"We could try paying her off," said Javi. "Maybe a fat check will keep her quiet."
"Maybe," Nico agreed, but he didn't like the sound of that. He didn't like the sound of Elise going away at all.
"You ever think about turning her?" Hugh asked quietly, almost gently.
"No." It was an immediate denial.
Though Nico could see the appeal of running through the woods with Elise, of taking her as his mate, of making a life with her, he refused to put her at risk. Well, anymorerisk.
He was a born shapeshifter. As were Javi and Hugh. Reece had survived being bitten as a teenager. But not everybody did. And Elise was sweet. She was gentle.
He couldn't risk losing her like that.
"If there was no risk, would you do it?" Javi asked. He was treading water, waving his arms in big circles and sending gentle waves Nico's way.
"There is a risk, so it doesn't matter," Nico said. He felt too big for his skin right now, and he wanted this conversationover.He couldn't have Elise. Not as a human, not as a wolf, and even considering it would do nothing more than hurt.
"That's not what I asked," Javi pressed again. "Do you have feelings for her?"
Nico couldn't keep his voice calm anymore. "What am I, fucking sixteen? Are you asking me if I'm going to take her to prom? The situation is fucking complicated, Javi. But I know what I'm doing."
Javi let out a disbelieving sound, and the look on Hugh's face clearly agreed with Javi. Nico splashed them with a giant wave of water and stalked out of the pond. He shivered as the cool night air hit his naked skin. With a thought, he summoned his other form and transformed into a wolf. After a few agonizing and wonderful seconds, his bones and skin melded and changed until he was his furry self, standing on four feet and ready to run and hunt and howl.
The conversation was over, and he was done talking to the two meddling betas.
Twenty minutes later, he was back at the house, and he waved Aubrey off duty. He was back in his human skin once more, and he found Elise sleeping on her side of the bed with the growing pile of blankets and pillows that marked the line between them.
He wanted to tear that border down and crawl into bed next to her, to gather her into his arms. But he couldn't do that.
As heavy-handed as his betas had been, Hugh and Javi were right. This thing wasn't going to end well.
But he had to figure a way to make it end that didn't hurt Elise, because at this point, he was pretty sure he would tear down the world before he let that happen.
Chapter
Fourteen
Cole hadn't gottenany worse, but he wasn't doing any better either.
Two more nights had passed since her insane attempt to heal the alpha on her own, and Elise hadn't had a chance to sneak back into his room and try again. She'd intended to stay up late last night and give it another shot, despite the consequences, but as soon as her head had hit the pillow, she had passed out and slept until sunrise.
She had found Nico watching her when she woke up, whichshouldhave been disturbing and a little creepy. Itshould nothave sent a spiral of heat deep into her gut.
But her guts clearly didn't know what they were supposed to be doing.
Now it was late afternoon, and she and Nico had been sitting in Cole's room all day. And today, Elise didn't have anything she couldpretendto do to tend to the alpha. She had sorted through the pile of pilfered goods that Nico had provided and was grateful when she realized there weren't any opiates in there. Not because she was about to abuse them, but because if thatwhole robbery fell on her, she really did not want to catch a drug charge too.
"Why isn't Cole doing any better?" Nico asked. He was extra intense today, his dark eyes raking over her so harshly she could almost feel it, like a scalding touch.
"Have you everbeento a doctor?" she demanded with a scowl. "There's only so much I can do. The body does most of the healing on its own; it’s my job to guide it.”
Oh crap. Did that sound too healer-y?
It was true, and she thought it was also true for human medicine. But she was pretty sure doctors didn't talk that way. Nico didn't answer her question, but she didn't expect him to.
She had been stuck here for five total days, and she was going to burst out of her skin. By now, her coven sisters should have tried to contact her magically. She hadn't even received a message in a dream.
Did they think she was dead?
