Elise knelt by Delainey's side and ran her hand over the already blossoming bruise on her cheek. She sent a zap of magic into her, quickly healing the burst vessels and ensuring that no further damage had been done. Delainey gave her a soft smile of thanks and took her offered hand to stand up.
They all piled back into the Jeep before the wolves could come back, and this time, Elise let Delainey have the front seat.
No one suggested trying to do the spell again at a safer location. Instead, the five of them sat on the couches at home and watched a movie. Serena got up every so often to bake some cookies, and Delainey helped her.
It was almost as good as the spell to fix the vibes.
But it was another reminder of all of the problems that came when werewolves and witches interacted.
Around midnight, Elise climbed the stairs up to her room and dug through her laundry pile trying to find Nico's shirt. It must have gotten lost in the rest of the clothes she was supposedto be cleaning, and she settled for a regular shirt before climbing into bed and going to sleep, not giving the shirt another thought.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
It was finallythe day of the transport job. Nico was trying to convince himself that it was just like any other job. He felttotallynormal, and things weren't incredibly strained between him and the other pack betas.
Of course, he was lying to himself about that, but he was lying to himself about a lot of things.
It would be nice if he could get his subconscious to believe any of those lies.
They met at a warehouse on the edge of the city, close to the border with Iron Runner territory. The job would take them through Iron Runner territory and past several different potential points of conflict.
They were moving a family of wolves who wanted to leave the Iron Runner pack without paying the steep exit toll that the alpha, a man named Dawson, required. It was risky business, and if the family got caught, they would face an even steeper fine and some sort of physical penalty.
Nico was more than happy to deprive Dawson of money and people. The Iron Runner pack had enough of both as it was.
A taxi pulled up, and four people got out. A man and woman who appeared to be in their mid-40s and two teenage boys.
According to the information that Nico had, this would be David and Kathleen and their sons, Oliver and Shane. Cole approached David and Kathleen and spoke to them quietly while the taxi drove away. Even from several feet away, Nico could smell the acrid edge of fear each of them was carrying.
Though they were on the edge of the territory nearest the Southern Basin territory, unfortunately, this family's new home lay past the far edge of Iron Runner territory, and going the long way around would take them hundreds of miles out of the way and put them at risk the entire time.
Though it would be harrowing, it was faster and safer for them to just go through the city.
But something felt off about this job.
Not the werewolf family, who was giving off the right amount of fear and hope. Not the setup, because they'd done this dozens of times before, both for members of the Iron Runner pack and other packs.
But Nico couldn't get over the fact that it felt like he was being watched all day. Like there was someone just out of the corner of his eye staring at him. The hair on the back of his neck prickled, and he kept suppressing the urge to snap his head back and look for an observer. Every time he lost the battle, no one was there, except for one time it was Reece, who just scowled at him and looked away.
He knew what it felt like to be glared at by Reece, and this feeling was entirely different.
He hadn't gone near Elise again in the more than a week it had been since his foolish journey to the zoo. But he could feel his resolve weakening. He didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to stay away.
He was an addict hankering for a fix. Or like a wolf desperate to claim and protect his mate. The back of his neck was still itching, and he clutched it, trying to scratch at the spot where it felt worse. His fingernails dug into the skin hard enough to leave marks, but the sensation beneath refused to be assuaged.
"Is something wrong?" Reece asked. "Mosquito bite?"
It wasn't a mosquito bite. That would be annoying enough, but he knew what that felt like.
"Does anything about today feel weird?" Nico asked.
Reece shrugged. "No, it's just another job."
Nico hoped he was right.
Cole whistled, and that put the other betas at attention.
