CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER EIGHT

Staring up at Deke’s ceiling four evenings later, Bailey struggled to catch her breath as she recovered from a monumental orgasm. It had torn through her body and sucked every bit of strength from it. She had all but melted into the mattress, and Deke had slumped over her like a dead weight.

Well, damnedy damn.

“The paint on your ceiling is chipped,” she rasped.

“Thanks for letting me know,” he slurred, his breath fanning her throat. “I’ll get right on it.”

She let out a soft, weak snort.

After several nights of being railed by his cock repeatedly, she ached in places she didn’t know possible. But she wasn’t so sore that she needed a break. At least not at the moment.

His touch-hunger hadn’t yet receded, but his general restlessness wasn’t quite as acute. Also, he was having less flare-ups, and they seemed to pass quicker. All good news for him. Not so much for her libido.

Considering they’d rutted like animals in practically every position possible, it could definitely be said that her sexual curiosity had been well and truly satisfied where he was concerned. The problem? Her curiosity was the only thing that had been permanently satiated. Her body continued to burn for the broody son of a bitch.

The weird energy between them hadn’t disappeared. But it had changed. Lost its rough edge. Perhaps because it was no longer colored by carnal needs going unanswered.

Havana would probably be able to better explain it, but Bailey hadn’t told her girls about her little arrangement with Deke. They’d only make a big deal out of it, and it would be more amusing to let them learn of it later on anyway—they’d get all het up about her keeping it from them. She did love it when people got het up about stuff.

Above her, Deke lifted his head. Eyes all warm and slumberous caught hers. The feverish glitter that had been present in those eyes when she’d first walked into the apartment earlier was gone, telling her that his touch-hunger had eased for now.

“My cervix is concerned that your cock wants to hammer a hole into it,” she said, her voice lazy.

One corner of his mouth pulled up. “Then maybe stop asking me to fuck you harder and deeper.”

“It just slips out.”

Shaking his head, he withdrew his softening dick and then fell to his back on the mattress beside her. A breath rattled out of his lungs. “I came so hard my damn gums are tingling.”

Letting her eyes fall shut, she said, “Tingling is always good.”

He let out a sort of gruff hum. “You’ve got a lot of stamina. I wasn’t sure you’d be able to keep up.”

“Ye have so little faith in me.”

“I know.”

She barked a laugh at the unrepentant admission. She wasn’t sure what it said about her that his rudeness tickled her so much. It had stopped bothering her snake. The serpent didn’t see him as a threat to Bailey anymore, feeling confident he didn’t actually hate her.

“But the main reason I figured you’d struggle to keep up is that people dealing with touch-hunger can go all night.”

“They can indeed.”

He went still. “You helped someone through touch-hunger before?” he asked, his voice dropping an octave.

“Uh-huh.”

“How many?” The question was all demand.

Opening her eyes, she turned her head to look at him. Still flat on his back, he had his gaze locked on her. His expression was closed over, but his jaw was tight.

“I already told you I’d helped others.” Well, she’d insinuated it. “I made the comment that guys with touch-hunger fucked like masters.”

“How many?” he repeated.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I want to know.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m interested.”

“Why?”

Exasperation flickered across his face. “Will you just answer the question?”

She huffed. “Three.”

His back teeth locked, and his eyelids drooped slightly. “Did any of them mark you?”

“Why?”

“Bailey.”

“No, jeez.” As of tonight, he’d bitten her twice. The back of her shoulder still smarted from where he’d renewed his bite. Other than that, he hadn’t marked her again.

She was covered in fingerprint bruises, though. Which was really only to be expected, given how wild things got between them. There was plenty of grabbing and hauling and squeezing.

He rolled onto his side to face her. “Why aren’t you pissed that I marked you?”

She frowned. “We already established that you’d have to do it again once it faded or your cat would become a problem, remember?”

“I mean the first time I bit you. You weren’t angry. Why not?”

“You didn’t do it on purpose. You lost control.” She felt her mouth curve. “How can I not find that amusing, considering you’re all about control?” In her opinion, it was good for the uptight ass to lose it occasionally.

He studied her intently. “I’m not the only one here who likes having control over themselves at all times, though, am I? You never fully let go. No matter how much you’re trembling and moaning, no matter how desperate you are to come, no matter how long I’ve kept you on the edge of an orgasm, you cling to whatever thread of control you have left.”

“You hold back, too. Why wouldn’t we? This thing we have isn’t serious. And you’re planning to mate another female.” Skank, she thought, her stomach cramping. Gas again.

His brows flew together. “Mate?”

“Why else would you wait so long for her?” The promise he’d made to Dayna—in Bailey’s view, at least—was kind of extreme.

“It was never about mating. It was about not giving up on what we had merely because she’d need to be gone a year.”

Bailey’s brow wrinkled. “But it’s well-known in the pride that you’re set on finding your true mate, so you surely wouldn’t have made Dayna such a promise unless she meant enough to you that you’d put it aside. Or is it that you think she’s your predestined mate?”

“At one point, I did think it was possible. That was mostly why I agreed to wait rather than move on. It didn’t seem that big of a deal to wait anyway, since I wouldn’t have jumped straight into another female’s bed anyway—I would have held off a few months, maybe longer. In the grand scheme of things, what were an extra several months on top of that?”

Well, when he put it like that, it really didn’t seem extreme that he’d agreed to wait for Dayna. Bailey wasn’t sure she would have in his shoes.

“But when it didn’t prove difficult for me or my cat to be so far apart from her, I figured it was highly unlikely that she’s my mate. Still, I wasn’t certain. There seemed no harm in nonetheless waiting for her to come back.” He paused. “I didn’t think she’d stay away so long. But one year became two, and then two and a half.”

“And yet, you’re still committed to the promise you made to her.” Bailey returned her gaze to the ceiling. “Noble. Sort of.”

“What do you mean, sort of?”

“Well, there’s nobly sticking to a vow because it means something to you. And there’s sticking to a vow purely to be noble. What’s the point if the vow itself isn’t as important as it once was?”

“You don’t think I’ve kept my word for the right reason?”

Bailey rolled to face him, snaring his gaze. “If Dayna mattered so much to you, if some part of you thought she could be your mate, you wouldn’t be lying here with me. You’d be wherever she is.”

Damn if Deke could deny that. He couldn’t deny any of what Bailey said. The mamba was bang on the mark.

Though Dayna sometimes suggested he join her in Australia, she hadn’t asked him to go with her when she’d first left. She’d claimed there’d be no point in him going, because she’d be focused on her sister. But if she had requested that he accompany her, he wouldn’t have left his life behind to be at her side.

By the same token, she wouldn’t have stayed if he’d asked it of her. They simply hadn’t been each other’s priority. But they’d both thought that might change if they gave it a chance, so that was what they’d chosen to do.

And he hadn’t wanted to risk that he’d otherwise be obliviously letting his true mate walk away from him. People didn’t always recognize them straight away—they could even be in contact with them for years before becoming aware of it.

However, there had come a point where he’d stopped keeping his promise for the right reason. It hadn’t been about wanting to further explore what they’d started anymore, or about him having suspicions that she could be his predestined mate—those suspicions had died. It had been about his sense of honor, and how he hadn’t wanted to effectively abandon her when she needed someone to be there for her.

“How come you don’t just fly out to see each other whenever touch-hunger strikes?”

He sighed. “I thought about it the first time. But I knew she’d bug me to stay in Australia with her. I wouldn’t have, so we’d have argued. Just like we often argue when she suggests I move there via video-calls. There seemed nothing positive in going to see her.”

“She never offered to come here for a quick visit?”

“No. She probably worried that I’d ask her to stay, and she wasn’t ready to leave her nephew for good.”

“Is she gonna be ready anytime soon?”

He had no clue, but it didn’t really matter anymore. Not when he’d made the official decision to not spend more of his time waiting for Dayna to return. But he wasn’t willing to share with Bailey what he hadn’t yet shared with Dayna. As such, Deke didn’t answer her question. Instead, he noted, “You don’t usually ask me personal questions.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “I’m bored.”

He felt his eyes almost bug out of his head. Inside him, his cat did a double-take. “Bored?” In his bed and bored?

“Well, your cock isn’t in me anymore, so …”

He did a slow blink. “The only thing about me that you find entertaining is my cock?”

“Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?”

A low growl pouring out of him, Deke pushed her onto her back and covered her body with his once more. Settling his hips between her spread thighs, he gave her a playful glare. “Were you this much of a pain in the ass for the guys in your past?”

“Yes,” she replied without missing a beat.

“Really? Because you seem to enjoy riling me more than you do others.”

“If you don’t believe me, ask Shay.”

Deke bit her right on the chin. His cat was unmoved by her little yelp, annoyed with her for taking Shay to her bed in the first place. The feline, still determined to withdraw from everyone around him, hadn’t warmed to the idea of having Bailey around. But he didn’t hiss and snarl so much anymore. He mostly just retreated to the corner and sulked.

Deke scraped her jawline with his teeth. “Speaking of Shay, I have a theory.”

“Is it scientific? Because I don’t like science.”

Probably because it involved logic. “Not scientific.”

“Then proceed.”

He trailed kisses down the side of her neck, wondering if she had consciously realized that she’d ceased being uncomfortable when his teeth were near her vulnerable throat. “You get bored with guys very quickly. Shay was no exception—I could tell. But you kept dating him anyway.” He circled her pulse with the tip of his tongue. “You did it to piss me off, didn’t you?”

She sniffed, all haughty. “Partly. I don’t like that you sit in judgement over me like you’re oh so superior.”

Frowning, he met her gaze. “I don’t think I’m superior to you. I just think you’ve been sent here to do the devil’s work, and it bothers me that you’re not fighting your fate.”

She let out an amused snicker. “Dude, you so think you’re better than me.”

“If you really believe that, why the hell are you in my bed right now?”

“Well, with your cock comes you—I have no way to change that.”

He felt his frown deepen. “You’re saying you tolerate me in order to have access to my dick?”

“Basically, yeah.”

Dipping his face to hers, he shook his head. “You don’t dislike me as much as you’d like me to believe you do.” It was something he’d come to realize over the past few nights.

After sex, her guard tended to lower a little. She spoke of things she usually wouldn’t. She forgot to plaster on her resting bitch face, and she didn’t work so hard to conceal her surface feelings. He liked it.

Bailey pursed her lips. “We can go with that, if it matters so much to you. Won’t make it true, though.”

He took her mouth with a growl. Ate at it. Dominated every last crevice of it.

Rock hard once more, he entered her with one, smooth, purposeful thrust. “You drive me nuts. Make me honestly visualize cutting off your air supply with my own two hands. But I don’t look down on you.” Then he pounded into her until they both came.

The next morning, Bailey paused in humming along to the music playing over the convenience store’s loudspeaker and glanced at Havana. “Sorry, what did you say?”

The devil’s lips flattened. “I said—and you heard me just fine, you faker—I feel like you’re keeping something from me.”

Bailey had in fact heard her. But the Alpha didn’t like to repeat herself, so naturally Bailey enjoyed making her do exactly that.

“Not a deep, dark, twisted secret,” Havana went on, checking the price tag of the plastic skeleton she held. “But something’s going on.”

Returning a plush pumpkin to a shelf, Aspen nodded. “What aren’t you telling us?” she asked, keeping her voice low so that their conversation wouldn’t carry to other shifters—some were browsing the aisles; others were stocking the shelves. Like the rest of the premises on the street, the convenience store was owned by the pride.

Going for blasé, Bailey replied, “Nothing.” Pushing her shopping cart forward a few steps, she took a long look at the bags of horror-themed confectionery. Bailey threw two bags into her cart—not for trick or treaters; for herself. They’d come to pick up some groceries, but they’d made a detour down the Halloween decorations aisle out of curiosity.

“Nothing my butt,” said the bearcat as she and Havana caught up with Bailey. Aspen was the only one not pushing a cart, not needing help to carry a mere loaf of bread. “Why be so secretive?”

“Why be so insistent I share stuff? There are things you don’t tell me,” Bailey pointed out.

Aspen flipped a hand. “That’s different.”

“How?”

“It just is. Give up the goods.”

“Fine.” Bailey paused. “I’m thinking of taking up crocheting.”

“Bailey.”

“What? It’s true.”

“Come on,” Havana cut in, absently fiddling with the foot of the skeleton she still held. “We share things with you.”

“Not everything,” Bailey reminded her. “You both have stuff you only talk about with your mates. Do you ever hear me pushing for you to spill it all?”

Havana nodded. “Yes.”

“All the time,” replied Aspen.

“Your nosy questions are never-ending,” Havana added.

Bailey frowned, perching a hand on her hip. “I haven’t asked either of you a nosy question today.”

Aspen shot her a look of disbelief. “Asking if I own a butt plug isn’t nosy?”

“You think it is?” Bailey pursed her lips. “Huh. Weird.”

“No, it isn’t,” the bearcat clipped. “God, would you just put us out of our misery?”

“What, like, shoot you behind a shed?”

Aspen fisted her hands. “Tell us what you’re hiding.”

“A body.”

Aspen threw up her arms. “I can’t with you.”

“I’m not hiding anything.” Bailey just wasn’t telling them everything. That was totally different.

Turning to the shelf beside her, Bailey grabbed a vanilla pumpkin-scented candle and gave it a sniff. Her sense of smell was acute enough that the candle’s scent momentarily drowned out the store’s smells of pine cleaner, fresh bread, and the warm foods being cooked at the small takeout counter.

“We’ll find out what it is eventually,” Havana warned. “And if it turns out you’re doing work for Cesário on the side …”

Her brow creasing at the mention of their old boss from the Movement, Bailey glanced at her. “We retired, remember?”

Havana pointed the skeleton’s arm at Bailey. “Don’t think I don’t know he calls and offers you the occasional job—ones that only you’d be crazy enough to take.”

“He does not do that.” Much. “I’d say no if he did. I adore Cessy and all, but retired means retired.”

“You know he hates that nickname.”

“Yes, I do know.” It was exactly why Bailey used it. She returned the candle to the shelf. “Now … are you going to buy that skeleton or keep feeling it up like a weirdo?”

Havana frowned. “I’m not—We aren’t changing the subject, Bailey.”

“Don’t tell me you’re curious about bedding a corpse. There’s a name for kinks like that, you know.”

“Bailey, don’t make me hurt you.”

“Does Tate know you’re into that? Ooh, do you have him pretend to be dead and stuff when you guys are getting it on?”

Havana’s mouth tightened. “Do you have to be so inappropriate?”

“Inappropriate? I’m not the one violating a plastic skeleton.”

“I’m not violating it!”

A male sigh drifted their way, edged with humor. “I see you’re at it again,” said Shay as he materialized beside Bailey.

She felt her brows meet. “At what?” Her inner snake roused slightly at the sight of him. The serpent liked him, but she’d never viewed him as a potential partner, only a temporary bedmate.

“Provoking the people around you,” he elaborated, his eyes dancing. “It’s like you can’t help yourself. Or don’t want to.” He tilted his head slightly. “I’m thinking it’s probably the latter.”

“Is that why you dumped me and left me heartbroken?”

His lips twitching into a smile, he rolled his eyes. “I didn’t dump you. We mutually agreed to move on. And you weren’t heartbroken. You weren’t anything. For all the emotion you showed, we might as well have been discussing whether to do the dishes then or later.”

The same could be said for him. Which hadn’t bothered her, because he was right—she hadn’t cared. “Maybe I was hiding my heartbreak.”

Shay snorted. “The only thing you were hiding was that you have the hots for Deke, but I see all.” All smirky and shit, he nudged her. “Why haven’t you jumped him yet?”

“I don’t like to ambush and rob people.”

Havana threw up a hand. “First of all, that’s a lie. Second of all, it’s not what he meant, and you know it.”

Bailey bristled. “Excuse me, I’m no thief.”

“You stole my wristwatch,” said Shay, still smiling.

“No, you gave it to me,” Bailey insisted. “You called it a parting gift.”

His brow knitted, but his smile didn’t fade. “Why would I give you my watch for any reason?”

“So I can always know the time obviously.”

“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

Aspen gave him a look of understanding. “Irritating, isn’t it?”

He nodded, his eyes still twinkling with mirth. “Kind of, yes.”

Bailey folded her arms. “Is that why you broke my heart?”

Another eye roll. “You were not heartbroken.” Hearing his cell ring, he fished it out of his pocket as he said, “Do both you and Deke a favor, Bailey, and go jump his bones—by holding off on it, you’re only delaying the inevitable.” With that, he strode off as he answered his call.

“He’s right, you know,” Aspen told her.

“Yeah, he is,” Bailey admitted. “I wasn’t heartbroken.”

The bearcat narrowed her eyes. “That wasn’t what I was referring to.”

Bailey blinked. “Oh. Well yeah, I did steal his watch,” she confessed.

“I wasn’t referring to that either.”

“Maybe try being more specific.”

“Maybe try being less of a dork,” Aspen snippily shot back.

“Why?” Seemed unnecessary, really.

“I can do it myself,” a new voice growled.

They all turned to see two of their pride mates turning the corner of the aisle.

Alex scowled at his pregnant mate. “It’s heavy.”

“It’s a cart,” snapped Bree. “I’m pushing it, not carrying it.”

“Hey, you two,” Havana greeted. “Everything okay?”

Bree looked at her, the image of exasperation. “It will be when he stops treating me like I’m made of porcelain.”

“You shouldn’t be overexerting yourself,” Alex insisted.

The rubber sole of Bree’s shoe squeaked as she swerved to face him. “How, pray tell, does shopping count as overexerting myself?”

“I don’t know, but it does.”

Eyeing the male wolverine, Bailey didn’t bother fighting a smile. “I never thought I’d see you ruffled by anything.” Like the rest of his kind, he was known for being both fearless and implacable.

He only grunted, not what anyone would call talkative or social. He didn’t bother with many people and only seemed to enjoy the company of Bree, who was also the pride’s primary omega. The pallas cat wasn’t his true mate, but they were as tight as any predestined couple.

“His overprotectiveness was funny at first,” said Bree, turning back to Bailey and her girls. “Now it’s plain maddening. And I can’t stop eating. I’m always hungry. Always.”

“You don’t look like you’re overeating,” Aspen told her.

Alex sighed. “The baby is basically devouring most of the goodness she takes in. That’s how I know it’s a wolverine. They’re greedy even in the womb.”

Bree swallowed, her expression pained. “I’m worried it might eat my womb, at this point.”

Havana gave her a smile that was as compassionate as it was reassuring. “Soon you’ll have your baby in your arms, and then it’ll all be worth it.”

“My arms?” Bree snorted. “If I’m lucky, sure. But something tells me that Valentina will take over,” she mumbled, referring to Alex’s mom—a badass woman who Bailey adored. “Or his Russian uncles. They’re insisting on naming the baby, which will not be happening.”

Bailey guessed that the three male wolverines were simply intent on ensuring that the kid had a Russian name as well. They weren’t at all pleased with Alex’s sister, Mila, for not giving her twins Russian names.

Alex put a hand on Bree’s back. “Come on, let’s finish shopping and then get you home.”

The omega sniffed. “Fine. But I’m pushing the cart—I don’t care what you say or do.”

Bickering over the matter, the couple continued down the aisle.

Havana grinned at Aspen. “Camden will be like that when you eventually get pregnant.”

“Tate won’t be any less of a hoverer,” the bearcat pointed out. “You’ll try to kill him at least twice.”

Havana sighed. “Probably.”

As Bailey and her girls continued venturing down aisles, she and Havana tossed this or that into their cart as they went along. Bailey didn’t grab much. Just some microwave meals, snack foods, and dairy products.

Eventually, they all reached the cash register, where they paid for and then bagged their shopping while the attendant—a pride member—bubbly jabbered on.

Bags in hand, Bailey led the way as the three of them headed outside. A little shiver skated over the back of her neck as the cool air hit her. Ugh.

They began a slow walk to Havana’s cul-de-sac, chatting about everyday stuff, but the Alpha female watched Bailey closely. It didn’t take a genius to sense that she wasn’t gonna back down from pushing Bailey to confess all. She was merely giving her a break.

Once Havana was safely inside her home, Bailey and Aspen went their separate ways—the bearcat began making her way to the steakhouse to meet Camden while Bailey made a beeline for her apartment building.

Reaching the lot, Bailey walked toward the complex, her heels ticking on the black pavement as she passed vehicle after vehicle. She had to dodge the occasional puddle. The rain had thankfully stopped, but the scent of ozone and wet grass lingered.

Cold, she transferred her shopping bags to one hand so she could stuff the other in her pocket. The fairly large lot was bordered by bushes, streetlights, and narrow strips of grass. Right then empty of people, it was also quiet. Only the sounds of her footfalls and the nearby traffic noise could be heard.

Her plans for the evening were simple. Take a hot bath, dress in warm clothes, nuke and scoff down a microwave meal, and then meet Deke at his apartment. Where she’d hopefully got boinked until she couldn’t think straight.

He was good at that. While he was deep inside her—touching her with desperation and urgency and so much need—it was easy to forget everything else. What wasn’t easy was maintaining a “strictly sex” mental stance. Because curt and gruff though he might be, she was growing to like him.

He might be mean at times, but not to be cruel—just because he enjoyed sparring with her like that. That went both ways. And much as she might madden him, he never told her to get out of his sight or anything. Which was more than she could say for her parents.

Despite that they wouldn’t be sexing each other up if it wasn’t for the touch-hunger, he never treated her as if she was a faceless fuck. Never did or said anything that reminded her he wouldn’t otherwise take her to his bed and that he was waiting for Dayna … which annoyed Bailey, because she’d prefer to have it straight in her head at all times. It wouldn’t be good to get comfortable with him or—

A figure leaped out from between two cars—a blur of black that tossed something at her so fast she had no chance of avoiding it. Wet droplets landed on her face. Droplets that burned. Burned so bad it felt like her face was on fucking fire.

She cried out in both shock and pain as the boiling heat sank deep into her skin and ate at it. Corroded it. Made her fear that her flesh would melt off her face. The pain was out of this world—agonizing, unbearable, torturous.

A heavy weight slammed into her, taking her to the ground. The back of her skull smacked into the pavement, sending a wave of hurt through her head and causing her vision to briefly go dark. Standing over her, her attacker—it was a he, she distantly sensed despite the ski mask he wore—tried snatching her purse.

Her infuriated snake rose up with a vicious hiss and took control.

Ignoring the searing pain as Bailey’s wounds became her own, the serpent bounded her head out of Bailey’s collar and bit into the nearest ankle once, twice, three times.

He cried out. Backpedaled. Slammed into a car. A blaring, rhythmic alarm began to blare so loud it was deafening. He turned to flee.

The snake lunged and coiled her body around his leg, dragging him to the ground with her weight. Then she bit his calf, injecting yet more venom into his bloodstream, drinking in his pained cry.

He struggled. Kicked out. Spat words. Tried to crawl away.

But she was bigger and heavier than a full-blooded black mamba. He had no chance of escape.

He slammed his leg on the ground, trying to hurt and dislodge her. The snake contracted around his limb, feeling bones crack. His back bowed as a scream ripped from his throat.

More struggles. More kicks. More harsh words. But his attempts to fight quickly grew weak. He began to groan. Writhe. Scrape at the ground.

Ground that started to vibrate beneath her as footsteps thundered toward them.

People gathered around, crowding her. She let out a furious hiss that made them go motionless. Voices spoke, soothing. Familiar. Nonthreatening. Valentina. James. Therese. Sam. Isaiah.

She didn’t care. Wouldn’t have cared even if she understood their words. Her only interest was in her prey. He would not escape.

More footsteps sounded, and then: “Bailey! Bailey, fuck!”

The Beta female, the snake knew.

“I need you to make your mamba pull back,” said Blair.

“Sam can’t heal you while you’re in your serpent form,” Isaiah added. “She’s too pissed; she’d bite him.”

Inside the snake, her other half pushed for supremacy. Bailey, too, was enraged. But she wanted to surface. Heal. Be free of the pain that both she and the snake shouldered to each help spare the other.

But … their prey might escape if she shifted. That was not acceptable. He needed to pay.

Other voices began to plead with her. The snake ignored them all, until her Alpha female’s voice joined the chorus and demanded that she shift.

With a low hiss of displeasure, the mamba withdrew.

Bailey was surrounded by people so fast it was almost dizzying. Hands gently rested on her, and then healing warmth fired through her system like sparks of electricity.

“You’ll be all right, just breathe,” Sam gently urged.

She gritted her teeth against the blistering agony that was her face, barely able to see due to her swelling eyelids, she lay still—not easing up her death grip on her attacker for even a second.

The whole time, people raged around her. Mostly her Alphas and Betas. A few kicked the guy whose leg she still gripped, including James and Luke.

Gradually, the blazing hurt faded and the swelling went down … until Bailey was fully healed and the agony was replaced by a storm of rage that burned in her gut as deeply as the acid had burned her flesh.

Fucking acid.

Bailey gave a spiteful squeeze of the broken leg she held, which only earned her a whimper. At this point, he was too riddled by the effects of her venom to react as she’d like.

“Thank you, Sam,” she stiffly told the healer, speaking through gritted teeth.

He inclined his head, backing away to give her space to rise.

The moment Bailey stood, Havana hauled her into a hug. “God, you scared the shit out of me. Blair called to say you’d been attacked.”

As the devil pulled back, Blair pushed clothes into Bailey’s hands and said, “I’m so fucking relieved you’re okay. My inner bush dog is losing her mind about this bullshit.”

The animal couldn’t possibly be more furious than her snake. Even though her skin was chilled, Bailey’s rage was so hot she barely felt the cold. Still, she dragged on her clothes. Aside from her sweater and bra—which had been protected from the rain-slicked ground by her coat—they were cold and a little damp, but they were better than nothing.

She turned to grab her shoes and coat from Blair, only to then realize that the bush dog had been frowning at the back of Bailey’s shoulder. Her marked shoulder. Shit, she’d seen Deke’s brand.

Blair flicked up her brow in question. Bailey gave her a narrow-eyed “say nothing” stare. The bush dog subtly lifted her hand in a gesture of peace.

Having put on her coat, Bailey slipped on her shoes as she skimmed her gaze over the people stood not far behind Blair. They were focused on Bailey’s attacker, not on her body. Good. They might not have seen the bite mark.

Now dressed, she crossed to the asshole’s side and studied him closely, itching to kick the holy hell out of him. By the looks of it, Valentina yearned to do the same—James seemed to be holding her back.

“He is weak to use such cruel weapon like acid,” the female wolverine sneered, glaring at him. “He should have been put down like rabid dog long ago.”

“At least he’s in a shitload of pain and discomfort now,” said Therese, standing beside Sam and watching dispassionately as the human vomited.

His face a study in ire, Tate looked at Bailey. “Do you recognize him?” he asked, holding the ski mask he’d clearly removed from her attacker.

She shook her head. She didn’t recognize his scent either. A scent that told her he was human. “Does he have ID on him?” She had to force out the words. Her voice was thick and taut with an anger that had her in such a chokehold it was hard to speak.

“No, nothing,” replied Tate. “Not even a phone or a set of car keys. Which means he either parked his car somewhere close, or he had a getaway driver who probably abandoned his ass when the whole thing went bad.”

Holding Bailey’s purse and shopping bags, Luke moved closer. “He’s dying.” His tone rang with the same malevolent satisfaction she and her serpent felt.

There was no antivenom for that of black mamba shifters, only mambas of the animal kingdom. Humans had no chance against her venom. Shifters could live through it, but not if they were injected with several large doses.

Cracking her knuckles, Havana flicked a look at Sam. “Heal him.”

Betrayal an electric shock to her chest, Bailey hissed. “Fucking heal him?”

Havana gave her a placatory look. “We have questions that need answering. Once that’s done, you can kill him—and I insist you make it as painful as you possibly can.”

No such insistence was needed.

Sam crossed to the human, curling his upper lip in distaste. “I’m happy to say,” he began, kneeling at the male’s side, “that my healing him won’t make the effects of the venom fade instantly. It’ll take a little while.”

That was a happy thought.

Members of the crowd shifted as someone pushed to the front. Deke. Her pulse leapt like a complete idiot.

He took in the entire scene, and his expression turned black as night. “What in the fuck happened here?”

Blair clenched her fists. “Bailey was the survivor of an acid attack. That’s what.”

He froze. His eyes hardened. A muscle in his jaw ticked. Then he moved. Lunged. Fisted the back of the human’s sweater and snatched him off the ground.

“Don’t kill him!” Tate ordered. “We need to know who put him up to this so we can deal with them as well!”

Deke went still again, the only movement that of his nostrils flaring. His gaze zipped to Bailey, flaring with a fury that spoke to her own. Then he tossed the unconscious human over his shoulder like he was a sack of spuds. “Fine,” he said, his voice like gravel. “But I get to beat the shit out of him before Bailey delivers the killing blow.”

That worked for her.