Crux. Part 3

He leaned closer. "Mackenzie, if you're in trouble, we can help. You don't have to worry about us getting hurt, either. That's what-" The bell above the door rang again, and Jackson shut his mouth as Mackenzie turned to the new arrivals with a smile pasted on her face.

"s.h.i.t!" It was Alec's voice, and Jackson turned just in time to see his partner catch Kat as she staggered. Her face had blanched, and her wide blue eyes fastened on Mackenzie with something akin to shock. Jackson had seen the expression before-whenever Kat opened herself to the emotions around her and found herself overwhelmed.

"Dammit." He shot off the stool. When he reached Kat, he wrapped his hands around her upper arms and tried to catch her gaze. "Kat? Hey, Kat, come on. Snap out of it, okay?"

She blinked. "I lost it," she whispered in a shaky voice. "She's so scared..."

He raised a hand to her face and kept her gaze locked with his. "Yeah, I know. But it's okay, Kat. We'll fix it."

She closed her eyes. As soon as she did, Alec swung her up in his arms and nodded past Jackson.

Mackenzie had come to the edge of the bar, her face tight and her fingers clenched around the edge. "Is there anything I can do? Should I call someone?"

Alec answered before Jackson could. "I don't suppose you could find Nicole for us? Tell her Kat's out here and she's feeling a bit light-headed."

Mackenzie's gaze slid back to Jackson. "Of course. She should be in the back."

After she hurried away, Jackson looked back to Alec and groaned. "Oh, don't start with me. Not right now." He moved toward a booth and shoved the table to one side, making plenty of room for Alec to place Kat on one of the dark vinyl benches.

Alec settled her and crouched next to the bench. "Kat. Hey, look at me, kiddo."

The young woman's eyes opened slowly. "It's okay. I'm okay. I just wasn't expecting-" She swallowed. "Jesus Christ, Jackson. If I was as scared as she is, I'd be hiding under my d.a.m.n bed, whimpering. It's not just that, she's-" She shook her head and made a vague gesture, her frustration at being unable to express herself evident in her tight tone. "G.o.d. It's like she's dying, bit by bit. Someone ripped her up inside."

Jackson fought the anger rising within him. If some b.a.s.t.a.r.d was after Mackenzie and he got his hands him... "I should have warned you. I'd planned on it, I just..."

He'd just been distracted.

She hissed in a sudden breath. "Jackson, please-"

Alec rose, crowding Jackson and forcing him away from the bench. "Lock it down," he whispered fiercely. "I get that you're p.i.s.sed, but Kat can't handle it right now."

"I got it." He averted his eyes and tried to focus, tried to tamp down the rage and irritation. After a moment, his emotions eased. "I'm fine." He shot Alec a bland look. "You want to back up off of me now?"

His partner studied his face and nodded shortly. "If someone's chasing her, we don't want to attract any attention by going through official channels. I'll take Kat back to the office and she can work a little of her computer mojo while you convince the girl to let us help her."

"Thanks." Jackson glanced toward the door to the back. "Did you sense anything?"

He'd been working with Alec long enough to know his slight hesitation wasn't a good sign. "Can't tell you much more than Nicole did. What I'm getting doesn't make a lot of sense, so you might be better off trying your spell."

"Doesn't make sense?" Jackson echoed. "What the h.e.l.l does that-"

"Hey." Nick appeared, out of breath and disheveled, at Jackson's elbow. "Did her empathy explode?"

"Yeah."

"That's what I figured. I told Mackenzie it was low blood sugar. She's in the kitchen, making her a milkshake."

Kat bolted upright. "Are you going to let her stay here? You can't let her leave. Something's wrong. Really, really wrong."

Nick soothed her with a soft noise. "She's agreed to stay upstairs in Mahalia's old place." She laid a hand on Jackson's arm. "You're going to strengthen those old wards, right?"

"First thing in the morning," he promised, "if you can get Mackenzie out of here."

"I have a plan, of course. I'm taking her shopping. She just doesn't know it yet."

Jackson tapped his chin. "Alec, can you take Kat back to the office and get started on that stuff? I'm going to see if Mackenzie would like to get out of here and grab a late lunch. Maybe, if I keep trying, she'll see that it isn't dangerous to let us help her." Maybe I can figure out just what the h.e.l.l she is. It had nothing to do with wanting to spend more time with her, nothing at all. This was a job. This was protection. This was...

"A date?" Nick demanded, poking him. "You expect her to open up about whatever's wrong on a date?"

Jackson blinked at Alec. "Is that...wrong?"

Alec's expression made it clear he'd rather walk into traffic than have to answer the question. Fortunately for him, Kat spoke, her voice firm. "No. It will work. Don't take her somewhere too fancy, and not too far from here. She's scared and she's overwhelmed but she wants to trust you. She wants to-" Kat laughed. "Let's just stick with she wants to trust you."

Nick choked on a groan and poked Jackson again. He rubbed his arm and glared at her. "What?"

She shrugged. "Consider that an advance."

Mackenzie watched the blender whirl, vanilla ice cream mixing with chunks of fresh strawberries she'd pulled from the industrial-sized refrigerator. She could hear the faint murmur of voices from the front, interspersed with the occasional laugh.

Nick had lied to her. Mackenzie had seen enough lies in her life to recognize when someone was talking too fast. Whatever the reason Jackson's a.s.sistant had collapsed, Mackenzie doubted very much it had to do with her blood sugar.

She would have bet anything it had something to do with her. The startled, terrified way the girl had watched her as the blood drained from her face had been indication enough there was something odd going on.

It hurt more than Mackenzie wanted to admit, thinking Nick had lied to her. It hurt even more to imagine Jackson had as well. Following her could have been a way to find out where she was staying. Offering her Mahalia's apartment was a perfect way to keep her in one place.

Stupid. Stupid, stupid... She'd let a handsome face and a friendly smile distract her from the danger. They could be out there planning right now, while she sat and made milkshakes.

She wanted to run. She should have run. The minute the door closed, she should have been gone. By the time they realized she was missing she could have had her things in a cab. She should have gotten a head start.

She should have. But she hadn't.

Stupid.

Mackenzie opened the blender and stared blindly at its contents. It was too late to run now, even if she wanted to. And that was the real issue.

She didn't want to.

Something about Nick and Jackson made it impossible for her to believe they would actually hurt her. It was foolish and naive, especially in the face of everything she'd been through in the last month, but every time she tried to consider the possibility of one of them being in league with Marcus...

It was absurd.

Sighing, she poured the milkshake into a gla.s.s and dropped in a straw. Either way, she was too tired to run again. Another city, another job, another cheap motel... She couldn't bring herself to go through it.

The group fell silent when Mackenzie pushed through the door, the milkshake in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Subtle, she thought wryly. No, no one was talking about me at all. She didn't say anything about it, though, just smiled. "Here you go. One strawberry milkshake."

Jackson came over to take it, his hand brushing hers. "Thanks, Kenzie."

"No problem." A shiver danced up her spine, though she wasn't sure if it was from the touch of his hand on hers or the warm tone of his voice around the nickname he'd given her. Oh, G.o.d. I'm so stupid.

"She's feeling better now, but we should get her started on this." He saluted her with the milkshake and handed it to the dark-haired man who'd come in with Kat.

The young woman gave Mackenzie a shaky smile. "Thank you."

"No problem. I hope you feel better." Whatever's really wrong with you.

Nick patted the bar. "I'm sorry, Mackenzie, but I forgot that I already asked Joe to come in this afternoon. Is there any way you could come back for the rush tonight and help out?" She shrugged one shoulder. "Tips'll be better, at any rate."

"Sure." Mackenzie set the bottle of water on the counter. "Everything-everything's okay, right?"

Nick's answer seemed easy. "Everything's fine. Really. There's not a problem."

"Okay." She wiped her hands on a towel and tried to look calm. "I guess I'll just go back on upstairs. If you need me early, let me know."

Nick nodded, and Jackson flashed her a smile. "I'll see you later, Kenzie."

No, you won't. The thought depressed her, but she kept the smile on her face as she walked through the front door and started around the side of the building. By the time her foot touched the first step, she knew her face was tight and exhausted, but she didn't care.

Something was going on. Something suspicious, something having to do with her. She wanted to trust Nick-and she wanted desperately to trust Jackson-but the circ.u.mstances were too odd to be ignored.

She slipped into the apartment and leaned back against the door, eyeing the cheerful room with an almost tangible longing. To stretch out on the bed, to get a full night's sleep somewhere safe- You don't know it's safe.

She finally pushed herself off the door and trudged to her bag. Her antic.i.p.ation of a few days of comfort had prompted her to unpack everything, and she dropped heavily to her knees and began to slowly gather her meager belongings.

She'd take the chance and sleep for a couple hours, but as soon as the streets started to fill for the evening, she was going to run. She'd run all night if she had to, and come dawn she'd be on her way to another city, another cheap motel, another c.r.a.ppy job...

Covering her face with her hands, Mackenzie gave in to exhaustion and sobbed.

Chapter Five.

She's going to run, Nick. I can feel it.

His earlier words echoed in his head, haunting him as he leaned against a dumpster in the alley behind Nick's bar.

They'd screwed things up.

No, correction. He'd screwed things up by failing to give Kat what few specifics he knew, or even suspected, of Mackenzie's situation. She'd freaked out, and Mackenzie had realized something was wrong. But there wasn't anything he could do about it now except fix it, and that meant catching her before she had a chance to skip town.

The apartment door opened shortly after six. Mackenzie emerged, clearly dressed for concealment in that blasted sweatshirt and a baseball cap. Slung over her shoulder was the bag she'd brought with her the night before.

He watched as she closed the door, locked it and slipped the key under the planter he'd pretended to pull one from the night before. When she turned to glance back at the apartment, he caught sight of her face. With no one nearby, she hadn't bothered with her usual mask, and she looked tired and hopeless. She reached out one hand to brush over the door and visibly steeled herself to slip down the stairs.

He didn't bother to hide himself. "Mackenzie."

She stopped on the second step from the bottom, her hand clenched around the railing. "Jackson."

She looked terrified, and he cursed silently. "I'm sorry we scared you earlier, but you don't have to leave. Whatever you think is going on..."

She stared at him as if she could see through him. When she finally met his gaze again, her eyes were weary. "Something's going on," she said quietly. "I don't know what it is, and maybe it's harmless. Maybe you're all nice people. If you are, though... Well, I still should leave. Nice people can get hurt."

"Not us," he told her confidently. "Well, it's not likely. Whatever you're up against, whoever's got you on the run, we can help. Let us."

Even as she shook her head, Jackson could tell Kat had been right. Mackenzie wanted to trust him; it was clear she was wavering. More obvious was the fact that she'd reached the limits of her endurance. As he watched, tears welled and she hastened to close her eyes.

"It's too much. He'll just keep finding me, and his guys will hurt anyone who's in the way. He's crazy, Jackson. Out of his d.a.m.n mind."

His heart clenched painfully, and he took a slow, careful step closer. "Who, Mackenzie? Tell me who it is, and we can make him leave you alone. There isn't-" His words cut off as a frisson of electricity shot through him.

Magic.

Someone was casting a spell, and that someone was close. He shivered again and looked around. He saw nothing, but the feeling intensified, chilling him despite the heat. "c.r.a.p."

Her eyes flew open, and she stiffened. "What?"

A sudden thought occurred to him, and he reached out, his hands landing on her upper arms. "How far has he chased you, Kenzie? How many cities?"

"I-" She stared at him, eyes wide and frightened. "This is the fifth. I thought it was my car, so I left it behind in Memphis."

"Dammit. They're tracking you, all right, but it's not anything you can avoid or stop." He let go of her and grabbed her bag, taking her hand with his free one. "Come on. We've got to get out of here. They're close."

She froze, suspicion clear on her face. "How would you know? What's going on?"

He wouldn't get very far if he had to drag her through the French Quarter. Jackson groaned as the electric feeling raised the hair on the back of his neck. "Can we please save the explanations for later, when the crazy guy isn't about to descend on us?"

She hesitated for a split second and then started, shivering so violently Jackson felt her hand tremble in his. "What in h.e.l.l-"

He didn't get a chance to respond. Two men walked around the corner of the building, wearing near-identical expressions of satisfaction. The one on the left was tall and dark with a T-shirt that stretched tightly over hard muscles. His companion was the opposite, delicate and waiflike, with his tousled hair not even reaching the top of the other man's shoulder.

The tangible aura of magic flowed, strong and steady, from the shorter man. His brown eyes fixed on Mackenzie, and he grinned. "d.a.m.n, I'm good."

Times like this, having Alec around tended to come in handy. "Evenin', boys," Jackson said, his manner not betraying his sudden tension even as his hand tightened around Mackenzie's. "Can I help you with something?"

The two men exchanged looks, and the taller one stepped forward. "We gonna do this the hard way, Jessica?"

Mackenzie's fingers dug into his hand, but her voice stayed steady. "Stop calling me that. I already told you that I'm not Jessica Evans, whoever she is."

He started to take another step, but the short man reached out suddenly, his eyes focused on Jackson. "Watch out, Eddie. He's a caster, and not second-rate, either."

"Really." The man named Eddie surveyed Jackson before switching his gaze back to Mackenzie. "So, Jess-I'm sorry. Mackenzie. You finally starting to believe?"

"What do you want?" Jackson kept his voice even. "Who sent you?"

Eddie's lips curled into a slow smile. "What, she didn't tell you? Or did she lie and make up some sob story? She's good at it, with the big blue eyes and that pretty face."