“Nikki . . .” There was a slight growl to Mom’s voice.
“No one’s exiting the compound tonight, Meg.” Liam dipped his chin a little, staring at me over the head of his son, whose lids had fallen shut, long lashes fanning his pale cheeks. “Right, Nikki?”
I resented to be ganged up on. “Geez, I’m curious not reckless. Anyway, I have work to do.” I grabbed the scattered plush toys and jammed them into their box, then smacked the lid on.
“Do you want to stay for dinner?” my mother asked Liam as I unearthed my tablet from underneath one of Dad’sBon Appétitmagazines. “It should be ready in thirty.”
“That’s very kind, but I think Storm and I will head back and call it a night.”
“Wait here one second then.” She bustled into the kitchen. Drawers rolled.
“If you can’t come to the dinner table, the dinner table comes to you,” I muttered.
Did I say something wrong?
I pressed my lips together, debating whether to speak my piece or just drop it.
People can’t change if they don’t know what to change.
I hugged my tablet to my chest. “When I say I’m not going to do something, I’m not going to do it. The same way when I say I’ll get something done, I get it done.”
Fair enough. I won’t question your intentions again.
“I appreciate that.”
He rubbed his cheek against the top of his son’s head, marking him. Dad and Mom would mark us every night when we were kids. “Once she’s in skin, I’ll let you know, and we can go out there together.”
Thatthawed out my annoyance. “I swear I’m a good interrogator. Just ask my brothers. I could get them to confess to all the naughty things they did.”
A corner of his mouth lifted. “You do seem to have them all wrapped around your little finger.”
“One of the perks of being the baby in the family.” I smiled, and then, on my way toward the stairs, I stopped by Liam to run my knuckle over Storm’s velvety cheek. “Sleep tight, little man.”
Caressing Storm hadn’t been a ploy to get closer to Liam, but now that I was near, I couldn’t help but breathe in the loamy aroma of earth and wind that clung to the male. And it did something to me . . . to my wolf. It made her want to come out and run wild. Tomorrow . . . tomorrow I’d try to shift, even if it was to loop around the compound.
I stepped back. “Goodnight, Liam.”
“Night, Nikki.”
Where his scent had acted on my wolf, his raspy timbre acted on my human. Goosebumps dusted my skin, increased the tempo of my heart, and altered my scent. He didn’t have to be a tracker to pick up on that last one, but he’d have to be finetuned to the way I smelled normally. Since we hadn’t spent much time together, he’d hopefully miss the subtle shift.
Distancing myself to dilute my attraction made me forget about Liam spotting my uneven gait. I hated that I cared so deeply about how it made me look. I thought of Ness, of the scar down her face and her sightless eye. I’d met her only twice, during her visits to the construction site with her mate, but what an inspiration she’d been. How I wished I possessed an ounce of her confidence. Especially since, unlike her, my scar was someplace I could conceal.
I sank onto my bed, my fingers tracing the skewed patch that ran down the side of my leg like a seam fashioned from melted wax. On my tablet, I could remove flaws at a press of a stylus. What I wouldn’t give to be able to smooth out my scar, blend it back into my skin.
You could’ve been down a leg, Nikki.
I waited for this reminder to penetrate, to erase my lasting superficiality, but it just sat there like moss atop a rock, like my ruined skin over my muscle and bone.
Chapter 6
At the crack of dawn, I pulled on a pair of track pants, then barefoot, tiptoed down our creaky steps.
“Nikki?” Dad’s voice drifted from the kitchen.
I stepped into the doorway.
He was at the stove, stirring something in a deep saucepan. “Should be ready soon.”
