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I gulp. My heart is suddenly pounding in my chest. “I can’t promise anything. I’m really messed up. I have a complicated past.”
“I understand, and I thank you for at least giving me the chance to try.”
Nick walks over to us, unknowingly breaking the tension. I’m grateful for the reprieve. “We’re ready to head out,” he says. “You guys want to follow us back?”
Parker hesitates and then sighs. “You should take her with you.”
I’m so shocked I rear my head back. Parker grimaces. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but…I’m exhausted.” He lets out another weary sigh. “If someone were to try again, I don’t think I could protect you in this condition.”
Parker swallows hard, as if admitting his weakness kills him. Which is ridiculous. He was outnumbered four to one, and he still came out alive.
In a rare moment of seriousness, Nick places a hand on Parker’s shoulder and says, “You saved her life tonight.”
Their gazes meet, and something passes between them. It sort of makes me wish I could hug them both. Nick gives Parker’s shoulder another squeeze. “Go home and get some rest, friend. I’ll look after her.”
It takes Parker a moment to accept defeat, but then he nods. Nick lets him go, and he sucks in a deep breath while raking his hands through his hair.
Nick catches the longing look Parker casts my way. His lips twitch, and I know he’s reached his serious quota for the day. He jerks his head my direction and smirks at Parker. “Well, go on. Kiss our girl goodnight. She owes you one for saving her.”
My eyes bulge, and my jaw drops. “NICK!” I punch him in the arm, and I swear it hurts me worse than him. It takes everything I have in me not to stomp my foot like a petulant child. But there is no stopping the blush that creeps into my cheeks.
Nick somehow manages an innocent shrug and heads toward his bike, whistling a cheerful tune. Jerk. I glare lasers into his back until Parker blocks my view. Suddenly he’sright there, so close I can smell his cologne and feel him invading my personal space. My heart rate kicks up so fast a ghost of a smile crosses Parker’s face. His gaze falls to my mouth, but he quickly lifts it again. “You going to be okay?”
I pry my tongue off the roof of my mouth and whisper, “Thanks to you.”
I’m rewarded with another almost-smile.
Parker lifts his hand and I think he’s going to tuck my hair behind my ear, but he cups my cheek instead. His eyes fall shut, and he sucks in a deep breath.Have to be patient. She needs time. She’ll trust me eventually.
His thumb brushes my cheek so softly my eyes flutter shut, and I shiver. The air around me shifts, and then Parker’s soft lips press against my forehead. “Good night, Nora.”
I’m speechless and frozen in place, until Parker gets in his car and drives off. I watch him go, unable to reconcile the warring emotions inside me. I don’t know what I’m doing with him. He’s too intense, and I know part of him is under the same spell everyone else is under. I know he’s drawn to me more than he should be. But for some reason, I can’t help encouraging him. I like him, but I’m playing with fire, and I always get burned.
I yelp when a hand clamps down lightly on my shoulder, and Nick chuckles. “Come on, little spitfire. Let’s go back to the Agency and beat a confession out of a merc.”
I snort but follow him to his bike. He stops before climbing on and grins at me. “You know…I also saved your life tonight. I think I deserve a kiss, too.”
He’s joking. But at the same time there’s something in his expression I’ve never noticed before. A hint of, I don’t know, a dare? I narrow my eyes at him. Just what is he playing at? When his lips twitch and I realize he’s only messing with me, I have the overwhelming urge to punch him. “You know what you can kiss, Gorgeous? Myass.”
Nick bursts into laughter and climbs onto his motorcycle, patting the seat behind him after the bike roars to life. “Come on, Nora. Let’s go interrogate our perp. I’ll let you be the bad cop.”
Damn him for making me laugh.
The interrogation room atthe FUA looks the same as it does in the human world. Small. White walls. One-way mirror. Single table. The main difference is that it’s warded to be magic suppressing. By the time I follow Nick into the room, my new werewolf friend is bitching about his silver handcuffs being too tight. The guy stops complaining when he notices me. “What’s she doing in here?” He almost sounds scared. Nervous, at the very least. “She’s not a cop.”
Nick winks at me. “Nah, but she’s cute, though, isn’t she?”
I roll my eyes. Wolf Man scoffs.
“So…Dennis,” I say, reading the rap sheet sitting on the table in front of Nick and me. “No priors. Attempted murder is a pretty serious first offense. Money must be tight for you to take that job.” I meet his blazing yellow eyes. “Itwasa job, wasn’t it? Or did you just try to kill Parker and me for the fun of it?”
Dennis snarls at the accusation. “It was a job, but I didn’t try to murder anyone. I didn’t go near the vamp, and we were only paid to get you out of the picture—employer wasn’t specific as to how. Turning you and mating with you would have done that just fine, and you’re only human. That’s not against the law. I’m allowed to claim a human mate.”
I grit my teeth and glare at no one in particular. “There really should be a law that you can’t just take humans at will.”
Lack of that law is the whole reason Henry originally took me and why I’m neck-deep in the underworld now. But, underworlders aren’t big fans of humans as a whole, so I doubt that law is getting passed anytime soon, even if it would make my life infinitely easier.
“Fine,” Nick says to Dennis, shrugging casually. “You’re allowed to claim a human mate. Nora is exempt from that because she has underworlder blood, but you probably didn’t know that, right?”
