Chapter 19 #2
Knowing that Reece, Javi, and Hugh were all in the house made his heart almost beat out of his chest while he snuck her down the back stairs and into the garage.
If one of them caught her scent, this was over, but fate seemed to be smiling down on him today. He managed to get her into his truck without one of the others sensing them.
There would be questions for him after this, maybe punishment. Nico did not give a fuck.
"Keep your head down," he told her, and she crouched in the footwell of the passenger seat while he drove down the driveway and out onto the road.
Once they were a few miles away and probably safe, he tapped on her shoulder, and she sat up and belted her seat belt.
"You're really letting me go," Elise said, and he heard the disbelief. "I was kind of afraid you were going to kill me," she laughed nervously.
"I could never hurt you." It sounded like a vow.
He could feel her gaze on his and risked a look at her.
There was heat in her eyes and the promise of what could never be.
If he wasn't driving and if this wasn't goodbye, he would have reached over and kissed her.
Instead, he reached out and grabbed her hand, lacing their fingers together.
He focused on the heat of her palm, the way their fingers fit together perfectly.
And he tried not to count down the seconds until she walked away forever.
His inner wolf was howling as his heart broke with every mile that he drove farther from the pack house.
This was wrong.
He couldn't be separated from her.
She would be in danger.
He needed to protect her.
She was his mate.
Nico jolted in his seat, and Elise gave him a questioning look but didn't say anything.
His mate.
It was the word that had been nagging at the edge of his conscience for days now. His wolf had recognized her the moment he saw her in the zoo. It was why he couldn't resist taking her even though it was the stupidest thing he had ever done in his entire life.
It was why he had been hopeless to resist kissing her. Why they'd had last night, even when it was the worst idea ever.
It was wrong, but it felt so right, so true.
And he still had to let her go.
She was a witch.
His pack would hate her if they ever found out.
They already didn't like that she'd been in the inner sanctum.
And if they found out the truth, they would kill her. Reece would revel in it. They would hunt her down just to keep her from sharing any information that she might have figured out.
Nico wanted to throw it all away in that moment, to keep driving forever until they could find a place that was safe for the both of them.
But he knew he had to let her go. His heart was worth nothing if she ended up dead.
"Should I take you back to the zoo?" he asked, and his words came out a little too gruff.
"That's probably a terrible idea," she said.
"I might get arrested if I try to walk on the property.
Thanks for that, by the way." She was aiming for humor, he could tell, but it fell flat.
He didn't know if witches could understand the mate-bond, but he had to believe she was feeling something, too, that this was killing her just a little bit.
"I am sorry," he said, and nothing had ever sounded more sincere coming from him.
She squeezed his hand and then raised it up to give it a gentle kiss. Inside of him, his wolf howled.
"The university will probably be safe," she said sadly. "It's neutral territory."
That was true. Universities were run by humans, and by mutual agreement, supernatural creatures didn't claim them as turf, except in very rare situations.
They were spaces where plenty of witches and weres and even the occasional vampire would attend classes, so even if they were spotted together, it wouldn't be that strange.
No, it would be incredibly strange to see a werewolf dropping a witch off on campus.
But no one would challenge them over it.
Destination finally in mind, he took the correct exit on the highway and drove to the central quad of the university campus.
He parked the truck in a visitor parking spot. They both sat in their seats, still holding hands, staring out at the green space in front of them, and not letting go. Students crossed across the quad. An errant frisbee nearly hit a young woman in the head. And no one glanced their way.
"Thank you for healing Cole," he said.
"For what it's worth, I really do hope everything turns out okay with him. I did my best to help." She paused and then spared him a glance. "Why doesn't your pack have a healer? Why did you need me?"
He owed her so much. The answer to this question was the least he could give her.
"Our healer's coming back today. He was on some sort of meditation retreat with a healer from an allied pack. We've been trying to track him down for days." Nico smiled wryly. "Cole's going to wake up, and Mark's going to take credit for all of your work."
She made an affronted noise. "That's just like a shifter to take credit for a witch's hard work."
They both laughed a little too hard.
Elise needed to get out of the car and go home. Nico didn't ask if she had friends in the area or some way to contact her coven. She'd suggested the university, so she probably had an idea of where she was going after this. He couldn't let himself know more.
If he knew where she lived, he didn't think he'd be able to stay away. And if the pack ever figured it out … no. He couldn't risk leading them to her.
Just because they were on neutral territory didn't mean it was safe. If somebody spotted them together, if someone recognized he was a werewolf and she was a witch, they might start asking questions. Questions neither Nico nor Elise were prepared to answer.
This was goodbye, but he couldn't force himself to tell her to get out of the car.
Elise put her hand on the door latch.
Nico was still holding her hand, and he pulled her toward him. He ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her close, kissing her to the depths of her soul, trying to memorize the taste he knew he would never get out of his heart.
He clung to her, and she was holding him right back. The kiss should have felt like the beginning of something, the promise of everything they could want and everything they could be.
Instead, it was goodbye.
Elise pulled back and rested her forehead against his.
"It's too bad we can never see each other again," Elise said. She leaned forward and kissed his nose before pulling away and pulling her hand out of his grasp. "Goodbye, Nico."
She got out of the car and walked away.
And Nico felt like something vital had been ripped out of his chest.