“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.”

“Yeah, thanks,” said Nick.

“Unnatural, that is,” muttered Greta.

Clearly offended on Taryn’s behalf, Jaime frowned at the old woman. “So is your life span, not to mention your moustache.”

Keeping Taryn in his arms, Trey got to his feet. “Come on, you need to have a small nap.” After that, she would be her normal hyper self again.

“But Kye—”

“Is half the reason you’re so tired,” finished Trey. “He kept you awake for most of the night. He’ll probably still be asleep when you wake up. If he does wake early, he’ll be absolutely fine with all these people to fuss over him.”

“I know, but he looks for me, so I feel bad when I’m not there for him,” whined Taryn. The kid, though extremely sociable, was very tightly bonded to Taryn, just as Taryn was to him—which was most likely why she continued to complain as Trey strolled out of the living area with her in his arms, en route to their bedroom.

Shaya turned to Nick, who was clearly attempting to smile at a talking Jaime, but it looked more like a grimace. Taking pity on him, she said, “Come on, let’s go take our stuff up to my room.” Nick’s relief was visible in his expression, which made Jaime smile.

Entering Shaya’s bedroom, Nick studied his surroundings and noticed that the room was a lot like the bedroom in the house she’d been renting in Arizona—pine furniture, gold and cream color theme, satin sheets, and a bed adorned with decorative pillows. He still had yet to figure out why anyone would bother with decorative pillows, but the last time he’d complained about it, she’d smacked him over the head. So he would stay quiet about it this time. Instead, he tugged her to him and ravaged her mouth like he’d been dying to do since they arrived. “We need to christen that bed.”

In the aftermath of a session of wickedly slow, leisurely sex that made Shaya come so hard she saw stars, she simply lay—totally sated and somewhat resembling a limp noodle—in Nick’s arms, content. “I don’t think I can move for a while.”

“Good. Let’s just stay here until it’s time for the evening meal.”

She chuckled. “So you don’t have to interact with the others?”

“That and I like having time with just you.” He nipped her bottom lip. “I don’t like sharing you.”

“It’s a good thing I have no intention of asking you if we could live here permanently—it would kill you.”

The total lack of privacy would in fact drive him insane. “If you really want to, I could try.” This was the only family Shaya had ever really had, and he wouldn’t take her away from it if it would devastate her. “Any other ideas of where you’d like to live?”

“I don’t know. I guess that depends on whether or not you’ve decided yet if you want to be an Alpha again?”

Rolling onto his back, he groaned. “Not you too. You’re supposed to be on my side.”