“I might even wake you up,” she said instantly, her words muffled against his chest. “I’ll need your help. I just have to—to figure this out first.”
“Anything you need. Anything, darling.” He tugged her head back and kissed her forehead. “I’ll help you.”
“I know you will.” They stood there for several moments. “Derek—”
The scrape of booted feet on the pavement at the base of the stairs cut her off. Derek didn’t have to turn; he could smell Alec. “It has not been ten minutes.”
“I speed.”
Derek smiled at Nick. “He speeds. Why am I not surprised?”
Though she smiled in return, the expression was wan and tremulous. “Because he’s crazy?” She brushed a wrinkle from the sleeve of his shirt. “Be careful. If anything odd happens, call. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
He ignored Alec’s presence and leaned down to kiss her. “Tomorrow.”
She nodded, her eyes bright. “I mean it. Be careful.”
“I will.”
Nick cast another glance down the hall toward the small bedroom, the tenth in as many minutes, and clenched her jaw against the anger that flooded her. Michelle had fallen into an exhausted, fitful sleep, but her own rage hadn’t faded. “This is bullshit. Absolute bullshit.”
The repetition usually would have earned her a caustic comment from Alec, but for once he seemed equally irate. “Yeah, Nick. It’s bullshit.”
Aaron spoke, but his tired words only made Nick angrier. “When her magic started failing, she went to the Conclave. She didn’t know they’d call in a midwife right away to see if she was pregnant.”
And she didn’t know they’d point a finger at you. “How did you get out?”
He met her gaze and straightened his shoulders. “Mahalia Tate helped us. But I think the Alpha knew. He must have let us get away.”
“Doesn’t matter if Mahalia scrambled their trail or hid them, the Conclave’ll come here first.” Alec’s voice was quiet and almost gentle, which was a surer sign of trouble than anything.
“They’d be stupid to think otherwise.” Nick sighed.
“We didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Aaron whispered.
She snorted in disbelief. “If you’d taken my pregnant sister anywhere else, I’d have hunted you down myself.”
Alec shot her a quelling look before sinking into the chair across from Aaron. “Okay, we don’t have time to be nice and prissy about this. How long have the two of you been having sex, and how long has she been pregnant?”
The tops of Aaron’s ears colored, but he met Alec’s gaze squarely. “A few weeks. We didn’t know she was pregnant until the Conclave brought in the midwife.”
Nick filled the coffee carafe with water and threw a filter into the machine. “She thought the sex neutralized her magic.”
“Yes,” Aaron admitted.
“That bullshit myth?” Alec rolled his eyes. “Sacred virginity, my ass.”
“She didn’t lose her magic,” Nick told Alec as she scooped coffee into the coffee maker. “She just lost control of it.” Which is worse, damn it.
“Well, I wouldn’t know this if I didn’t work with Jackson, but that’s not uncommon.” Alec tilted his chair back, balancing on two legs. “It’s a self-defense thing for the baby, I think. We’ll have to ask him to know for sure, or—hell, Mahalia, if we can call her. Guess I never thought about it applying to Michelle, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t.”
“They’re going to want me back,” Aaron reminded them quietly.
Nick pressed her hands to the counter to hide their shaking. “Doesn’t mean they’re going to get it.”
The legs of Alec’s chair hit the floor with a solid thump, and he leaned forward. “You need to snap out of it, boy. Michelle needs you, so keeping you safe is up near the top of our list. If you’ve got any dumb ideas about guilt or, God forbid, self-sacrifice, I’ll kick your ass all over this room.”
Defiance flared in Aaron’s eyes. “I didn’t get to where I am by being weak or stupid. But if working for the Conclave has taught me anything, it’s that they don’t give up.”
“No, they don’t. So first thing tomorrow you’re packing up your girl and taking her to my safe house. Thing’s warded to hell and back, and I doubt the Conclave would have anything to do with the sort of spell caster who could break in there.”
Of course they wouldn’t, because they would have killed that spell caster a long time ago. “As soon as you and Michelle are safe, I’ll see what I can do about damage control. Daddy may not be able to do anything officially, but he’s not going to let the board hunt you down, Aaron. No way.”
He nodded slowly, then stood. “I’m going to check on Michelle.”
Nick laid her hand on his arm and tried to smile. “We’ll work it out. We always do.”
He made his way down the hall slowly, moving as if the weight of the world was bearing down on him. Nick had to press the heels of her hands to her eyes for a moment before she could speak. “This, Alec. This kind of shit is why every wolf with half a brain is jumping ship.”
“Yeah.” Alec stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. “What do you want to bet my dad’s already called my place?”
“Oh, he’d love for you to be the one to turn in the fugitives.” Nick made a face as she grabbed two mugs from the drain rack and rinsed them.
“Well, I hope he has fun when I’m the one to make sure no one finds them.”
“Mmm.” She poured two cups of coffee and handed one to Alec. The tension inside her had built to the breaking point, but the mindless, rote tasks she’d undertaken since Derek’s departure had helped. Now, she found herself on unsteady ground. “I’m going to lose it, Alec.” Her voice trembled. “I’ll kill anyone who so much as looks at my sister, I swear to God I will.”
“Hey.” He dropped the mug on the coffee table and rose to his feet, one arm extended. “C’mere, kiddo.”
If she let down the walls now, she’d never be able to function through the next few days. “I can’t, Alec. But thank you. For everything.”
For a second she thought he’d argue, but he dropped his arm. “Fair enough. Now what are you planning on doing with Derek Gabriel in the middle of all this mess? Because you’re gonna have to tie him up and stick him in a closet to keep him out of it.”
“Oh, Jesus. He thinks I’m trying to keep him away from it because he’s a second-class werewolf or something crazy like that. I just don’t want him getting his head ripped off because of me when I’m not even in danger.”
“He’s going to be in danger if you don’t sit him down and explain shit to him. You can’t leave him out of it, Nick.”
The thought made her chest tighten painfully. “I don’t know what to tell him.” Even after nearly twenty-six years, there were so many intricacies she didn’t understand. “I’m bad at the political stuff, Alec. No matter what my father’s aspirations are, I don’t think I’ll ever get it. So what do I say?”
Alec planted a hand in the middle of her back and urged her to sit on the couch. “You tell him the truth. He doesn’t need to know the stupid details, just the general situation. If you want, I’ll help.”
“The truth.” She knew Alec was right. What else could she tell Derek? “I have to. I’m going to need him, or I’ll never get Michelle and Aaron through this.”
“Trust me, that boy isn’t going to stand idly by and let you go through this alone, so at least make sure he’s helping instead of getting in the way. He wants to help. Fuck, he needs to.”
She leaned back into the plush cushions of the sofa. “He’s half-crazy from that crap with Talbot anyway. Christ.” If she’d known he gave a damn, she wouldn’t have just run off to help rescue Mackenzie and fight a power-mad Seer. She’d have talked to him, made him understand that she had to help. Maybe even asked him to join her and stand by her side.