Chapter 30 Nico
NICO
My phone was ringing again. Maddy didn’t want to talk to her parents.
Even bringing it up would set her off. After the fifth or sixth call, I finally gave her mother my personal cell number.
I felt terrible, but I couldn’t fully cut off contact.
Maddy was angry, but they were still her parents.
I was the go-between for them. Still, three or four calls a day was starting to wear on me.
I answered the phone. “Hello again, Mrs. Sutton.”
“Oh, hello, Nico. How are you?”
I chuckled. “The same as I was three hours ago the last time you called.”
She sighed and laughed. “I’m being a pain, I know.”
“No, it’s fine. I get it. I spoke with your husband about an hour ago.”
“Oh lord. I didn’t know he’d called.”
“What can I do for you?’ I wanted to get this over with. There wasn’t anything I could pass along that I hadn’t already.
“I just…I was thinking and…I don’t want her to think I’m ashamed of her. Of what she is. We’ve always loved her. We’re so, so guilty about all this. We miss our girl. We want her to know that. And we’re happy that she’s with such a nice young man as yourself.”
Maddy hadn’t told her parents about us. That fact didn’t make me mad.
She’d had a ton of things going on. When I mentioned our relationship in one of our first phone calls, her mother had been surprised.
Over the course of the last few days, we’d kind of gotten to know each other a bit.
She was a nice woman. Her father was pretty cool, too.
Both of them had made some pretty shitty decisions when it came to lying to her, but I could tell they did love her.
“Well, Mrs. Sutton, I appreciate that.”
“Nico, all we want is to fix things with Maddy. It’s all either of us can think about.”
“I know. Just give her time. She’s angry. Not only that, but she’s also dealing with her wolf trying to emerge. It’s a lot. I know you don’t understand that part of it, but all I can say is that it’s not a great time.”
“Can you let her know that her father and I love her?”
I sighed. This was depressing. “I can tell her. Don’t worry. A few more days, and she’ll calm down. Then you can tell her that yourself.”
“Thank you, Nico. I’ll try not to bother you too much.”
“Totally fine, Mrs. Sutton. Have a great day.”
The one good thing was that it seemed like Maddy was getting control of herself and her wolf.
Ever since she’d found out about the fake medicine, she’d been in a much better mood.
No more snapping at people or losing her cool.
I hadn’t seen her so calm and at ease in weeks.
When I came home that afternoon for lunch, I found her reading a book.
Over the last little while, it had been all she could do to sit still for five minutes, much less sit and read for an extended period.
“Okay, what’s going on?” I asked as I sat beside her.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re totally chill. Have you made peace with your wolf? I’m not complaining,” I added quickly. “But it seems crazy how fast things changed.”
Maddy marked her page and sat the book aside. “I’ll be honest, it was what happened at the clinic.”
Over the last few days, I’d refrained from talking about her hands turning into claws.
It happened sometimes when shifters went through puberty.
It was very rare, but I’d heard of it before.
It was almost like the way the werewolves of legend could change certain parts of their bodies.
I doubted that was what she meant when she was talking about what had happened at the clinic.
I sat silently and waited for her to go on.
“I’m angry, and frustrated, but I feel like I’m finally making contact with what’s inside me.
It’s sort of like meeting up with a long-lost relative.
Plus, my wolf understands that I didn’t knowingly take the pills.
I think that was the main issue. Our connection was so slight and distant that she couldn’t understand what I was doing or why.
I think the wolf knew I was taking something that was holding her back, but the rest was sort of a blur.
The anger was mostly because she thought I was doing it on purpose.
As soon as she knew what was happening?” Maddy shook her head in wonder.
“It was like a light switching on. Everything became a little less intense, a little more cohesive, I guess. That’s the only way I can explain it.
It’s been nice not to have some kind of war going on inside my head. ”
“I’ll bet. I’m happy that things are going better. Um…your parents said to tell you they love you.”
Maddy let out the most dramatic sigh I’d ever heard. “I guess I need to talk to them at some point.”
I shrugged. “That, or you’re gonna have to buy me a new phone, because they’ll wear mine out if it keeps going on like this.”
“Okay, fine. I’ll do that once all this is figured out. Speaking of, have you heard when we’re meeting Kenneth?”
“I’d wanted to wait until I was sure you had everything under control.
Having a wolf in puberty on an airplane is not a good idea, trust me on that.
I called him this morning. He says he’s positive the royals are going to up the pressure.
The fact that their assassin was ineffective has probably pissed them off.
Luis actually dug into the guy and found out he was in a shifter division of the Polish Special Troops Command.
It’s basically Poland’s version of the special forces.
He was a big piece to play, and we blocked it.
They have to be pissed and nervous. That’s a dangerous combination. ”
Maddy nodded. “Well, no worries about the plane. The wolf and I have an understanding. We can go whenever. The longer this stretches out, the worse it is.”
“Right. I’ll start making plans. I need to tell my folks. I guess there’s no time like the present. I’ll walk down the street now, if you’re cool with that.”
Maddy nodded. “Sure. Is it okay if I don’t tag along?”
Maddy still had a weird relationship with my mother after the whole blow-up they’d had. Mom had apologized. She’d actually been about a half-step from groveling at one point. Maddy said she forgave her, but it didn’t seem like she was completely ready to be buddy-buddy with Mom yet.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I said. “Keep reading your book.” I headed out the door to my parents’ house.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Mom shouted.
I rolled my eyes. “I said Maddy and I are going to Europe. Kenneth and Luis think they have some leads on how to end all this.” The conversation wasn’t going how I’d planned.
Mom ran her hands through her hair. “Carlos, what do you think of this?”
Dad had his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at me from across the room. “Well, Julia, can you think of a better way to keep Maddy safe? The royals think she’s here in Florida. The best way to hide might be to get out of the country.”
Mom groaned. “You’re probably right. I just hate the idea of Nico going toward the royals. They live in Europe. It’s where their seat of power is.”
“True,” I said. “But like Dad said, they won’t be expecting it. It may give us the breathing room to find this vault before they figure out what we’ve done.”
Mom glared at me, but then her face relaxed. “Fine. You’re probably right. It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Dad stood and walked over to us. “I’ll watch over the pack while you’re gone. We’ll get things buttoned-down just in case they decide to turn the volume up and bring the fight to us.”
It was one of my biggest fears. I had a duty to the pack, and I worried about what might happen if I wasn’t here. Knowing Dad was good to step up and take over while I was gone was a huge load off my shoulders. I could go on this quest with Maddy and have one less thing to worry about.
“Also, Dad, do you know anyone with a private jet?” I asked.
“Seriously?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Safer than flying commercial, right?”
“Good lord. Let me make some calls. I think I actually do have a contact.”
Dad made good on his promise. Within six hours, he put me in touch with a guy who had a Learjet available for charter. After we had that, it was a waiting game.
We waited four days until Kenneth made contact with us. He called on Monday morning. Thankfully, I was home and able to take the call with Maddy.
“Are you guys ready?” Kenneth asked.
“Ready as we’re gonna be. Where are we meeting you?” I asked. I had the phone on speaker on the kitchen island.
“Sweden.”
Maddy and I exchanged a look before I spoke again. “Why Sweden?”
“I’ve got a safe house there. It’s where I’ve spent most of the last twenty-five years. The royals have never found me. It’ll be a safe spot to make our home base. It’s as safe as we can get. We can plan our next moves there.”
I took a breath, the reality of what we were about to do finally setting in. “Okay, Kenneth. I’d like to do this as soon as possible.”
“Hell. Can you all fly out tomorrow?”
Maddy was chewing nervously at her nails when I glanced up at her. She caught my eye and shrugged. “Why not?”
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll make the preparations.”
That night was one of the most stressful of my life.
Things felt like they were coming to a head.
The atmosphere was tense and nerve-wracking as Maddy and I packed.
Even though we were going on a private jet, we decided to just do one carry-on bag each and a couple of backpacks.
The last thing I wanted was to be lugging around a ton of luggage on what was supposed to be a secret recon trip.
That night, neither of us slept for shit, and the next day seemed to crawl by. We’d decided to fly out at night, hoping anyone watching might lose us in the darkness. I had a feeling that there were still eyes on us, and I had no plan to reveal our plans in the light of day.