Page 4 of Shifter Situations

Novak sighed, collapsing onto the couch and pulling at his hair. “You can’t fix the past, Trouble. That’s what he’s worried about.”

“What we’re all worried about,” Vaughn corrected.

Briggs and Vaughn looked at each other, glanced at me, then raised eyebrows at Novak. They crossed the room toward my vampire, and my shifter’s rumbling voice was soft as he advised, “We need to call Blaire.”

“She’s still in Baton Rouge helping Dominic. We can bring her through the Void,” I quietly confirmed. “She could be here in minutes.”

“She’s gonna fucking kill me,” Novak growled, his voice taking on an unusual lilt. I’d never heard him speak with any kind of an accent, even though his French was flawless.

“You didn’t do anything,” I assured him.

“Fuck,” he whispered, stammering over his words as he switched from French to English rapidly. “Qu'est-ce que je vais faire? Blaire will fucking kill me. Comment suis-je censé m’en sortir?”

“Hey,” I called, trying to keep his sudden panic at bay. “Novak. Novak. Mon Coeur…” I murmured, cupping his cheek to bring his attention to my face.

“We’ll get through it. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to get out of anything. There’s nothing to get out of; you didn’t do anything. We’ll call Blaire in. I’ll talk to her and explain what’s going on.

“Please don’t freak out. Everything pack-related will soon go through Briggs and me. You have nothing to worry about; your past is your past. We all have one. It doesn’t change anything.”

He shook his head, glossy brunette hair sweeping into his face as he struggled not to bounce between languages. “Trouble, I have a record. They’ll find a way to pin me to whatever it is.”

Novak’s mesmerizing golden gaze roved across my face as I lowered myself to my knees on the floor between his legs.

“I need to know everything. You don’t have to say a word. Just let me in; let me see what you’re so concerned about,” I pleaded.

“He’ll only be able to show you a portion of it,” Vaughn admitted, dropping onto the couch beside Novak.

“I’ve locked most of his memories away so they can’t be found. Not even truth potions could pull them from him. Search his mind for what’s leftover, then search mine. Everything is there between the two of us.”

I placed my left hand on Novak’s knee and my right on Vaughn’s. Closing my eyes, I recalled the trip to Kentucky and how it felt when Novak pulled Vaughn into my mind.

My fae’s presence was cool and calm, like clear water lapping at the dark edges of my subconscious. My vampire’s was a bundle of energy, rushing toward us both when I sought him out.

As I pulled Vaughn into Novak’s memories, they came to us as second-long clips. I didn’t sense a particular order to them, but they were all so similar.

“Novak Malin, you’re under arrest for…”

“Novak Malin, you’re being charged with…”

“Mr. Malin, have you seen this man before?”

“Mr. Malin, can you tell us where you were on the night of…”

Over and over, the clips played on repeat, but the settings and the people changed. I lost count of how many fragmented memories he showed us.

Vaughn’s hand touched mine as he whispered, “Let him go. I’ll show you the rest now.”

When I released Novak, his defeated sigh made my chest clench painfully. His panic was gone, but so were most of his emotions. He was closing down, making himself numb for what he thought was to come.

My fae’s memories sucked me in quickly, nearly knocking me off balance where I was kneeling in front of them. They were vivid, loud, and the beginnings of what Novak had shown, all from Vaughn’s perspective.

One stuck out more than the others.

* * *

“Go, Novak!”

“Get in the car, Vaughn. Hurry up.”