“Kind of hard to sleep with you two going at it out here.” He let his mouth curl in a slight smile to let her know he wasn’t pissed. “Besides, I’m not all that tired.”
Duke snorted. “Yeah, that’s why I had to carry you out of the car.”
Nic caught and held Duke’s gaze. “You’ve been carrying my ass a lot lately.”
Duke nodded, knowing what Nic didn’t add. “Then don’t let any more ceilings fall on you. Your mom’ll have my ass in a sling if anything happens to you.”
Nic was about to spout his normal smart-ass response about his time being up soon enough but slammed his mouth shut before he did. The reason he knew he had limited time was standing not three feet away, staring at him with beautiful blue eyes.
He wouldn’t do that to Tira, wouldn’t make her feel any worse than she already did. Hell, he wanted to make her feel good, not rotten.
So he said, “I’ll work on that,” knowing he didn’t mean a word of it. “Now tell me what you two are arguing about.”
He honestly didn’t know because he’d come in at the end where Duke had punished the spatula for something Nic was pretty sure it hadn’t done.
Tira shook her head. “We weren’t fighting. And you nee—”
“Bullshit. Neither of you can lie worth a damn. You know that, right?”
“You should be in bed.” Tira completely ignored him. “You look ready to pass out.”
“Well, I’m not.” His stomach rumbled as the scent of one of Duke’s excellent omelets drifted to his nose. “Actually, I’m hungry. You wouldn’t want me to starve, now, would you?”
He gave her one of his best pathetic looks, the one that always worked on his mom, and damn if her expression didn’t soften.
In his peripheral vision, he saw Duke roll his eyes. The guy never had understood the power of a well-executed pity play.
Turning, Tira waved at the table. “Sit down. Duke, why don’t you give him those eggs? I can make my own—”
“Why don’t you both sit and let me worry about the food.” Duke turned back to the stove to split the omelet he’d made onto two plates, which he then slid onto the table. “You both nee—”
“Stop it.” Tira’s voice cut through the air like a sharp blade. “Just…stop it. I’m not a child, Duke. I know what I need. I’m here to take care of you two idiots to make sure you don’t do anything stupid. But I’m not sure that’s even possible.”
Duke had turned away from the stove to watch her, his brows lifting further with each word.
Nic had to give it to her. Not many people had the balls to stand up to Duke. The guy looked like the kind of muscle hired to protect Mafia bosses. Dark, cold, ruthless. Duke used those looks to keep people at arm’s length.
Tira was the only one who’d never let him get away with it. She’d taken his attitude and thrown it back in his face.
Then again, Duke had only ever wanted her. Yeah, he’d slept with other women. But Duke could probably count that number on one hand. The guy just wasn’t the type to sleep around.
On the other hand, Nic had slept with anything that offered. Which made him a prick.
He’d excused his actions as those of a dying man. He figured since he didn’t have more than thirty years or so to live, and he’d never have the woman he loved, he’d be excused for being a jackass.
Until that ceiling had fallen on him.
And he’d realized that if he didn’t do something soon, he’d die a jackass and never have even one night with the woman he loved. Blessed Goddess, this had to work.
“I don’t think you’re a child.” Duke’s deep voice knocked Nic out of his thoughts. “But I cook better than you do. And I like it. And you need to eat. You look like a breeze would knock you over.”
Nic watched the heat shimmer between them like a mirage. But this was no illusion. Hell, he was getting a hard-on just watching them. Duke had to be sporting wood too, as he and Tira practically went nose to nose.
“Oh, please.” Tira rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re being ridiculous. I’m perfectly capable—”
“Actually, I’m being pretty damn reasonable but if you don’t sit down and eat, I’m gonna sit you in a chair and feed you like a child.”
Nic’s brows lifted even higher and he had to fight back a grin as Duke took one step closer to Tira. He towered over her but she didn’t back down. She never backed down from Duke and she gave as good as she got.
She refused to do that with Nic.
She loved the guy. Just as she loved him. Nic had never doubted her affection for either of them and he’d never been jealous. Because it was Duke.
Any other man he’d kill for trying to take her from them.
Duke had never seen how much she cared for him because her guilt and his clouded everything. Made him blind to what was right in front of him. Hell, Tira had given Duke her body, had let him love her and still he refused to see how much she loved him.
Tira’s eyes had narrowed down to slits and Nic didn’t think he could get any harder. If Duke bent her over his knee to spank her, Nic figured he’d come in his pants.
Her right hand lifted, index finger pointed at Duke’s chest. “If you
honestly
think you could
even
try that and get away with it, you’re more delusional than I thought.”
“And you are
the
most stubborn fricking woman I have ever met.” Duke’s voice rose to a level Nic had never heard him take with another woman. “
Vaffanculo
, Tira. I’m trying to take care of you, not fight with you.”
“And like I said, I’m not a child. I don’t need you t—”
“Fuck that.” Duke’s raised voice shocked the hell out of Nic. “You do need me, but only to fuck, right? But you know what? You’re right about one thing. You’re not a child. We proved that this morning, didn’t we?”
Tira’s startled gaze tripped from Duke to Nic, her mouth opening and closing. She looked like she’d been slapped, a red flush consuming her cheeks, before she let her gaze fall, as if she were guilty.
Damn, he hadn’t thought Duke would take that tactic with her.
“Don’t,” she said, that one word sounding strangled. “Don’t you
dare
do this now.”
Nic pushed away from the counter and stood, ignoring the twinge in his side. “That’s it,
scassacazzo
. Knock it off. Now.”
Duke ignored him completely, his gaze glued to Tira’s. “Poor Tira. How awful she can’t have the man she loves. Too bad she has to settle for the asshole she can touch.”
Tira’s face went sheet-white and she actually swayed on her feet.
Fury raced through Nic’s body like adrenaline and he felt his wolf snarl inside his chest. It wanted to rip into Duke’s sneering face, tear him limb from limb and destroy him for daring to hurt Tira like that.
Gods damn him, the bastard didn’t know when to stop. Nic strode around the counter and pushed Duke away from Tira.
“That’s enough. What the fuck, Duke?”
Duke didn’t take his eyes off Tira. “Yeah, that’s what we did this morning. Right, babe? We fucked. So, as a stand-in, how’d I do?”
Nic’s fist connected with Duke’s chin the second after the words left his mouth. Duke’s head snapped back, the sound of the impact like a lightning crack in the silence.
But it was Nic who groaned in pain as his bruised ribs protested the movement.
Tira turned to him with tears in her eyes, her gaze dipping to the hand pressed against his side. She took a deep breath then shook her head as her shoulders straightened. “You shouldn’t be upright. Go back to bed. I’ll bring breakfast in to you.”
She turned to Duke, her eyes tracing the blood trickling from his cut lip before meeting Duke’s gaze. She didn’t say anything right away.
Nic thought Duke might actually be holding his breath, waiting for her to speak.
“You,” she stuck one slim finger at Duke’s chest, “are an ass if you think you’ve ever been a stand-in for anyone. Why don’t you go for a run? Maybe when you get back, you’ll be more sociable.”
Nic had to bite his tongue not to say anything as Duke looked visibly shocked. The guy didn’t know what to say. Tira had basically cut him off at the knees and that wasn’t something Duke understood. No one ever spoke to him like that.
Good. The guy deserved it. He didn’t care how much Duke was hurt or confused. He didn’t get to take it out on Tira. Nic wouldn’t allow it.
Tira took a deep breath then released it on a sigh as Duke finally turned and stalked away, tearing clothes off as he headed for the back door.
Tira watched him the entire way. Either she couldn’t take her eyes off him or she didn’t want Nic to know she was crying. He knew she was. He could smell the salt of her tears.
When Duke slammed through the back door, Tira turned to Nic. Her eyes were red but they were no longer wet.
“Ti, sweetheart. You know he can be a prick.”
“But he’s right.” Her chin lifted and her mouth firmed. “I fucked him this morning.”
He held her gaze steady. “No, you didn’t. You had sex with him this morning. There’s a difference, babe. You know that. And so does he.”
She swallowed hard. “I’m not sure he does.”
He wanted to grab her hand, wrap his arms around her, comfort her in some physical way. But he wouldn’t risk making her cry with an accidental brush of their skin. So he could only sit here and stare at her. “Yeah, he does. Look, I’m not saying you need to cut him some slack because the bastard doesn’t deserve any for that. You’d be justified in any smack-down you might want to throw his way. But… Hell, I don’t know, maybe we all need to cut each other some slack.”
She nodded but he didn’t think she took anything he’d just said to heart. Except for the part about the smack-down. Her eyes had lit up when he’d mentioned it.
Nothing he hadn’t wanted to do himself lately.
“You really should be in bed, Nic. You’re not completely healed. I want you to eat and then go lie down again.”
Because he pretty much felt like crap since he’d popped Duke on the chin, he nodded. “Yes, dear,” he drawled and sure enough, she smiled.
Damn, he was so pitiful it took something so little as a smile from her to make his day.
And Duke was out there working off his anger when he’d gotten to hold her in his arms and get deep into her body.
The guy really was an asshole.
Sometimes, Nic didn’t know why he loved the bastard so damn much.
* * * * *
Freezing air hit Duke’s naked body like a slap when he stepped onto the back porch.
His skin broke into gooseflesh and his balls tried to crawl back into his body.
Once he shifted, he’d be warm enough but for right now, he let the cold air dampen the heat of his anger and arousal.
He wanted to strangle Nic for putting them all in this position. Rage at Tira for agreeing to it.
And he wished like hell that he could just loosen his tight-assed control issues for a few hours so he could get with Nic’s program.
He wanted to. Gods be damned, he wanted to so badly, he thought he might howl with the need.
Instead, he was out here freezing his ass.
Fuck that.
Closing his eyes, he let his magic rise up until it bubbled like lava under his skin. He’d long ago lost any desire to understand the process of how he shifted from human to wolf. That was for people who over-thought everything.
Duke believed in simply letting the magic happen and being grateful for the fact that it did.
His first shift had come when he was days away from his thirteenth birthday, early for a male. Most didn’t change until they were months into their fourteenth year. He’d shocked the shit out of his parents when he’d begun the first transformation in the middle of the night. Hell, he’d been just as shocked. And scared, though he’d never told anyone.
He shouldn’t have been. Shifting came more naturally to him than anything else in life.
Even more so than talking. He’d been an antisocial kid, had never liked to talk much. He hadn’t had to. He’d had Nic, who never shut up. Duke just nodded every now and then. And people got used to it.
He hadn’t needed to develop advanced social skills. He’d known from the time he was a kid that he’d be a soldier like his dad. A guardian of his people. You didn’t have to talk much to do that.
Nic had had other plans. After the mandatory three years of
lucani
legion service from ages twenty-one to twenty-four, Nic had planned to go to college, get a job. Maybe with the
lucani
, maybe with the
eteri
. He didn’t care. He hadn’t wanted to be a soldier all his life.
Duke didn’t know why Nic was still here, why he hadn’t bolted the second he’d completed his term. He hoped like hell Nic hadn’t stayed because he thought Duke couldn’t take care of himself. But that would be just like Nic.
Shaking off that thought, he reached again for his
arus
, the magic inherent in his body, which had burned just a little less brightly as his mind wandered.
He forced himself to push all thoughts but one out of his head.
The wolf.
He called on the
arus
, on the part of him that knew the shape he wanted to take. He let the burn seep through his body, let it take him to his knees as his body contorted and magic remade his cells into a sleek, gray Appennine wolf.
Most
lucani
took the form of the Appennine wolf, the animal native to the Etruscan homeland in Italy. Only a few, like Kyle and Cat, had a rare black pelt.
With the transformation complete, Duke stood on his four paws and gave his entire body a shake.
He still felt the cold air but now it tickled along his fur rather than against his bare skin. Drawing in a deep breath, he leaped off the back porch and made a run for the woods that separated this property from Kyle’s. Protected by wards, and occasionally by the Lord of the Silver Light himself, the Etruscan Moon God Tivr, it provided a small but welcome sanctuary for a wolf in need of a run.
Later, he’d head back to the site outside Lebanon.
Chapter Five
Nic had fallen asleep in front of the crackling fireplace by the time Duke returned.
He lay on the plush couch to the left of the fire, his body stretched full-length on the cushions. She’d been watching him for at least an hour. He hadn’t moved an inch. He’d been exhausted.