Nick seemed to welcome the distraction. “What I’m really jealous of is her bullhorn.”
“Oh, God, don’t give him any ideas,” Ellie remarked.
“F-bombs would resound up to the very clouds,” Raluca said.
Nick grinned up at her. He was very pale, but clearly feeling better. “Speaking of f-bombs, I heard the one you dropped on those assholes in the alley.”
“No way!” Ellie exclaimed. “Did you really?”
Shane’s ice-blue gaze fixed on Nick in mock disapproval. “You’re a bad influence.”
Raluca tried not to blush. She had thought Nick had been unconscious when she’d screamed at the gang. “I was very angry.”
Nick squeezed her hand. Mischief glinted in his eyes, but it was outshone by the radiance of his love and pride. “Don’t be embarrassed. It was the most fucking awesome thing I’ve seen in my entire fucking life.”
“What did you say, Raluca?” Catalina called out. “This is sounding good.”
Raluca’s face burned. She was glad she’d done it, and glad that Nick had appreciated it, but there was no way she could bring herself to repeat it.
“I’d just come to,” Nick said. “I opened my eyes a crack, and saw the whole fucking gang descending on us. Price and his guys. That asshole dragon dude and his assassins. As far as they and Raluca knew, I was still unconscious. And she couldn’t shift. But she stood up and put her own body between them and me, in high heels and a mini-skirt and a black leather corset, and yelled louder than Catalina’s bull-horn, ‘Get lost, or I’ll burn you all to fucking ashes!’”
Everyone stared at Raluca. Even, to her slight alarm, Catalina.
Hastily, Raluca said, “I believe my actual word was ‘begone,’ but otherwise, yes. As Nick says.”
To her relief, Catalina returned her attention to the road.
With immense satisfaction, Nick said, “My mate is fucking badass. I never thought I’d have one of the greatest moments of my life when I was lying in an alley with my leg broken and my worst enemy coming to kill me, but that seriously was one of them.”
Raluca loved his pride and delight in her, but she had to say, “Treasure the memory, because I will never speak that word again.”
“Oh, believe me, I will,” Nick replied. Then, with another boyish grin, he added, “But I wouldn’t make any vows like that. Remember, I’m a bad influence. And we’re mates. We’re gonna have a long time together.”
“Goes both ways,” Shane remarked. “Maybe you’ll get a vocabulary upgrade.”
“Not fucking likely,” Nick said, then grew more serious. “Shane, I wanted to tell you... I’m sorry I yelled at you when you’d been shot. I wasn’t really mad at you. It was that you looked so bad, I was scared you were going to die, and I was so fucking furious at those guys who hurt you, I — ” He broke off, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.
“Stop talking. You’re making more work for us.” Shane turned a dial on one of the machines hooked up to Nick. To Raluca’s relief, that seemed to help Nick’s breathing. Then Shane said quietly, “I know, Nick. I’ve always known. Don’t worry about it.”
Nick relaxed. His eyelids fluttered, then closed, and his hand went slack in hers.
“Is he all right?” Raluca asked.
Shane nodded, his fingers on Nick’s pulse. “His vital signs are good. He’s just dozing.”
“It’s normal,” Ellie added. “He’ll need to sleep a lot for the next few days.”
“You might too, Raluca,” Catalina called from the front. “This sort of thing can be exhausting if you’re not used to it.”
“This sort of thing?” Raluca repeated. “Being attacked? Having to fight for my mate’s life and my own? Seeing my mate almost get killed? I certainly hope I never get used to it!”
Shane leaned over to flick Catalina’s arm. “Not everyone in this bus is an adrenaline junkie superhero.”
But for once, his blue eyes were warm. Shane had the same fond look that Hal had worn when he’d ruffled Ellie’s hair, and Ellie had given Hal before she’d turned back to her work. It was the same way Nick looked at Raluca. No wonder the team had figured out that they were mates.
The ambulance pulled into Protection, Inc.’s underground parking lot. Shane and Catalina carried Nick’s stretcher out. Like Shane and his mysterious friend, he and his mate moved in perfect sync, easily keeping the stretcher level despite their different heights.
Once they were all crammed into the elevator, Ellie reached for the button for the lower floor, but Shane shook his head. “Better take him to the lobby. The doctor’s coming by helo. It’ll save time if he has to be medevaced.”