“Shouldn’t we get the rest of Nicky’s stuff?”
“Yeah. He’ll want it.” Jazzy looked at the tiny woman beside the two men, and then she made eye contact with the one carrying Nicky as if he weighed nothing at all. “Be careful with our friend.”
The man, an oversized vision of Hispanic and Native American male perfection, merely nodded. He carefully stepped over the bloody and torn clothing and disappeared into the bushes with Nicky’s limp body in his arms.
Jazzy grabbed the rest of Nicky’s torn and tangled clothing and Beth found a bunch of the studs and rings that had somehow fallen from his pierced flesh. Jazzy straightened up and glanced at the strange woman, who was looking more impatient by the second.
“Okay. I’ve got everything. I sure hope you can explain what happened.” Jazzy hadn’t meant to sound so confrontational. These people were here to help them, for whatever reason.
Logan grabbed her elbow, as if he were escorting her to the Oscars instead of the big SUV parked on the other side of a copse of bushes and flowering plants. He didn’t say a word, but Jazzy soaked up the sense of his strength and took some comfort in his closeness.
Her head buzzed again, like the sound of bees inside her skull. Nerves. Must be a delayed reaction to what she’d seen. She glanced back, once, at the mangled body lying near the garden. Then she looked up at Logan. His jaw was set, his eyes narrowed. He’d looked so different when he was checking out the guy on the ground. Like he knew exactly what he was doing. Sort of like a doctor examining a sick person.
“What were you doing with that guy…the dead guy?”
Logan’s head jerked around and his fingers tightened on her elbow. “What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.”
“You were touching his neck and checking his injuries. You looked like a doctor.”
“Someone had to check and see if he was still alive. No one seems to care that a guy’s lying dead on the ground back there.”
Jazzy frowned. “We all care, Logan. But maybe we care more about Nicky than some fucking punk who tried to molest a woman in the park. Sorry, but he doesn’t get any sympathy from me.”
“Pretty heavy price to pay for coppin’ a feel.”
“Not heavy enough, as far as I’m concerned.” She tugged her arm free of Logan’s grasp. The dead guy deserved what he got and then some. She’d had more than her share of punks trying to cop a feel and way too many had succeeded and gotten away with it.
Sirens screamed in the distance. “Sounds like they’re getting closer,” she said, to no one in particular.
“Hurry.” The woman held the doors open on the SUV. She seemed surprisingly calm, considering the circumstances. The big guy had Nicky laid out in the backseat. He threw a towel over Nicky’s midsection to cover up his nakedness while the rest of them packed in as best they could. Deacon, being such a big guy, took shotgun next to the really gorgeous dude; Jazzy got into the second seat that was designed for two passengers, and squeezed in with Beth, Logan, and Matt.
The woman climbed into the third seat in the back near the still unconscious Nicky. She sort of scrunched down on the floor. Then she poked her head around the edge of Jazzy’s seat as the one she called AJ slowly drove the car away from the curb. “A couple of you guys, duck down so the cops don’t pull us over for not having enough seatbelts. That’s the last thing we need. We’re just a couple blocks from home.”
Beth and Jazzy hit the deck in a tangle of legs. “Oh shit.” Jazzy slapped her hand over her mouth, but she still got the giggles. Crap…that always happened when she got nervous. Beth just looked totally shell shocked, but she had it bad for Nicky, not that he’d ever noticed her. She had to be worried sick right now.
They drove for no more than a couple minutes when it suddenly turned dark. Jazzy poked her head up and realized they were pulling into a garage. “You weren’t kidding. We got here fast.”
“Your friend’s coming around. Let’s get him inside.” The lady turned to Jazzy. “I’m Tala, by the way. The big guy with your buddy is Mik, and the cover model behind the wheel is AJ.”
AJ flashed her a wide smile. “Cover model? That’s a new one.”
“Ah, you know you’re gorgeous, sweetie.” Tala opened the back door and helped hold the towel around Nicky’s waist. He was definitely coming around now. Wide-eyed and scared, he jerked his head from side to side.
When he spotted Beth, his eyes closed for a moment. “Beth? What happened?”
“Wait until we get inside. I’ll help you.” Mik had Nicky in his powerful arms before Nicky even had a chance to protest. Beth followed quietly. Tala led them all up the stairs from the garage, into a surprisingly large, sunshine-bright hallway.
Mik kept going. Jazzy and the rest trailed along behind him. AJ passed them in the hallway and opened a door into what looked like a separate apartment. “Let’s put them in the rooms we had for Adam and Eve. I doubt they’ll be back anytime soon.”
Jazzy nudged Logan in the ribs with her elbow. “Adam and Eve?” she whispered, grinning. He just looked at her and frowned. She ducked her head. He made her feel so damn small sometimes.
“Good idea.” Ignoring her stupid comment, Mik carried Nicky through the door, across a large living room, and into a larger bedroom. Tala fluffed up a couple of big pillows and leaned them against the iron headboard. Mik set Nicky carefully on the king-sized bed.
Nicky shook his head, confused, looked down at the towel that had slipped away from his waist, and quickly covered himself. He frowned and glared at Mik. “Is anyone going to tell me what the fuck happened?”
Before anyone could answer, he lifted the towel and stared underneath, then slammed it back in place. “Where’s my studs an’ rings? There were studs and rings in my dick.” He lifted the blanket again, flopped it back down and looked at his chest and then his arms, frowning. “I had a nipple ring. The hole’s still there. My tats are all gone!”
Beth stepped forward. She unclenched her fist. Inside were half a dozen metal studs and rings. “These were on the ground after you…”
Logan turned toward Mik. “After he what? What the hell happened to Nicky?”
Mik shrugged his big shoulders and grinned. “He shifted. Turned into a wolf. Piercings, tattoos, anything foreign to the body…it doesn’t make it through the shift.” He turned to Nicky. “Your tats are just dust in the dirt now. The ink flaked off when your skin changed. The studs and rings fell out. If you want to put them back, the holes might still be there, for a while, anyway.”
AJ started laughing. “When you know Tala better, you’ll have to ask her what she lost during her first shift.”
Tala elbowed him in the ribs.
“Oomph! What’d ya do that for?”
She rolled her eyes and smiled at Jazzy. “My IUD fell out on the ground. So much for birth control.”
“That’s all a bunch of crap. People can’t turn into wolves. It’s physically impossible. Nicky just, he just…” Logan took a long, shaky breath.
Jazzy
