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“Yes. There was an emergency and she had to go.” Brandon smiled proudly. “I told her I’d watch over him. She knows I’m pack so she trusted me.”
The faint echo of footsteps down the hall caught their attention—all of their attention.
Saint said Brandon’s name sharply, but the other wolf’s panic rose as he caught the scent of the approaching Therian—the Prime.
Warmth bloomed across Zee’s skin as she sensed Niko approaching, but she didn’t look away from Brandon.
Saint shifted farther into the room and turned to stand with both shoulders against the wall, yielding the floor to Niko as he came to a stop just outside the door, looking at each of them in turn.
Brandon stood there, trembling. Whatever magic Saint had woven with his voice disappeared, dying an instant death under the power of Niko’s dominance. Still, Brandon couldn’t seem to peel his feet from the floor.
Zee watched the other Therian as he hunched his shoulders and ducked his head, his actions those of a scared wolf, ready to roll over and show his throat to the alpha.
Niko shouldered in through the door, blue eyes sliding from Brandon to the shifter still asleep on the bed. A muscle pulsed in his jaw, but there was no other reaction as he paused there, lingering by Zee long enough to brush his fingers down her arm.
Then he was moving again.
Something about the very way he moved, the liquid glide of his muscles, and the glint in his eyes tugged on a deep instinct in Zee.
Even though she wanted to lunge for Brandon and demand Niko to leave him to her—his blood was hers—the wolf in her demanded she stay quiet, not draw his attention to her, to any of them.
It was a primal fear, demanding obedience even though she knew, in the very core of her soul, Niko wouldn’t ever lay a hand on her. And that fear, strong as it was, still didn’t own her. She had the strength to stand in the face of his dominance, something few wolves could do, outside his second-in-command and several of his top lieutenants.
Brandon didn’t have a chance.
His scent had soured even more and he backed up, staring at Niko with abject terror on his face.
“Grady, what the fuck are you doing here? You were supposed to go home to get that key.”
Zee tensed, looking from Brandon to Niko. Understanding hit like an iron fist straight to her gut. “His name isn’t Grady, Niko.”
Brandon jerked, throwing himself back against the window.
Niko swung his head around to meet Zee’s gaze. “Really.”
It came out in a voice so cold, it sent shivers down Zee’s spine, even as she moved closer to him. She reached out and rested her hand low on his spine, smoothing it in circles. Without taking her eyes from Brandon, she said, “You heard, didn’t you? Boone would have already called you. That’s why you’re stalking around ready to kill. But I don’t want to let you kill him. He’s mine.”
“Why is he yours, Zee?” He grasped her neck and pulled her closer, forcing her to meet his gaze.
She didn’t want to look away from Brandon—she’d had so many nightmares about that night, hated herself for how they’d made her feel so... shattered. So weak. And now one of her tormentors stood right there.
But she looked away, meeting Niko’s gaze as she reached for the hand on her neck and brought it around, pressing it to the front. “It took years for me to wake up from my nightmares and not feel hands on my neck, choking the air out of me. I always looked at him and saw a monster. A monster. But he was just a skinny teenager, somebody terrified of my brothers. He was weak and the thugs he ran with in the Greylock pack made him feel bigger than he was.”
Movement caught Zee’s attention and she whipped her head around, staring at Brandon, who’d shifted the barest inch closer to the window.
“He was weak. Now that I look back and think about it? I can see it even in my memories. I probably could have torn him apart even then—if it had just been us. And my brothers would have torn him to shreds. Maybe that’s why he disappeared so quickly, why he changed his name.”
Niko blew out a low, controlled breath. “Brandon.”
The Therian snarled and lunged back against the window once more. This time, it shattered and he half-turned mid-lunge so he could brace his feet on the sill as he jumped, propelling himself through the window.
Zee growled.
Niko was already on the move, shifting between one beat, and the next, his body in his full animal form, a seamless meld between wolf and big cat, broader through the chest than either animal would be in nature, legs built for running—and leaping.
The sound that came from his throat was neither howl nor roar but in a way, a mix of both.
Zee felt an answering howl in her throat, but before she could move, Saint caught her, both arms wrapping hers in a bear hug.
