“Why don’t you go in there and curl up with your sister? Being near her will do you both good, and I can keep watch.”
“Aaron—” Her voice failed. “Aaron’s there. He’ll do a better job than I could. I-I don’t want to intrude or…” Nick growled and shot off the sofa. “I hate feeling like I don’t know what to do. And I can’t let Michelle see how scared I am.”
Alec watched her in silence as she paced the room in an attempt to still the frantic energy inside her. After a few minutes, he rubbed at the side of his face. “I’ll talk to Jackson in the morning. If we can’t shuffle his mother out of the way, I was thinking we could drop her in the safe house with Michelle and Aaron. It’s secure, and Michelle could probably use a little bit of mothering.”
Jackson would be pissed they hadn’t called him already. Derek would need an explanation. And her father— “I’m kicking Aaron out for a while, after all,” she said suddenly. “I need to be with Michelle.”
“Send him on out here.” Alec bared his teeth in a grin. “I’ll keep him distracted.”
Michelle stirred as Nick nestled behind her on the double bed and drew another plush coverlet over them. “It’s okay, Micky. It’s me.”
Her sister shivered and pulled the blanket tightly under her chin. “I should have known better than to tell the Conclave. I should have known better. How can I still believe in their good intentions?”
“Because you want to be normal.” Loved. Nick wrapped an arm around her sister. “I sent Aaron out with Alec. Is that okay?”
“He’s too nervous to sleep anyway.” Michelle rolled to her back, staring up at the ceiling with eyes that should have been the same ones Nick saw in the mirror every morning. But pain had made Michelle old before her time, pain and weariness and the constant demand by the Conclave that she know her place.
“You should have left a long time ago.” The words sprang, unbidden, to Nick’s lips. “Fucking Conclave.”
Michelle laughed, and it sounded tired. “It seemed like such a perfect plan, Nick. Use their stupid, chauvinist superstitions against them. They believe them, even if they pretend not to. If it weren’t for Aaron—” Michelle’s lips tightened, and Nick knew she was biting back words, trying to find a way to minimize the mistreatment she’d suffered. “I didn’t think about contraceptives. I didn’t think about anything. Every time I touched him, our brains shut off. I’m surprised they didn’t catch us the first time.”
She thought of Derek—and the insane desire that gripped her whenever he came near her. “I understand what you mean. But you’re safe now, and you can be together.”
“I love him, Nicky.” Her sister’s voice trembled. “I love him so much.”
The blanket ripped a little under Nick’s hand. “I know, sweetie. Alec is going to take you both someplace safe tomorrow, and I’m going to figure this out.”
Michelle moved her hand over Nick’s. “I want to help, but I have no idea what to do. The magic… It’s completely out of my control. Most of the time I can’t access it at all, but when there’s danger or I’m scared, insane things happen. Like the lights earlier.”
“All you need to worry about is relaxing and staying calm. For your baby.”
“For my baby.” She dropped her hand to her stomach and smiled at Nick. “Your niece. Or nephew. If the magical midwife person could tell, she didn’t say.”
“We can find someone to tell you,” she promised, a smile curving her own lips. “Jackson might be able to. If not, we’ll keep looking. And there are great hospitals here, Micky.”
Michelle closed her eyes and snuggled her cheek into the pillow. “I’d like to see Jackson again, and I’d like to meet Mackenzie. How are they? Together?”
“Mmm. She moved in with him.” Nick almost felt fifteen again, snuggled in a canopy bed with Michelle, gossiping about boys. “His mom is visiting. Maybe you’ll get to meet her too. And…maybe you’ll get to spend some time with Derek.”
“You seemed pretty fond of him,” Michelle teased sleepily. “You know, people were walking by the bar and staring at you two.”
“They don’t call it the Big Easy for nothing.” Nick’s laughter subsided. “He wasn’t born into this. He was attacked two years ago.”
Michelle’s eyes popped open. “Oh, Nicky. That’s awful. Did they find whoever did it?”
They’d never spoken of it, but she’d have bet the bar downstairs that Alec had killed the rogue wolf responsible for Derek’s attack. “Yes, they did.”
“Good.” Her sister sighed. “I’m so tired. But every time I try to sleep I think I hear something. I’m scared I’ll wake up and someone will have come for Aaron.”
“Sleep.” Tears threatened to choke Nick, but she blinked them away and slid her arms around Michelle. “No one is getting in here. Aaron is safe.” For tonight.
“Thank you.” Her sister’s voice was a sleepy murmur. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Michelle.” Nick lay there, unmoving. She could hear Alec and Aaron talking in the other room, their low, unintelligible tones soothing.
Her next step would usually be to call her father for help. But the Alpha would be honor-bound to report what he’d learned to the Conclave. The only way he could help was obliquely, with as little knowledge as possible of what was going on. Nick’s heart ached for him; he’d tried so hard to protect Michelle, to make her life better than the average Seer’s.
He’d succeeded to a degree, a sad acknowledgement considering her sister had fled to New Orleans in fear for her life.
Nick wasn’t ready for something like this. She’d been running from her responsibilities for too long. Even now, her first thought had been to call someone else, someone who knew what to do. Her days of having that luxury were limited. Sooner or later, she’d have to buck up and start taking care of her own shit.
“Tomorrow,” she whispered. She’d start tomorrow.
Chapter 4
A pounding on the apartment door woke Nick, and her heart jumped into her throat. Michelle made a soft, distressed noise, and Nick raised a finger to cover her lips. “Shh. Stay here.”
She slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her, and reached the end of the hallway in time to see Alec open the door for a livid Jackson.
“Crap,” she muttered.
He barely glanced at Alec before pointing at her. “You are up the creek, missy. What the hell is going on?”
“Aw, shit,” Alec drawled, stepping aside. “Who tattled? Derek?”
Nick crossed her arms over her chest. “Derek wouldn’t have done that.”
“Kat,” Jackson told them shortly as he stomped in. “Derek pissed her off because he got some, or something, and she didn’t, except that Andrew says no one got any. Which is beside the point. What happened?”
She ran her hands through her hair. “Michelle’s pregnant, and the Conclave’s hunting her and Aaron.”
Jackson cursed. “My mama’s downstairs with Mackenzie.”
“Precisely why Derek didn’t call you last night when he called Alec.” Nick dropped to a chair by the sofa and made a face. “It’s under control, Jackson. As much control as we can muster right now, anyway.”
“Aaron.” Alec rose and gestured to the tall man who stood silently in the corner. “Why don’t you take Michelle downstairs? Mackenzie and Nancy will get you both something to eat, I’m sure, and she’ll be safe down there between you and Mac.”
Aaron headed for the bedroom, and Nick walked into the kitchen to retrieve a mug. “Want some coffee, Jackson?”
He arched an eyebrow. “No, thanks.”
“How long are you going to be mad at me?”
Jackson transferred his withering look to Alec. “I’m mad at you both.”
Alec seemed unconcerned. “You used magic to sneak out of my house and face a homicidal Seer for my own good. Your high ground’s not so high, Holt.”
Aaron led Michelle out of the bedroom, and Jackson’s frown disappeared. “Hi, Michelle.”
“Jackson.” Her sister actually smiled as she hurried across the room. She stopped suddenly a foot short of Jackson, looking like she wanted to hug him but wasn’t completely sure the gesture would be accepted.