Chapter 1 #2
It was fairly standard practice that if werewolves or witches needed the expertise that could only come from the other kind, they hired out. It didn’t work when they were at war, obviously, but money could overcome a lot of societal issues.
Maybe she could say that Nico was her bodyguard? It was better than saying Nico was her boyfriend, because she would not fall on the sword that hard.
She had to find Elise and Nico, separate them, make sure they didn’t make heart eyes at each other, and then explain it all to Brenda and Tim. Like this was something normal, and they had nothing to worry about. Then they could send the parents on their way, and that would be that.
Easy enough, she could do this.
Then she heard steps coming down the stairs.
Delainey rushed toward the back staircase, but Elise and Nico were already at the bottom. At the front of the house, she could hear Aya trying to stop the Nevins from getting inside and clearly failing.
Elise looked happy, smiling up at Nico with stars in her eyes. Her blonde hair was held back, but a few artful strands were falling around her face. She was twenty-four and in love, and it was disgusting.
And Nico was right behind her and looked just as besotted, which was almost disturbing on a werewolf beta.
He was the second in command of the Southern Basin Pack, had to be around thirty, and looked like he had spent at least some of his twenties busting heads.
His dark hair hung down past his ears, and he was wearing a leather jacket.
Good! A jacket meant he was leaving.
If Delainey could shepherd him out the back door, maybe they could avert a crisis.
“We will wait for our daughter,” Tim Nevin said. He didn’t exactly sound like an asshole, but he sounded like someone who was used to being listened to. “If she doesn’t want us here, she can send us away.”
Delainey scowled; that was an asshole thing to say.
Elise and Nico made it to the bottom of the back stairs as footsteps tromped down the hall. Brenda and Tim burst into the kitchen. Delainey watched the disaster happen in slow motion as first Brenda, and then Tim, saw Elise, and then Nico, and then saw Elise and Nico’s hands entwined.
Please don’t let them realize he’s a werewolf, Delainey begged the universe.
But she was certain the Wallace Grove Coven had extensive background information on every significant werewolf in the tri-state area, and Nico was certainly significant.
What might have been a pleasant mask dropped from Brenda’s face as her already pale skin went even whiter. Tim scowled and showed enough teeth that he might have been a vampire in another life.
Delainey was thankful that the rules of witch hospitality made summoning magic in another’s home the kind of faux pas that the Nevins would never commit. Not to mention they were healers. Like Elise, their magic wasn’t aggressive.
“What’s going on?” Brenda demanded.
Elise looked up, eyes wide, but she didn’t drop Nico’s hand. Delainey almost respected that.
Of course she could have fixed this whole situation if she told everybody the thing about the bodyguard, but Elise didn’t like it when other people fought her battles.
“Hi, Mom,” said Elise. Her blue eyes were wide enough to take up half her face. “Hi, Dad. I didn’t expect you guys to come here.”
Delainey saw the way Elise’s fingers tightened on Nico’s hand. He was half a step behind her, and she could see what it was costing him to stay there. Clearly, he wanted to barrel ahead and defend her from the threat that her parents posed.
Whether that was his wolfy senses thinking there was a threat or Elise had opened up to him about her past, Delainey didn’t know.
“This is Nico,” Elise said. She pulled her shoulders back and held her chin high. She stared at both of her parents as if daring them to say something mean about him.
“You haven’t called us in months,” her father said, keeping his voice concerned rather than accusatory. “We wanted to check on you.”
Elise wasn’t buying it. “I’m a grown woman,” she said. “And the phone works both ways. You could have called me.”
Brenda sniffed imperiously.
Yeah, Delainey was getting the exact idea of why Elise had fled for Hobson instead of staying within the cloistered walls of the Wallace Grove Coven.
Tim held up his finger and flicked it towards Nico. It took Delainey a second to realize that he had sent out a spark of diagnostic magic toward the man.
Nico snarled.
His eyes glowed yellow for a moment, and he stepped in front of Elise, pushing her behind him.
They were ten seconds from a fight.
Crap! What the hell were the Nevins thinking? That was beyond rude.
It also proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Nico was a werewolf.
“We had heard rumors,” Brenda said, ignoring Nico’s aggression. By now Briana had come to join them, along with Aya. Serena was going to be so pissed she had missed this kerfuffle.
Delainey would have to recount it in excruciating detail once she got back from school.
Briana reminded Delainey a little of a guidance counselor with her calm demeanor and her ease at keeping a cool head, as long as there wasn’t any bloodshed.
Her long, strawberry-blonde hair was hanging over her shoulders in two braids, and she was pale enough that Delainey wasn’t sure she’d seen the sunlight in the last week.
“I had hoped the rumors weren’t true,” said Brenda, keeping her gaze steady on her daughter. “You’re a smart girl, Elise, and this is utter foolishness.”
Elise tugged on Nico’s arm until he was standing behind her. “They’re my parents,” she said. “They’re not going to hurt me.” She turned back to her mother. “Why don’t we go into the living room and talk?”
Neither Brenda nor Tim seemed very enthused by that, but they let Briana and Elise usher them back down the hall to the living room.
Everyone filed out except for Delainey.
Screw it.
She reached up onto the third shelf of the cabinet next to the fridge and grabbed the bottle of bourbon.
Who gave a shit that it was three p.m.? When this was done, they were all going to need a drink.