A Whitedell Christmas

by Catherine Lievens

  “Fine, okay. Honestly, I don’t know. What is it?”

  “Bradley, of course.”

  Keenan frowned. “I can’t deny I’d be happier if he wasn’t around, but I’m not sure what he has to do with Christmas.”

  Nysys huffed again and threw himself against the back of his chair. “How is anyone in this house supposed to celebrate and be happy when we all know Bradley is out there somewhere, waiting for us to lower our guard to attack and kill us all as painfully as he can?”

  Keenan tapped his fingers on his desk and tried to think about how he could explain life to Nysys. “Look, you’re right, but it’s not like we can do anything about it. There’s always something, and you can’t solve all the problems every single pride member has.”

  “I don’t want to. I just want to solve the big one.”

  “Dominic is taking care of that.”

  Nysys scowled. “You don’t think I can do it?”

  The answer was no, but Keenan didn’t want to fight with his best friend. “Of course you can, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea. I don’t want you to be hurt, and you know that’s what will happen if you barge in wherever Bradley is and try to... what do you want to do to him anyway? Kill him?”

  “I thought about it, but I don’t think I could stand the blood. You know how things went when we sneaked in over at Isaiah’s skulk to see the bodies.”

  Yeah, Keenan remembered it. They’d been eager, why he wasn’t even sure. He’d felt like he was doing something to help the pride, but the sight of dead people had made him queasy. There had been no hiding it, and he’d asked Nysys to shimmer him home.

  “Okay, so no killing,” he said. “So what? You’re going to bring him here?”

  “Fuck no. I’m going to shimmer him to the council jail. I’m sure Dominic already has a cell with Bradley’s name on it and everything.”

  “You do realize it won’t be that easy, right?”

  “Pfft. I’ll make it easy. I just need to find out where he is, shimmer there, grab him and shimmer back. Et voilà! The Grinch will be gone, and we’ll have Christmas again.”

  There were so many things Keenan wanted to tell Nysys. He didn’t even know where to start. “Again, it’s not going to be that easy. What about the other hunters? What if Bradley sees you shimmering in and shifts? What if he tears your throat out?”

  Nysys pouted. “Why are you trying to scare me?”

  “Because I don’t want to lose you, and I don’t want you to be hurt.”

  Keenan wouldn’t have been surprised if Nysys had continued to insist, but instead, he sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I really want to get rid of him, though.”

  “So do I, but getting killed isn’t going to help. What would Morin think if he knew about this, huh?”

  “He says no to everything I want to do anyway.”

  Keenan took a deep breath. He often needed to do that when dealing with Nysys, but he wouldn’t exchange his best friend for anything in the world. “Well, most of your ideas are a bit weird.”

  “Whatever. I still want to do this.”

  Damn, Keenan should have known Nysys wouldn’t give in that easily. “How do you want to do it? You don’t even know where Bradley is.”

  “No, but Dominic does, right?”

  “I don’t know. Wouldn’t he go there and kick Bradley’s ass if he did?”

  Nysys shook his head. “You know Aeron’s mate is Bradley’s friend or something like that. Maybe Dominic doesn’t want the guy to be hurt.”

  “Oh, please. You know that’s not true. I bet the council isn’t attacking because it’s too dangerous. There has to be something.”

  “Please?” Nysys pouted. “I just want to find him. I swear I won’t do anything to him.”

  “Why would you want to find him, then? You’re not making any sense, Nys.”

  “I’m going to do this with or without you and you know it.”

  Keenan sighed. He did know it. The few times he’d said no to Nysys, things hadn’t ended well. He probably should say yes, just to be sure Nysys wouldn’t get himself killed or something. “Fine. How do we do this?”

  “You’re Dominic’s PA. That means you can get into his office and find out where Bradley is.”

  “You’re a council member. Shouldn’t you know where Bradley is if Dominic does?”

  “He wouldn’t tell me anything. I know he has a list of places Bradley could be, though.”

  “And I bet he doesn’t know which one of those places Bradley is at.”

  “Maybe not, but someone has to go check. Like I said earlier, I can do it on my own if you want me to. It’s not a problem, but I’m sure you’ll wish you were with me when Dominic and the rest of the pride fawn all over me because I managed to arrest Bradley while you were at home, scratching your balls in front of the TV.”

  Keenan shuddered at the image. “I don’t scratch my balls in front of the TV.”

  “No, you ask Jonah to scratch them for you. Whatever.”

  There was no way out of it and Keenan knew it. He also wouldn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want Nysys to get in trouble. He’d wait and make sure Nysys was safe, and the moment he did something dangerous, Keenan would run to Dominic or Morin and spill. That way he didn’t have to say no to his best friend, but he’d also make sure said best friend wouldn’t get himself killed.

  It was a win-win situation... right?

  * * * *

  Nysys eyed the tray of chicken nuggets. “Are you sure you want to eat this? It can’t be sanitary.”

  Jeremy laughed. “Sanitary? Why not?”

  “Because they don’t look anything like chicken.”

  “I think you’re too spoiled by everyone in this house. Chicken nuggets are perfectly fine to eat once in a while when there’s not enough time to cook or when someone doesn’t cook for you. Besides, Adam wants them.”

  “He’s only six. Of course, he wants them. He doesn’t know they can kill him.”

  That probably hadn’t been the right thing to say, because Adam was sitting next to Nysys, and his eyes went wide. He looked at Jeremy. “Is that true, Dad? Am I going to die if I eat nuggets?”

  Jeremy glared at Nysys before smiling at Adam. “No, you’re not going to die. You know your uncle Nysys. He’s always too dramatic.”

  “What does dramatic mean?”

  “That he always makes things bigger or worse than they really are. Nuggets are made of chicken, Adam. Chicken is good for you.”

  Nysys kept his mouth shut even though he wanted to say that nuggets sure didn’t look like they were made of chicken. The last thing he wanted was for Adam’s other father, Denver, to come after him and ring his neck for scaring Adam.

  Adam eyed Nysys and Nysys smiled at him in what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Adam rolled his eyes, and Nysys narrowed his. Adam was starting to be too much like Jeremy.

  “What’s happening here?” Dominic asked from the kitchen door. Nysys straightened on his stool. It was time.

  He batted his lashes at Dominic. “Nothing. I was just telling Adam how bad chicken nuggets were for him.”

  Dominic looked confused, and Jeremy slapped the back of Nysys’s head.

  “Oww!” Nysys complained, but Jeremy didn’t look repentant in the least. Nysys rubbed the back of his head even though it didn’t hurt that much.

  Dominic sighed as he walked to the coffee machine. “Nysys, why are you creating chaos again? It’s almost like you can’t help yourself.”

  “I’m not creating chaos,” Nysys protested. And he wasn’t. What he was creating was a diversion so Keenan would have enough time to sneak into Dominic’s office and find the file on Bradley. It shouldn’t be too hard since Keenan was supposed to already be in Dominic’s office thanks to his job as Dominic’s PA.

  “Please. Your second name is Chaos.”

  “Nope. I don’t have a second name.”

  Dominic shook his head and poured two cups of coffee. He left o
ne black but put sugar and cream in the second one for Keenan. He grabbed both mugs and started to leave, and Nysys panicked. He wasn’t sure Keenan had had enough time to get the file.

  Keenan was supposed to text him if he had, and Nysys’s phone was still silent, so it probably meant that Keenan either had forgotten to text or that he was still in Dominic’s office. Neither of those options suited Nysys. He needed to do something to delay Dominic.

  He swallowed, knowing Dominic wasn’t going to be happy about this. He waited until Dominic passed behind him to suddenly turn around and try to get up. He’d timed things perfectly—no matter what everyone thought, he wasn’t stupid, nor an airhead—and he collided with Dominic.

  Things were... messy after that. The two mugs Dominic had been holding jerked when Nysys plowed into them, and coffee ended up everywhere—on Dominic, on Nysys, on the floor and even part of the counter. Dominic’s shirt wasn’t white anymore but brown, and Nysys didn’t even want to look down at his pretty orange T-shirt. He should have worn a black one, but how was he supposed to know this would be the best way to delay Dominic?

  “Nysys,” Dominic hissed, still holding the now mostly empty mugs.

  Nysys cleared his throat and pulled the T-shirt away from his chest. “Damn, it’s hot.”

  “It’s coffee. Cold coffee is disgusting.”

  “So, uh, I’m sorry?”

  Dominic rolled his eyes, and that was enough for Nysys to know he wasn’t in trouble—much. “Of course you’re sorry. You couldn’t think about what would happen before you decide to get up?”

  The coffee on Nysys was cooling, but not fast enough. He felt like his nipples were on fire, so he took the T-shirt off. It wasn’t like the people in the room had never seen him bare-chested, or even naked. Well, except Adam—Nysys didn’t walk around naked around the kids.

  Dominic put the mugs down and looked at his shirt. He didn’t seem bugged by the warmth, but he sighed and started unbuttoning it. Nysys used his already dirty T-shirt to dry his chest as best as he could, but he knew that with the amount of sugar in Keenan’s coffee, he’d have to wash up if he didn’t want to be sticky for the rest of the day.

  Jeremy pushed by Keenan, a rag in his hand. He kneeled next to the puddle on the floor and started cleaning it up. “Go change, you two. I’ll take care of the cleaning part, at least when it comes to the kitchen floor.”

  Nysys looked at Dominic and licked his lips. Damn, the man looked fine. Nysys was happily mated to Morin, but he had eyes, and he didn’t mind using them when it came to ogling Dominic. He didn’t particularly like big muscled guys, but he didn’t hate them either, and Dominic was a prime example.

  Someone swatted Nysys on the back of the head again, and he jerked. Adam was looking at him innocently, but there wasn’t anyone else in the room, and Jeremy was kneeling in front of Nysys. “What did you do that for?” Nysys asked.

  “You shouldn’t look at Uncle Dominic.”

  “What do you know about that?”

  Adam shrugged. “I know that you should look only at your own mate, and Uncle Dominic isn’t your mate. Daddy only looks at Dad, and Dad only looks at Daddy.”

  Nysys snorted. As if. And jeesh, the little guy was even worse than his father. He’d be a pain in the ass when he grew up.

  Jeremy guffawed. “Adam, you can’t go around slapping people because they look at other people. Say you’re sorry to Uncle Nysys. Nysys, you should probably go get a clean shirt if you don’t want to get cold.”

  Adam rolled his eyes, but he did say he was sorry, and it was good enough for Nysys, especially because his phone vibrated in his pocket. He didn’t check if it was Keenan until he stepped out of the kitchen.

  He started to walk toward Keenan’s office, but Dominic stopped him. “Are you going to walk around half-naked for the rest of the day?”

  “Uh, no.”

  “Come on, then.”

  He followed Dominic up the stairs and waved at him, hurrying to his room and cleaning up before shimmering right into Keenan’s office.

  Keenan yelped and pressed a palm over his heart. He was sitting behind his desk and his computer was on, but when Nysys peeked, he saw Keenan hadn’t been working but shopping. “Who are you buying for?” he asked. “Are you looking for my Christmas present?”

  Keenan minimized the browser and glared. “No.” He frowned. “Weren’t you wearing an orange T-shirt?”

  “Yep, but my diversion included two mugs of steaming coffee, so I had to go change.”

  “And you couldn’t have told me? I was waiting! Dominic could have come back at any moment.”

  “Nah, He needed to change too.”

  Keenan blinked. “He did?”

  “Yeah. Coffee, remember?”

  Keenan opened his mouth, but instead of asking more questions, he shook his head. “Whatever.” He opened his drawer and reached inside, and Nysys leaned over to see better. Keenan took out a bright pink folder—they’d been a gift for Dominic’s birthday—and handed it to Nysys. “There you go.”

  Nysys looked back at the open door to check no one was there and opened the folder. There wasn’t much in it—Bradley’s file containing what they knew about him, a list of hunters’ names, and a short sticky note with two addresses on it.

  Nysys held it up for Keenan to see. “Do you think this is it? That Bradley’s at one of these addresses?”

  Keenan shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? You’re the council member, not me.”

  Nysys looked at the addresses again. He didn’t recognize them, so he was pretty sure they’d never mentioned them in a council meeting, or at least not in one in which he’d paid attention. “We should investigate both of these, go check them out.”

  Keenan groaned. “Of course we should.”

  “Are you free now?”

  “What? No. I need to ask Dominic if he needs me and to make sure he has everything he needs.” Nysys stared at Keenan until he gave in. “Fine. Give me half an hour. I’ll meet you in your room. And hide that file, please. I don’t want to be fired.”

  “As if Dominic would ever fire you.” Keenan glared, so Nysys nodded. “But all right, I’ll hide it.” He’d keep the sticky note, though. They were going to need it.

  Chapter Three

  “What are you wearing?” Keenan asked when Nysys opened his door.

  Nysys stepped to the side to let him in, and Keenan eyed him again. He was wearing all black, and it was enough to make Keenan worry. Nysys wouldn’t be caught dead wearing only black. He always said it made him look like a corpse. It wasn’t true because Nysys looked hot no matter what he wore, but when Nysys had a thought in mind or an idea, there was no getting it out of him.

  “I’m wearing black. That’s what spies wear, right?”

  “We’re not spies.”

  “But we’re doing spy work.”

  “I guess.” Keenan looked down at himself. He was still wearing his dress shirt and pants. He hadn’t thought to change, and he wasn’t going to. He knew Nysys wanted him to go along, and he would, but he didn’t think he needed to dress in black. “Do I have to change?”

  Nysys tsked. “No time. It took you so long to get here already.”

  He reached for something on the dresser, and Keenan shook his head when he saw it was a hat. Nysys put it on, wisps of hair still poking from it and very obvious against the black fabric. “There. I’m ready.”

  Keenan sighed. “Don’t you think you went a bit overboard with the black?”

  “We need to blend in the shadows, Kee. Bradley will see us if we don’t. He’s good enough that no one realized who or what he was when he stayed with us. I can’t believe we all fell for his sob story hook, line and sinker.”

  “Yeah, well, he had the bruises and everything. How were we supposed to know he asked Aeron’s mate to hit him so we’d think he lived in an abusive home and let him stay?”

  “That was a master plan. And don’t think I haven’t noticed you’re distract
ing me.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Nysys held a hand out. “Ready?”

  “Can I say no?”

  Nysys’s expression fell a bit, making Keenan feel guilty. He knew Nysys would let him stay home if he wanted to, but he didn’t. Well, he did want to stay, but he didn’t want to let Nysys go on his own.

  “Of course you can.”

  Keenan shook his head and took Nysys’s hand. He was going to regret giving in, he knew it. It wouldn’t stop him, though. It never did. “Let’s go.”

  Nysys beamed and shimmered.

  “What the fuck?” Keenan hissed as soon as they’d arrived where they were going. “Have you even checked if someone was around or if it was safe to shimmer here?”

  Nysys gestured at the room around them. “Of course I did. I shimmered us into a broom closet. I came earlier to check.”

  “And what if the cleaning lady had been in the closet, huh?”

  Nysys cocked his head. “I hadn’t thought of that. Do you think Bradley has a cleaning lady, or does he order his hunters to clean?”

  “I don’t care.”

  Keenan looked around. Nysys was right—they were in a closet. A row of shelves stood on both their sides, lined up with cleaning supplies and other things. There was a broom in the corner, along with a mop and a bucket. There was even an old porcelain sink.

  “Do you know where we are?” he asked because the closet didn’t give him enough clues to find that out.

  “Uh, in Bradley’s headquarters?”

  Keenan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I knew that part, but what is this place? Or rather, what was it before it became headquarters?” If it was the headquarters. There had been two addresses on that post-it. Nothing said this was the right place.

  “No idea.”

  They were doomed. Why had Keenan agreed to come along again? Oh, right. Because he was a sucker for Nysys’s pouty face. “So how do we do this?”

  Nysys bit his lower lip and looked at the door. The room wasn’t completely empty—there was a tiny window high on the wall, and while it wasn’t enough to fully illuminate the closet, at least they weren’t stumbling around in the dark.