The sun would be up in less than four hours, and they’d need to spend the day on the plane since none of the hotels offered the type of protection they needed from the sun. So, of course, Nicholas wanted to go to the casinos again. While the idea behind the trip was to recreate some of their more…adventurous endeavors, Jonas wasn’t about to go traipsing through the urban desert so close to sunrise.
And what the hell was Nicholas keeping from him? He’d obviously remembered something, and the fact that he wasn’t letting Jonas in on the secret was driving him bat-shit crazy.
“To hell with it.” Jonas pushed up from his seat and stomped toward the front of the plane, intent on finding his mate and either kissing the breath out of him or socking him in the eye. Both sounded tempting, though neither would accomplish anything useful. “It would make me feel a lot fucking better,” he mumbled under his breath as he reached the exit and descended the steps.
He had to admit that Nicholas’s status as leader, and the contacts he’d made over the years, did come in handy at times. The airstrip they were currently sitting on belonged to a shifter pack just outside of Las Vegas. Jonas couldn’t remember the name of the pack or even what they shifted into, and he didn’t really care.
It was Nicholas’s job to be the diplomat and use his fancy words to create alliances and extend the proverbial olive branch. Jonas just kicked the shit out of stuff or blasted it back to the Stone Age. It was a dirty job, and a damn sight more fun than using his grown-up words.
“Jonas, we have a problem.”
“No.” He shook his head as he stepped out onto the asphalt. “We do not have a problem. We have a whole truckload of problems.” He pointed his finger in Nicholas’s face and growled. “Do not tell me that something else is wrong.”
Nicholas eyed him for a few seconds before nodding slowly.
“Very well. How about I tell you the good news instead?”
“That would be great and highly appreciated.” Jonas scrubbed at his face with both hands. He’d underestimated how long they had before sunrise. It was coming toward them swiftly if his achy muscles and itchy eyes were any indication. He felt exhausted and weary right down to his bones.
“The good news is that…” he trailed off and looked down at his shoes for a long time before he finally met Jonas’s eyes again. “Okay, here’s the thing. There is no good news. The three musketeers and the pilot are MIA, and we have no vehicle.”
“No.” Jonas shook his head firmly. “That is unacceptable.” Nicholas rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “That doesn’t change the fact that we have four missing people, and we’re trapped here.”
“How do you know Bannon is missing? Maybe he just hasn’t returned from getting food yet.” Jonas was grasping at straws, but the alternative was too bleak to even entertain.
“I guess you could be right, but it seems unlikely. I’ll call the Trinity Pack. Hopefully, they can spare some Enforcers or at the very least get us off this airstrip. You call Stavion and give him the details.” Nicholas patted his pockets and frowned. “Where’s my cell phone?”
Jonas narrowed his eyes and took a step closer to his mate. He still couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but something had changed about Nicholas. This take-charge attitude he was currently sporting looked good on him and reminded Jonas of the old Nicholas before he’d been cursed.
“You should probably call Malakai and let him know that you’ll be home soon,” he baited. “We wouldn’t want him to worry about you.”
Nicholas continued to pat his pockets absently as though his phone would just magically appear. “Who?” he asked distractedly.
“Your mate.” Jonas continued to prod, anxious for the response he’d receive from Nicholas.
“Malakai isn’t my mate.” Nicholas spun in a circle as his eyes darted back and forth. “Jo, we really don’t have time for this. Now, give me my damn phone so we can get the hell out of here. I don’t know who took the others or why they left us, but I think it’s fair to say that they’ll be back. I don’t want to be here when that happens.”
“How many times have I told you not to call me that ridiculous name?” Jonas huffed and poked Nicholas in the chest.
Nicholas smirked and leaned closer, causing Jonas’s finger to press more firmly into his sternum. “I’d guess as many times as I’ve told you not to call me Nicky.” Then he did the most amazing thing.
He dipped his head and pressed their lips together.
It was short and chaste, but Jonas’s heart kicked hard against his ribs, and his frame vibrated in a full-body shiver. He grabbed Nicholas’s face in both hands, preventing the vampire’s escape, and stared into his eyes, searching for that special Nicky spark. “You’re back.”
One side of Nicholas’s mouth arched up in a half-smile. “Yeah, I’m back.”
“How? I don’t understand. I’ve been telling you the same shit for months now. It wasn’t supposed to be this easy.” He was babbling, but he couldn’t stop. He’d done it. He didn’t know how the hell he’d done it, but all that mattered was that Nicholas wouldn’t be facing the firing squad.
“Are you complaining?” Nicholas pecked him on the nose and chuckled before pulling away. “Yes, you have been telling me, but you never showed me. Up until the other day, you just kept telling me how I was wrong, but you never gave me a reason to believe it. By forcing me to realize that whole parts of my life were missing, you planted a seed of doubt.”
For the last few months, Jonas had spent all of his time feeling sorry for himself because Nicholas didn’t want him, being pissed off because the witch had tricked him, or trying to control his jealousy over his mate’s obsession with another man. So, basically, he’d been a selfish asshole, making it all about him and doing very little to force Nicholas to see the truth.
Over and over, he’d yelled, growled, and demanded that Nicholas snap the hell out of it. Never once had he given the man any reason to believe him or trust him. He hadn’t asked questions. He hadn’t probed any further than to realize that Nicholas didn’t want him.
That had been the same merry-go-round for years, so it had never occurred to him that his mate honestly didn’t remember him at all beyond his guard and casual acquaintance. That still didn’t excuse him from not manning up and trying to find answers sooner, though.
Jonas couldn’t stop himself from grabbing Nicholas and crushing the man to him. Oh, the leader was definitely back. No one could talk like Nicky or make him feel like such an ass with a few well-chosen words. The man could describe the crushing of a bug and make it sound like poetry. It was just one of the many things he loved about the guy.
Love. If Nicholas had regained his memory, that meant…
Jonas jerked away but kept a hold on Nicholas’s upper arms. Did he dare ask? Maybe he should just celebrate the return of his mate and worry about the catalyst later. He couldn’t do it, though. For hundreds of years he’d agonized over what Nicholas found lacking in him. He needed answers.
“You love me.” Okay, that wasn’t a question, and probably not the best way to coax Nicholas into the conversation. He was tired of subtleties and avoidance. For too long he’d put their relationship on the back burner, too afraid of the answer to push the subject.
Well, he wasn’t afraid any longer. He was pissed. This was proof of Nicholas’s love for him, and one way or another, he would force the truth from his mate. “Tell me, Nicky. Say it.” Nicholas sighed as though he found Jonas completely exasperating. “Of course I love you, jackass.” That wasn’t the answer Jonas had been expecting. Nicholas wouldn’t lie to him, but he’d expected avoidance or possibly redirection. The straightforwardness left him fumbling for what to say next. So, he asked the burning question he’d been dying to ask for years. “Why?”
“Jonas, listen to me.” Nicholas stepped closer, shook off Jonas’s hold on his arms, and cradled his face in both palms. “There are things that you don’t know about me. Things I never wanted you t
o know. It’s too dangerous to keep you in the dark now, though. I’m going to need your help, which means I’ll explain everything to you.” He released Jonas’s face and glanced around, searching the night.
“Then tell me!” What secret could be so important that Nicholas would keep it from him for over two hundred years?
“We need to get out of here.” Nicholas returned his attention to Jonas and his eyes begged for understanding. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. Can that be enough for now?” It was the same song and dance they’d been doing for years. Jonas couldn’t deny his mate anything. Digging in his pocket, he extracted Nicholas’s cell phone and passed it over. “Make the call. I’ll get in touch with Stavion.”
“Thank you.” Nicholas took his phone, but before he could dial, his head snapped up, his nostrils flared, and he began walking backward. “Jonas, get away from the plane.” Jonas didn’t hesitate. He might not know everything, and Nicholas was definitely keeping secrets from him, but he still trusted the man with his life. Judging by the look on Nicholas’s face, that’s exactly what was in jeopardy if he didn’t move his ass.
Tamping down his emotions, he flipped the switch into full Enforcer mode. The night was eerily silent around them. Even the breeze seemed hushed. Walking purposefully behind Nicholas, he searched for any sound, any smell that seemed out of place.
Nicholas grabbed his wrist and jerked as he began sprinting across the tarmac away from the plane. “Run!” he shouted.
“Ardeat et dissipandum. Flamma vindictae,” a voice whispered on the wind.
The force of the explosion hit Jonas in the back like a locomotive, sending him hurdling through the air to land on top of a fallen Nicholas. Burning debris rained from the sky, and the heat from the flames scorched his skin.
“Nicky!” Jonas scrambled off his mate and got them both to their feet. “Fuck, are you okay?”
“Go!” Nicholas yelled in answer. He shoved at Jonas while he pointed to the hangar with his other hand. “There! Run and don’t look back.”
Jonas ran several feet before he realized that Nicholas wasn’t following him. In fact, the man was sprinting in the opposite direction. Sliding to a stop, he turned around and began chasing after the asshole. “Nicky! Get back here, damn it!” Over the roar of the fire, he could hear Nicholas yelling words in a language he didn’t understand. The words held no meaning to him, but as he continued to run toward his mate, the flames engulfing the aircraft grew smaller until there was only a smoldering pile of burnt metal.
Jonas stopped in his tracks and gaped in awe and confusion. With that little stunt, he got the distinct impression that Nicholas’s secrets were bigger and more dangerous than he’d ever imagined.
It was magic, pure and simple. Well, he didn’t know how pure it was, but it seemed simple enough to guess what had extinguished the inferno. Nicholas couldn’t be a witch, though. It wasn’t possible. He knew everything about the man, inside and out, and this definitely wasn’t on the inventory.
Footsteps pounded across the asphalt as Nicholas rushed up to him, sweaty and panting. “We have to get out of here.”
“What the fuck just happened?” Jonas pointed unnecessarily toward the wreckage. “What did that? How did you do that?”
“Jonas, please! I’ll explain everything as soon as you’re safe. We need to go now.”
Jonas had spent the last several months caring for Nicholas and keeping him out of harm’s way. While he much preferred Nicholas in all his courageous and confident glory, he was having trouble switching roles. He’d been head of the man’s guards since Nicholas had taken over the coven. He protected his mate, not the other way around.
“I’m going to get us out of here, and then you’re going to explain every last fucking detail of this shit. If I get even the hint that you’re lying or keeping something from me, I’m going to kick your ass. Then, I’ll leave, and I swear to everything holy that you’ll never see me again. Are we clear?”
“I’m sorry.”
Jonas held his hands up and shook his head. “I don’t want your apologies. I want answers, and I want the truth. Right now, just shut the hell up and let me think.” The first thing he needed to do was figure out how to get them off the airstrip and out of the open.
If their enemy was using magic against them, the aircraft hangar no longer seemed like a viable option. Hell, nowhere was safe enough for Jonas’s liking. “Can you do a protection spell?” The words tasted bitter on his tongue, but he was more concerned with keeping them alive than feeling hurt and betrayed over the mystery and lies surrounding Nicholas.
“I can,” Nicholas murmured, looking anywhere but at him. “It won’t be very strong, though, and I can only hold it for so long.”
Jonas dipped his head curtly while he punched in Stavion’s number on his phone. “Get to it.”
“Jonas?” Stavion answered on the third ring. “What happened?”
“Raven, Bannon, Torren, and the pilot, Carlos, are missing. The plane is a pile of cinder, and we’re being hunted by witches.” He didn’t miss the irony in his last statement. The term witch hunt had taken on a whole new meaning. “We need help.”
“Where are you?”
“Trinity Pack airstrip just outside of Vegas. Stavion, we’re fucked. Walking is the only way out, and we’re too exposed for that.”
“Sit tight,” Stavion ordered. “I’m on it.”
“Custodes tuere nos. Keep nobis tutus. Eicere nos malum, et qui voluerit nocere. Custodes tuere nos. Ligate circuli, ita non intrabit.
Guardians protect us. Bind the circle so it shall not enter. Guardians protect us.”
Nicholas’s witchy shit was freaking him the fuck out. How could he have never known? What other secrets was Nicholas hiding? Who had attacked them in the first place? “You’ve gotta give me something.”
Nicholas stopped moving, dropped his head, and sighed. When he looked up, there was a fear in his eyes that made the hair on the back of Jonas’s neck stand on end. “Phillip isn’t dead.”
Chapter Six
Holding the circle took a lot of energy, and, with the sunrise so close, Nicholas was drained. If help didn’t arrive soon, they were sitting ducks. “I can’t hold it much longer.” Jonas glared at him before turning his back and crossing his arms over his chest. They’d been playing the silent game for more than an hour. Nicholas understood why Jonas was angry with him, but it wasn’t helping their situation. If they were going to stay alive, they needed to trust each other and work together. After all the lies he’d told and things he’d neglected to inform his mate of, it was a pretty tall order to ask Jonas to trust him.
“Jonas, I’m sorry. It wasn’t safe for me to tell you.”
“Don’t.” Jonas spun around and snarled. “Just don’t. Not now, Nicholas.”
While Nicholas bitched and moaned about Jonas calling him Nicky, he secretly loved the nickname spoken from his mate. Jonas only ever called him Nicholas when they were in public or he was pissed. Well, they were alone now, so that meant Jonas was gearing up for battle.
“You wanted answers,” he reasoned.
“Yes. I wanted answers, not fucking excuses! I’ve been with you through everything. I’ve never hidden anything from you. Every dark shadow, every skeleton in the closet, every condemning act I’ve committed—you know it all. How could you keep something like this from me?”
“I didn’t have a choice.” Maybe it hadn’t been the valiant and noble thing to do, but Nicholas would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping his mate protected from his brother. “You were marked. Phillip would have destroyed you.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make!” Jonas showed no signs of backing down from his stance any time soon. “Why is Phillip alive? You told me you killed him.” He tilted his head to the side and frowned. “Why did you challenge him anyway?”
“He needed to be stopped, and I was the only one who could do it.” The statement was vague though truthful. It was as m
uch as Nicholas could divulge, however. He’d promised to tell Jonas everything, and he would, but not until they were safe.
Jonas looked like he’d start shouting again, but the sound of tires screeching against the pavement had them both spinning around just in time to see headlights whip around the corner and come barreling straight toward them.
“Don’t move,” Nicholas ordered. “Don’t leave the circle.”
“Are you fucking nuts? They’re going to make roadkill out of us.” Jonas grabbed Nicholas around the elbow and tried to tug him to the side, but Nicholas stood firm.
“Don’t move,” he repeated. “The circle will hold.”
“Are you listening to yourself?” Jonas waved his arms around frantically. “The only thing separating us and that car is thin air!”
“Trust me.” Luckily, they didn’t need to put that trust to the test.
A dark SUV fishtailed to a stop just feet from them, and two men flew out of the passenger doors.
“Enforcer Tracer and Leader McCarthy?” one of them asked.
“Who are you?” Jonas countered with distrust dripping from his voice.
“Enforcer Lance Renshaw from the Trinity Pack.” He pointed to the mountain of a man beside him. “This is Enforcer Callum Fielding. You’re to come with us.”
Nicholas stood perfectly still, and he was pleased to note that the only move Jonas made was to reach into his pocket and extract his cell phone. He dialed quickly and held the phone to his ear, his eyes never leaving the two shifters in front of them.
“Yeah, Stavion? Do you know two Enforcers by the names of Fielding and Renshaw from the Trinity Pack?” Pausing to listen to Stavion’s answer, Jonas bobbed his head a few times before thanking the coven leader and disconnecting the call. “They’re straight,” he said to Nicholas as he stepped forward out of the protective circle.
Haven 3: Forgotten Sins Page 5
