The Forgotten Heiress novel Chapter 22

Matt's answer made him groan "Dammit Matt, why didn't you think about that before you asked Christian to record everything."

"One, I thought he was kidding the first time," Matt argued. "Two, how was I supposed to know that you would do it a second time, when I didn't even believe you had done it the first?" Nick opened his mouth to speak but Matt raised his hand to stall him "And three, they need this Nick."

The way Matt said it, with so much conviction, made him sigh. "Yeah I know. They are too loyal to want something that would risk her happiness."

They were after all, the surviving members of Cade's pack.

Nick's pack had been here no more than a year when they, after eighteen years of hiding within the human population, started to trickle in. They all wanted to be near when she finally took her proper place. It was a testament of Cade's character that even after so many years since his death his people were still loyal to him and apparently that loyalty had transferred to his heir.

Unfortunately that hadn't factored in his plans. He'd thought that in order to lure them out he would need to claim her first but he'd been wrong. When the rumors started, so did the requests to join his small pack. Thankfully though, it seemed that only those loyal to her knew of his plans-and her reappearance. And they'd made one thing clear; they wouldn't stand by if she was unhappy.

They would protect her the way they'd failed to protect her father.

"I don't want to make her miserable Matt." Nick stood up and went to look out his window. "You call me Ice Cold, but it's all I know, I can't be something I'm not." He straightened his back and turned to look back at Matt. The only person he trusted to confide his problems in. "I'm not a human boy, I'm an Alpha. I can't do the flowers and candy thing, acting like some whipped puppy. All I can do is show her the real me."

"You, whipped?" Matt asked with incredulity clear in his voice and written on his face. "I want front row tickets to that show."

Nick knew his friend was trying to lighten the mood, and it worked. "You're an idiot."

"And you're getting repetitive." He countered "Seriously though, I want tickets. I mean I was ready to bet against you losing your cool for a female, but you did, twice!" Matt reminded him gleefully.

But he didn't have to. Her taste and the feel of her were branded in his memory. He closed his eyes and remembered it all.

Never had he felt his wolf so...unsettled.

Then Axel had walked towards them.

His presence had only added gasoline to the fire. Axel had been unable to control his lust for Jessica.

His human side understood Jessica's appeal and that Axel would never betray him but his wolf went insane with rage. It had taken every ounce of control to keep himself from changing in plain daylight and killing his guard.

He had only planned to give her a soft kiss close to her ear to appease the wolf inside of him. Kiss her and show Axel that he intended to claim her as his mate, marking her as his, beginning the process. He hadn't expected the rush of desire that swept through him at the simplest touch. It hade coursed through him like a river overflowing its banks.