Moonlight Menage (22 page)

She kept staring at Cat, afraid to move her head and risk even more of a headache. “Yes, Lady.”

“Good.” Nortia sighed, the soft sound the only indication the goddess had been at all worried about this process. “Now I’m going to take your hand and lead you over to the sofa.”

Nortia wrapped her hand around Tira’s and Tira registered the warmth of the goddess’ skin, a second before the vision hit.

Unlike her visions before, she felt disconnected from this one, as if she were watching it on a TV screen instead of experiencing it in person.

But there was no mistaking the images.

When she blinked again, they were gone and Nortia stood before her, an unusually worried expression on her beautiful features.

“Tira, what—”

“Margie, I need to talk to Dan. Right away.”

Chapter Twelve

“The woman who kidnapped you has your sister. Why the fuck didn’t you say that when you woke up?”

Nic scrubbed a hand through his hair as he paced John Simmons’ sparse front room.

The guy lived like a Spartan. Only a couch, TV and coffee table sat in the front room. There was no dining table, no kitchen table. In one of the bedrooms, there was a bed and a chest. In the other, piles of boxes. And a locked chest Nic knew held weapons. He could smell the metal and gunpowder.

John sat on the couch, his gaze taking in everything. He watched Nic pace for a while then he stared at Duke, silent and hulking against the wall.

But his gaze always came back to Kaine at the front window. He stared at her as if he was dissecting her and Nic knew it made her crazy because she liked this
eteri
. She wanted him, Nic could smell it on her and that was such a shock in and of itself that Nic tried not think about it. Kaine, who had so many reasons to hate
eteri
,
had fallen for one.

And the guy couldn’t stop staring at her as if she were a freak in the carnival. Even when he would only talk about his sister.

“I need you to release me so I can go get my sister.”

“And how do you know where to look?”

John looked him straight in the eyes. “Because I overheard the man who took her out of the cell next to mine tell someone on the phone where to meet him.”

“How do you know they weren’t just jacking your chain?”

“Because he didn’t say it loud enough to hear. I read his lips.”

Handy trick
.
“Tell us where and we’ll retrieve her.” Duke’s voice sounded like a feral dog’s growl but the guy did nothing more than stare at Nic steadily.

“No.” John’s voice held absolutely no inflection. “You have to take me with you.”

Nic sighed. “Look, man, we don’t have time to argue. And frankly, we don’t want to worry about you shooting us in the back the first chance you get. We’ll retrieve your sister. I know you don’t think you have any reason to trust us but we’re not the bad guys here.”

“Then exactly
what
are you?”

John’s gaze arrowed back to Kaine, standing next to the window, staring out at the dark night.

When they’d dragged John back into the house after he’d accidentally shot her and she had changed to save her life, John had told her where she could find a pair of sweatpants that might fit her and another sweatshirt. The old one had disintegrated when she’d used her magic.

“We’ll be your worst nightmare if you don’t help us out here.”

Nic rolled his eyes at Duke’s hard-assed comment. “Look, ignore Mr. Happy for the moment. You’re military, right? Special Ops? So are we. You have my word as a soldier that we’ll do everything we can to retrieve your sister and that we’ll return her to you. We want the bitch who took her. She’s ours.”

John looked him straight in the eyes. “Then I guess you better stop talking so we can leave.”

Nic looked at Duke, who made his thoughts clear without moving a muscle. Then he looked at Kaine, who turned to him with dead-cold eyes.

“I know where he parked his car. Bring him and let’s get this done so we can wipe him. The sooner the better.”

* * * * *

“You’re sure this is the right place?”

From their vantage point of a secluded parking lot overlooking a desolate-looking industrial park, Tira eyed the equally dilapidated warehouse just over the Reading city line. Only a mile or so from Albright College and the Hampton Park neighborhood, the cluster of buildings looked, for all intents and purposes, deserted.

Nodding, she turned to face Kyle. “Yes, I recognize the building and the symbol on the sign from the vision.”

“And you’re sure she’s in there?”

Kyle’s tone held the slightest hint of doubt and she knew she couldn’t fault him for it. Previously, her Gift had worked only through touch. Today, she’d only needed one look into Nortia’s eyes to trigger a vision.

“Yes, she is. Look, Kyle, I understand why you have doubts. But I’m not wrong. Whoever’s behind the kidnappings is in that building.”

After another few seconds of staring into her eyes, Kyle nodded and looked into the rearview at Dan.

“You sure about this?”

Dan made a rude noise that had Tira turning just in time to see him give Kyle the finger. “Don’t make me hurt you, asshole.”

Kyle’s expression never changed. “Hey, man. It’s been a while since you’ve been out in the field, I just want to—”

“You just want to yank my chain. Fuck off.”

Kyle’s mouth curved in a hard-edged grin. “True, but you know Margie’ll have my ass in a sling if anything happens to you. And Cat would cry and I hate to see Cat cry.”

Dan snorted. “And Tam will be all over mine if you get so much as a scratch so don’t fuck around. Let’s get this done.”

Kyle’s smile lightened until he looked almost approachable. The man was a tattooed bad-ass who looked like the assassin he was. But when he smiled, like he was now at Dan or whenever he looked at his mate, Tira saw his true nature. Indomitable but compassionate to the core. A man you wanted at your back.

Nic and Duke would do anything for Kyle, that’s the kind of loyalty he commanded. Hell, they practically worshipped him.

She completely understood.

Dan shrugged out of his coat and pulled his shirt over his head, shedding his clothes in preparation for changing.

When he was naked, he got out of Kyle’s Wrangler and headed for the small patch of scraggly grass closest to the car. She glanced back at Kyle when Dan knelt on the snow-covered ground.

Kyle’s smile had disappeared. “I want you to seriously reconsider going in there with us, Tira. Stay here and let Dan and I clean house first. Then we’ll come back for you.”

She shook her head. “That’s not what I saw. I have to go in with you. There’s something I have to do.”

“But you don’t know what it is.”

She shook her head again, feeling like a broken record because they’d been over this three times already. “I still have to be in there. I’m afraid if I’m not, something will happen to you and Dan. And either of your mates can take me in a fight.”

Kyle didn’t even crack a smile at her attempt to lighten the mood. He didn’t say anything for several seconds, just stared at her. Finally he sighed. “You stick to me like glue. If I tell you to run, you run and you don’t stop. If something happens to Dan and me, just keep running. Go to Sal’s. If you don’t think you can make it there, head for Lacey’s bar on Eleventh Street. Teodoro de Feo will keep you safe until Nic and Duke can get you.”

She nodded, gathering her fast-fading courage. The adrenaline rush from the transfer of power had started to wear off and fear was creeping in.

For so long she’d been a coward. Before, she’d had no idea how to manage the fear so she’d let it control her.

No more.

Dan’s wolf issued a short, guttural growl from beside the car and she jumped, startled, but forced herself to open the door and get out.

Her legs shook and she practically had to lock her knees so she wouldn’t fall. Dan butted his head against her legs and she automatically reached down to stroke a hand along his back.

“Deep breath, Tira,” Kyle said as he came up beside her. “It’s okay to be afraid. Just don’t freeze, don’t let it control you. You need to be able to function. Use the fear to stay alert.”

She nodded. She could do this. She had to do this.

She had backed her best friend Nica a few months ago when Nica had approached the
boschetta
about making changes, about making the
streghe
an integral, useful part of the Etruscan community.

About using their powers to benefit their community and not just the
boschetta
.

Now it was time to put her money where her mouth was. She needed to use her power for more than just forecasting crops and the gender of babies.

She wanted to be useful. To save lives. Especially the two most precious to her.

As she took a deep breath, Dan picked up the leash he’d laid on the ground before changing and sat on the ground in front of Tira with it. She smiled at the honor Dan was giving her, of handing over his leash. Although largely a symbolic gesture, since
lucani
leashes were designed to break apart from the collar with the right amount of force, it was one no Etruscan took lightly.

She fastened the thin strip of leather around his neck then hooked the leash to it.

When she stood, Kyle held out his arm to her. “Okay, hon. Take my arm and we’re gonna go for a walk. Just like any other couple out late at night with their fat old dog.”

Dan turned to bare his teeth and growl but Kyle just smiled, a sight that would make grown men turn and run the other way.

“Yeah, yeah, I injured your pride. Suck it up. I want to be inside that building in ten minutes.”

* * * * *

“Well, shit. Looks like we’re not the first to the party.”

Duke pulled in next to Kyle’s black Jeep, shaking his head, as Nic opened the door and jumped out.

“How the hell did he find out—

“
Vaffanculo
.
He’s got Tira with him.”

The fear in Nic’s tone bit into Duke’s gut like a dull blade, even as her scent finally hit him. It twisted and tore and did a whole hell of a lot of damage.

“We’ve got to get down there now,” Nic said as he started to rip off clothes. “Something’s up. Tira must’ve had a vision—”

“No, she didn’t,” Duke said as his brain tried to work the problem. “She couldn’t.”

Nic paused for a brief second as that realization hit him. Then he moved faster.

Behind him, he heard Kaine swear under her breath as she too climbed out of the Jeep. “It’s definitely her scent. And Dan’s too. Don’t go off half-cocked here, Nic.”

Duke practically felt the control Nic had to exert to force himself to stop tearing at his clothes and stand half nude in the freezing-cold night. “I’m not, but if Kyle and Dan are in there, then you know something’s going down and we need to get in there too.”

Duke nodded, started to undress then stopped, with a glance into the backseat at the
eteri
John. The guy watched everything, saw everything. If the guy was
lucani
, he’d make a damn good
speculator
, a spy.

As it was…

“Kaine, you and Nic recon, I want details in ten.
Eteri
, you and I are gonna go the hard way. Down the hill. Don’t fall and try not to make too much noise.”

The guy opened his mouth to say something but it never came out. Kaine and Nic had started their change. His mouth hung open like it should have a hook in it. His mouth snapped shut after a few long seconds but his eyes narrowed into slits, watching every move Kaine made.

“Hey,
eteri
. It’s not polite to stare. You may get your hand bitten off.”

Blinking hard, John dragged his gaze away to meet Duke’s. “What the hell are you people?”

Duke had a string of curse words ready to fly off his tongue but with what he considered a supreme effort, he managed to bite them back. The guy hadn’t yanked their chain about the address. If Dan and Kyle were here too, something had to be going on.

“You know what we are. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. But we’re not monsters. We’re not mindless animals and we don’t take shit from anyone. We promised we’d help get your sister. We will. But Nic and I have someone we care about down there too. If she gets hurt…” He couldn’t even bear to think about it. What the hell had Kyle been thinking to bring her here?

Duke threw open the door and unfolded himself from the seat then flipped it forward so John could get out.

When John stood next to him, Duke waited until the guy looked into his eyes. “If anything happens to her, get your sister and get the hell out because it’ll be bloody and it’ll be nasty.”

John paused before nodding once. “Understood.”

A flash of movement caught Duke’s eye and he turned to see Nic’s and Kaine’s wolves run for cover of the trees on the hill leading down to the industrial park.

John turned to watch them as well. His sharp gaze followed them even through the trees.

Smart guy. Very smart guy. Hopefully smart enough to keep himself safe.

Because Duke had only one objective in mind—get Tira out unharmed.

* * * * *

Tira felt the strength of the power hit her as soon as they got within twenty yards of the building.

It made her skin crawl and the fear she’d so far kept at bay made a rousing return.

“Kyle,” she whispered as softly as she could, knowing he’d be able to hear her. “Do you—”

“Yeah.”

Then he made a slashing motion across his throat that she figured meant shut up. No problem. She could barely breathe as it was.

Whoever or whatever was in this building, it wasn’t good. But she didn’t exactly sense evil either, which didn’t mean anything because she wasn’t sure she’d ever been in the presence of true evil.

Even the man who’d kidnapped her months ago hadn’t felt evil. Just stressed and under enormous pressure.

While the sense of wrongness was strongest at the rear of the building, they slunk around to the front where the feeling was weakest.

Dan’s wolf sat by the front entrance, staring up at the security camera mounted above the door. The little red light blinked as it swept the opposite side of the building from where they approached.