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“No, Nick. This isn’t the time.”
Oh, God. Did she have any idea how emasculated he felt right now? How ashamed? He kissed her gently and slid from the bed. “I’m going to see Tarron, check on any progress with catching the vampire who took you. I’ll see you later.”
Disappointment clouded her pretty features. “How much later?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stay, please? Just for a while?”
She knew he was lying. It was there in her eyes, the hurt he’d caused. He could stand anything except being the cause of her pain.
“I have to go.”
With efficient movements, he dressed and left before he could change his mind. He needed time and space to figure out how to get past his fear.
Dammit, Nick, you stupid asshole.
He’d ruined a perfect morning. He’d make this up to his mate. Somehow.
* * *
Nick stalked to Tarron’s office and knocked sharply. He waited for permission to enter before striding inside to find the prince in a meeting with two men—Teague and a vampire Nick had never met before.
“Glad you’re here,” Tarron said with a genuine smile. He indicated the new vampire. “Nick, I’d like you to meet Ian Lockwood, my best friend and right hand for more years than I care to remember. He’s been in England for the past few months, taking care of some personal business, and I for one am pleased to have him back. Ian, this is Nick Westfall, commander of the Alpha Pack.”
“Years? Try a couple of centuries.” The vampire stuck out his hand. “It’s good to meet you. I’ve met some of your team as well and they seem like first-rate warriors.”
Nick couldn’t help but puff his chest out a little as he shook the offered hand. “They are, every single one. They make me look good.”
“The best of men always do,” Ian acknowledged.
Nick sized up Ian. The big vampire seemed openly friendly, and yet Nick sensed a strength about him. A steely determination that hinted he’d protect what was his. Nick didn’t get any visions, but he didn’t have to in order to know the vampire would need that strength in the days to come.
Tarron leaned back in his chair and addressed Nick. “Speaking of our men, some of them went back to the cabin where Calla was held. They’re searching for more clues and will bring us anything more they find.”
Annoyance surged inside him. “I should’ve been with them. I could be helping the investigation.”
“Right now, you’re helping my sister, and that’s more important.” Tarron’s gaze telegraphed just how much weight that carried as far as he was concerned.
Nick wasn’t sure how much good he was doing his new mate, considering, but wisely refrained from saying so. “She’s my first priority, too, which is why I want this bastard of a vampire and his minions found and destroyed. I don’t want them coming after her again, or you, for that matter.”
Tarron’s expression was grim. “We’ll find him and he’ll be so fucking sorry he messed with my family. In the meantime, we need to trust our guys to bring us the information we need to locate him.”
Nick blew out a frustrated breath. “You’re right, but it sucks waiting around. Who the hell is this asshole and why does he have such a hard-on for all of us?”
“That’s the big money question.”
Just then, there was a loud knock on the door. Tarron called for whoever it was to enter, and the door swung open. A few of Tarron’s men, along with Micah, Aric, and Nix, strode into the room. Nix was carrying a laptop that he placed on Tarron’s desk.
“We found this hidden in one of the dead hunter’s bunks,” he said. “We’ll need someone with hacking skills to get inside and tell us what sort of secrets might be on there. Hopefully the kind that gives us answers.”
Teague stepped up. “That would be me. Let me take a look and see what you’ve found.”
Those around Tarron’s desk gave him room. Pulling up an extra chair, the computer expert flipped open the lid and went to work circumventing the password-protected screen.
“Most people would be appalled at how ridiculously easy it is to get into their laptops,” he said, without any smugness. “That part is child’s play. The real question is, does the vampire heading up this band of misfits know what he’s doing?”
“In what way?” Nick asked, curious.
