Chapter Two #2
The first step would be to get him out of this room.
Where would Nic go once he did, though? Would he decide to stay with the clan?
Would he be allowed to? What would people think of him?
It wouldn’t be easy, at least initially.
Tamsin was pretty sure that the only people who wanted Nic to stick around was him and Devon, and maybe Ryan, but that would be only for Devon.
Nic wouldn’t have an easy life here if he decided to stay, but Tamsin hoped that he would anyway.
He didn’t want to have to leave, not when he’d spent so much time searching for a new home.
He finally had it. Was it too much to ask to have both the clan and his mate?
“You don’t have to do that,” Nic said, staying in bed. “I’ll clean everything up. You should go.”
Tamsin sighed. “What if I don’t want to go?”
“You still should. I don’t think you want people to know you’ve been spending too much time in here.”
“They’ll understand why soon as they find out we’re mates, anyway.”
“They shouldn’t find out. People are going to treat you badly when they realize you have that kind of bond to me. I don’t want you to lose this place or your friends.”
It broke Tamsin’s heart, even though he knew that Nic was right.
He might lose some people once they found out who his mate was.
It wasn’t a hard decision to make, though.
If people truly cared about him, they’d stand with him, no matter who he was with.
They’d understand that he didn’t have a choice, that Fate had decided who he was supposed to be with.
Sure, he could walk away from Nic, but why should he?
There was a reason Fate had decided they should be together.
He didn’t know what that reason was, but he knew he’d find out once they started spending time together.
He’d fall in love with Nic, and he’d know.
Tamsin got to his feet and looked down at Nic.
He was still pale and clearly shaky, and Tamsin’s heart ached for him.
He barely knew anything about this man, but he could tell he’d been in pain for a long time.
Tamsin understood that. He’d lost his people.
It had been decades, but some days the loss was still fresh, and he woke up with their names on his lips.
He didn’t know if that was what had happened to Nic today, and he wouldn’t push for answers, but he wanted Nic to know that he was there for him. He always would be.
“Go shower,” he repeated. “I’ll clean up. I won’t take no for an answer, and I know you don’t know me, but I can be stubborn when I want to.”
Nic watched him for a moment longer. Tamsin expected him to push him away again, so he was surprised when instead, Nic nodded and started to get out of bed.
Nic didn’t say anything. He walked past Tamsin, closing the bathroom door behind him. Tamsin held his breath for a moment, listening until he heard the sound of the shower coming on.
He exhaled and relaxed his shoulders. It would take a lot of work for him and Nic to find common ground.
He was willing to do that work, but he couldn’t do it on his own.
He hoped that Nic was opposed to them being mates because he thought their situation was hopeless and not because he didn’t want Tamsin.
Tamsin was sure they’d find a way out of this, but that wouldn’t happen if Nic didn’t want him.
He told himself not to catastrophize and got to work.
He opened the window wide, shivering a little at the coolness of the air, and took off the sheets from the bed.
He dumped them in the hallway before grabbing fresh ones and putting them down.
He fluffed the pillows, moved a few things around on the tray, and was out of things to do by the time Nic left the bathroom.
Wearing only a towel.
Tamsin squeaked and looked away. He hadn’t expected it, and he didn’t want to make Nic uncomfortable. They weren’t at that stage of their relationship just yet.
“Sorry,” Nic mumbled. “I forgot to grab clothes.”
“It’s fine. Everything’s fine.”
Nic snorted softly. “It sure doesn’t sound like everything’s fine.”
Tamsin heard him open the drawers of the dresser and riffle through them. He didn’t turn to look, not until he felt a light tap on his shoulder. When he glanced at Nic, Nic gave him a sheepish smile and shrugged.
“You know you’re my mate, right? You can look if you want.”
“I’d never want to make you uncomfortable.”
“I’m not.”
“And you might not want me to look.”
Nic stared at Tamsin for a moment. The corners of his lips curled into a small smile, and Tamsin forgot how to breathe.
“You can look,” Nic said. “I have no idea what we’re doing, but it doesn’t change the bond that’s between us, unfortunately.”
He moved away to grab the tray, and Tamsin watched him move. They needed to talk about a lot of things, including their bond, but it would be easier if they had something to offer to Rowan and Clay. “I haven’t told anyone you’re my mate yet because I have a few questions for you first,” he said.
“I’ll answer any question you have as best as I can.”
“I’d like to talk about Parrish.”
The little smile that had been playing on Nic’s lips vanished. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything you can tell me. We need to find a way to defeat him. Him and his Kudlaks have been poking at the shields around the village, trying to find a weak spot so they can come in.”
“He’ll find one eventually.”
“That’s what we’re hoping to avoid.”
“You can’t avoid Parrish. When he wants something, he gets it, and he’s wanted to kill Rowan since he found out he was alive.”
“Things are different now. I know that he killed entire clans, but none of us wants that to happen again. We just need a little help to defeat him.”
Nic looked down at his food. “I promise I’d tell you if I knew.
I already told Devon everything, though.
Parrish is a monster, even to people who support him.
He won’t hesitate to kill anyone standing in his way.
Unfortunately for you, right now, that’s the village and the clan.
They matter to Rowan, which means that Parrish is going to take them away from him. ”
Tamsin had known that, but hearing it from someone who knew Parrish better than he did made everything worse. That didn’t mean he was giving up, though.
No one was.
* * * *
NIC WASN’T SURPRISED that Tamsin was asking about Parrish.
It made sense for the clan leaders to want to know what Parrish was up to.
Nic desperately wished he had more to say, but he knew as much about Parrish as anyone else did.
The man didn’t trust anyone, not even the people he worked with.
Besides, it wasn’t like Nic had actually worked with him.
He’d worked for him, and he’d done so because he’d been terrified of what Parrish would do if he didn’t.
The two of them hadn’t planned what had happened with Devon.
Parrish had called Nic, had given him an order, and had expected him to obey.
Nic hadn’t had a choice. He hadn’t had the opportunity to ask questions, and even if he had, he doubted he’d have asked them. Parrish wouldn’t have taken that well, and everyone wanted to keep on Parrish’s good side, including Nic. Bad things happened when Parrish was angry with you.
He was probably furious with Nic right now.
Nic wished he could redeem himself and somehow help, but there was nothing he could think of that the Krsniks didn’t already know.
Hell, they probably knew more about Parrish than he did.
He’d grown up with Parrish, but it hadn’t been a normal childhood.
It wasn’t like Parrish was a loving parent or anything like that.
Nic wanted to deserve to be with Tamsin. He wanted to help and make it so that they could be together, but he didn’t see a way to do that. He didn’t deserve any of this. That much, he was sure of.
Tamsin should stay as far away from him as possible, but for some reason, he seemed to have decided he wouldn’t do that.
Nic knew it was partially because of the bond, but he wondered if there was more to it.
Surely the bond wasn’t strong enough to get Tamsin to spend time with someone he was supposed to hate?
“Well, we know that Parrish is a monster,” Tamsin said. “I suppose we don’t need confirmation of that from you.”
“No, but you need something from me. Why would you be keeping me here otherwise?”
Tamsin frowned. “You really think that Rowan and Clay will kill you, don’t you?”
Nic had heard those two names more times than he could count.
After Parrish had found out that Rowan was alive, he’d been surprisingly happy.
He’d told Nic it would give him a second chance to exterminate the Harper clan.
Nic had been queasy, listening to him, but he hadn’t been surprised.
Parrish had shown him who he was many times over the years. Why would this be any different?
Parrish was cruel. He enjoyed hurting people, and he did so as often as he could, in as many ways as he could come up with.
He was very creative, but he was also obsessive.
Right now, his attention was all on Rowan and his new clan, which was unfortunate for them.
Parrish didn’t stop until he got what he wanted.
That meant that until the clan was destroyed, he’d continue attacking them.
He wouldn’t stop until the only thing left of the village was smoking ruins and dead bodies.
Nic wished the clan was strong enough to stand up to Parrish, maybe even to kill him, but Parrish was too evil to die. He was like a cockroach. No matter what was thrown at him, he withstood it and came out of the fight stronger. Nic had seen it happen countless times over the years.
“Nic?” Tamsin’s voice was soft, almost as if he was afraid to startle Nic.