Those quiet words whispered against the top of her head made her pause. He was basically saying he would have defied his Alpha to come with her. But that couldn’t be right, could it? Afraid to ask him if that was truly what he meant—and afraid of how she’d feel if he said yes—she closed her eyes and allowed herself to savor the feel of Nikan’s strong embrace.

Tomorrow she could worry about their future. Tonight she just wanted to sleep knowing she was utterly safe and protected in the arms of a man she was falling for more and more each second that passed.

Chapter 5

Nikan gave Esperanze another covert look as they headed down the hallway toward Antoine’s room. She’d called her friend this morning and he’d told her to forget about their conversation last night. Nikan had been able to hear the phone call and it was obvious the vampire sounded anxious.

And that had stressed Esperanze out. Whatever her feelings were for Antoine, they weren’t remotely sexual and Nikan hated seeing her distressed. So, they were on their way to see her former professor whether he wanted to see them or not.

Esperanze was wearing dark, slim-fitting jeans, black knee-high boots and a snug black wraparound sweater that accentuated all her curves. She might be petite, but damn she was curvy and soft in all the right places. Just like a woman—his woman—should be. She’d loosely braided her hair, letting it fall down her back, and all he could think about was freeing it and running his hands through it as she rode him.

Patience.

He might not be a pro at the whole patience thing, but he’d do any damn thing she wanted. Holding her last night against him had been just as good as sex—almost. Feeling all those curves and hearing her softly breathing against his chest had been fucking heaven. He loved that she’d trusted him enough to let him hold her all night. He had been afraid for a brief moment when he’d tugged her close that she’d resist. But she hadn’t.

He’d known her long enough that he realized her trust didn’t come easy. Though she looked to be in her early twenties, at eighty she was the same age as him, and before he and the rest of Connor’s warriors had united their packs she’d been sheltered. He’d heard enough about her old Alpha that he knew the guy hadn’t trusted humans or outsiders. Not to mention that Esperanze hadn’t been very friendly with any of the other warriors except him. He’d pretty much made it impossible for her to ignore him—showing up at her house for dinners, escorting her everywhere around the ranch, helping her out with the cubs—and she’d been wary at first. But after a few days she’d relaxed. Still, letting her guard down enough to share a bed with him, trusting him not to make a move—it touched him.

Even so, it bugged him that she hadn’t responded to him saying that he would have defied their Alpha for her, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Hell, he had some pride left. He’d all but admitted his feelings for her and she hadn’t said anything. He wasn’t going to demand she respond. And that had nothing to do with pride. If she didn’t feel the same way—damn, he didn’t even want to go there.

As they neared the door to Antoine’s room, Nikan put his arm out to stop Esperanze from going any further as he jerked to a halt. His canines ached as the sudden scent of blood permeated the air.

There were a lot of various scents in the hotel—shifters of all varieties, vamps, demons, humans—but the groaning coming from the room they were headed to didn’t sound pleasurable. Mixed with the distinctive coppery scent of blood, he knew something was off.

“Is that Antoine?” Esperanze whispered, frozen in place.

Nikan put one finger to his lips then motioned for her to move back. He wanted to tell her to leave the hotel completely, or at least go down to the lobby, but knew she’d argue and didn’t want to waste time.

Nodding, she took a couple steps back and pressed her back up against the wall. He stepped partially to the side as he knocked on the door.

Inside there was a hushing sound then another thump, which sounded like someone being punched if the muffled groan was any indication. When no one answered, he knocked again. “Antoine, I know you’re in there. Don’t make me bust the door open.” Nikan didn’t plan to, but he scented more than just Antoine inside, and someone was hurt, he was almost sure of it.

A second later the door flew open and a shifter with buzz-cut dark hair and olive-toned skin answered the door. The scent of blood intensified. It wasn’t overwhelming, but Nikan scented it just the same.

“Who the fuck are you?” The shifter was an alpha without a doubt, but he was no warrior.

Nikan quickly scanned the guy, taking in the leather jacket, ripped jeans, shit-kickers, silver ring with a wolf emblem on his right hand . . . and his bloodied fists. He was young, maybe no more than thirty. “Where’s Antoine?”

Dark eyes flashed with annoyance. “I asked you a question.”

Reaching out, Nikan grabbed the guy by the neck and lifted him off the ground. The lupine shifter struck out with a fist, but Nikan seized him by the wrist, released his neck and whipped him around, shoving him against the open door before he could defend himself. Holding him by the back of the neck, Nikan slammed the alpha’s face into the door.

Bone crunched as the door cracked under the impact. The guy let out a brief scream before Nikan slammed his head against the door again. Then he passed out. Blood spurted everywhere, dripping down the door, staining the plush carpet.

The action was violent and brutal, but Nikan scented someone else inside and he’d needed to take this guy out first. He couldn’t be distracted or risk being taken on by more than one unknown threat. Not with Esperanze so close.

“What the—” Out of the corner of his eye Nikan watched as another man rounded the corner of the room.

Hating to leave Esperanze exposed for even a second, Nikan knew he had no choice but to venture farther inside. Turning toward the other male who looked almost exactly like the shifter he’d just knocked out, Nikan ducked as the guy threw a punch.

It was a solid throw, but Nikan was older and a hell of a lot faster. As he dodged to the side, he came back up with a fist of his own. Connecting with the guy’s jaw, he didn’t use all his force. He wanted one of these guys conscious.

The guy’s head snapped back and he stumbled but didn’t lose his footing. “Who the hell are you?” he snarled.

Nikan quickly scanned the room. Antoine sat on the bed staring at him, his face covered in blood and bruises, though he was already healing. A chair was turned over and the covers were slightly messed up, but there wasn’t damage to the room otherwise.

Keeping the majority of his focus on the shifter, Nikan launched himself at the guy. He punched him in the stomach this time. As the guy groaned and swung out, Nikan grabbed his arm, wrenched it back and slammed him face first onto the bed.

Antoine jumped up and gave him space. Before Nikan could start questioning the shifter he scented Esperanze getting closer.

Damn it!

“What happened? What did they do to you?” Her panicked voice rolled over him as she moved into the room, hurrying to Antoine’s side.

The shifter Nikan had pinned wasn’t struggling, but he was tense, no doubt waiting to make a move if he found an opening. Nikan tightened the grip he had on the back of his neck.

“I owe these guys some money. They were here collecting, that’s all. Just let him go. This is my fault,” Antoine said quickly, but there wasn’t much conviction in his voice.

“Is that right?” Nikan leaned down and growled in the guy’s ear.

“Yeah, now fucking let me go,” the dark-haired shifter snapped.

“Who’s your Alpha?”

“No one! I don’t answer to anyone and I’m not doing anything wrong. This vamp can’t pay up so me and my brother roughed him up.”

Without responding, Nikan reached into the guy’s back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He tossed it to Esperanze who caught it with a squeak of surprise. “Will you memorize his ID?”

She flipped open the brown leather wallet. After a few seconds she nodded again then gave it back to him.

“I’m going to let you up, but if you make one wrong move, I won’t give you a warning. I’ll just kill you.” With Esperanze so close, Nikan was barely restraining his inner wolf from taking over and attacking this unknown threat.

“All right,” the guy said.

As soon as Nikan let him up, he jumped over the bed, putting distance between himself and the three of them. That was fine with Nikan. He wanted this guy as far away from Esperanze as possible. It was taking all his control not to shift to his wolf form.

“You’re gonna pay for this,” the guy said to Antoine.

Behind him, the vampire was silent, but Nikan didn’t take his eyes off the shifter.

“If I see you in this hotel again, you’ll regret it. And I’ll be reporting you to the Council.” He probably wouldn’t but wanted to scare the guy.

The shifter shrugged as his gaze moved back to Nikan. “You think they’re gonna give a shit about some money issues we’re having with a fucking vampire?”

Unfortunately the guy was probably right. “They will if this screws up shifter-vamp relations.”

Another shrug. “He’s not protected by anyone.”

Damn. If a vampire didn’t belong to a coven they had no one to look after them. Vamps tended to congregate together, but there were a lot that chose to live alone, more so than shifters. Sure, the Brethren, the small group of four ancient vamps that ruled all vampires, would intervene if there were serious issues going on between the different species, but for the most part vamps governed themselves. It took a lot for their leaders to get involved with the everyday lives of their people. Nikan’s own Council was almost as bad, but not quite. “Get out of here before I change my mind and do to you what I did to your brother.”

The guy looked at Antoine again, snarled, then left, hefting his brother up as he backtracked from the room. Once they were gone Nikan shut the cracked door then hurried to Esperanze’s side. The need to touch her was overwhelming and the only way to convince his inner wolf she was safe. Barely keeping his wolf chained, he ran his knuckles down her cheek, savoring her softness, before turning to Antoine. “What’s really going on?”