Heartsblood (Dark Hollow Wolf Pack 10)

“So what are you going to do?”

“Nothing. Marco will get over it, or at least I hope he will. He’ll probably give me the cold shoulder for a day or two.”

“Or else he’ll come home tonight and show you who’s boss. Lucky you.”

Nicky laughed softly and shifted the phone back up to his ear. “I would like to see you. If Zack will let me. The wolves around here act like I’m about to snatch their mates up and run under the bed with them.”

“I’d like to say Zack will be different, but who knows? He’s not exactly the soul of restraint when it comes to me, though not, thank God, as bad as Marco is. Or was, anyway.”

Nicky stood up restlessly and paced back over to the window. “I’d better go. I’m beginning to get stir crazy in this room.”

“What do you do with yourself these days? Are you working on a painting?”

“No,” Nicky said shortly. That was an area he didn’t want to discuss. “I don’t have much to do. I guess I was expected to sit around like a good little wifey before with my feet propped up or something, reading magazines. I don’t know how I could have stood it for so long.”

A short silence greeted these words and then Gabe gave a small, nervous laugh. “Who are you and what have you done with Nicky?”

Nicky snorted and shook his head. “I was that bad, huh?”

Another silence and then, “Not to me.” The feeling of unease came back over Nicky at these softly spoken words and a sudden fierce longing to see Gabe again swept over him. Seriously, what the fuck was wr

ong with him?

“Well, I have to find something to do with myself or go crazy. I guess I’ll find Ian and see if he can assign me to a work detail.”

“Okay, now you’re just trying to scare me.”

“Goodbye, Gabe. I’ll call you later.”

“See to it that you do, and Nicky…”

“Yeah?”

“I know you’re going through a lot of changes with your body and stuff—all things I can’t wait to see, by the way. But don’t lose Nicky along the way, okay? I love that guy. I’d hate to see him disappear.”

“Okay, whatever,” Nicky said, his voice a little gruff to hide his embarrassment. Had Gabe said this kind of thing all along, and had he just never noticed it before? It was sweet, in a way, but it made him uncomfortable in ways he didn’t want to think about. And he suddenly realized he hated someone talking about him in the third person. It sounded silly and pretentious—don’t lose Nicky along the way. Jesus.

“Look, I’ll talk to you later,” he said, already feeling guilty at having disloyal thoughts about his good friend but needing to get off the phone before…well, he wasn’t sure why, but he needed to hang up. Now.

“Okay,” Gabe said softly as Nicky hit the end button on his phone.

Chapter Two

Nicky sighed and slipped his phone back in his pocket. He hoped he hadn’t been rude to Gabe. He scrubbed his face with his hands. So far today he was batting a thousand when it came to pissing people off or hurting their feelings. And that strange, restless longing to see Gabe again. What was that about? What the fuck was wrong with him today? He felt like he had to move and work off some of this tension or go crazy.

He took off to find Ian and see about getting assigned to a work detail. Even cutting wood would be better than sitting around this room all day. On his way down the stairs, he passed Rory, Marco’s cousin and lead gamma of the pack, coming up. He hadn’t seen much of him since that day on the mountain when both of them had been hurt. Rory had been a member of their party, one of the guard detail assigned to them and had been badly injured in the attack, wounded in the leg and shoulder with silver bullets. He’d lost a lot of blood and a bad infection had set in from the silver, a substance poisonous to wolves.

“Hey man, I haven’t seen you in a while. How are you feeling?” Nicky asked, stopping on the stairs.

“I’m fine,” Rory replied. Nicky and Rory had always had a close but teasing relationship. Rory disapproved of the way he said Marco spoiled Nicky and he’d never made any bones about it. “But look at you. Damn, you were always tall, but you were like a beanpole before. Is Marco feeding you steroids or something?”

Nicky shrugged, uncomfortable at the turn in the conversation. That seemed to be the only thing anyone had to say to him these days. “I guess I’ve put on a few pounds. So are your wounds healing up okay?”

“Oh yeah. Casey’s seen to that.” He smiled ruefully. “He’s fed me so much of his blood I think I slosh when I walk. The doc finally had to tell him to back off.” When Rory had mated with Casey, an aggressive alpha, everyone had been shocked, but they seemed to make it work, even though Casey was extremely controlling and protective.

“Yeah, I know how that is. Marco’s been known to get a little overzealous in that department himself whenever I’ve been sick or hurt.”

“They’re only looking out for what’s best for us,” Rory said, frowning a little defensively, even though he’d been the one to start this.