Nico's Heart (RARE Book 1) by Dawn Sullivan

They were going to have to talk to the council about what to do with him eventually, but for now he would stay with them and Phoenix.  “I will, sweet mate,” he said as he leaned over and kissed her.
    He checked on Lily first.  She was sound asleep in bed, snuggling with Shadow and her blanket, snoring softly.  He walked over and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head.
    Next he checked on Hunter.  Hunter must have changed in his sleep.  He had started out sleeping as a little boy, but now his clothes were shredded and he was curled up in a ball at the end of the bed, once again in his bear cub form.  Nico silently shut the door and moved on.
    He found Phoenix out on the back porch lost in thought.  There was one beer sitting beside him empty.  Another sat on the other side of the steps, just over halfway full.  Nico sat down beside him and raised an eyebrow.  “Did ya have company tonight?” he asked.  “Yeah,” Phoenix said roughly and left it at that.  Nico inhaled and then grinned.  “Storm come to see ya, did she?”
    Phoenix looked at him, and the smile left Nico’s face.  “Hey man, what’s wrong?”  Phoenix looked away, rubbed his head, and then looked back.  “What happened today, brother?  At the picnic?  Talk to me.”
    Now it was Nico’s turn to look away.  “Shit, Phoenix, you don’t want to know.”  Phoenix just waited, watching him.  “I had a vision.  A really fucked up vision.  We were in the jungle fighting some of the General’s army.  That’s what they were, too, man, a fucking army.  We were fighting them, and then I took a bullet in the chest.  The bastards got me and threw me in a helicopter and took off.  None of you could get to me in time.  You were too far away.  They said the General would be happy.  That I would make a good addition to his program.  His fucking program.  First of all, I have a mate.  I can’t have sex with anyone else but my mate.  It just won’t happen.  I doubt it physically could, but I would never do that to Jenna. They would have to kill me first.”
    As Phoenix watched Nico look out across the lawn, he understood what Storm had meant now.  He had to be there to take that bullet.  It would kill Nico if he did, not because the bullet would kill him, but because if he got pu t into that program and would not or could not perform, eventually the General would have him killed.  He took a deep breath.  He could do this.  For his brother, for his brother’s family, he would do this. 
    “Tell me everything you remember about the vision,” he told Nico.  “Describe where we were, where you were standing when you took the bullet, everything.”  As Nico talked, Phoenix mentally stored all of the information in his mind to take out and go over later.  He would go over it all again and again until he was sure he knew exactly what had happened and exactly where he needed to be at the right time to make sure that he was the one that took that bullet and was taken by the General’s men instead of Nico.  He didn’t give a shit about what happened to him after that.  All he cared about was keeping Nico safe and with his family.

Chapter 33
     
    The next day Jenna decided she needed to go back to work.  She worked for Chase as his personal assistant, but with everything that had happened with Lily, she had not been in for days.  Chase had been working late into the night trying to keep up with everything.  And even though he never complained, she could tell he was exhausted.  She was going to take Lily with her, but Nico said he would keep her until he had his meeting with Angel and the team that afternoon.   
    As Jenna was getting ready to leave, there was a knock on the door.  When she opened it, she saw Angel and the rest of the team standing there beside a brand new bright pink Barbie bike with training wheels.  “We weren’t sure if Lily knew how to ride a bike, or even if she had one, but the team