“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.”
Chapter Seven
“You need to get some sleep.”
Jonas didn’t even spa
re 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.”
“Fuck you.” Not very eloquent, but it summed up his feelings at the moment. “I’ve watched the men come and go from your bedroom. I’ve sat back and wondered what was so wrong with me that you would choose to be with some stranger and not your own mate. So don’t talk to me about suffering.”
“Jonas…”
“Did you know that you’re the only person I’ve ever been with? In two hundred and thirty-one years, you are the only man I’ve ever taken to my bed.” Jonas laughed harshly. “And I wasn’t even good enough for a real bed. I got some murky pond water in the dead of night so that no one could see us. That’s what I meant to you.”
“Jonas, stop and listen to me.”
“Why? So you can lie to me some more?” Jonas had committed everything he was and everything he had to offer to the man in front of him. Even when Nicholas rejected him, he never wavered in his devotion. Now, just looking at his mate was shredding his heart. “I’m done. I can’t do this anymore.”
“Can’t do what?”
“I can’t let you be my everything when I mean absolutely nothing to you.” Jonas refused to show an ounce of weakness in front of Nicholas. Not one tear would he shed for the faithless and lying bastard—even if he felt like he was dying inside.
“You can’t honestly believe that.” Nicholas didn’t sound scornful or condemning, though. He sounded almost pleading. “Everything I’ve sacrificed—Oh, I’ve sacrificed,” he added when Jonas snorted derisively, “has been for you.”
“Yes, I’m sure your life has been so tragic.”
“You were my first and last,” Nicholas said solemnly. “Those men you saw coming and going from my room were donors, nothing more. I didn’t kiss them. I didn’t fuck them. You have to believe me.”
“Why should I? Why should I believe a word out of your mouth?”
“Because I need you to,” Nicholas answered simply. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry that I withheld this from you. My secrecy has kept you alive this long, though, so I can’t say that I would have done anything differently.”
Jonas absorbed the words and shook his head sadly. “If you had a good reason—and I’m not saying you did or do—you tell me that reason and let me decide for myself if it’s worth the risk.” It was pointless. He could say the same thing in twenty different ways, and Nicholas would never get it.
With heavy footsteps and a heavier heart, Jonas turned and walked toward the open door of the small cell. Maybe he’d just keep walking right up the stairs and through the front door. Burning alive in the sun had to hurt less than what he was feeling because of someone who professed to love him.
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know,” Jonas answered honestly. “I just know that I can’t be here anymore.”
“You can’t leave. Jonas, don’t leave me.” Jonas spun around and threw his hands in the air. “Then give me one good reason why I should stay. Just one, Nicky. That’s all I’m asking for is one goddamn reason!”
“Because I love you.”
A few months ago, that would have been all the answer or reason he needed, but not now. “Not good enough. I’m sorry, but I won’t stick around to be your dirty little secret anymore. I’m tired of being alone. I need more, and you obviously can’t give that to me.”
“If we mate, you’ll die.”
“Right. Uh-huh.” Jonas fisted his hands on his hips and stared down at his shoes. Even now, Nicholas was lying to him—and not well at that.
Nicholas sighed and tugged at the ends of his dark hair. “Phillip wasn’t always the cruel asshole you knew. We were close, and I worshiped the ground he walked on.”
The heartache in Nicholas’s voice broke through some of Jonas’s anger, and he found himself moving closer to the man. “I’m listening. Go on.”
“The February before you moved to Olympia, something happened. It was stupid. The temperatures were warmer than usual that year, and I should have known better than to go out on the pond. I had just turned fourteen and thought I was invincible as most teenagers do, though.”
“The ice broke,” Jonas surmised. He was close enough to touch Nicholas now, and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and taking his mate’s pale hand.
Nicholas nodded slowly, and his broad shoulders began to shake.
“You know Phillip is nine years older than me.” He waited for Jonas’s nod of confirmation before continuing. “He met his mate when he was sixteen, so he and Andre had been together for a little over seven years. God, he loved that man so much.”
“Come here.” Jonas tugged on Nicholas’s hand and pulled the coven leader into his arms. He was probably going to regret it, but he couldn’t stand to see the look of anguish on his mate’s face. For better or worse, he loved the man, much the same as Nicholas described the love between Phillip and Andre. “What happened?”
“I got trapped under the ice.” Nicholas wrapped his arms around Jonas’s waist and held him tightly. “It was just by chance that Phillip and Andre were walking near the pond and heard me yell that day.
Andre didn’t even hesitate when he dived in to save me.”
“I don’t understand. That’s a good thing. He saved your life, Nicky.”
Nicholas squeezed him tighter and buried his face in the side of Jonas’s neck. “He pushed me to the surface, and Phillip hauled me out of the water. Andre never came up, though.” Jonas closed his eyes and sighed while he smoothed his hand up and down his mate’s spine in comfort. “It wasn’t your fault. You were just a kid.”
“Phillip was never the same after that,” Nicholas cont
inued as though Jonas hadn’t spoken. “He stopped eating, wouldn’t come out of his room, and he barely slept. The day after the funeral, I finally got up enough courage to try to talk to him. I don’t even know what I was going to say. I mean, how do you apologize for killing your brother’s mate?”
“Stop it. You didn’t kill anyone. It was an accident.” He eased Nicholas away from him and cupped his cheek in his hand. “What happened when you went to talk to your brother?”
“He said it should have been me.” Nicholas shuddered as he closed his eyes and nuzzled his face into Jonas’s palm.
“Grief does terrible things to people, Nicky. I’m sure he didn’t mean that.”
“Phillip blamed me. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have lost Andre. He cursed me so that I’d always be alone, and if I ever claimed a mate, it would kill him or her. Then I’d know how it felt to lose someone I love. You’re right about the grief, though. He never got over losing Andre, and it drove him mad.” Jonas swallowed around the lump in his throat as he watched his mate relive the pain of his past. Nicholas had lost someone he loved that day. It just wasn’t his mate. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Opening his eyes, Nicholas lifted his head away from Jonas’s hand and arched an eyebrow. “What would you have done?” He would have gone after Phillip. He doubted he would have tried to reason with him, either. “I’d have beat that idiot until he lifted the spell.”
“You would have tried. He’s stronger than you, Jonas. I couldn’t risk losing you.”
The pounding in his temples grew worse as he tried to sort through this new development. “We could have been together without you claiming me.”
Nicholas smiled sadly and shook his head. “It would have never been enough for you. Besides, I couldn’t let anyone know about us.
Phillip suspected you were my mate, and he tried to kill you with a gold dagger. I was too careless with you. That never should have happened.”
Haven 3: Forgotten Sins Page 6