Chapter 38
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
Javi pulled Cole's truck into the parking lot of a small park on the edge of the Hobson University campus.
Neutral territory.
And close to home, which was probably the true reason that Briana had chosen it, since her car had led them there.
Delainey jumped out of the back of the truck. Reece followed after her, still in his wolfie form, and Elise realized he probably needed clothes to change into.
Cole, Nico, Javi, and Aya got out of the car and joined the others who were waiting by two park benches.
Hugh and Reece were both in their wolf forms. While Javi and Cole looked human, the werewolves took one park bench with Reece and Hugh lying on the ground at their feet. The witches took the other.
Elise wasn't sure where she was supposed to go. She and Nico stood between the two park benches, and she didn't want to let go of his hand.
But Serena was in pretty bad shape. Elise rushed to her sister and started pumping healing magic right into her.
"What happened?" Elise asked.
Serena just groaned, in too much pain to talk.
"The damned witch threw herself in front of Hugh instead of letting him take a hit that would have been a minor scratch," Cole said.
Serena groaned again, and then she croaked out her retort. "You can't trust a werewolf not to die at the most inopportune moment."
A smile tugged at Elise’s lips. Her magic had found the worst of the damage to Serena, and it was painful but not complex. After a few minutes, her coven sister was sitting up straight and rolling her head from side to side as she shrugged off the worst of her injuries.
Elise checked on Briana, Aya, and Delainey. Other than a few scratches and a twisted ankle that Briana had been hiding, the witches were all good.
Elise looked over at the wolves. "Do any of you need me to—?" She made a gesture with her hand that she hoped communicated what she meant.
Reece bared his teeth, and Elise was thankful that he was in his wolf form and couldn't speak right now.
"We're good," Cole said.
Nico glared at him.
Cole cleared his throat. "Thank you for offering," he added.
"You're welcome," Elise said, and tried not to feel really awkward.
Cole took his seat with his werewolves, and Elise went right back to standing next to Nico.
Was this how it was going to be from now on, with them stuck in between two worlds, and metaphorically unsure of which lunch table they were supposed to sit at?
She hoped not, but what was she supposed to do?
"Dawson said this wasn't his op," Cole said. "He's usually a little more careful than this, so I'm inclined to believe him."
Nico moved from squeezing her hand to putting his arm around her shoulder. "That's basically what Austin said," he confirmed, and Elise nodded along with him. "This was his own personal crusade against relationships between werewolves and witches. He planned to execute us to send a message."
"That motherfucking asshole!" Delainey scowled. "Who the fuck does he think he is?"
Inappropriate laughter threatened to bubble up inside Elise. This was a serious moment. They had almost died. She and Nico had just been kidnapped and had to sit there contemplating what their last words would be. And here Delainey was, being a comedian.
"Wasn't that your opinion literally six hours ago?" she asked her coven sister.
Delainey shrugged and didn't look the least bit repentant.
"I can think it's kind of weird that you're bumping uglies, but I'm not going to kill you for it.
What the hell?" Delainey met her eyes. "As far as I'm concerned, you can come back home.
I don't care who you date. If you want him," she groaned, "so be it. "
Serena was nodding right next to her. "The stupid werewolves probably need to keep us close just to keep them alive."
Aya gave her a soft smile. "I never wanted you to leave in the first place."
And that left Briana, who was already nodding. "You will always have a home with me."
Heat bloomed in Elise’s chest, and a tear threatened to fall from her eye, which she really hoped she managed not to do because she wouldn't live that down. They weren't a coven known for their genuine displays of emotion among each other.
She leaned her head on Nico's shoulder and just nodded. Serena made a disgusted noise, but Elise wasn't going to back off. They could tease her all they wanted, but if they said they were going to accept the relationship, she was going to take them at their word.
It looked like they were settling this now, because Cole looked at Nico and said, "It's not my place to tell you who to love, and I'm not going to cling to some useless prejudice, especially when she's done nothing to earn our ire. Just don't try moving her into the pack house."
Elise rolled her eyes. "She has her own home," she said. "I think we'll be okay." And given the response she had received in the few days she had stayed with the pack, she didn't want to move in there anyway.
A new car pulled up to the parking lot, and everybody froze. Delainey summoned magic to her hand but kept it low, in case it was a human security guard, or some students out to hassle them.
But she had never seen a security guard wearing a suit as expensive as the one the man who got out of the car was wearing.
He approached them and appeared to be about as old as Cole, somewhere in his mid-thirties.
From the way the werewolves were growling at him, she was pretty sure this was a wolf, and not a friendly one.
"Dawson." Nico scowled.
Right. Dawson, the head of the Iron Runner pack. Wonderful.
Nico stepped in front of Elise, and Delainey surged to the front of the group with Reece joining the vanguard, ready to pounce on the rival alpha if things started to go down.
Dawson held his hands up. "I come in peace."
"I texted him and told him we would be here," Cole explained. "I figured it was best to get this all taken care of tonight."
So they really were taking care of everything. No more loose ends, no more secrets, no more war, Elise hoped.
"You all seem to be alive," Dawson said. "I had no idea what Austin was planning, and I would have never condoned it. I expect my wolves to follow the rules, but I understand the limits of my territory."
"Do you really?" Javi asked.
Dawson didn't so much as look at him.
"Your man abducted a coven-affiliated witch off of coven territory along with a wolf," Briana said, and now she sounded like a coven leader. "He abducted the daughter of the healer from the Wallace Grove coven. We could call them at any minute and let them know that happened."
Shock rippled through the wolves, and Elise wanted to groan. Did they really need to bring her parents into this?
"Wallace Grove?" Dawson asked, and some of the confidence had left his voice.
The Iron Runner pack were the main power in the city of Hobson, of course, but Wallace Grove was a coven that could rival them in size and ferocity.
The Southern Basin Pack wasn't much of a threat to the Iron Runner pack on an existential level—the Wallace Grove coven was.
"I only want peace," Dawson insisted. "Austin will be exiled from the pack if he survives his wounds, as will any other members of the pack who were expressly acting against my wishes. Does that settle things?"
"It does for me," Cole said.
Briana looked at Elise. "It's your call."
Elise glanced up at Nico and then at everyone who surrounded them. She held it for another beat because she knew exactly what she wanted, and that was to make Dawson sweat.
Werewolves always underestimated witches. They thought just because witches needed a little bit of time to prepare for battle that it made them weaker, lesser. Prey. So she was happy to milk this for an extra second or two.
Then she shook her head. "I don't want war. I don't want to have to call in my parents' coven. And I don't want to have to fight any pack to date my boyfriend, so if the Iron Runner pack stick to their territory, I'm more than happy to stick to my own."
Dawson nodded. "That's agreeable to me."
He left them alone, and the threat of any war was taken care of, for now.
Delainey whistled out a breath. "Let's get out of here," she said.
"Wait," said Nico.
Elise looked up at him, and she realized what he had to be talking about. They hadn't discussed this, but it was the logical conclusion after that discussion with Dawson. If they didn't want war with the Iron Runner pack, they certainly didn't want war among their own.
"I'm glad we're not about to start anything with this coven tonight and that we haven't found ourselves in a war," Nico said, "but I don't want my loyalties divided."
He didn't step away from Elise.
"Your loyalties don't have to be divided," Cole said. "You are one of my betas. You are loyal to me."
"And she's my mate," he said. "I'm also loyal to her. That doesn't have to be in conflict."
Elise looked to her sisters. "We've never had any beef with them before, one tiny kidnapping notwithstanding."
"It was two kidnappings," Nico added unhelpfully.
Elise had to correct herself. "Fine, we've never had any beef with them before the last month. So can we just call this extenuating circumstances? And can we have a truce between the pack and the coven?"
Briana crooked her fingers, and the witches, except for Elise, huddled up around the table. Meanwhile, the wolves just looked at Cole for his decision.
Elise regretted making Dawson wait that extra beat because every second that ticked by while she waited to see what the verdict would be was an eternity of torture. She heard muttering from her sisters but couldn't quite make out their words.
Finally, the witches sat back and looked towards the wolves.
"We can agree to that," Briana said. "A truce."
Cole nodded. "A truce, so long as these two are dating and your coven doesn't pull any shit."
"Your pack better not pull any shit either," Delainey shot right back.
Briana leveled a look at Cole. "That's agreeable."
"So let's call it a truce," said Cole. "And let's go home. It's late."
The wolves headed towards Cole's truck, and the witches headed for Briana's Jeep. Elise was torn between the two again.
Delainey gave her an expectant look and nodded towards the car. Briana gave her a thumbs up. But Elise didn't immediately move.
She looked up at Nico. "I think I have to go have a talk with them. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
Nico pulled her close and kissed her, and Elise wanted to sink into it forever and just stay right there with him until morning.
But she forced herself to pull back and then gave him one quick final kiss before turning around and getting into the Jeep and accepted the teasing that her sisters shot her way as they drove home.