Elise was a fuckingwitch.
Nico had been protecting a witch for the past several days. He'd beenwantinga witch. He could still taste that witch on his lips. And if he closed his eyes, he could summon the memory of her writhing beneath him.
He'd been losing his moon-damned mind over a witch.
What the hell?
He wasn't sure if he said it out loud.
Betrayal washed over him, hot and hard and riding the edge of violence. He almost reached out and grabbed Elise again, likehe could wring the truth out of her, but something pulled him back.
What if she was using some sort of magic on him?
What if this had been some sort of trick to get close and … and … and he wasn't sure because in the past five days, nothing she had done had indicated that she wanted to cause any harm, when, in truth, he really deserved it.
Reece was going to kill her when he found out.
Betrayal was replaced by terror.
Nico took a step closer to the little witch, but Elise scuttled back. Her arms came up to block her chest like he might do something violent.
"I—I—" she tried to speak, but no words came out. Nothing. There wasn't anything she could explain away.
He had caught her magic-handed.
Nico had to keep her safe from Reece.
He still had a day till the beta got back, but was that enough time? If Javi or Hugh caught on, they wouldn't be happy about this turn of events either, but maybe Nico could say something to get control over this situation.
Who was he kidding?
They would be just as pissed. He had brought awitchinto their world, into the pack headquarters, their safe haven. She could have destroyed it at any moment. Witches were their ancestral enemies.
They might not have been at war right now, but that could change any day. And wars had started over less than this.
She hasn't done anything wrong,a small, rational part of him whispered, but he wasn't listening to logic right now. He grabbed Elise's hand and pulled her farther away from Cole. His fingers circled her whole wrist, and she felt so small, so defenseless in his grasp.
She was a damnedwitch, why wasn't she doing anything to defend herself? Did shewantto get killed?
"What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded, and he was happy, at least, that the words came out intelligible.
His wolf was at the forefront of his mind, angry but mostly scared, and his wolf was hardly ever scared.
"He was … I just …" Whatever excuse she was trying to come up with died on her lips.
The scent of magic had faded completely, like it had never been there at all. A part of Nico wanted to pretend that it had been a hallucination, that he had been confused or sleep deprived or anything that could make this make sense and leave Elise innocent of any wrongdoing. The wrongdoing of birth.
She couldn't be in this room. She couldn't be near Cole.
But before Nico could decide what to do with her, the bedroom door opened, and Hugh stuck his head in. "Oh," he said. "I didn't realize you guys were in here."
It could all be over right then. Elise was still looking at Nico with wide eyes, but her expression had calmed down a little. He knew she was guilty, but she no longer looked like a child whose hand had been caught in the cookie jar. He still had a hold on her and could throw her before Hugh and leave her at the pack's mercy with one jerk of his arm.
Nico made a split-second decision. He stepped fully in front of Elise and turned towards Hugh, letting his body be a wall between her and the other beta.
"We've been sitting with him," he said. "Elise said she wanted to get his vitals one more time before she went to sleep."
Elise let out a little gasp, but it was barely loud enough for him to hear, let alone Hugh from the other side of the room.
