Wicked Burn (Realm Enforcers #3)(5)

Branches whipped into them, and the bike skidded on wet pine needles. Instinct guided him as much as his enhanced senses, but he didn’t know these woods. The bear shifters careening through the trees in his wake certainly did.

His only hope was to outrun them and find shelter. The Guard’s helicopter was visible through the treetops, but at least he’d lost the SUVs.

The bike hit a patch of tree roots and shot up in the air. He held tight and corrected when they came down, jerking the handlebars before opening the throttle again. The trees thickened, providing cover but less visibility.

“Where are you going?” Simone yelled into his neck.

There were more weapons at his cabin, if he could just outrun the shifters. He turned right, barely missing a sapling, and then snapped around another tree. Branches scraped his cheek, and his left eye watered, so he used his right.

Lucas Bryant flew out of a bunch of cottonwoods, his bike in the air and his gun already firing.

Nick tried to jerk away, but a bullet sliced into his front tire. The explosion was deafening.

Panic swept him. They pitched into the air. He turned, enfolded Simone, and wrapped himself around her as much as possible, protecting her head with his arms. They flew through the forest, hitting trees and branches.

Pain exploded through his back.

His head impacted with a tree, and stars flashed behind his closed lids.

Something shattered in his shoulder a second before agony ripped through his neck. Simone’s screams echoed in his head, gravity took over, and his skull cracked.

Unconsciousness took him before he felt the ground.





Chapter 2


Simone wiped blood off of Nick’s forehead, wincing at the gash across his left temple. Her entire body ached as if put through a meat grinder, and she could only imagine the damage he’d sustained in shielding her.

His sprawled body overwhelmed the leather couch in the Grizzly Motorcycle Club’s main recreation room. The tingle of healing tissue wafted up from his still-unconscious body as his skull no doubt repaired itself. Hopefully. His right femur protruded from a rip in his jeans, and his left shoulder appeared misshapen, as if the bones had shattered.

For now, his body seemed to be concentrating on healing his brain before he awoke. She’d caught a glimpse of his demolished Ducati before the Grizzlies had loaded them up on bikes in the forest.

Man, was he going to be furious.

She looked around, trying to find an escape route.

The biggest plasma television she’d ever seen stretched across one wall, while a pool table, dartboards, and video game consoles were strategically placed around a bar loaded with liquor. The place smelled like leather and wood polish.

Windows took up the north wall, allowing gray Seattle daylight inside. Guard members were stationed at each corner of the room, stances set, their concentration solely on her.

Outside, several more Guard members were strategically placed to contain her as they waited for transport back to Ireland.

She worked within their system, but she’d always done things her own way. When the Coven Nine hadn’t wanted to move forward, she’d moved them, and when she couldn’t, she’d broken more than one rule. Aye, she’d face up to that.

But not today.

She could sense bear shifters also patrolling the area outside. Where was their leader? He hadn’t been among the shifters on bikes. She needed to find him.

Nick gasped and sat up. “What the f*ck?”

Simone winced and planted a hand on his good thigh to keep him still. “Don’t move until you fix your body.”

He leaned over and exhaled. “Holy f*ck.” Pain cascaded off him. “Next time, we wear helmets,” he groaned.

She nodded.

He leaned back and shut his eyes. “Is there anything immediate I need to do?” His voice emerged weak but determined.

“No. Heal your body, and then we’ll figure everything out. We’re at Grizzly headquarters.”

“Is Bear around?”

“No,” Simone whispered. “I haven’t seen him, and when I asked for him when we first arrived, Lucas said he was out of town.”

“Lucas is his second in command?” Nick gasped. His leg snapped back into place, and he grunted.

“Yes.” Simone allowed plasma to heat down her arm to her hand, concentrating on keeping the level low before placing her palm on his newly healed leg.

He groaned in pleasure this time.

“Work on your shoulder, and I’ll finish healing your thigh,” she said, altering oxygen molecules into healing heat and weaving it through the muscle and ligaments. Right now, as much as she hated it, he was her only ally.

He breathed out. “This would go faster if you let me in your head.”

Hell to the absolute no. Once a witch loosened those mental shields and let another immortal in, especially a mind attacking demon, she’d be vulnerable for life. Simone would never trust a man that much. Ever. “Not a chance.” She heated his thigh.

“With you so close, I ache a little farther up. Heat there?” he mumbled, his lips nearly forming a grin.

She bit her lip. He did not get to flirt with her. Ever. “No.”

“Jeez. I did save you.” His shoulder changed shape and realigned itself.

She moved her hand over his cracked ribs. “You shouldn’t have tried to protect me from the Guard in the first place.” The Guard was well trained and powerful, and as tough as Nick was, he couldn’t beat ten of them. Beneath her hand, his ribs healed.