Nico charged on all fours across the concrete slab, his finger-sized claws scratching and clacking on the surface as he came at full gallop.
“No!” I screamed, running forward. “Wait!”
He shoved me aside with the back of his paw, which sent me sliding across the floor till the sofa stopped me.
“Ow,” I hissed in pain. My hip would be bruised from that.
Shane shifted in a millisecond, the only way he could defend himself since it was obvious Nico planned to gut him no matter what.
“Are you okay?” Ty was there, helping me up.
I looked down at my scraped knee, growing angrier by the second.
Nico and Shane were going at each other, teeth snapping, claws slicing, bodies colliding and rolling across the warehouse to bang into the side of the building. Alpha had corralled the rest of the men into one corner, none of whom had shifted.
“These motherfuckers.” I huffed out an angry breath and hobbled toward the two idiots tearing each other to pieces.
“Uh, Violet, that might not be a good idea,” said Ty behind me.
“They wanna play rough? Fucking fine.”
I might be tired, but the fury in my blood snapped my magic to attention with blinding speed. When those two idiots tumbled apart, I reached out with my telekinesis and lifted the old car on blocks and tossed it through the air to slide into Nico, shoving and pinning him to the wall. He snuffed and looked down at the car in wolfie confusion.
Shane was getting ready to leap over the car, so I latched onto the wall-sized toolbox and yanked it from the wall, bolts and all, then waved my hand, sending it to knock into Shane’s chest and shove him to the opposite wall. The toolbox creaked and fell onto its side, partly blocking Shane.
I limped forward and pointed at both of them. “Not another fucking move, you jackasses.”
Total silence in the room except for the heaving pants of Nico and Shane.
When Nico’s gaze swept past me to Shane, he started to growl. I lobbed a sphere of TK to knock his head back against the warehouse wall, which echoed with a loud clang. Hard-ass head, that man.
“I said, stop it, Nico.”
He shook his head as I marched, hobbled rather, over to him in the most dignified way possible with my knee scratched up and bleeding.
“I have had a seriously shitty night, and I need you to listen to me.”
For the first time since he’d ripped his way into the warehouse and charged Shane, he looked at me. His ears fell as he snuffed the air, his gaze sweeping to my leg. No doubt taking in the injuries he caused me when he bulldozed his way in here.
Hands on my hips, I sighed and stared up at him. I’d never imagined seeing a remorseful werewolf, but I was looking at one.
“Stop this, Nico. I’m safe. Just shift back so we can talk.”
I wondered if he even understood me, because his gaze kept flitting beyond me to Shane, then to Alpha and the others in the corner, then to…wait, was that Henry and Sean? And who was that other guy? Wait a second. A hazy memory tried to emerge, but I’d deal with that later.
“Nico, please.” I stepped closer and dropped my voice to a soothing tone rather than the biting one I was using at first. “Shift back, baby. I’m fine.”
After a few seconds more, he tilted his head down, chin close to his chest, and shifted back. It took all of three seconds, but the snapping noise of bones breaking and realigning was not pretty.
I winced at the pain evident in his expression before he smoothed it away when he looked at me. He went to push the car back, but probably should’ve done that before he shifted. I lifted a hand to move it with my TK, struggling now that I was nearly zapped out with my magic, but then the car lifted in the air and fell back three feet off to the side.
When I turned my head over my shoulder, the three grims were watching casually. I wasn’t sure which one used TK to move the car, but for a second I was stunned stupid. I had no idea grims had that level of telekinetic power. Then I felt strong hands on my shoulders.
Nico skated his hands down my waist, noticed the gash in my dress. He cupped my face, staring angrily at the cut near my hairline. His hands were shaking as he took inventory of my entire body, and I was sure he was on the verge of wanting to shift back.
“Before you go all nuts again, let me say that my injuries were accidental. And my knee is scratched because of you.”
Well, that took some wind out of his sails. His anger morphed into pain. I felt a twinge of guilt, but I needed to shift his emotions away from rage as quickly as possible. He jerked me into his arms, crushing me to his body. His naked body.
If we didn’t have an audience and I wasn’t beat to hell, I’d be able to appreciate it a bit more.
“Are you okay?” he mumbled into my hair, voice rusty with emotion.
“Yes. I’m completely fine.” Except for the bumps and bruises these brutes had put on me, that was.
“What did they do to you?”
Fuck, he was back to ragey again.
“Nothing that I didn’t want to give.”
He flinched, his arms tightening around me.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Nico. Not sex or anything. It was the tattoos.” I pushed back enough to press my hand over his heart where the spelled tattoo of the Celtic tree was. “They want the same thing you want.” I smoothed my palm in a circle over the tattoo, over his heart. “Peace.”
He swallowed hard, letting me ease out of his embrace a little. Like maybe six inches. I took hold of his hand.
“Come on. You need to have a civil conversation with Shane. If possible.”
When I turned, everyone was watching our exchange. Including a very nude Mateo and Shane. Not that I didn’t enjoy the show because, holy wow, were they beautiful male specimens, but it was a little jarring to say the least.
“Whoa. Can y’all—?”
Suddenly, Nico spun me back around and pressed my head to his chest before barking, “Go put some fucking pants on.”
“With what?” asked Mateo, or Alpha rather, that smug lilt in his voice.
“Here,” came the voice of the teenager I’d gotten to know in the past few hours, the one who’d haunted my man for far too long.
“Ty?” whispered Nico, staring over my shoulder, his heart so evidently in his throat.
Hearing the rasp of denim against skin behind me, I took Nico’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go talk.”
Nico swallowed hard, glancing back down at me, then he laced our fingers and tugged me close, leading the way.
Chapter 30
~NICO~
* * *
My emotions were running riot through my blood, but the most prominent at this very second was fury at the asshole in front of me.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I grated out through my teeth, canines still sharp just in case I decided he needed another bite to prove my point.
I wouldn’t even pretend I wasn’t proud of the claw marks running from his shoulder down his chest. Werewolves healed from superficial wounds relatively quickly, even without a witch to heal them. We were almost indestructible in werewolf form, but it still made me smile at the blood dripping down his chest. He deserved it, the prick.
“No witch was going to give us what we needed by asking nicely,” said Shane, his voice dripping with acid. “We learned that shit back in Austin.”
“If you’d just waited, Violet would’ve given you the tattoos,” I snapped back.
“Really? You would’ve let us within five feet of her shop?”
I ground my teeth together, unable to answer that rationally.
“That’s what I fucking thought.” Then he mumbled lower, “Not with what she is to you.”
Violet didn’t respond to that last part, so maybe she didn’t hear him. I glared at Shane, thinking about punching him again.
He just grinned back, knowing Violet and I were still on the precipice of the mating bond. That’s why I wouldn’t, I couldn’t, allow a
nother werewolf male near her without losing my mind.
“Anyway,” he continued, “we knew the only option was to take Violet and get the tattoos the only way we’ve ever gotten shit we needed. By force.”
“But it shouldn’t be that way.” Violet stood beside me, her hand still in mine.
Even as she spoke, she never broke that contact as if she knew I needed grounding right now. And I did. I needed to know she was here and with me and safe, needed touch to assure my inner wolf that all was going to be okay.
“That’s the way it’s always been,” said Rhett, a packmate who’d joined not long before I left. It seemed like so many who’d been a part of the pack were no longer here.
“What happened to everyone else?” I asked Shane.
His frown softened to one of sorrow. “They all left. You know how it is. They battle their inner wolves, fight alongside us to release the aggression when we rumble with other gangs, but the beast keeps coming.” Wearing only jeans, he propped both hands low on his hips. “He keeps coming till they’re on the verge of maiming a friend. Or they accidentally do it anyway. Then they leave. You know this cycle better than anyone.”
My gaze went to Ty, standing off to the side beside his brother, both of whom had remained completely silent. Even when he handed me a pair of jeans to slip on, he barely looked at me. The choking guilt rushed back ten-fold. I barely swallowed the whimper of pain trying to climb up my throat.
Violet squeezed my hand and smiled up at me. “Well,” she said, turning back to the group, “I’m going to change that. Not just me, but my sister Jules is, too. All of my sisters.”
“What?” Shane spat the word like it was a filthy lie.
She looked at me. “Is the spell working? Have you noticed a difference? I mean, I know that you both came barreling in here in a fury, but do you feel a difference otherwise?”
“Absolutely,” I said, blowing out a breath. “To be honest, without it, I would’ve sliced them up the second we arrived. It didn’t matter to me that they weren’t showing aggression by shifting, I would’ve normally let loose and cut them up.”
“Agreed.” Shane rubbed a hand across his chest.
I hadn’t really paid attention to the tattoo that was covered in gauze tape and plastic wrap when I’d come in here. It had all ripped away when he’d shifted. Now that he was back in human form, I could see the red swollen lines around the tattooed emblem of the Blood Moon pack.
“Normally, I would’ve shifted the second they came in here, but I was able to control it longer. Till it was obvious this dickhead meant to try and kill me.”
I rolled my eyes. “You deserved it, asshole.”
“Maybe. But I don’t regret it. I got what I wanted. Plus she was really pretty to look at when she was giving me that tattoo.”
Growling, I took a big step forward. Violet let go of my hand and stood in front of me, pushing at my chest.
“Dammit, Shane. Shut the hell up! I’m already about to drown in the level of testosterone in this damn warehouse.”
Shane laughed, so did a few others, but I didn’t find any of this fucking funny. I knew he was baiting me, but it didn’t keep me from wanting to throttle him.
So far, the grims hadn’t said a damn word. Silent as the grave, which wasn’t shocking. Except for Sean, who typically had the loudest mouth in the room. Something about being with his brother and cousin had mellowed him. Or maybe it was being in a room full of testy werewolves, I wasn’t sure. They were probably just collecting as much intel as they could to upload to whatever data system they kept all their info on.
“What did you mean your sister Jules would help us?” Ty had eased forward, arms crossed, still avoiding my gaze. That familiar pinprick of pain tightened in my chest at the sound of his voice. “Your sister is an Enforcer. How can she help?”
“Good question,” added Shane.
“I understand that you’ve had to take what you need because of how you’re viewed, how you’re treated by the supernatural community.” Violet turned to face the men circled around in a staggered horseshoe. “But that has to stop.”
All of them glared at me like I was the enemy, which didn’t bother me one bit. I wasn’t the only one who’d left the pack. But for some reason, Shane, and obviously others, blamed me for it. One glance at Ty reminded me why I’d left, and for good reason. But with Violet’s help, there was a sliver of possibility that things could change for werewolves. Not just me and the Blood Moon pack. But for all of us.
“Are you saying,” I began cautiously, “that Jules could help all werewolves?”
She turned her beautiful face back to me. “More than that even.” Her voice was soft, but easily heard by those in this room with our extrasensory hearing. “It’s not just hurting the werewolves. It’s hurting all of us, the entire supernatural community, whether they realize it or not. It’s not right that this stigma exists. Yes, I get it how your ancestor was first cursed and how this all began. But that was hundreds of years ago, for Christ’s sake!” Ty winced. Violet’s righteous anger permeated the air. “And you’re still paying for his crimes. His sins against a powerful witch who cast a blood spell that tainted the lives of so many. That wasn’t her right. Just like it’s not the right of witches and warlocks and vampires today to be prejudiced against werewolves.” She turned to the three grims. “I’d include you guys in that list, but honestly no one knows where you all stand on anything. And you seem to avoid all of us, not just werewolves.”
“We’re here now.” Gareth stood like stone, an immovable force next to his cousins. Grims were an entity unto themselves.
“True,” she added. “And though I have no idea why you’re here, I want to thank you for helping Nico.”
That earned her a slight nod from Gareth.
“So where do we go from here?” asked Shane.
“First things first, I’m going home,” she said with force. “Tomorrow morning, you’ll call Sean—that’s this guy over there—at the shop and set up appointments for this week so I can tattoo the rest of your pack.”
Shane’s eyes glinted with distrust.
“Seriously?” she snapped at him. “I’m giving you my word. The trust goes both ways. And it’s not like I’m not leaving regardless because my boyfriend here is still humming with murderous rage beneath his docile veneer.”
Shane snorted as he glanced at me, my fists coiled at my sides, teeth gritted. “Docile?”
“Fuck off.”
“Fine, then.” Shane finally glanced around, seeming to notice something. “Where’s Rick, Kyle, and Drake?”
“Sleeping,” said Henry.
“As in, you knocked them unconscious?”
“No permanent damage,” he said without remorse.
“Hell. Rhett, take the guys and check on them.”
Mateo heaved out a sigh. “I’ll help,” he added begrudgingly.
Glad that these grims were on our side, I actually smiled as Gareth walked my way. “We’ll get the Jeep and swing it around here.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll take you back, Mateo,” said Shane, shooting me one of his trademark grins. “I’m pretty sure Nico will insist on having Violet ride back with him.”
“Got that fuckin’ right,” I told him.
The grims jogged slowly out of the warehouse, obviously waiting to trace until they were out of sight. The woods were gray as dawn swept away the night.
Interesting that they trusted me and Mateo enough to use their abilities when no one that I knew had a clue grims could move like vampires and use telekinesis like witches.
“Hey,” whispered Violet.
I cupped her face and pressed my forehead to hers, not moving or thinking. Just feeling.
“I was afraid for you,” I admitted softly.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault.”
“In a way, it is, though.” She pulled back, her blue eyes glittering by the morning light. “I cou
ld’ve been more understanding the first time Shane came to me. Not that he gave me much reason since he was being a total ass that day, but all of this stems from something greater. An intolerance that needs to be eradicated.”
If you’d asked me what had suddenly made my heart constrict and my breath falter, I’m not sure I could pinpoint or define the emotion. What I knew was that Violet had voiced an old pain, an old injustice, which we’d lived with always, thinking we deserved. That the foul deeds of our ancestor had rightfully cursed us all.
But then there was Violet. Ready to stand up against the cruelty and the violation of it all. For me. For my brothers.
Combing my fingers into her hair, I cradled her cheeks in my palms, breathless at how beautiful she was. Not just her face, but her courage and her heart, too.
“Christ, woman. I’m so fucking in love with you.”
Before she could say a word, I slanted my mouth over hers, delving in deep. She didn’t respond at first, seemingly in shock, but then her tongue stroked against mine, meeting my passion. All I could think about from the second she’d been taken was that the woman I loved was missing, out of reach, possibly hurt.
I poured my emotions into that kiss, trying not to frighten her with my intensity. When I bit her bottom lip and licked the tiny drop of blood, she moaned into my mouth. My body trembled, needing to get her home—my home. To mark her, make her mine.
She broke the kiss, breathing heavily. “Nico. Let’s get out of here.”
“Right.” Grabbing her hand, I headed toward the opening.
“Wait. My tattoo machine.” She pulled me back toward the table where Ty was packing some things in a duffle bag. “And you need to talk to him,” she whispered vehemently.
Funny that it hadn’t even dawned on me that I hadn’t wondered how she’d tattooed Shane. Apparently, those fuckers were wilier than I’d realized.
Nodding, because she was right of course, I strode over with her, ready to finally talk to the kid I’d scarred for life. What brilliant words did I come up with when I finally mustered the courage to speak? “Hey.”
Witches Get Stitches Page 30