“We’ll see. I have so much to do. . . ”
“It’s not good for anybody if you get sick, babe. We all rely on you. Please promise me you’ll go by and see the doctor. ”
“I said, I’d see! Damn it, stop crowding me!” He stood up quickly and then flushed, glancing back down at his mate. “Sorry,” he said again. “Maybe I’d better go by and see what the hell’s going on with me. I need to go find Ian, but I promise I’ll go by today. ” He dropped a kiss on Nicky’s forehead, and then walked quickly to the door. He stopped and turned to look at Nicky, who was still sitting on the sofa with a frown creasing his forehead. “Don’t worry about me, okay? I’ll be fine—I’ll see you tonight. ”
Nicky sat for a long time after he left, staring into space and thinking about the past few weeks since the raid on the Hunter’s compound. Marco had been out of sorts and feeling run down and tired. At first, Nicky thought it was all the added work from the newcomers to their pack. Over seventy of the Hunters had surrendered, begging for assimilation rather than execution, and at least a third of that number had settled in the North Carolina pack. The others were taken to the North Georgia and Tennessee branches of the Werekin, and the remaining twenty-some men were in the process of merging into Marco’s group now. All had been turned at their request, and some had already found mates for themselves. The others were still in the process, and so far it had been going quite smoothly. Marco had done a wonderful job of settling them in, and he and the other wolves were still in the process of training them, so Marco had been running himself ragged.
Most nights Marco fell into bed exhausted, no matter how much sleep he’d gotten the night before. He’d been pale, irritable and angry for no reason, and now he’d taken to snapping at Nicky more and more often during the day. Sometimes afterward, Nicky had seen a look of bewilderment on Marco’s face. Other times, the look he saw was a steady and unwavering disapproval and almost resentment. When Nicky questioned him as to what was wrong, what he’d done to make him look at him that way, Marco had shrugged it off. Told him it was his imagination. But Nicky knew better.
He got up off the sofa wearily and began to straighten the kitchen. He was supposed to meet Logan and Evan, his closest friends, a little later for lunch. Dragging his feet, feeling vaguely out of sorts, he walked to the bedroom to make the bed, but only got a few steps inside the room when he heard the front door close. He turned around to see Marco standing just inside the door, a hard, almost angry look on his face. Nicky noticed again how dark the shadows under his eyes were becoming. Marco’s face was drawn with exhaustion.
“Back so soon, honey? Did you forget something?”
Marco prowled toward him, his moves somehow predatory and threatening. Nicky stepped backward instinctively, trying not to flinch when Marco suddenly put his hands on Nicky’s shoulders.
“Marco?”
Without saying a word, Marco shoved him backward toward the bedroom.
“Why were you up so early really, Nicky? Were you planning something? Trying to keep something from me again?” The low-voiced questions hit Nicky harder than anything he might have shouted. His voice was hoarse and menacing. “Are you trying to leave me again, pet? Want to get away from me?” He shoved Nicky again, and Nicky stumbled backward, falling on the floor, looking up at Marco, feeling frozen in shock. He couldn’t seem to utter a word as he stared up at this man who looked like Marco, but who was acting like a terrifying stranger. Suddenly Marco seemed to collapse on himself, putting a hand to his eyes as tears streamed from them. “You’re driving me crazy! I can’t get you off my damn mind! Why are you doing this?” Frightened, but unable to watch his lover in so much pain, Nicky reached a hand out to him.
In another dizzying mood swing, he slapped the hand away. “What? No smartass comments, boy? Then put that goddamned sarcastic mouth of yours to good use. At least that’s one thing you’re good at. ”
Nicky hissed in a hurt breath but allowed Marco to pull him up to his knees. “That’s the way I like you, pet, on your knees. Only you should be naked. Naked and waiting on my pleasure. It’s what pets are good for, right?” He put a hand behind Nicky’s head, pulling his face close to the rigid cock straining against his jeans. “Suck me. Take me in your mouth and show me how grateful you are for all I do for you. ”
“Stop it!” Nicky pushed back against him violently, jumped to his feet and ran around the side of the bed. Marco’s face was a mask of rage.
“Stop it? You don’t tell me to stop, damn you! You’re mine, you fuckin’ little bitch. ” He stalked around the side of the bed, looming over Nicky, and drew back his huge fist.
Nicky flinched and covered his head, cowering down beside the bed, expecting the fist to slam into him. Nothing happened. Nicky raised his terrified, tear-filled eyes to see Marco stumbling back away from him, an expression of horror and confusion on his face.
“N-Nicky. . . I. . . I. . . ” He seemed stricken at what he’d almost done. He looked down at his fist as if it didn’t even belong to him. Careening backward, his big frame hitting the door with great force, he righted himself and stood frozen in the doorway. “Oh God, what am I saying? What did I almost do?” He turned and stumbled out of the room, bent double and clutching his stomach as if in great pain.
Unable at first to process what had just happened, Nicky sat shaking in disbelief for a long moment afterward before grabbing for the phone and dialing a number with a trembling hand. “Please, come right away! My God, Logan, something’s happened to Marco!”
He dropped the receiver and found he didn’t have the strength to move, so fell back down on the side of the bed. He heard the door slam open and Logan rushed in. Logan, the mate of the pack beta, Ian, lived right across the hall in the big lodge, one of the main reasons Nicky had called him. That and the fact Logan was probably his best friend in all the pack. They’d been through a lot together.
“Nicky?” Logan called from the main room.
“In here. ”
“Damn, Nicky, what’s happened? What did he do?” Logan asked, sitting beside him on the bed. “He didn’t hit you, did he?”
Nicky, whose eyes had dropped to his lap, twisted his hands together. “No, n-not really. ”
“Not really? What the fuck? What did he do, Nicky?” Logan leaned in close to his friend, warm sympathy in his dark eyes. Nicky knew that Logan had been on the wrong side of a wolf a time or two himself.
“He yelled at me. ” Nicky laughed shortly. “I know, I know, he yells at me all the time, but this time he. . . ”
“What?”
“He pulled back his fist to hit me and called me a. . . a fucking little bitch. ”
“Oh my God!” Logan said softly. “Nicky, I’ve never seen Marco treat you with anything but love. Even when he was furious at you, everyone still knew he was crazy about you!”
“I know,” Nicky said miserably. “He was crazy all right, out of control. I’ve never seen him like that, and it scared me to death. ”
“What did you do? Nicky, tell me the truth. If he hit you. . . ”