[Southern Arcana 2.0] Crossroads
He's the last man she should ever want. She's the last woman he can ever have.
Southern Arcana, Book 2
Coming from a family with psychic gifts, Derek Gabriel was aware of but separate from the dangers of the supernatural world, until a rogue wolf shifter stripped away his humanity. The change he barely survived didn’t drive him insane, but the cultural bias against him as an inferior transformed wolf might.
And it doesn’t help that he’s fallen for the daughter of the most powerful wolf in the country.
Almost from the moment she was born, Nicole Peyton started planning her escape from the strict confines of elite shapeshifter society, an old-fashioned world where women are valued only for their bloodlines and bank accounts. In New Orleans she has a bar she loves, friends in decidedly low places, and a smoldering sensual tension with an incredibly attractive and deliciously unsuitable man.
Their forbidden longing erupts into unbridled need—until Nick’s sister burns into town with a strike team hard on her heels. Saving her means Nick has to play by the Conclave’s rules…and give up the man she is growing to love.
Unless Derek does something completely crazy—issue a challenge that could shake the foundations of their world.
Warning: This book contains forbidden lust, strip poker, instinct-driven sex in odd places, devious shapeshifters, and love and loss in a world of paranormal politics and supernatural schemes.
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Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520
Macon GA 31201
Crossroads
Copyright © 2010 by Moira Rogers
ISBN: 978-1-60504-705-8
Edited by Anne Scott
Cover by Amanda Kelsey
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Firs
t Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: February 2010
Crossroads
Moira Rogers
Dedication
For Mylius, who always laughed whenever the society princess was actually supposed to know what to say.
Thanks to all the gamers who know how important this is, and that revisions should only be interrupted with chocolate tossed through a briefly opened door. And very heartfelt thanks to Yvonne, who helped make this a better book by knowing when to poke and when to cheer.
Chapter One
“If you don’t get off your ass, someone’s going to snake that woman right out from under you.” Derek tore his attention from the paperwork spread out over his desk and leveled his sternest glare at his best friend and partner. “Excuse me?”
Andrew didn’t look up from his drafting table, but he cocked one eyebrow. “Hey, I’m just saying. It’s a small miracle she’s not already dating someone. At least, that’s what Penny says.”
“If you and Penny don’t have anything better to do than talk about my love life, maybe we should go find some more work.” He turned his attention back to his invoices, which had piled up at an alarming rate and made it clear that the last thing they needed was more clients. “Besides, give me one good reason I should listen to pithy advice on love from
you
.”
Andrew grinned and spun his stool to face Derek’s desk. “Tell me you don’t want to ask Nick Peyton out, and I’ll shut up about it.”
Two invoices went into the stack on the right, the ones that would go in the mail on Monday. Derek ground his teeth and picked up a third one, but he couldn’t focus on the words.
Maybe because he did want to ask her out, and everyone knew it. Hell,
Nick
probably knew it. But he had his reasons for hesitating. He had plenty of reasons.
He realized he’d been staring at the invoice in silence and put it down with a disgusted sigh. “I can’t believe the man who’s been in love with my cousin for, like, two years is over there lecturing me on getting off my ass.”
“We’re not talking about me.” Andrew’s easy smile didn’t fade. “You keep stalling, and you’re going to end up kicking yourself. Women don’t wait forever, not without a little encouragement, at least. And Jackson said that wizard’s been asking Nick for dates. The one who runs the fake ghost tour out in the Quarter.” He pulled out a small drawer, stored his technical pens and rose. “He’s coming to the party tonight.”
Derek had been a shapeshifter for almost two years, and he still wasn’t prepared for the rumbling snarl that worked its way out of his chest. It was instinctive, like the way his fingers tightened around the arm of his chair until he was sure he’d leave permanent dents. “Fuck.” His friend eyed him solemnly. “Now imagine having to watch him hump her leg all night.” He grabbed his keys and wallet from another drawer. “I can’t pretend to know what it’s been like for you, Derek. But I know you don’t want to see her with someone else.”
Crossroads
Derek slumped back in his chair and tried to rein in the homicidal urges that accompanied the mental image of another man laying hands on Nick. “You’d think I’d have it under control now. Alec’s one cool fucker. He makes it look so damn
easy
.”
Andrew sat on the edge of Derek’s desk and made a face. “He was also born into all this crap. You’ve had a couple of years. That officially makes this the stupidest comparison ever.”
“Yeah.” Derek pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes. “Shit. I was going to ask her out anyway, you know. But every damn time something like this happens, I think I’m not ready. It’s fucking hell, Andrew, not knowing if something will make me snap and freak out.”
“She can probably handle a little crazy better than thinking you don’t know she’s alive.” He nodded toward the door. “I’m cutting out so I have time to go home and wrap Kat’s present. I’ll see you at the bar?”
“Yeah. Hey, send Mari in here, would you?” He picked up the next invoice on his stack and forced himself to look at it. “I need to talk to her before she takes off for the party.”
“Sure.” The door closed behind Andrew, but Derek still clearly heard his voice when he spoke to their office manager. The shapeshifter hearing had taken a while to get used to, if only because twenty-nine years of experience told him he shouldn’t be able to clearly make out words spoken in another room.
He shouldn’t be able to…but he could. Just like he could tell that Penny had been in the office earlier today, because she always smelled of an oddly soothing mix of sawdust, engine oil and cinnamon. The world was alive around him in a way it hadn’t been two years ago but, no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t seem to find solid footing.
The door opened again and Mariko stuck in her head. “Are my invoices ready, or do you want to ask me a question I’ve already answered four times? Because I’m about to start rationing those.”
“Invoices are ready. Mostly.” He waved to the mess of files on the desk. “You know I’m crap at this.” She walked in, clad in head-to-toe black despite the lingering October heat. “I’ll check them before I mail them out. Did you have a chance to look over the subcontractor estimates for the Halstead project?”
“Those were…” He stared down at the disaster he’d made of his desk, trying to remember what color the folder had been. “Shit. When did you give them to me?”
Mariko leaned past him and pulled a yellow folder off a file cabinet. “They can wait, you know. It’s not urgent.” She eyed him sympathetically.
The sympathy grated on his nerves, but it had become a common fixture around the office since Jackson’s new flame had shown up. Now, more than a month later, Derek still felt the same panic that had gripped him when he’d learned Nick was about to make a suicidal assault on a madman’s stronghold to rescue Mackenzie—and that she’d left town to do so without saying a word to him.
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7
Moira Rogers
Kat had pointed out, with some volume, that Nick didn’t owe him an explanation of her actions. What his cousin didn’t understand was that the truth only irritated him more. Fear had kept him from staking his claim, and that fear had left him in the dark when she’d been in danger.
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.
8
Crossroads
“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?