Playing the Witch's Game (Keepers of the Veil)

by Zoe Forward

  He might be dead. Right now.

  No.

  She needed to be with him. She could save him. She’d tried getting to him twice, only to be blocked by security, who judged her addled from too long in the jungle.

  Nikolai…dead?

  She sucked in deep breaths, fighting the urge to puke. Her vision hazed over.

  He had to live. Existing without Nikolai was a physical impossibility, like imagining the world without air. She wanted to argue with him again just to push him until he exploded. She liked the way he didn’t treat her like fine china when angry. Yet she trusted he’d never hurt her. She wanted enough time with him to change his self-loathing for what he’d done in the past. He was so frigging heroic. She’d convince him, maybe start by making a highlight reel from the show starting with the moment he killed a crocodile for her.

  His death wasn’t an option. Not until she had a kid. There wasn’t anyone else in her line other than a distant cousin who was long past reproductive years. But beyond duty, she wanted their child—a little terror with his green eyes and inner strength.

  The gods wouldn’t dare tempt her with a glimmer of her chosen man and then snatch him away. Or would they?

  Maybe he wasn’t really her destined. Maybe she just believed it enough to make things happen to make it seem like he was.

  The gods didn’t make the destined mates business easy for any of the Pleiades witches. She clung to that notion. He had to live.

  A doctor appeared and addressed her in his complex Spanish accent, “Shannon asks to see you.” He pivoted, expecting her to follow.

  Crap. She hadn’t worried about her best friend in hours. She was the worst friend ever. She jogged to keep up with the doctor, following down sterile, impersonal hallways painted an uncomfortable pistachio green. Seven turns later, and winded, she asked, “How’s she doing?”

  “I believe she will make a full recovery physically. Psychologically…”

  This guy didn’t know the half of it. “Yeah, getting stabbed by your boss during an extreme reality TV show might be a brain bruiser.”

  The doctor halted. His face scrunched up. “Brain bruiser? I received no information she had head trauma.”

  “No head injury. I meant it might be difficult for her to get over what happened.” American slang apparently didn’t fly down here.

  The doctor waved at a room and abandoned her with the nurse.

  Jen scooted a chair next to Shannon’s bed and clasped her non-catheterized hand. “How’re you doing?”

  Shannon’s red-rimmed eyes met hers. “Mom…”

  “Shhh.” Jen glanced at the nurse, eyeing her suspiciously as she administered various drugs into Shannon’s IV line. “I just want you to be all right.”

  “How’s Nick?”

  “I don’t know. They’re still trying to stabilize him. They won’t let anyone know anything. Sounds bad.” She added in a whisper so the nurse couldn’t overhear, “He thought he was going to die from this. I just…if he…”

  Shannon weakly squeezed her hand back.

  “Without him…” Jen trailed off.

  The nurse announced in a thick accent, “I go now. Be there.” She pointed across the hall.

  “Thank you,” Jen said, adding a poorly enunciated, “Gracias.”

  The moment the door closed behind the nurse, a deep male voice said, “There are many possibles for Nikolai’s future.”

  Jen glanced sideways and flinched at the male a few feet away. Alexi radiated waves of death and danger. She fought the survival instinct to flee. After a strong swallow, she asked, “What do you mean by possible futures? Isn’t there just one right future?”

  “It’s about choices.” Alexi glanced over at Serenity, who scooted to the opposite side of Shannon’s.

  “How does he really know about these things?” Jen asked Serenity.

  “It’s one of his things, his abilities.”

  “So, he lives?” Jen quizzed Alexi.

  “I can never be one hundred percent certain. There’s a good chance either way.” Alexi stared at her unapologetically. But his expression remained closed.

  “So you mean there’s a reasonable chance he dies. Thanks for not helping me feel better. I don’t really like you very much, even if you might be Nikolai’s brother.”

  “Most people don’t.” Alexi’s powerful shoulders lifted and dropped.

  “How do you put up with him?” Jen asked Serenity.

  “If he weren’t amazing in the sack, I’d have shot him months ago.” She smiled into Alexi’s glower and mouthed, I love you.

  “Mom?” Shannon asked Serenity.

  Serenity swiped wisps of hair off Shannon’s forehead. “I’m so sorry. She knew about everything. Sounds like our precog had a vision. But…damn it, knowing that doesn’t help. It hurts like hell losing your mom. I know. When mine died to save me, it was a nightmare. We sent your mother’s body on her way to your dad who will take care of things. You know she loved you so much. We all might’ve bumped heads with Charlotte, but we loved her, too.”

  “I don’t want to be the Pleiades witch. The lead witch…” Shannon gazed out the window into the fading light of day.

  “None of us volunteered for this,” Jen said gently.

  “Nurse is coming back,” Alexi warned. “There is danger here. Much danger. Your druids are coming but they aren’t close enough. We need to get both of you out of here…far away.” He backed behind the door and held out his hand to Serenity. Once they touched, they both disappeared using Serenity’s invisibility power.

  The nurse glanced at the vitals monitor hooked up to Shannon as she glided back into the room. “That be enough for now.” She shooed Jen out.

  Back in the waiting room, Jen gazed at her abandoned soda still sitting cockeyed and unopened in the chair she’d vacated. She might as well stencil her name into the vinyl. She resumed her seat and her watch of the clock.

  There is danger here. Alexi’s words played over and over in her brain. Instinct pushed her to get to Nikolai. To protect him.

  A nurse appeared. “He’s stabilized in the ICU, but no one can see him. You should leave. Come back later.”

  Like hell she’d leave Nikolai. Besides, she couldn’t speak Spanish well enough to even get a sandwich in the cafeteria. How the heck was she supposed to arrange transport when everyone from the show had deserted her? They could’ve at least left a translator. “I’ll wait until he’s awake. Until I can see him for myself.”

  Stabilized. The knot in her stomach loosened a bit.

  A woman she recognized from the show as one of the assistants sat next to her and took her hand. “I’m glad Nick made it through surgery. Can you come outside and talk on camera about this?” The woman’s false compassion tempted Jen to slap her.

  “No.”

  “Is there anyone you want to call?” The woman held out her cell phone.

  Jen scowled at the electronic item. “It’s probably tapped. No thank you.”

  The woman shrugged. All her compassion disappeared. “This is TV. Get used to it. And get on board.”

  “Get away from me. We’re off the show. Done. Leave us alone.”

  “Is this woman bothering you, ma’am?”

  Jen glanced up to see her longtime druid bodyguard dressed in a hospital security uniform. Relief and gratitude had her grinning. She stood, but then sat, disregarding the urge to run to the fifties-ish Canadian and hug him tight. She needed to apologize for all those times she slipped him a potion that allowed her to do something without him.

  The woman from the show held up her hands and left.

  Her druid guard handed her a granola bar and winked. “Thought you might be hungry. We’re here. We’re watching.”

  “How’s Nick?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll be up the hall near the entrance if you need anything.”

  “Thanks. I’m glad you’re here.”

  What felt like hours later, Jen heard someone walk into th
e waiting room.

  “He’s asking for you.”

  She glanced up, startled to see Serenity decked out in hospital scrubs.

  Serenity winked.

  Jen popped up and walked fast behind Serenity. “I thought he was still unconscious. That I couldn’t see him until he woke up or was out of the ICU.”

  “He is unconscious, but he’s been moved out of the ICU into a private room. You guys need each other, especially when it comes to this kind of thing. I arranged to be on his nurse staff. Turns out they’re having a staff crisis and were expecting a few fill-in nurses tonight. Our good luck.”

  “Thank you,” Jen breathed out. “Is Shannon safe?”

  “Alexi is on guard duty.”

  As they entered a generic hospital room, she nearly stumbled when she caught sight of the paleness of Nikolai’s skin against the hospital sheets. There were so many lines attached to him, far more than Shannon. An oxygen tube lay under his nose. A monitor beat a steady rhythm of his heart rate. His eyes remained closed and his breathing deep.

  Shannon flipped pages in a metal chart. “He arrested twice and flatlined once during surgery. It’s a miracle he’s here.”

  “Oh God.” He almost died three times? Jen watched the steady up-and-down rhythm of his slow breathing. No respirator. All him.

  “He’s a Jovec. Those boys are harder to kill than James Bond.”

  Jen cracked a smile at Serenity, who grinned back. Serenity hugged her. “It’s scary to almost lose your man. I’ve been there. Nikolai is here. He’s alive. Be thankful for every moment the gods give the two of you.”

  Jen hugged her back. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, for us. We wouldn’t be alive if you hadn’t been the voice of reason to urge us to sing. I always forget about that. The bitch would’ve won if you hadn’t been there.”

  “You can thank Charlotte for reminding me of that skill not so long ago.” Serenity pulled away. “I’ve got to go make sure Alexi isn’t scaring the straights. Sometimes he doesn’t realize his effect on people. Just don’t do a miracle heal right now. Maybe later, when he’s not under doctor surveillance and no longer under the microscope of the game. Not now. That might be a mess, if he suddenly walked out of here absolutely fine. I know if it were me standing here staring at him looking like baked-over shit, I’d be tempted. Just behave.” Serenity glanced at the door. “I’ve got to figure out how to get Shannon out of here tonight.” She left.

  Jen pulled the chair close to Nikolai, thankful it didn’t make any scraping noise on the floor. She lightly touched his exposed forearm.

  Nikolai’s eyes flickered open. His bleary green gaze fixed on her. Someone had taken out his contacts.

  “Hey, Angel,” he said hoarsely.

  She took her first full breath since he collapsed.

  Every demand for his affirmation on the certainty of their future, every condemnation for not telling her what was going on, every gratitude for saving her life rested on the tip of her tongue. He was her only possible future.

  Instead, she laid her head next to his shoulder where she could still see his eyes. “I love you.”

  A weak smile tweaked his lips. He moved his hand to cover hers. “I know.”

  She frowned. “What kind of answer is that? Where’s my I-love-you back?”

  “I just—”

  “I just? According to your chart, you just tried to die at least three times. I’d say—”

  “Let me finish,” he interrupted.

  “Sorry.”

  He slowly opened and shut his eyes, gazing around as if fighting to stay awake. “Damn it, I hate being drugged.” His gaze landed back on hers. “You’re the reason I didn’t let go in surgery. I wanted to come back. To be here. You’re my world. Hell, you’ve been my world since the first time I saw you last year.”

  She bit her lip against a smile. “You love me.”

  “Of course I love you. Why the hell else would I have risked international television and a game show in a jungle?”

  “I thought it might’ve been the spell I cast, or jealousy over Owen.”

  “I thought you’d cast a spell or something…” His eyelids drooped closed.

  She was tempted to shake him awake, but he needed rest.

  A minute or so later, he asked, “You okay?”

  She nodded, but unsure what he remembered of what he’d just said. “What about us? Is this it? We go our ways now that you’ve done your protection thing, and got me through the threat you foresaw? Or are we doing something with the I-love-yous?”

  He traced her cheek with a finger, but his hand dropped back as if the effort was too much. “What part of the gods-bound-us-together-forever did you miss?”

  “Oh. Yeah, that. Well, I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything.”

  “Obligated?” His lips thinned. “Do you plan to waggle your Brunette Barbie ass at some other guy now that the show is done?”

  She slowly smiled. “Beach vacation. Lots of food. Clothes optional. You promised.”

  “I did, didn’t I? I might need a little special healing, though, to get out of this hospital.”

  “I was warned not to, but if we can’t get Eli here…” She glanced at the door as an unfamiliar nurse passed by.

  “This place is dangerous.” He struggled to a sitting position and yanked the oxygen cannula from his nose. He collapsed back onto the bed. “We have got to get the hell out of here. But in a bit…so tired.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The thirty-six hours after surgery, he focused on the goal of getting discharged. He despised hospitals and doctors running too many tests after being astounded by his natural accelerated healing ability, which was more willpower than magic. Jen hadn’t found a private moment to do any “special” healing. Nikolai wanted no more cameras. No more people adjusting clothes or touching his fucking hair. He wanted them to be away from this show, somewhere safe and far away from everything that happened in the cave.

  “You’re going to be exiting the car in five, four, three…” The television show assistant quietly counted off the last two numbers and pointed them to exit the limo into the crowd gathered in front of the monster hotel into which they’d been booked.

  Nikolai glanced into the packed crowed. He couldn’t protect her in that chaos without weapons. Too exposed. He glanced at the roofs across the street, seeing no threats, but knowing the hidden possibilities to be bloody perfect for a sniper. This was the last game scene they’d play for the show. At least he hoped Jen would follow his lead until he could enact Alexi’s plan. People screamed, signs waved, cameras clicked and videoed.

  “Why do they even care about us?” Jen asked. “It’s not like we won.”

  “You’re celebrities. Perhaps more so than any other competitors on the show ever. You almost got killed for real, and not by challenges. It’s bloody fantastic,” the assistant said with a huge grin. “Okay, get out of the car. Now.”

  Owen stepped into their path with a false smile the second they exited from the limo.

  The urgency to kill the threat crested in Nikolai’s brain. This was a show. TV. Pretend.

  “Think they’ll care if I punch him?” Jen whispered.

  Nikolai grinned his fakest life is great smile for the cameras and ignored Owen. He grabbed her hand, turned her to face him and knelt. “Jennifer, marry me.”

  “What?” Her face paled. She glanced at the cameras.

  Go along with it. Please. “Oh, come on, Angel. It’s not like we haven’t survived a jungle and almost gotten killed like five times together. I think we can survive a few kids and house repairs. Don’t leave me hanging on TV.”

  “Those aren’t exactly the selling points on forever that sway me.”

  “You are so damned stubborn. How about this?” He stood up and pulled her close. “I’ll promise you forever and safety.”

  Her eyes hazed over. “I can do forever. How about forever starting right now? It’s been a long time
since we…”

  He shot Owen a triumphant look. Dismissively, he turned to the assistant who had exited behind them. “I think that’s enough of a show for the cameras. We’re done. What room are we assigned in this monstrosity?”

  “Six-oh-two,” said the assistant.

  “There better not be any more fucking cameras in our room or our life without our express permission. Our contracts are done. Our lawyer should’ve already been in contact with yours.”

  The assistant stepped back, her mouth hanging open.

  Nikolai pointed one finger at Owen. “I don’t think I need to say anything to you, do I? If we ever see you in our life outside of this farce, I’ll…” Nikolai granted him a feral smile that promised a merciless ending.

  A bone-chilling cunning laced with excitement slid through Owen’s gaze. He whispered, “Game on.” And smiled slowly.

  A chill gathered at the base of Nikolai’s neck and slowly slithered down his spine with certainty this was the kingpin. This was the head of the serpent. What the hell powers did Owen possess to know their passcode for the show?

  Owen turned and sauntered away.

  Nikolai pulled Jen tight to his side. In a seductive tone he said, “Let’s go upstairs, Angel.”

  Minutes later, they were in a threeroom suite, away from the crowd and away from Owen. He held her next to him in the center of the silent honeymoon suite and gazed around. “Don’t move.”

  Jen remained still. The fear in her gaze clenched his chest.

  “It’s going to be okay.” He scanned the room, looking for hidden cameras, sighting four obvious. He closed his eyelids and opened his mind to feel for malevolence. No dark magic resided inside the room. Good. But he needed security gone, too. He released Jen and in a flurry of movement extracted all the cameras from their locations and smashed them. He stalked through each room, making a pile of the equipment. Minutes later he stared at the eight cameras.

  “Nick…” she started. He held up a finger to his lips to silence her.

  He entered the code Alexi imparted into the safe, popping it open. Inside he found their confiscated passports that Alexi had stolen from where they’d been put into “safekeeping” by the show’s reps. And a Glock with two spare mags. And a small screwdriver-like tool.