“We’re coming up on the hotel,” Cougar stated. “Once we turn in, we should be home free.”
“Just hurry the f**k up!” It was Mica’s voice, vibrating with pain now, thick with tears but heavy with anger.
“I thought you said she was sweet and shy, Nav,” Cougar snorted then. “She sounds like a brat to me.”
“I see a black eye in his future too.” Clenched teeth, feminine ire and that damned pain.
“I know how to duck,” Cougar assured her. “I always was better at that than Josiah was.”
“But Josiah also knows how to keep his mouth shut now. A lesson you need to learn,” Navarro stated warningly, a flare of jealousy he couldn’t have expected rising inside him at the flirtatiousness in Cougar’s voice.
He shot a glare toward the other Breed and found himself biting off a growl.
“If he doesn’t hurry, I’m going to kick his ass,” Mica promised painfully.
Navarro wanted to grin at the irritation in her voice, and he would have, if he hadn’t known it was caused by pain.
She didn’t make idle threats. He’d seen her go nose to nose with Breeds before, and they didn’t always back down simply because she was protected by Dash Sinclair.
“Here we go,” Cougar murmured.
As he made the turn, Navarro was suddenly thankful Mica was on her stomach, not on her back. If she had been on her back, staring up at him, he wondered if he could have withstood the temptation of her kiss, despite her pain.
She made him hot. She made his dick damned hard, and she made him feel, whether he wanted to or not. He couldn’t help it. No matter how he fought it, she made him as hungry as a damned rabid Wolf and as off balance as a human teenager after his first love.
“We’re clear.” The relief in Cougar’s voice had Navarro realizing the tension that had been tightening inside him.
Navarro shifted back quickly, his hands moving to her back, one easing against her side to check for injury.
Her clothes were sodden, chilled against her flesh, but he could feel the heat of her beneath the clothing, indicating a deep, painful bruise.
There was no scent of broken bones, of blood or internal bleeding. Just her pain, and the wounding of the flesh clear to the bone. The knowledge of the pain she must be feeling had an effect on him that he couldn’t have anticipated. Regret that seared him, and a fury toward her attacker that assured his death if Navarro ever learned his identity.
“The elevator goes straight to the penthouse suite,” Cougar informed them as Navarro clenched his jaw and helped Mica sit up in the seat.
Gripping her ribs, she eased up with his help, her golden green eyes almost the color of a Breed’s.
Almost. That gold was sparse, like small flakes of glitter that peeked in and out of the soft green.
“Let’s go.” The moment the SUV pulled up to the underground elevator, Navarro was out of the vehicle, moving around quickly to throw Mica’s door open and help her from the seat.
“I can walk. I’m just not in the mood to have your heavy ass laying all over me.” She almost slapped at his hands as she glared up at him while moving gingerly from the backseat.
He almost winced at the biting tone. He’d learned young, though, to never back down, no matter the strength of his adversary.
Ignoring her glare, he gripped her arm and steered her quickly to the elevator as he pulled the electronic key card from the inner pocket of his coat.
Sliding it into the security strip, Navarro glanced around quickly, his gaze narrowed, his senses on high alert as the door slid open.
“He man,” she muttered as he pushed her gently inside the small cubicle.
“Brat.” Affection rose inside him as he chose the penthouse suite from the digital menu.
“Jonas went all out, I see.” A delicate, feminine sound of ire was sniffed from her delicate little nose.
“And all for little ole me.”
Glancing down at her from the corner of his eyes, he wondered exactly how to diffuse the temper he could feel brewing. He hadn’t been trained in this particular combat situation. The war of the sexes wasn’t exactly on the list of training assignments the Genetics Council scientists and military advisors had approved.