If Nick’s wolf could have laughed, Nick was pretty sure he would have. Only Shaya ever had this effect on the animal’s mood. “I told you I’d be here when you finished work.”

“And I told you that I’m perfectly capable of getting myself home.” She noticed that Kent was staring at Nick in total admiration, fanning his face. When Kent looked at her, he mouthed, “Oh my God.” Typical.

“It’s just a ride.” Nick smiled innocently, shrugging. “Like you said earlier, a ride doesn’t mean anything.”

She narrowed her eyes. He was twisting her words and using them against her. Oh, that was sneaky. And smart, she could concede.

Kent offered Nick his hand. “As Shaya’s being rude, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Kent.”

Finally moving his gaze from Shaya, Nick shook what he knew was her boss’s hand—as he’d told Shaya, he’d ensured he knew what there was to know about her life. “Nick.” When the guy’s brow furrowed in confusion, Nick realized that Shaya had never spoken of him. And didn’t that hurt like a bitch. His wolf growled at that, wanting his role in her life to be noted. Nick was none too pleased about it either and thought about making it known right then. But he wanted Shaya to be the one to say who he was to her, wanted to hear her say it with pride rather than reluctantly through gritted teeth. “You’re a half-shifter,” observed Nick.

Kent nodded. “Very good. Not a lot of shifters are able to pick it up.”

Shaya was kind of surprised that Nick hadn’t firmly stated he was her mate. The guy was an extremely dominant alpha—the last thing he would want was any misconceptions about such a thing. Strangely, she found herself a little offended that Nick hadn’t cared enough to clear it up. He wasn’t even explaining that he was in town to see her. No, as he chatted to Kent, he was extremely vague, leaving his acquaintance with Shaya open to interpretation. Kent would undoubtedly think she and Nick had met in the last day or so. Again, she was offended.

God, what was wrong with her? One minute she wanted him gone, and the next minute she wanted him to declare she was his mate. But…maybe it wasn’t all that odd, considering that her pride had taken a huge blow when he rejected her, she mused. His failure to acknowledge what she was to him had stung like hell, and it seemed that a part of her still wanted that acknowledgment, wanted to know he was proud that she was his mate.

As if he sensed her inner struggle and was taken over by a reflexive need to comfort her, he came closer and began casually toying with one of her curls as he and Kent chatted about the local pack and the local group of human extremists. She slapped at his hand as if it was an annoying fly, but Nick either didn’t notice or didn’t care because he didn’t stop. So she slapped his hand harder. Without even glancing at her, he closed his hand around her offending one and nipped her ear punishingly. He then held her hand to his side, ignoring her struggle to reclaim it. Oddly enough, he seemed amused rather than frustrated.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sequoia Pack wants to talk to you, wanting to know what you’re doing in town,” said Kent. “You’re not exactly inconspicuous.”

Nick smiled. “I’ve already had that ‘talk.’”

“What?” demanded Shaya. “You talked with the Sequoia Pack?” And why had “talk” sounded more like “fight”? “Nick, those guys aren’t good. Please tell me you’re not thinking of joining their pack.”

Liking the concern in her voice, Nick ran the tip of his finger over her bottom lip. “I have no interest in joining their pack or any other.” He chuckled when she slapped his hand again.

“If you ask me,” began Kent, “the humans have a good chance of getting those laws put in place. It’s shifters like the ones around here that give us a bad name.”

“Is there more than one pack here?” asked Nick.

“No. The rebels are a small number of wolves who left the Sequoia Pack, but they refuse to leave town, so fights break out often between them and members of the Sequoia Pack. The human extremists use it as evidence to support their argument that we’re wild and dangerous. The humans also know how the Nazi makes his money, but they have no way of proving it, so they follow him everywhere, desperate to pin something on him. The rebels are closely watched by humans too, but they don’t have a permanent tail.”

“So the extremists in this town are particularly active?”

“Yes.” Kent gestured over Nick’s shoulder. “And I think they wish to speak to you. They’re at the end of the street, and they’re slowly coming this way.”

Nick had sensed them approaching before Kent’s response. A white van had been following him and Derren around all day, and he’d figured it was the extremists—shifters wouldn’t have delayed a confrontation for that long. He’d known it would only be a matter of time before they came to speak to him. Turning, he replied, “So I see.”

The dark edge to his tone made Shaya shiver. In a millisecond, he had gone straight from gentle and cool to commanding and assertive. But that was the thing about Nick. Despite his casual posture, despite how supremely composed he seemed and his way of always seeming at total ease with his surroundings, he was never truly relaxed. He was constantly alert, ready to act. That dark energy he was loaded with was now radiating from him. It was a reminder of just how dangerous he was—like she needed that reminder. Although with her he could be gentle, she got the feeling that she might be the exception.

“Shay, I need you to get in the SUV with Derren.” His wolf growled at the sight of the hateful humans slowly and cautiously approaching; he didn’t want them anywhere near his mate.

“Derren?” she echoed, confused. It was only then that she noticed his SUV was parked behind Nick’s Mercedes.

“Take Kent with you.”

Before Shaya could say a word, Kent slipped his arm into hers and began dragging her to the SUV. Derren was out of the vehicle and holding the rear door open for them.

“In,” urged Kent, shoving her inside.

A part of her wanted to stay with Nick, particularly as her natural soothing aura might just stop the confrontation from escalating. But she had to consider that her presence out there might instead cause the confrontation to get out of control—for her to be around the extremists would make Nick’s wolf frantic enough to snap easily. Besides, presenting a united front was what mated pairs did, and they weren’t mated. Her wolf growled and snapped her teeth at Shaya, unhappy with her refusal to stand at their mate’s side in any case.