"Yeah, I realized that at some point." She sank onto the bed beside him and clutched her own cup in her hands. "Is that going to be an issue?"
"I hardly think they're tracking every person who checks into or out of a commuter hotel." At least he hoped that was true. "But my pack was pulling a job last night, and they won't be happy with us if they find me here."
"What kind of job?" She turned to face him fully. "What is it your pack does, exactly?"
"Each member tends to have their own employment. We don't have a major business or anything like that. Though there are several small businesses that solely employ pack members. But sometimes we help people from big or abusive packs get out. That was what we were supposed to be doing last night before we got interrupted."
She was quiet for a moment. "Do you have to do that a lot? Help people escape abusive packs?"
Nico tried not to remember the bruises he'd carried as a child, or the challenges he'd seen, all before his first shift. "Some alphas are assholes." His voice was rougher than he wanted, the past too close to the surface. "Sometimes running is the only option."
Elise set her cup down and laid her head against his shoulder, placing her hand on his thigh. "Is that something that happened to you?" Her tone was gentle, and Nico knew she'd let him wiggle out of talking if he wanted.
But he didn't want to keep secrets from her.
"I'm not actually from around here, did you know that? I grew up out west. In Montana." Territories were huge out there and the packs even bigger. "My family, well, my dad really, was the alpha of the biggest pack in the state. And he was even worse than Dawson."
"Dawson?"
"The alpha of the Iron Runners."
"Ah, right."
He kept talking, and the longer he went, the easier it got. "Everyone thought I'd take over for him. But he poisoned that pack from the top down. It was all strict discipline, cruelty for cruelty's sake. I'm glad you didn't meet me a few years ago, right after I joined up with Cole. I wasn't someone you'd want to know back then." Reece was a puppy compared to how vicious Nico had been that first year, and Nico was lucky that Cole had given him the time to heal.
She squeezed his hand. "I can't imagine you being someone I wouldn't want to know."
He huffed out a laugh. "Believe it. I was a dick."
"Oh, you were totally a dick when I met you, too. Clearly I have a type." She gave him a playful glare. Then she scowled. "Did my sisters hurt anyone other than you in the attack? Now that you're telling me you're all superheroes or something I feel even worse."
Nico had to be honest. "I don't know. And we're definitely not heroes. There's a reason we're hiding from both of our people right now. Maybe we should go hang out around the university after we check out. There's plenty of places to bum around there. We can figure out our next move."
Elise looked away from him and grew tense. "I don't think that's a good idea. Apparently, you weren't really paying attention last night, but the coven house is close to the university. And Serena is an adjunct professor there, so it's not exactly safe territory, even if its neutral."
Nico tried to imagine the warrior-witch grading papers and holding lectures and couldn't. How did she resist zapping students who talked back in class or didn't turn in their homework? She really didn't seem to have an educator's temperament.
"You could go back to your pack," Elise offered. "You'll be safe there, and I guess I can go back to the coven."
"Won't you be in trouble?" He put his arm around her and pulled her even closer.
She tilted her head up and gave him a look. "They'll be pissed at me, but at this point I don't care because I am super pissed at them. I told you it's fine. Believe me. Are werewolf packs really that different—your terrible childhood notwithstanding?"
"The alpha is in charge," Nico said, and it was as simple as that. "Cole tries not to be a dick about it, but he gets the final say. Doesn't your coven have a leader?"
She shrugged. "Not really. Briana sort of, I guess. But it's more of a democracy … or a bunch of independent magic users with ideas of their own butting heads until we all kind of come to a consensus."
"It doesn't matter anyway." He shook his head. "It's not a good option. I'm not walking away from you this time. We've tried that. It sucks. I don't want to."
"So what do we do about that?" she asked. "Because I have never heard of a witch and werewolf dating."
"Be real," he said, "we can't be the first people to get together."
"It kind of feels like it though, doesn't it?"
He only had one idea, and it was a little bit insane. But if they were going to be together without running away to a deserted island somewhere and eking out an existence like frontiersmen, they had to take a step and ask for acceptance.
"I think we should call Javi," he said, watching her reaction carefully.
