Nathan had asked Gavin to put Nickie in a stupor, and Bud had agreed with his request. He hated it, but it was for her own safety because telling their secrets could get her in a world of trouble. The FBI agents were going to be asking questions, and he worried Nickie would spill the beans before either her memories were removed or she’d been bound to the secrets she’d learned.

She’d hate him for it later, but for now she seemed shell-shocked and she could only say she didn’t know. They were the only words she was capable of forming.

Both cabins were burning, the fire department was doing their thing to extinguish the blazes, and the local PD was trying to come to terms with the fact the FBI wasn’t going to let them investigate two cabins exploding in their city.

The EMTs had looked everyone over and wanted to take Nickie in for observation, but Ranger showed his paramedic ID and assured them he’d keep an eye on her and take her to the hospital if he felt she needed a doctor. When one of the EMTs still insisted, Bud got Gavin’s attention, and the uniformed man suddenly felt Ranger would know if she required the hospital.

Meanwhile, Bud sat with her and held her, and smelled the anger coming off her. She was thinking straight, she just couldn’t communicate anything and she was fifteen levels beyond pissed.

“It’ll wear off,” he told her, his mouth to her ear. “I’m sorry, but we were worried you’d tell the FBI or police information they shouldn’t have. It’ll wear off,” he repeated. “You’ll be fine.”

* * *

Nickie slept in the new rental Jeep on the way to the MC’s cabin in the mountains of North Georgia — her head in his lap with no seat belt. It made him nervous but she was exhausted. Also, the stupor Nathan had put her in hadn’t worn all the way off yet. Bud would need to be on his toes when it did because his little brat was livid.

Ranger and Mac were up front, and with a skilled werewolf driving, they should be okay, but Bud didn’t feel comfortable dropping off to sleep. He kept his mind occupied with the puzzle of how to keep Nickie satisfied for the rest of her life with one man. Bud’s wolf had hated sharing Nickie with Nathan. Bud didn’t like it either, but he’d enjoyed watching Nickie so obviously enjoy herself — overwhelmed with sensations until she couldn’t think straight.

He could stuff a dildo in her pussy and fuck her ass, or put a butt plug in while he reamed her pussy, but he’d never be able to recreate the feeling of two men around her, two dicks moving inside her.

She awakened when they pulled off the road onto the long driveway to the cabin. Bud handed her a bottle of water and said, “We’ll be there in three or four minutes. Not sure who’ll be there, but they should all be friendly.”

Or inside the cage in the basement if they weren’t friendly and in control, but there was no need to tell her that unless it was occupied when they arrived. It wasn’t supposed to be, but he’d make sure before they settled in.

They’d barely made it out of the new rental Jeep when Apollonius appeared before them, sitting on the picnic table as if he’d been there all along. Bud knew he hadn’t, but Nickie seemed to accept it. He’d told her the Concilio was their governing body, but hadn’t told them how fucking scary they can be.

Apollonius nodded to Nickie, and she stepped away from Bud and gut punched him, hard. Bud grinned at her ferocity, but recognized she was about to hit him a few more times when she stepped in close, and he needed to bring her under control with Apollonius watching. He grabbed her fist as it shot towards him, spun her so her back was to him, and wrapped his arms around her torso and both arms.

“Looks like Apollonius removed the daze so we don’t have to wait for it to wear off. Good to have you back.”

“You fucking bastard! I should kill you in your sleep for doing that to me!”

“Gavin did it,” said Ranger. “Bud doesn’t have the ability to mess with your mind or your memories.”

Nathan was in another vehicle, and all the lions he’d brought with him were in the back, unconscious. He’d revive them once he had them in the underground cell, where he’d decide who got to live and who got to die. All lions belong to Nathan — he doles out punishments and consequences to keep his people in line, and rumor had it, he doled out punishments even before he executed them, if their crimes were bad enough. Bud didn’t feel sorry for the lions in the least though. They’d come to kill Nickie and if it’d been his choice they’d all be dead by now.

“I’ll walk Miss Nicole into the woods and have a talk with her, alone,” Apollonius told Bud.

“Please, I should be with her.” Bud didn’t want to let her out of his sight.

Apollonius looked at Nickie’s face and then back to Bud. “She’s pretty upset with you. I assure you her physical body is safe. I merely need to decide what she can be allowed to remember.”

“She’s mine. I claim her. I was going to lobby Abbott soon so I could tell her about me.”

“Noted. I’ll do what I can.”

There was no use arguing with the Concilio. Bud let go of Nicole and stepped away from her as he repeated. “She’s mine.”

It wasn’t exactly a threat, because they all knew Bud couldn’t hurt Apollonius in this moment — but if anyone hurt Nickie, Bud would find a way to get revenge.

Or die trying.

* * *

Nickie looked at the man and gauged him. Not just based on his impeccable suit of the finest fabric, but the way he held his body, his speech, and the way he looked out of his eyes.

Also, Bud and Ranger deferred to him as if they feared him. Everything together told her this man was powerful and Nickie should probably approach him with caution.

“I take it you know who I am, can I know your name?”

“I am known as Apollonius. Will you walk with me into the forest so we can speak in private?”

“Since you’re asking as a courtesy and I don’t seem to have a choice, I’ll be courteous and say it’s my pleasure.”

Nickie had the feeling this man rarely smiled, but she saw the barest hint of one. “I can see why Bud likes you. Come, Nicolette. I believe you’ve already figured out I can be both judge and executioner, but your physical body isn’t in danger from me.”

“I value my mind and my memories, Apollonius. I realize you’ll be erasing memories and not me, but I’m the sum total of my experiences. If you take them from me, you’ll kill a piece of who I am.”

“If that’s what it takes to let you live, will you accept it?”

“You mean if I have to decide between letting you kill me or letting you take my memory of the past seven or eight hours?”

“Yes.”

Nickie sighed. “I don’t know. I need to think on it. I’m sure I’ll decide to live, but if I have a choice I need to think it through.”

He looked at her a few moments as if making a decision, and finally said, “I’m going to teleport us to a place with wine and glasses. I’ll bring you back when we finish our discussion. It’s important you hold your breath while you’re being moved.”

Nickie nodded, and Apollonius grasped her left bicep. “Get a breath and close your eyes. You’ll only need to hold it a few seconds.”

With her eyes closed, she focused on the sounds of the forest, and then the sound of nothing. Seconds later, she heard sounds again. Nothing in particular, perhaps an air conditioner in the distance, and maybe a distant road with traffic.

“Where are we?”

“Not important. It’s okay to open your eyes, and please have a seat. I need a few moments to look through your memories. You can speed this up by thinking of the rules for your supernatural creatures, and the characters and stories around them you’ve created. I’m already a little familiar, but I wasn’t your case worker so I’d like to see it for myself.”

She opened her eyes to a richly decorated room, all in varying shades of tans and browns with rich red fabrics and tapestries. She didn’t know if it was Victorian era or one of the Louis, but it wasn’t modern, and it was ornate and expensive without being too fussy.

“Do you have any idea how creepy this is?”

“I know how people feel about it, yes. I can find the information I want even if you don’t cooperate, but if you show me where the memories are stored I can focus on those without having to rummage around in your memories until I find them.”

Nicole sat on a little settee and thought of her favorite werewolf, but realized that wasn’t quite what he’d asked. She ran through the plot of her first story and worked her way through to the last.

Apollonius had sat in a chair across from her while she ran through them, and he didn’t move as he asked, “Can you think of future story ideas, please?”

The fact he knew when she finished without her saying anything aloud was creepy as fuck, but she didn’t say anything. With an inward sigh, she thought of possibilities for how to tie two series together — though she’d never be able to because they were written by different pen names. Still, she’d be able to use those story ideas, she’d just have to rename the characters and change them up a little.

“Thank you.” He sighed and leaned forward a little. “I usually decide what to do and make it happen, but I’m going to let you know my options and give you a choice. I’m pretty sure I know which you’ll choose, but I believe you’ll be happier with the process if you know the alternatives.”

“Why am I getting options when others don’t?”

“You haven’t done anything wrong, and in fact you’ve put yourself in harm’s way a number of times to try to make things a little better — to bring to light the bad things people do and try to get them stopped.”

He stood and walked to a bar area, and Nickie asked, “Are you one of the good guys?”

“Not always, but I appreciate it when I can be. Are you ready to hear your options?”

“Yes, please.” He was being courteous, so Nickie would too.

“Option one: I can replace memories so you remember capturing the enemy and questioning them before the cabins exploded and they died. We’ll need to mesh your memories with the FBI agents’ implanted recall of what happened, but I can certainly manage it.” He paused long enough to pour a deep red wine into a glass. “Option two: You can choose death. Option three…” He set the glass of wine in front of her. “I can magically bind you so you’ll remember nearly everything, but won’t be able to communicate what you know in any way — written, spoken, typed, outright or by the giving of hints.”

“Magically bind me? How does that work?”

“I’ll put a few drops of my blood in the wine, and a few drops of your blood in some water. You’ll make a vow not to share our secrets, and we both drink. I’ll handle the rest.” He stood and walked to a dark wood, gracefully carved cabinet, opened it to show a refrigerator, and pulled out a bottled water. “Looking through Bud’s head, I saw his concern for your writing career. He intended to go to someone to ask permission to tell you what he was and get help binding you, because he worried about it blocking your ability to write of your fictional werewolves.”

“Someone said I was already on your radar because of what I write?”

“You were, and I can see in your head an experience from long ago, before you started writing about werewolves. You saw a vampire awkwardly biting and drinking someone down. He went into your head and had you walk into a courtyard and sit to wait for him, so he could finish his dinner and see to his meal’s health before he removed the memory. He planted the idea not to call the cops or anyone else while you waited, but he didn’t realize you could send yourself an email on your phone. It was still a new technology. He wiped your memory but you had the email. He was careless and he’ll be dealt with.”

Nickie wanted to ask him not to hurt the unknown vampire, but instinctively knew her request wouldn’t change whatever was to happen, so she addressed the parts she hoped to get an answer to. “I hadn’t drank anything that night and could never figure out how I sent myself an email I didn’t remember composing. I developed my phobia about seeing blood after that, though.”

“And you focused on the supernatural. He was a new vampire and still learning — there’s rarely blood to be seen when one feeds.”

“Can you restore the memory?”

“Yes, but without his facial features, and not quite yet. We have business to conclude. I’ll fashion the binding so you’ll be able to write about established characters and species in ways you already have. You’ll need to come to me for permission before you can add another supernatural creature, and I’ll have to agree to any new rules you wish your creatures to have.”

“And your word is the final say? There’s no one to go to for an appeal?”

“I’m the one who’d decide upon an appeal, and you’ve come straight to me, my dear.”

“Why didn’t you want Bud involved?”

“Because I need to personally bind you. Traditionally, you’d drink his blood and he’d drink yours, but we take special precautions with authors and people in the media spotlight.”

Nickie was about to say she’d like Bud’s counsel, but Apollonius said, “You might wish he was here to act as sounding board, but not for advice or guidance. You follow your own counsel.”

Damn, he was in her head and he was right. “Fine, then you already know I’m going to choose the third option, though I’m not happy about it. What memories are you going to take from me?”

“A few details about shapeshifters and vampires you don’t really need to know. I assure you, nothing I’ll take from you is important, merely details those beings would prefer an author not know. Nothing will take away from the experiences you believe have made you who you are.”

“I want to write about shapeshifting lions.”

“I’ll provide you an email address so you can let me know when you get it written. I’ll pay you a visit and look through your head. I won’t need to read your manuscript. You won’t be able to send your work to anyone until you get the okay from me. This is true for anything you write, if you include something I’ve forbidden, your psyche won’t allow you to send it to anyone except Bud or myself. Again though, there’s no need to send me the manuscript, just let me know you have it ready.”

“Be prepared for me to be pissed if you decide I can’t write something.”

“Then don’t write details you know I won’t approve of. Mix truth in with some untruths, and never give away an actual weakness.”

“What are you? Will I become like you if I drink your blood?”

“You’re only getting a few drops, so no.”

“You aren’t going to tell me what you are?”

“Let’s begin. Nathan is having to convince Bud not to come looking for us.”

The actual binding ceremony was fast, and Nickie couldn’t tell it did anything. However, when Apollonius handed her a pen and paper and told her to write out how to kill a shapeshifting lion, she couldn’t do it.

She didn’t bother asking how. He’d told her it was a magical binding and she had a feeling that was all she’d get from him.

“Get a breath and close your eyes again.”

They reappeared on the porch of the cabin this time, and Apollonius gave her a small bow before teleporting away just as the front door opened and Bud stepped out.

“Looks like he didn’t want to talk to you.”

Bud glared at the empty spot beside her before shaking his head and pulling her into his arms. She was still pissed over being put in a stupor, but realized she’d have to get over it. There were obviously rules that had to be followed, and it felt like they’d worked around them as much as possible so Nickie could keep her memories. She relaxed into his embrace, and felt him relax a little, too. He’d been worried about her still being pissed.

“I can’t believe he took you away. Are you okay?”

“Yes, and I’m supposed to have been able to keep almost all my memories. I don’t know what he took from me, but I remember wolves, lions, hyenas, and vampires. Am I missing anything?”

Bud shook his head. “It’s my understanding the vampires didn’t want you knowing a few details. I’m blocked from saying more. I’m sorry.”

She sighed, pulled out of his arms, and walked past him into the cabin. She was starving and hoped someone offered her some food soon. If not, maybe she could offer to pay for delivery to feed everyone. “I get it. I couldn’t write anything he told me to write. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, it was that I wasn’t capable of doing it.”

She stopped and looked at him. His bald head was now full of his wild and too-long hair once again. She brushed it away from his face with a smile. “That’s why shaving it off wasn’t a big deal? It came right back when you went to wolf and back to human?”

“Yes.”

“Apollonius said you were making plans to try to tell me.”

“I hadn’t contacted anyone yet, but I was figuring out the best people to go to. Didn’t know how long I needed to wait, but I knew you’d need to know at some point if things kept going as they were.”

“Thanks for worrying about my writing career.”

“Did Apollonius work around it?”

“He says I’ll be able to write about things already in my fictional universe. I’ll need permission from him to create any new creatures or rules.”

“Sounds fair. Are you okay with it?”

“No, because my muse doesn’t work that way, but he said there was no one to go to above him for appeal.”

Bud nearly choked. “No, there isn’t. You have balls for asking though.”

“She has enormous balls,” Nathan said as he came up the steps. He pulled Nickie into a hug and let her go. “I’m happy you and Apollonius came to an agreement that allowed you to remember. You’re good for Bud, and it’s no wonder he’s falling for you. Human women don’t generally hold it together as well as you did when being attacked by creatures they had no idea existed.”

“We didn’t believe they’d show themselves,” Bud told her. “Not once they realized we had Nathan, anyway.”

“I apologize for setting you up that way,” Nathan told her. “I’d have never expected you to be able to handle it and still fight, but you did. Your guards and Bud assured me you’d hold it together for battle, but that was assuming everyone stayed human.”

“It worked out. Can I talk to the lions you have downstairs?”

“No. They’re… hostile. I’ve given them their willpower back so I can see who can be saved and who can’t. I’m going to ask you not to go down the steps for any reason. We’ll check in with Gavin after the sun goes down, and then you and Bud can go home. Your security team will want to keep you from surfacing as yourself until they can be sure the threat is gone. We hope to take care of the rest of those who’d come after you — possibly as early as the next forty-eight hours, but it could take longer.”

“I’ll pay Aaron to provide extra muscle for the capture, should you need it.”

“Not necessary. You’ll pay us to keep you safe, as you have been. The human traffickers are now our problem. They brought themselves to the attention of a human journalist, and the Concilio has decreed all responsible shall be removed from human society.”

“Killed?”

“Some probably will be.” Nathan glanced at Bud before looking back to Nickie. “I have a little more leeway to tell you things than Bud does. I can’t go into details, but I hope you’ll find some justice in knowing those who’ll have value as slaves will be owned by beings who’ve proven they can contain other powerful beings.”

Yes, she certainly found justice in knowing lowlife human traffickers were going to be forced into slavery.

“Bud couldn’t have told me that?” she asked.

“I didn’t know for sure, actually,” said Bud. “I guessed. There are rumors of how the Concilio handles those who put our secrets at risk. Terrible things, designed to keep others from doing the same. It’s important you don’t try to get around the magic.”

The men looked to the sky as Nathan said, “It’s our ’copter. We’re swapping some people around.”

Nickie didn’t hear or see anything, and she scanned the skies trying to figure out what they were talking about.

Bud looked to her. “Wolf and lion hearing. You’ll hear it soon.”

Sure enough, several minutes later she heard it, and she shook her head. “You’ve heard both sides of every phone conversation I’ve had, haven’t you?”

Bud grinned. “Guilty. Sorry. I couldn’t explain.”

She understood, but still glared at him. She needed to go sit on a mountain alone for a while before she’d be able to sort through her feelings about the things she’d learned.

The helicopter finally came into view, but Nickie didn’t ask who was being swapped out. She wished Tyler was around, but he was tied up handling something else and still wasn’t available. She liked Ranger, Nathan, and Aaron, but Tyler knew her well enough to arrange things so she barely realized she was being guarded.

“They’re bringing a couple dozen buckets of chicken, and tubs of slaw and mashed potatoes,” Nathan told her. “Might want to get a seat at the picnic table before the other wolves smell what they’ve brought.”

Nickie realized she still had the rest of the bottled water from Apollonius in her hand, and she walked with it to the picnic table, but she recognized the stride of one of the men as he stepped off the plane, and she set the water down and took off across the field.

“You came! I thought you were in New York!”

Tyler grinned as she took a few of the bags of food from his hands. “Finished up early this morning and Aaron flew me to Chattanooga in the plane. I spent a few hours with my wife, and now here I am with you.”

“I feel like I should send her a thank you note for being okay with you running off again so soon.”

He chuckled. “Nah, Bethany’s stayed with her and they’ve had fun without us. With Aaron here, Jonathan’s been with his wife, and you have Ranger and Mac, too. Viv and Bethany have done the spa thing, they’ve shopped, did some kind of drunken painting night with Aaron’s wife and a few others, and now there’s a misshapen hummingbird painting hanging in our hallway.” He shook his head, but his eyes told her he loved the hummingbird because his wife had enjoyed herself while painting it. “It’s been an all-girl-funfest without us men around. She’s fine.” His eyes went serious. “I’m human. I’m one of the few humans who work at this level with Aaron, but now that you know what the other guards are, I need you to understand I’m not like them. If you want to swap me out for one of them, I’ll understand.”

“I don’t care, Tyler. You took out the traffickers’ guards and muscle, which means you held your own against hyenas and lions, and maybe vampires, too. Sounds pretty damned super-human to me.”

“I’m trained. Gives me a leg up on those who aren’t, but they still have faster reflexes and are stronger than me. How are you handling things, knowing you’re surrounded by shifters and vampires?”

“It hasn’t completely sunk in yet, I don’t think.”

“She kicked ass last night,” Nathan told him. “I know you saw the video, but damn, you had to be there to see her in action.”

“You saw video?” Nickie asked him.

“Yeah, I was brought up to date on the plane. I should be able to hit the ground running.”

“Few things you don’t know.” Nathan told him about Apollonius’s decision to let her keep her memories, and Nickie wondered when the two had spoken, but didn’t ask.

“So, you don’t have to be with me anymore?” she asked Nathan. “You aren’t responsible for my secrets, right?”

“Right.”

“For the record, I’m still pissed about being put in a stupor.”

“I know,” Bud said as they neared the table again. “And I’m sorry. I wish we’d been able to think of a better solution, but since we couldn’t, Gavin went with the tried and true shell-shocked human female thing.”