“Healed enough to shift without causing problems.”
Healed enough, my ass. “That’s why you’re limping?” she waved a hand toward him, then yanked her gaze up to his again after it landed on another part of his anatomy entirely.
“I’ll be as good as new in an hour. The muscles and ligaments are healed. The bone is set enough to walk on. I’m sorry if I worried you.”
Had he been abrasive or even offhand about the whole thing, she could have hung on to her frustration, but this left her defenseless. “Does it still hurt a lot?”
“Enough, but it’s tolerable. So, why did you come running into the house as though your ‘ass was on fire’, as Luca put it?” he asked once he was standing within arm’s reach.
Her heart rate spiked, and it took everything in her to keep her hands to herself. The man was seriously gorgeous in all his naked splendor. She wanted to launch herself at him like she had in the barn the day before and touch him all over, but until he was fully healed, there’d be none of that.
As though reading her mind, he took hold of her hips and drew her flush against him. “I felt like I was being watched outside. It’s getting dark out. I was afraid the vampire might have found us.”
Niko nuzzled her neck, sniffing the skin just beneath her ear, then pressed a soft kiss to the tender spot. “It’s Emmet and, most likely, some of the pack. Jaxon must have sent them.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Luca spotted him when he got your bags for you. If anyone shows up, we’ll know it.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, and buried his nose in her hair. “You smell so good, I could eat you up.”
A zing of pleasure ripped through her. She’d love nothing more than to let him have a taste, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to take care of himself unless she insisted. “We’ll talk in another hour or two. Let’s get you fed and back to bed.”
“We can skip the eating,” he offered as he grazed the shell of her ear with his teeth.
Maybe going straight to bed wouldn’t be so bad. He shifted his weight again, and the muscles of his shoulders bunched, bringing her back from the haze of lust blinding her.
Wiggling out of his grasp, she gave him a little shove. “Unless you want to come to the dinner table in your birthday suit, I’d suggest you get some clothes on before joining us.”
Niko tried making a grab for her, but she twisted and pulled further back. “Nope. Not until you’re fully healed. Dinner first. Sex later,” she promised. Pretending like it wasn’t going to happen wouldn’t fool either one of them.
Twelve
When Niko entered the kitchen, Rylee was at the stove, filling two bowls with the thick stew she’d made. His stomach rumbled long and loud at the delicious aroma swirling around him like a heavenly cloud. It filled the room with all the good things in life—things that brought childhood back from the past.
Rylee glanced over her shoulder, giving him a saucy wink. “Go ahead and have a seat,” she said, nibbling on her bottom lip.
Niko stifled his groan. She’d better be ready to eat fast. As soon as they were done, he’d haul her over his shoulder and carry her back to the bedroom if he had to. He’d deal with the aches and pains of doing so on freshly healed wounds. A man could only take being away from his mate for so long. He might be in the same room with her, but not touching when she was so close was just as bad—if not worse—than being apart.
Turning his attention to his brother, Niko braced himself for a hard look, maybe even anger, but when Luca lifted his gaze, it wasn’t there. With a little nod from his twin, some of the guilt over the way he’d treated him melted away. He understood. That didn’t mean he didn’t deserve an apology, though.
“About what happened upstairs,” he started.
Luca lifted the hand that wasn’t busy scooping a spoonful of stew from his bowl, stopping him mid-sentence. “It’s done. I know you didn’t mean it. And if Rylee keeps cooking like this, and I get to eat it, you can treat me like shit all the time. I won’t complain.”
What little tension still coiled inside him released. “That good, huh?”
Luca shoved the spoon in his mouth, closed his eyes, and moaned. “That fucking good,” he said once he’d swallowed.
“Still, I’m sorry for being an ass. I know better.”
Luca shrugged. “Things will settle once you’ve fully mated.”
Rylee deposited two bowls onto the table and sat, motioning for him to join her. His heart squeezed at the sight. She’d been around a day, and already the house was more of a home than it had been since he and Luca had bought the place.
“Dig in,” Rylee said, passing a plate of dinner rolls over before picking up her own spoon. “Should we invite the other men in for supper?”
“Yes,” a voice hollered from outside the open kitchen window.
Rylee’s hand paused halfway up to her mouth and her eyebrows shot up.
“Come on in, Emmet,” he called out, not bothering to get up from his seat. If the man was going to invite himself in for dinner, he could damned well get his own.
***
A moment later, the door opened, and one of the men Rylee had seen at Maple’s house—the one who had all but swallowed Bonnie with his hungry gaze—walked in, tugging a T-shirt over his head. Niko stiffened.
Setting her spoon down, she made to get up, but Niko reached out, placing his hand on her thigh, stopping her.
