Moira Rogers - Crux

“When she said we’d share energy, she means it,” Jackson murmured. “If something happened to me—if I couldn’t break the spell—you’d be stuck, Kenzie. If you survived it.”

“And if something happened to me? What would that mean for you?”

“Pretty much the same thing.”

Mackenzie stared at her untouched coffee and ran her thumb over the handle of the mug. “I was asleep for seven hours. I’m assuming no one came up with a better plan during that time?”

“May just got in an hour ago.” Jackson sighed. “But no. We haven’t been able to come up with anything better.”

“We wracked our brains, Jack.” Mahalia pushed the stool back and stood. “It’s the only thing Michelle and I figured had a snowball’s chance of working.”

“Then we should do it.” Mackenzie met Jackson’s gaze and held it, and the rest of the room faded away. She could see the worry and fear in his eyes, not just of what they faced, but of what could happen to her. He didn’t want to put her in danger.

But she didn’t want to put anyone else in danger. Being around her was dangerous enough. Mahalia had lost Steven. Jackson’s office and friends had been threatened. Charles wouldn’t stop until he had her, and Mackenzie wasn’t going to sit around and let everyone else take all the risks.

She let her determination show on her face. “We should do it, Jackson.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her, and Mahalia cleared her throat. “Alec? We should…”

“No.” Jackson tossed the kitchen towel on the counter. “Finish dinner, please. Mackenzie and I are going to talk. Privately.”

Mackenzie slid off the stool and ignored Alec’s slight frown. “Fine. Where do you want to talk?”

“It’s a nice night. Let’s go out back.”

Jackson struggled to contain his arguments until they made it out of the house. Mackenzie followed him, and they walked in silence until they reached the stone table near the middle of Alec’s courtyard.

Before he could speak, she turned sharply and stared at him in the dim light from the moon. “I’m not going to sit around and let more people die for me.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “But you also need to know that no one here is into the idea of you sacrificing yourself to get rid of Talbot.”

“I’m not really into the idea either. But any chance we have to beat his magic…” She trailed off and closed her eyes. “God, Jackson. That spell? The one that kept me from changing? The one that almost killed you and Mahalia just to fix? He took it down like it was nothing.”

He sat on a bench. “Yeah. I’m not saying this isn’t our best chance.” He drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “But we shouldn’t delude ourselves, Kenzie. It’s dangerous. For both of us, but especially for you. You won’t be able to break it. You’ll have to trust me to do it.”

She braced her hands on her hips. “Why, exactly, would you want me to stay a gigantic cat forever? Why would you want me to be a gigantic angry cat? Of all the things I’m worried about, Jackson, trusting you isn’t one of them.”

“Maybe it should be,” he admonished. “You weren’t around for any of our conversations about it, but statistically speaking? Seers are fucking nuts. Nick’s sister is an anomaly. Charles Talbot’s the norm.” The words were blunt, maybe even hurtful, but he couldn’t risk having her not understand. “What if I get all that power, and it sends me off the rails?”

“It won’t,” she insisted, without a hint of doubt in her voice. “I trust you . The man who risked his life for me without even knowing me. The man who walked into Charles Talbot’s house to rescue me. I trust you, Jackson Holt. Completely. Absolutely.”

“Well, that makes one of us, because I’m not sure I’m that strong.” In any other situation, he wouldn’t have doubted his resolve for a second, but this… “A lot of the wolf Seers have had to be put down, Mackenzie, like dogs, and they’d lived their entire lives with that power.”

She crossed the grass between them in three long steps and slid into his lap, her knees on either side of his hips. Her hands skated over his arms and shoulders to cup his face. “I trust you,” she whispered again. “You’ll stay strong because of me. For me. You’ll do what you have to do and break the spell, and we can spend the rest of our lives practicing having sex without me breaking the furniture.”

“I’m not joking, Mackenzie.” He caught her wrists and glared at her. “It’s not funny.”

“Do you know what he said he was going to do to me?” Her voice lowered to a harsh whisper. “He was going to get a psychic. One strong enough to control me. Marcus was supposed to think I’d changed my mind, and I’d be trapped in my head dying a little every day while Charles’s psychic paraded me around like a puppet. That’s what that man is willing to do to me if he gets his hands on me. I will do anything to keep it from happening, no matter how much danger it puts me in.”

He closed his eyes against the wave of rage he expected, but he only felt tired. “We have to do it. So you can be safe.” He rubbed her wrists and released them. “It’s the only way.”

She kissed his forehead. “Don’t doubt yourself so easily, Jackson. Every instinct I have tells me that you’ll keep me safe. And I won’t exactly be helpless as a huge cat.”

If only you could stop me if I needed it. “I’ll talk to Alec. He’ll help.”

“We’ll end this. We can do it, Jackson. Together.”

He nudged her, and she slid from his lap to her feet and held out her hands. He rose, his heart feeling lighter. “Yeah. Let’s go eat so we can learn how to do this thing.”

Jackson was so tired he might not have heard his cell phone ringing, but Mackenzie jabbed him in the side with her elbow. “Make that stop.”

He grabbed for the phone and nearly knocked it off the nightstand. The backlit display showed a familiar name and number. “Shit. It’s Wesley Dade. I forgot to call him back.”

Mackenzie mumbled something and snuggled closer to his side as he flipped open the phone.

Wesley’s voice crackled out of the speaker before he got a chance to answer. “Jesus fuck, Holt. It takes an act of God to get you on the phone.”

“Alec got your message, but I’ve been covered over.” He sat up, careful to keep his voice low. “What’s going on?”

“Covered over and then some. What the hell did you stir up? My head’s gonna split open from all the visions of terror and chaos I’m getting nailed with thanks to you.”

The hair on the back of his neck rose, and his lips felt numb as he murmured, “Care to explain, Dade?”

“Started two days ago. Who the fuck did you piss off, Jackson? I’m talking serious damage. Everyone you ever knew is going to die if you don’t stop doing whatever you’re doing. I mean everyone . That hot-ass chick who bought Mahalia’s, your cute little assistant, her cousin, your partner, your God damn parents —”

“What the fuck?” His heart shuddered to a halt before resuming its furious pounding. Nick, Alec, Kat, his family… “Fucking hell. Christ. Okay. What’s happening? What have you seen?”

He felt the bed shift behind him even as Wesley continued, “I don’t know, man. Magic. Unholy wrath of God, smite the wicked magic . Maybe not rain of fire or locusts in the streets, just this knowledge. Something’s coming for them. It’s big and bad and scary, and it wants you to hurt.”

“Yeah, it does.” He slid out from under the covers and grabbed his pants. “How soon?”

“Couple days at the most. Maybe not even that. Listen, man, you should get the fuck out of town.”