Defying the North Wind (2 page)

But when he looked at her face, all the churning emotion generated by the fight and his vice ignited to deadly rage. Like flame to oil.

“Rayne.”

***

The look in Luca’s eyes chilled Rayne’s blood.

The men had been dangerous but Luca Venti was far more deadly. Still, she wasn’t going to let an enraged WindKeeper intimidate her. She’d vowed a long time ago to never let violent men rule her life.

She strode forward. “What was your plan? Let them beat you to death?”

Luca moved so fast she didn’t see him. His hand gripped her arm, tugging her so close their noses bumped. She tried to pull back but he held her tight.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Rayne Santini. Your new assistant, remember?”

“Right. Because mixed martial arts is standard training at personal assistant school.” He pushed her backward until her back met brick. Then his big body pressed in close. “I want to know who you are. Did they send you to kill me?”

His mouth brushed her ear, his lips hot. She swallowed. She could smell him. Some expensive cologne and warm flesh.

An icy wind swept over them, sending goose bumps over her skin. She stared at his eyes. Usually a beautiful vivid blue, they’d paled. Like they were frosting over.

She wasn’t stupid enough to think he was cooling down.

Rayne gripped his wrist, and used all her strength to pry his hand off her arm. She called on her own power. It may not be what he wielded but she knew how to use it.

As the warm, flirty breeze twined with his wind, dancing around them, his eyes widened. “It’s not possible.” He stared at her. “You’re Aurae.”

When Luca stepped back, Rayne finally let out the breath she’d been holding. Being that close to him was…disconcerting.

He ran a hand through his dark, curly hair. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why the deception?”

“I was sent to watch you.”

“Spy!” he spat out the word.

“To observe. The leader of the Aurae didn’t want us to get involved—”

Luca chopped a hand through the air. “Right. Much better to watch the world devolve into chaos as the
Venti Tempesta
spread pride, lust, anger and greed across the planet.”

“The last time the Aurae got involved with the
Venti Tempesta
, we were almost destroyed.”

Luca frowned. “What? I thought the Aurae mated with humans and slowly your numbers dwindled.”

Rayne’s stomach was tight. “There’s a lot more to it than that. It’s why I was sent to…monitor the situation.”

“Well, monitor all you want. I don’t need your help. Tell your leader to stay hidden. The WindKeepers will prevail.” He turned, snatched his jacket off the bench and walked away.

Damn the man
. She’d knew everything about Luca Venti. Had studied him all her life and the last week had shown her he was a hell of lot more stubborn and volatile in reality. She stalked after him. “Are you so sure you don’t need help? Those men almost killed you and you seemed to like it.”

“I wouldn’t have let them kill me,” he tossed over one broad shoulder.

“And if your rage had taken over? How many of them would you have killed?”

She saw a muscle in his jaw tick. “I can control my vice. I will defeat Caecius.”

“You don’t have to do it alone. I’ve broken the rules now and gotten involved. I want to help.”

He stopped. “Why?”

She shrugged, past memories burning in her gut. “I have my reasons.” She thought of her sister’s battered face, remembered her stepfather’s hands. So big. So strong. Rayne’s gaze was drawn to Luca’s hands.

They were also large and far stronger than an ordinary man’s. His knuckles were bruised and bloody. She looked away.

“I won’t stand by and do nothing.” She wouldn’t repeat her mother’s mistakes.

“I don’t need your help.” Luca started moving again. “Right now, I’m heading back to my hotel suite for a hot shower.”

The image of him naked with water sluicing over his powerful frame sent a shot of heat through her.
Damn it
. Okay, she was female enough to admit Luca Venti was one hell of a specimen of hot Italian male.

They moved into Piazza San Marco, right in front of the ornate architecture of the Basilica San Marco. The famous square was packed with people. And the scent of smoke.

Luca swore and broke into a run.

She glanced at the end of the long arcade of buildings on the north side. The Hotel Venti San Marco was on fire.

***

People were running. Screaming.

Luca’s throat was tight. He skidded to a stop not far from the flaming building. Inside he heard screams, saw the movement of people whose bodies were on fire, who hadn’t escaped in time. The buildings were all pressed against each other and only a few stories high. The fire would spread and burn the entire piazza to the ground.

Then he heard laughter on the wind.

He looked up. On a nearby roof, looking down at the burning devastation, he saw Caecius’s familiar muscular form.

Luca’s rage didn’t boil or bubble. No, it was as cold as the frigid waters of the Arctic.

He wanted to go after the damned Tempest Wind, but when he saw the movements inside his hotel—his people—he focused on them instead.

He lifted his hands and called the North Wind.
Bring me the clouds.

Wind howled through the piazza. He blocked out the noise of the fire. Caecius’s laughter. The suffering of his people.

What he couldn’t block out was the quiet presence of the woman beside him.

Quickly the clouds gathered overheard, boiling and churning. Then the rain started to fall.

The flames sizzled and hissed. He glanced at Rayne. “If you want to help, then help the injured.”

With that, he ran into the nearby alley. Once out of the sight, Luca called on his wind. He jumped into the air and the North Wind gave him the push he needed to land on the roof.

A few feet from The Northeast Wind.

Luca didn’t bother talking. His icy rage had closed his throat. Instead, he launched himself at his enemy.

“Bring it on, WindKeeper.” Caecius’s bearded face was edged with amusement. “I feel your rage. It feeds me, makes me stronger.”

Luca slammed out with his right fist, and followed with his left. But Caecius had survived many battled over many lifetimes, and even being trapped for centuries by the Keeper of the Winds hadn’t diminished his fighting skills.

The rain continued to hammer down on them, and the smell of water mingled with the stench of smoke. A scent that fed Luca’s rage. He knew that many of his employees were dead or horrifically injured down below.

For each blow Luca delivered, he took one. The punches to his already injured ribs knocked him back. His powers allowed his body to heal faster than a regular human, but he still felt pain.

Caecius bent low and swiped out with his foot. Luca stumbled, glanced down at the drop to the burning hotel below, then regained his footing.

Water sluiced over them but Luca ignored it. The fury running through him energized him, made him stronger.

He had to free Caecius from his mortal body and banish him back to his prison.

Then something hit the roof tiles beside them—hard.
Bang. Bang
.
Bang
. Screams from the crowd below echoed upward.

Hailstones pelted the roof and ground around them.

Good, another way to hurt Caecius. One stone hit the
Venti Tempesta
in the head, making him curse.

Luca let out a savage laugh and embraced his anger.

***

Rayne climbed up a pillar and reached above her for a handhold. She pulled herself up to the first set of windows, balanced on a railing, then leaped upward. Her hands caught ornately carved stone and she climbed up to the second set of windows.

Below she heard the escalating screams of the crowd. Hail rattled down with violent fury.

A hailstone hit her shoulder with brutal force, causing her to lose her grip and swing outward. She kept her left hand clamped to the stone and pulled herself back in.

Damn it.
Venti was going to kill them all. Ignoring her aching shoulder, she kept climbing.

She reached the top and hauled herself over the ledge.

Then she saw them.

It was the first time she’d seen one of the
Venti Tempesta
in real life. Caecius didn’t look like an evil monster. In fact, except for his dark beard, he looked similar to Luca. Same powerful build, dark hair and chiseled face.

But she knew he was pure evil. He embraced the vice his wind carried and infected as many people as he could with it.

She glanced at Luca’s face…and froze.

He was smiling, his eyes the same frosty blue she’d seen earlier. Her heart gave a solid thump. Anger was driving him, taking him over.

If he fully gave into it, he would become as rotten as Caecius and the two of them would destroy the world.

She stood, her gaze swinging back to the Tempest Wind. She was sure he sensed that Luca was on the edge.

She had to stop this.

Rayne sprinted across the roof. As she neared the men, she dived forward.

And tackled Luca to the ground.

He roared, twisting to look at her. His eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you doing?” He turned his head back to Caecius and shouted his frustration.

She followed his gaze and saw the Tempest Wind running along the rooftop. He leaped into the air and landed on a neighboring building.

Luca sat up, and as he moved to stand, she gripped his arms. “No! Not until you get control of yourself.”

“I
am
in control.” He dragged her to her feet. “You let Caecius escape.”

“You’re pelting the crowd, and the survivors, with hailstones the size of baseballs, Venti. You’ll hurt more people.
You
, not Caecius.”

Luca’s mouth thinned to a hard line but she saw her words didn’t register through the rage.

How to reach him? Then she remembered seeing him in the darkened square, being beaten by the men. Gathering her courage, she kicked out, catching him in his rock-hard stomach.

He took a step backward, but didn’t fall. His hands curled into fists. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“You need to snap out of it.” She lifted her hands. “The pain, it helped you gain control before so…attack me.”

A deep frown cut across his face. “No.”

She kicked out again. A wicked roundhouse that caught him square in the jaw. His head snapped back.

“Fight me,” she yelled.

He shook his head, but she saw the way his jaw clenched tight.

Rayne moved in low and snapped a chop to his thigh.

This time he growled and lunged forward.

She braced herself for a hit. Instead his big body took hers to the ground. She was laid out flat on her back, an enraged WindKeeper on top of her.

His chest was rising and falling rapidly. She stayed still, watching him. The rain had plastered his dark hair to his head and his white shirt stuck to him. His bronze skin felt cold though. Icy.

She bucked beneath him. “Fight me.”

“No.”

She wanted to scream. She’d failed. Doing something, acting, had achieved nothing. She was as useless as her mother.

But then Rayne saw a swirl of deep blue in his ice-white eyes. As she watched, his irises returned to cobalt and his skin warmed.

He reached out and cupped her cheek. “You are either very brave or very stupid.”

“I’ll go with brave.”

Those strong fingers stroked her cheek, his eyes so intense she was having trouble breathing.

“I’ve heard the Aurae can help a WindKeeper control his vice—”

Her muscles tensed. “I’m not sleeping with you for the good of mankind. I’ll do what I can to help, but when I welcome a man into my bed, it’s because I want to, because it’s my damn choice. I don’t want you naked, Venti.”

“Shh.” His finger briefly touched her lips and then he rose, taking his weight off her. He held out a hand. “Unfortunately for me, it seems you calm the anger without us having to get naked.”

She stared at his hand for a moment before reluctantly taking it. When she looked around, she noted the hail had stopped.

“I need to help my people.” He moved to the edge of the roof and looked down, shadows flickering in his eyes. The sound of sirens echoed around them. “Trust me?”

“Not really.”

His fingers tightened on her hand. “I deserve that. But you can.” He pulled her close and stepped off the roof.

Rayne’s breath caught in her chest. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around him. They fell, but instantly a strong wind caught them and lowered them gently to the ground. She glanced at Luca’s expressionless face. So much power within him. He released her and strode back into the square.

Rayne stood in the shadows behind the crowd of people who’d gathered in front of the burned out shell of the hotel. But she only had eyes for Luca’s dominant figure, watching as he talked with the
polizia
, comforted a crying woman and talked with a bedraggled man in a hotel uniform, whose hands were bandaged. But as Luca moved through the crowd, she noted he seemed stiff, not his usual fluid self.

When she saw he and some of his employees had finished dealing with the injured, she moved over to him. “How badly are you hurt?”

“It’s healing.” He swiped a hand through his sodden hair. “I just need some rest.” His intense blue eyes burned into her. “You should go. Luckily, Caecius didn’t realize what you are. If he does, he’ll come after you.”

“I’m a trained Aurae warrior.” She wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone.

Luca leaned in. She smelled smoke on him, but also the scent she knew was pure Luca, pure male. Her pulse leaped.

“You should be afraid. If not of Caecius, then of me.”

Luca watched Rayne hold his gaze, her chin tilted.

She had courage. He liked that. She pushed back her wet hair and it drew his attention to the way her tank clung to her slim curves. Her skin was a pale, incandescent cream that he wanted to taste.

“Well, I’m not afraid of you either, WindKeeper.” She cast a glance at the ruined hotel. Sorrow flashed briefly across her face. “There’s no more we can do here. Come with me, we’ll get your wounds cleaned up.”