“No.” Damn it. “But he did tell me that you—that you’re a—” It was impossible to get the words out, even if Nick had mentioned “shifters” and “casters” as if they were a completely natural thing to talk about.
“Shapeshifter?” Nick supplied, nodding. “Mm-hmm.”
It sounded insane. “I’m not sure what to think about all of this, honestly. I thought Jackson was insane, but he made himself invisible and that means he’s telling the truth or I’m insane…”
Nick giggled and clapped her hands together. “Bastard. He’s a show-off, I don’t care what he says.” She gave Mackenzie a reassuring smile. “Neither of you is insane. It must seem crazy, and honestly? I can’t even sympathize. I was born into this life. I can’t imagine what it must be like to just find out one day.” She propped her arm on the back of the sofa and rested her head on her hand. “Do you have any questions about stuff? I can try to answer them.”
There were so many Mackenzie hardly knew where to start. She hesitated, gathering her courage, and plowed forward. “Can I see—I mean, can you—” She waved her hand vaguely.
Nick raised an eyebrow. “You sure you want to?”
“No, I’m not. But it might make me stop questioning my sanity.” Or push me over the edge into outright lunacy.
The other woman looked as though she was completely aware of the second possibility. “Maybe we should wait awhile. I mean, if you can take things on faith for a bit. Maybe long enough to have brunch and hit the mall over on Canal Place?”
Mackenzie wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved, so she turned her attention to the second problem. “I can’t afford to go shopping. I didn’t have much in the way of savings to begin with, but I’ve gone through most of it in the last month.”
Nick didn’t look concerned as she crawled off the couch. “I have lots of money.” She headed for the stairs with a look back over her shoulder. “Consider it compensation for keeping me company…and dishing the gossip, of course.”
Mackenzie quickly found that her tiny boss’s enthusiasm for shopping was unmatched. Canal Place had been a bit of a disaster, since one look at the pricey designer boutiques had practically made Mackenzie’s eyes pop out of her head, but Nick had recovered admirably and suggested they head for Magazine Street instead. The shops there turned out to be far more eclectic and far less highbrow, which went a long way toward putting Mackenzie more at ease.
They were sitting on a bench in the early afternoon sunlight, enjoying ice cream cones, when Nick turned to her with a quizzical look. “So, what else did Jackson tell you about me?”
She didn’t want to admit she’d been talking about Nick’s crush on Derek. “He said your father is some…big important leader.”
Nick lowered her voice. “He’s the head of the Northeast Council, and he presides over the other council leaders. He’s a big shot.” She kicked her feet and looked around. “He’s good at all that political stuff, though. Me? Not so much. Which is why I am perfectly content to run my bar and stay out of all that society crap.”
Mackenzie nodded. “Jackson said that his partner and Derek were like you. Is Kat a—a shifter too?”
“No, Kat is psychic. An empath,” she clarified. “That’s why she freaked out when she saw you at the bar yesterday. She was feeling what you’ve been feeling.”
“Oh.” That brought the color back to her cheeks as she imagined the things the girl would have picked up about Jackson. “Oh, my. I imagine that can be…uncomfortable.”
“Mmm,” Nick agreed with a smile. “Don’t worry. Kat’s not as big a gossip as I am. She’ll keep your secrets…for the most part.” Nick tossed her dripping ice cream cone in the garbage receptacle by the bench and stretched. “Ready to get to work?”
Mackenzie nodded and rose, mulling over what Nick had said. Shapeshifters, spell casters, and now psychics. If Kat really had been feeling her emotions the day before, she wasn’t surprised the girl had collapsed. Sometimes she thought the only things keeping her going were fear and adrenaline, but she’d been terrified for so long she had almost forgotten it was possible to feel anything else.
Of course, that hadn’t been a problem since Jackson had appeared in her life. She’d been feeling plenty of things that had nothing to do with fear and self-preservation. If anything, her unhealthy obsession was going to put her in more danger, not less.
The most dangerous thing of all was the fact that, in spite of everything, she couldn’t help but think he might be worth it.
The afternoon rush hit with a vengeance, and Mahalia’s filled with regulars and tourists alike. Nick and Mackenzie didn’t get a chance to slow down until nearly five o’clock, when only a handful of customers remained as most people headed to dinner. Nick waved Mackenzie out from behind the bar with strict instructions for her to take a break before she collapsed.
She’d barely managed to get her apron off when Alec appeared at her side. “C’mon. I got some food for us at a table in the back. Jackson’s on his way.”
Mackenzie followed him. Alec had appeared at their sides on the walk back to the bar that afternoon, flashing Nick an amused grin. Several minutes of heated conversation revealed that Alec had spent the afternoon following them from store to store, a fact of which Nick had apparently been fully aware, despite giving no such indication to Mackenzie. She’d expressed her displeasure at being babysat with vigor, and it had taken most of the trip back for her to run through the list of reasons it had been unnecessary. Alec simply listened impassively, his lack of concern annoying Nick even more.
As handsome as Alec was, Mackenzie found him unsettling. He seemed perfectly content to sit in silence for long periods of time, but there was something in his eyes that made her think he noticed and analyzed everything that happened around him.
He was just as silent now as he’d been all afternoon. After a few futile attempts at conversation that mostly resulted in monosyllabic replies, Mackenzie mentally shrugged and concentrated on the sandwich he’d brought for her.
She’d almost finished eating when Alec’s eyes focused on the door behind her. She stiffened, but heard Jackson’s familiar voice say, “Well, at least Nick didn’t kill you, Alec.” He slid into the booth next to Mackenzie. “Did she threaten him with dismemberment?”
His smile made her stomach do flip-flops. “A couple of times, if I counted right.”
“Good.” Jackson snatched a pickle spear from her plate. “He deserves it. Alec is a certified chauvinist. A total pig.” His gaze drifted over to the bar, where Nick spoke animatedly with two tourists who were thumbing through a handful of brochures for ghost tours. He chuckled and thumped the table, drawing Alec’s attention to the sight. “Hey. What do you want to bet she’s doing it again?”
Alec glanced at Nick and snorted. “If only the people who went on Henry’s ghost tours realized that they were seeing something more impressive than ghosts.”
Nick came over with two beers, one of which she placed in front of Jackson. “What?”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “You were sending people on Henry’s tour again.”
“And why not?” Nick asked indignantly. “So he uses some magic, fakes a couple of ghosts. Big deal. It’s not his fault the real haunts are so damn few and far between.” She dropped the other pilsner glass in front of Alec with a thud and poked him expectantly, so he heaved a long-suffering sigh and slid over. Nick sat and held up two fingers. “People who come to New Orleans looking for supernatural crap want two things: vampires and ghosts.”