Free Taking Nicole (Vegas Mates Series)(#4) by Krystal Shannan

with Nicole, he was tied here.
    He rolled his shoulders in the soft downpour of the shower. The water ran clear to the drain. His wounds had stopped bleeding. They no longer burned like fire. Now his back just throbbed and ached. His magick surged through his body, repairing the damage cell by cell. Tomorrow, only raised pink scars would remain. Those would slowly fade to lighter pale stripes to match the older ones that crisscrossed his whole back already.
    After rinsing off, he wrapped a towel around his waist before walking into the bedroom. Nicole’s voice carried from near the bed, but he couldn’t see her. She sounded like she was talking to someone. Shit! His eyes flew to his rumpled pants on the bathroom floor. She had his phone!
    “Nicole!” he growled, his deep voice reverberating through the large bedroom suite.
    “Siobhan, you have to tell Kate. She has to come now ... No, they are killing shifters and spelling them to be stuck in animal form. Siobhan. I don’t give a crap if my sisters called her to come to New York. What the hell are the twins doing with Aunt Melinda anyway? Never mind. I don’t want to know. Tell Kate to come to Greece. NOW!” Her voice was quiet, but clear and demanding.
    He knelt to the floor and pulled up the ruffled bed skirt. He reached to grab her but she squeaked in surprise and edged to the other side before his fingers closed on her wrist.
    “Damn it, Nicole. You will get us both killed!”
    “You tell her I found my true mate, Siobhan. Tell her I’ll go as bat shit crazy as my mother if she doesn’t help me.”
    He lunged forward, reaching farther under the bed. The barely closed wounds on his back sent agonizing darts of white-hot pain through his nervous system.
    She wasn’t giving up. Her little body slithered farther to the other side of the bed.
    He pulled back and jumped over the mattress, landing softly on the opposite side and reached under the bed. His hand closed around the soft flesh of her thigh and he yanked, pulling her clear of the bed.
    “Please, Siobhan,” she begged through the phone.
    He snatched the phone from her and held it to his ear. “If anyone tries to interfere with the ceremony, they will kill her on principle.”
    “I’m on my way,” a quiet female voice responded on the other end of the line.  
    “Who are you?” he snarled.
    “I’m your creator. Protect her, Aaron.”
    Damn it all to hell. He put the phone on the floor and crushed it under his palm. The call could easily be traced and would be. He was a dead man. It was just a matter of time.
    “What did Kate say? Siobhan was handing her the phone!” Nicole demanded, twisting in his arms.
    “Nothing.” He swallowed, lying. Kate Aribas was coming. Here.
    “Damn it! You overgrown kitty ca—”
    He slapped a hand over her mouth. Why she insisted on calling him a kitty cat was beyond understanding. It only irritated him.
    His leopard chuckled. “ That’s why she does it.”
    She growled and slithered from his wet arms, rolling to her feet. “I was trying to help,” she whispered. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
    “They’ll track the call, Nicole. Why must you insist on being a pain in my ass?”
    He looked up. Her face caught a beam of moonlight from the window and her eyes were glowing gold. Such beauty and strength. She’d gone from tortured soul to sneaky bitch in a matter of seconds. If he ever claimed her as his mate, his life would never be the same. Damn it. She’d done it again. First she pissed him off and then she found a way to arouse him to the point of pain.
    A smile curved the corner of her lips upward. He followed her gaze downward. The towel had conveniently come loose and his erection stood proudly, announcing his desires. So much for playing the cold shoulder.
    “Pain in your ass?” She smirked. “I don’t think that’s what most men call an erection.”
    “You’re something else. You know that, right?”
    She shrugged and pulled loose the