Even in the setting sun of an old day, she could see triumph in his muddy eyes. See it almost as clearly as she could hear the sharp click of him readying his shotgun before he pointed it straight at her and asked, “Did you really think you was going to get away with killing my son?”
21
Nago awoke from a pitch-black dream to searing pain.
Silver pain.
He discovered why when he looked down and found his wrists encased in silver cuffs, attached to the railing of what looked like a hospital bed. Old school. The kind of cruel binding system his Uncle Grady described his mange state father using on him whenever his wolf got out of control.
Which meant…Nago groaned. If he was bound like this, the wolf must have escaped. Again.
His thoughts immediately went to Halle. Pregnant with his baby. Where was she? Were she and the baby okay? Had he hurt her—argggh!!!
He didn’t realize his body had sprung into action until he was dealt another searing silver rebuke.
“Don’t fight it. You’re in the Mississippi kingdom clinic. And you’re not getting out of those handcuffs until someone lets you out.”
Nago stilled. His mind reeling as he looked over to the man he vowed not to call just a few days ago. But yes, there he was. His dad, Rafe Sr., sitting in a ratty old guest chair that looked like it had probably been bought used last millennium.
“Dad,” he rasped out. “What the hell is going on?”
“That’s what I’m here to ask you. The Mississippi King called me as a courtesy. Told me I needed to come get you.”
“Technically, I’m the Mississippi King now,” Nago said, fighting the urge to strain against his cuffs again. The wolf was pacing back and forth inside him. But the silver kept him at bay. Just like the fact that Halle was pregnant should have, but didn’t keep him from appearing.
“Yes, technically, but as the Mississippi King not so subtly pointed out to me, that’s only until his daughter can file the paperwork to get the Chivaree declared null and void.”
“Null and void? What—fuck!” Nago cut off when the cuffs let him know he’d moved again.
“You need to calm down, son,” Rafe said, voice clipped. “Even with your brother’s help, we’re not going to be able to convince them to let you go if you’re acting like a psycho.”
“I’m not a psycho,” Nago answered. “I’m a male whose pregnant mate is nowhere to be seen. How the hell does anyone expect me to act right now?”
“I wouldn’t know, Nago,” his father shot back. “I’m not sure I know anything about you right now.”
Nago shook his head, not understanding why his father who’d always been so supportive of—and according to both his brothers, the most indulgent with—his youngest triplet, now regarded him with cold disappointment in his eyes.
But he didn’t have time to get down to the bottom of this mystery. His mate was missing, and that was way more urgent than whatever his father was getting at. Halle! He had to find her. Protect her. She’d chosen him, and he was her mate now.
Nago released a stream of curses when the silver burned him again.
And this time his father’s large hand landed on his chest, shoving him back down on the bed to stop Nago fighting against the silver cuffs. “Calm down, Nago. Calm down so I can talk to you.”
Despite the gray lining both his temples, his father was still a very strong wolf. It also probably didn’t help that Nago was chained to a bed by energy-sapping silver handcuffs. Nago forced himself to breathe. “Dad, just tell me where she is,” he said, fighting to keep his voice level. “I need to find my mate.”
But his father’s face remained hard and unsympathetic as he answered, “Trust me when I say that boat has sailed. You need to let that she-wolf go like you promised me you would the last time I was called down south to clean up your mess.”
“I did let her go!” Nago shot back. “I let her go for ten years. But then she tried to give herself away, and I couldn’t let her do that. She deserved better than some fucked-up mating ritual. I had to break my promise. I’m sorry if that pisses you off, but I couldn’t let her do that. And now she’s pregnant with my baby. I have to—”
The hand pressed into his chest again, pushing him back into the bed before the silver could burn him once more. “Nago. Do not make this situation any worse than it already is. Let. Her. Go.”
“How can you fucking say this to me, Dad?!” Nago asked. “You went back in time to the Viking Age to find mom when she ran away with your kids in her belly. And you won’t even let me out of these handcuffs?”
“Yes, I had to go back to the Viking Age to find your mother after she ran away from me because I lied to her.” Rafe Sr. shook his head at Nago, disappointment and disgust writ plain across his face. “Knowing your parents’ history, I would have thought you’d have learned that lesson. I would have thought you would never have been stupid enough to repeat my mistakes.”
An unspoken accusation ticked between them in the long silence that followed.
And this time his father didn’t have to press him back into the bed. Nago sank back on his own. Defeated. Not by his father. But by himself.
“She knows,” Nago said dully. “How much?”
“All of it, I think. But considering you kept this from me, too, I couldn’t say for sure. For all I know you’ve not only been sabotaging all her relationships behind her back, but you might also have orchestrated this whole Chivaree business yourself. I can’t put much past you anymore.”
The disappointment in his father’s voice stung. But it didn’t stab. Not like the icicle of knowing the woman he loved the most had just found out how much of an act his supposed nice guy turnaround had been.
“I would never put her up for a Chivaree. No matter how badly I wanted her back,” he assured his dad. Then he asked, “Who told her?”
“The Ohio prince. Your attempt to bribe him into going away before the Chivaree gave him reason to do some digging. He won’t say how he came upon the information about all the other men you bribed. Apparently, there are quite a few iron-clad NDAs floating around all this business of you either paying off or blackmailing any guy who got too close to her. But Eric is perfectly willing to testify against you, and your mate was the one who ended up having to put you down with a tranq gun when you tried to attack him in wolf form. So, good job giving her plenty of irrefutable evidence to use to sue for full custody and make sure your mother and I never get to see our firstborn grandchild.”
“Dad…” Nago started to say.
But his father cut him off with a vicious, “What did I tell you when I got you out of that Florida fiasco?”
“That I couldn’t see her again,” Nago repeated dully. “I couldn’t have any more contact with her. That I had to let her go.”
“Then why the hell are we here right now?! After your family did everything in their power to help you recover, why the hell am I standing in this room with you after being informed by some mange state king that not only did you not leave his daughter alone, you completely fucked up her life and yours! And I won’t go into the details of what’s being said on WolfNet right now. But needless to say, you’ve put the Nightwolf family name and legacy in danger. Why would you do something this stupid—?”
“Because she’s my fated mate.”
Rafe Sr. stopped short at his son’s quiet interruption.
But Nago only shook his head and said, “I don’t have proof of it like you and mom did, but I know who she is in my soul. And I know what I did was crazy, but like you needed to find Mom when she crossed centuries to get away from you, I need to find Halle. Right now. So please let me out of these handcuffs, and tell me where she is.”
Rafe opened his mouth, looking as if he had another angry diatribe at the ready. But then he closed it. “I…hell, son. I can’t say I don’t understand exactly what you’re going through. I knew, too, and even after what happened I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same if it meant
making sure your mother ended up with me.”
“Okay,” Nago murmured. “Then let me out. Please.”
He rubbed a hand down the back of his neck. “I can let you out. But as for your she-wolf, she was already gone by the time I got here. She didn’t tell her father where she was going. So I can’t say where she is because I don’t know. Nobody does.”
22
“1122 Berry Ave. You have reached your destination.”
Halle squinted out the jitney cab’s window at the house the robotic voice just announced as her destination. It was small with only a slice of grass between it and the next house over, but neat and meticulously maintained. The exact opposite of the large but rundown kingdom house where she’d grown up. Was this it?
The Louisiana address she’d plucked from an old bio file was so old. And there was a distinct possibility the navigation system on her black market driverless rental car was even older.
She sat frozen in the car, staring at the house.
“1122 Berry Ave. You have reached your destination,” the car repeated, giving her an emotionless nudge to get the hell out.
“Add ten-minute delay to departure,” she said, in case this wasn’t the right address. And then with a deep breath, she stepped out of the car and started toward the house.
The path to the front door didn’t stretch nearly as long as the curved gravel driveway in front of the Mississippi kingdom house. But somehow getting to this door seemed to take twice as long and triple the mental effort.
It felt to Halle like she was walking the wrong way through a wind tunnel. The forces of time and dread pushing against her so hard, she wondered if she’d be able to bring herself to knock on the house’s red front door.
But then it turned out she didn’t have to.
It suddenly opened, and a woman appeared on the brick doorstep. Small, dainty and prettier than a daffodil. She was nearly twelve years older now, but, like before, you could see the former Mississippi beauty queen shining through. It was in her shoulders-back posture and the still slender arm she raised to cover her mouth with a delicate hand.
To Halle it felt like a memory had appeared in front of her, perfectly-preserved after all these years.
“Halle?” the memory called to her. “Is that you?”
Halle’s first instinct was to run. To cut out of this women’s impeccably manicured yard without ever being stupid enough to look back again.
But she didn’t. She just stood, staring at the woman who was now a few inches shorter than she. So much time…
“Halle?” the woman tried again, stepping off the brick doorstep and moving a little closer in the careful way people do when dealing with animals that may or may not be safe to pet. “What are you doing here?”
“I…” Halle had to stop because the prepared answer got clogged in her throat, forcing her to swallow down a painful lump before she said, “I’m sorry to show up unannounced, Keri. But I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
Her mother’s eyes widened. “Oh…you want to stay here. With Utibe and I...”
Keri spoke with so much upward inflection that it sounded like a question. And then she looked over her shoulder.
Halle followed her gaze to the small house’s front window which was flanked by darling dark green clapboards. Those and the trim around the windows was painted the same color as Halle’s kingdom house bedroom. Her mother’s favorite color, she now recalled. A man stood at the window. Tall and dark. Her mother’s new husband, no doubt—no, not new, Halle reminded herself.
It had been over 12 years after all. Keri was his and had been for a long time. And he made no pretense of not watching them from the window. Halle watched Keri noticeably tremble beneath the man’s hard stare.
Then she turned back to Halle and asked, “How long?”
“I’m not sure,” Halle admitted, finding it hard not to look back toward the window.
Another glance over her shoulder. But then Keri must have made a charitable decision in her head because she said, “Yes, you can stay here with us. That will be fine. I’ll…I’ll show you to the guest bedroom.”
23
Halle slept for a very, very long time.
She dreamed about Eric showing her what she didn’t want to believe. That Nago was a monster. A psychopath who’d refused to mate her when she’d gone into heat the first time, but had refused to let anyone else claim her. Like a spoiled kid licking a piece of candy so no one else could have it.
She slept so long that the knock on the bedroom door, soft and delicate, seemed like maybe it was part of the same nightmare. Which was why it took a few more knocks before Halle sat up in bed and said, “Come in.”
Keri poked her head in. “Breakfast is almost on the table.”
“Oh…” Halle sat up and tried to rub all the nightmare out of her eyes with the balls of her hands. “Okay, thanks. I’m coming.”
She thought about possibly not taking a shower. With the dark cloud hanging over her, she’d be doing well just to make it out to the breakfast table. But she remembered enough about her mother’s house rules not to risk it.
They might be poor, but they didn’t have to act it. Halle had been expected to come to breakfast showered and dressed for the day with her hair perfectly coiffed when Keri had lived in the Mississippi kingdom house. So Halle did her best. Took a quick shower and pulled on a fresh pair of sweatpants and a loose tee. There wasn’t much she could do about the state of her braids, which after a Chivaree and a sudden dash to Louisiana, needed attending. But she pulled them back into a somewhat neat ponytail before coming out of the bedroom to face her mother.
She followed a low murmur of conversation to a small kitchen where she found Keri and her mate sitting on opposite sides of a two-person table. Their heads snapped up when she came in, the way people’s heads do when they’re so involved in talking about you, they don’t hear you coming.
But her mother, ever the former beauty queen, recovered quickly, pasted on a smile, and said, “Hello, Halle! You’re right on time.”
Halle glanced at Utibe, then quickly looked away when she was met with a sour stare. But it was long enough to take in the red work suit he wore, and the yellow patch on his chest that declared him a proud employee of Cal-Mart. A shock, considering some of her first memories had been of her mother preaching to her about the importance of finding a wealthy mate.
Guess she didn’t mind being poor anymore. As long as she wasn’t poor with Halle and her father.
“You sit down right here. I’ve been keeping your breakfast warm for you,” her mother said, jumping out of her seat. Dressed in kitten heels and a pretty yellow dress, she looked the exact opposite of her sour husband. “I hope you still like waffles.”
“Who doesn’t like waffles?” Halle joked as she took a seat across from Utibe. “I mean, other than those criminally insane puppy kickers.”
Utibe gave no reaction, while her mother overcompensated, placing a hand over her stomach as she gave the pretty version of a belly laugh. “I suppose that’s true!”
Utibe stood abruptly, then walked over to where Keri lingered at the oven and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “See you tonight, my darling,” he said in heavily accented English.
“See you tonight,” Keri answered, giving his arm a dainty little squeeze.
The kitchen door swung open and closed, and then he was gone, leaving nothing but the awkward silence between her and her mother in his wake.
Keri made a graceful fuss out of setting a warm plate in front of Halle: eggs and waffles with a few orange slices artfully arranged on top. “I got you some coffee, too,” her mother said going over to a little black enamel-and-glass set that looked out of place in the colorful kitchen. “Utibe went back to Cal-Mart to pick up a coffee maker just for you since we only drink tea.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Of course we did!” Keri replied as she poured the coffee. “You are our guest, and besides, I’v
e been meaning to get one for years now.”
Our guest. The description pinged inside Halle’s chest. Was that all she was to her mother?
But Halle smiled and said, “Pretty cup,” when Keri set a cup and a saucer with a purple-and-blue watercolor design down in front of her
Her mother beamed. “Thank you, Halle.” But then she fretted her hands, suddenly remembering, “I forgot about the cream and sugar. We don’t have any because Utibe’s lactose intolerant and I used the last of the sugar in the waffles, but I can go to the store if you’d like. Just let me order a car…”
“No, this is fine,” Halle assured her, going straight for the coffee.
But then she winced at the strong taste. It tasted like someone had dumped a whole bag of grinds into a pot that was only supposed to take a cup.
“Oh, I knew I was doing it wrong,” her mother said, frowning. “That machine is so confusing! I swear I had to go through the instructions five times just to turn it on.”
“It’s okay. Seriously, it doesn’t matter. I slept for hours and hours anyway. I don’t even need coffee. It’s just a habit. All I care about is breakfast. See...”
Halle rushed to take a bite of waffle, prepared to pretend the food meant more than it did. But then she didn’t have to pretend when the bomb of perfectly proportioned sugar, butter, and homemade mix popped off inside her mouth. “Oh wow, I forgot what a good cook you are. These waffles are the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
And just like that, her mother was beaming again. Strange what all you forgot only to recall it clear as day. Memories of her mother’s frets being stopped cold with the right compliment came back to Halle. And she remembered thinking rather unkindly in the ugly aftermath of Keri’s departure that her mother had been nothing more than a pretty flower that withered without the sun of compliments.
Her mother carefully perched in the chair her husband had just abandoned. She seemed to want to say more or maybe ask questions, but in the end settled for a silence filled with only the sounds of Halle’s fork clanking against the beautiful china until she was all done.
NAGO, His Mississippi Queen: 50 Loving States, Mississippi (The Brothers Nightwolf Trilogy, Book 1) Page 12