Impulse

He squeezed her hand, his chest tight. “Carmen said you’re going to stay with them for a while.”

“Yes. Alec declared it. And your sister told him he didn’t get to declare it, that I had a choice.” Veronica almost grinned. “That was so much fun to watch I decided it wouldn’t be so bad. They have the guest house at Alec’s place in New Orleans, and he said I could live there.”

It would probably be the best place for her to regain that semblance of normalcy she’d talked about. “If they get to be too much, there are plenty of friendly faces in New Orleans. You could escape for a while.”

“I might come visit you.” Veronica uncurled and leaned over to hug him. “You can teach me how to get in trouble again. You were pretty good at that when we were eight.”

“I was a terror. I drove my mother nuts.”

“I remember. You grew up okay, though.” She kissed his cheek. “Go cuddle your woman. I don’t think she’ll stop fretting about people unless you distract her.”

“Maybe.” Veronica looked so much like her mother, her darker coloring the only hint of her father, but his legacy was there, all the same. The fear. The trauma. “Promise me, Ronnie. You will come visit.”

“I will. And you promise you’ll call me if you need help getting set up in Atlanta. I know all the wolves in law enforcement and the government, and I’m still licensed to practice law in Georgia.” She touched Julio’s cheek, a gesture that reminded him of Teresa. “If the revolution is finally here, I don’t want to miss it. But I need to be an asset, not a liability, and right now I feel a little broken.”

He’d known from the time he’d challenged his way onto the council that he’d have to fight again. His vision had been vague, full of swirling faces superimposed on his opponent’s, leaving him with no idea who it might truly be. Cesar, his father, Alan Reed…even his own face had appeared. The only certainty was the possibility of destruction. As he’d struck the killing blow in his vision, he’d felt it in his bones—the fight had the potential to destroy people. So many people.

Now, he could drown in blame if he let himself. His aunt had died, his cousin had lost her mother, Sera had had to face Josh—all because he hadn’t acted sooner.

He’d have to set it aside. “I would have done it before,” he murmured. “Killed them already, I mean. But I thought maybe it would make me just as bad as them. No mercy, no law but what I want. I can’t live like that, Ronnie.”

“So don’t.” She let her hand fall to his and squeezed it. “You’re a protector, Julio. It was true when you were eight, it was true when you turned your back on shapeshifter power to become a fireman, and it’s true now. And if you ever start to forget it, you’ve got friends who will pull you back from the edge. Or kick you there.”

“I don’t think it’ll be a problem now.” There wasn’t anyone left who might pose a problem, no more fathers or uncles motivated by a hunger for power. “Do you hate me because my father was a part of this?”

She didn’t answer at once. She looked away instead, her hair falling to hide her face as she studied the floor. “It’s funny,” she said finally. “That’s the question I’ve been too scared to ask Nicole and Michelle Peyton.”

“I think you should. It might give Derek Gabriel a chance to ask you his own version of it.

Good or bad, he killed your father.” Julio stood and took a step back. “I’m lucky. I only have myself to deal with when it comes to that. For most everyone else, it’s more complicated.”

“I suppose it is.” Veronica peeked up at him. “I don’t hate you. Diego and Cesar were more a part of my life than they were yours. Maybe that’s the part that scares me the most.”

“It doesn’t have to. You’re tough too. Tough enough to leave it behind.”

“No, I’m not. But I am smart enough to let people help me out.” Rising, Veronica picked up the tea. “I’m going to start by talking to your sister. Atlanta’s big enough to make good use of one of those clinics she wants to open. Maybe I can help her and Sera’s dad with some of the legal issues. It’s a baby step.”

“A baby step means you’re still moving forward.”

“It’s easier when it’s all in the family. Or will be, once you marry that girl.”

A family, one that centered around Carmen and Alec in so many ways. “With no more Conclave oversight, I wonder what people will say about that.”

Veronica shrugged. “People talk. That’s the first rule of being in charge. The more unhappy they are, the more they complain. So you do your best, and you ignore the talk.”

“Yeah.” He flashed her what he hoped was an encouraging grin. “Alec could probably use a political advisor, you know. Just putting that out there.”

“Bite your tongue, Julio.” His cousin shuddered dramatically. “I smiled at those bastards for most of my life knowing I might end up married to one. I don’t want to see any of them for at least a year. Maybe two.”

“Suit yourself. Me personally? I’d want to cause them a little bit of pain and consternation.”

“Revenge?” Something sparked in her eyes, a grim sort of amusement. “I suppose it would make them all miserable to have to deal with me as a political entity instead of a potential broodmare.”

“Food for thought.” Alec loathed dealing with other legacy wolves, but he seemed to derive a perverse satisfaction from making them deal with him. “I’m hitting the study for something harder than tea. You in?”

“You sure you wouldn’t rather go snuggle with Sera?”

“Plenty of time.” He tugged open the door and tilted his head to the hallway. “Come on. One drink.”

She looked vulnerable in that moment. Bruised and tired, and so clearly moved at the realization that coming to talk to her really hadn’t been an obligation or a duty. She swallowed hard and offered him a trembling smile. “Something tells me you and Sera are going to get me in a lot of trouble.”

It hurt, that look of pained gratitude, and Julio wrapped an arm around his cousin’s shoulders.

“I hope so. It wouldn’t be fair of us to hog it all.”

Sera smelled the Scotch before the bed dipped under Julio’s weight and bit back a smile.

“Were you drinking with Patrick?”

“Veronica.” He groaned and peered up at her through a squint. “She can drink too. What the hell?”

Her body ached and protested as she rolled onto her side and propped her head on her hand, but the worst of the pain was already behind her. Copious food and rest—both ordered and enforced by Carmen—had kicked her healing into high gear.

She ignored the twinge in her shoulder and smoothed Julio’s hair back from his forehead with a fond smile. “She’s five-eleven and finds kickboxing relaxing. I don’t care if she’s a submissive shifter, Veronica’s a badass.”

“Well, I’m glad I suggested drinking instead of sparring, then.”

“Uh-huh.” Whatever had happened, Julio seemed less weighed down. She stroked his temple. “Are you drunk, baby?”

He laughed. “No, already sobering up.” He rolled to face her. “I figured something out, though. I changed my mind about the council.”

“Before or after Veronica tried to drink you under the table?”

“Before.” Julio wrapped his hand around the back of her neck. “I’m not going to quit. If someone wants to hassle us, I’ll kick his ass…but I’m going to stick with it. You know that, right?”

It almost felt like a warning. “I don’t want you to quit. My dad warned me it wouldn’t be easy, and I told him the truth. I’m not afraid that it’s going to break me. You won’t let it. I’ll always be able to take more crap than you’re going to let anyone give me.”

His hand tightened as he closed his eyes. “I don’t want it to make you miserable. I’ve given Alec enough shit about that while he and Carmen have been in New York. It’s not right, and it isn’t fair. You didn’t sign up for this.”

“I didn’t mean—” She sighed. “It’s not the same. Carmen could walk away from the council and the wolves and live a normal life with other people like her. I don’t have that. I never will.”

“It doesn’t matter, not when I’m the reason they’re all treating you like shit.” He met her gaze with a determined look. “I’ll make it worth it.”

He still didn’t understand, and she wasn’t sure how to explain why the promise only twisted tension inside