Instead, it was goodbye.
Elise pulled back and rested her forehead against his.
"It's too bad we can never see each other again," Elise said. She leaned forward and kissed his nose before pulling away and pulling her hand out of his grasp. "Goodbye, Nico."
She got out of the car and walked away.
And Nico felt like something vital had been ripped out of his chest.
Chapter
Twenty
The coven housewas a bright blue Victorian, about four blocks from the university campus up two steep hills that made Elise’s legs ache. If she looked out from the window in the attic, she’d see the misty mountains in the distance. Elise could have headed straight there, but she wandered around the well-defined paths of the university for a solid half an hour before turning down Cedar Street towards home.
She didn't know if Nico would be lurking around, trying to figure out where the coven lived. But as she walked down the sidewalk to the house, it didn't even occur to her. She had chosen the university as a drop-off location because it was both neutral and near home.
She didn't think that Nico would use it against her, even if he found out where the coven lived. Not after last night, and not after that kiss.
She also needed to get her story straight, which felt more than a little crazy.
She should have been able to tell her coven sisters exactly what happened and let the chips fall as they may. But then they'd go after Nico, and that was the last thing that Elise wanted.
Yes, he had kidnapped her, but she was over that at this point, and she couldn't pretend that she didn't feel the way she felt about him. It was completely illogical and irrational.
She refused to put any other words on it because it had been six days, and she might have gone slightly insane.
She didn't have a story when she opened the door. The ward protecting their home recognized her as she passed over the threshold with a wave of warmth. A knot in her back unclenched for the first time in days.
Home, safety.
No werewolves breathing down her neck and threatening to break it.
She heard voices in the kitchen and walked through the narrow hallway to the back of the house to find her coven sisters Briana, Delainey, Serena, and her best friend, Aya, sitting around the table with warrior expressions on their faces.
Serena was the first one to see her. "Holy fucking shitballs, you're alive!" Her hands slammed on the table as she jumped up from her chair, her dyed dark pink hair falling wildly around her face.
And she had such a lovely turn of phrase.
Delainey’s corkscrew curls bouncedas she whipped her head around, eyes going wideagainst her warm brown skin, whileBriana pushed a hand through her brunette hair, her green eyes scrunched in confusion. Aya jumped up from her seat and rushed Elise, pulling her close and hugging her so tight, Elise had some slight trouble breathing, especially with her short, dark hair getting caught up against her mouth. It only intensified when the three others joined in.
Elise had to push them off after a minute because the breathing situation was getting dire, but she could feel the smile on her face. A small part of her was more than a little proud ofherself for walking in under her own power and surprising her sisters like this.
"Where the hell have you been?" Serena demanded, gripping Elise's shoulder.
"How did you escape?" That was from Delainey, who stepped so close she was breathing down Elise's neck.
Aya was clutching her arm, and Briana was just looking at her expectantly. Right, the story she was supposed to have come up with.
"Six days," Aya said before Elise could figure out what to say. She gripped Elise's arm hard enough to bruise.
"You disappeared off the face of the Earth," Delainey added.
"We scryed for you," said Serena, gesturing toward the basement door where the root cellar and most of their scrying equipment usually lived, "but it showed you in the middle of werewolf territory. What the hell was that about? We were about to call in the cavalry."
Elise held up her hands and gently pushed Aya a step back, making some space for herself. "Okay, can we just calm down for a second and let me talk?" she asked, gripping the back of the empty seat at the table—her seat. This was exactly what life with her sisters was like. They asked a question and then about forty follow-ups before she could open her mouth to answer the first one. "Is there coffee?" she asked, "because I could use some."
"You could probably use something stronger than that," Serena muttered.
