Dark Instincts (The Phoenix Pack 4)

Roni cast him an odd look. She was pretty sure no one had washed her hair for her since she was five years old—her mother had encouraged independence at a young age. “What are you doing?”

“I would have thought it was obvious,” he replied with a smile. “I’m taking care of you.”

“Why?”

It was asked with all the innocence of a child, widening Marcus’s smile. “Because you’re mine. I don’t like seeing you hurt.” It made him want to punch someone.

“Eliza went too far. I had to take care of it.”

“I know.” It was only natural for dominant wolves in the same environment to want to set a hierarchy, but if their human sides were friendly—or at least cordial—there were usually no problems.

“She seems to want a place in the pack. I think she thought that if she could take me in a fight, it would make her seem like a strong addition.”

“Yes. You’re highly respected by your pack. They admire your strength and they make it clear. A guaranteed way of Eliza being noticed would be if she established herself as more dominant than you.” Waiting as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, Marcus poured some shower gel into his hand. “Are you going to request that she’s banned from your territory?” When Roni frowned, as if the idea had never occurred to her, he smiled. “She’s just not important enough for you to care, is she?” He’d quickly learned that Roni wasn’t easily affected by things, one way or the other. If Eliza hadn’t tested her like that, placing Roni in a position where she had to battle with her, he doubted Roni would have bothered at all.

“No.” She had to grit her teeth as Marcus gently rubbed shower gel over her body, skimming over her injuries, while Roni applied conditioner to her hair. The soap stung like a motherfucker.

“Sorry, gorgeous, but this has to be done.” When she stepped directly under the spray a few moments later, allowing the conditioner and soap to slip away, he inspected every inch of her. The wounds were already beginning to heal. “It doesn’t look like any of the marks are deep enough to scar.” He doubted he could say the same for Eliza.

Turning off the spray, Roni stepped out of the cubicle and allowed Marcus to wrap a huge towel around her. “Off the subject, did anybody scan through the videos on the website?”

“Yes,” he replied, gently patting her dry. “Don’t worry, no one watched yours. Although, there is something you should know. In the comments section underneath the clip, whoever uploaded it said you deserved worse than what you got.”

Surprised, she blinked. “So this was personal, to some degree?”

“I’d say so.” He’d be more than happy to get very personal with the son of a bitch when he found him. “Any hunch on who it could have been?”

“No, but I’ve pissed off plenty of people in my time.”

“I’d have wondered if it was the other humans involved in the attack, but the website is exclusive to shifters.”

“It couldn’t have been them.”

The absolute certainty with which she spoke, combined with the odd tone she used, made him frown. “You sound very positive.”

She was, but she didn’t care to explain why. “It’s like you said, the website’s exclusive to shifters.” His narrow-eyed gaze said he wasn’t buying that, but he thankfully didn’t push. Instead, he guided her into the bedroom, picked up her brush, sat her between his legs on the bed, and began to tackle the tangles in her hair. “Why did you stay? In the clearing, I mean.”

“I wanted you to know that you weren’t alone; that if you did want me, I was right there. And I wanted to be sure you were all right. I know your pack is good at driving you crazy.”

“I’m surprised Nick let you anywhere near me.”

“No one was going to keep me away from you.”

The possessiveness in that statement made her wolf growl in contentment.

“Next time you’re pissed or have something on your mind, I want you to call me. You don’t have to tell me what the problem is. We don’t even have to talk about it; I just want you to call me instead of bolting. If you need to get away from here, I’ll come get you.”

Just then someone started pounding on her front door, and she groaned. No doubt it was Nick, checking on her. Her suspicion was confirmed when seconds later the door opened and he was stalking through the lodge. The wolf behind her didn’t tense or even pause in what he was doing, apparently totally unaffected by the agitation radiating from Nick.

“Are you all right?”

“Fine. None of the wounds are deep, so they’re healing pretty fast.”

“Even though it wasn’t an official challenge, you have every right to ask her to be banned from our territory. But I’m guessing you don’t really care.”

“Not even a little bit,” she confirmed. “In fact, let her stick around. She knows a lot about what the extremists are up to. If they’re planning anything as a result of the other extremist groups ‘mysteriously disappearing’ on Phoenix Pack territory, we’ll find out through her.”

“That’s what Derren said.” Nick sighed. “Roni, why did you bolt like that? You could have just talked to me. Or spoke to Shaya. Or punched Eli.”

“Is that a serious question? Look, let’s not talk about it. We tried that already. It never helped.”

He was quiet for a moment. “I didn’t tell Mom.”

“I’d say I appreciate it, but I’m guessing you only refrained from doing it because Shaya told you not to.” When the wolf behind her let out a knowing chuckle, she knew she was right.

Nick’s gaze shifted to Marcus, though he spoke to Roni. “So your wolf was fine with his presence.”

Marcus shrugged. “I told you she would be.” Done brushing her hair, he placed the brush beside him, and loosely circled her with his arms. “I have to get home and change. Come with me.”

“Don’t forget the game, Roni,” said Nick.

“Game?” repeated Marcus.

“The Arizona Grizzlies are playing against the San Francisco Cougars today.” Both were all-shifter football teams. “The pack watches the game together.”

Marcus could respect that—traditions were important to packs, and as a newly formed one, it was beneficial for the Mercury wolves to start their own. “Fair enough.” That got him suspicious looks from both siblings, who had obliviously expected him to bristle at Nick’s interference. Setting Roni on her feet, he stood and kissed the corner of her mouth, not wanting to aggravate the scratch on her bottom lip. “Get some rest, and we’ll talk later, okay.”