Instead, Elise ran a hot bath and sank inside. At least that would give her a bit of privacy—and comfort—for now.
Now that she was alone, the thoughts of Nico cascaded over her. Was he home? Were they asking questions? How much trouble was he going to be in for freeing her?
She wouldn't have volunteered to stay, but that didn't mean she wanted him to get hurt by his own people for helping her.
Worry about those consequences wasn't all that she was thinking of.
He'd looked at her so softly today, softly and like he was scared for the future and had no idea what was to come. And the way he had kissed her? She was going to be imagining those kisses forever. She was ruined for anyone else.
At least that's what it felt like.
She hoped it was the Stockholm Syndrome talking and that sanity would prevail eventually. Maybe. Hopefully, if she was lucky.
Then the tears started to fall, and she wasn't sure if they were for herself, in relief that she was finally something like safe. Or if they were for Nico and the danger he was in now.
Or if they were for the future that she and Nico could never have, no matter how much, deep in her soul, she knew they belonged together.
Chapter
Twenty-One
Nico didn't drive backto the pack compound immediately after freeing Elise. He started that way, heading down the highway, the familiar path done more by memory than any conscious thought, and then he kept driving deeper and deeper into the countryside. He needed to go where he didn't know anyone or have any place to stay. Going right back home was a bad idea.
He would have to explain himself to Reece, to Cole, and to the others, to the part of himself that was the head beta of the Southern Basin Pack and not a man obsessed with a woman who could destroy him.
His cell phone started ringing a few hours later. He turned it off. Someone must have noticed Elise was gone by now, and that he was gone too. That same someone would likely put two and two together.
Again, that was a problem for future Nico.
He parked his car at a scenic outlook and took off into the woods as a wolf, finding a comfortable place to sleep overnight. He slept in his furry skin until sunrise woke him up. His wolf tugged at him to go deeper into the woods, to follow the chirping of birds and chase the stream he could barely hear in thedistance. He could get lost here forever, stay in his fur skin and forget about ever being human.
It was so tempting that Nico had to jerk himself away from the call of the wild.
He stalked back to his truck and transformed once more, slipping back into the clothes he'd left on the driver's seat. He forced himself to turn his phone back on and scrolled through the dozen texts that he had received. He couldn't put returning home off any longer, especially when he got the news: Cole was awake.
Nico felt like a thief sneaking back into the house. He was quickly caught, which suggested that his luck at the zoo and getting Elise out of the house had been flukes. He wasn't about to take up a career in heisting. His last bit of luck was that it was Javi who caught him. Reece would probably attack him on sight.
"We're meeting now," Javi said, jerking his head toward the meeting room. "Come on." And that was very serious for Javi. Not a greeting, not a smile.
Yeah, Nico was in deep shit.
In the meeting room, Cole was on his feet and didn't look like a man who had been in a coma for six days. He was a little thinner than before, but that only made him look harder—as if he wasn't already a hard man—and he kept scratching at the place on his abdomen where he'd been injured.
"You're back." Hugh was leaning against the far wall, arms folded across his chest.
"I'm back," Nico agreed. No need to add more, no need to give them ammunition. He just had to make it through today and hopefully he could figure out what to do next. He tried to keep his posture relaxed, non-threatening. Innocent. "Are you okay?" he asked Cole. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel like something gross and slimy was inside my veins," Cole dragged a hand through his hair, leaving a chunk of itstanding on end. "I feeltainted. This was magic," he spat the word.
Terror shot through Nico.
Had Cole realized that he'd been healed by magic? Were they going to figure out Elise was a witch?
But his mind caught up to him a moment later. Cole was talking about whatever had been done to him, whatever had left that silver embedded inside him. He didn't know about the healing. But Reece, Javi, and Hugh were staring at Nico like he was hiding something.
"Why do you think I have any idea what's happening?" he said and tried not to hunch his shoulders defensively. "Did you ask Mark what was done to you?" The healer had to be back now, and hopefully he would have some answers.
But Cole was shaking his head. "As far as Mark can tell, there'snothingwrong with me. He said there was no reason for me to be in a coma for six days. I feel completely fine. I got out of bed this morning like it was nothing, and the only difference is I'm hungrier than I've ever been in my life."
