“What would you say the chances of that are?” Mackenzie sounded calm, but there was a tension in the car that they’d both been ignoring for the entire drive. “Alec has always seemed pretty clear-headed to me, even when shit’s going to hell.”
“Not when there are women involved.” Nick tightened her hands around the steering wheel. “He loses it. Especially Kat. She’s worked for him and Jackson since she was nineteen.”
“Now she’s…” Mackenzie swallowed. “Jesus. Jackson said he’d call when she wakes up, but in the state she’s in I don’t think putting her on the phone with Alec is the best way to calm him down.”
“She won’t want to talk to Alec anyway.” There was only one person Kat gave a damn about at the moment. “We need to make sure she knows Andrew is going to be okay.”
“Is he?”
“Depends on how you define okay.” And on how strong Andrew turned out to be. It was usually impossible to predict how strongly magic would take root in a new wolf. “But he’ll live, at least, and he has Derek. Yeah, I think he’ll be okay.”
Mackenzie let out a harsh breath. “I can’t believe I was supposed to have magical babies who went around tearing apart people’s lives like this. That was one freaky goddamn plan.”
“No argument here.” The house came into view, and Nick parked beside Alec’s truck. Quick steps took her to the porch and through the door. “Alec Jacobson! Where the hell are you?”
The man who entered the foyer with slow, wary movements wasn’t Alec. It was Andrew, disheveled and bandaged, wearing only a pair of low-slung flannel pants. He stalked around them in a wide circle, keeping his back close to the wall. Then he took a tentative step toward Mackenzie and made a soft noise.
Mackenzie pivoted to keep Andrew in front of her. “Did he just sniff me?”
“Yeah.” Nick stared at him, her heart pounding. “Shit. Shit. He was—Jesus Christ.” He’d been nearly dead at the office, bleeding out and holding on by a thread. She remembered the stern set of Franklin’s jaw, the doubt in Alec’s eyes. They hadn’t been sure he’d live, and he was already stomping around the house, sniffing out his surroundings.
He brushed past Mackenzie and stepped so close to Nick that it hurt her neck to return his steady stare. But she didn’t break the contact, just watched him as he watched her. Finally, he huffed a little and backed off, muttering, “This is pretty fucking weird.”
“How is he on his feet when Kat looks like—”
Andrew cut her off. “Kat. Did you bring her?”
“We didn’t know if you were okay.” Nick kept her voice calm and even. “We didn’t want to bring her back here if you were still in bad shape, and we thought you would be.”
He growled again, this time viciously, and drove his hands into his hair. “I can’t sit still. Nothing makes sense, damn it.”
Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs as Mackenzie eased her cell phone from her back pocket. “I’m calling Jackson. Do you want to talk to Kat, Andrew?”
“No!” He almost roared the word. “I want her back. I want her here!”
“Calm down, Andrew.” This time, Nick reached inside for the magic, forcing it out in a commanding wave. Calm the fuck down.
But he wasn’t cowed. He stomped past her toward the front door as Derek rushed out of the basement.
Mackenzie got to the door first. She pressed her back against it and glared at Andrew. “I’m not scared of the big bad wolf, so you back off and I’ll get Kat over here.”
He took a deep breath. “I haven’t lost my mind, lady. I just want to go outside for some air.”
“Uh-huh.” Mackenzie’s gaze traveled past Nick and landed on Derek. “Should I move?”
Derek looked tired and miserable, but he nodded. “Would you go with him? Just in case he needs anything?” He was obviously exhausted and pained, and Nick’s heart ached for him.
“Sure.” Once Mackenzie had opened the door, she glanced at Nick. “Should I have Jackson bring Kat? Or is he going to pee on her leg or something crazy?”
“I’m not going to pee on anyone.” Andrew growled, and Mackenzie stepped aside and let him pass. She rolled her eyes and followed, already dialing the phone.
Derek sighed. “Well?”
“He seems okay, I guess.” Better than expected, actually. “Derek, this is fast. Crazy fast.”
“I know. I wasn’t hurt nearly as bad as him, and it still took me a few days to get back on my feet. Franklin and Alec were trying to play it cool…” His voice trailed off as he stared at his hands. “Shit.”
“Hey.” Nick took his hands in hers, her thumbs tracing soothing circles over his skin. “I’m here. Everyone is, and we can help. Are you all right?”
“I don’t know.” The words were raw. “God, Nick. My cousin is killing people with her brain and I helped Alec kidnap a guy. Who, by the way, is in a fucking cage in the basement.”
“Kat’ll be fine. Jackson and Michelle are taking care of her, and I can handle the situation with Alec and Luciano.” I think. At a loss for anything more comforting to offer him, she slipped her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry, Derek.”
His hands fisted in the back of her shirt, and he took a shuddering breath. “This is the life I live, but I should have gotten her away from it. I should have kept Andrew away from it. They weren’t ready for this.”
“Not many people are. Kat will be fine once she finds out Andrew is okay.”
Derek’s hand brushed over her lower back. “Luciano is waiting for you. I’m glad you’re here, because he’s a pain in the ass.”
“What do you expect? Alec kidnapped him.” She pulled away with a snort. “Where is he, anyway? Alec, I mean.”
“Taking a shower. Andrew bled a lot.”
Nick took a moment to steady herself and inclined her head toward the basement door. “You coming with me, or is it easier not to?”
Derek’s laugh sounded almost hysterical. “I think I might pull something if I try to stay up here. Maybe he has a reason to be pissy, but he has been having a damn good time poking at me. If you go down there alone, I might have to kill him.”
She lowered her voice. “He didn’t do this, Derek.”
“How do you know?”
“Same reason he’d rather risk being disowned than marry me,” she whispered as they began to descend the stairs. “He has a thing for Michelle.”
Derek made a choking sound behind her. “Come again?”
“No one knows, least of all my sister, but it’s true. He wouldn’t hurt her like this.”
He caught her arm before she reached the bottom step and waited for her to look up at him. “How well do you know him, Nick? Because I’d find his crush a lot more comforting if the death sentence wasn’t on Aaron’s head.”
She fought a shudder. “Would you kill someone I loved just to get a crack at me?”
Derek released her and looked away. “I’m not saying Luciano is necessarily a bad person. You asked the wrong question. What you should have asked is who I might sacrifice if I thought it was the only way to keep you safe.”
“You have more power over Aaron’s life than Maglieri does. Sacrificing Aaron won’t help Michelle, and it won’t help Luciano, either.”
The railing creaked under his hand. “I’m trying to understand it all, Nick. I’m trying.”
“You have to trust me on this. Can you do that, just for a little while?”
The hesitation hurt but, when he finally spoke, at least his words sounded truthful. “Yes. You’re the only one I can trust.”
“Okay.” She gripped his hand. “Still want to come down here with me?”
He offered her an exhausted smile. “No. But I have to.”
Luciano rose when they walked into view, already tense and wary. “Finish talking about me?”
“For the most part. Be nice, Luke. Derek’s had a shitty day.” Nick approached the cage, but didn’t get too close. “Did Alec hurt you?”
“Not much.” He hesitated and hung his head. “Is Michelle okay? My mother—”
“I figured.” Nick ached for him, and for her sister. For the whole damn situation. “Michelle’s been better.” She turned and addressed Derek. “Did Alec say what he planned to do?”