Nicholas’s witchy shit was freaking him the fuck out. How could he have never known? What other secrets was Nicholas hiding? Who had attacked them in the first place? “You’ve gotta give me something.”
Nicholas stopped moving, dropped his head, and sighed. When he looked up, there was a fear in his eyes that made the hair on the back of Jonas’s neck stand on end. “Phillip isn’t dead.”
Holding the circle took a lot of energy, and, with the sunrise so close, Nicholas was drained. If help didn’t arrive soon, they were sitting ducks. “I can’t hold it much longer.” Jonas glared at him before turning his back and crossing his arms over his chest. They’d been playing the silent game for more than an hour. Nicholas understood why Jonas was angry with him, but it wasn’t helping their situation. If they were going to stay alive, they needed to trust each other and work together. After all the lies he’d told and things he’d neglected to inform his mate of, it was a pretty tall order to ask Jonas to trust him.
“Jonas, I’m sorry. It wasn’t safe for me to tell you.”
“Don’t.” Jonas spun around and snarled. “Just don’t. Not now, Nicholas.”
While Nicholas bitched and moaned about Jonas calling him Nicky, he secretly loved the nickname spoken from his mate. Jonas only ever called him Nicholas when they were in public or he was pissed. Well, they were alone now, so that meant Jonas was gearing up for battle.
“You wanted answers,” he reasoned.
“Yes. I wanted answers, not fucking excuses! I’ve been with you through everything. I’ve never hidden anything from you. Every dark shadow, every skeleton in the closet, every condemning act I’ve committed—you know it all. How could you keep something like this from me?”
“I didn’t have a choice.” Maybe it hadn’t been the valiant and noble thing to do, but Nicholas would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping his mate protected from his brother. “You were marked. Phillip would have destroyed you.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make!” Jonas showed no signs of backing down from his stance any time soon. “Why is Phillip alive? You told me you killed him.” He tilted his head to the side and frowned. “Why did you challenge him anyway?”
“He needed to be stopped, and I was the only one who could do it.” The statement was vague though truthful. It was as much as Nicholas could divulge, however. He’d promised to tell Jonas everything, and he would, but not until they were safe.
Jonas looked like he’d start shouting again, but the sound of tires screeching against the pavement had them both spinning around just in time to see headlights whip around the corner and come barreling straight toward them.
“Don’t move,” Nicholas ordered. “Don’t leave the circle.”
“Are you fucking nuts? They’re going to make roadkill out of us.” Jonas grabbed Nicholas around the elbow and tried to tug him to the side, but Nicholas stood firm.
“Don’t move,” he repeated. “The circle will hold.”
“Are you listening to yourself?” Jonas waved his arms around frantically. “The only thing separating us and that car is thin air!”
“Trust me.” Luckily, they didn’t need to put that trust to the test.
A dark SUV fishtailed to a stop just feet from them, and two men flew out of the passenger doors.
“Enforcer Tracer and Leader McCarthy?” one of them asked.
“Who are you?” Jonas countered with distrust dripping from his voice.
“Enforcer Lance Renshaw from the Trinity Pack.” He pointed to the mountain of a man beside him. “This is Enforcer Callum Fielding. You’re to come with us.”
Nicholas stood perfectly still, and he was pleased to note that the only move Jonas made was to reach into his pocket and extract his cell phone. He dialed quickly and held the phone to his ear, his eyes never leaving the two shifters in front of them.
“Yeah, Stavion? Do you know two Enforcers by the names of Fielding and Renshaw from the Trinity Pack?” Pausing to listen to Stavion’s answer, Jonas bobbed his head a few times before thanking the coven leader and disconnecting the call. “They’re straight,” he said to Nicholas as he stepped forward out of the protective circle.
“Not even close,” Fielding said with a chuckle. “We are here to help, though.”
Nicholas jerked his head toward the vehicle. “Then let’s move.”
“We have orders to take you to the alpha compound until your coven can send someone for you. We can’t force you, though.” Renshaw began walking backward toward the car. “If you have any objections, you need to speak up now.” Nicholas shared a look with Jonas, and some silent communication passed between them. Neither of them fully trusted the two Enforcers, but they didn’t have any other options. The sun would be up soon, and they needed shelter from its rays.
“If they wanted us dead, we’d already be bleeding out on the ground,” Jonas offered with a grim attempt at a smile. “We’re neck-deep in this shit, so I guess we have to trust somebody.” Yes, it was true. With a sigh and a prayer, Nicholas stepped out of the circle and marched to the back door of the SUV. He hoped like hell that he hadn’t just signed their death warrants.
“Who is your alpha?” Jonas asked as he slid into the third-row seat beside Nicholas.
“Alpha Ridley Thatcher,” a deep voice answered from the front passenger seat. He shifted around to face them and dipped his head courteously. “Nicholas.”
Nicholas took his first real breath since the plane had exploded and nearly killed them. “Ridley, you son of a bitch. Who the hell decided it was a good idea to let you be in charge of anything?”
“I’m saving your skinny ass, aren’t I?” The alpha chuckled and motioned toward the other men in the vehicle. “You’ve met Lance and Callum.” He patted his driver on the shoulder. “This is my beta, Blair Cutler.”
“You know him?” Jonas asked loud enough for the entire car to hear him. “How the hell do you know him?” Jealousy was sexy as sin on his mate, and Nicholas had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. “We go way back,” he teased.
“Just how far back? I’ve known you since we were fourteen. I’ve never heard of him.”
Nicholas leaned over and kissed Jonas on the lips. “You know him. Look closer.”
Jonas didn’t so much look but glared at the alpha. The tense set of his jaw, the way his hands fisted on his thighs, and the flaring of his nostrils said he wasn’t recognizing or liking what he saw. “I don’t know him.”
“Jonas, shut up and quit being a va-jay-jay.” Ridley snorted and shook his head.
“Did he just call me a vagina?” Jonas’s upper lip curled, and he leaned forward in his seat. Then, just as quickly as the rage had flared, it died away, and Nicholas could practically see the light switch on in Jonas’s head. “You shot me.”
“Dude, that was over a decade ago. I can’t believe you’re still pissed about it.”
“You shot me in the thigh with an arrow—four inches from my fucking balls!” Jonas turned to Nicholas, obviously looking for backup.
Nicholas shrugged. “It was a damn good shot for a kid.” Ridley hadn’t been more than twenty-two or so the summer he’d stayed at the estate as part of his training to become a Hunter. “So, you gave up on chasing demons?”
“I did it for a while. Then the demons started chasing me, and I figured it was time for a career change. I was next in line to be alpha of the Trinity Pack after my cousin died, so here I am.” That was a brush-off if he’d ever heard one, but Nicholas let it go.
It wasn’t really any of his business what the man did with his life.
He’d spent four months with Ridley, taught him all he knew about fighting demons, and hadn’t seen him again until he showed up minutes before like some dark knight in a black SUV.
“We put cots in the basement cells. You’re not prisoners, but I’m afraid we don’t have anywhere else for you to sleep where you won’t be burned crispy like fatback bacon.”
“Charming,” Jonas muttered with a sneer. “Ten years wasn’t long enough. I still don’t like him.”
“Did Stavion say when reinforcements would be here?” Nicholas tried to steer the conversation to more neutral topics before Jonas blew a gasket. The man was strung tight and losing his slippery grip on self-control.
“Kieran and the Murphy brothers are on their way now. Varik and Demos will be here after sunset.”
Nicholas’s eyebrows drew together in a shallow
V.
“All of the Murphy brothers are coming? Why so many?” Jonas shrugged. “Bannon is their brother. You mess with one of them, and the rest cut your balls off and feed them to you with a spoon.”
“I’m sorry I got us into this.” It was inadequate, but it was all he had to offer. If he’d been honest and straightforward with Jonas from the beginning, most of their troubles could have been avoided.
“Is someone going to tell us exactly what
this
is?” Blair asked as he sped along the highway. “You’ve brought this to our doorstep, so I think we have a right to know what we’re facing.”
“Ask his Imperial Highness,” Jonas said with a mocking bow. “Good luck getting any answers, though. Apparently, we lesser beings don’t rank on the need-to-know scale.”
Jonas’s shitty attitude was beginning to grate on Nicholas’s nerves. “You’re pissing me off,” he warned.
“Yeah? Well, good. You lie to me for two hundred goddamn years, and I’m just supposed to forgive you because you say you’re sorry and you love me? That is not love, Nicholas. That is…is…” Jonas sighed as he closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the seat. “Just forget it.”
“Not to interfere with your little lovers’ spat, but I need to know what the hell is going on,” Blair said with a slight growl. “Ridley thinks we should help you, but I’m not convinced. You’re bringing trouble to our pack that we don’t need.” The beta was absolutely right. This wasn’t their fight, and there was no way they could win against what was coming. “How long until sunrise?”
“Hour and a half or so,” Lance answered.
“Take me to Vegas.”
“What?” Jonas sat up straight. “What the fuck are you talking about? We need to go to ground. I’m not going to let you get us killed.”
“You’re going to stay with the pack. You’ll be safe there. Blair is right, though, and this is my fight. I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me.”
“We can handle whatever is coming,” Ridley said with confidence. “You’re coming to my estate, and that’s the end of it.”
“You can’t fight this and hope to win,” Nicholas argued. “I’ll be fine inside one of the casinos. Just make sure Jonas gets back to Wyoming.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Jonas settled back in his seat casually. “I might be pissed at you, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting you do this alone.”
“Nicholas, we need to know what we’re up against,” Ridley said quietly. “Give me something, man.”
Realizing he was outnumbered, Nicholas sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. “Dark magic. That’s what’s coming for me. Our mother was a witch, so Phillip and I inherited the gene. My magic isn’t powerful, and it takes a lot of energy to perform the most basic spells.”
“Why do I get the sense that there’s a ‘but’ coming?” Callum asked as he turned in his seat to look at Nicholas.
“Phillip was very powerful.”
“That’s your brother, right?” Ridley scratched at the back of his neck. “I thought I’d heard that you challenged him for leadership of your coven.”
“You heard right,” Jonas said before Nicholas could answer.
“Well, maybe I’m missing something, but what does Phillip have to do with all of this?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.” Jonas arched an eyebrow at him.
“I don’t even know what to believe anymore. Can you give me just one thing that’s true? You told me Phillip was dead.” Nicholas closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
“He was.”
“You need to get some sleep.”
Jonas didn’t even spare a glance for his mate as he paced the concrete floor of the basement. The sun had long since risen, and he could feel the headache building in his temples. His muscles ached, his throat burned, and eyes itched. Nicholas was right that he needed rest, but he couldn’t sit still or turn his brain off long enough to sleep.
“Making yourself sick isn’t going to accomplish anything,” Nicholas tried again in his smooth, coaxing voice.
“Stop. Just…” Jonas held a hand up for Nicholas to be quiet and resumed his pacing. Nicholas was still his mate. Nothing that happened would change that, and he didn’t want it to change.
He wasn’t ready to forgive him yet, though. Two centuries of lies had been dumped on him in the span of a couple of hours. It was going to take more than sleep and some cajoling words to erase the hurt and resentment he felt.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” It was the fourth time he’d asked the question since discovering Nicholas’s secret. He’d still yet to receive an answer that appeased him. “You kept me at arm’s length all this time. I was never allowed to get closer, but you made sure I was just within reach so that I couldn’t move on, either. Why, Nicholas? Why would you do that?”
“I’ve told you,” Nicholas responded wearily. “It wasn’t safe for you to know, nor for us to be together.”
“Then let me go!” Jonas stopped pacing, pressed his back to the wall, and slid to the floor. “Why didn’t you just let me go?”
“You are my mate.”
“And what has that gotten me? What has being your mate ever fucking done for me? I’ve been alone my entire life—all because of you.”
“You weren’t alone. Even if we weren’t mated, we were still together.”
Nicholas just wasn’t getting it. Why should he, though? He hadn’t lived a lifetime of pain and desire for something he could never have.
“I was more alone with you than I would have been without.” Jonas closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. “Just leave me alone.”
“I do love you, Jonas. I’ve always loved you.” Jonas was on his feet and snarling before he registered the intention to do so. “No! You do not get to say that shit to me. You don’t toy with someone’s emotions and then spout off at the mouth about love.”
After slowly gaining his feet, Nicholas shuffled a few steps closer to Jonas. “You weren’t the only one who suffered.”