“So one night after a lecture left out early, I got a cab to Central Park just to take a walk. I know you’re not supposed to walk alone in Central Park after dark but it wasn’t dark when I went in. And then I just started to walk. It’s beautiful and so amazing that the park is right there in the center of that big city. But then it got dark. I started to get a little scared but I figured I’d have to come out somewhere, right? Or there’d be a cop walking around and he could tell me how to get out. Only…they found me first.”
She stopped to take a breath and Bella said, “Who found you?”
A chill ran up her spine just thinking about this part but in for a penny, in for a pound. She looked straight at the princess, trying to ignore the two men sitting there as well. “I don’t know who they were. I don’t know how many there were. I do know there were at least three.”
Amy Jo swore the air stopped moving in the room, it got so very still. But that could just be her. She’d never spoken about this part aloud. Not to anyone.
“I didn’t expect there to be werewolves in Central Park. Stupid me, huh? Caught by werewolves on the night of a full moon.”
Pretty Boy drew in a sharp breath and muttered something in a foreign language under his breath. But she couldn’t look at him. Not him or Steven. The pity she saw on Arabella’s face was enough to make it hard for her to breathe. But Amy Jo forged ahead because she hadn’t even gotten to the important stuff yet. After a long, slow breath and a mental skip over the next few hours—it had been a full moon—she continued.
“I lost consciousness sometime before dawn and I’m pretty sure they didn’t mean to leave me alive. I think they got scared, maybe heard a cop. I don’t know. Anyway, they never took my wallet so I don’t think they even knew my name. Maybe they thought I was close to death after…after what happened, but obviously they don’t know me all that well. My momma made sure I could take care of myself. She made sure I could fight. And I’m damn sure not a quitter. When the sun came up, I walked until I found my way out.”
Luckily, the dress she’d been wearing hadn’t been too badly damaged. The cab driver hadn’t even given her a second look. “I got a cab back to my hotel and took, like, a few showers.” Try ten. “Then I started researching. That’s what I do. I’m a research librarian. Mostly I work on the Internet, so I knew where I had to look to find the answers. I am so sorry about the hypo, but I calculated everything out precisely, ’though I had to guess at your weight. But you can’t weigh more than a hundred and ten, Princess.”
Then she turned to Pretty Boy, still watching her with such intense copper eyes, she almost couldn’t hold his gaze. “And I’m so sorry about that bump on the back of your head. I told James not to hurt anyone, but he’s a little slow on the uptake. I really didn’t want to hurt anyone. I just need you to save me.”
There. That was everything. She took another deep breath, waiting for someone to answer her but they just kept looking at her.
“Well?” she asked.
The Princess looked at Steven, who shrugged his shoulders and looked at Pretty Boy. Pretty Boy never took his eyes off of her. “Save you from what?” he finally said.
“From the curse.”
Pretty Boy’s eyes narrowed even further. “What curse?”
She huffed and would have stamped her feet if she wasn’t all tied up. “Weren’t you listening to anything I said? Why, from being a werewolf, dummy.”
Chapter Six
Bella had thought she’d heard it all.
Not only had Amy Jo been bitten on the night of a full moon, when lucani had been known to lose themselves to the call of the wild, but she thought she was cursed.
And she thought Bella could un-curse her.
Even better, she’d called Diego a dummy.
“Excuse me?” Diego said, as if Amy Jo had called him a bastard. The look on his face was almost worth the convoluted but amazingly coherent story the girl had told.
Bella jumped in before the girl could go off on another long-winded explanation. She held up one hand and both the girl and Diego turned to her.
“I get the curse part, Amy Jo. Tell me why you think I can lift it.”
“Okay, so here’s the deal.” The woman shifted as if trying to get comfortable. “Do you think maybe you could sit me up or something? I’m kinda getting a crick in my neck from looking up at y’all.”
Diego leaned back and crossed his arms. “Are you really this stupid or do you have to work at it?”
Amy Jo’s eyes narrowed down to slits, managing to look down her nose at him even though she had to look up at him.
Bella figured Diego deserved whatever the girl threw at him.
“For your information,” Amy Jo said, “I have a master’s degree in information and library science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I have a level-three security clearance from the United States government and I have worked with the current administration on delicate matters of national security. I have never had so much as a parking ticket in my life. Three months ago, I became a werewolf, which, I have to tell you, was not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. But I will not be called stupid by a man who lets his hair grow as long as a girl’s!”
Diego’s mouth actually dropped open but he said nothing as Steven choked back a laugh. But Bella couldn’t contain hers. “Untie her, Diego. Right now. Before she says something else and makes the top of your head fly off.”
Diego didn’t move for at least ten seconds. And for those moments, she thought he might simply refuse. Finally, he whipped out one of his knives with more flourish than normal and made a show of slicing through the rope Steven had tied Amy Jo with.
While he did, Bella started to sift through the myriad pieces of information Amy Jo had related. Curse, uncurse, men in Central Park, full moon, bitten. Had she really been bitten on the night of a full moon?
Bella shivered. She’d heard stories…actually she’d heard horror stories of eteri who’d been bitten on a full moon. Stories meant to terrify young versipelli away from ever inflicting eteri with the versipelli spell through their bite.
This woman had to have the heart of a lion to have lived through what she’d described.
And if the look she was giving Diego was any indication, she did.
Amy Jo rose, rubbing her hands over her jean-clad thighs. The woman had curves to rival Marilyn Monroe’s and straight, platinum hair that framed her face. Her features were pretty, not beautiful, except for those eyes. They were the most remarkable shade of blue.
“May I sit, Princess?”
Bella grimaced. “Yes, but please, my name’s Arabella. I’m not really a princess.”
Amy Jo sat on the bed opposite her, as far from Diego as she could get. “Yes, actually, you are. A descendent of the ruling wolves of Sicily, your family came to America in 1905 to control the American legion. You’re a veterinarian by training, but I’m assuming you’re really considered a doctor.”
Holy hell. Bella’s lips parted but she didn’t have a clue what to say. This woman knew a hell of a lot for being eteri. Way more than she should. And she’d found it all in the past three months? Hell, was there a website somewhere listing every Etruscan secret for the world?
“And you know all of this how?” Diego asked in a clipped tone. “You’re not hereditary.”
Amy Jo stuck her nose in the air and gave him that haughty look again, even as he towered over her. “I assume you use that term to identify yourself as being born into a werewolf family. Obviously that’s correct since I already told you I was only bitten a few months ago. I also told you I’m a research librarian. If the information is out there, I can find it.”
“But it’s not like we have a website where you can go and look this stuff up. Right?” Bella cut in before Diego could say whatever he had on his mind. “How did you discover so much about us? You said the man who bit you left you for dead.”
Amy Jo swallowed hard and nodded, returning her gaze t
o Bella’s. “He did. But that was after they’d…played with me for a while.”
Bella felt both men stiffen—and her heart weakened just a little bit more for this woman.
“Do you know who they were?” Diego’s fury leaked out of his tone.
Amy Jo shook her head but wouldn’t look at him, her gaze now glued to a spot on the bedspread. “No. I haven’t been able to find that out. Not yet. But believe me, when I do, I’ll take care of them.”
Diego’s mouth curled in an approximation of a smile. One that would’ve made his enemies think twice about attacking. Still, he couldn’t seem to stop egging Amy Jo on. “Maybe you should leave your revenge to the experts, considering how this little fiasco turned out for you.”
The girl stiffened but didn’t rise to the bait. And Bella’s estimation of her went up just a little more.
“Anyway.” Amy Jo snagged her gaze again. “I heard them say your name, Princess, and it gave me a starting point.”
“Did they mention any other names? And really, the princess thing’s getting old. Call me Bella.” She smiled at Amy Jo. “Considering you’ve shot me up with a hypodermic needle already, we should be on more familiar terms.”
Shaking her head, Amy Jo’s mouth fell into a frown. “No, I heard no other names. I truly am sorry about that hypo but I really thought it was my only option. Your, ah, reputation made me a little leery about approaching you.”
“My reputation?” She frowned. What reputation? “What did you read about me on the Internet, anyway?”
Amy Jo shrugged, her gaze shifting just to the left of Bella’s. “Well…you kind of have a reputation for being a bit of a… well, kind of stuck up.”
“Kind of?” Diego’s amused tone increased her ire. “Guess you can believe some of what you read.”
Bella ignored him. “I still don’t understand what you think I can do for you.”
Amy Jo sighed. “The legends say you have the power to reverse the curse.”
Bella shook her head. “Do you mean cure you of lycanthropy?”
Now Amy Jo smiled and it lit her entire face. “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”
Okay, now Bella knew the myth Amy Jo was talking about. Knew it well and knew it was just that. A myth.
The other woman stared at her with such hope that Bella felt like a complete and utter failure when she said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to cure you.”
For one brief second, all the life left Amy Jo’s face and she looked like she might pass out. Diego actually made a move to catch her as she swayed. But before she toppled over, she caught herself and some of her determination returned.
“Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve researched this whole thing pretty much top to bottom and I have a ninety-seven-point-nine-percent rate of accuracy. According to my research, your blood, when mixed with mine, should have a negative effect on the virus. Kind of like making it null and void, you see. I know it sounds irrational, but, jeez, six months ago, if you had told me werewolves were going to ra— bite me and turn me into some creature from a horror movie every month, no offense, I would’ve told you to get your head examined. But I’ve adapted. I’ve even been able to curb the impulse to rip out the throat of every living thing I see. But you can’t just dismiss my re—”
“Amy Jo.”
“—search out of hand. There’s got to be a way—”
“I’m sorry,” Bella said as gently as she could. “There’s no cure that I know of that’s ever worked.”
Amy Jo’s eyelids flickered, as if she’d been slapped. Then she took a deep breath.
“I can see how you might… I mean, I know you might not have ever…” Her eyes filled with tears and lower lip began to tremble. “Really? Never?”
Bella shook her head, her heart twisting painfully in her chest. “No.”
“Oh.” That one word held a wealth of disappointment. “Okay, then.” She paused for so long Bella wondered if she’d finally talked herself out. After at least thirty seconds, Amy Jo said, “So I suppose you’ll want to punish me for that hypo, huh? I understand completely. But if you wouldn’t mind, could you make it fast? I really don’t think—”
Amy Jo started to cry then. Big, heaving sobs that weren’t pretty but would have melted the heart of a stone statue. Steven and Diego froze like teenage boys on a first date.
Idiots.
Without a word, Bella motioned for the men to leave the room. Steven nodded and headed for the door. He never could handle women’s tears. Diego stared at the sobbing woman for several seconds before backing off. She ignored the warning look he sent her before closing the door behind him.
She wasn’t afraid of Amy Jo. Hell, she didn’t think the woman had enough breath left to crawl away much less overpower her.
Moving to her side, Bella sat next to Amy Jo, put her arm around her shoulder and let her cry.
She’d only heard of two other people, like Amy Jo, who had been bitten during a full moon. They hadn’t survived the night. For this woman to do so was somewhat of a miracle.
Never having known another life, Bella couldn’t imagine how a regular human would cope with the physical changes of becoming something else. Something other than human.
This woman seemed to have made the leap without losing her mind. Amy Jo was definitely someone Bella wanted to know.
They sat there for several minutes until Amy Jo pulled herself together and took one final, shuddering breath before wiping her eyes.
“I’m sorry.” Amy Jo drew in a deep breath, held it then straightened her shoulders. “I didn’t mean to break down like that.”
“Sounds like you needed it.” Bella put her arm around the girl’s still-shaking shoulders. “I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never met another person who survived a bite on the full moon. Except for the fact that you attacked me with a hypodermic needle, I’d say you’re just about one of the smartest and strongest people I’ve ever met.”
Amy Jo snorted but didn’t meet her gaze. “Oh no, I’m a coward. For the past two months, I’ve locked myself in a cage every full moon. I don’t leave my house unless the paper boy misses the front porch. I have my groceries delivered because I’m afraid of what will happen if I get a craving for raw meat at the grocery story. I’m terrified that the men who did this to me will find me.”
Bella personally wanted a shot at the men who’d done this. Steven’s dad had taught her how to defend herself but Cole had taught her to be ruthless. How to use her claws and her teeth to kill. “And yet, here you are.”
“Yeah, here I am.” She sniffed, sounding ready to sob again. “But what am I going to do with my life now?”
“Why can’t you do what you did before?”
Amy Jo’s shoulders moved up and down. “I can. I mean, I have been, from home. But… I’m a werewolf!” she wailed. “Can I get married? Can I have children or will I have little wolf puppies? Will I want to tear my husband apart every full moon? What do I tell my mom?”
It should have been funny. It wasn’t. Bella had never had to worry about these questions. She’d known all her life what she was.
“Well… I wouldn’t tell your mother. At least not until you’ve learned to control your new instincts a little better. The blood lust will pass in about a year. You can get married. You will not have puppies.” She wasn’t about to tell Amy Jo that no biter had ever had children. “You can’t pass your change to your offspring since you’re not a hereditary versipellis.” Which was complete conjecture on her part but Bella figured if you couldn’t have kids, you weren’t going to pass on the spell that made you versipelli. “You will learn to control it. I can help with that. I promise.”
Amy Jo looked at her with awe. “Even after what I did, you’d be willing to help me?”
Bella thought about all that had been taken from Amy Jo by those malicious animals and vowed those men would pay with their worthless lives. She forced her mouth to produce a smile as she nodded. “We have a system in place
for biters who ask for help. They’re paired with someone, kind of like AA, but for the furry.”
There, that raised a bit of a smile. “I don’t think I came across that information during my research.”
“Yeah, that’s something else we need to talk about. How you found out so much about me. But—” She held up her hand to stop Amy Jo’s response, “we can talk about that later. Right now, I need to know more about what the men who did this to you said that night. I know it’s going to be hard to remember and I apologize for that.”
Amy Jo went stiff as a board. “I never got a clear look at their faces. I was face down in the dirt most of the time.”
And that, Bella could tell, was all she’d get out of Amy Jo right now. She didn’t have the heart to push the woman any further.
“Well, if you think of anything, anything at all, I’d appreciate it. Any information might help keep safe the people I love.”
Amy Jo frowned. “Like Pretty Boy out there? Sister, I hope you’re not wrapped up with him. He doesn’t seem to have a soft bone in his body.” Her eyes widened as Bella began to grin. “Oh, wait. Now that just didn’t come out right, but you know what I mean.”
“Actually, yeah, I know what you mean, but no, he’s not the one. I’m talking about my brother.” And Steven. Did those men have anything at all to do with what Steven had overheard in Florida?
The Mal had been trying to get Steven to join them by any means possible for years. They’d killed his mother, secretly hired him to work for them and had tried to kidnap her, probably to force him to do what they wanted.
But why had they upped the stakes now? What, if anything, had changed for the Mal?
“So,” Amy Jo’s hesitant tone drew Bella’s attention back, “would I have to go somewhere, like a halfway house for new werewolves or what?”
Since the lucani didn’t have anything like that, that wasn’t an option. So what did she do with Amy Jo?
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