Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
Nico was losing his mind. Elise had to be doing something to him. But he couldn't say what.
If she were a witch, he would think it was some kind of love spell or distraction potion or something to scramble his brain so that she was the first thing he thought about when he woke up and the last thing he thought about after he closed his eyes.
Of course, that probably had something to do with the fact that she was sleeping beside him. Every morning now he brought her coffee and breakfast, usually served in Cole's room, which he tried to convince himself was only logical.
She needed food. He was her host—if he was being kind about the role he played, or her captor if he wasn't. It was only natural to feed her, but that didn't explain why he put the flower next to her breakfast plate on day three.
He'd plucked it from the wildflowers that grew in the backyard and tried not to think too much about why.
Elise didn't comment on it, and he wasn't sure if he liked that or not.
And he was still making her wear his T-shirts.
Today, he'd given her one of his newer black shirts.
She hadn't said anything about it, but she had a habit of plucking at the fabric whenever it got in her way and giving him a pointed look, which, okay, at this point, maybe he should be hunting down something more appropriate, but he couldn't force himself to do it.
And then there was Reece. He was becoming a problem.
After that little performance in the hallway, Nico knew the beta could not be trusted alone around Elise. They were still looking for Mark, so it only made sense to send Reece off to go help drag their healer back. And that decision, at least, seemed to be a good one.
Last night, Reece had sent a message that they finally had tracked down Mark and his healer friend, but it would take another two days to get into contact. Nico could live with that, especially if it kept Reece away from Elise.
But tonight, his skin was too tight, and the moon was too full, and he couldn't take it anymore. He asked for Aubrey's assistance on guard duty one more time, and she gave him a questioning look, but agreed to wait in the hall outside his room without saying anything.
He wandered down to the woods, and once he was past the tree line, he stripped off his clothes to bathe himself in moonlight before he let the change overtake him and took off running. In this form, he was massive, with black fur mixed with gray. His paws dug into the dirt as he sprinted.
It wasn't long before he sensed the presence of two wolves following close behind. Hugh and Javi. Hugh was a dark wolf, almost black in the night, while Javi was gray all over with a shocking burst of reddish hair on the center of his chest.
Nico had thought he would be alone, but he could enjoy the company. Especially in this form where things were so much less complicated than they were in his human skin. He tilted his head back and howled, letting the joy of nature suffuse him.
Hugh and Javi chased him, but Nico was faster. They darted under fallen trees and over logs, and splashed in a particularly inviting puddle of mud, and sent a rabbit scampering off into the underbrush. On another night, Nico might have chased it, but he wasn't hungry.
He just needed to move.
They ended up at the pond in the middle of the woods, and Nico dived into the water in his fur, but he surfaced in his human skin, the shock of cold enough to make him gasp. Javi and Hugh did the same.
They were quiet for a while, swimming and splashing and trading the same barbs and insults they normally did. But eventually, the three of them ended up lounging near the rocks at one end of the water, and Hugh and Javi both gave him serious looks.
Yeah. He had been expecting this.
No doubt Reece had told them about the last blow up with Elise and had painted that situation in the worst light possible. The fact that these betas had waited an entire day to say anything told him they must have been concocting some sort of dialogue in their heads.
He wished they wouldn't. His wolf was still close to the surface, not quite satisfied with the run, and all he wanted to do was curl up next to Elise and sleep for a week, but that wasn't possible right now.
"What?" he finally asked, ripping the Band-Aid off. They could dance around it all night, or he could just deal with it now. It was no use letting the thing fester.
"I don't think that Cole's getting any better," said Hugh.
"The little healer's trying her best," Javi offered in something that sounded like defense.
But Nico couldn't stop the growl that came out of his throat. Little healer, he thought. She's my little healer. He didn't want Javi talking about her like that.
Javi glared at him.
Nico really needed to get his responses under control.
"What's going on between the two of you?" Javi asked. "And don't say nothing, because she is covered in your scent. She looks at you like you hung the moon, and you look at her like you want to eat her. We're not stupid."
Nico had to get this under control. "There's nothing going on between us," he replied. The kiss had been a mistake, and he wasn't about to tell them about it. "She is here to heal Cole. That's it. And it was maybe stupid of me to bring her in," he admitted.
But if he hadn't, she wouldn't be in his bed. He wouldn't know the taste of her. He wouldn't know her scent. Even if it was stupid, he couldn't regret it.
"She's human," Hugh reminded him. "She doesn't belong here."
"No shit," Nico snapped. "You've been dancing around this conversation for days. You think I don't know that?"
"But do you want to tell her?" Javi pressed. The asshole was persistent, Nico had to give him that. Javi's dark hair was even darker in the water, and he didn't seem at all bothered by the chill in the air.
Under his skin, Nico's wolf was prowling, barely leashed and ready to lash out. "I can't tell her. I know how this works."
"That's not what I asked," said Javi.
"It doesn't fucking matter!" Nico could feel his eyes flashing yellow as his wolf peeked out.
"I think the answer to the question does." That was from Hugh.
What did they want him to say? "It's simple. Cole gets better, we don't tell her we're werewolves, and she goes home none the wiser."
"Oh, you think it's going to work out that simply?" Hugh scoffed. "You don't think she's going to run to the cops and report the kidnapping? I don't know if you've read the newspaper lately, but the zoo did report the break-in, and they are investigating."
"Did it say anything about her?" Fuck. He hadn't considered it, but Elise could be a prime suspect, and he hated to ruin her life any more than he already had.
Hugh shook his head. "I didn't see a word about any missing women or suspects."
"We could try paying her off," said Javi. "Maybe a fat check will keep her quiet."
"Maybe," Nico agreed, but he didn't like the sound of that. He didn't like the sound of Elise going away at all.
"You ever think about turning her?" Hugh asked quietly, almost gently.
"No." It was an immediate denial.
Though Nico could see the appeal of running through the woods with Elise, of taking her as his mate, of making a life with her, he refused to put her at risk. Well, any more risk.
He was a born shapeshifter. As were Javi and Hugh. Reece had survived being bitten as a teenager. But not everybody did. And Elise was sweet. She was gentle.
He couldn't risk losing her like that.
"If there was no risk, would you do it?" Javi asked. He was treading water, waving his arms in big circles and sending gentle waves Nico's way.
"There is a risk, so it doesn't matter," Nico said. He felt too big for his skin right now, and he wanted this conversation over. He couldn't have Elise. Not as a human, not as a wolf, and even considering it would do nothing more than hurt.
"That's not what I asked," Javi pressed again. "Do you have feelings for her?"
Nico couldn't keep his voice calm anymore. "What am I, fucking sixteen? Are you asking me if I'm going to take her to prom? The situation is fucking complicated, Javi. But I know what I'm doing."
Javi let out a disbelieving sound, and the look on Hugh's face clearly agreed with Javi.
Nico splashed them with a giant wave of water and stalked out of the pond.
He shivered as the cool night air hit his naked skin.
With a thought, he summoned his other form and transformed into a wolf.
After a few agonizing and wonderful seconds, his bones and skin melded and changed until he was his furry self, standing on four feet and ready to run and hunt and howl.
The conversation was over, and he was done talking to the two meddling betas.
Twenty minutes later, he was back at the house, and he waved Aubrey off duty. He was back in his human skin once more, and he found Elise sleeping on her side of the bed with the growing pile of blankets and pillows that marked the line between them.
He wanted to tear that border down and crawl into bed next to her, to gather her into his arms. But he couldn't do that.
As heavy-handed as his betas had been, Hugh and Javi were right. This thing wasn't going to end well.
But he had to figure a way to make it end that didn't hurt Elise, because at this point, he was pretty sure he would tear down the world before he let that happen.