Moira Rogers - Crossroads

Never again, he promised himself. Things had finally settled back to normal—or as normal as they ever got in this city—and Nick’s decision to throw a birthday party for Kat made the perfect excuse. Tonight, he’d make his move. And kill any wizards who get in the way.

Mariko cleared her throat, and he started and reached for the folder. “My brain’s shot this week, but I promise I’ll pick up the slack. Thanks for keeping everything under control, Mari.”

“You need some time off,” she admonished. “You’ve been going nonstop, and then that mess with the break-in and Kat’s bosses…”

“Yeah.” He flipped open the yellow folder and glanced at the first printout. “If everything calms down next week, maybe I’ll actually take the vacation I was supposed to go on last month.”

“I already shuffled some things around, so just say when.”

“You already—” Derek snorted and shook his head. “Andrew and I may have our names on the letterhead, but I guess I should have figured out by now that you and Penny run this place.”

“You have the best construction foreman and office manager in southern Louisiana. Quit your bitching and thank your lucky stars.” She leaned a hip on the edge of his desk. “Where are you planning to go?”

“Shit, I have to go somewhere?” His gaze skated to the bottom of the invoice without actually reading anything for the third time, so he shut the folder. “I might just sleep for a couple weeks.”

“Any reason you can’t do that in a hammock on the beach in Maui?”

Because someone could be asking out Nick or breaking into Kat’s apartment? While his libido was more concerned with the former possibility, the protective instincts borne of looking after his cousin for nearly a decade still hadn’t settled after the excitement from the last two months. Twenty-four or not, Kat was an empath running haplessly through a supernatural community whose collective power dwarfed her own.

He had a feeling Mariko knew what he was thinking. “Is Kat still digging in her heels about letting you put a magical security system in her apartment?”

She pulled her heavy, dark braid of hair over her shoulder and curled the ends around her finger. “Less these days. The break-ins scared her pretty badly.” She hesitated, then pursed her lips. “Nina and I could use a roommate. I wonder if Kat would be interested.”

“I think her lease is up soon. She moved in not long after her birthday a year ago.” Having Kat live with a witch and a telekinetic psychic would certainly make it easier for him to sleep at night. Alec had tried to warn him about the instinctive need to protect his family, but day-to-day life hadn’t prepared him for the overwhelming rage that had nearly incapacitated him the first time Kat had been threatened.

“If I get the chance, I’ll ask her tonight.” Mariko rose and straightened the short hem of her skirt. “Speaking of which, you’d better get off your ass.”

This time he didn’t bother to choke back his growl. “Jesus, did you put it in the company newsletter? Do you see me getting all up in yours and Nina’s sex life? Back the fuck off, Mariko.”

She raised both eyebrows at his outburst. “I meant it’s getting late. You’re not going to have time to go home before the party if you don’t leave soon.”

“I—” Shit. Derek covered his face with his hands again and groaned. “Sorry, Mari. I’m an asshole.” A hypersensitive asshole. “Listen, I’m going to come in tomorrow and finish up the crap that can’t wait, then I’ll take my vacation and hopefully come back here in a better mood.”

She just smiled, her expression once again shadowed by sympathy. “Stop worrying about everyone else. You’re going to drive yourself nuts. Just do what you need to do, okay?”

He needed to get his hands on Nicole Peyton and disappear with her into a locked room for a week or two, but somehow he doubted that was an appropriate suggestion for a first date. “Someone’s got to worry about you hooligans. I’m going home to get changed. I’ll see you and Nina at the bar. She’s coming, right? Or has she had enough of your crazy coworkers?”

“Are you kidding? She loves the insane lot of you.” Mariko took the yellow folder with her when she headed for the door. “Leave these to me. If any of the subcontractors are trying to screw you, I’ll know.”

“Thanks, Mari. You’re a lifesaver.” He waited until she’d shut the door behind her before dropping his arms to his desk and slumping down with his forehead on his hands. As much as he hated to admit it, Mariko was right. The last time he’d taken time off from work had been the month he’d needed to physically recover from being attacked by a crazed shapeshifter. He’d come back to the office because there hadn’t been a choice; the insurance he and Andrew paid out the nose for had been sadly lacking in paid leave for werewolf attack. After struggling for so long to build their business from the ground up, Derek had had to keep working.

But they had Mariko now. She could keep Andrew from drowning in work if Derek took a couple weeks off, and Penny was more than tough enough to make up for the fact that Andrew could be a little too nice. The three of them could keep things running.

Then he might just have enough time to consider pursuing something serious with Nick Peyton. If I can keep from howling at the moon or humping her leg or whatever happens to relatively new shapeshifters without a lot of control.

Groaning, Derek lifted his head and pushed himself to his feet. He still had to swing by his place and pick up Kat’s present, shower and change. If tonight was the night he made his move, he could at least make an effort to look good.

Maybe the damn wizard will get a flat tire, and I won’t have any competition.

Nick smoothed her hair behind her ears and stared at the gigantic sheet cake laid out on the stainless-steel counter. “Who likes carrot cake this much?”

“No one.” Mackenzie lifted a case of full beer bottles with an ease that made it clear she was finally growing accustomed to her newly gained shapeshifter strength. “Then again, Kat is one quirky kid.”

Nick laughed and pushed open the door from the kitchen into the main bar. “She’s practically our age, Mac. Twenty-four today.”

Mackenzie just snorted as she hauled the beers into the front. “I aged a lot this year. I might be pushing forty now.”

A quick glance around the bar satisfied most of Nick’s anxiety about the festivities. Her staff had worked hard to prepare for Kat’s private birthday party, one to which a good number of the supernatural denizens of the French Quarter had been invited. Including Derek.

She ignored the tiny stab of pain that lanced through her. Of course Kat’s cousin would be there. Nick had been looking forward to the party for months, viewing it not only as an opportunity to celebrate, but also to spend more time with Derek. Maybe even finally convince him to go out with her.

I have a better chance of sprouting wings and flying home tonight, she thought dispiritedly as she checked the liquor supply behind the polished bar. In the weeks since Alec had told her Derek liked her, she’d tried to strike up a few conversations with him. He’d answered politely, but treated her almost with annoyance, as if she’d done something to irritate him.

Or maybe I just piss him off in general. He wanted her; there was no mistaking his physical reaction whenever he came near her. And yet…

“Derek Gabriel hates me,” she told Mackenzie suddenly. “Alec is full of shit, and Derek hates me.”

Mackenzie froze, one hand holding open the ice cooler behind the bar and the other clutching a bottle of beer, and blinked at her. “He—what?”