Chapter 91

The silence following my confession seems to stretch on forever. Marcus and Liam are frozen, staring at me without blinking. I'm frozen, my heart thudding so loudly that I can hear it echoing in my ears.

It's probably only a handful of seconds, but it feels like hours. The longer the frozen silence stretches, the more I start to panic. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I should have at least planned this better, instead of just blurting it out like this!

I think I'm going to be sick. I think I'm going to faint. If someone doesn't say something soon, I'm going to –

"Bloody hell," Liam says, coming inside and closing the door. "Well, that explains a hell of a lot."

"It – it does?" I ask. Marcus still hasn't said anything; he's just staring at me still, unmoving.

"Good lord, yes," Liam says, marching over to the bar area and hauling out the supplies to start mixing what look like whiskey sours. "I knew there was something funny about Nicole Hardy's disappearance from the start."

"You did not," Marcus breaks his silence to glare at his friend. "You told me that I was a lovesick fool for knowing she was still alive." He turns to me, a look of wonder dawning on his face. "You're still alive. I knew you were still alive, deep down."

"You…knew?" I squeak.

"Yes," he says, approaching me slowly, reaching out to touch the side of my face as if I might shatter under his fingertips if he isn't careful enough. "I let Liam talk me out of it, eventually, but I think I just shoved the knowledge down.

"I knew you weren't dead. I knew it. I could feel it, deep inside my heart. My soul. I think that's why I was drawn to you a second time, all over again. My heart knew you, even if my mind refused to believe it."

"So you're not…angry?" I whisper.

Marcus starts to laugh, a deep, rich sound that bubbles up from the depths of him. It's a laugh of relief, of joy, with just the slightest tinge of hysteria around the edges, as if he's close to losing control of himself.

"Angry?" he gasps. "My god, Nicole, of course I'm not angry. I don't think I've ever been happier in my entire life."

And then he sweeps me into his arms, dips me backward, and gives me the deepest, most passionate kiss I've ever experienced.

It's a warm kiss, one that starts out soft and cautious, and then deepens into a searing heat, one that scorches me from my lips in a slow, sweet sizzle that tingles down my throat and into my belly.

I wrap my hands in Marcus's hair, twine my fingers there and clutch him closer. He gasps a little, pulling back to brush my nose with his and then to bury his face in my hair.

"I think, deep inside my heart, I always knew it was you," he whispered. "I'll always know you, my love."

He pulls back to look me in the eyes, unshed tears glimmering in his blue eyes and dampening his lashes. I feel myself choke up, too, and I have no response except to pull him close again and bury my face in his shoulder.

"It's over now," I whisper. "It's finally over."

"Almost over, you mean," Liam chirps from the bar, expertly eyeballing the lemon juice he's squeezing into a shot glass. "We're not out of the woods yet, my friends."

"What do you mean?" I ask, withdrawing from Marcus enough to turn to Liam, but sliding my hand down his arm to catch his palm in mine. His fingers curl around mine, strong and protective, as if he'll never let me go again.

"Well, our dear Charles was caught red-handed, thank god, but there's still a lot to go through before we see him hanged for his crimes –" He sees my expression and hastily adds, "Speaking metaphorically, of course. Jeez, Doc, you're too serious sometimes."

"Well, I don't know how these things work!" I say, my voice now being the one that's bordering on hysteria. "I don't know how the Werewolf Council handles these things!"

Liam shoots me a look. "You know perfectly well that we don't hang people for their crimes, Nicole," he says. "We eat them instead."

"Liam!" Marcus says, clearly hiding a laugh. Liam rolls his eyes.

"Just kidding. Nicole, you were here for our meeting. You know we don't harm people – at least, not anymore. That hasn't been our way for a long time. Do you really think that we'd be allowed to exist if we went around killing humans in accordance with our own laws?"

"No, of course you're right," I say, shaking my head. "I'm sorry, Liam. I don't know what got into me there."

"It's perfectly all right," Liam says, extending a drink to me. I cross the room to him and take it gratefully, the first sip slipping down easily and puckering my mouth in with a pleasant bite even as the warmth of the whiskey heats my blood.

"This whole thing has been a bit of a shock for all of us," Marcus adds, following me to accept his own drink. "Let's sit down and discuss this for a moment." He downs his drink in two gulps, then bangs the glass on the bar with a quirked eyebrow at Liam.

Liam rolls his eyes again, but begins mixing another drink for Marcus without comment.

"Nicole, please, please tell me everything, if you can," Marcus says as soon as he has a second drink in his hand.

"Especially tell us how the hell you managed to fool us for so long," Liam chips in, taking a healthy glug of his own cocktail. "I mean, you're wearing a totally different face, for god's sake. How did you manage to pull that off? Are you a witch doctor, after all?"

I laugh, the tears finally working their way loose and sliding down my cheeks freely.

"No," I say. "But I think I might have had help from one, to tell you the truth."

Marcus and Liam sit in stunned silence after I finish telling them about the past several months - well, years, if you count the prison time - of my life. Marcus slides his hand over to grip mine tightly.

"I can't even imagine what this must have been like for you," he says quietly. "I wish you had felt you could have come to me from the beginning, but I understand why you didn't."

"It wasn't only my risk to take," I say, squeezing his fingers.

"Yes," he says. "That's true. I'm so glad that my father is in on all of this, albeit coming late to the party. He'll be able to help keep your friends safe, especially now that Charles is out of the picture."

"Well, we hope he's out of the picture," Liam says. "Like I said, we're not out of the woods yet…" His voice trails off as there's another knock at the hotel room door.

"Marcus? Evelyn? Are you in there?" It's the Alpha's voice, calling to us. Marcus looks at me and nods, so I get up and run to the door, flinging it open with enthusiasm.

"Emmett," I say, and then burst into tears.

"Evelyn?" he asks, looking bewildered. "My dear girl, whatever is it?"

"It's all right, Father," Marcus says, coming up behind me. I can hear the grin in his voice. "The cat's out of the bag now. You can call her Nicole."

Emmett's face lights up with an expression of true joy, happiness beaming from him like a beacon.

"Oh, thank goodness," he says, stepping into the room to embrace me. I clutch him tightly, hugging him close. He strokes my hair for a moment before releasing me.

"I came here to tell you that Charles has been arrested, and that I've spoken to Jack," the Alpha says. "Things are looking up, though of course there's still much to be done. But it looks like I've stumbled into a far more important celebration."

"Indeed you have," Marcus says, putting an arm around me. "Can we offer you a drink, Father?"

The Alpha smiles even wider.

"I can't think of anything I'd like more," he says.