresser. Her feet didn’t touch the floor and she was glad to see her pedicure had held up quite nicely under the recent abuse.
By the fourth ring, “Yeah?”
Man, she’d never hear the end of this shit from Sara and Mik. Letting herself get carried off by hillbillies. “Hey, Sara. It’s me.”
Okay, she thought to herself, let the abuse begin. But all she heard was a little sniffle.
“Angie?” Sara’s voice sounded so small. What the hell?
“Yeah?”
Then Sara Morrighan burst into tears.
Her friends didn’t cry…ever. She cried once but anyone would cry if a jealous cheerleader tossed them down a flight of stairs. “Sara, what the hell is wrong?”
“I…we…” Sara couldn’t speak she was crying so hard.
After a moment, another voice came on. “Who is this?”
“Zach it’s me. What the fuck?”
“Jesus, Angie. Shit.” He spoke away from the phone. “Sara it’s Angie. Honey, she’s fine. Sara,” he growled, “stop crying.”
Angie shook her head. That Zach. He sure knew how to be Mr. Compassion. Turned out just what her best friend needed, too. “Marrec called us early this morning,” he stated into the phone. “They found your purse, blood, and some torn up hyenas.”
Angie closed her eyes. No wonder Sara was crying. She thought Angie was dead.
“No one called you and told you I was okay?”
The hillbilly winced and she realized he also thought her friends had been informed.
“Nope.”
“I’m fine, Zach. Really.”
“Where are you? What happened?”
“I have no idea what happened. And as far as where I am…” She glanced over at her captor to find he’d stretched himself out on the bed. One arm hung over the side, swinging back and forth, his fingers brushing the carpet as he blatantly stared at her legs.
“Hey. Hillbilly. Where the hell am I, anyway?”
He looked up at her through long black lashes. “North Carolina.”
Angie stared at the man. “I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?”
“North Carolina. That’s where you are. At the moment.”
“Zach. I’m…I’m in North Carolina.”
“North Carolina? How the hell did you get into North Carolina?”
“I don’t know. But I’m ready to come home now.”
Zach muttered a soft curse, then, “Okay. Okay, we’re coming right now.”
The way he said that…something was going on. Something that wasn’t about her. She knew it.
“What’s going on, Zach?” She reached down and rubbed her calf. Damn Carolina bugs.
“Nothin’. We’ll be there in a few hours.”
“Zach,” she warned, “of the three of us, I am not the nice one. So I’d like it if you answered me.”
Zach sighed and Angie could hear him moving.
What the hell was going on? And what the hell did the hillbilly think he was doing? Instead of a bug, it was his big fingers brushing against the skin of her ankle, causing her entire body to clench.
Again with the touching.
She moved her leg away and covered the receiver. “Cut that out.”
Zach returned. She had the feeling he switched rooms. “Okay, Angie. This is the deal. The hyenas made a grab for Miki. A full-on assault right at her school.”
“Yeah, I know. Conall got hurt, but when I talked to Sara last night she said he was doing okay.” She reached down and slapped away the hand caressing her calf.
“Yeah. Yeah. He’s fine. It’s just…well, we’re pulling in the Pack right now to protect Miki.”
“Protect Miki? What the hell for?” One of the last people she could think of who needed protection was Miki. And one of the last people she could imagine wanting to protect her was Zach.
“Not permanently or anything. Just for the next…uh…nine months or so.”
Angie froze, her eyes growing wide. She barely even noticed the big hand wrapping around her ankle.
“Zach, are you…are you saying that Miki…”
“Yeah. Her and Conall, uh…” Zach chuckled. “Got kinda close.”
She squealed. Of the three, she was definitely the most girly. And when your best friend got pregnant, you squealed, causing the hillbilly to snatch his hand away. “Holy fuckin’ shit, Zach! You’re fuckin’ shittin’ me!” She may be the most girly, but bikers still raised her.
“Nope. Our little Conall’s going to be a dad.”
Man, did she have work to do. Sara would be completely useless in this situation. She hated kids. And Miki, being Miki, would be so busy analyzing she would neglect important things like items for the baby. A crib, some diapers, a desktop computer that could patch into hypersensitive government databases undetected—it would be a Kendrick after all. So, Miki would need her to help.
Hell, Angelina Santiago was going to be an aunt!
But that also meant she needed to see the bigger picture right now. She looked over at the hillbilly cat who’d stormed into her life. He rolled onto his back and stretched both arms over his head, legs stretching out long. The man had to have the biggest thighs she’d ever seen on a human being.
Yeah, this has disaster written all over it.
She shouldn’t trust him. Not
really. But her instincts were never wrong. The only power she inherited from her grandmother. When she met Sara and Marrec she automatically knew they were different, but good people. And before Sara’s grandmother ever spoke, Angie smelled the woman’s evil and insanity all over her. Those same instincts told her clearly this big idiot could be trusted. At least with her life he could.
“Zach, I want you to do something for me.”
“Anything. Name it.”
“Wait ’til the Pack’s there. Protect Miki.”
“Ang, I can’t leave you there. If for no other reason, your friend will have my head.”
“And if something happens to Miki?”
Zach had no answer for that. And with good reason. “Please, Zach. Do what I’m asking. I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t even know who you’re with.”
“Hey, hillbilly.”
He looked up at her, his head back against the bed. “Stop calling me that.”
She wouldn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. “What’s your name?”
“Nikolai Vorislav, but I wouldn’t tell him that.”
She ignored him. “Nikolai Vorislav.”
A cold, brutal silence hit her from the other end of the phone. Uh-oh. “Zach?”
“Put him on.”
Nik stared at her feet. She had the prettiest toes he’d ever seen on a woman. And her skin. Christ knew how she kept it so soft. When he marched upstairs to let her out of the closet, his anger marched right beside him. But one look at her, leaning back in the closet like the queen of goddamn Sheba, and his dick almost pounded past his zipper. Lord, the things he could do to that body.
As it was, she still only had on the sheet. She wore no underwear and he was dying to get another look at that tattoo on her back. Especially if that meant he could see her completely naked. He already knew she looked good completely naked.
Human, you idiot. She’s human. Too needy. Too…boring. Remember? Of course, how boring could this woman be when she used toilet parts as weapons?
No, he needed her gone before he ended up doing something he’d regret for a real long time.
She stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head and muttering under her breath, “Those goddamn bitches better be worth this bullshit.” She covered the receiver of the phone. “I need to stay.”
Nik’s eyes snapped up to her pretty face. “Where?”
“Here.”
Nik shook his head and turned over on his stomach. “I don’t think so, sugar. You hit me with a toilet.”
She raised one eyebrow and he felt little comfort from that expression. “And your brothers snatched me across state lines—several of them. Your choice, hillbilly. I stay here for a couple of days and you keep me safe or your brothers go where they so clearly belong and learn not to bend over. And since they let my friends twist for the last few hours, you know I have no problem with that.”
Nik let out a growl. A low, threat-growl. They normally lasted no more than a few seconds. His stretched out for about fifteen. The woman pissed him off that much. Yet she didn’t react. She didn’t move. Didn’t cower. Didn’t do anything except stare at him. She was like a freakin’ house cat. Except he did see the tiny goose bumps that ran down her arms and across the exposed part of her upper chest.
“Is that a yes?”
He blinked, his nostrils flaring. If he didn’t know better he’d swear his growl just turned her on.
Okay. Now this woman is starting to scare me.
“Do I have any choice?”
“No,” she responded coldly. “Now you talk to him, assure him that you’ll keep me safe, and you be goddamn nice and charming.”
“Or what?”
“Or I start setting things on fire.”
And he knew she meant it. He at least knew she’d try.
He held his hand out and she tossed the phone to him. He brought it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Vorislav?”
“Yeah.”
“Zach Sheridan.”
Nik smiled. “Hey, Sheridan. How’s your sister?”
“Great. How’re your balls?”
Ah, yes. What a college graduation that was. Degenerating into an ugly fight between two families. They didn’t even shift, just began beating the shit out of each other. And Nik clearly remembered Zach Sheridan trying to put his balls through the roof of his mouth. Actually, that was the last thing Nik remembered about that fight.
The only ones who didn’t fight? Alek and Nessa. After all that, the two were still friends, although long-distance ones.
“So, why exactly did your brothers pull her out of Wolf territory?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them. But I’m sure it had something to do with impressing your sister.”
Nik reared back when that dog growl leaped at him through the phone. “Keep your brother away from my sister.”
Oh, this could prove to be mighty fun. “I don’t know. My brother thinks she’s awfully cute.”
“I wonder how cute she’ll think he is when they start finding pieces of him all along the Eastern Seaboard.”
“Do you have a point, little puppy? Or you gonna keep nippin’ at my heels?”
“Hey,” Angelina whispered. “Is that you being nice?”
“Sssh, darlin’. Big boys talkin’.”
From the expression on her face, Nik thought for sure she would launch herself off that dresser and beat the living tar out of him.
Man, what an uptight little thing.
“Look, hillbilly-pussy, how do I know my friend will be safe with you?”
“My brothers saved her, didn’t they? And they didn’t see any wolves out there helpin’ her. But if you’re so worried, ask your sister.”
“What does that mean?”
“She’s been here. On our territory. Stayed in my momma’s house. Eaten our food. Hunted our deer. It’s been quite a few years since then, but not much has changed.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Vorislav. There’s no way my sister was ever on your territory.”
Normally Nik would kick the hell out of anyone who accused him of lying. Because he prided himself on his Southern honesty. But now he smiled. He couldn’t help himself. “She never told you, did she?” The silence he got back answered his question. Poor Nessa. He knew she’d be getting a call soon from one angry big brother. “Your little human will be just fine. Don’t worry about a thing.”
Good Lord, he wanted her to stay. He really wanted her to stay.
“You better protect her, Vorislav. The hyenas have gone postal and we don’t know why.”
“Don’t worry, little doggie. I won’t let anything happen to her.” He reached over and grabbed hold of her ankle. Just like he thought she might, she yanked her foot away from him. But in the process, slammed her head against the heavy gilt frame of the mirror behind her. Nik winced as she gripped the back of her head. “I’ll even protect her from herself.”
“Yeah. Well, good luck with that one.”
He tossed the phone back to Angie, hitting her in the forehead since her hands were still massaging the back of her head.
“Ow!”
“Sorry.”
She caught the phone before it slid off her lap and hit the floor. She glared at him as she put it to her ear. “Zach? We cool? Okay. And don’t take any shit from Sara and Miki. If they got a problem, they can call me. But do yourself a favor…don’t eat anything Miki fixes for you.” She ended the call.
“Well, now. Looks like I have myself a guest.”
“Yes. You do.”
“So, what’s the first thing? Hungry?”
“That’s mighty Southern of you, but I’d prefer clothes first.”
“But they’re so unnecessary.” The woman hit him with a toilet and he ends up flirting with her. This simply couldn’t be normal behavior, even for shifters. He blamed his father and the man’s defective tiger genes.
She slipped that amazingly hot body off his dres
ser and moved toward him slowly.
“Dude.” She crouched next to him. “Maybe we should get some things straight.”
“Dude? Did you just call me dude?”
“I’m only staying here temporarily because I have to. Not so you can have a party with the Texas girl.”
He propped himself up on one elbow.
This was a woman who could easily make him crawl. Happily. “But we have such great parties here, sugar. The body shots alone can be quite entertaining.”
“Clothes. Food. Now.” She stood up. Mmmmhhmm. Tall. “Or I really will set shit on fire—and I’ll make sure to start with you.”
He willed his dick to behave as he stared up at her. Maybe he’d break his “no full-humans” rule this one time. Just for her.
“So shift that ass into gear, hillbilly,” she walked out the door, the damn sheet she wore blocking his view of her delectable tattoo. “I don’t have all fuckin’ day.”
No. He shook his head. He would not be abandoning his rules for this one. He knew crazy when he saw it. The majority of his family was crazy. And he wasn’t about to add another one to the pile.
As hot as the woman was—and good Lord she was hot—he would only worry about making sure she survived the next couple of days. With that mouth, it wouldn’t be easy. Then, when the wolves arrived, he’d toss her skinny ass out of his house.
Her head popped back through the door. “I’m sorry. Was I not clear when I said move your fuckin’ ass?”
Nik growled and followed after her.
Oh, yeah. When this was all over, he was going to beat the living tar out of his brothers.
Chapter Three
“I don’t see the problem, sugar.”
Angie crossed her arms in front of her chest. “First off. Stop calling me sugar. Second, I would never allow that…thing to touch my body.”
He looked at the dress he held in his hands. “What’s wrong with it? It’s a nice, simple sundress.”
Did he really believe for a second she’d wear the dress of a dead woman? “It would be fine. If I were ninety…and boring.” And dead.