Authors: Stephanie Julian
He nodded to her, his gaze steady on hers. He wanted to talk. Alone. She swallowed hard and walked to the end of the short, narrow hall, trying to control her instinctive shiver when the man closed the door behind him and drew close to her.
“Are you okay, Lacey? Cara’s worried about you.”
She didn’t answer right away, trying to get past the fact that this man was part of the evil that made her and her sister’s life a living hell. Still aching from Teo’s rejection, she was having a hard time taking that leap of faith to trusting this man.
“I’m fine. I want to know what’s going on with you and Cara. What’s your angle?
How do we know the child’s really yours?”
His mouth quirked into something not quite a smile. “I understand why you can’t trust me, Lacey. And I don’t blame you. But we don’t have the time to debate this. We need to talk. I want to leave Cara here with you so I can make it safe for you both.”
It took a second for what he’d said to sink in. She stared at him, as if she could read his evil intentions in his eyes.
“She doesn’t know what I’m planning to do,” he continued. “Sal said Cara and Aron are welcome to stay with him. He said they’ll be safe here and I’ll draw the
Mal
away, make them think you’re both long gone.”
He sounded sincere, like a man determined to do the right thing. If he was telling the truth, it could give her and Cara some breathing room.
If he was lying… If he was lying, it wouldn’t matter where they went. He’d be able to find them. If Aron truly was his.
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Hope tried to light in her heart. But she couldn’t tell if her desire to remain in Reading, close to Teo, had more to do with that than her intuition that she could trust this man.
“How do I know you won’t betray us?”
He shrugged. “You don’t. And I understand your fear. But I will never turn Aron or Cara or you over to the
Mal
. I need you to know that, needed to say the words. I’ll be leaving as soon as I say goodbye.”
He turned and walked away before she could say anything, entering the room where her sister waited and closing the door behind him.
She stared at the door, her mind too chaotic to allow rational thought. She didn’t know how long she stood there but she was still standing in the same place when Michael left the room again. He never looked back as he headed toward the stairs.
His departure unstuck her feet from the floor and she hurried to her sister.
Cara’s quiet sobs broke Lacey’s strong hold over her own emotions. Squeezing onto the chair beside Cara, she put her arms around her sister and cried along.
* * * * *
“You know you’re an idiot, right?”
“Go the fuck away, Cam. I’m not in the mood.”
Teo didn’t bother to look away from his acute examination of the wall of his house on North Eleventh Street. He really needed to paint.
“Fuck that.” Cam walked over and stood directly in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, arrogant look on his face. “We have work.”
Teo sneered and went back to staring at the wall. “I don’t work for you.”
“You do now. Get off your ass. We’ve got protection duty.”
Damn, his brother was starting to piss him off. “Fuck you, Cam. You’re not my boss.”
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“Yeah, well, I think you’re going to want in on this one. It involves two women and a baby.”
Lacey. It had to be Lacey and Cara.
Conflicting emotions rose up to choke him. “Cam—”
“Shut up and listen, little brother.” The harsh note in Cam’s tone cut through the fog in Teo’s brain and he looked up into his brother’s eyes. “She needs you. And you need her.”
As a child, Teo had believed Cam had an answer to everything. Then Teo had been infected with the
amentia
and Cam didn’t have the answer. Teo had been too angry with himself to realize Cam was almost as distraught as he was. His big brother had spent decades trying to find a cure. And continued to look, long after Teo had given up.
Now he had to give up Lacey. “I’m not safe to be around her.” Cam had to realize that. And yet…the
amentia
had drained away after they made love. That had never happened before.
Cam snorted. “Bullshit. She’s perfect for you and you know it.”
Yeah, he knew it. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman. And she’d accepted him for who he was, faults and all.
Still…
“What if I hurt her?”
Cam didn’t blink. “Did you?”
“No—”
“Bullshit,” Cam barked. “You tore her heart out when you made her leave. Sal said if you don’t make this right, he’ll rip your heart out through your nose and your brains through your ass. And that’s after I’m done with you.”
“You know I love her.”
Cam smiled. “I know, Teo. You need to tell her that. After you get on your knees and beg her to take you back.”
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Could it really be that simple?
Teo stood, smiling back. “Hey, bro. I need a lift.”
* * * * *
“So you love him?” Cara asked, her red-rimmed blue eyes curious and still so sad.
Lacey nodded. “And he’s so damn stubborn, I don’t know that he’ll ever change his mind.”
“I’ve never known you to give up, Lacey. Not even when I wanted to.”
Still sitting on the chair together, Lacey rested her head against her sister’s, knowing exactly what Cara was talking about. “It was a bad time. Believe me, there were times when I thought about killing myself. But I knew if I did, I’d leave you. And I couldn’t do that.”
“But I left you.” Cara’s agonized tone made her want to cry again. Even though she swore she was done crying.
“If you hadn’t, the
Mal
would’ve taken this beautiful little boy.” She glanced down at the still-sleeping baby in her sister’s arms. He was gorgeous and she couldn’t wait to get to know him. “I couldn’t have lived with that. I’m glad you got out when you did.”
“I could never have done it without Michael.” Cara shook her head. “He’s not like any other
Mal
I ever met, Lacey. At least, not when he’s with me. He’s never hurt me.
He’s never forced me to do anything. He loves Aron and, though he’s never said the words, he
loves
me. I know he does.
“Now he’s gone after them, the men who kidnapped us, the ones who killed Mom and Dad. Before he left, he promised me he’d make it safe for us. For Aron. For you and me. And I don’t think he’s planning on coming back, Lacey. I think he’ll do what he says but I don’t think he’ll make it back alive.”
Lacey ached for the pain in the Cara’s voice even though she still couldn’t believe her sister had fallen for a
Mal
. “All that matters to me is that you’re safe, Cara. And Sal will find you somewhere to live that no
Mal
will ever find you or Aron.”
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And after all of this, maybe I’ll join you there. Damn you, Teo.
As if she’d heard Lacey’s thoughts, Cara’s mouth turned up at the corners. “We’re a pair, aren’t we? In love with the completely wrong men. They should write cautionary stories about us.”
“No, I want to be turned into a movie. And I want to be played by Drew Barrymore.”
“Oh no, I’m Drew Barrymore. You’re more Anne Hathaway in
The Devil Wears
Prada
. You look a little like her, you know. You have that classic beauty. Like Mom.”
Lacey wondered if it would always hurt so badly when they thought of their parents. “She was gorgeous, wasn’t she?”
“So are you.”
Both women gasped at the male voice coming from the doorway. Teo stood there, dark curls mussed as if he’d been running his hands through it for hours, his eyes pleading.
She hoped she knew for what.
When she didn’t say anything, he turned his gaze on Cara.
“Hello. We weren’t formally introduced earlier. I’m Teodoro de Feo, son of Lucumo and Tana de Feo. My family is
linchetti
, third generation on this soil.”
Lacey’s breath caught as he went through the formal greeting then waited for Cara to hold out her hand before he moved forward to shake it.
“I’m very glad to meet you, Cara.”
Cara rose, cradling the sleeping baby in her arms. “I think I’ll hold judgment on that until you’ve talked to my sister, Mr. de Feo. Lacey has feelings for you. I sincerely hope you don’t disappoint her again.”
He nodded. “I plan to do my best.”
Cara glanced down at Lacey and winked. “See that you do better than that. Now, I think I deserve a nap too. I’ll leave you two alone.”
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With another small smile for Teo, she walked out the door, closing it tightly behind her.
Lacey stood so Teo wasn’t looking down. At least, not as far down. He was still almost a foot taller than she was. She loved that about him. She loved the way he smiled at her. And only her.
She loved everything about him.
And she hoped his reappearance boded well for their future.
“Did you mean what you said?” she asked.
His gaze never wavered. “I never meant anything more in my life. I love you, Lacey. Please let me make up for being such an ass.”
She tried to catch back her smile but didn’t do a very good job of it and when she couldn’t stop it, she saw relief flare in Teo’s eyes.
“Is that a yes?” His voice sounded almost strangled.
“I don’t believe you asked a question.”
She held her breath as he dropped to his knees, grabbed both of her hands and placed them flat against his chest then covered them with one of his. With his other hand, he reached behind him to pull something from his pants pocket.
In his hand, he held an athame. His, she assumed. The ritual knife Etruscan children received from their parents on their fifth birthday. It marked their entrance into the magical traditions of their society and the start of their training.
By presenting her with his, he’d declared his intentions to be blood bound to her.
That ancient practice was more binding than marriage. By exchanging blood during sex, they tied their souls together for all eternity.
It was a step none took lightly. Especially not this man, who was possibly the most serious man she’d ever met.
And the one she would love forever.
She smiled, even as tears coursed down her cheeks.
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“I have to confess first, Lacey. You have to know what you’re getting with me.”
“You’re talking about the
amentia
, right? Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”
His mouth lifted in a small smile but he shook his head at the same time. “I hope we can. Just…don’t make up your mind until you’ve heard it all.” He took a deep breath.
“The
amentia
is a spell I was infected with fifty years ago by a
strega
. I knew she’d always been a little…unstable. But I wanted her and after I had her, I realized she had more problems than I could handle. I’m not proud of myself. I was stupid and selfish.”
His voice had risen as he spoke, his tone becoming hard. He was angry with himself, not with the woman who’d bespelled him.
She opened her mouth to tell him this but he continued before she could.
“The spell brings out a long-repressed side of the
linchetti
. My presence incites those around me to chaos. Put me in a room with enough people and there’ll be a riot. I’m not safe then. People do crazy things around me. And when the spell gets away from me, like it did earlier, sometimes I can’t hold it together and I lash out. I could have killed you.”
His eyes closed as if he were in pain and she reached to frame his face in her hands.
“But you didn’t. And something happened between us, didn’t it? I mean, it felt like all that energy from the
amentia
created something magical between us. We’re good for each other, Teo.”
His chest rose and fell on a long sigh and his hands came up to cover hers as he looked up at her. “Yeah, I think we are too, babe. So you think we can make a go of it?”
She nodded, afraid she’d sob if she opened her mouth to speak.
“Thank the Blessed Goddess.”
The heartfelt emotion in his words made her smile but she barely had time to form it before Teo reached up to cup her face and draw her lips down to his.
She felt his love for her in his gentle kiss but she didn’t want gentle. She wanted him to know she could take anything he dished out.
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Lacing her fingers through his hair, she tilted his head to the side so she could slide her tongue into his mouth and kiss him with all the passion inside her.
As if she’d broken his control, he opened his mouth and inhaled her, his tongue whipping into her mouth, tangling with hers.
Passion rose like a storm-fed creek as Teo circled his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet then lowered her down as her legs instinctively wrapped around his waist. Teo’s whispered spell removed their clothes and her arms wound around his now-bare shoulders. She pulled him closer, feeling the brush of his rigid cock against the inside of her thigh. Moaning, she moved one hand between them to take his cock in her hands. He moaned, hugging her tight against him for a brief second before he sat back on the floor, taking her with him. He pulled her down on top of him, letting gravity bring her down to him.
Their lips met and clung even as she shifted her hips, his heated tip brushing against her clit.
Straddling his waist, she rose to her knees. She smiled down at him and watched his expression transform from hunger to a sweet hot smile that made her wetter than any show of lust ever could.
Her lips curved as her hand found his cock and aimed it for her slit.
In one smooth motion, she took him into her body, her eyes closing as his thick, hard length stretched her deliciously wide.
She took a few seconds to savor the feeling, to hold him inside her. Blessed Goddess, she loved this sensation, loved the closeness. Loved him.
When her eyes opened, she saw Teo lift his athame, the hilt toward her. She took it without a moment’s hesitation and cut a thin line across her right palm.