Nicholas vaguely registered the conversation in some corner of his mind, but most of his attention was focused on the man in his arms.
He’d never see Jonas smile at him again. They’d never make love in the shower or sit down to dinner together again. He’d never hear Jonas tell him he loved him, or call him Nicky.
Life as he knew it had ceased to exist, yet the world still continued to spin. “I need that book.”
“No,” Kieran answered firmly. Then he sighed and scrubbed at his face. “I’m sorry. I am, but he’s gone. It’s not right to try to bring him back because you can’t bear to let him go.”
“C’mon, Nicky.” Torren tried to pull Jonas from his arms, but Nicholas bared his fangs and growled viciously at the witch. “Don’t touch him, and don’t call me that!”
Torren held his hands up in surrender and spoke quietly and soothingly. “It’s time to let him go. I know it hurts. It’s always going to hurt, but it will get easier over time. Don’t make the same mistakes as your brother.”
The men surrounded him, forming a tight circle. Even Raven, Bannon, and the pilot, Carlos, were there, each being held up by one of their friends. “Let him go,” Varik whispered.
“No!” Nicholas clutched Jonas to him tighter and rocked him back and forth. “I swore I wouldn’t. I promised him!” Didn’t any of them understand? He’d broken so many promises and told so many lies.
Not this time, though. “I bound us together and told him I’d never forget him again.”
“You don’t have to forget him,” Demos said gently. “That’s not what we’re saying.”
Torren, on the other hand, zeroed in on another part of Nicholas’s statement. “What do you mean? How did you bind him to you?”
“I claimed him,” Nicholas whispered, shame filling him as he remembered the exact moment that he’d damned his mate to this fate.
Then he repeated the words he’d spoken in that moment of passion.
To his shock and disgust, Torren smiled from ear to ear then fell back on his butt and started chuckling.
“This is funny to you?”
Torren shook his head but continued to laugh. “I’m just relieved.”
Okay, that made no sense to Nicholas and only served to piss him off more.
“Is it my imagination, or is he looking a little less…dead?” Kieran asked, pointing down at Jonas and cocking an eyebrow.
Nicholas followed his gaze and gasped. Before his eyes, Jonas’s body had begun to fill out, regain its muscular definition, and take on a healthier look. His skin didn’t appear as gray and ashy, and the wrinkles were gone, restoring it to its previous smooth perfection.
Please, please, please. Oh, God, please don’t let me lose him.
Nicholas made all sorts of vows to any deity he could think of that might be out there in the universe and sympathetic to his plight.
The weight resting on his thighs increased, and Jonas’s hair took on a sleek shine, the strands turning silky beneath Nicholas’s palm.
“That’s it, Jonas. Open your eyes, baby. Come back to me. I’m not the only one who made promises. We’re going to be together forever, remember?”
When Jonas jerked in his arms and sucked in a huge, gasping breath, Nicholas couldn’t keep the tears at bay any longer. He didn’t exactly fall apart, but a few drops escaped out of the corners of his eyes as he squeezed them closed and shivered in relief.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” he repeated as he rained kisses over the top of his mate’s head and down the side of his face.
“Nicky,” Jonas breathed against Nicholas’s neck. Shifting to his side, his long arms wrapped around Nicholas’s waist and crushed him in his embrace. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Nicholas chuckled wetly and rested his chin on the top of Jonas’s head. “You’re the one who dies, and you’re still worried about me.”
“I’ll always worry about you.”
“I know, baby. I know. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Jonas kissed the side of his neck and eased away. “Don’t call me baby.”
“Not that I’m not thrilled, but would someone mind explaining how he’s alive?” Varik closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is insane. I’m going back to Wyoming, and I swear to fuck, I’m never leaving again.”
“Agreed,” Jonas said with a solemn nod of his head. “He’s got a point, though. How am I alive?”
Torren was still grinning from ear to ear when he stood and reached out to help Jonas and Nicholas up as well. “When a witch claims a mate, they’re bound together, much like shifters.” He dipped his head toward the shifters of the group, who all nodded their understanding agreement. “If a shifter dies after claiming a mate, their mate’s life is forfeit as well. It’s a pretty big deal, if you ask me.”
“You have no idea,” Ridley muttered under his breath.
“When a witch claims a mate, it’s the opposite. Your life forces become one, but you can’t die unless your mate dies as well.”
“Like the binding spell Phillip cast on Moonstar,” Nicholas whispered, mostly to himself.
“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but yes, like a binding spell, though permanent.”
“Wait.” Nicholas exchanged a look with Jonas then turned back to Torren. “So, unless a binding spell is between mates, it can fade away?”
Torren shrugged. “Well, yeah. The spell has to be renewed every year at the exact time on the exact day. Even magic has laws and limitations.”
“So, Phillip could die now?” Jonas asked bluntly, and he actually took a step forward as though he intended to dole out the sentence himself.
Nicholas grabbed his elbow and pulled him back, though. “Phillip will be punished, but I won’t have his blood on your hands.” His mate didn’t look very happy about it, but he nodded and leaned into Nicholas’s side. “Can you at least take his magic?” he asked Torren
“I could, but I don’t want it. What resides inside Phillip is dark and dangerous. Let The Council deal with him.”
“What about decapitation?” Raven asked out of the blue.
Everyone turned to stare at him in confusion, but he just waved a hand around as though they were all the crazy ones. “I mean if one mate gets his head chopped off, would he still come back to life if the other mate was still alive?”
Torren snorted and rolled his eyes. “Nice visual, and the answer is no. Like I said before, even magic has its limitations.” Raven bobbed his head slowly. “We should inform The Council about all of this before they attempt to execute Natalie Halstead.”
“I completely forgot about her.” Nicholas shook his head. “Do we have time to make it back to Wyoming before sunrise?” Varik glanced down at his watch and shook his head. “We would be able to just barely make it, but we don’t have a plane.”
“I can fly you.” Blair, the Trinity Pack beta, stepped forward and offered his hand to Jonas. “Glad you’re not dead,” he said by way of greeting as they shook. “So, how about it? Who wants to go home?” Not surprisingly, the vote was unanimous. Ridley insisted on accompanying them, along with Kieran. Devlin and his brothers said they’d drive back and deliver Phillip to The Council on the way.
There was only one thing left for Nicholas to do.
Grabbing Jonas by his shirt collar, he yanked the man to him and covered his lips in a searing kiss that rivaled the heat of the desert.
Not caring who watched, he poured every ounce of emotion he’d felt in the last two hundred years into the mating of their lips.
Several whistles and catcalls went up around the group, and some even clapped their hands and cheered like the jackasses they were.
Nicholas didn’t care. They were alive, and he never had to give up his mate. He definitely had a lot to celebrate.
* * * *
For someone who’d died, he felt great. Jonas stretched his legs out in front of him, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes. “Have you thought ab
out what you want to do now?” he asked casually.
“What do you mean?” Nicholas took his hand and held it on the armrest between them, squeezing it firmly. “I really hate fucking flying.”
Jonas chuckled and pushed up a little straighter in his seat as he shifted around to get a better look at his mate. Nicholas certainly looked a little green around the gills. Poor baby. Jonas wouldn’t ever utter those words aloud. He rather enjoyed his balls right where they were, thank you very much. “Now that everything is as back to normal as it’s going to be for a while, I was just wondering if we would be going back to Olympia.”
Rolling his head to the side, Nicholas cracked one eye open to look at Jonas. “Olympia is our home, and I have an obligation to our coven. I’m their leader, Jonas. I can’t just walk away from my responsibilities.”
Jonas bobbed his head. “Yeah, I know.”
“Why?” Nicholas readjusted so that he was sitting on his side, facing Jonas. “Do you not want to go back? Did you want to stay in Haven?”
Jonas could understand Nicholas’s aversion to remaining in Wyoming. He’d been cursed during his stay in Haven, and even his memories of Jonas at the time weren’t happy ones. Jonas, however, had made a few friends and finally felt like part of a family. They’d taken him in, helped him protect the one person most important to him, and though they’d heard the stories of how he’d released Natalie, no one ever judged him.
Olympia had been his home for a long time, but other than the pond, he had only a handful of memories worth keeping. Being head of the guard, and an Enforcer to boot, didn’t exactly endear him to the leery and skeptical vampires of the Olympia Coven. Again, not that he could blame them. Phillip had instilled that fear and distrust of authority with centuries of mistreatment. It wouldn’t all simply fade away overnight.
“Whatever you want,” he finally answered. Wherever Nicholas went, Jonas would follow. It was as simple as that. Besides, he didn’t think it was fair for him to ask his mate to step down from a position that was his natural birthright.
Nicholas groaned and rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I asked.
Yes, I think my coven needs me. I have a responsibility to them, and I haven’t always been the best leader.”
“That’s not true,” Jonas interrupted. “You’re an amazing leader.”
“Thank you, though I think you might be a bit biased.” He lifted their clasped hands and brushed a kiss over Jonas’s knuckles. “Either way, the point is that I can be better. Raven tells me that there were several members brought before The Council for kidnapping and trading children to the witches.”
“Yes, but that isn’t your fault.” If anything it was Jonas’s for getting his mate bewitched in the first place. “They were scared because of what happened to you and went to extreme measures to protect themselves. Now that Elder Cortez is there, I hear things have settled down again.”
Nicholas nodded thoughtfully. “We have a few days to discuss it and decide what’s best for both of us. We need to appear before The Council to show that I’m no longer cursed, and I’d like to be there for Natalie’s trial.”
“I don’t think there will be a trial. Elder Winters only said that she was to be executed on the first of the month.” Nicholas waved him away. “I just meant that we need to share what information we have with them. You know, the Magiks really should have some kind of representation on The Council.” It wasn’t the first time Jonas had heard that in the last few months, and he doubted it would be the last. “Yes, well, good luck finding a witch willing, not to mention fighting the elders to accept something like that.” According to Stavion, it had been nearly impossible to get Cortez on The Council, and Stavion had been ordered to find a replacement for the vampire seat.
“Do we really need The Council?”
Jonas looked around quickly to make sure no one was eavesdropping as he hushed his lover. “Nicky, have you lost your mind? That’s treason.”
“I’m just saying,” Nicholas continued, not bothering to lower his voice. “Why can’t the different classes rule themselves? The vampires could have a council, the shifters, the weres, and so on. Doesn’t it seem ridiculous that a shifter should decide the fate of a vampire?”
“And why can’t we have guns?” Kieran asked as he turned to look over the seatback at them. “Do you know how many times I’ve been shot at? Hell, they don’t even have to be real guns. Maybe we can carry tranquilizer guns or Taser guns.”
“Am I the only person who thinks this whole registry thing is bogus, and it’s just a way to control us?” Raven chimed in from the seat across the aisle.
“The Council is outdated,” Demos added. “I’m not saying we should do away with it completely, but it needs a complete overhaul.” Jonas agreed with everything they were saying, he just didn’t know how to do anything about it. “Layke has been hanging around Haven a lot, right?”
“Who’s Layke?” Nicholas asked with his brow furrowed.
“Elder Winters,” Jonas answered, distracted, while he looked at the others for their answer.
“Yeah, he’s a good guy,” Varik answered. “I don’t think he has a lot of pull with the other elders, though. The way he tells it, they’ve been trying to get him off The Council for years.” They hadn’t accomplished anything—didn’t have any answers—but their debate had done the trick in distracting Nicholas from his fear of flying. That is, until the pilot announced they’d be landing in approximately ten minutes. Then he went stiff and paled again.
Leaning over the armrest, Jonas tilted his mate’s face to him and claimed his lips in slow, sweet kiss. “There, that’s better,” he whispered a minute later when they pulled away.
“Are you going to continue kissing me until the plane is on the ground?” Nicholas teased.
Jonas smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s the plan.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Leader McCarthy, it’s good to see you back to yourself,” Elder Layke Winters said from his place on the dais beside the other elders.
“I understand you’ve had quite the adventure while trying to recover your memories.”
Nicholas stood in front of The Council with Jonas by his side and nodded. “Yes, Elder Winters.” He wasn’t there to discuss how they’d gone about breaking the spell, though. He was there to assure that the elders followed through on their deal and cleared Jonas of all charges.
They weren’t alone, either. Ridley, Blair, and three of his Enforcers had flown in from Nevada for the hearing. Stavion and almost every Enforcer from Haven were seated in the crowd behind them. Torren was there to lend his support and expertise on the Magiks if necessary. Even Malakai and his mates were in attendance.
Nicholas hoped he had a chance to apologize to all three of them before he and Jonas left for Washington.
“The bewitchment is lifted, Natalie Halstead has been apprehended and is currently awaiting her sentence, and I believe that means Enforcer Tracer is free to go.” Elder Winters nodded at Jonas and threw a quick wink to Nicholas.
Elder Macintosh cleared his throat and shuffled some papers around on his desk. “There is still the matter of an Enforcer Becker.” He looked down at his notes again. “It says he was brought to The Council because he’d also been cursed by Natalie Halstead. As of yet, we haven’t been able to make that determination. It is still possible that he was acting of his own accord.”
Nicholas wanted to roll his eyes. Elder Macintosh was a shifter, and if the rumors were true, he was a bird shifter at that—not a hawk, eagle, or some other bird of prey, but a fucking finch of all things.
The man liked throwing his weight around and letting everyone know just how much he liked being in charge.
He was a thorn in the side and a pompous, pretentious asshole as far as Nicholas was concerned. “I’m sorry, Elder,” he said amicably.
“I don’t see how that relates to Enforcer Tracer.”
“Seeing how he bargained with a captive and re
leased her, he is thereby indirectly responsible for the bewitchment placed on Hollis Becker.”
Nicholas growled and bared his fangs at Macintosh. “You just said you weren’t sure if there was a spell. Try again, Elder.” Nicholas still remembered when Samuel Macintosh was a pissant, freckly teenager with bad acne and zero self-esteem. The fact that Nicholas was over a hundred and fifty years older than the asshole but still had to follow his orders was a hard pill to swallow, especially when the man was wrong nine times out of ten.
“Nicky, let it go,” Jonas whispered out of the side of his mouth.
“He’s got nothing, and he’s grasping at straws.”
“Why doesn’t he like you?” Nicholas asked, barely moving his lips.
Jonas shrugged almost imperceptibly while he continued staring at the elders with only vague curiosity on his face.
“Elder, if I may,” Torren said, rising to his feet and straightening his tie.
“You are?” Elder Means asked. As weres went, the man was an okay guy. Technically, he was a lycan, and he certainly wasn’t in a league with Kieran or his siblings, but Nicholas liked him well enough just the same.
“Torren Braddock.”
Nicholas didn’t think it was his imagination that Elder Macintosh looked a little paler as he pressed his wrinkled lips together and sat up a bit straighter. “Torren Braddock,” he repeated. “Would your father be the late Riley Braddock?”
Torren dipped his head. “The very same,” he answered with a crooked smirk. “You already knew that, though, didn’t you? How could you not, seeing as how you’re the one who ordered his execution.”
Quiet gasps and murmurs went around the room, and Elder Macintosh looked in danger of stroking out right there in his seat. “I–I’m sure I have no idea what you mean.”
“As the eldest of the Braddock children, the Magik seat on the council is mine.” Torren chuckled darkly under his breath as he walked forward to join Nicholas and Jonas. “The seat you so adamantly fight against filling, the one you insist doesn’t exist? It belongs to me.”
Haven 3: Forgotten Sins Page 11
