Nico moved from squeezing her hand to putting his arm around her shoulder. "That's basically what Austin said," he confirmed, and Elise nodded along with him. "This was his own personal crusade against relationships between werewolves and witches. He planned to execute us to send a message."
"That motherfucking asshole!" Delainey scowled. "Who the fuck does he think he is?"
Inappropriate laughter threatened to bubble up inside Elise. This was a serious moment. They had almostdied. She and Nico had just been kidnapped and had to sit there contemplating what their last words would be. And here Delainey was, being a comedian.
"Wasn't that your opinion literally six hours ago?" she asked her coven sister.
Delainey shrugged and didn't look the least bit repentant. "I can think it's kind of weird that you're bumping uglies, but I'm not going to kill you for it. What the hell?" Delainey met her eyes. "As far as I'm concerned, you can come back home. I don't care who you date. If you wanthim,"she groaned, "so be it."
Serena was nodding right next to her. "The stupid werewolves probably need to keep us close just to keep them alive."
Aya gave her a soft smile. "I never wanted you to leave in the first place."
And that left Briana, who was already nodding. "You will always have a home with me."
Heat bloomed in Elise’s chest, and a tear threatened to fall from her eye, which she really hoped she managed not to do because she wouldn't live that down. They weren't a coven known for their genuine displays of emotion among each other.
She leaned her head on Nico's shoulder and just nodded. Serena made a disgusted noise, but Elise wasn't going to back off. They could tease her all they wanted, but if they said theywere going to accept the relationship, she was going to take them at their word.
It looked like they were settling this now, because Cole looked at Nico and said, "It's not my place to tell you who to love, and I'm not going to cling to some useless prejudice, especially when she's done nothing to earn our ire. Just don't try moving her into the pack house."
Elise rolled her eyes. "Shehas her own home," she said. "I think we'll be okay." And given the response she had received in the few days she had stayed with the pack, she didn't want to move in there anyway.
A new car pulled up to the parking lot, and everybody froze. Delainey summoned magic to her hand but kept it low, in case it was a human security guard, or some students out to hassle them.
But she had never seen a security guard wearing a suit as expensive as the one the man who got out of the car was wearing. He approached them and appeared to be about as old as Cole, somewhere in his mid-thirties. From the way the werewolves were growling at him, she was pretty sure this was a wolf, and not a friendly one.
"Dawson." Nico scowled.
Right. Dawson, the head of the Iron Runner pack. Wonderful.
Nico stepped in front of Elise, and Delainey surged to the front of the group with Reece joining the vanguard, ready to pounce on the rival alpha if things started to go down.
Dawson held his hands up. "I come in peace."
"I texted him and told him we would be here," Cole explained. "I figured it was best to get this all taken care of tonight."
So they really were taking care ofeverything. No more loose ends, no more secrets, no more war, Elise hoped.
"You all seem to be alive," Dawson said. "I had no idea what Austin was planning, and I would have never condoned it. I expect my wolves to follow the rules, but I understand the limits of my territory."
"Do you really?" Javi asked.
Dawson didn't so much as look at him.
"Your man abducted a coven-affiliated witch off of coven territory along with a wolf," Briana said, and now she sounded like a coven leader. "He abducted the daughter of the healer from the Wallace Grove coven. We could call them at any minute and let them know that happened."
Shock rippled through the wolves, and Elise wanted to groan. Did they really need to bring her parents into this?
"Wallace Grove?" Dawson asked, and some of the confidence had left his voice. The Iron Runner pack were the main power in the city of Hobson, of course, but Wallace Grove was a coven that could rival them in size and ferocity. The Southern Basin Pack wasn't much of a threat to the Iron Runner pack on an existential level—the Wallace Grove coven was.
"I only want peace," Dawson insisted. "Austin will be exiled from the pack if he survives his wounds, as will any other members of the pack who were expressly acting against my wishes. Does that settle things?"
"It does for me," Cole said.
Briana looked at Elise. "It's your call."
Elise glanced up at Nico and then at everyone who surrounded them. She held it for another beat because she knew exactly what she wanted, and that was to make Dawson sweat.
