Page 66 of Bite Me Alpha Cole

I keep my eyes forward. “Was I too hard?”

“Maybe a little bit, Na-na,” Shay whispers, giving me a squeeze. “But…I get it. It’s a subject that’s close to you. You care.”

My head hangs lower, my guilt at war with…with everything in me that I hold dear. The ethics I inherited from my father, the big, raw heart from my mother, the desperate desire to doanythingI can to help. All mixed up in a gnarled, angry lump named Nadia.

Tears come to my eyes again. Terribly confused, I slump against Shayne, who holds me close.

“Come on, shower time,” she murmurs.

“You just mean I need to be hosed down,” I murmur. “To cool me off.”

“Yeah,” she says with a sweet sigh, ushering me into the tent. “But we can have some candy after. It’ll all work out.”

I nod and cede myself over to my friend, who understands me better than most.

Cole

Every muscle in my body is clenched as I watch Nadia walk away, my wolf howling his head off,demandingthat I chase after her and somehow simultaneously fall at her feetandshout back at her that Idocare and wearetrying.

I don’t even scold my wolf or tell him to be quiet. Because honestly, if I could do all of that at once, I would.

But instead, I just…fuckingstandhere, my mind and my emotions churning.

Because she’sright.

I mean, not about all of it – she’swrongabout my family’s involvement and the apparent unlimitedness of our resources. But Ididtry to keep information away from her so she wouldn’t get upset. To keep her safe.

And thatwasa shit thing to do. And a selfish one.

God damn it.

“So,” Rose says, sidling up to me, perfectly casual, her hands carefully tucked behind her back in a way that allows her to push her chest forward.

And no, I’m not being a creep. She’s just…done that before.

With good results.

“Your little pet nurse,” Rose murmurs, turning her eyes up to me. “She’s a little bit of a firecracker, isn’t she?”

“Rose,” I growl, having no patience for her right now. My wolf snarls,wellaware that this is probablypreciselyhow Rose wanted the night to go after we left the Children of Solace early.

“Call me Rosie,” she purrs.

I snarl aloud now, snapping my head to face her.

She just blinks languidly up at me, not giving an inch.

“I told you –“

“So,” Rose says, perfectly cool as she cuts me off, nodding her head towards the nursing tent. “Whatisit with you two?”

I sigh and hang my head, realizing that my own temper is already on edge and that if I’m not careful, Rose is going to have no trouble pulling little details out of me while I’m volatile like this. This, too, she’s done before.

“She’s just a nurse, Rose,” I murmur, turning away and heading for the command tent. “Let it go.”

Rose laughs, a mocking edge to the noise. “She issonot just a nurse to you –“

“She is!”

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