Page 38 of Aleko
“I can’t,” she said. “I can’t deal with this too. I can’t.”
Alex took a deep breath, seeing the ragged edges that Eliandra was keeping tucked out of sight. He wanted to hug her.
“No, love, no. You don’t have to.”
She made a protesting noise that said she didn’t believe him.
“There are three options here. One, they said some shit to rattle you—finding you was just a coincidence. Two, they tracked your phone. I have jammers at my house. If it’s your phone, then it wasn’t until you started using it at the restaurant that you popped up.”
“I keep it turned off in court,” said Lia. He nodded.
“I’ll check with my guys in the morning. But just turn off your phone now.”
She fumbled in her pocket and he took it as a safe moment to drive a few more blocks.
“What’s the third option?” she asked, when the phone was off.
“Oh. Magic. But it seems unlikely. Magic is difficult here and they didn’t seem like mages of any kind. But none of that matters, because what you’ve told me is that you know whothey are and that means I can find them. And if that little skull cracking wasn’t enough deterrent for them then I will find one that is.”
“I… I can take care of it. It’s my problem, and I’ll deal with it.”
He looked back over at her. She still looked shaken, but now she was determined. She was so tiny and so tough all at the same time.
“No,” he said. “You will go home, try out the hot tub, then get a good night’s sleep. There is no reason for you to think about them.”
“They’re my problem,” she said. “I hit him.”
“I know,” he said. Her attack had been ferocious, quick and perfectly executed. “It was great.”
She smiled and tried to frown at the same time. “No, at the jail. They were at the jail with Colin and Trevor. He tried to grab me through the bars and I hit him.”
“You defended yourself and now you think this is your fault?” asked Alex.
“No?” Eliandra sounded uncertain.
“No,” he said, making it a very firm statement. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”
He pulled up at another stop light and finally had another chance to look her full in the face. She looked oddly fierce.
“I can handle it,” she said, her voice raw and angry, her fists clenching convulsively. “I run my own life.”
He leaned away, surprised by her unexpected anger. The movement soothed her more than he would have thought. She also backed down, leaning toward the passenger window.
“Yes, you obviously can run your own life,” he said, trying to sound calm without patronizing. “You’re also handling a lot of other people’s problems. I saw you in court. You came through for people. That’s a lot of pressure. I’m just saying you shouldn’t have to have this pressure too.”
She blinked and now she looked like she had at the house—one step from running away. He felt himself rumble in his chest. It was a very male wolf thing to do and he knew he ought to use words because she wouldn’t understand what it meant, but he wasn’t even sure he had words for what it meant.
She nodded and turned away from him, looking shy. The light turned green and he pushed the gas pedal, still feeling worried that he hadn’t done the right thing.
“You have a hot tub?” she asked after a moment, voice wavered, but she was clearly striving for normalcy.
“I do. And no one else uses it. I realize there’s an ocean over there, but… hot tub!”
“I like hot tubs,” she said.
“Good,” he said.
She sniffed as if she were keeping in tears and he wanted to hug her all over again. He was going to find out what those men wanted with his little Lia and then he was going to make sure they never bothered her again. She’d had enough to contend with, not to mention finding out about magic. She seemed fine with the whole concept, but he had the feeling that sooner or later it would catch up with her. He had underestimated her resilience, but also the amount of shit she was dealing with. No wonder she didn’t trust him.
