Wolfsbane (Dark Hollow Wolf Pack 5)

“I’m not really asking your permission, Marco. ”

“Damn it, Nicky!” Marco stood up, trying to be as large and intimidating as possible, but Nicky had seen it all before and was not overly impressed.

He jumped to his feet and stared right back at him. “Damn it, Marco! Don’t cuss at me, and don’t try to throw your weight around. You can’t stop me. ”

He bent over at the waist to put his face right up to Nicky’s. “You wait and see if I can’t. I’ll take a lot from you, Nicky, but one thing I won’t compromise on is your safety. If I have to tie you up and throw you in that safe room I’ll do it. ”

At a standoff, Nicky crossed his arms over his chest. “What if I could prove to you that I can take care of myself? That I don’t need you to protect me?”

Marco rolled his eyes. “How are you going to do that, Nicky?”

“By challenging you to a fight. ” Nicky smiled archly at him, as Marco waved his hand and turned away.

“Again?That didn’t work out so great the last time, did it?” He smiled but got only a stony stare in response. “Look, Nicky, I’m not going to fight you, baby. It wouldn’t exactly be a fair fight. ”

“Oh, really? And why is that?Because you think you’re so much better a fighter than I am?”

Marco sat down on the sofa and put his hands behind his head. “Well, yeah. That and the fact that I wouldn’t want to hurt you, so I would pull my punches. I wouldn’t think you’d want to hurt me either. Or would you like to kick me and gouge out my eyes like Logan is teaching you guys?”

“I don’t, baby,” Nicky said, standing in front of him. “I’d never want to really hurt you. That’s why I’ll just put you down on the floor and keep you there untilI let you get up. ”

“And just how do you plan to do that?”

Nicky shrugged. “I can’t give away my secrets, but l’ll bet you I can, and I’m so confident I can do it, I’ll make it worth your while. ”

It was Marco’s turn to narrow his eyes. “How would you do that?”

“If I can’t do as I say,then I’ll-I’ll get up every morning and cook breakfast foryou, and I’ll never bring up the subject of fightingalongside you again. ”

Marco looked skeptical.

“I promise!” Nicky held up a hand to swear.

“You’re going to get up every morning at six o’clock? To cook?” Marco’s highly dubious tone instantly made Nicky furious.

“Well, if I lost the bet I would, but I won’t have to because I’ll win. ” Nicky snapped back at him.

“Okay. ” Marco stood up and walked lazily toward Nicky. “Go ahead. ”

“First, you have to promise to let me keep training and fight at your side if it comes to an allout war. No safe room!I’d rather die—you know I can’t stand closed places, and not knowing if you were alive or dead—it would kill me. ”

“Nicky, I appreciate all that, sweetheart, but. . . ”

Nicky held up his hand. “Wait. I’m not through. If I do this, I also get to have sex with you any way I want to tonight. ”

Marco smiled and reached for him. “Not a problem, sweetheart. We don’t have to do all this silly fighting for that. ”

Nicky allowed Marco to kiss him for a few minutes and then pulled back. “Any way I want to. Promise, Marco. ”

Marco sighed. “Okay, any way you want to. Now can we get on with this? I have some things I need to do before bed tonight. ”

“Okay, sure. I have some things I need to do before bed tonight too. So stand up, and come at me. Just like you’re going to hit me. ”

Smiling a little, Marco stepped forward with an arm upraised. Nicky stepped forward, just as he’d seen Logan do, and with his left hand struck Marco a light blow to his Adam’s apple. Marco stopped dead in his tracks, got a surprised, choking look on his face and grabbed his throat. Nicky moved his left hand down to his shirtfrontand pushed on Marco’s chest as hard as he could. At the same time, he bent over and stuck his righthand between Marco’s legs, grabbed his belt from the back and yanked hard.

Nothing happened.

Marco stared down at him. “Why did you hit me in the throat?”