André

by Catherine Lievens

  He paused, his eyes widening as he realized what he’d said. Nysys blinked at him, then started laughing, and Nicky relaxed next to André.

  “You’re funny,” Nysys said. “I wouldn’t have thought, but you are. Nice one.”

  Morin leaned close to Nysys. “Weren’t you the one who wanted to watch the movie and told them to shut up?”

  “Yeah, but he made a joke. Did you hear that?”

  “I did.”

  “Right. You’re no fun, mister.”

  Morin grinned. “I don’t think you really think that. You didn’t last night anyway.”

  “That’s because you had your dick in my—”

  Morin slapped a hand on Nysys’ mouth and smiled at André and Nicky. “Sorry. I’ll make sure he stops talking from now on.” He moved his hand away and Nysys opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Morin kissed him. Nysys moaned, and André inched close to Nicky, because damn if that didn’t give him ideas.

  “Do you think they’ll go farther than kissing?” he asked in a whisper.

  “Is that something that happens?”

  “Eh. Sometimes, I guess. I know Nysys was there once when Darin and Ira got hot and bothered, and I’ve personally walked in on more than one couple.”

  “How do you do with the children in the house?”

  “Most members of the pride are gay men, hon. There are a few kids around, but they all live in the cabins behind the house. The house itself is full of mated gay couples, so it’s not really a problem, unless you’re shy and get offended easily.”

  Nicky blinked at André. “You called me hon.”

  “Huh, yeah. Is it a problem? I can stick with your name if you want me to.”

  “No, it’s fine. It’s just that apart from my mom no one ever gave me a pet name.”

  André’s heart broke a little at the sadness and wonder in Nicky’s voice. As much as Nicky tried to look strong and uncaring, he really just wanted to be loved. Losing his entire family had been hard on him, and what happened with his pride the year before had nearly broken him. André was surprised Nicky was already breaking out of the shell he’d built around himself, and he vowed to do everything he could to make Nicky feel accepted and loved.

  “Do you have to go back tonight?” he asked.

  Nicky seemed surprised at the question. “I don’t work until the afternoon.”

  “Do you want to stay here? It’s already late.”

  Nicky looked around the room as if he expected someone to say he couldn’t, but everyone else was too busy either watching the movie or cuddling to pay attention to them.

  “No one will care,” André added. “I’m pretty sure they expect you to stay, actually, and for you to move in soon.”

  Nicky slowly nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll stay.”

  André smiled and put his head back on Nicky’s shoulder. He played with the hem of his T-shirt as he idly watched the good guys kick the bad guys’ asses on TV. He didn’t have any idea what the bad guys had done, but it didn’t matter. This wasn’t really about the movie. It was about showing Nicky that he didn’t have to be alone anymore, that he could have a family if he let himself have it.

  André knew it wouldn’t be as easy as a meal and a movie, but it was a step forward. Nicky took his hand in his and linked their fingers together, then raised André’s hand and kissed the back of it, never looking away from the TV. André snuggled closer.

  Yeah, it was a step forward, and what a step it was.

  * * * *

  Nicky jerked awake.

  He looked around the unfamiliar room, taking a few seconds to remember where he was and why he wasn’t in his bed. He’d stayed at the mansion, and from the looks of it, he, André, and a few others had fallen asleep in the living room.

  André was slumped against Nysys, his head pressed against Nysys’ shoulder. Morin too was there, as well as Keenan and Jonah, but Delevan, Blair, Adan and Yanis were gone.

  The alarm that had woken Nicky up was still on. It wasn’t loud enough to wake everyone, but Nicky had always slept with one eye only, ever since he’d become alpha.

  He heard voices in the entrance and hesitated. This wasn’t his home or his pride, so maybe his presence wouldn’t be well received, but André was there, and Nicky would do whatever he had to do to make sure his mate was safe and happy.

  He got up, untangling his legs from André’s, and made his way toward the open living room door. The light in the entrance was on, as well as the ones in the hallway between the two flights of stairs, and Nicky followed the voices there.

  Dominic was in the hallway, talking with three men. They were all in various state of undress, and what clothes they did have on was pajamas. Nicky hovered for a few moments, but no one saw him, so he cleared his throat.

  The men startled and one of them growled, but Dominic put a hand on his chest and stopped him from mauling Nicky.

  “What is he doing here?” the growling man asked.

  “I told you, he’s André’s mate.”

  Nicky searched his memory, because he knew it wasn’t the first time he’d seen that man. When he remembered, he wished he hadn’t. Of course the guy wanted to rip his head off. He was Dominic’s beta, Nate something.

  “I can leave if you want me to,” he said, taking a step backward. His beta would have yelled at him doing something like that, but he wasn’t an alpha anymore, and Roger had been an asshole anyway.

  Dominic shook his head. “You can’t. The mansion is surrounded.”

  Nicky’s training kicked in. “By who? How many men? Are they armed?”

  “We think it’s the hunters, and yes, they’re armed. We’re not sure how many men there are out there, but from Isaiah’s calculations, there can’t be more than fifty.”

  Nicky frowned. “Why are they attacking, then? Don’t they know you have the enforcers next door?”

  “They managed to slip in and put themselves between the mansion and the enforcers’ wing.”

  “But it’s a wing. It’s connected to the mansion, right?”

  Dominic grinned evilly. “It is, and I made sure to add connections after Bradley ran.”

  Nicky had no idea who Bradley was, but he nodded. “So we need to evacuate the women and children?” He frowned, because he remembered what André had told him. “They’re outside, right? Have the hunters already gotten to them?”

  “I already sent men to gather everyone.”

  “I need to go wake the others up.”

  “Someone is already making the rounds upstairs.”

  “André is in the living room with a few others.”

  Dominic nodded. “Go, then.” He paused and stared at Nicky. “Are you going to help us?”

  Nicky frowned. “You mean help you defend the mansion? Of course I am. It’s my mate’s home.”

  “It can be yours too.”

  “Yeah, well, we don’t have time to talk about that right now. I’m going to wake André up. Where should I tell him to go?”

  “Everyone knows what to do in case of an attack. There are safe rooms in the house. The one closest to the living room is in this hallway.”

  Nicky nodded and turned around just as people started streaming into the hallway they were in. They were mostly couples, some with children, and Nicky stepped aside to let them pass. He watched them walk toward one of the hallway doors, and once he was sure that door led to the safe room, he hurried back to the living room.

  André and the others were awake now, and apart from Jonah, who wasn’t in the room anymore, they all looked confused. André got up as soon as Nicky stepped back in. “What’s happening? Why is the alarm ringing?”

  “Dominic told me there are hunters surrounding the house. You need to go to the safe room.” He looked at Nysys, Keenan, and Morin. “All of you.”

  Nysys shook his head. “I’m a Nix. I need to start evacuating the house.”

  He held his han
ds out to Morin and Keenan. Keenan looked at the hand, then at the living room door. He clearly didn’t want to leave, and Nicky that. Jonah was somewhere in the house, and from the little Nicky knew about him, he was part of the pride’s security. He wouldn’t be going into the safe room. He would be in the first line, and Nicky couldn’t even begin to imagine how worried Keenan was.

  “Kee, please,” Nysys said. “You know it’s what Jonah wants.”

  “But what if he’s hurt?”

  “Then one of the Nix will heal him.”

  No one said anything about the fact that it could be too late for a Nix to do anything, that Jonah, or anyone else, could die. Keenan nodded and took Nysys’ hand. Nysys looked at André. “I’m taking them to New York. Be ready when I come back. It’ll take me only a few seconds.”

  André nodded, and as soon as Nysys and the others were gone, he rushed into Nicky’s arms. “Come with me.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You’re not a pride member. You don’t have to defend it.”

  Nicky shook his head and cupped André’s cheek. He gently forced André to look at him. “I’m not a pride member, that’s true, but I’m likely to be one soon. You can’t tell me I’m welcome here then change your mind because I could be hurt defending the pride.”

  André sighed. “I know. I had to try, though.”

  “I get it. You’re going to go with Nysys, and I’m going to help defend the mansion.” Nicky hoped it would be enough for the pride members who didn’t want him there to accept him. He felt like this was his way to pay for what he’d done the year before, and he needed to do it for himself. The guilt he felt would disappear after it, or at least he hoped so.

  André pulled Nicky’s head down and kissed him hard. “I’m going to kill you if you get hurt. Understood?”

  Nicky nodded and kissed André again, until someone cleared their throat next to them. Nysys was back, and when Nicky stepped away from André, he offered André his hand. “Come on. We need to go. I have to shimmer upstairs to get Darin and Shad too.”

  André nodded and took Nysys’ hand. He was still looking at Nicky when Nysys shimmered them away, though, and the last thing Nicky saw was the worried expression on his face.

  Once they were gone, Nicky shook himself and went to look for Dominic again. He thought the alpha would probably be in his office, but when he stepped into the entrance, Dominic was there, fully dressed.

  There were a lot of people still running around, but they were being ushered away. Nicky noticed Nysys shimmering in again just as a loud explosion echoed in the distance. A man next to Dominic, the same as before, said, “The gate is gone. I called Kai and told him what was happening. I don’t think we’ll be able to hide it, not this time, but we can hope, right?”

  “What did he tell you?”

  “He’s on the way. He asked one of his colleagues to alert him if anything gets out.”

  “Bradley is too careful for anything to get out.”

  “Yeah, well, that explosion wasn’t exactly discreet.”

  “No, but we’re in the middle of the woods. Even if someone heard it, they won’t come here. Private property, remember?”

  “Whatever.”

  Dominic opened the door and Nicky tensed. He followed everyone outside, not knowing what to expect, but as soon as he was out, he was right in the middle of the battle.

  People were fighting on the side of the house, in the direction of the enforcers’ wing, and more hunters were streaming in from the destroyed gate.

  Someone sighed next to Nicky, and he turned to see a blond guy look at the gate. “Damn, that gate wasn’t even that old. We had to replace it after the wendigo thing.” He jumped down the stairs and tackled a hunter before the guy could get to Dominic.

  Nicky took a deep breath and followed him.

  * * * *

  André paced the length of Nysys’ living room and looked at his watch for what had to be the hundredth time since Nysys had dumped him and the twins there ten minutes ago.

  “Stop it.”

  André scowled at Keenan. “How can you be so calm?”

  Keenan shrugged. “I know there’s nothing I can do, and that being nervous or scared won’t help Jonah.”

  “Because he’ll feel it?”

  “Yeah.”

  André huffed. “Yeah, well, it looks like I can be as nervous as I want to be, because me and Nicky aren’t mated yet.”

  Keenan winced, and something that looked very much like pity flashed on his face. “He’ll be fine.”

  “Easy for you to say that. You know Jonah is fine, and you’ll know right away if something happens to him. I won’t. I’ll be worried until I get back to the mansion, and if something happens to him...”

  André didn’t want to think about it, but he couldn’t stop himself. Was he really going to lose Nicky so soon? Before they could really be together, before they could build a life and be happy? Gosh, he was mushy, but the alternative was being scared, and even though Nicky couldn’t feel it, André didn’t want to spend who knew how much time being scared for his mate.

  He needed to go back to the mansion. He didn’t know how he’d do it, but he needed to.

  He took his cell phone out and scrolled through the numbers saved on it. Nysys wouldn’t take him back, no matter how much he asked. He’d probably take him as soon as he was sure everything was fine, but from what André had heard, he and Keenan had had their asses thoroughly chewed out by Dominic the last time they’d popped into a battle. It was just André’s luck that for once, they were obeying the order they’d been given.

  But he knew more than one Nix. He might not be close friends with them, but he was somewhat close, especially with Aeron. Aeron wasn’t even living in the mansion as far as André knew, not right now. It was worth a try.

  “I’m going to the bathroom,” he said.

  Keenan arched a brow at him, but he didn’t say anything about the fact that André still had his phone in hand. André hurried to the bathroom, already thinking about what he would tell Aeron.

  Aeron answered on the third ring, and André sighed in relief. “Not that I’m not happy to hear from you, André, but I wasn’t expecting it.”

  André smiled nervously. “I know we’re not really friends, but I need a favor.”

  “I’m kind of offended you don’t consider yourself a friend, because I do.”

  “Right. Sorry, it’s just that everything’s a mess right now.”

  “And you called me for help?”

  “Huh, yeah.”

  “Okay, what do you need?”

  “I’m stuck in Nysys’ bathroom and I need to go back to the mansion.”

  “You’re in New York?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m not going to ask why you can’t ask Nysys to shimmer you. Wait, I changed my mind. Why haven’t you asked him?”

  André hesitated. He knew he needed to tell Aeron the truth, because they might shimmer in right into the middle of a battle, but would Aeron shimmer him there if he knew the truth? “Because he won’t take me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the mansion is under attack.”

  Aeron swore. “What happened?”

  “The hunters.”

  “And why the fuck do you want to go back there?”

  “My mate is there. We met a few weeks ago, and we’re not mated yet, and I can’t leave him there.”

  “He’s a fighter?”

  André nibbled on his lower lip. “Remember the guy who challenged Dominic for his seat on the council?”

  “He’s your mate?”

  “Yeah. He regrets what he did. I mean, he’s defending the pride right now, but I don’t know if anyone except Dominic actually trusts him, and we’re not mated, so I don’t even know if he’s fine I need to go find him.”

  “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  “I’m not completel
y defenseless.”

  “What can you do?”

  “The hunters are human. I’m human.”

  “They’re probably trained.”

  “I am too. I can shoot pretty well.”

  “You have a gun?”

  “I need to go get it from my New York apartment, but yes, I have a gun.”

  Aeron was silent for a few moments. “You’re going to find someone else if I say no to you, right?”

  “Yeah. I need to go there.”

  “Fine. Where do I shimmer? Nysys’ bathroom?”

  “Please.”

  André hung up the phone, and a few seconds later, Aeron was standing in front of him. He looked good. His long, black hair hung around his face and his lip piercing glinted in the bathroom light. He wasn’t dressed for a battle, but then neither was André. They both wore jeans, though, so it was good enough.

  André held his hand out and Aeron arched as brow at him. “Aren’t you going to tell Nysys you’re leaving?”

  “No. He’d try to stop me.”

  “It would probably be a good idea to stay here instead of going to Whitedell.”

  “I know.”

  Aeron smiled. “But you’re not going to do it.”

  “Nope.” André wiggled his fingers. “Ready?”

  Someone knocked at the door. “André? Are you all right?” Keenan asked.

  André looked at Aeron and wiggled his fingers again.

  “André? What are you doing in there?” Keenan asked.

  Aeron rolled his eyes and took André’s hand. The last thing André heard before being whisked away was Keenan saying he’d break the door down if André didn’t answer right away.

  Aeron shimmered them into André apartment, and André didn’t lose time. He ran to his office and opened his safe, taking the gun he kept there and the bullets. He hoped he wouldn’t have to use it, but he was ready if he needed to. He’d been living with shifters long enough to know it was either kill or be killed in their world, and he had no intention of dying, not until he was an old man.

  Aeron had followed him, and André looked at him. “Will you stay after you take me there?”

  The grin Aeron gave him was a bit too close to feral for André to be comfortable, even though he knew Aeron wouldn’t hurt him. “Do you know what I am?” Aeron asked.