"Hush your mouth." The words lacked heat, and Mahalia fastened him with an appraising stare. "Do you really think you need to be messing around with that girl right now? With everything she's gone through, not to mention what she's got ahead of her?"
He had to look away. "It's not like that, May."
Mahalia tilted her head. "Tsk. I saw you earlier, Jack. She lights you up." She held up a hand to halt his protest. "Mind you, I don't think that's a bad thing. If you find someone who makes you feel that way, you should grab 'em and hold on. The problem is the situation."
Jackson wanted to deny it, all of it. He wanted to say he liked Mackenzie just fine, but there was nothing going on between them. But the way she'd felt beneath him wasn't nothing, so he shrugged at his mentor. "What do you want from me?"
Her answer was firm. "I want you to say that you're thinking with more than your dick, and I want you to mean it."
"Jesus, May." Jackson's cheeks heated. "Fine. I'm thinking with more than my dick."
She extinguished her cigarette. "All right."
"I mean it," he insisted. "Nothing happened, because this whole thing is just messed up, and that's no way to start something."
"No, it isn't." She rose from her chair. "I remember when I first met you, Jack. You were…miserable. Working that awful job at the insurance company, no friends. But you always smiled and joked, and not a single one of the regulars at the bar knew just how unhappy you were."
As a cautionary tale, its clarity was questionable. "I'm not sure I get your meaning, May."
She sighed. "If you can let this woman see beneath all that good ol' boy bullshit, I think she could be good for you. And I know you could be good for her."
She was warning him again, he was sure of it, but he just grumbled, "I'm going to go pull out the sofa in the living room."
Mahalia smiled. "Good boy."
He made a face and reached for the sliding glass door.
"Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"She'd be lucky to have you."
Jackson was watching infomercials on the converted sofa bed when Steven came back. He nodded to the older man as he flipped channels. "Sorry about earlier. You didn't have to go."
Steven leaned against the doorframe and gave him a flat look. "I really did."
"Mahalia already read me the riot act. Not that I needed it," he added pointedly.
Steven dropped into the chair beside the couch. "I'm heading to the airport in the morning. I can't do anything to help until Peyton arrives, and my presence could put you all in danger. But there are things you need to know before I go. Things she'll need to know when she's ready. You're going to have to tell her if I can't."
Jackson turned off the television. "All right."
Steven closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I have to leave because there's no spell you can cast to hide me from Charles Talbot." A bitter smile tugged at his lips as he opened his eyes again, and the look in them was chilling. "Blood calls to blood. That's what Mahalia says. He's my uncle."
Jackson just stared at him, trying to make sense of his words. "That's why you were helping Mackenzie's parents. How you even knew they needed help. Jesus."
"It was supposed to be voluntary," Steven said quietly. "Cougar couples who believed in Charles's dream, who were willing to work with him. I wasn't around much because I was the one who traveled the country to find them. The first couple I brought to him had a baby boy. Marcus. The next time I came home, they were dead and Charles was raising Marcus as his own son."
"Talbot killed them." It wasn't a question.
"The closer he got to success the more…unbalanced he became." Steven rubbed at the side of his face. "It seems brutal, the way the wolves treat Michelle, but there's a reason Seers are so feared. Having access to that much power… Charles started to think he could play God."
Anger welled in Jackson with surprising speed, and he rose from the sofa bed and began to pace. "Except he wasn't just playing God, was he? He was getting it done, and you were helping."
Steven didn't defend himself, only nodded. "Yes. I was helping. I've tried to tell myself over the years that I didn't know, but there's nothing I can do to change what happened. All I can say is that as soon as I realized he wasn't looking for willing participants, I tried to make it right."
Jackson fought to calm himself. Whatever Steven's role in Talbot's operation had been, it was ancient history. "Mackenzie was already on the way, so you took her parents to New Orleans. To Mahalia."
"I'd met her during one of my trips," Steven confirmed. "She wasn't powerful enough to hide them forever, but we needed to keep them safe until Jess—until Mackenzie was born. She watched over them and did her best to hide them while I tracked down Zacharias. It took four years to find him. Even then he was a virtual recluse."
Jackson leaned on the arm of the couch. "Wait, so… Mahalia knew Mackenzie after she was born?"
"No. She cast the spells, but they didn't stay in contact. They were only supposed to call Mahalia if there was an emergency, even after Zacharias cast his spell. Simon and Janice called her when Charles came after them, but by the time we got there all that was left was an empty, burned-out house."
"The fire that supposedly killed them all."
"Yes. That's the end of what I know. Janice, Simon and Jessica Evans disappeared. I didn't believe any of them had survived until Mahalia called me."
Jackson nodded, his jaw tight. "We'll have to get the rest of the story from Talbot when we find him."
"Jackson—" Steven's expression was serious. "You have to understand what we're dealing with. Charles isn't just powerful; he's experienced. He's had over sixty years to fine-tune his skills, and he has more raw power than anyone you've ever met. If we get the chance, we take him out. No questions, no complicated plans and no asking him why. It's the only way Mackenzie will ever be safe."
Jackson ran his hands through his hair. "If he's so damn powerful, how exactly are we supposed to take him out in the first place? Do we have a plan?"
"We have Michelle."
"That's your plan?" Jackson asked, incredulous. They couldn't throw Nick's sister at Charles Talbot and hope she managed to best him. "Will there be a steel cage involved, or is this going to be more of a street fight?"
Steven sighed. "That's not the plan. But she's the only one with a chance of stopping him, and unless you can tell me exactly what she's capable of, I don't know how to plan at this point. Mahalia has the experience and Michelle has the raw power. We'll do what they think will work." His smile was self-deprecating. "I'm just the muscle."
Jackson dropped to the sofa again. "I'm sorry. I feel so damn helpless. But that's not your fault, so I shouldn't take it out on you."
"You like her."
Jackson played dumb. "Who, Mahalia?"
Steven snorted.
Jackson shot him a look. "Fine, yes. I like Mackenzie. I thought that much would have been obvious, seeing as how you had to leave when she and I started making out."
"I didn't ask if you wanted her. You're both young, attractive and dealing with a lot of stress. Sex wouldn't be terribly surprising. I was asking if there was something more going on."
It was Jackson's turn to snort. "I tend to save my requests for casual sex for women whose lives aren't in danger, thanks."
"I suppose I screwed up taking care of her and have no right to worry now." He shrugged. "I want to do a better job this time. Take care of her, Jackson."
"I will," he promised. "Don't worry about her."
"Take care of Mahalia too," Steven added with a grin. "Just don't tell her I told you to. She'll kick both of our asses."
"Will do. Thanks, Steven."
Steven smiled as he rose. "Good night, Jackson."
"'Night." Jackson watched him go, trying to not to think about the fact that the man was headed in the direction of Mahalia's bedroom. Instead, he settled back down on the sofa bed and retrieved the remote control again.
Chapter Twelve
It was a sign of how much better she felt about the world in general that Mackenzie didn't panic when a gentle hand on her shoulder woke her. She rolled over with a sleepy yawn and blinked at Jackson's face in the dim light. "Hey."
He smiled softly as he lowered himself to the bed. "Hey. Mahalia's making breakfast and Steven just caught a cab. It's safest for everyone if he leaves now."
His words distracted her from how nice it was to wake up to his smile. "What do you mean? Why are we safer if he's gone?"
"Because Talbot can find him," he answered simply. "Maybe easier than he can find the rest of us. It's hard to explain."
She took him at his word and moved closer to slide her arm around him. "You're staying here though, right?"
"Of course I am."
Mackenzie smiled, feeling surprisingly at peace. A full night's sleep in a comfortable bed had done wonders for her state of mind. So had the memory of how amazing Jackson's body had felt pressing hers into the mattress.
"We said no sex," she murmured as she rubbed lazily at his back, "but what are your feelings on good morning kisses?"
"Acceptable under most circumstances." He wrapped a lock of her hair around his finger. "Is that a purely hypothetical question, or were you planning to ravish me?"
She probably had morning breath and most of her hair had escaped its braid to tangle wildly around her head, but she didn't care. "It depends. Hypothetically, do you have anywhere else you need to be?"