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She was sitting up on the bed, her back propped against a pillow, skimming her thumb over her phone’s screen. Thick bandages lay across her neck and her right arm, and those were only the ones I could see. A purple bruise marked her forehead. Our shifter hosts had washed the blood from her hair, but the pink tufts still lay more limply than usual. But she smiled when she saw me and set down thephone.
“Time to go?” shesaid.
“Yeah.” I hesitated. “I don’t want to just leave you here with a bunch of strangers, but we don’t know if the rogues will attack again whenwe’re—”
“Oh, Ren.” She held out her arms, beckoning me over. I walked into her embrace. I hugged her carefully, worried about her injuries, but she squeezed me with all her strength. “Don’t worry about me. These people are looking after me just fine. You’ve got your stuff to do. I’ll hang out a while longer, and Aaron said it should be okay for me to go back to the city by the time I’m all fixed up. You just have to promise you’ll come visit me even if you get all busy with shifter queen business, youhear?”
A pained smile tugged at my lips. “Of course. You’re still my bestfriend.”
“That’s right. Besties for life.” She let go of me to raise her hand, and we tapped knuckles. “Don’t get too distracted by all those yummy men either, okay? But you’d better indulge at least alittle.”
A blush tickled up the back of my neck. “I think I’ve already got thatcovered.”
“Oh ho! Something else I’m going to need to hear all about.” She gave my arm one last pat and waved me off. “Focus on finding your mom. I want to hear all about the end of that mysterytoo.”
“I hope it’s a good one,” I said with total honesty. What was waiting for us in Sunridge, Wyoming? Another clue to another branch of this weird scavenger hunt Mom had sent us on, or some actual answers thistime?
WasMomwaiting there? I didn’t know what I’d say if I finally saw her again, but God, I wanted to sobadly.
“Go,” Kylie said, outright shooing me now. “Don’t let me hold youback.”
The guys were standing around the eight-seater SUV West had commandeered, as I guessed you could do when you were an alpha. The idea was that we could sleep in it overnight rather than going through the hassle of finding a hotel. And I suspected the guys liked having the extra space rather than being squashed into a regularcar.
I tossed my bag in the trunk, and Nate yanked the hatch shut. Without any debate—or maybe I’d missed one—West climbed into the driver’s seat. Aaron got in beside him. He’d been studying themaps.
As Marco nabbed a spot in the middle row, Nate closed his solid, warm hand around mine. It was funny: Even though I’d seen him in his animal form more often than any of the other guys, and even though that form was the most menacing of the four, his presence wasn’t anything but comforting. Well, and maybe a little exciting. My gaze lingered on the muscles that filled out his thin tee, and a headier warmth pooled low in mybelly.
He tugged me with him toward the backseat, and I came without argument. When we sat down on the soft leather, he wrapped his arm around me and tipped me against his brawny torso. I breathed in the musky, peppery smell of him. So fucking delicious. There were a lot of things screwed up about the situation I’d found myself in, but having these four guys by my side... at least, the three of them who definitely wanted to be there... might make up for therest.
The car’s engine rumbled. Its vibration hummed faintly through the seats as West turned us toward the road out of town. I let my head lean against Nate’s broadshoulder.
I didn’t want to think right now—not about Kylie’s injuries or having to leave her behind, not about the rogues who’d tracked me down to kill me just two days after I’d found out who I really was, not about the quest my mother had sent me on. Drowning in Nate’s scent and the feel of his body sounded like heaven. If I lifted my face just a couple inches, I could have pressed my lips to the base of his collarbone just above the neck of his shirt and tasted himtoo.
But I held myself back. The other guys were rightthere. Obviously they had to know I felt this connection to all of them, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of PDAs. And anyway, I wasn’t sure I deserved to indulge after yet another failure thismorning.
Nate’s hand rubbed up and down my arm. “You’re tense,” he murmured. “Is there anything you want to talkabout?”
“No,” I said automatically, but maybe there was. “I just—I hate that I seem to have that block when it comes to shifting. If I could have shifted last night, I’d have destroyed those rogueshifters.”
He smiled. “You absolutely would have, Ren. But you don’t have to worry about that. You’ve got all of us. We’re not going to let anyone get that close to you again. We should have been more careful to begin with—I didn’t realize they’d be brazen enough to attack you that close to a kinsettlement.”
Shit, he’d better not be feeling guilty. “It’s not your fault,” I said. “And I know you all want to protect me. ButIwant to be able to defend myself, like I should be ableto.”
“And you will.” He brushed his lips against the top of my head. The contact sent a tingle over my scalp. “You’re comparing yourself to the four of us, and we’ve had decades to grow into our powers. I’mimpressedby how quickly you’re discoveringyourself.”
“Oh.” He sounded like he meant it. Was I being too hard on myself? I found it difficult to believe, but the knot of guilt inside me loosened just alittle.
I nestled closer to him. He lifted my legs onto his lap so I was completely cuddled against him. My great teddy bear of a man. His other hand kept up its caresses up and down my arm—and reached a little farther to graze the side of my breast. I swallowed a gasp, arching into the contact instinctively. Correction, my greathotbear of aman.
Nate ducked his head to nip my earlobe. My heart skipped giddily. “I think you deserve a reward for all your hard work,” he said under his breath, a playful note slipping into hisvoice.
“What do you have in mind?” I whisperedback.
“You seem to be enjoying this.” He traced his fingertips over the curve of my breast again, catching the peak this time. I clamped my mouth shut against awhimper.
“The otherguys...”
“Won’t mind at all. We belong to you, Ren. Whatever you need. Whatever youwant.”
