[Southern Arcana 2.0] Crossroads (8 page)
“I see my intentions aren’t a secret, either.”
“Let’s sit down,” Nick suggested, “and we can talk about things.” Alec waited in the living room, sprawled in one of Nick’s chairs with his legs stretched out in front of him and his ankles crossed. “Howdy, cowboy. How’s the ranch?”
“It’s fine, thank you.” Luciano straightened his suit jacket. “Foaled some impressive animals this year.”
Nick indicated the chair near Alec’s and steered Derek toward a love seat. “I’m glad your operation is doing well. I’m equally sorry you came all this way for nothing.” 42
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“I thought it might be that way.” Luciano grinned as he sat down. “I hope you won’t be offended if I express my earnest relief at your refusal.”
It was almost too good to be true. Derek tightened his fingers around Nick’s hand and watched Luciano’s face. “You don’t want to marry her?”
“Actually, no.” He seemed sincere. “Not that you’re not lovely, Nicole. But the
last
thing I want is control of the Conclave.”
“We have that much in common,” she admitted.
Luciano’s vaguely cool, polite demeanor thawed a little. “I was sorry to hear about Michelle’s situation.”
Derek glanced at Alec, who shrugged one shoulder in a tiny, almost invisible gesture. Nick just sat a little straighter. “What was your mother offering? The terms, I mean.” A lock of dark hair fell over Luciano’s forehead, and he brushed it back. “Aaron Spencer would be given a private execution. She couldn’t budge on that. Michelle would be spared, and the baby would become a ward of the Conclave. You and I would be married, with a prenuptial agreement stipulating division of assets and—and heirs.”
Nick made a soft noise and leaned closer to Derek. “Those are shitty terms, Luke.”
“I know.”
Nick’s pain grated painfully against Derek’s instincts. He dropped her hand and curled his arm around her shoulders instead, holding her against his side. “So if you know it’s shitty, why are you here?” He blinked. “Because I was told to come.”
“What if they tell you to hurt Nick or Michelle?”
Luciano’s expression melted into one of shock, and he glanced at Alec. “Is he serious?” Alec snorted. “If you’d spent the last two years getting spit on by the ruling elite the way he has, you’d be asking the same damn question, kid.”
Derek felt Nick’s eyes on him, but he kept his gaze on Luciano. The man’s shock didn’t vanish; it worsened. “Oh, I see. Uh, well. No, I mean them no harm. Things certainly haven’t reached that point.” Maybe it was supposed to be comforting, but Derek just kept hearing the unspoken last word: yet. “In case Alec’s subtlety didn’t give it away completely, I wasn’t born like this. I was turned two years ago, and I don’t quite get your polite rules where we sit here and casually discuss how the father of Nick’s niece or nephew needs to be executed.”
Luciano stared at him, and Nick sighed. “Michelle isn’t a threat, I swear. We just need a few days to figure something out. Can you stall?”
He offered her a gentle smile. “I can tell Mom we’re talking things over. I’m sure she’d like to hear how successfully I’m wooing you.”
Derek didn’t realize he’d tightened his fingers until the arm of the love seat cracked.
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Moira Rogers
“Okay.” Nick took a deep breath. “Alec, can you walk Luke out? And, please, leave Alec your cell number and the number at your hotel.” She didn’t move. “Thank you for doing this.”
“You’re welcome.” Luciano’s expression held a surprising sympathy.
She glanced at Alec. “Can you—?”
Derek almost winced as Alec speared him with a pointed look. “I’m fine, Alec.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
After a moment Alec nodded and rose. “C’mon, cowboy. Let’s clear out.” When they were gone, Derek shifted his attention to the arm of the loveseat. “I can fix this,” he promised, the words shaking a little. He’d snapped the wood, and he hadn’t even been thinking about it. If his hand had closed on Nick’s shoulder…
“I don’t care about the furniture.” She knelt on the love seat beside him and took his face in her hands.
“I care about you.”
There was no doubt about it, not with the way she watched him. Derek closed his eyes and inhaled her scent to steady himself. “I’m scared of what happens if I lose my shit and I’m holding something more important than a chair.”
She kissed him softly. “After we’ve helped Michelle and Aaron, we’ll lock ourselves in a hotel room for the weekend and not talk to anyone who isn’t bringing room service. You just need
time
, Derek.”
“Yeah. Time would be good.” After a few seconds, he trusted himself enough to curl his fingers around Nick’s waist. “Do you trust that man? Luke, I mean. If we reach the point where people
are
trying to hurt Michelle—”
Or you.
“Do you trust him not to be one of them?” Nick turned and eased onto his lap. “Luciano’s in a tough place. His mother has grand plans for him, but he’s not interested. I know how that feels.” Her tone was light, but it held an undercurrent of pain.
“Luciano isn’t alpha. He couldn’t handle control of the Conclave, and Enrica just won’t see that. Me? I’m just a selfish bitch.”
The words sounded like something she’d been told before, probably more than once. Derek cradled her cheek with his hand and rubbed his thumb along her jaw. “I’ve been watching the sort of shit you left behind for less than twenty-four hours, and I don’t blame you a bit.”
“That isn’t the point.” She turned her face to his touch. “I was born with responsibilities. It’s the way things are. Part of all those polite rules.”
Rules he’d never understand. Hell, at this point, rules he didn’t
want
to understand. “I’m sort of useless, aren’t I?”
“No, you were dealt a crappy hand, and you’ve been busting your ass to deal with it for two years.” Her nose brushed his jaw as she nuzzled her face to his. “I don’t think you’re useless. I think you’re beautiful.”
44
Crossroads
“Yeah, well, I think he’s a hunk,” Alec drawled from the doorway, “but we probably have more important things to discuss.”
Derek groaned. “You’re not nearly as funny as you think you are.”
“Whatever, I’m a goddamned laugh riot.”
“Nothing else to discuss at the moment,” Nick told him. “They know my sister’s here, and they know they can’t get to her. So we’ll gather some things together for her and Aaron, make
damn
sure that safe house is impenetrable…and then I’m going to plan a trip.”
Derek stiffened, and he fought to keep his fingers from tightening around her hips. “A trip?”
“I may have to go to New York, after all.” She slipped her fingers through his hair, seemingly unconcerned by Alec’s presence. “I have to find another way to give Enrica what she wants. A way that’ll keep Michelle safe.”
Now he felt vaguely queasy. “
What
way?”
“She wants to take control of the Conclave. That may not happen for her, but it can happen for Luciano’s kids. If—if no one else has a better claim.” She shrugged. “So I’ll give up mine.” www.samhainpublishing.com
45
Chapter Six
Jackson met them at the door to the safe house. He muttered a few words, and the heavy press of magic that reverberated through the walls eased. “You’d better get in here, Nicky.” His stern expression scared the hell out of her, and she shoved him aside, already searching for Michelle. “What is it? What happened?”
The few necessary items in the front room were in disarray. Jackson’s mother knelt near the kitchen, sweeping up broken glass. Michelle was nowhere to be seen. “Jackson—”
“She’s fine,” he interrupted. “I think. Hell, I don’t know.”
She gripped Derek’s hand, took a deep breath, and called her sister’s name.
The air on the far side of the room shimmered, and an open door appeared in the middle of the wall.
Through it she saw her sister curled on the bed, shoulders heaving as she buried her face against Aaron’s chest. He looked up and caught Nick’s gaze, and his green eyes looked exhausted. “Shelly, sweetheart.
Your sister’s here.”
Nick let go of Derek and rushed into the room, heedless of the magic that still rippled through the air.
She didn’t stop until she was on the bed, her arms around Michelle. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.” Jackson leaned against the open doorway. “She’s been upset. All kinds of weird stuff’s been happening. This door?” He knocked on the doorframe. “It’s been disappearing. With fair regularity, actually.”
“It’s not disappearing.” Michelle’s voice sounded hoarse and, when she lifted her head, Nick’s chest ached at the bruised exhaustion on her sister’s face. “I think it’s an illusion. But I don’t know, because I’m not
doing
it.”
Derek stood behind Jackson, watching helplessly. Nick tried to smile at them both. “Can you guys go out and get the things we brought? Take your time.”
Jackson hesitated only a moment. “Mama, yell if y’all need anything, okay?”
“Shelly?” Aaron’s hand hovered over the back of Michelle’s head. “Do you need time with Nicole?”
“Please.”
Aaron shot Nick another worried gaze, but he inched from under Michelle and rubbed the back of her shoulder. “I’ll be just outside if you need me. If you need anything.” It was almost worth everything to see that quiet happiness on Michelle’s face, and the way Aaron’s fingers brushed her cheek in the softest of touches.
Crossroads
Nick felt like she was intruding on a private moment, so she averted her eyes until Aaron had left the room. “Do you need some water, Micky? Have you eaten?”
“Yes.” It came out a little forceful, and Michelle took a breath. “I didn’t mean it like that. But if one more person asks me that question, I think I’ll blow something up on purpose.”
“We’re worried, that’s all.” Even as she spoke, dread still weighed in her belly like ice. “You just…have to bear with us.”
“I don’t know
how
.” Michelle pulled back and rubbed her hands over her face. “Damn it, Nick. You know what my life is like. Dad’s not exactly demonstrative, and having this many people acting concerned about me is making me nervous.”
Nick fought a growl. The thought that her sister’s life had left her unable to accept even the most basic concern from others filled her with fury and guilt, mostly in equal measure. “I’m sorry.”
“They just keep hovering. And…trying to hug me.” A tiny, almost hysterical-sounding giggle escaped her. “My God, Nicky. They’re trying to
hug
me.”
“Things are different here.” As explanations went, it was grossly inadequate. “Has Mama Holt offered to bake for you yet?”
Michelle wrinkled her nose. “She wants to teach us how to bake. Apparently it’s a serious crisis that we can’t make fudge. Mackenzie’s under strict orders to bring back a candy thermometer.” Nick stifled a laugh. “This’ll be the most well-stocked safe house Alec has by the time you guys get to leave.”
The words brought the worry back to Michelle’s eyes. “Have you talked to anyone yet? Do you know what’s going on?”
Nick had to look away to answer. “Enrica sent Luciano to talk to me.”
“Oh.” Michelle’s voice sounded carefully neutral. “I always got the feeling he isn’t any more interested in pack politics than you are.”
“He isn’t, but he does what she tells him. Up to a point, anyway.”
“Enrica hasn’t been very subtle over the years. Everyone knows she wants Luciano to marry you.” Michelle’s gaze flickered to the door. “Luciano met Derek?”
“Mmm. It went well.” The potential for bloodshed was something Nick didn’t want to consider.
“Luke’s going to help us stall Enrica and the Conclave for a few days. It’ll give us a chance to make plans.” Michelle tightened her fingers around the bedspread. “What did Luciano say about Aaron? There must have been terms. There are always terms.”
Nick’s first instinct was to lie, but she quelled it. Her sister had been lied to enough. Besides, she had to already know. “The Conclave wants to execute him, Michelle.” The mirror on the other side of the room shattered. Glass tinkled to the hardwood floor, the soft sound dwarfed by the low, inhuman snarl that rose in her sister’s throat.
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47
Moira Rogers
Michelle’s normally brown eyes had bled to amber. Power gathered in the room, and Nick felt an echo of that magic inside of her, fighting to break free.
“I’ll kill them all,” Michelle whispered. “If they touch him, I will
kill them all
.”
“So will I.” Nick gripped Michelle’s hand and tried to center her. It had been so easy when they were younger, almost effortless, but they’d spent too much time apart. “If anyone comes after either of you, we’ll stop them. I swear.”
Magic flared again, and Michelle closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “No one heard. I…think I managed to shield the room before I lost it. I must have. Aaron would be in here already if I hadn’t.”
If they can find the door.
Desperate to ease the fear permeating the room, Nick pressed Michelle’s hand to her heart. “Micky, they’re not going to get to you here. I’ll stop them. You have to believe that, or you’ll make yourself sick.”
Or crazy.
“I’m not worried about me, Nick. I’m worried about
him
.” She thought of Derek and nodded. “I meant both of you, sweetie. All of you.” Michelle’s fingers trembled against her chest. “All right. Tell me what you’re going—what we’re going to do.”
“Give them something they want more than you and Aaron and your baby.”
“You are
not
going to marry Luciano Maglieri!”
“No,” Nick shot back, aghast. “Neither of us wants that, for Christ’s sake. I’m going to give up my succession. Let the rest of them fight it out. I never wanted to be Alpha anyway.” Michelle hesitated. “That could work. For a while. But they won’t let me go, and they won’t just pardon Aaron.”
“It’ll buy us time to figure out what to do.”
“All right.” Michelle dropped her hands to her lap. “Will you stay for a bit? I’m so tired, but every time I start to fall asleep, the power slips. Maybe if you’re here to balance it…”