Edge of Moonlight (14 page)

Had he done that? Had he willingly erased Kaine from his mind nearly three months ago?

Kyle wanted him to allow the
streghe
to release his memories now. Kyle thought maybe John would remember something useful to help Evie.

“Arrange it. Right now. I’ll do it.”

Kyle didn’t move. “Fine.”

“Where’s Kaine?”

“On assignment.”

“When will she be back?”

“No idea. Hopefully not ’til you’re long gone.”

“Sorry it’s not more to go on but whoever this is, she’s buried herself pretty damn good.”

Tearing her gaze away from the address in her hand, Kaine looked up to see a frown on Rio’s handsome face.

“This is great, really. It’s a place to start, which is more than I had when I got here.” Rio sighed, shaking his head. “I’ll be able to dig a little deeper with more time. Give me a couple of days and I should have a lot more information.” Evie may not have a few more days and Kaine wasn’t about to wait. But she smiled and nodded. “Thanks, Rio. I really appreciate this.”

“No problem. I’ll give you a call when I find more.”

“I’d appreciate that. Just leave me a message if I don’t answer. I have a few other leads to track down, I may not be able to get to my phone if it rings.” Rio nodded, already turning to head back into his office and his computer. “No problem, I’m just gonna run a few more things here…”

Rosie touched Kaine’s shoulder, an apologetic smile on her face. “Sorry. He gets a little lost in his work sometimes. He really doesn’t like to lose. He’ll have more information for you by the end of the day. Believe me, this will bug him.” Back in John’s car after saying goodbye to Rosie, the address in her hand, Kaine knew what she had to do. She couldn’t wait for more information. Evie needed help now.

And really, she’d only be wasting time going back to Kyle’s place to fight with him about what had to be done.

Kyle would want to send Nic and Duke. Without her. Just as he’d sent them to find the missing
lucani
. Without her.

Kyle didn’t trust her now. He didn’t trust her to be able to do her job because of her feelings for John.

That stung like a
pugio
between her ribs.

Well, fuck that. She’d show her commander just how capable she was. She’d track this information and she’d call for backup if she found anything. She wasn’t stupid, contrary to popular opinion at the moment.

She’d go to New York City. She’d find what she was looking for.

But already, the tightness in her chest was threatening to strangle her.

God damn, she hated cities.

And New York City was hell on earth for
lucani
. She’d been there once, had gone with her dad to help track a
Malandante
snitch. The smell had made her gag until she’d gotten used to it. The sounds had been deafening and it never stopped. Not even at night. Sirens, horns, people talking, TVs blaring, music throbbing.

All those people, all that concrete and brick suffocating the life-giving power of the earth. Nowhere to run, except Central Park. Central Park had been amazing, especially at night. Teeming with wildlife, homeless people, criminals, groups of kids looking for trouble or fun, police on horseback.

While there were some pockets of old magic still lingering in New York City, Central Park held the bulk of it.

And according to Rio, this address was right across from the park.

You can do this.

She was
going
to do this.

She was going to New York to track down this lead. Damn it, she was the best tracker the
lucani
had, next to her dad, of course. Who was off on some super-secret mission for the king, out of touch.

When he found out what she’d done…

He’d be horrified that she’d disobeyed a direct order from her commanding officer.

Tough. This needed to be done and it was her gods damn job. Kyle would understand, once he got past being pissed off.

Besides, it wasn’t like her dad had never disobeyed a direct order, or a few hundred, in his day. Hell, her dad was known for it.

And John needed her to do this. For his sister. She owed him that much.

“New York City, here I come.”

* * * * *

The women standing around him as he sat on the couch in Nica’s house didn’t look like witches.

They didn’t call themselves witches, either.

They were
streghe
, which he vaguely realized was Italian but only because Evie had loved the book
Strega
Nona
as a child.

Their mom had read it to her endlessly.

“John, we need you to clear your mind, not let it run endlessly.” Margorie laid one warm hand on his shoulder as she stood behind him. “I know it’s not that easy but we need you to open up to us. You’ve got some pretty strong walls in your brain and we really need you to bring them down.”

Apparently Margorie had been in attendance the last time they’d wiped his memories. As had the older woman with the steel gray brush cut, Ronia. She didn’t look too happy to see him again.

Nor did the tiny, hunched ancient one named Sifai. She just flat-out glared at him.

John was used to ignoring just about anything—sleep deprivation, hunger, anger, fury, tears, pleas and blind hatred—and getting the job done.

So what the hell was his problem?

Kaine. She was his problem.

Well, only a problem in the fact that he wanted her here.

No matter what he remembered, when he opened his eyes, he wanted her by his side.

But one look at Kyle and he knew that wasn’t happening.

Jesus Christ, when the fuck did this all get so complicated?

“John.”

Margorie’s kind smile, the only one in the room at the moment, made him take a deep breath and he nodded, just before he closed his eyes and shoved everything out of his mind.

He turned off the little voice in his head and forced himself to relax.

And someone took a pickaxe to his brain.

Sharp, blinding pain struck him right behind the eyes and light flashed behind his eyelids.

No, not light. Images. Memories. Pieces of his life from that time that suddenly made sense.

The wolf who’d found him in that basement cell, who he’d carried to safety after a blast had rocked the building and knocked her unconscious. Kaine’s partners, Nic and Duke. Escaping from Kyle’s home with the wolf on his heels. The wolf who’d turned out to be a beautiful woman. The woman he’d accidentally shot when Nic and Duke had rushed him after his so-called escape. The fight at the warehouse where the redheaded woman had been keeping Evie.

The gut-wrenching decision to erase all memories of the Etruscans. To erase all memories of Kaine.

He’d known it was a mistake. That’s why he’d been dreaming about her.

How the hell they’d formed so strong a bond in such a short time, he didn’t have a clue. He only knew it was real.

It was why sex with her hadn’t seemed like pick-up sex. It’d held an emotional depth that should’ve scared him.

When he finally opened his eyes, he found Margorie sitting by his side, holding his hand.

“Drink this, John. It’ll help with the headache.”

He didn’t think twice. He just did it. He sucked the straw inside his mouth and grimaced at the sweet taste of the liquid. Thankfully there wasn’t that much of it and it did seem to ease the pain in his head slightly.

“Where’s Kaine?”

“Drink the rest.”

He obeyed then went to push off the couch but Margorie put her hand on his shoulder. “Oh, no, you don’t. You need to sit for a few more minutes.” He looked directly into Margorie’s eyes so she didn’t misunderstand him. “I need to talk to Kaine right now.”

Margorie sighed and shook her head. “She’s not here, John. I’m sorry.”

“Where’s Kyle?”

“Right here.”

Kyle leaned against the wall on the far side of the room, watching him through slitted eyes.

“I want to talk to her. I
have
to talk to her.” Kyle didn’t say anything right away, just stared at John. Finally, he nodded. “I’ll call her. But first you need to talk to Nica and Dane about your sister. See if your memories hold any clues as to what we can do to help her.”

“Of course. But I want to talk to Kaine. When I’m done. She needs to know…”

“Know what?”

John shook his head. “I just need to talk to her.”

* * * * *

An hour later, John’s head throbbed but this time his chest hurt too.

Like he had a weight sitting on it that he couldn’t dislodge.

He, Nica and Dane had gone over and over and over everything he’d seen and heard during his captivity. Some of it was still fuzzy, though Margie said that would clear up eventually.

He didn’t know that it would matter since he couldn’t remember hearing or seeing anything that would help Dane and Nica help Evie.

“So now what? What are we going to do about Evie?”

Nica and Dane looked at each other then back at John.

Dane just shook his head but Nica started to worry her bottom lip with her teeth.

“What?” John asked her. “What are you thinking?”

Nica’s sigh sounded weary. “I’m thinking we really need to get our hands on the woman who did this.”

John ran his fingers over his head, frustration beginning to mount. “I’ve been trying. For two months, I’ve been trying to find anything I could. I only recently got a name and—”

“What name?” Kyle practically barked. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that before?”

“Why the fuck should I? Christ, you treat me like a god damn criminal then expect me to trust you?”

Kyle looked ready to explode but John was beyond caring. Evie needed help or she could die.

And John wanted Kaine here. Now.

“Gentlemen, this isn’t helping.” Nica’s calm voice barely made a dent in the level of animosity between him and Kyle. But he knew she was right. It wasn’t helping. “Why don’t you tell us the name now and we’ll see if we don’t have more luck tracking it down.”

“Fine.” He nearly ground his back teeth into dust as he said that, still glaring at Kyle. “I already told Kaine so—”

“What? When?” Kyle finally showed some flash of emotion. He’d stunned the bastard. Good.

“Just this morning. She—”

He cut off when Kyle grabbed the cell phone out of his pocket and hit a button.

Seconds passed and with each one, Kyle’s expression got tighter as no one picked up on the other end.

John’s chest started to compress, like someone had his lungs in a vise and had started to squeeze.

“
Baciami il culo
.” Kyle nearly crushed the phone in his hand as he drew it away from his ear. “Son of a fucking bitch. I
knew
she left too gods damn easily.” Shit.
Shit
. Kaine.

“I only gave her a name. I don’t have anything more than that. Where the hell could she have gone?”

Kyle started to pace. “Call her,” he ordered John, who already had his phone in his hand. “Maybe she’ll pick up for you.”

But John had no such luck.

And he swore he heard the tick of a countdown in his head.

* * * * *

It took almost three hours to get to New York City.

Luckily, John’s car had a GPS and it took her straight into the city, through the Lincoln Tunnel and into the Port Authority Building, where she parked the car and nearly gagged at the noxious fumes of diesel and gas in this underground tomb.

The concrete walls magnified every little sound as she tried to breathe only through her mouth as she made her way to the escalator to the upper floors. To freedom.

Her head hurt and her lungs gasped for air as she fought through the late afternoon crowd going wherever the hell they were going at breakneck speed.

She had to stop on street level to use the restroom and pick up a city map but then she practically ran to the doors leading out onto 42nd Street.

Her backpack felt comfortingly heavy on her shoulders as she turned left on 8th Avenue and started the trek to Central Park.

Blessed Goddess, she could hardly keep herself from staring at the crowds like a rube tourist, in town for a show and some sightseeing. All she needed was a camera around her neck and a pair of high-end walking sneakers.

Still, no one gave her a second look in her black hoodie, jeans and boots and that was just fine. She needed to be invisible here and in a city of however many million, that wasn’t so hard.

With the map in one hand and the address from Rio in her pocket, she walked, head up, eyes forward. People rushed by her, on their way to wherever they were going as fast as they could get there.

Only the tourists stopped to gawk and point and look up.

It took every ounce of will Kaine had not to do the same.

Noise assaulted her from all sides, trying to draw her attention. Smells made her nose twitch as her brain tried to identify them all.

Still, the farther she ventured into the heart of the city, the more her fear turned to curiosity.

The height of the buildings simply astounded her. And the architecture amazed.

Glass, brick, stone. Some were enclosed in steel skeletons, men in hardhats wandering around though none of them seemed to be working.

Restaurants and markets emitted mouthwatering scents, countering the fumes from the cars, buses, taxis, delivery trucks and the subway rumbling below the city streets.

And finally, faintly, she caught the scent of the earth. Of trees and grass and growing things.

That new sense inside her, the one tied to the
silvani
powers from her mother, made her walk faster. She sensed the power lurking in that huge tract of open land and she needed to get there. Now.

By the time she hit Columbus Circle, she was practically running. She couldn’t help herself. She saw the trees first, bursting with spring greenery. Navigating her way across the circle required a concentration she barely had but finally she hurried past a large gold and plaster monument that she couldn’t care less about and entered Central Park.

She had the overwhelming urge to take off her shoes and simply stand in the closest patch of grass, sinking her toes in and letting the earth’s power fill her. She couldn’t believe how strong it felt here. It called to that part of her that was magic, the place inside where she kept her wolf.