[Southern Arcana 2.0] Crossroads (15 page)
Everyone is, and we can help. Are
you
all right?”
“I don’t know.” The words were raw. “God, Nick. My cousin is killing people with her brain and I helped Alec kidnap a guy. Who, by the way, is in a fucking cage in the basement.” www.samhainpublishing.com
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Moira Rogers
“Kat’ll be fine. Jackson and Michelle are taking care of her, and I can handle the situation with Alec and Luciano.”
I think.
At a loss for anything more comforting to offer him, she slipped her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry, Derek.”
His hands fisted in the back of her shirt, and he took a shuddering breath. “This is the life I live, but I should have gotten her away from it. I should have kept Andrew away from it. They weren’t ready for this.”
“Not many people are. Kat will be fine once she finds out Andrew is okay.” Derek’s hand brushed over her lower back. “Luciano is waiting for you. I’m glad you’re here, because he’s a pain in the ass.”
“What do you expect? Alec kidnapped him.” She pulled away with a snort. “Where is he, anyway?
Alec, I mean.”
“Taking a shower. Andrew bled a lot.”
Nick took a moment to steady herself and inclined her head toward the basement door. “You coming with me, or is it easier not to?”
Derek’s laugh sounded almost hysterical. “I think I might pull something if I try to stay up here.
Maybe he has a reason to be pissy, but he has been having a damn good time poking at me. If you go down there alone, I might have to kill him.”
She lowered her voice. “He didn’t do this, Derek.”
“How do you know?”
“Same reason he’d rather risk being disowned than marry me,” she whispered as they began to descend the stairs. “He has a thing for Michelle.”
Derek made a choking sound behind her. “Come again?”
“No one knows, least of all my sister, but it’s true. He wouldn’t hurt her like this.” He caught her arm before she reached the bottom step and waited for her to look up at him. “How well do you know him, Nick? Because I’d find his crush a lot more comforting if the death sentence wasn’t on Aaron’s head.”
She fought a shudder. “Would you kill someone I loved just to get a crack at me?” Derek released her and looked away. “I’m not saying Luciano is necessarily a bad person. You asked the wrong question. What you should have asked is who I might sacrifice if I thought it was the only way to keep you safe.”
“You have more power over Aaron’s life than Maglieri does. Sacrificing Aaron won’t help Michelle, and it won’t help Luciano, either.”
The railing creaked under his hand. “I’m trying to understand it all, Nick. I’m trying.”
“You have to trust me on this. Can you do that, just for a little while?” 84
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The hesitation hurt but, when he finally spoke, at least his words sounded truthful. “Yes. You’re the only one I
can
trust.”
“Okay.” She gripped his hand. “Still want to come down here with me?” He offered her an exhausted smile. “No. But I have to.”
Luciano rose when they walked into view, already tense and wary. “Finish talking about me?”
“For the most part. Be nice, Luke. Derek’s had a shitty day.” Nick approached the cage, but didn’t get too close. “Did Alec hurt you?”
“Not much.” He hesitated and hung his head. “Is Michelle okay? My mother—”
“I figured.” Nick ached for him, and for her sister. For the whole damn situation. “Michelle’s been better.” She turned and addressed Derek. “Did Alec say what he planned to do?” He shook his head. “Just said he was keeping his options open.”
“Great.” Which could mean anything from trying to pry information out of Luciano to using him as leverage in a Conclave bidding war for Michelle’s pardon. “Can you go get him, Derek? Please?” For a few seconds, she thought he’d refuse. His heart beat too fast, the heavy weight of his discomfort curling around her as he studied her. Then he pushed away from the wall with a short nod. “I’ll be right back.”
Nick waited until the door at the top of the stairs closed and wrapped her hands around the iron bars of the cage. “If you know
anything
, Luke, you need to pony up. Now. Because the team your mother sent fucked up. They turned a man, damn near killed him, and Derek’s cousin got mixed up in the middle of it.
That’s what sent Alec over the edge.”
He backed to the other side of the cage and slumped against it. “Damn it.”
“Pretty much.”
“I had no part in it, Nick. I swear.” She couldn’t doubt his sincerity or the bleak expression he wore.
“What’s he going to do?”
“Who knows? I think I can rein him in, though, at least enough to get this figured out.” She took a deep breath. “What about your mom?”
He looked pensive. “Depends on whether she had the Conclave’s approval. If she sent that team unauthorized…”
The rest of the Conclave would be furious at the exposure. Nick nodded. “We can work with that.” The door whispered open, followed by heavy footsteps that had to belong to Alec. A moment later he emerged from the stairwell, barefoot and wearing nothing but jeans. He glanced from Nick to Luciano.
“Fuck, Peyton, I didn’t hurt the kid too bad.”
“Never can tell with you, Alec.” She jerked her head toward the stairs. “What did Franklin say about Andrew?”
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Alec’s eyes hardened. “He was circling the drain two hours ago, and now he’s prowling around in my backyard. Makes you believe in the legends, that your magic is as strong as the wolf that turned you.” Nick shuddered as she remembered the wild look Andrew had worn. “Kat’s okay. Or she will be, anyway. She needs to see him for herself.”
“He may settle down when he sees her.” Alec shoved his fingers through his damp hair and exhaled sharply. “Or it could all go to shit. I don’t really want to have to smack him down right now, but he’s been freaking the fuck out over her since he came to.”
Behind them, Luciano spoke. “Wait a minute. Is this the guy the team attacked? I thought you said he almost died.”
Nick turned and stared at him, not bothering to hide her fear. “He did.”
“Shit.” He stared at her, his frightened gaze just short of disbelieving. “Is he okay upstairs? Thinking straight, I mean.”
Alec snorted. “No. Gabriel and Mac are keeping an eye on him, but he’s not going to settle down until he sees Kat in one piece. The last thing he remembers is your mama’s attack squad threatening to torture information out of her, so he’s a little riled up.”
“Quit it, Alec.” Nick rubbed her hands over her face. “Unless you’re ready to start damning people for their family’s actions.”
“If I were damning him for his family’s actions, he’d be dead, Peyton. And if I track down whoever escaped the carnage at my office, they
will
be dead.” It was a bad sign when Alec started pulling away and calling everyone by last names. He couldn’t deal with the situation calmly, so he was shutting down emotionally. “Tactical usually sends out four-man teams. Considering the men they left behind, who knows what kind of shape those other two will be in. In the meantime, we need to find out if Enrica gave the orders, or if the whole Conclave is ready to kill us all to get to Michelle and Aaron.”
“Well, cowboy?” Alec leaned one hand against the cage. “Convince me I should let you out.” Luciano held his slumped pose, but tension vibrated off him. “I did what Nick asked. I stalled for time. What else do you want from me?”
“Gabriel says you’ve got a thing for Michelle. Look me in the eyes and tell me you want her safe.” Instead, he shot Nick a glare. “Your boyfriend’s got a big mouth.” She sighed. “Just tell him, Luke. He’s alpha. It’s something he understands.” Luciano straightened and met Alec’s stare evenly. “I care about Michelle. I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep her safe.”
After a tense moment, Alec nodded and moved to a discreet panel on the wall. He flipped it open to reveal a number pad and, of all things, a bright pink smiley-face sticker. He scowled at Nick. “Mariko 86
Crossroads
thinks she’s so damn funny. It’s magically attached. Last time I tried to scrape it off, I triggered a spell that turned the cage pink for a week.”
Nick managed to keep a straight face. “Be glad she didn’t get Jackson in on it. They’d have turned
you
pink for a week.”
“Probably.” His fingers flew over the pad, and the lock on the door clicked as it disengaged. “Here’s the deal, cowboy. You’re out for good behavior, but that just means you’re not staying in the cage. You
are
staying with me. If you do anything to fuck up our plans, I’m throwing you back in there, and it won’t be fun.”
“Wasn’t fun the first time, either.” Luciano stepped out, still hesitant. “But thanks.”
“Alec wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he wasn’t threatening someone, Luke. Don’t sweat it.” She had to get back upstairs. Derek would need her, and she didn’t know how much time she’d have for him before duty demanded her attention. “Do we need to move safe houses? I could have been followed when I took Kat there.”
“Not right now. I called Jackson before I came down here, and told him to keep an eye out while he’s leaving to bring Kat here. Right now, your sister’s safer inside that house than moving, even if they do know where she is. No shifter can get past the wards.”
“Unless the Conclave authorizes drastic measures and they just blow the place up.” Alec’s face tightened. “Peyton, if it comes to that, there’s no place safe enough. They’ll find her, no matter where she goes, so let’s just hope they haven’t lost their minds yet.” Hearing him say it made it more real somehow, and Nick’s throat closed. “Okay,” she rasped. “When Jackson gets here, we can start looking for the rest of the strike team.” And, if they managed to find them, she’d keep Alec the hell away from them. He might want them dead, but he’d have to wait until she found out what she needed to know.
Derek’s chest ached as he watched Andrew complete his third circuit around the backyard. In all the years they’d been friends, Andrew had always been the stable one. The calm, laidback one who steadied the people around him. The months after his own change would have been unbearable without Andrew’s ability to roll with the punches.
Which he’s still doing.
The way Andrew studied his surroundings as he started his fourth round made the hair on the back of Derek’s neck rise. Even with anxious, frantic energy vibrating off him, Andrew took in everything, identifying and categorizing.
The sound of a familiar truck engine drifted down the road, and Derek tensed. “You doing okay, buddy?”
“Fine.” It was no more than a growl. “Is that an engine?”
“Jackson’s truck. It rattles like a bitch.”
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“He’s bringing Kat.” Andrew headed for the front yard, not bothering to pass through the gate. He just vaulted the fence with inhuman ease and rounded the edge of the house.
It was hard not to flash back to Alec’s office and Andrew’s guts, bared to the world as two men struggled to hold him together. Derek tore open the back door and jumped the steps, startling Luciano and Nick where they sat at the table. “Jackson’s here,” he told Nick as he crossed the kitchen in two strides, heading for the front door.
Mackenzie hit it first, and she was fast. Derek had seen shapeshifters move with a speed that seemed impossible, but Mackenzie moved like gravity couldn’t touch her. By the time he got to the door, Mackenzie had jumped the porch railing and hit the ground running.
Derek swore and jumped as well, but he lacked Mackenzie’s grace. His foot slipped in the grass and he stumbled, hitting the ground hard enough to jar his bones. He ignored it and pushed himself to his feet in time to see Mackenzie slap her hand against the truck’s hood as it rolled to a stop. She spun and placed her body directly in front of the driver’s side door, her entire posture full of protective challenge.
Andrew ignored her and stalked to the other side of the vehicle, where Kat was already scrambling with the handle. Panic shot through Derek as Kat kicked open the door and tumbled out, her erratic heartbeat audible from ten feet away.
Andrew caught her loosely, as if afraid to close his arms around her. “I thought they’d taken you.
They were going to.”
Derek had joked a hundred times about his cousin’s crush, but the look on Kat’s face as she lifted her gaze to Andrew’s was naked love, plain and simple. The strength of it made Derek feel uncomfortably voyeuristic, but he couldn’t turn away from the way Andrew’s power flared, fitful and unbalanced.
He was dangerous. His friend was dangerous, frighteningly so, and Derek could do nothing but watch in helpless confusion as Kat pressed her palms to the angry red scars on Andrew’s chest, the ones that had been ugly gashes only a few hours before.
“You’re okay.” Her voice trembled, partly lost in the soft sound of Jackson closing the driver’s side door. “You’re okay. You’re—you’re okay.”
Derek felt the gentle slide of Nick’s hand around his arm as Andrew nodded and frowned. “I guess it wasn’t as bad as they thought.”
Instinct rose again, the terrifying need to intercede battling the knowledge that Andrew would never hurt Kat.
But that’s not just Andrew anymore.
Derek slipped from Nick’s grasp and took a slow step forward. “Kat, you’re shaking so hard you can barely stand. Let’s go inside. Andrew will come with you.” Instead, the blond man snatched Kat off her feet with a snarl.
Derek froze, afraid to move and set off a confrontation Kat wouldn’t survive. “Kat, are you—?”
“I’m fine.” She sounded steadier now, and she stroked the side of Andrew’s face. “I’m fine,” she repeated, and this time the words were all for Andrew, low and gentle as her thumb brushed his lips.
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Tension made Derek quiver, and he glanced at Nick. “I don’t know what to do.” She bit her lip. “Just…give him a minute.”
