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He silenced the wolf’s raging voice and moved to the car he’d rented for the trip. “Can you provide me with her address? I’ll wait for her there.”
“No.” Another pretty, deadly smile and Meridia cocked her head, the long, spiraling curls of black, red and deep brown falling over one shoulder. Her smooth, rich skin, a soft golden-brown, seemed to pulse, a ripple of the deadly creature who lived inside her stirring toward the surface. “That’s her domain and you won’t go there unless she welcomes you. But I’ve arranged accommodations. Donner.”
The big brunette at Meridia’s back came around her, holding out a card.
His eyes were beyond dark when he looked at Niko, the challenge open.
“Do you have a death wish?” Niko asked coolly.
“Do you?” Donner’s smile was hot and wickedly bright.
“Donner. You can return to the cape,” Meridia said. “We’re going to be nice to our... guest.”
“Damn.” But that smile didn’t fade and Donner didn’t look away from Niko until he’d turned back to his Alpha.
––––––––
VICIOUS, JEALOUS POSSESSIVENESStore through Niko as the other man strode away, hopping into a retro-style Jeep that looked like something from the previous century. As it purred quietly to life, Donner continued to watch Niko, that cagey smile still burning hot.
Once he was gone, Niko turned his gaze to Meridia.
“Are they lovers?”
Meridia tapped a long, shell-pink nail against one thigh, her head cocked as she looked him over. “I don’t believe you have any rights to ask such a question.”
Without saying anything else, she turned and walked down the pier.
Niko scowled at her back and not even the brief glimpse he got of her sliding from human to her sea form was enough to cool the edge of fury riding him.
He checked the address he’d been given, sneered when he realized just how far Meridia had put him from Zee. He knew exactly where she lived. Meridia hadn’t just taken care to keep distance between them—he wasn’t even staying in the same fucking town.
And there wasn’t fuck-all he could do without being disruptive to the peace between Therians and Atargarians.
Crumpling the card in his fist, he shoved it into a pocket, then pulled out his phone.
The biting rage in Phoenix’s eyes hadn’t dimmed in the hours since Niko had last spoken to him but to his credit, the alpha managed to sound almost polite when he said, “Yes, Prime?”
They’d been friendly once, Niko thought out of the blue. Not friends, perhaps, but that would have come eventually, if Niko hadn’t been so foolish.
“Can you have a couple of your newer wolves do a scout along the inner perimeter near Portsmouth?”
“If I send another wolf in to Meridia’s turf, she’ll probably kill first, then shoot me a text asking why a mangy Therian was in her territory later.”
Narrowing his eyes, Niko scrutinized Phoenix’s face. “Odd. You didn’t say it wasn’t doable. You have somebody close by already.”
The only response was a slow, lazy blink that reminded Niko of the way Liam watched him.
“Nobody needs to go into the coastal perimeter.”
“Why?” Phoenix narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
He bit back the urge to tell the alpha he had no right to question the Prime. But Phoenix, in his own way, had been doing what he could to protect his sister. “She’s not in Provincetown. She went swimming before dawn, wasn’t seen for hours. Meridia had a call a few minutes ago that one of her people had glimpsed a Therian wolf in a state park a little south of Portsmouth.”
Phoenix’s jaw worked, then he gave a short nod. “My man can’t get close. She doesn’t want us near her, especially me. If she scents one of us, she’ll run, hard and fast.”
“Why did you never try to fix the bond between you?” Nikolai asked.
Phoenix stared at him with dead eyes.
“Because I failed her. Because I’m the reason she ended up in Durham-Starfell and why you think she was using you and lying to you. I’m the reason everything went to shit when she was finally happy. Talking to me reminds her of every happy thing she thought she’d have, only to lose it.” He smiled bitterly. “Oh, and let’s not forget... she doesn’t want to risk the ire of the Prime falling on my head.”
He ended the call.
Niko continued to stand there, staring at the blank screen and feeling more hollow and empty than before.
