Page 31 of Nitro

Nitro, seemingly lost in his thoughts, reached for my hand without thinking and started rubbing soothing circles over it.

I didn't stop him; in fact, I found the gesture fascinating. Did touching me have a calming effect on him?

If so, maybe I should encourage it more.

"Stop thinking about silly things," I silently scolded myself.

Nitro needed me now.

"And did you say he was going to fight Venom?" I asked, my mind struggling to grasp the information.

I had never personally met Nitro’s lead alpha; I'd only seen him from afar, and he cut a pretty intimidating figure.

Some paranormals in town even referred to him as the king of monsters.

I liked Spike, even considered him as one of my friends. Was he in deep trouble?

8

NITRO

The concerned look on Tommy's face made me pause in rubbing his fingers. Silently cursing myself, I realized what I'd done.

"I didn't mean to dump all my problems on you all of a sudden," I said.

What was I thinking anyway?

Tonight had to be about us, about Tommy. I wanted to show him that I could be a reliable boyfriend. A great mate.

That I would always be there for him.

Tommy shook his head quickly. "This is good," he said.

"Good?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean, it's not good that Spike's in trouble," Tommy blurted. "But we're talking things out... like a real couple. It's nice."

"We are a real couple," I reminded him.

"We've just gone on our first date," Tommy pointed out.

"Tommy, it feels like I've known you forever," I said. "And my grizzly knows what he, what we want. It's you."

My mate. I refrained from saying those words out loud yet.

I took a deep breath, then added, "You're it for me, Tommy. There's no one else."

The admission hung in the air, and I couldn't help but wonder how Spike would react if he overheard those embarrassing words.

The jerk would probably laugh at my face. That was Spike for you, but he always meant well.

Tommy fell silent, and the suspense made me curious about his thoughts.

This was getting out of hand and I didn’t want to overwhelm Tommy. We could talk about this a later time.

I decided to steer the conversation back to the main topic.

"The fight's tomorrow. I was trying to convince him to back out, but he's drunk and he's made up his mind," I said.