“Including mine.” Luciano snorted. “He should be glad to learn my mom’s plan to get us hitched is going up in flames.”
It was starting to seem like the Conclave spent most of their time either plotting world domination or ruining their kids’ lives. Derek rubbed a hand over his aching head and tried to put everything he’d heard in some semblance of order. “So, on the Conclave, there’s Noah Coleman. Luke’s mom, and Nick’s dad, and…two other guys?”
“Conrad Hoffman and Jorge Ochoa,” Alec confirmed. “My father’s so far up Ochoa’s ass he hasn’t seen daylight in years. Probably still thinks he can wiggle his way onto the Conclave if Ochoa bites it.”
“But, even if Alec’s family’s stock wasn’t in the toilet already, Ochoa has a son who’s just like him, only twice as smart, ruthless and mercenary.” Nick wrapped her hand around Derek’s and squeezed. “You doing okay?”
He had no idea. “I’m thinking my life has been simple before this.”
Her eyes were huge and somber. “It’s less complicated when you break it down and look at what they all want and what they’re willing to do to get it. Trust me.”
A quiet, decidedly feminine voice drifted from behind him. “The quick and dirty answer to that is everything…and anything.”
Derek was out of his chair before he realized he’d moved, and only a supreme act of willpower suppressed the instinct to drag Nick behind him. When he turned, he saw a tall blonde in dark clothes leaning against the far wall.
The woman didn’t flinch when Nick and Alec both snatched handguns from the table. She only rolled her eyes and looked at Luciano. “Did you miss me?”
He didn’t reply.
Derek inhaled sharply, then frowned. “I can’t smell her.”
“You’re not the only one,” Alec snarled. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he swung his arm around until the barrel of his gun was pointed at Luciano. “But there’s still one person in this room I can shoot, so someone better start talking.”
The woman started forward and stopped, her jaw tight. “This must be Jacobson’s kid. The crazy one.”
“Stop it.” Luciano ignored the gun in Alec’s hand. “This is Wynne. She works for my mother, and you can’t smell her because she isn’t really here.”
Alec glanced at her again. “Witch?”
“No.” A memory surfaced, one of the hundreds from the time when Kat had been trying to get help with her psychic abilities as a teenager. Derek squinted at the woman. “Wynne Albrecht. She’s a psychic who can astrally project. One of Kat’s tutors said there were only a handful of people in the country who were really good at it.” The fact that she’d used Wynne as an example of a psychic who used her gift for evil was anything but comforting.
“And she works for Enrica.” Nick sighed. “Looking for Luciano, I guess. As you can see, he’s fine.”
“So he is.” Wynne didn’t look away from the gun in Alec’s hand. “Your mother’s worried about you, Luke.”
Derek ignored Alec and fixed his gaze on Wynne. “Did his mother send people to try to kill my cousin?”
She blinked. “Is the crazy man with the gun your cousin?”
“My cousin is a twenty-four-year-old psychic who nearly got tortured by some elite shapeshifter commando squad.”
“Oh.” Wynne shifted uncomfortably. “Their objective was to obtain information on the whereabouts of the Seer and—” She glanced at Nick. “The team was looking for Jacobson. His father flew up to New York and told the Conclave that nothing goes on in this city without his son knowing about it.”
Alec’s hand actually trembled. “Fuck.” One word, but it was laced with enough guilt to make Derek queasy. “Those fuckers attacked a girl and turned a human. So maybe you should run back to your boss and let her know none of them are getting out of New Orleans alive. Even by the Conclave’s rules, they crossed the line.”
Wynne’s eyes flashed. “Mrs. Maglieri is well aware—”
“Shut up.” Nick took a step toward the woman, her face set in a mask of rage. “You should run back to your boss. Tell Enrica I want to see her, and she’ll need to bring the Alpha.”
The blonde stumbled back into—and nearly through—the wall. “Luke?”
Luciano sounded exhausted. Resigned. “Go, Wynne. We can’t stop it now.”
The air around Wynne shimmered, and then she was gone with as little fanfare as she’d arrived. Alec exhaled and dropped back into his chair, but Derek could still hear Luciano’s words echoing in his head.
He turned to Nick and fought to stay calm. “What can’t we stop now?”
She shivered and avoided his eyes. “I just challenged Enrica.”
The words had only one possible meaning, and it terrified him. “To what? Pistols at twenty paces? Fists? Claws?”
“The Alpha won’t acknowledge a challenge on your behalf.” Luciano shook his head. “Presiding over it would be a conflict of interest, and he wouldn’t let anyone else do it. He’ll limit you to mediation.”
“Then I’ll talk to her,” Nick whispered. “For now.”
Derek didn’t realize Alec had moved until the door that led upstairs smashed open. Alec stormed up the steps with a snarl, leaving behind a tangible aura of frustration. In the years Derek had known Alec, he’d never seemed anything but perfectly in control. Cool, confident and able to handle anything life threw at him.
Nick laid down the gun. “Alec isn’t going to be rational until he deals with feeling like what happened to Kat and Andrew is all his fault. We should make sure he doesn’t… He could do something stupid.”
“Make sure he doesn’t what? Recover?” The only thing scarier than out-of-control Alec was the thought of perfectly in-control Alec who still wanted to kill people.
“It’s not that simple. The farther out of his head he is, the less likely he’ll be to care if people get in his way.”
“Jesus.” Derek sank back into his chair and glanced at Luciano. “You’re awful quiet.”
“Yeah, I guess I am.” He’d gone pale, and dark rings stood out under his eyes. “You don’t understand. If the mediation doesn’t work, the Alpha will have no choice but to recognize the challenge. These things escalate until there’s a resolution.”
It seemed like they were already a long way past a resolution, but that just made being a virtual hostage to that resolution all the more terrifying. Derek glanced at Nick and raised both eyebrows. “Talk it out with me, Nick. Help me understand. I’m not a political mastermind, but I’m not stupid. Maybe I can help.”
“Okay.” She leaned one hip against the table. “I issued the challenge because now Enrica will come here. If I can get her here, I can give her what she wants—a clear path to having her family succeed mine.”
“By stepping down or abdicating or whatever? Is your father going to let you do that?”
She lifted her chin in a stubborn gesture he was coming to recognize. “My father doesn’t get to decide what I do.”
“No,” Derek acknowledged. “But if he’s really spent most of your life rearranging shapeshifter politics so he can pass the empire on to you…” It was hard to imagine her father being pleased. Especially when he starts to wonder how much I have to do with this.
“I’m Michelle’s only chance, Derek. My father can’t help her, and he knows that. He won’t question me.”
Derek glanced at Luciano. “What’s your part in this? Take Nick’s place as the heir to the werewolf throne?”
“I doubt it.” Luciano fidgeted uncomfortably. “No matter what my mother thinks, it’s not my thing. Someone else on the Conclave will take over. Ochoa, maybe, or Hoffman.”
Which wouldn’t give Nick much leverage. “So what’s going to get your mom over to Michelle’s side?”
He hesitated. “The Alpha has to be ruthless. It’s business, always business. Never personal.”
Derek fought a growl. “Spit it the fuck out, whatever it is.”
It was Nick who spoke, and she sounded exhausted. “Enrica has every reason to encourage me to sacrifice my future, because she doesn’t want me to turn Michelle and Aaron over to the Conclave. If I did that…”