“Of course I do, dumbass.”
She spoke against his mouth. “Good. Because if you don’t turn up at that ceremony out of some misguided attempt to protect me from what’s happening to you, I’ll hunt you down and beat the shit out of you with my bat.”
He smiled. “Feisty.”
“Besides, I asked Taryn if she would try healing you. She said she would.”
“It might not work, Shay,” he told her gently.
“I know, but you promised you wouldn’t give up.”
“And I won’t; I’m willing to let Taryn try. Although, I have the feeling that Taryn would sooner cut my throat than heal me.”
“I think she’s warming to you.”
He snorted at that and was about to comment when Derren, who had popped out of the room to take a call, suddenly barged inside the kitchen.
“Nick, I just got off the phone with Donovan. He said to turn on the TV.”
“Why?”
“He found the location of the preserve. And he called it in.”
Everybody quickly piled into the living area, but no one spoke as the news of the preserve was aired live. Nick had encountered much evil in his life, known cruelty and violence, but he had never seen anything like this. It was worse than even Lee-Roy had described. Dead bodies of shifters ranging from the age of seven—fucking seven—had been dumped on the land, all maimed, brutalized, and decaying. Some of the bodies were even frozen mid-shift while others were missing their eyes or limbs. Even the human reporter, the same reporter who had days ago portrayed shifters as animals, was horrified and close to tears at the sight of the bodies—particularly those of the children.
Nick understood why Donovan hadn’t notified him before contacting the police; he’d known that when Nick saw how bad it was, he wouldn’t have been happy to let the police deal with it and that he’d have wanted to go after Logan and those other bastards himself. As such, Donovan was right not to have told Nick first. This was about more than just them. This was about shifters worldwide.
Although many had been arrested in connection with it, Logan’s name hadn’t been mentioned, and there had been no mention of a shifter being involved either. Nick knew, however, that Lee-Roy had been telling the truth when he said the person running the preserve was a shifter. That meant the bastard was still out there, free as a bird.
Feeling Shaya’s desolation and realizing she was crying, Nick moved her from her spot beside him on the giant sofa to his lap. He cradled her against him, rocking her. Most of the other females were crying too. The sickening sight of the preserve almost brought tears to his own eyes. The more the reporter revealed, the more nauseous he felt. Until they worked out who the shifter responsible was, they couldn’t be sure another preserve wouldn’t be set up somewhere else…and they couldn’t make sure the prick paid for what he’d done.
“Nick,” croaked Shaya. “After seeing this…I don’t know if I can—”
She cut herself off, but Nick knew what she was thinking: She didn’t know if she could go through with a mating ceremony and throw a celebration when this was on her mind. He was feeling the same way. The images were stuck in his head, and he couldn’t get them out and didn’t think he would anytime soon. It didn’t seem right to throw a party on the heels of something like this. “Me neither, baby. We’ll do it after this is all over, okay?” Nodding, she snuggled even more into him.
Kent brought his hand to his mouth. “I honestly think I might be sick.”
Derren looked at him, his expression grim. “You know what this means.”
Nick nodded. “It means the extremists’ case will be dismissed on Thursday morning. And it means they’ll be here Thursday night for sure—they’ll take this into their own hands, just as Logan planned in the meeting.”
“That’s okay,” growled Trey, “because we’ll be waiting. I can’t wait to get my hands on those motherfuckers. They deserve whatever happens to them.”
“I have a feeling the shifter behind all this will come with them,” said Ryan. Nick was surprised to hear him speak.
“Me too,” said Trick. “He hates shifters anyway, and now that he’s no longer making money from charging humans to kill our kind, I’d say he’ll be pissed enough to join Logan in the attack.”
“Let’s hope so,” growled Taryn. She rose from her armchair and approached Nick. “It’s time. We need you at top strength. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to heal you, but I can certainly do my best.” She then turned to her pack. “Grace, you know what I need. Ryan, the window.” While the short brunette nodded and left the room, the grumpy-looking enforcer opened the window wide.
Determined to only think positive thoughts, Shaya rose from his lap. “Lie down on the floor, flat on your back.”
“That’s usually my order,” rumbled Nick, smiling at her blush. Hoping against hope that the Alpha female would be successful where Amber wasn’t, Nick did as Shaya asked.
“Everyone other than Shaya step back,” ordered Taryn, all business. The depth of authority and seriousness in her voice had everyone immediately backing up, giving her plenty of space. As she knelt on his left side, Shaya knelt on his right and took his hand in hers. She exchanged a reassuring look with him, knowing he felt a little awkward.
Shaya watched as Taryn placed her hand on his forehead; just like that, patches of luminous lights were gleaming through Nick’s scalp, indicating where the damage was. Taryn then leaned over and placed her mouth to his like she would give him the kiss of life. Although the sight of another female’s mouth touching his made a part of Shaya balk, her concern for his well-being was far stronger than that.
Taryn inhaled deeply, then lifted her head, turned it toward the window, and blew out a heavy breath; a whoosh of black particles escaped from her mouth and zoomed out of the window. She repeated the move again and again, not stopping until the luminous patches of Nick’s scalp had completely faded.
“Done.” Puffing out a breath, she toppled backward, and would have landed on the carpet if Trey hadn’t been in position, waiting to catch her. He pulled her so that she was sitting between his legs, her back to his chest. She was pale and a little tired, but otherwise fine.
“As usual,” said Trey, “you now look like shit.”
Her voice hoarse, Taryn snapped, “Ass.” As a cough seemed to burst out of her, Grace gave Taryn a bottle of water and an energy bar. “Thank you.”
“How do you feel?” Shaya anxiously asked Nick as he slowly sat upright.
Rubbing his head, he considered lying to Shaya, but their bond would allow her to pick up on it. “Honestly…I don’t feel any different.”
“That’s because you weren’t in pain or feeling dizzy or weak,” Derren pointed out.
Good point, thought Nick. He looked at Taryn. “So you’ve healed my cognitive functions?”
Taryn pursed her lips. “That’s not quite how it works with me. All that foul crap I took out of you…that was, like, the badness. It’s hard to explain. If you take away the negativity that pollutes a positive situation, the situation is then no longer polluted—it’s pure again. The same thing applies here. Your cognitive functions are no longer ‘polluted.’ Hopefully, it stays that way. If this was the first time you had been healed, I wouldn’t even question whether or not the effect would be permanent. But as you’ve had a number of healing sessions before now and the problem still came back, I can’t guarantee it won’t come back again.”
Shaya leaned her head against his shoulder, and his arm instantly came around her. “It always amazes me when you do that,” she told Taryn. “Thanks.”