Page 9 of Kiss My Sass

“Don’t be sorry. Look, I am not chasing you away, Nica. You let me and the Pack worry about the Murder.”

“Do you mean that?” she asked, surprised.

“Hell yeah,” he whispered, the baby in his arms stirring slightly. “Truth is, we are so lucky you came to us when you did. With the cubs arriving early, and Lucy’s replacement at the bar, Gwendolyn, still learning to control her new Wolf, your help here has been a godsend! I know it’s unconventional, but I’d like you to seriously consider staying on with us as long as you want,” Derrick said, surprising Nica into smiling.

“Well, all right then,” she replied. “As long as you need me, I’ll stay.”

Chapter5

“Well, all right then. As long as you need me, I’ll stay.”

Thor released the breath he was holding, and his entire body seemed to relax after hearing Nica’s reply to Derrick’s statement about needing her. Recently, he’d started to suspect she was growing restless. He had tracked her with hungry eyes. Saw the way she started watching the trees and the skies when she thought no one was looking.

Oh yeah, Thor had been clocking the curvy little Raven as she went about her business, picking up slack at the roadhouse and even taking on extra chores at the Pack House. How many times had the tiny female done laundry that wasn’t hers? Or washed up after dinner when it wasn’t her turn?

The other females made damn sure the men in the house knew they were not there to wait on them, but Nica seemed cut from a different cloth. She took on chores without complaint, so much so, he intervened when he thought others were taking advantage. Like when he caught her cleaning Cole’s bedroom. He’d put a stop to that shit real fast, reminding her the single male was perfectly capable of washing his own bedding.

He'd also had a one-on-one conversation with Cole, which ended with the man wholeheartedly agreeing to never take advantage of Nica’s kindness again. Thor didn’t even have to say anything. He’d just tossed the pile of wet sheets he’d taken from Nica, she was about to hang them to dry on the outdoor line, right onto Cole’s lap, followed by a single punch to the male’s jaw.

But aside from throwing herself into her chores, Thor noticed something else strange about Nica. Not once in the three weeks that had passed had she shifted into her animal. But maybe it was odd to him because his own Demon Wolf had been acting like a total fucking lunatic.

Thor was so amped up with her around, he was shifting into his beast nightly. It was the only way to contain the animal’s anger, lest he hunt down and decimate the first Murder he came across. Thank fuck she was a Shifter, and those bruises she’d arrived with were long gone by now. That was enough to placate his beast. Mostly.

Not a day went by that Thor didn’t have a flashback of her broken wing, cuts oozing blood, and the black eye that had swollen so much by the time she woke up, she could hardly open it. Those first few days had been hell on him, and yeah, he realized he was whining like a cub, but fuck. He couldn’t really explain it save to say it hurt him to see her hurt.

Thor’s blood boiled with the thirst for revenge. He hungered for it. But revenge was not his to take. Finding her at last, Thor had given everything he could to help fix her battered body. He couldn’t bring himself to leave her side, at least not till she told him the only thing that could have moved him.

Nica had a mate.

A right bastard for sure, but still her mate. The beautiful Raven was not free for Thor to claim. She just wasn’t. Knowing it made his heart feel like someone had tried to rip it right out of his chest.

So, he’d done what any besotted fool, who had no chance in hell of claiming the woman the Fates told him was his, would do. He’d stayed away. Hid in the background. Watched from afar. And he cursed those same Fates for showing him something he couldn’t have.

Why did she have to be so perfect? With her dark curls and bright blue eyes, and her fresh baked bread and sweet summer jam scent.

“You should talk to her, man,” Weylin said, suddenly beside him.

The younger Wolf had been walking by, carrying a couple of cases of beer up from storage, but Thor hadn’t been paying attention. He hadn’t realized Weylin stopped beside him until the man opened his fat mouth with his Captain Obvious observations.

Gods dammit.

Could he really blame him, though? Weylin was still in that honeymoon phase with Gwendolyn, his somehow newly turned Dire Wolf mate. Newly matched up and just about as annoying as every other mated pair in the Pack, Thor could give two shits what Weylin thought.

“Don’t go getting all growly and shit, all I’m saying is instead of stalking her like some giant psycho, you might try talking to the woman—hey!”

Thor tried to make it a point to hate as few things as possible in his life, but there were a few he just could not help but loathe. One of them was unsolicited advice. However, staring down at the mess he’d made of Weylin’s perfectly coiffed red hair after dumping the glass of water he’d been holding was extremely satisfying.

In fact, Thor felt better than he had in days. Of course, that was probably because of his eavesdropping ways and overhearing Nica tell Derrick she was planning on staying for a while.

Good. Mine. Mate.

No. She belongs to another.

Grrrrrr.

Fine. Maybe Weylin had a point. Gifted, or cursed, with the sight as he was, Thor knew better than to just toss away something the Fates had so purposely thrown at him. He didn’t pretend to understand the motives of supernatural deities and power players, but he knew enough that the shit they did was for a reason.

If Nica had fallen into his lap, so to speak, it was likely because he had a hand in her future. Thor wasn’t the type of man to mess around with another male’s mate, but perhaps that was the part he had wrong. Fact was, he needed answers, and he could only get them from her. So, yeah, maybe he should try talking to her. He grunted and nodded at the still sputtering Weylin. His advice was unsolicited, but useful.

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