[Southern Arcana 2.0] Crossroads (25 page)
She nodded. “Ronnie will call me if things get bad.”
“In that case,” he continued, his voice brooking no argument, “I’ll take my daughters home.” 138
Crossroads
“Of course,” Hoffman said. “Nicole, we look forward to seeing you again in a few days. If you require anything, you need only call.”
It was an invitation any one of them besides Coleman would have issued in a heartbeat, and it reminded her that, for them, the truly important decision had yet to be made. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
They’d only made it a few steps down the hallway before a wave of nausea hit Nick. Michelle stumbled, her fingers digging painfully into Nick’s arm. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Come on.”
The nearest ladies washroom was an executive suite that had only seen secretaries and the occasional visitor before Enrica had taken her place on the Conclave. Nick stared at a flower on the expensive wallpaper while she held Michelle’s head, smoothing her hair back.
Her sister shuddered, and her hand flew out to clutch the edge of the counter. For one terrifying second magic flared and Nick felt the echo, strong enough to raise the hair on the back of her neck.
The light above them flickered, but Nick didn’t take her eyes off that tiny flower.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.” She’d help Michelle, and then she needed to get back to her room at the penthouse. Her numbness would fade soon, and reality would take its place. She’d have to face the fact that she’d traded away her freedom, and it didn’t matter how many times she reminded herself it was for the best.
She’d still break down.
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139
Chapter Eighteen
Basement cage accommodations were the second most useful feature Alec’s house had to offer for newly made wolves. Far superior was the land that had come with his house, just enough acres of wooded solitude to give them a place to run. The property itself was the only evidence Derek had ever seen of the wealth Alec’s family reportedly possessed, though he supposed it was ample evidence all on its own.
Derek parked his truck next to Alec’s and nodded to the takeout bags sitting next to Andrew. “You got that?”
“Sure.” Andrew climbed out, looking jittery after another long day. He almost dropped one of the sodas, but managed to right it. “Got it, yeah.”
They’d run every night since the day they’d decided to make Penny a full partner. Six times, and the soothing predictability of it got them both through the turbulent week. For Andrew it was a chance to burn off energy that seemed to build with alarming speed, but for Derek it was…
Pack.
He might be lonely, but he didn’t have to be alone.
Alec met them on the front porch and held out a hand. “Give me some of that before you drop it.” Instead of unloading a bag or a few of the drinks, Andrew lifted his chin in a stubborn gesture. “I can handle it.”
A touchy challenge, and a reminder of how prickly Derek’s own pride had been in the months after his change. Alec dealt with Andrew the same way he’d managed Derek two years ago—rolled eyes and a complete refusal to acknowledge the subtle prod. He jerked his head to the side in an invitation that wasn’t
quite
a command. “We can eat on the porch.”
Dinner was burgers and fries eaten in silence. Derek had given up on conversation by the third evening, when Alec proved as uninterested in small talk as usual and Andrew seemed determined to give him a run for who could deliver the most monosyllabic replies.
It didn’t matter. No one was there to talk.
The sun dropped behind the trees as they finished their meals. Derek gathered up his trash and tucked it into the takeout bag before rising. “Well?”
Alec nodded and took the bag. “You two change. I’ll be along.” He may as well have released Andrew from invisible bonds. He tugged at his shirt as he jumped the porch steps and landed on the grass. Derek followed him at a more sedate pace.
Crossroads
The change always brought a rush of adrenaline, an amplification of baser instincts. Around Nick it had translated to sex—a hot, joyful lust that licked at his skin and made him anticipate a chase.
Now it was violence. He had to concentrate on the little things, the buttons on his shirt, the buckle on his belt, the mud-encrusted laces on his boots. It would be easy to let the rising power drive him to force a challenge, a fight that would be too vicious without Alec there to intercede.
Andrew ground his teeth. Derek realized the energy roiling inside him was clear and unmistakable when his friend spoke. “I don’t want to fight. I want to run.” The knot on his left boot was tangled, covered with dirt and a leaf he’d probably picked up at the last construction site he’d visited. The wolf inside him snarled, and the lace snapped under his fingers. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Alec will kick my ass a few times.”
“Do you need it?” Andrew asked.
“Maybe.” He kicked off his boots and shed his socks. “It’s been a long week.” A frustrating week, full of problems that couldn’t be faced head on. Not surprising the wolf was ready to claw his way free.
“No shit.” Andrew fell silent, and a rough surge of magic ripped through the still night air. Derek rose to his feet and watched as the brownish wolf explored Alec’s backyard, every movement carrying the same leashed tension Andrew evinced as a human.
“He’s getting better,” Alec said from behind Derek, his low voice carrying on the evening breeze.
“I know.” That was the scary part. “He wouldn’t be holding it together at all without your help.”
“He’ll be okay. You both will. Now hurry the fuck up.”
Derek shed the rest of his clothing in silence and reached inside. The wolf rose, gleeful at the chance to escape, and the change flowed over him in a rush of pure magic.
Andrew howled. The breeze carried the short burst of sound, an invitation to run, to shed more than their clothes and human forms. To shed their
humanity
.
The man slipped away, and the wolf
hurt
. Part of Derek was missing, the mate he’d stalked and cornered, the one he’d taken and let claim him in return. Pain tore through him, and his howl held loss and loneliness and the agony his life had become.
A moment’s hesitation, and Andrew joined him in a rising call of mourning. Magic surged again and a third howl shook through the night, low and hopeless enough to remind Derek that Alec had known loss of his own, a loss that had left him slowly bleeding to death for years.
Derek moved first, lunging toward the tree line. Andrew overtook him quickly, bumping his way ahead through the dim forest.
The urge to challenge was gone. Violence wouldn’t ease the pain of Nick’s absence, but the slowly forming bonds of pack could give him something he needed in order to cope. Friendship. Family.
After only a few hundred yards, Andrew skidded to a stop on the carpet of pine needles and fallen leaves, his ears and tail erect. He’d scented prey. A chase.
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Moira Rogers
They knew their places now, knew how to stalk their prey. Derek gave in to the thrill of the hunt, silent as he raced through the trees. Ten days ago, the wolf had been a monster inside, something to be fought and controlled. Now he knew the human world had no place for him, but this world welcomed him.
The adrenaline, the freedom, the joy…
The pain.
He’d found the world he belonged in, but he hadn’t found home. Home was Nick Peyton, and neither wolf nor man could rest without her.
So he had to find her again.
He gave himself over to the wolf, knowing tomorrow a different sort of hunt would begin.
Derek accepted the beers Alec handed him and passed one to Andrew. The cool evening breeze set the huge wind chime on Alec’s porch swaying, the quiet tinkling almost soothing enough to make up for the fact that the chime itself was a garish purple and featured cartoonish pink and yellow wolves cavorting across the top.
He caught Alec’s gaze as the older man sat and tilted his head toward the wind chime. “Mari’s handiwork?”
The corner of Alec’s mouth twitched up in an almost-smile before he covered with a scowl. “Kat.
Gave it to me for my birthday last year.”
And Alec had hung it up, though it probably made him cringe every time he looked at it.
You’re not
the only one looking out for her, Gabriel.
Andrew barely glanced up. “Seems like the sort of thing Kat would pick out.”
“Especially if Alec pissed her off first.”
“Which I do weekly.” Alec twisted the top off his beer and flicked it over the porch railing. “Had a talk with Mari this morning.”
Derek’s easy relaxed feeling vanished in a rush of trepidation. “Is our office still standing?”
“Yeah.” Alec gestured to Andrew with his bottle. “Mari was blaming all of Kat’s emotional turmoil on you, which I think is crediting you with a little more prowess than you’ve got, but hey. Kat won’t tell her what happened, so she hasn’t got much to go on.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Andrew drained a fourth of his beer before continuing. “She’s angry, but she’ll get over it.”
Alec’s eyes narrowed. “Kat can’t move on while Mari won’t shut up about this shit,” he said, his voice quiet. “I yelled at Mari. I told her enough that she’s probably going to apologize.” A hard wave of energy burst from Andrew, but his expression didn’t change. “You shouldn’t have done that. I don’t want her apologizing to me.”
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“I didn’t do it just for you,” Alec replied, his voice hushed but intense. “Let her get it out so
everyone
can move on.”
Andrew didn’t answer. From the tense set of his friend’s jaw, the subject was closed. Derek drained half his beer and changed the subject. “Andrew and I are going to make Penny a full partner.”
“Yeah?” Alec picked at the label on his beer. “Good. She’s one of scariest humans I know.” An apt assessment, and a compliment, coming from Alec. “She’ll keep things on track over there.” Andrew grunted. “Penny deserves the promotion, plus she’s got two kids to support. God knows where that deadbeat ex of hers is now.”
Derek took another sip of his beer before answering. “Gave up on his dreams of making it big in Vegas, I think. Mari said she found him on a Dial-a-Psychic website a few weeks ago, charging twenty bucks a minute.”
A growl was Andrew’s only answer as he reached for another beer. “I’d drop a couple hundred just to yell at him for not visiting Kyle and Ross last Christmas.”
It was a common sentiment, but Andrew’s rough words and the anger that rippled through the air was new. Not unwarranted, though. Penny busted her ass working full time and raising two kids while their father puttered through life with a chip on his shoulder because his paltry magic skills hadn’t gotten him a free ride.
Penny was human and lived in the world of the supernatural because she had to. Her older son was thirteen and hovering at the age where puberty might spark latent magic and make it necessary to find him a teacher. She didn’t sit around bitching that it wasn’t her choice or that she wanted her nice, normal life back.
Sometimes Derek thought he could learn a lot from Penny.
He drained his beer and set the bottle aside, determined to follow through on his newfound resolve to make a few changes. The first one, at least, he could take care of now. “When Kat’s feeling better, I think she needs to learn some self-defense techniques.”
Alec watched him just long enough to make him nervous, those dark eyes seeing far too much. Finally he tilted his head. “Not saying I think smothering her has done her a lot of good, but she could have been down at Zola’s dojo five days a week since she was fifteen and not been able to take on a fucking Conclave strike team. So if this is about guilt—”
“It’s about freedom.” Andrew’s voice cut through Alec’s. “Kat’s freedom
and
his.” Derek winced, but didn’t disagree. “She’s not a kid, and she’s not going to get a boring job away from all of this shit. She talked about getting lessons from Zola after the Talbot thing, but I…” He’d lost his already short temper. Nick had just returned from a near-suicidal run on a madman’s fortress without so much as asking his help, and Kat might as well have been telling him he wasn’t strong enough to keep her safe.
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Moira Rogers
Alec crumpled the label he’d peeled from his bottle and set it aside. “It’s a stage you go through, and it never goes away. Nothing politically correct about it, either. We need to protect ’em because we’re strong, but you gotta know when your ego’s getting in the way of that. End of the day, all that matters is that people are safe, not that you’re the one who made ’em that way.” Andrew leaned forward suddenly. “I can help. With Kat, I mean. Some of the responsibility is mine.” His tone dared Derek to argue with his reasoning.
The reasoning was fair enough, but the execution was trickier. “Thought you were staying away from her for now.”
He frowned. “Doesn’t mean I can’t look out for her.”
“Because that worked great for me.”
Confusion and then anger flashed in Andrew’s eyes. “Are you trying to compare this situation to your thing with Nick Peyton?”
Alec groaned. Derek ignored him. “Yeah, because it’s really fucking hard to see the parallels there, huh?”
Andrew rose to his full height and glowered at Derek. “You’re comparing me feeling responsible for what happened to your cousin to…what? You being too goddamn scared to get off your ass and claim some chick?”
His friend’s power might be stronger, but it was erratic and unfocused, and pain made Derek pissy.
“You’re going to throw her out of your life for her own damn good and still think you have the right to have a say in how she deals with it.”
“Yeah?” He set his bottle down on the porch railing. “One of these days, you have to tell me where you got this idea that Kat and I are destined for some great romance even if it’s the last fucking thing either of us wants.”
