“Because of me!”
Pain lanced through Nick. “Because of my family,” she corrected quietly. “My sister’s here, and Alec is helping me hide her.”
Kat stiffened in her arms, but her voice stayed quiet. Tense. “You really believe this is happening because of you.”
“It’s the truth. Michelle wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t run away from it all. From New York and my family and—” And my responsibilities. She remembered the stricken, enraged look on Derek’s face when he’d seen his cousin covered in his best friend’s blood. “None of you would be hurt if it weren’t for me.”
“Andrew wouldn’t be hurt if I’d—” She shuddered again, and this time the shivering didn’t stop. “I did worse than kill them, Nick. I raped their minds until there was nothing left. I b-broke them…”
“You did what you had to do, and now you’re going to forget about it for a while.” Nick moved until her eyes met Kat’s. “We’ll get you inside and cleaned up and then call about Andrew, okay?”
Kat’s face went sickly pale. “I’m covered in his blood.”
Shit. “Come on, sweetie. You can take a shower.”
“I’m covered in his blood.” The words rose in pitch and volume, a sure sign of oncoming hysteria. “I had my hands in—in him—”
She could chase Kat down if she needed to, but the woman was going to go crazy if Nick kept holding her. She let go, and Kat scurried away across the damp grass. She made it a few feet before losing the contents of her stomach, retching until sobs overtook her.
Chapter 10
Nick tried not to slam the cabinet as she searched for a bigger pot. “When the zombie apocalypse comes, we can’t hide out in one of Alec’s houses. He doesn’t stock them for shit.”
Mackenzie watched from her perch by the counter. “What are you looking for?”
“A big pot,” Nick growled. “I was going to make something, but I only know how to make waffles, and that’s only because Derek taught me. Anything else I made would be inedible, so what the hell am I doing?”
“You’re coping. Kat’s in there crying herself sick on Jackson’s mom and if you weren’t so worried about Derek you might be wondering if all that shit you told me about crazy people’s decisions not being my fault was really bullshit.”
“That attack tonight wasn’t ordered by a crazy person.” She’d known it would come eventually, but she thought they’d have more time. She sure as hell hadn’t expected Kat and Andrew to get caught in the crossfire. “Shit. That almost makes this worse, doesn’t it?”
Mackenzie shook her head. “I don’t know. All I know is that life sucks when people get hurt.”
Nick dropped a small pan on the counter and covered her face with both hands. “I don’t know what to do, Mac. There’s only one thing I could do to make this all go away, and that won’t save Aaron’s life.”
Strong, steady arms folded around her. “First thing we’re going to do is bundle Jackson’s mother out of the state. I’ll put her in the goddamn car myself if I have to. Then you’ll have me and Alec and Jackson. And Mahalia. Jesus, don’t forget her. You’re not in this alone.”
“And Derek.” Fear trembled through Nick, and she tried to steady her breathing. “This whole situation has cost him so much already. If I could get him to go away, I’d do it in a millisecond. But he won’t go. He never will.”
“No, he won’t.” Mackenzie’s words were quiet and certain. “No more than Aaron’s going to leave Michelle, or I’m going to leave Jackson.”
“It’s selfish to want him to leave. I know it is, and I still can’t stop.” Nick pulled away from Mackenzie and swiped at her burning eyes. “It’s not right.”
“Well, then we’re both assholes. I’m not leaving Jackson, but I’d lock him in a closet in a heartbeat to keep him out of this shit. I think that’s what you referred to as instinct when I bitched about it while he was getting better.”
“Yeah.” Nick paced, trying to relieve the nervous tension twisting her into knots. “Derek’s best friend almost died, and God knows what tonight has done to Kat. How will he be able to look at me? I can barely look at me.”
“You really want to know?” Her friend’s gaze held its own pain. “Call Mahalia and ask her how she manages to look at me when the man she loved died protecting me.”
Forgiveness. Nick started to speak, but the sharp trill of her cell phone interrupted her thoughts. She scrambled for the phone, her heart pounding. “Hello?”
Derek’s voice crackled across the line. “I knew Alec was a crazy bastard, but you never told me just how bad he could get.”
“Oh, crap. What did he do?”
He hesitated just long enough to spin the tension in her stomach tighter. “Kidnapped Luciano.”
Nick gritted her teeth. Alec might be crazy, but he wasn’t stupid. “Where is he going?”
“We’re going to Alec’s house. Which I suppose makes me an accomplice.”
She snatched up her keys. “Jackson and Nancy are taking care of Kat. I’m on my way.” Someone had to make sure Alec didn’t forget himself and kill Enrica Maglieri’s golden child. “Just…keep Alec busy and don’t let him knock Luciano around too much.”
“Violence doesn’t seem to be on the menu, though I think Alec’s keeping it in reserve. He said something about leverage.”
“Of course he did.” Which meant he didn’t think Luciano was really responsible for the attack on Andrew and Kat. “How’d Luke take it?”
“About as well as anyone getting kidnapped, I guess. He’s unconscious and tied up.”
“Christ. I’m on my way.” She flipped the phone shut and growled at Mackenzie. “Did you catch that?”
“I should—” Mackenzie seized the edge of the counter and swore. “Someone needs to go with you, Nick. Jackson’s not leaving Kat and his mother, but if Alec’s decided to start throwing people in his goddamn truck…”
“Nicky?” It was Michelle’s voice, soft and worried. Her sister stepped through the narrow doorway into the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
The last thing Michelle needed to worry about was Alec fucking around with shapeshifter politics. “It’s nothing. I’m handling it.”
“Nick.” Power tickled up Nick’s spine as Michelle frowned at her. “Don’t treat me like an invalid.”
She stopped and took a deep breath. “Fine. Alec went off the rails and snatched Luke Maglieri from his hotel.”
“Damn.”
Nick saw her own worries reflected in her sister’s eyes, worries Mackenzie would never fully understand. Even Aaron had never been forced to participate in the complicated dance of shapeshifter politics; he was the hired muscle, a man expected to take orders and not think too closely about them.
Michelle took a steadying breath. “I want to go with you, but I can’t. Aaron’s getting fidgety about being trapped here, but it’s the only place he’s safe.”
Michelle couldn’t go, anyway. Even if the Conclave was having trouble finding them, which seemed likely considering the fact that they’d gone to Alec and Jackson’s office looking for information, they’d be able to locate Luciano easily. “You two staying here is for the best. I’ll smooth this over.”
“Luciano’s one of the only Conclave kids who treats me like a person. He doesn’t deserve to get hurt just because his family’s cruel. Alec of all people should know that.”
“He does.” Nick hoped the assurance was true. “Derek is there. He won’t let Alec do anything crazy.”
Mackenzie released the counter and straightened. “Okay, I’m coming with you, Nick. Just wait for me and pretend you can’t hear the screaming fight I’m about to have with my boyfriend.”
“I can do that.”
When Mackenzie was gone, Michelle moved to sit on the stool she’d abandoned. “About the girl…Kat? She’s a psychic?”
“Empath,” Nick confirmed. “You want something to drink? Water or juice?”
“Juice.” Michelle tapped her fingers absently on the countertop in a familiar pattern, the pinky twice followed by her index finger. A signal that she was thinking. “Empath. You said she neutralized two men from one of the tactical teams?”