Part 13 (1/2)
”It does not work for me.”
”Why not?” she demanded.
His eyes snapped at her. ”Because aside from the fact that I already told you this subject was not open to discussion, this subject is not open for discussion! I will not have my mate act as my emissary as if I'm not strong enough to carry my own messages, and I will not pander to those idiots on the Council by giving them the slightest indication that I care whether they think I'm guilty or not.”
”Of course you care! Nicolas, the Council has the authority to have you banished from the city, or even killed! We can't afford not to care about them.”
”Yes, we can.” He set his jaw. ”If we have to, we'll relocate, but I will not play some ridiculous game and act as if they ever had any justification for accusing me of seeking to undermine their authority in any way. They set this in motion by acting on old prejudice and a.s.suming I was guilty because of the lay of my stripes. Now they know they were wrong, but I'm not going to help them repair their public image by handing them the real culprit on a silver platter.”
”So this is about your pride?” she asked quietly.
”d.a.m.n it, Sa.s.s, don't put it like that!” He pushed back from the counter and paced restlessly around the kitchen island. ”This is about more than wounded pride. Yes, they stung me by accusing me of having such little honor that I would attack a man from ambush and attempt to kill him before he even got a look at my face. But they also threatened my mate when I wasn't around to protect her, and that's something I'm not willing to let go.”
Saskia sat back, momentarily stunned. ”Threatened me? Nicolas, no one ever threatened me. What are you talking about?”
”You were a guest in the Lupines' home, and Winters accused you of lying to protect me. Worse than that, he growled at you and raised his voice to you and showed you disrespect because you had no one to protect you.” His hands clenched at his sides and his eyes burned with pain and fury. ”I should have been there to protect you, Saskia, and instead I was off on a wild-goose chase that led nowhere. I couldn't find either of our fathers, and I couldn't defend you from that dog. I will not let you make yourself vulnerable to them again.”
Heart aching, she slid off her stool and hurried to him, wrapping her arms around his rigid frame. ”Oh, Nicolas, I was never in any danger. Not for one second. And I did have you to protect me.” She tilted her head back to meet his gaze, fixing him with an earnest stare. ”You're always with me, my mate. I carry your strength inside me. That's what gave me the courage to stand up to the men accusing you and make them listen to the facts. I felt you standing beside me the whole time, no matter where you thought you were.”
She felt him shudder an instant before his arms closed around her like metal bands, crus.h.i.+ng her against his chest. He lowered his head and buried his face in her hair to breathe deeply.
”I can't stand it,” he growled roughly, his voice m.u.f.fled. ”Just the thought of anyone harming you, or threatening you, or even upsetting you when I'm not there to protect you ... it drives me crazy, Sa.s.sy. I can't stand it. You're becoming too important to me.”
”And you're becoming too important to me,” she told him, pulling back just far enough to look up into his face. A lump formed in her throat at the mixture of tenderness and fear and pain she read there. ”Nicolas, you're my mate. You're the center of my world now. You say you want to protect me, but I feel the same way about you. The thought of anyone accusing you of such horrible crimes, let alone trying to actually place the blame on your shoulders, makes me crazy. I can't let anyone get away with that, especially not when I know it's so blatantly untrue. I have to defend you, love, just as you have to defend me. I have no choice.”
She knew her words hadn't entirely won him over, but she could see the softening of his expression, the lessening of the fear as he tamped it back and reached for some sense of calm. When the corner of his mouth ticked upward, she felt a tight knot unravel in her belly.
”Is this another one of those areas where we're going to have to compromise?” he asked.
Saskia chuckled. ”It really, really is.”
”I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises,” he said, unconsciously echoing her own words from last night.
She laid a hand against his cheek and leaned up to kiss him. ”That's all I ask.”
When the phone rang and shattered the moment, they laid their foreheads together and laughed softly.
”I hate telephones,” he groaned against her cheek.
”Me, too. Alexander Graham Bell should be shot.”
”Probably make more of an impact if he weren't already dead.”
”Don't nitpick.”
”Sorry.” Nic sighed and reached for the receiver on the wall behind her. ”h.e.l.lo?”
”Nic, listen, it's Mac Callahan.”
Her acute Tiguri hearing allowed Saskia to hear the greeting almost as clearly as her mate.
”Speak of the devil,” she murmured.
”Mac, I wasn't expecting to hear from you. I thought you were going to come-”
”Yeah, the plan has changed. ”You're going to have to come to me. There's something I need to show you.”
Saskia watched her mate stiffen.
”What have you found?”
”It's better if I show you. Can you meet me in one hour? I'll give you the address.” He rattled off the information, and Saskia immediately jotted it down on the message pad beside the phone. Nic nodded his thanks.
”I can be there, but I'd like to know what's going on.”
”Sorry, I haven't got time,” Mac dismissed him. ”I've still got other phone calls to make. It's only fair to warn you, you're not the only one who needs to see this.”
”What's that supposed to-”
Saskia heard the m.u.f.fled click and realized the investigator had already hung up. She also realized that something very unpleasant had resulted from his digging.
Nicolas cursed. ”I do not like the sound of this,” he growled as he replaced the receiver. ”That changeling is up to something.”
”His eyeteeth, by the sounds of it,” Saskia agreed. ”What do you think he meant by that last warning of his?”
She already knew what she believed, but she wanted to hear Nicolas's take on the cryptic statement.
”I think he means that the bloodsucker and the lunatic are going to have their way after all.”
Saskia winced at the politically incorrect labels. ”Bloodsucker” might be an accurate description of a vampire, but the myth about Lupines being controlled by the phases of the moon had been disproven ages ago. The insults did have a certain ring to them, though, and she figured that's what he'd been going for. Still, she hoped he wouldn't repeat them once the two men in question were present.
”I agree. I think Mac is going to have Vidme and Winters-and De Santos, if he's able-meet him at that same address he just gave us. I'm a.s.suming that means that whatever he found is significant enough that he only wants to repeat it once.” She clasped Nicolas's hand in hers and squeezed. ”On the bright side, it might be the information we need to find out who really did this so we can get everyone off your back once and for all.”
Nicolas grunted, but he didn't pull his hand away. He glared off into the distance, clearly not appreciating the last-minute change in plans. Saskia had begun to discover that her mate didn't like being surprised. She'd have to remember that when his birthday rolled around.
She tugged at his hand to get his attention and brushed her lips over his when he looked down at her. ”Hey, don't worry,” she rea.s.sured him. ”I'm sure they'll be more interested in finding out what Mac has discovered than in making trouble with us. And if I'm wrong and any of them tries anything, I'll knock him into next week.”
Nicolas didn't appear to appreciate her teasing. ”You're not going.”
She bit back a sigh. d.a.m.n it, hadn't they already discussed this?
”Yes, I am.”
”No, you're not. Saskia, we already discussed this. I am not comfortable putting you in danger, and this meeting with so many hostile Others definitely counts as danger. You'll stay here, and I will tell you everything Mac has to say just as soon as I get back.”
”Nicolas, I won't be in any danger,” she said, struggling for patience.
Sometimes talking to him resembled talking to a mountain-both were large, obdurate, and immovable-but she couldn't just give in and let him run roughshod over her. It would mean giving up all the progress she'd worked for over the last few days.