Warrior Wolf (Protection, Inc 4)

Her annoyance reassured him more than anything else would have. Nick happened to know from personal experience that if you’re actually dying, you don’t have the energy to sweat the small stuff.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just that Lucas would be too proud to say if he was feeling weak or about to pass out. And I need to know.”

“My tongue and the inside of my mouth and my throat burn like they’re on fire,” Raluca said. “But the pain fades as it goes further down, and stops at the top of my sternum. I don’t feel ill or weak. I think the dragonsbane in the wine coated my mouth and throat, and didn’t go any farther. I don’t think I’ve been poisoned, like Lucas was. If it didn’t reach my stomach, it shouldn’t be absorbed by my body.”

As she spoke, Nick veered from lane to lane, then swung on to another freeway. But while his focus was on his job, his heart lifted with relief that Raluca would be all right. She sounded so sure, she convinced him, too. And he couldn’t help being impressed with her precise reporting of injuries that obviously hurt like fuck. They were to her mouth and throat, too. What must it cost her in additional pain and difficulty to articulate so clearly?

“You’re brave,” Nick said, wishing he was more articulate.

“Oh...” Raluca sounded startled. “Thank you.”

“Just calling it like I see it. It hurts to talk, right? So don’t say anything unless you have to.”

She said no more, so he knew he was right. Nick got out his cell phone, called Hal, and gave a quick report. At the end, he said, “Can I get some back-up, in case someone’s waiting for me outside headquarters?”

“Yeah,” Hal said. “It’s already dispatched. You’ll have a greeting committee waiting for you, don’t worry.”

Nick had guessed as much; he’d heard scribbling in the background, and figured that Hal, who never used a computer when a pen would do, was passing notes to someone.

“I’ll be there in ten.” Nick hung up. “Raluca, push your seat back as far as it goes.”

When she did, he said, “Slide down and curl up on the floor. I’m going to drop something on top of you, okay? It’s our bulletproof vests. Don’t bother trying to get into one, just drape them over you.”

He reached around without looking, into the back seat and under the blanket he’d dumped over them for cover, snagged the vests, and laid them on top of her.

“What about you?” Raluca asked.

Nick shrugged. “I can duck.”

“Unacceptable.”

“What?”

Raluca rose from the floor, a vest in her hands.

“Keep your eyes on the road,” she ordered, then undid his seatbelt.

“What?” Nick protested. “Forget about me. Get back down!”

“The more you argue, the longer I will be up here,” Raluca said coolly. “Also, it hurts to speak. Please stop making me.”

“Fuck, you’re stubborn,” Nick muttered. He hastily added, “You don’t need to say you don’t like that word. I KNOW. Just do it fast.”

With no alternative, Nick cooperated as Raluca strapped on his vest, lifting first one arm and then the other from the steering wheel so she could get his arms in while he drove one-handed. His heart thudded against his chest. If someone fired on them now, the bullet would go through her and only bruise him. That was the opposite of how it was supposed to be.

Protect your mate above yourself, his wolf howled.

“Get the fuck on with it,” Nick demanded. “If that vest isn’t on in five more seconds, leave it and get back down.”

Raluca shot him an icy stare. “I go nowhere until the straps are correct.”

To his immense relief, she jerked the last strap into place, then dropped back to the floor and curled up silently with the other vest draped over her, exactly as he’d ordered.

Nick’s nerves sang with adrenaline as he approached the looming tower of Protection, Inc., but there was no ambush. He got into the underground parking lot as easily as if it was a regular day at work.

He parked, opened the door for Raluca, and lifted her out.

Shane materialized from the shadows. Raluca jumped. So did Nick.