Haven 3: Forgotten Sins (14 page)

“I can fly you.” Blair, the Trinity Pack beta, stepped forward and offered his hand to Jonas. “Glad you’re not dead,” he said by way of greeting as they shook. “So, how about it? Who wants to go home?” Not surprisingly, the vote was unanimous. Ridley insisted on accompanying them, along with Kieran. Devlin and his brothers said they’d drive back and deliver Phillip to The Council on the way.

There was only one thing left for Nicholas to do.

Grabbing Jonas by his shirt collar, he yanked the man to him and covered his lips in a searing kiss that rivaled the heat of the desert.

Not caring who watched, he poured every ounce of emotion he’d felt in the last two hundred years into the mating of their lips.

Several whistles and catcalls went up around the group, and some even clapped their hands and cheered like the jackasses they were.

Nicholas didn’t care. They were alive, and he never had to give up his mate. He definitely had a lot to celebrate.

* * * *

For someone who’d died, he felt great. Jonas stretched his legs out in front of him, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes. “Have you thought about what you want to do now?” he asked casually.

“What do you mean?” Nicholas took his hand and held it on the armrest between them, squeezing it firmly. “I really hate fucking flying.”

Jonas chuckled and pushed up a little straighter in his seat as he shifted around to get a better look at his mate. Nicholas certainly looked a little green around the gills.
Poor baby.
Jonas wouldn’t ever utter those words aloud. He rather enjoyed his balls right where they were, thank you very much. “Now that everything is as back to normal as it’s going to be for a while, I was just wondering if we would be going back to Olympia.”

Rolling his head to the side, Nicholas cracked one eye open to look at Jonas. “Olympia is our home, and I have an obligation to our coven. I’m their leader, Jonas. I can’t just walk away from my responsibilities.”

Jonas bobbed his head. “Yeah, I know.”

“Why?” Nicholas readjusted so that he was sitting on his side, facing Jonas. “Do you not want to go back? Did you want to stay in Haven?”

Jonas could understand Nicholas’s aversion to remaining in Wyoming. He’d been cursed during his stay in Haven, and even his memories of Jonas at the time weren’t happy ones. Jonas, however, had made a few friends and finally felt like part of a family. They’d taken him in, helped him protect the one person most important to him, and though they’d heard the stories of how he’d released Natalie, no one ever judged him.

Olympia had been his home for a long time, but other than the pond, he had only a handful of memories worth keeping. Being head of the guard, and an Enforcer to boot, didn’t exactly endear him to the leery and skeptical vampires of the Olympia Coven. Again, not that he could blame them. Phillip had instilled that fear and distrust of authority with centuries of mistreatment. It wouldn’t all simply fade away overnight.

“Whatever you want,” he finally answered. Wherever Nicholas went, Jonas would follow. It was as simple as that. Besides, he didn’t think it was fair for him to ask his mate to step down from a position that was his natural birthright.

Nicholas groaned and rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I asked.

Yes, I think my coven needs me. I have a responsibility to them, and I haven’t always been the best leader.”

“That’s not true,” Jonas interrupted. “You’re an amazing leader.”

“Thank you, though I think you might be a bit biased.” He lifted their clasped hands and brushed a kiss over Jonas’s knuckles. “Either way, the point is that I can be better. Raven tells me that there were several members brought before The Council for kidnapping and trading children to the witches.”

“Yes, but that isn’t your fault.” If anything it was Jonas’s for getting his mate bewitched in the first place. “They were scared because of what happened to you and went to extreme measures to protect themselves. Now that Elder Cortez is there, I hear things have settled down again.”

Nicholas nodded thoughtfully. “We have a few days to discuss it and decide what’s best for both of us. We need to appear before The Council to show that I’m no longer cursed, and I’d like to be there for Natalie’s trial.”

“I don’t think there will be a trial. Elder Winters only said that she was to be executed on the first of the month.” Nicholas waved him away. “I just meant that we need to share what information we have with them. You know, the Magiks really should have some kind of representation on The Council.” It wasn’t the first time Jonas had heard that in the last few months, and he doubted it would be the last. “Yes, well, good luck finding a witch willing, not to mention fighting the elders to accept something like that.” According to Stavion, it had been nearly impossible to get Cortez on The Council, and Stavion had been ordered to find a replacement for the vampire seat.

“Do we really need The Council?”

Jonas looked around quickly to make sure no one was eavesdropping as he hushed his lover. “Nicky, have you lost your mind? That’s treason.”

“I’m just saying,” Nicholas continued, not bothering to lower his voice. “Why can’t the different classes rule themselves? The vampires could have a council, the shifters, the weres, and so on. Doesn’t it seem ridiculous that a shifter should decide the fate of a vampire?”

“And why can’t we have guns?” Kieran asked as he turned to look over the seatback at them. “Do you know how many times I’ve been shot at? Hell, they don’t even have to be real guns. Maybe we can carry tranquilizer guns or Taser guns.”

“Am I the only person who thinks this whole registry thing is bogus, and it’s just a way to control us?” Raven chimed in from the seat across the aisle.

“The Council is outdated,” Demos added. “I’m not saying we should do away with it completely, but it needs a complete overhaul.” Jonas agreed with everything they were saying, he just didn’t know how to do anything about it. “Layke has been hanging around Haven a lot, right?”

“Who’s Layke?” Nicholas asked with his brow furrowed.

“Elder Winters,” Jonas answered, distracted, while he looked at the others for their answer.

“Yeah, he’s a good guy,” Varik answered. “I don’t think he has a lot of pull with the other elders, though. The way he tells it, they’ve been trying to get him off The Council for years.” They hadn’t accomplished anything—didn’t have any answers—but their debate had done the trick in distracting Nicholas from his fear of flying. That is, until the pilot announced they’d be landing in approximately ten minutes. Then he went stiff and paled again.

Leaning over the armrest, Jonas tilted his mate’s face to him and claimed his lips in slow, sweet kiss. “There, that’s better,” he whispered a minute later when they pulled away.

“Are you going to continue kissing me until the plane is on the ground?” Nicholas teased.

Jonas smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s the plan.”

“Leader McCarthy, it’s good to see you back to yourself,” Elder Layke Winters said from his place on the dais beside the other elders.

“I understand you’ve had quite the adventure while trying to recover your memories.”

Nicholas stood in front of The Council with Jonas by his side and nodded. “Yes, Elder Winters.” He wasn’t there to discuss how they’d gone about breaking the spell, though. He was there to assure that the elders followed through on their deal and cleared Jonas of all charges.

They weren’t alone, either. Ridley, Blair, and three of his Enforcers had flown in from Nevada for the hearing. Stavion and almost every Enforcer from Haven were seated in the crowd behind them. Torren was there to lend his support and expertise on the Magiks if necessary. Even Malakai and his mates were in attendance.

Nicholas hoped he had a chance to apologize to all three of them before he and Jonas left for Washington.

“The bewitchment is lifted, Natalie Halstead has been apprehended and is currently awaiting her sentence, and I believe that means Enforcer Tracer is free to go.” Elder Winters nodded at Jonas and threw a quick wink to Nicholas.

Elder Macintosh cleared his throat and shuffled some papers around on his desk. “There is still the matter of an Enforcer Becker.” He looked down at his notes again. “It says he was brought to The Council because he’d also been cursed by Natalie Halstead. As of yet, we haven’t been able to make that determination. It is still possible that he was acting of his own accord.”

Nicholas wanted to roll his eyes. Elder Macintosh was a shifter, and if the rumors were true, he was a bird shifter at that—not a hawk, eagle, or some other bird of prey, but a fucking finch of all things.

The man liked throwing his weight around and letting everyone know just how much he liked being in charge.

He was a thorn in the side and a pompous, pretentious asshole as far as Nicholas was concerned. “I’m sorry, Elder,” he said amicably.

“I don’t see how that relates to Enforcer Tracer.”

“Seeing how he bargained with a captive and released her, he is thereby indirectly responsible for the bewitchment placed on Hollis Becker.”

Nicholas growled and bared his fangs at Macintosh. “You just said you weren’t sure if there was a spell. Try again,
Elder
.” Nicholas still remembered when Samuel Macintosh was a pissant, freckly teenager with bad acne and zero self-esteem. The fact that Nicholas was over a hundred and fifty years older than the asshole but still had to follow his orders was a hard pill to swallow, especially when the man was wrong nine times out of ten.

“Nicky, let it go,” Jonas whispered out of the side of his mouth.

“He’s got nothing, and he’s grasping at straws.”

“Why doesn’t he like you?” Nicholas asked, barely moving his lips.

Jonas shrugged almost imperceptibly while he continued staring at the elders with only vague curiosity on his face.

“Elder, if I may,” Torren said, rising to his feet and straightening his tie.

“You are?” Elder Means asked. As weres went, the man was an okay guy. Technically, he was a lycan, and he certainly wasn’t in a league with Kieran or his siblings, but Nicholas liked him well enough just the same.

“Torren Braddock.”

Nicholas didn’t think it was his imagination that Elder Macintosh looked a little paler as he pressed his wrinkled lips together and sat up a bit straighter. “Torren Braddock,” he repeated. “Would your father be the late Riley Braddock?”

Torren dipped his head. “The very same,” he answered with a crooked smirk. “You already knew that, though, didn’t you? How could you not, seeing as how you’re the one who ordered his execution.”

Quiet gasps and murmurs went around the room, and Elder Macintosh looked in danger of stroking out right there in his seat. “I–I’m sure I have no idea what you mean.”

“As the eldest of the Braddock children, the Magik seat on the council is mine.” Torren chuckled darkly under his breath as he walked forward to join Nicholas and Jonas. “The seat you so adamantly fight against filling, the one you insist doesn’t exist? It belongs to me.”

“Samuel?” Elder Means tilted his head to the side as he studied the man next to him. “Is this true? You’ve claimed that there are no living Braddocks for years now.” He turned back to Torren and frowned. “How is this possible? You don’t exist in our registry.” Torren looked right at Macintosh, the sardonic smirk never leaving his visage. “Why don’t you ask your colleague? I’m sure he has a plausible excuse for tampering with The Council Registry.”

“What about the fae?” a vampire asked as he also stood to his feet.

He looked over his shoulder and held a hand down to his mate, helping the small blond to his feet.

“Who is that?” Nicholas asked his mate.

“Enforcer Cassius Reynolds and his mate, Kendall,” Jonas answered in a hushed voice. “Kendall is a pixie.” Nicholas’s eyes widened, and his attention darted back to the small, dainty looking man on Cassius’s arm. He’d heard legends of the pixies, but he’d never actually seen one in the flesh before.

“Are the faeries, pixies, nymphs, and sprites not entitled to representation as well?”

“What about the demons?” Stavion asked, rising beside Cassius and motioning for his mate to stand beside him.

“That’s Stavion’s mate, Jory,” Jonas whispered before Nicholas could ask. He’d spent months in Haven, and yet he knew hardly anyone. “Jory is an Aíma demon.”

“Demons?” Macintosh scoffed. “They’d rather shred us than honor and uphold any of our laws.”

“Not all demons are created equal,” Stavion argued. “There are those who only want to live peaceably among us. Do they not warrant a voice on The Council?”

“Now see here!” Elder Macintosh was losing control of the hearing, and judging by the brilliant purple his face was turning, he wasn’t very happy about it, either.

“And shouldn’t Elder Cortez be here?” Jonas asked, loud enough for the entire room to hear him. “You wish to convict me as a vampire, yet I have no representation. Or was that the idea all along, Elder?”

“Elder Cortez is busy watching over Leader McCarthy’s coven. He was unable to get away.”

“On the contrary,” a loud booming voice echoed from the back of the room. A giant of a man rose to his feet and strode forward, his skin almost tan for a vampire. “I guess I must have missed your notice about the trial. Luckily, Elder Winters was kind enough to call and remind me of it last night.”

“Elder Cortez,” Nicholas informed Jonas, pleased that he finally knew something that his mate didn’t.

“Sloan,” Macintosh bit out through gritted teeth. “I’m glad you could join us.”

“Elder Samuel Macintosh,” Cortez announced with a sly grin, “I hereby relieve you of your Council seat and order that Enforcer Whitmore and Enforcer Delaney take you into custody until which time we may set a date for your trial.” Cortez waved a hand behind him for Raven and Kieran to come forward. “You can go quietly, Samuel, or I can tell this entire courtroom how I witnessed you deceive this Council time and again.” Macintosh dipped his head jerkily, and Nicholas had to bite the inside of cheek to keep from laughing. He’d only come to make sure Jonas was cleared of any wrongdoing. He’d never dreamed things would become so entertaining.