Moira Rogers - Crux

Nick stepped up beside them, sparing the man a cold glare. “My father is already on his way. Mackenzie called your office, and Kat called him.”

“She’s safe?” Relief weakened Jackson’s knees, and he glanced over at Alec. “Where did he take her?”

“They’re holed up in a hotel in Boston. I called Kat. She said Mackenzie was frantic, but seemed okay. Mostly worried about you.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Jackson muttered.

“Shouldn’t be long.” Nick rubbed her hands over her face. “They’re only about five minutes out, but we won’t all fit in the helicopter.” Her gaze strayed to Michelle. “I need to make sure she’s okay.”

She rushed off, and Jackson echoed her gesture by scrubbing wearily at his eyes. “We can’t wait for them to make another trip back to pick us up. How long would it take us to drive to Boston?”

Alec shrugged. “Five or six hours, depending on how morning traffic is. Peyton’s going to have other things on his mind besides Mackenzie, especially with his daughter unconscious and a crazed Seer on the loose. We probably need to get our asses in the car and drive.”

Jackson nodded. “So that’s what we’ll do. Can you keep an eye on this guy while I make sure Mahalia’s holding up?”

“Yeah. No problem.”

When Jackson spoke to her again, Mahalia ignored him. He sat beside her, smoothing his hand over her short, dark hair, and waited.

Mackenzie had grown so tense by the time the phone rang that she jumped and shrieked when the ringer went off. Marcus started awake, but she ignored him as she dove for the phone and yanked the handset off the hook. “Kat? Did you find him? Is he okay?”

Silence met her words. “It’s me. I’m all right.”

“Jackson.” She sank back to the bed, her hands shaking with the force of her relief. “Are you okay? What happened? I tried to call—I tried to let you know, but Kat said you’d already gone to get me—”

“We went to Talbot’s estate,” he confirmed wearily. “Steven—he didn’t make it. Everyone else is fine.”

Her stomach twisted. “Oh, Jesus. What happened?” As she spoke, Marcus leaned up and watched her carefully.

“Talbot lost his shit, that’s what.” He spoke away from the phone, but she heard him clearly. “Have they gotten to New York yet?”

Nick answered him. “They’re half an hour out.”

A tiny bit of relief welled in her at the sound of that voice. “Nick’s okay?”

His voice came back on the line. “No one else got hurt. Just Steven. Mahalia…well, she’s in bad shape.”

Sympathy flooded her, followed by choking guilt. “God, I should have stayed, or found some way to contact you.” He died for nothing.

“It wasn’t your fault.” He sighed again. “Are you—is everything all right there?”

“I’m okay.” She glanced over her shoulder at Marcus, who had rolled over to face the wall and grant her the illusion of privacy. “Marcus got me out. He didn’t know what was going on, not really. Are you…?”

“We’re on our way to Boston now.”

She swallowed. “Kat told you where we are? You talked to her?”

“She called Nick’s father, and he gave us the details.” He sounded exhausted. “We’re headed there. Alec and Nick and I.”

“I’m so sorry, Jackson.” Mackenzie closed her eyes and tried to swallow around the guilt. “Poor Mahalia.”

“She went to New York with Nick’s sister. I think she’s going to stay there for tonight, see what the wolves plan on doing about tracking Talbot down.”

Mackenzie turned to look at Marcus again. “You heard all that?”

He didn’t turn over, just said quietly, “I heard.”

“Do you want me to ask them anything?”

It took him a moment to answer. “What did they do to Eddie?”

She lifted the phone again. “Marcus wants to know what happened to Eddie. He’s the shapeshifter.”

“Peyton took him back to New York. He’ll have to stand before the Conclave. They’ll decide what to do with him, I guess.”

Marcus’s shoulders tensed. “They might execute him.” It wasn’t a question.

Part of her—not a small part—thought Eddie deserved to stand trial for the things he’d done. Another part of her remembered the haunted way he’d looked at her, how he’d been just as trapped as she. “He could have stopped us, but he let us go, Jackson. He let us get away, and Charles could have killed him for it.”

“He almost did,” Jackson admitted. “The Conclave isn’t going to do anything rash, though. There’ll be time to give them the details of what happened.”

She asked because Marcus would want to know and wouldn’t ask himself. “Is Eddie okay?”

“He’s fine. Talbot knocked him into a wall, but he’s not hurt.” The phone beeped, and Jackson swore. “I have to go. My cell is dying. Stay in the hotel room, and don’t let anyone in. We’ll be there soon.”

“Okay. Be safe, Jackson. I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah, Kenzie. You will.” The phone beeped again and clicked.

Mackenzie listened to the silence for a few tense seconds before dropping the receiver back in its cradle. She pulled her legs up on the bed and stared at Marcus’s back. “You heard him. Jackson said they’ll give Eddie a chance.”

“Yes.” Marcus glanced back over his shoulder and smiled weakly. “Thanks for asking after him.”

“You can talk to Nick when she gets here,” Mackenzie offered, struggling against the instinctive need to bridge the space between them, to comfort him. “She can help you. With her dad, I mean. She’s really nice.”

His expression didn’t change. “Yes, I’m sure she is.” There was no hint of sarcasm in his words. “But I have no claim on her assistance.”

She couldn’t take it anymore. His pain found an answering echo inside her, and she slipped off the bed and crossed the short distance to his. Energy prickled along her skin as she reached out and curled her fingers around his. “The way I figure, our fucked-up family history makes you the closest thing I’m ever going to have to a brother. So I’ll make claims for both of us, if you can help me deal with this whole turning-into-a-giant-cat thing.”

He squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She dropped to the edge of the bed and bumped him with her elbow. “Scoot over. I’m too jittery to sleep, and I’m pretty sure it’s my right and duty as a bratty little sister to make you suffer with me.”

Marcus laughed as he complied. “Good luck explaining this to your boyfriend.”

Mackenzie stretched out next to him. “After all the leaps of faith I’ve made for him over the past week, I think he owes me one.” Her fingers tightened around Marcus’s hand. “Besides. I got the impression there aren’t a whole lot of us left. I still don’t understand it, Marcus. I mean, my instincts aren’t telling me to have your babies, but there’s this whole other…person. Creature. Something inside me, and she trusts you.”

“There aren’t many of us left,” he confirmed. “Perhaps no more than twenty in the country, now.”

She closed her eyes and asked the last question she wanted to hear the answer to. “You don’t want this plan, do you? I mean, do you think it’s your duty to have magical kids with me?”

She thought he might not answer. Finally, he sighed and pulled her closer with an arm around her shoulders. “No, I never really wanted it. I mean, you’re lovely, and I want to have children someday. I’m just not certain I want them to have the responsibility of saving the cougars.” He gave her a wry look. “It hasn’t worked out so well for us, after all, has it?”

“It’s a lot to put on a kid,” she agreed quietly. “It was a lot to put on you . Too much. Maybe I’m lacking perspective because I’m so new to this, but… Well, it would be sad if the cougars disappeared, but is it somehow going to be better if the ones who are left half-kill themselves trying to stop it?”