When they had first met, Derren hadn’t been too sure about her—having watched as she rejected Nick over and over. She’d had every reason to push Nick away, considering he’d failed to claim her when he had the chance. But Derren hadn’t liked seeing his friend so cut up. And since Nick had left his pack to track her down, Derren figured she should have at least given Nick a chance. Eventually she had, and Derren had quickly learned that Shaya Critchley was strong, wise, and had a huge heart.
They had formed their own pack, thanks to Derren’s meddling, and Nick had purchased a chunk of land where a number of hunting lodges were situated. The main lodge looked like a rustic mansion and had been refurbished with Shaya’s tastes in mind. Despite Nick’s reluctance to be an Alpha again, it had all worked out pretty well . . . except for the part where he’d withdrawn Derren’s self-appointed bodyguard position and made him his Beta.
Derren could have refused, but that would have called into question his loyalty to Nick. Still, loyal to his Alpha or not, the subject of Ally Marshall wasn’t something Derren could afford to drop.
As Derren had expected, Nick had freaked at the idea of having a Seer in his pack, even if it were only temporary. Shaya hadn’t been any happier about bringing in an outsider . . . right up until Derren had explained Ally’s sad situation, which had appealed to Shaya’s compassionate nature. If someone had a problem, she would do what she could to fix it—and she would make sure that Nick helped.
So now the Alpha female was doing her best to convince Nick that they should give Ally sanctuary. Although Nick appeared to be stubbornly sticking to his decision, Derren could sense that the guy was wavering, hating the idea of upsetting his mate.
“We shouldn’t get involved; this is none of our business,” insisted Nick from the sofa, cuddling their infant daughter and plucking at her short, blonde, corkscrew curls. Like her mother, Willow had a pixie look about her, but she had Nick’s green eyes. She was also Derren’s goddaughter.
Staring down at Nick, arms folded, Shaya frowned. “It is your business if Cain is your friend.”
“I don’t have friends.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, my mistake: you have ‘contacts,’” she said dryly. “But you like Cain, right?”
Nick grimaced. “I don’t dislike him.”
Eli, Nick’s younger brother and the pack’s Head Enforcer, laughed. “Which basically makes him your BFF.”
It was true that Nick did his best to alienate the majority of the population, being strongly averse to company. The guy was a born leader, an alpha by nature. But he didn’t like having lots of people around him, which was unfortunately for him one of the trimmings that came with the Alpha role.
“This is your friend’s mate, Nick,” stressed Shaya. “Even if he has no intention of claiming her, she’s still his mate. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Derren wondered if much of Shaya’s compassion came from knowing what it was like to have her mate choose not to claim her.
Caleb pursed his lips. “I wonder why Cain hasn’t mated her.” The submissive male belonged to the same pack as Shaya growing up and was a lifelong friend of hers. Caleb was also genuine, smart, and had recently mated another submissive male within the pack, Kent.
“Maybe it’s to keep Ally safe,” Shaya theorized. She looked at Derren. “You said Cain told you he keeps their connection quiet to keep her off the humans’ radar.”
“Yeah,” confirmed Derren, “but he also said he’s known her since she was six and he was eight. He could have claimed her after he left juvie when he was eighteen. Instead, he let her go pack-trotting.”
As such, Derren wasn’t quite sure why Cain had refrained from claiming her. In fact, he wasn’t sure how Cain was managing to ignore the mating urge either. It was supposedly painful. But then, Cain didn’t feel the way others did. Not anymore. Maybe that had stopped the mating urge from coming into play.
“It doesn’t matter,” maintained Nick. “It’s none of our business. Besides, this could blow over soon. It’s natural for the Beta female to be jealous of her mate’s ex-partners—mates are possessive like that.”
“Yes,” Shaya allowed, “but if the Beta’s so jealous that she’s bitter, spiteful, and targeting Ally to this extent, that’s not good. I don’t believe the Beta will let this go.”
“I agree.” Kathy, Nick’s mother, reached for a babbling Willow, but Nick was having none of it. He was just as possessive and protective of his daughter as he was of his mate. “But the fact remains that this Ally person is a Seer.” The latter word dripped with disgust.
Nick spoke then. “I don’t like Seers. I don’t trust them. And I don’t want one around my pack.” His expression said: end of story.
Shaya seemed baffled. “Why? What’s so bad about them?”
For a moment, Derren wondered if Nick would mention what had happened all those years ago—a story only very few knew. But, as it turned out, Nick didn’t have to mention Derren’s past to make his point.