Crux

by Moira Rogers

  “Good,” Mackenzie said again. “We can call you if we have questions, but you need to go and make sure Eddie’s okay.”

  Jackson watched as Marcus smiled at her. “Thank you, Mackenzie. For everything.”

  She shrugged and reached for her teacup. “So we’re going home. I don’t know what else to do.”

  Jackson tightened his fingers around hers. “Home. We’ll figure something out.”

  Mackenzie nodded. “We’ll figure something out.”

  Alec finished the cup of coffee he’d stolen from Jackson and picked up a muffin. “We flying? We lost the posh private jet.”

  “I could get it back,” Nick offered, “but it’d be faster to fly commercial.”

  “Then that’s the plan.” Jackson eyed Marcus appraisingly. “Do you need us to make arrangements to get you to New York?”

  “No, I can get there, as long as someone will let me see Eddie when I do.”

  “Nick’ll take care of it.” Alec rose with his muffin in one hand and dug his cell phone out with the other. “I’m going to book a flight.”

  “Business class, at least.” Nick shot him a warning look. “Don’t cheap out on us.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Alec grinned at Jackson. “I’ll be in room five-twenty. Meet me up there when y’all are done eating.”

  Jackson waved a hand. “What are you going to do when we get back to New Orleans, Kenzie?”

  She shrugged. “I want to figure out a way to fight, but I don’t know what to do. He’s so powerful. That magic… Is there anything he can’t do with it? How am I supposed to—”

  “You’re not,” Jackson interrupted, crumpling his napkin in his free hand. “We are. We’ll find a way. Together.”

  Mackenzie squeezed his hand but looked at Marcus. “He’s going to come after me, isn’t he? He’s not going to give up.”

  “He’s traded everything for this. His life, his family. Even his sanity.” He clasped his hands on the table and frowned at them. “Giving up isn’t an option.”

  The hair on the back of Jackson’s neck rose, and he thumped the table near Marcus’s hands. “Hey. Don’t even think about it. Not alone.”

  Marcus shot him an irritated, defiant look. “The man raised me, and I never even—”

  “Not alone,” Jackson repeated firmly. “Nobody is going after him solo. All you’ll do is get yourself killed.” Oh, you’re terribly reasonable, aren’t you, Holt? Now that he doesn’t have your girlfriend? He ignored the voice and glanced at Nick. “Help me out here.”

  She patted Marcus’s hands. “He’s serious. Besides, you’d be better off helping your friend—and my father—in New York. Really, Marcus.”

  Mackenzie curled her free hand over Marcus’s arm. “The man raised you, Marcus. That’s why you never thought he was doing anything wrong. But you didn’t ignore the truth when you saw it. You found out what was going on and you did your best to make it right. That’s all anyone has a right to ask of you, and I’ll kick your ass if you do something stupid.”

  “All right.” He sighed and smiled. “I’d better go make my own arrangements to leave. Goodbye, Mackenzie.”

  “You have Nick’s number? And Jackson’s?” She sounded like a worried mother letting her child out of her sight for the first time. “In case anything happens, you should have both.”

  Marcus rolled his eyes, but his smile didn’t fade. “I have everyone’s numbers. I’ll be okay.”

  “Okay.” She leaned over to give Marcus a slightly awkward hug. “Just…be careful, okay? You owe me a lot of help with this whole giant-cat thing.”

  “I suppose I do, at that.” He rose and saluted Nick. “I’ll be in touch.”

  She sprang out of her chair and hugged him quickly. “Come to New Orleans when you can. We can go out without Alec this time. We’ll have more fun.”

  Marcus offered his hand, and Jackson shook it firmly. “Thank you for what you did for Mackenzie. I’ll remember.”

  Marcus nodded. “So will I.” He waved and walked away.

  Mackenzie watched him go, an odd look on her face. When Jackson slipped back into his chair, she sighed. “I know it’s stupid to feel guilty, but I turned his life upside-down.”

  “Charles turned his life upside-down.” Jackson picked up his empty coffee cup and set it down again. “Ready to head out? Depending on what Alec books, we’ve probably got a long day of traveling ahead of us.”

  “Yeah. I suppose we do.” She shoved away her teacup and reached for the last muffin in the bowl. “Am I going to be stuck in these clothes indefinitely?”

  Nick wrinkled her nose. “I hope not. You’re going to burn up in fleece.”

  “No.” Jackson shook his head. “It wouldn’t make much sense to hide you from him when he’d have to know you’re with us.”

  “As soon as we get back to New Orleans, we’ll take care of it. Give me five minutes, and I’ll have you looking like a star,” Nick promised, grabbing another apple. “Want to head up?”

  “Yeah.” Mackenzie rose to her feet. “Let’s go home.”

  Home. Jackson put a protective hand on the small of her back. “That’s the best damn thing I’ve heard all week.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Jackson passed Alec the last bag from the trunk and pulled his ringing phone from his pocket. “Kat. Is there a problem?”

  “I take it you haven’t listened to my five frantic messages?”

  “My battery’s almost dead,” he told her, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

  She sounded more aggravated than afraid, but it was hard to tell for sure with Derek’s annoyed voice in the background. “Someone broke into the office and my apartment. Derek’s got me rolled in bubble wrap and stashed in a closet—”

  “I should have you on a plane out of the state!”

  Kat raised her voice and talked over her cousin. “I’d sort of like to know what the hell is going on now.”

  He froze. “Ask Derek if he smelled anything odd.”

  Kat made an outraged noise a second before Derek’s voice came on the phone. “I heard the question. And no, nothing odd. Normal human smells, mostly soap and aftershave. Could be they loaded up on it on purpose to screw up any trail that they’d leave, though. Kat’s computer at the office was trashed.”

  It didn’t sound like something Charles Talbot would have done. “We’re at Alec’s house. Keep Kat away from her apartment, and I’ll have Nick check out the office. Thanks, Derek.”

  “Wait just a God damn minute, Holt. You can’t send Nick running into the middle of that shit by herself.”

  Jackson remembered Alec’s words and groaned. Derek was already in a protective rage, and the last thing they needed was to rile him even more by endangering Nick. “Fine, we’ll have someone else do it. Just stick close to Kat.”

  “Oh, she’s not going anywhere. So figure this out before she kills me.”

  “Yeah, will do.” He hung up and cursed as he made his way up the steps and through the door. “Alec?”

  Alec wasn’t in the living room, but Mackenzie was there, digging through the duffle bag he’d retrieved from Mahalia’s. She jerked her head toward the back of the house. “He said he was going to his study to make some calls.”

  Jackson flipped the deadbolt home. “I have to go talk to him. Someone broke into our office and Kat’s apartment while we were gone.”

  The blood drained from Mackenzie’s face, but Alec’s heavy footsteps in the hallway forestalled her reply. He strode into the living room with his phone against his ear and a frown. “What the fuck? The office and Kat’s place?”

  “Yeah. Doesn’t sound like the kind of thing Talbot would do, unless he’s trying to create a diversion. I thought we’d ask Nick to check it out, but Gabriel got growly about that. Any ideas?”

  “Shit.” Alec sighed a
nd tilted his head back, and Jackson knew from experience he was weighing priorities in his head. Finally he blew out another breath and nodded. “Okay. I’m going to lock this place the hell down. You get a damn gun out of my garage and keep an eye on Mackenzie while I head to the office.”

  “Check the files, okay? Derek said they destroyed Kat’s computer.”

  “Yeah, I will.” Alec tossed the phone at Jackson. “Your freaky psychic called twice. He sounds even more paranoid than usual.”

  They’d used Wesley Dade as a contact before. His precognition was among the most reliable Jackson had seen, but Wesley usually didn’t call him out of the blue. “I’ll see what’s up. It could be related to the break-ins.” Or to Talbot.

  “Good.” Alec turned on his heel, striding toward the back of his house and the attached garage. “Lock up behind me, and ward yourself and Mackenzie to hell and back.”

  When his partner had gone, Jackson turned to Mackenzie. “Looks like more excitement. You have enough to worry about. I’m sorry.”

  Mackenzie’s fingers tightened around a shirt she’d pulled from the bag until her knuckles turned white. “Kat’s okay, right?”

  “Hell yeah. She’s fine.” He pried her fingers from the shirt. “You met her cousin, remember? He’s not going to let anything happen to her.”

  “Her cousin.” Mackenzie’s eyebrows came together, but she released the shirt finally. “Derek? The one Nick has a crush on? He’s Kat’s cousin?”

  “Yeah. Shit, I thought I told you.” He pulled her over to sit on the couch and lowered his arm around her shoulders. “Derek will watch out for Kat.”

  “You might have told me.” Mackenzie took a breath and let it out in a tired sigh as she leaned closer. “God, I’ve learned so much in a week, my head can’t hold it all. I’m surprised I know my own—” She stopped abruptly and laughed hysterically. “Oh God, I didn’t know my own name.”

  He tucked her head against his shoulder. “First, it’ll catch up with you. Later, you’ll catch up with it. You’ll see.”

  She was silent for so long he started to think she’d dozed off, but finally she turned her head until her breath tickled his neck. “Thank you.”

  She shouldn’t have been thanking him. “If I’d done my job in the first place, you wouldn’t have gotten snatched.”

  “Don’t,” she whispered. “Because if I hadn’t run away—if I’d stayed—Steven would still be alive. I don’t know how to live with that.”

  Jackson cursed himself. He couldn’t very well tell her not to blame herself if he was going to sit there and do it. “All right. How about this? No blame, on anyone. It’s stupid and pointless, right?”

  “Right. Stupid and pointless.” Her words were beginning to slur together. “What time is it?”

  “Just after five.” He eased off the couch and picked her up. “Bed?”

  “No, we need to plan.”

  He shushed her as he headed down the hallway to the guest room. “Sleep until Alec gets back. Then we’ll plan.”

  “Okay.” Her head dropped to his shoulder in a trusting manner that made his chest ache. “I didn’t sleep much while I was gone.”

  “Me either, baby.” Jackson laid her on the bed and stretched out behind her. “I could barely even close my eyes.”

  She laughed softly as she snuggled into his arms. “That didn’t stop us from staying up half the night last night.”

  “More important things to do.” They had more important things to do now, as well, but Jackson couldn’t help but feel they’d be all right with whatever came…as long as they faced it together. “Now go to sleep. Alec drives like a bat out of hell. He’ll be back in no time.”

  Hunger finally woke Mackenzie. The spot next to her on the bed had been empty long enough for the sheets to cool, which meant Jackson had left her to sleep longer than she’d meant to. Her stomach rumbled its annoyance as she rolled over in the strange bed and squinted through the darkness of the room at the clock on the bedside table.

  Midnight. She heard the murmur of voices as she rose and padded to the bathroom. Alec and Jackson, by the timbre of the sound, though she couldn’t quite make out the individual words.

  Washing her face and rebraiding her hair made her feel less groggy. She watched her reflection in the mirror as she tied off the end of the braid, and studied her neck and the prominent love bite Jackson had left the night before. She’d long ago passed the age where hickeys were amusing, but something inside her took intense pleasure in the visible proof. That same thing had purred in pleasure when she’d seen the mark of her own teeth on his throat, a blatant reminder that he was hers.

  She tossed the braid over her shoulder and traced her fingers over the mark. Warmth rose in her at the memory, along with a desire she had to put out of her mind for now. Her life was in imminent, serious danger, and while the adrenaline might make the idea of sex appealing…

  Living long enough to have lots and lots of it is way better.

  It wasn’t until she reached to open the hallway door that Mackenzie realized there weren’t two voices coming from the other room. There were three, and one of them was a woman.

  One of them was Mahalia.

  Guilt paralyzed her. She froze with her fingers wrapped around the knob and her heart pounding, literally unable to twist her hand. Opening the door would mean walking out and facing Mahalia with the knowledge that Steven had died because of her.

  She had no idea how long she stood there before a gentle knock on the door made her leap back, a startled cry catching in her throat.

  The door cracked open and Alec stuck his head in, his expression sympathetic. “Hey. I heard you up and about. Thought I’d check on you.”

  “I—” She tried to pull herself together. “I was just—”

  “Yeah.” Alec came in, shut the door and leaned against it, his arms crossed over his chest. Though his stance looked intimidating, his eyes and voice were almost gentle. “Listen, kiddo. She’s hurting now, and nothing’s going to change that. I can’t promise she’s going to greet you with hugs and kisses. But not a damn one of us thinks you should have sat there like a damsel waiting for someone to rescue you. If you hadn’t grabbed at every chance to get the fuck out, you wouldn’t be the right kind of woman for Jackson.”

  It was more than she’d heard from him for the entire length of their acquaintance. Her surprise must have shown on her face, because he chuckled. “You’re amazed I know that many words, huh? Well, here’s my secret, sweetheart. When you don’t talk much, people actually listen when you open your mouth, even if it’s only because they’re shocked.” He winked, pulled open the door and gestured to her.

  I can do this. She squared her shoulders and nodded once before stepping through the door. “Thanks, Alec.”

  He answered her with a smile before following her into the hallway, effectively cutting off her path of retreat. “You can do it,” he murmured, his voice echoing her thought.

  Walking into the kitchen to face Mahalia was the hardest thing she’d ever done.

  Mahalia sat on a stool at the island, her elbows on the counter. Jackson stood on the other side, a dish towel thrown over one shoulder, chopping vegetables. He gestured to the spot next to his mentor. “Kenzie. Have a seat. We were just talking.”

  Mackenzie hesitated, but Alec’s presence at her back made it impossible to do anything but move forward into the kitchen. “Hello, Mahalia.”

  The older woman kept her head down and her eyes on the coffee mug in her hands. “Mackenzie.”

  Jackson opened a cabinet next to the range hood. “Are you hiding any more spices in here, Alec? Something besides salt and pepper?” His tone was determinedly casual.

  “There’s steak rub in there.” Alec’s voice came from directly behind her, and Mackenzie felt his hand on her shoulder. He nudged her toward the stool and
walked past her. “I don’t cook much, Jackson.”

  “I was hoping against hope.” He glanced at Mackenzie as she slid onto the stool. “Tell me you like cream sauces.”

  “Anything’s fine. I’m pretty hungry.” The tension in the kitchen made her fidget uncomfortably, but she had no idea how to break it.

  Mahalia stared at the row of cabinets. She said nothing, but her hand inched slowly across the counter. She wrapped her fingers around Mackenzie’s and squeezed.

  A lump formed in Mackenzie’s throat as she turned her hand over and clutched at Mahalia’s. She knew she shouldn’t speak, but the words tumbled out in a hoarse whisper. “I’m so sorry.”

  Mahalia’s teeth sank into her full lower lip, and she shook her head.

  Jackson pulled a carton of cream from the refrigerator. “Mahalia said she and Michelle thought of something. A way to beat Talbot.”

  Her heart beat faster. “How?”

  Mahalia cleared her throat. “There isn’t much any of us can do against Charles Talbot’s magic. But he’s just like any other Seer.”

  Jackson put a steaming mug of coffee in front of Mackenzie. “If we get him in his cat form, he won’t be able to use his magic.”

  She clutched the coffee mug and tried not to let her hands shake. “Can you do that?”

  Mahalia turned to her, finally meeting her eyes. “There’s a spell, an old one, but it involves a lot of unsavory things, plus that time you don’t really have. On the other hand, another cougar Seer could do it without a spell.”

  “I don’t understand.” She looked from Mahalia to Jackson and back. “I thought Seers were rare.”

  He tossed the vegetables into a steaming pot. “That’s the part we’d gotten to, incidentally. Me reminding May that Charles Talbot happens to be the only cougar Seer we know of.”

  Mahalia tapped her fingernails on the counter. “Don’t any of you people smoke?”

  “May.”

  She sighed. “No more Seers. But there’s one thing we could do.”

  Mackenzie held her breath.