My Orc Santa Claus (Eastshore Isle #5)

Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

Sakkara

The night before Eastshore’s big parade and holiday festival was the caroling. Apparently it was tradition, but I’ll admit I found it chaotic. In a fun sort of way.

When we were preparing to leave the house—all the families from our neighborhood were meeting at the corner of Seahorse Street and Clownfish Court, and there’d be groups caroling all over the island—I noticed Nikki’s nervousness.

“What is it, dkaar ?” I murmured, gathering her in my arms.

“What does that mean?” she asked instead of answering my question. “ Dkaar . You’ve used it before. It’s not what your brothers call you.”

I couldn’t stop the snort of laughter before it escaped. “No, D’malk means chief . D’kap means…well, I guess it means sir . It’s a word for an honored elder. And dkaar means…” I blew out a breath, more than ready to tell her. “ Dkaar means beloved .”

As she whispered, “ Oh ,” I dropped a kiss on the top of her head.

“Are you reconsidering going with us tonight?”

She shifted. “Um…I do want to go. I love that Emmy is so excited. I’m just a little worried because there will be so many people there.”

I wanted to demand she tell me what she was so afraid of. I wanted to remind her that I’d shared my fears with her, only that morning when we were struggling through those now-surprisingly beautiful gingerbread houses.

But I couldn’t.

Trust must be earned.

So I hugged her. “We would love to have you with us.”

She joined us. To be fair, she wore one of Emmy’s winter hats and one of my scarves wrapped around the lower half of her face, as if Eastshore experienced sub-zero temperatures, rather than the practically balmy Christmases it did.

But still, I could see that she was nervous about being there.

We held hands, walking slowly behind the big cluster of children who were singing Christmas carols at the tops of their lungs. Tova and Emmy shared a songbook, and although my daughter didn’t sing, I watched her little dark head bent over the words, following along with the group. There was even a song about a dreidel so Tova’s family would feel included.

I smiled proudly. Eastshore Isle was so welcoming, and I was proud to call this place my home. Even their Christmas celebrations, which theoretically should be a religious holiday, were as secular as possible, to include all of us .

I squeezed Nikki’s hand, and she glanced up at me. “I’m glad you’re here,” I murmured.

And her eyes wrinkled in response, the only part of her I could see. “I am too. They’re all so cute.”

So far, none of her students had recognized her—covering that distinctive teal streak in her hair likely helped—but she was still glancing into the shadows of each doorway and house as we walked.

What was she afraid of? It wasn’t the crowd—she’d been completely at ease during our first date together. Something had changed, and it had something to do with that letter her friend had delivered to her.

I wanted to know what was in it.

I needed to know if I was going to protect her.

“Sakkara!” the call came from behind us and, not recognizing the voice, I instinctively pulled Nikki against my side as I turned.

But it was her teacher friend, the one I’d just been thinking of. What was her name? Ms. Younger. Ro! That was her first name.

She was with another woman—who was frowning at her phone—but had lifted her hand to wave to me. It was when she saw the woman at my side, however, that her face split into a smile.

“Nikki!” Ro gasped, and threw herself forward to gather Nikki in a hug. She beamed at me over my Mate’s head. “You found our girl, huh?” Then, shaking Nikki just a bit, “I thought you’d left the island, with all those mysterious texts you sent.”

“Sorry,” mumbled Nikki against her shoulder.

“You should be sorry, hon!” There was some bite in Ro’s tone. “I’ve been worried about you. Your roommates are worried about you.”

Nikki pushed herself away and tugged down her scarf so she could speak—but it also allowed us to see her frown. “I let you know I was okay.”

“Yeah, but you were being super mysterious about where you’d gone. Your roomies told me they thought you were on the mainland.”

Nikki sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I might’ve told them I was.”

Her friend rolled her eyes and tipped her head back to glare up at me. “Do you know anything about this, Mr. Mayor?”

I slid my arm around Nikki’s shoulders once more, making it clear she was under my protection. “No, but I’m working on it.”

Ro studied us for a long moment, then nodded in satisfaction. “You’d better text me details, woman,” she warned, wagging a finger at Nikki. “And now, since I’m a shit friend, allow me to apologize for being rude and leaving you un-introduced. This is Marissa, one of the upper-school admins. Rissa, this is Nikki—she teaches first and second—and Sakkara, the mayor.”

The other woman, a world-weary-looking brunette with bags under her eyes, was still holding her phone in one hand as she reached out to shake our hands with the other. “It’s nice to meet you, Nikki. I’m assuming a lot of these kids are yours?”

After Nikki made a little noise of agreement, Marissa turned to me. “And…Mr. Mayor. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

I offered her a charming smile along with my hand, but the smile might’ve been a bad idea, judging from the way she startled. “Please call me Sakkara,” I said smoothly, hoping it would set her at ease.

“I—” she began, but then the phone in her hand pinged. She jumped, then held it up and swiped to open it. “Shit,” she hissed. She tipped the phone toward Ro. “A hot dog emoji.”

“Oh no,” Ro murmured, wincing. “Okay, what’s the plan?”

“I’m going to stop him from doing something stupid, that’s what I’m going to do,” Marissa muttered, punching something into her phone. She glanced up at us. “Excuse me, please. It was nice meeting you.”

Then she lifted the phone and when someone picked up, launched into an angry rant. “Patrick James Gray! You said you’d finished cleaning out the garage! I just went out there, young man, and it is definitely not clean!” She began to stalk off. “Your privileges for the evening have been revoked—yes, I know it’s a Friday night, but you’re going to spend it cleaning the garage. I’m coming to get you!”

We barely heard that last part, since she was so far away at that point. But the most recent song had just concluded as well, and the group began to drift down the street in the opposite direction. I saw Ro glance between the group and her friend.

“What was that about?” Nikki asked. “She didn’t just look in her garage , she’s been here.”

Ro sighed. “It’s a code she has with her son. He just turned sixteen, and he’s…” She shook her head. “He’s getting in with the wrong crowd. I mean, she works at his school, so she can see it happening, it’s a sort of rebellion. If he ever needs an excuse to get out of a bad situation, he knows he can text her a hot dog emoji, and she’ll call and give him a ration of shit that he can tell his friends as an excuse to leave.”

“She sounded so angry,” Nikki whispered.

But I could understand. I squeezed her shoulder. “I think it’s impressive. Her son knows he can trust her to protect him when he needs it, and she’s done a good job of cultivating that knowledge. I wonder if I should do something similar with Emmy.”

Ro snorted. “Emmy isn’t likely to fall in with kids who think it’s fun to set fires in the nature reserve or vandalize abandoned buildings down near the docks. Excuse me, I’m going to go with her to make sure they’re okay.” She waved as she backed away. “Text me, Nikki!”

The group of kids was some distance ahead of us now, and I turned us back in that direction, watching the little dark head I loved bobbing among her friends. The caroling leader—one of the mothers—launched everyone into Up on the Housetop , and I got a kick out of watching Emmy clap and stomp loudly, along with a few of the other kids who must’ve been in her class.

We strolled along, careful to stay in the back of the crowd, so I could have some privacy when I finally figured out how to ask what I’d been meaning to ask. “You told your friend you’d left the island? And your roommates?”

For a long while, I didn’t think Nikki was going to answer. But eventually she exhaled, her breath fogging the area in front of her face, and admitted, “I thought it would be safer if that’s what they thought. So they could tell…”

Tell who ?

My brain was racing, trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle. “On the day of the concert, the day it was raining so hard, Ro cornered me afterward and mentioned how scared you were. She said there was a letter you’d received the day before, and that might be the reason.” I took a deep breath. “What was in the letter, Nikki?”

A few more steps, then Nikki mumbled something. I tipped my head toward her to hear better. “What?”

“He’s coming.”

I tugged her to a stop and placed my hands on her shoulders, bracketing her in my warmth. “Who is coming, Nikki? Please, let me in. Let me help you.”

I saw her take a deep breath, then hold it. She glanced over her shoulder at the crowd of kids who’d stopped in front of another house and were repeating the same song, then tipped her head back to look at me.

The fear and sorrow in her eyes broke my heart.

“My ex. Peter Papalopodopoulos.”

My heart was slamming against my chest, and my Kteer had begun to growl. “The male who hurt you so much?” I ran my hands down her arms, then back up again, but I wasn’t sure if I was checking for more scars or trying to warm her.

Her nod was slight, but she didn’t drop my gaze. “I met him when I ran from the shelter and was living on the streets. I needed someone strong to keep away the other guys, and he was…” Finally, she dropped her gaze to my chin. “He liked to be in control, and I liked to have someone else take control. In the bedroom.”

Yes, Daddy.

I moved my fingertip to her chin and moved her gaze back to mine. “He didn’t like to be in control , Nikki.” I could feel my anger, white-hot, growing at the base of my skull. “He was a bully who liked to hurt people, and you didn’t know better.”

“I should have—”

“You were young, and you found someone you thought you could trust with a very special part of you.” The dynamic we had found in bed worked because it was something we were both into. “He abused that trust, didn’t he?”

She swallowed, then nodded. “It wasn’t until I met you that I realized I could feel good that way…and not have to do…bad things. ”

With a growl, I pulled her against me, wrapping her in my arms as if I could wrap her in my protection, as if I could take away all the horrors of her past. “He deserves to be punished.”

Her words were muffled against my chest, but I heard them. “He was.”

I loosened my hold just as I realized the group had moved on, so I tucked her under my arm, and we ambled down the block. “He was punished?” I prompted gently.

“He and his gang were into…bad stuff.”

“Vandalizing abandoned property and setting fires in the nature reserve?” I parroted from earlier.

She snorted. “More like moving hard drugs. When they switched to weapons, the FBI became really interested. One of the agents learned about me and asked if I wanted a chance to get out.”

I stopped in my tracks, my legs refusing to work as fear coursed through them. “Oh, fuck , Nikki, you didn’t?” She’d been so vulnerable there. What would have happened if Peter had learned of her betrayal?

But she nodded, confirming my fears. “I helped set them up. Thanks to me, a lot of his guys ended up dead in a shoot-out, and Peter went to trial. I didn’t have to testify against him, gracias a Dios , but…”

“But he knew you set him up,” I finished in a whisper. Fuck fuck fuck . After just talking about what a bully he was, to find this out? “What did he do?”

“He couldn’t do anything . The FBI moved me out of the city, got me into the Witness Protection Program. That was part of the deal I made with them; I’d set him up if they got me out of there and helped me fulfill my dream.”

My anger stuttered as I focused on what she was saying. “Your dream?”

“In the shelters, in the homes, I’d always liked working with the younger kids. I didn’t have a lot going for me—I had barely finished my GED—but I wanted to become a teacher.” For the first time, her lips quirked into something resembling a rueful smile, as if she was proud of her accomplishment. “The program let me choose a new name, a new identity, and got me a job working for a shelter in Atlanta so I could help more kids. In the evenings, I went to school and got my teaching degree…and Eastshore Elementary was my first job.”

She should be proud. “That’s amazing, Nikki,” I murmured, my fingers tightening around her arms for a moment. “You did so much and turned your life around.”

“I thought I could just…live my life, you know?” She shrugged, dropping her gaze again. “I would never want those kids to be in danger because of me.”

And now we were back on the important topic. “What was in the letter?” I whispered.

She took a deep breath, as if bracing herself. “A copy of a certificate of parole. It was addressed to me at the school, which means he somehow tracked me down. I don’t know how. I thought the Witness Protection Program was supposed to keep me safe .”

It was the little quaver in her voice that nearly killed me. “ Fuck ,” I muttered, pulling her to me once more. It was like I couldn’t seem to release her. “It is , dkaar . He’s not supposed to know where you are.”

“Yeah,” she sniffled against my chest. “But he does. That was all he sent me, but he wanted me to know he knew where I was, and that he was getting out. He wanted me to know he was coming for me.”

“No wonder you wanted to run.” My mind was focused on her fear, her pain, and what she’d been through.

She was quiet for a while, then took a deep breath that had her entire body shaking. “He’s a horrible person, capable of horrible things, Sakkara. I couldn’t let him hurt anyone to reach me.” She sniffed, and I realized she was crying. “I should have left right away. I shouldn’t have stayed with you this whole time, but…I’m sorry. I was just…” Her voice broke on a sob. “I’ve been happy with you and Emmy. I’ve loved every moment, and I knew I should run to protect you, but I…I’m sorry,” she finished pitifully.

My heart was breaking for her.

I understood her fear. I understood why she’d tried to hold herself away from us, even while I was trying so hard to make her part of our family.

But in that moment, I knew the truth: If Nikki ran, I would follow. I would give up everything we’ve built on this island, everything I loved so much about Eastshore, to follow her and keep her safe.

I loosened my hold so I could meet her eyes. “ Thank you for being with us, Nikki,” I said in a serious tone. “It has been the most wonderful winter season of our lives. We’re so glad to have you.”

Yeah, I would go after her if Nikki ran.

But for Emmy’s sake, I prayed to all the gods of the ancestors that she wouldn’t.

Let me help you. Let me keep you safe.