“Lex had to be restrained by nearly my entire guard! He almost risked Shunning to save you, Nina,” Cade said, his voice hardening.

“Almost didn’t save my life, Mr. Warden. In the end, all I have is myself. For a brief time, I allowed myself to think differently. Some lessons are apparently best learned the hard way.”

“You allowed yourself to think differently? Mr. Warden? What the hell is wrong with you? What do you want, Nina? Blood?” Lex yelled.

Nina winced as his guilt, anger and fear rushed through their connection. “No. That’s how you do it. All I want is for you to get out of my sight.”

“Don’t do this, Nina.” Cade used his Alpha mojo on her and she felt herself begin to respond.

She gave an anguished cry and shot up out of bed.

“You need to lie down, Nina. I know you’re upset but your system was just under attack from the virus and then your wolf healed all of that damage,” Dr. Molinari said, reaching out to touch her.

“Nina!” Cade yelled so loud that the pressure of it knocked her to her knees.

She crawled toward the door and Lex picked her up and put her back in the bed. “Cade! Stop it,” Lex said urgently.

“You can’t keep me here.” Nina huddled into a ball.

“The hell we can’t! You’re one of my wolves now, Nina. Mine to protect. You’re not safe out there,” Cade stated through clenched teeth.

“No, I’m not safe here. Nothing about you people is safe,” she mumbled.

Dr. Molinari touched Nina’s arm and then a sharp pain hit as the needle slid into her flesh and the heat of the sedative coursed through her.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” Nina slurred as her eyes slid up into the back of her head and she lost consciousness.

* * * * *

“Jesus, I can’t believe how f**ked up that was,” Lex said, pushing a hand through his hair as he paced the hall outside their bedroom.

“She’ll get over it.” Cade slid down the wall and sat on the floor. Tracy put a mug of coffee into his hand and gave one to Lex as well.

“You have to let her deal with all of this, Lex. She’s human. Or she was. She doesn’t have a frame of reference for anything that’s happened. She was changed, attacked, she doesn’t feel safe. She expected you and Cade to protect her.” Tracy held up a hand to stop them from arguing. “No, I’m not blaming you. I saw that it took four men to hold Lex back. I saw your palms bleeding where your nails pierced the skin, Cade. I know you did what you had to as Alpha. But she doesn’t know that. She has no way of knowing. She’ll see it. You just have to give her time.”

Lex took his sister’s hand and squeezed it. “Smart wolf.” His anguish was clear in his voice.

“I’ll help however I can. For what it’s worth, Lex, she wouldn’t be so upset if she didn’t love you so much.” Tracy cocked her head at her brother.

“There’s more than just this,” Cade said. “There’s a lot of layers to that woman in there.”

“It has to hinge on the past she’s so stingy with. I’ve had my investigators on it for a month now. I think they should be able to come up with something soon. One way or another, Nina is going to share her past with me if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Lex, let her tell you. This whole situation is so tenuous, if you push her any further she’s going to break,” Tracy said gently.

“What about me?” Lex stood up with a yell. “Huh? You think I wanted this? You think I wanted a human mate who I fight with more than I make love to? She’s a goddamned pain in the ass.”

“Well, you know there are supposedly ways to undo the mate bond. Rumor of course, but I’m betting Grandma knows if they’re true or not,” Tracy said nonchalantly as she watched Lex.

“What? You think I’d dump her because she’s difficult? I love that woman in there. I can’t believe you’d try to get me to undo our bond.”

Tracy rolled her eyes at him and Cade barked out a tired laugh.

“What are you laughing for?” Lex’s face was angry until he got it. “Oh. Yeah. Okay, I got it, smarty-pants. But she should tell me. I shouldn’t have to beg her to share her life with me.”

“Lex, why are you so thick? She’s obviously this way for a reason and the reason can’t be very nice. We know that she and Rey were orphans and that she essentially raised him alone. Rey didn’t share much more than that but from what I gathered, it wasn’t pretty but she never let him down. She’s got a spine of steel for a reason. You’re both the most stubborn people I’ve ever met. You’re made for each other and you know it and that’s why you’re both so prickly about it.” With a smirk, Tracy grabbed the now empty mugs and went downstairs where other family members waited.

* * * * *

It was dark when Nina awoke from her drugged sleep. She knew immediately that Lex was in the room, sleeping next to her in their bed. She lay there for a long time thinking about the whole situation, not knowing what to do.

She loved Lex Warden and there was no denying the connection between them. At the same time, she couldn’t get around the terror and betrayal she’d experienced as Cade stood there doing nothing. Yes Lex had to be restrained but he had a gun, she knew that. Why hadn’t he just shot Carter? She’d have done it for him. Hell, she’d had to do it for herself and that’s what burned deep in her gut.