Moonlight Menage (13 page)

Nic knew that look too well. Duke had shoved every bit of emotion in his body into that tiny black hole in his gut. Nic wanted to hit him until Duke screamed at him, raged, cried. Anything but look like he had when his father had died.

Tira wasn’t dead. He was going after her to bring her back.

“Nic. That’s enough.” Lusna’s voice rang out, stopping him as only the voice of a goddess could. “You’re going nowhere except back to your home.”

He turned a furious look at the Lady of the Silver Light, noting the unnatural brightness of her gray eyes and the faint silver aura surrounding her body.

It made him automatically bow his head, as did Duke, Caeles and the three other
lucani
in the room.

“You and Duke will return to your home. You will not follow Tira. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, Lady.” Duke’s immediate answer made Nic’s head snap around to look at him. Gods damn traitor.

“Nic.”

The command in Lusna’s voice made his teeth grit with a defiance he dared not utter. His hands clenched at his sides as he nodded. “Yes, Lady.”

Lusna’s shoulders slumped as she turned from them, her head shaking. “Go home. Try to get some sleep. You both need it.”

Fury still raging in his blood, Nic sketched a bow, just this side of deference, and turned to walk back to the mudroom.

Behind him, he heard Duke say, “I need to make a stop at Kyle’s, Lady. We have things to discuss.”

“That’s fine,” Lusna said. “Just do not go after her. She needs space.”

Nic had shifted by the time Duke caught up to him and Duke made no attempt to call him back when he raced out the back door.

Heading for home.

* * * * *

Tira made sure she saw no one on Fifth Street when she parked her car in front of the three-story brownstone housing Marelli’s Trattoria.

The restaurant had been a Reading institution for forty-five years. Before that, the building had housed apartments, and a few still remained on the top floor. Of course, only Etruscans lived there, keeping the secret of Uni’s Temple.

Rather than hide the Great Mother Goddess’ temple somewhere in the countryside, the Etruscans had chosen to build it directly over the ley line that ran through the center of the city. That vein of magical energy had drawn the Etruscans to settle here when they’d moved from Italy and set about rebuilding their civilization.

They’d chosen this neighborhood because, in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds, it had been populated almost solely by Italian immigrants.

Though that wasn’t the case today, the Etruscans continued to hide their most sacred temple in plain sight.

Built into the back of the building, no
eteri
had ever suspected the treasure hidden there.

Though the restaurant was closed at this time of night, the temple was always open to those of Etruscan blood.

With a softly whispered unlocking spell, she slipped past the iron gate at the tiny breezeway that separated the restaurant from the next building. Hurrying through the darkness of the early morning into the small courtyard at the rear, Tira reached the heavy iron door that guarded the temple.

Placing her palm on the handle, she felt the metal warm beneath her skin before she depressed the lever and pushed open the door.

Making sure it shut securely behind her, Tira leaned back against the door and took a deep breath before pushing away and entering the temple proper.

Open to the third floor, the temple had beautiful white marble walls imported from Italy almost two centuries ago. Three columns on each side of a center aisle led to the wooden altar decorated with gold leaf.

Wooden benches lined the sides of the temple, leaving the floor mosaic bare for everyone to see. Crafted by the some of the most skilled Etruscan artists, the mosaic showed a Tuscan forest populated by the various members of the
Fata
and
Enu
.

A half-hided
salbinelli
chased a winged
folletta
. A mass of tiny human-shaped
candelas
glowed like fireflies and danced around a tree stump. A
linchetti
couple, their pointed ears prominently displayed, lay entwined on a moonlit patch of grass.

Several
lucani
versipelli
howled at the bright moon, the wolves a sleek gray, while a
strega
bent over a moon bowl and her male companion held an athame in his hands.

Tira headed straight for the altar, the white marble base topped by an oak slab six inches thick.

But when she got there, she stopped, unsure now what to do.

How to ask for what she wanted.

She’d gone over everything on the ride, talked through each point and debated each argument. But now her thoughts were all jumbled.

She knew what she wanted. But how should she actually beg a goddess—

“I find it’s best just to blurt it out. Less painful that way.”

Tira spun away from the altar and had fallen into a curtsy before her brain made the connection her body had already figured out.

“Lady of the Hammer, I didn’t know you were here.”

“I wasn’t until a second ago.” A blonde Barbie doll of a goddess, Nortia, Goddess of Fate, shook her shiny white-gold hair over her shoulder. Her curls bounced, her blue eyes shone and her perfect rosebud mouth curved in a smile. She looked like a twenty-something out for a night of clubbing in her short, purple leather miniskirt, tight white baby tee and four-inch metallic red Jimmy Choos.

Beautiful and wise, and still one of the most powerful Etruscan goddesses on Earth, Nortia was the only one who could help her.

“I heard your call.”

Tira frowned, the Lady’s words not making any sense. She hadn’t even begun to pray. “But… My call? I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”

Nortia shrugged, her tiny pointed nose wrinkling prettily before her smile popped out again. “That’s okay. You don’t have to. Now you have a question to ask. Shoot.”

Tira froze, unable to actually say the words. How did she phrase it? How could she even ask? How could she avoid offending the Lady of the Hammer, whose Gift she’d been granted?

As the Goddess of Fate, Nortia could control certain aspects of the future. And Tira saw the future.

At this moment, she hated her Gift.

Nortia’s smile softened the goddess’s beauty until she seemed much more approachable.

“Tira, despite my reputation, I am not an unreasonable being.” Her nose wrinkled again. “At least, most of the time.” She sighed as if someone had contradicted her, which Tira would never do. “Okay,
some
of the time. And this is one of those times. I feel your despair. Just speak your mind.”

Bowing her head so she wouldn’t see Nortia’s anger, Tira took a deep breath. “I wa—would ask for three days, Lady. Three days without my Gift. Three days to be able to touch the men I love without the vision of Nic dying and Duke…”

Lost to her. Forever.

It was the one part of her vision she’d never revealed to anyone. The one part she refused to acknowledge because it hurt too much.

“Three days, Lady, without consequence. I don’t want anyone else to have to pay for my…weakness, to—”

“You believe your love for Duke and Nic is a weakness?” Nortia’s head cocked to the side, her eyes narrowing as if to see inside Tira.

Honestly? Yes, she did. If she’d never met them, she wouldn’t be in this situation. But she’d fallen for them, both of them and that meant double the heartache.

“Don’t you think love is a weakness, Lady?”

Nortia didn’t answer right away and Tira chanced a glance at the goddess. Nortia’s expression showed no sign of anger. Or any emotion, for that matter.

“I believe you believe. But I can’t give you three days, Tira. Not under the conditions you want. There are always consequences, always a price to pay for everything. Some you don’t mind paying. Others are more costly but the reward is more dear. And therefore worth the cost.”

Tira blinked away tears but refused to give up. Not yet. “Then allow only me to suffer any consequences.”

Nortia took a deep breath before releasing it on a sigh. Her cold expression melted into one full of compassion. And regret.

Tira braced herself for denial.

“One day,” Nortia said. “I can give you one day of release from your Gift. From sunrise this morning to sunrise tomorrow. And I agree to the terms. No one will suffer as a consequence. But the
boschetta
needs a
praenuntio
, Tira. The time is coming when one will be needed more than ever. After the day has ended, I want you to return here, to me. I want to know if you wish to cede your Gift forever.”

Her skin prickled, as if she stood naked in a cold wind. Everything froze inside her and she had to tell herself to breathe. Nortia’s demand shouldn’t come as a shock. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t considered herself.

But hearing it aloud made it too real.

Her lungs began to seize, unable to draw in enough air. Her head actually swam but she nodded, pushing away the fear and the uncertainty. Instead, she reached for the anticipation, the desire, the longing she felt at all times for Duke and Nic.

And felt a small measure of calm ease her unsteady nerves.

“Thank you, Lady.”

“Don’t, Tira. Not now. Not until all is said and done. Because I can assure you, nothing ever works out as we intend.”

With those cryptic words, Nortia disappeared.

Tira stood silently, waiting for something to happen. To feel differently. Some physical sense that her Gift was gone.

But she felt nothing like that. Only fear. Not that Nortia wouldn’t keep her end of the deal.

No, she feared she would want to give up her Gift tomorrow. And that would make her an even worse coward.

Chapter Seven

Nic couldn’t sleep when he got home.

Duke had headed to Kyle’s to check on Kaine and talk about what they were going to do next about the
eteri
kidnappings.

Yeah, it was only six in the morning but Kyle wouldn’t mind. He never got upset if they dropped in on him unannounced for whatever reason.

Besides, they knew better than to knock on Kyle’s door if he and Tam were getting it on. A
lucani
’s incredible sense of smell came in handy for avoiding awkward moments.

Of course, now Nic didn’t know what the hell to do with himself.

He had too much restless energy to sleep but he knew his body couldn’t take another run. He needed some downtime.

Catch-22.

So he paced. Then he threw himself on the couch and picked up the TV remote, forcefully avoiding thoughts of what he’d done the last time he’d sat here.

He flipped through three hundred channels. Kaine’s television addiction was legendary. God forbid she couldn’t watch her shows, however many there were.

He checked the DVR and found a couple of old
MXC
episodes. Typically the show’s crude, juvenile humor made him laugh. Not so much today.

With a disgusted sigh, he shut off the TV and turned on the satellite radio. Duke’s metal blasted through the six speakers in the open living space.

Definitely not in the mood for thrash or death metal. He’d be bouncing off the walls in no time.

No, he definitely needed some Sinatra.

He swore his pulse settled as the first few bars of
New York, New York
eased into the air. The man’s voice was pure solid gold.

With Frank taking care of his blood pressure, he figured he might as well do something constructive. He booted up his laptop, sat on the couch and started to run down the address of the house that had nearly killed him.

Before Tira had laid out his death sentence, he’d considered getting a degree in computers. He loved them, loved putting them together, loved coding. Computers were puzzles that had fascinated him since he’d begged his parents to get one when he was ten.

They’d relented after almost a year of constant begging. And when he’d shown an aptitude for it, they’d actually considered sending him to a private
eteri
school to study. That consideration had been turned down in seconds, though. Since you could never be sure when your change would come, and because preteen
lucani
males needed to expend a lot of excess energy,
lucani
children were all homeschooled. At least as far as the human government believed. In reality, the
lucani
who lived in the den attended classes together.

Now he was damn good at finding information other people wanted to hide.

He hadn’t gotten far when he heard Duke’s Jeep in the distance.

Tira.

The relief was almost painful. But on its heels came doubt.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his now-uneasy stomach.

Would she stay?

Though he hadn’t said anything to anyone, Nic knew his time was running out.

He was going to die. Tira had seen it and she hadn’t been wrong yet.

For years, he’d been throwing himself into danger without fear because he’d known it wasn’t his time to die. Not yet.

But he couldn’t say that anymore. He felt it, like a hand on his back. Always there, pressing him forward, urging him closer to the end.

For years, he’d said he didn’t care so long as he lived the time he had to the edge. And he had. He hadn’t let fear dictate any part of his life. The only regret he had was Tira.

His death would be hardest on her because she’d seen it already. At least twice.

And when he was gone, he knew she and Duke would shatter too. Unless he helped them form a bond now that could withstand his death.

But he still wanted her.

And she was coming home.

With his heart pounding almost painfully in his chest, he put the laptop aside and walked to the window by the door. He watched her park the Jeep in front of the house, watched her sit in the car, staring at the slowly brightening horizon.

Was she praying? Thinking? Was she going to get her stuff and run?

She couldn’t. He couldn’t let her go. Not now.

He could barely see her face in the hazy light. But when the sun finally broke over the hills, he watched her leave the car, her expression calm as she walked toward the house.