Chapter 12 #2
Nico nodded, but he didn't get up. The rest of the morning went on like that, and they barely exchanged two words.
If anything was telling her the kiss was a mistake, it was that.
She didn't like this awkward Nico, this careful Nico. She wanted to clamp her hands on his face and tell him to chill out, that she had been the one to kiss him, and that she wasn't about to go and cry to someone about it. They were adults. It happened.
But she didn't say anything. Later in the morning, Javi came in, and Nico took off with a terse goodbye after Javi told him there was something he needed to deal with. Way to be vague.
A human really would be questioning the whole situation here, and Elise figured maybe she should start saying something because a lack of curiosity might give her away just as much as too much curiosity.
Rather than sit by Cole's side, Javi slunk down in the loveseat opposite the bed and played a game on his phone for a while. He kept a close eye on her but didn't mention anything about the drama from the day before.
Meanwhile, Elise tried to ease some of the broth that Nico had summoned, and she ended up spilling more down the side of Cole's cheek than in his mouth.
"I know there's such thing as a messy eater, but I didn't know that you could be a messy feeder," Javi said with a grin.
Elise rolled her eyes. "Do you want to try this?" she asked.
He hopped up from the loveseat. "Put me in, coach. I'm ready to play."
That made her smile. Elise showed Javi just how she had been trying to gently get fluid into Cole.
"Okay, maybe this is harder than it looks," Javi admitted after several minutes.
Elise laughed. In another life, she might have liked this guy. He was serious but knew how to laugh. And though the situation was dire, he wasn't letting himself sink into despair or beating himself up about her so-called escape attempt.
A person needed humor at times like this.
They gave up on feeding Cole after they had got about half a cup of soup into him. Javi took his seat on the loveseat again, while Elise slouched in the chair next to Cole's bed.
"Is it cool working at the zoo?" Javi asked. "Do you get to play with the penguins?"
"I work for the wildlife rescue," Elise said and was thankful that wasn't a lie. "We just have our center attached to the zoo."
"Wildlife rescue." He sounded intrigued. "So, what? You heal Bambi or something?"
"Sometimes," she replied, though the center hadn't worked on many does while she was there.
"Do you have a favorite animal?" he asked. "I like otters," he offered.
Elise remembered the brave little fox who she hoped was thriving now. What was the zoo even thinking about the break-in? They had to have reported it. Was she wanted by the police for that? After all, drugs had gone missing and so had she.
"Foxes," she finally said, "and bears. But we've never had a bear in the rescue. We get foxes pretty often. They're—"
Javi interrupted. "What about wolves?"
"Our rescue doesn't handle wolves," she said. And the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, sensing a threat. Was he testing her? Was this a trick?
"Yeah, but do you like them?" he pressed.
She almost snapped something like, "I like them more when they don't kidnap me and hold me hostage," but she wasn't supposed to know that Javi and his pack were werewolves, so she had to bite back that response.
"Eh, wolves are okay," she said, deciding he was just making conversation. "But sometimes I think they're a bit overrated."
Javi made an affronted sound and clutched a hand to his chest like she had just stabbed him.
Yeah, she definitely could have liked this guy in another life.
She almost regretted that they would never be friends.
A little later, Reece opened the door. His broad frame filled the doorway, and he looked at her with an expression fierce enough to pick her to pieces. Elise refused to flinch back or apologize for stepping out onto the balcony.
He jerked a thumb out towards the hallway, and Javi gave him a lazy little salute.
"Duty calls," he told her and took off, which left her with Reece.
The air was about twelve degrees cooler with him leaning against the wall, arms crossed, glaring at her. He stood by the balcony doors as if he thought she'd try to make another run for it.
She really didn't like this guy.
Reece didn't say a word or offer to bring her lunch even though it was already mid-afternoon. He just stared at her like she was going to start stabbing Cole at any second. She was tempted to bare her teeth at him, but that would probably only make things worse.
And then Cole had to go and screw everything up.
One minute he seemed fine, and then a terrible gurgling sound started in the back of his throat. Then came the vomit.
Elise sprang into motion, rolling him to his side to make sure he didn't choke. She grabbed a small bowl from the bedside to catch as much of the barf as she could and barked at Reece to get her some towels.
Reece slowly reached for the pile on the table on the other side of the bed and tossed them at her hard enough that they bounced off her shoulder and onto the floor beside her. She was too busy to do anything except glare.
Elise would have snapped at him, but her priority was Cole.
Her latent magic ability could sense that there was still something wrong within him.
She wished she could send the tiniest spark of magic into him to check, but out of all of the wolves she had met so far, there was no way she was going to risk even the littlest peek with Reece in the room.
After a few minutes, Cole settled down.
"Prop that pillow up behind him," she commanded, keeping her hand on Cole's shoulder. "If this starts again, we don't want him lying on his back."
Reece did it, but he glared daggers at her the whole time, as if she'd done something to Cole. Elise wiped off Cole's mouth and sopped up as much from the bed as she could, and then she sat back in her chair.
"Is he going to be okay?" Reece demanded.
She made a gesture with her hands and shrugged. "He seems okay now."
"But is he dying?" Reece pressed.
Something inside her snapped. "I don't fucking know. Do you see any sort of equipment in here?" she gestured around wildly, almost hitting Cole. "I'm trying my best with nothing."
Reece marched around the bed and yanked her arm, tugging her out of the room. He pushed her up against the wall in the hallway, and she flashed back to yesterday and the way he'd caged her then. Her throat burned, and she waited for the feel of his fingers digging into her flesh.
This anger was nothing like Nico's the night before. He had been mad, yes, but she hadn't been scared. But with Reece, yeah, she was freaking terrified. He looked like he wanted to kill her.
He jammed a finger against her chest hard enough to hurt. "If Cole dies, I'm going to fucking tear you to pieces," he growled.
His eyes had gone glowy and yellow. She was pretty sure he wasn't trying to suppress his inner wolf at all. He wanted her scared. He wanted her terrified of the otherworldly thing he was.
And yep, it was working.
Just because she knew werewolves existed didn't mean she wasn't quaking when one had her cornered and looked ready to rip her throat out. Again.
Was he going to do it now?
She had to fight back. It was one thing to decide not to try and escape because she was pretty sure someone was coming to rescue her. It was another thing to wait meekly for a werewolf to do his worst.
Her magic was right there, and while she didn't have much offensive skill, she was ready to give it her best shot. But before she could reach for her power, Reece was torn away from her, and suddenly Nico was between them with Reece slammed against the opposite wall of the hallway.
"This is your last warning. You don't touch her," he growled. "You don't lay a hand on her."
Elise couldn't see the expression on Nico's face, but she could see how Reece was looking at him.
Oh, this was bad. This was really, really bad.
"You're not going to be able to protect her forever," Reece said. "She's hurting Cole. We can't trust her."
An inhuman sound escaped Nico's throat, and he slammed Reece against the wall even harder, maybe even hard enough to crack the drywall. "Get the hell out of my sight."
Elise was surprised when Reece dropped his gaze. And even more surprised when he slunk away.
Nico outranked Reece. Good to know.
Nico turned to her, and the glow from his eyes slowly faded. He placed a hand on her shoulder and carefully traced it down her arm.
She was shaking, adrenaline riding high. But Reece was gone. And that was all that mattered. "I'm okay," she said.
Nico stared at her so intently that she was almost sure he was going to kiss her. But then he lifted his hand from her arm and took a step back.
"I think you've done enough healing for today."