Page 8 of Kiss My Sass

“She’s just perfect, Alpha Derrick,” Nica said, smiling at the infant.

All three cubs were perfect, in her opinion. Their cherubic faces were as pretty as their names—Eden, Astrid,andSelena.Nica watched the new father as he gently placed the now sleeping babe in a bassinet, just in time to retrieve another, who was already fussing, as if she knew her sister was settled, and her daddy’s hands were free just to tend her.

“Lucy is napping,” he explained and nodded his head to a door where the Alpha couple had set up a mini nursery, complete with a rocking recliner and a daybed.

Nica smiled and reminded herself to speak softly so as not to wake the exhausted she-Cat. That was another thing she found interesting about this pack. They accepted everyone into the fold without issue. These Dire Wolves were mated to various Shifters and supes, even normals with no protests from the rest of the Pack. That was not something that would ever happen in the Pine Murder. Bad enough she’d been a Raven among Crows. After she’d refused to mate Jack, her status had dropped so low she’d been little more than a servant for years.

“You’ve been with us three weeks now—”

Oh, no!

Fear gripped her, and her stomach clenched. She should have seen this coming. Derrick stopped speaking to rearrange the baby’s bib as he patted her back and burped her. But Nica was too nervous to be entertained by the homey scene now.

“I am so sorry if I’m wearing out my welcome, Alpha,” she began. “I swear, I will leave as soon as I have enough saved, but if you can see your way to giving me some more time.”

She did not know how she would find the means to move on, but Nica was determined to not be a detriment to those who had helped her.

“Do you want to leave?” he asked suddenly, and Nica ducked her head.

She could not lie to the man, after all, he would smell it on her. But she was embarrassed by how much she actually wanted to stay. Her feelings were a mess lately, and part of that was due to the broken bonds she had with Jack and his Murder. She had to find some way to get rid of the remnants, so they couldn't find her before she even thought about leaving.

“No. I don’t want to go,” she said. “But I don’t want to put you or your mate and cubs, the whole Pack, in any danger, either.”

“Danger?”

“Well, so far, Jack and the Murder have stayed away, but there is no guarantee he will keep his distance, is there?”

“Do you know something you aren’t telling me?” Derrick asked, eyes narrowed.

Nica swallowed. She knew Jack and his men were out there watching, just waiting for the right time to strike. That’s what Crows, and sometimes Ravens, did. They were the best spies, inconspicuous and seemingly harmless. But Nica knew better than that. She suspected they’d been scoping her out these last few weeks, and her blood chilled at the thought.

“Not for sure, but I, I think they might be watching me here,” she whispered, ashamed of herself.

“I see,” Derrick replied.

Nica was a coward for hiding behind these Dire Wolves. She despised that side of her that was just too weak to run. Isn’t that what Jack had said about her all those years ago? She was too small, too meek, too fragile to make it on her own. So what that he had other women? Her feminine sensibilities had been affronted by his assumption she would simply obey his decrees.

After that first time in the motel, and once she’d known about his other mates, Nica refused his attentions. Oh, he punished her for it in different ways., but her resolve was rock solid. Sometimes his punishments were as simple as withholding food for the night or access to the trailer park’s communal showers. But it got worse.

After six months of polite refusals, she was forced to leave the trailer where Jack’s other mates lived. No longer under that protected status, he’d reduced her rank and shoved her in a rundown shack instead.

She shivered, remembering the cold winters and sweltering summers in that four by six hovel. It was used to house lawn care equipment back when whoever had run the trailer park took care of things like that. By the time the Murder moved in, there was no grass to speak of.

Just a dusty lot with a smattering of trees surrounding it and the loud highway beyond an ugly, tall, brown wall that served as a noise barrier for the community. The stink of oil and gasoline had permeated the walls, but it didn’t matter. Nica was spared Jack’s drunken advances for a good long run as she cowered and hid behind her duties and her rank at the bottom of the Murder.

It wasn’t until Ella got sick that it all started again. She frowned, thinking of the frail female who was the only one in the Murder who had maintained a friendly smile whenever she saw Nica hurry by. She hoped Ella was all right, prayed that Jack got her some medical attention, though it was unlikely.

Once his first mate fell ill, he’d tried courting her again, giving her extra rations at mealtimes, and sending her flowers. He’d just finished moving her stuff out of the shack and into a nicer, newer trailer one afternoon after washing the Murder’s clothes at the local laundromat.

Nica was suspicious, nervous even. The man did nothing for anyone, not without a reason. She soon found out what he wanted that night when he let himself into her small bedroom, naked and stinking of booze. Nica had fought him like a wildcat, scratching and clawing anywhere she could reach.

That was the first night she’d tried to run, but Jack was so fast and strong. He’d caught her, beaten her, and let his Murder take turns attacking in their bird forms. Oh, they were just toying with her. They could have easily killed her, but he wanted her broken, not dead.

One of his soldiers had unwittingly cut the binds tying her to the pole Jack used to bind whoever was being punished. Nica hid the torn tethers until they gave up on her torture for the evening or just plain passed out. Once they were gone, she did not hesitate. She broke free and wound up here with the Dire Wolves.

For the first time, Nica had felt a spark of hope ignite inside her chest. She’d found a place she felt safe, wanted. Still, she would leave if Derrick told her to. She would have no choice.

“I am sorry I didn’t say anything sooner,” she fretted.

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