“Come on, Nica.” He nudged her in the direction Sal had taken. “Let’s go talk to your friend about getting your roommate back.”
They walked back the hallway, Jensen noting the eighties décor. It was comforting, in some weird way. Like he was in someone’s grandmother’s house. Not that he’d known either of his grandmothers, thanks to his bastard father.
The hallway led to a TV room where the only furniture was a flat screen on the wall, a couch, a side table and a chair—all it would hold comfortably. A dining room followed, a dark table with six chairs and a buffet table along the wall.
Tanner faltered for a brief second before he stepped up into the kitchen. Then he walked to the table and held out his hand to Sal the satyr. Jensen smiled just to think the word.
“Tanner Miller. Our mother raised us to have better manners but it’s been kind of an off-kilter day.”
Sal smiled, his now-adult face scruffy with dark whiskers. He’d pulled off the knit cap and Jensen saw small horns peeking out from his dark curls. His smile widened.
“No problem, son. Help yourself to some coffee.”
Jensen stepped up, unable to hide his smile, which Sal returned. “Jensen Miller. Nice to meet you.”
Sal stuck out his hand, his shake firm and strong. “You’re the mythology buff, aren’t you? Can always see it in an etera’s eyes. Just don’t ask to pet me, kid.”
Jensen laughed because it’d never occurred to him. “You’d probably land that hoof somewhere I wouldn’t want it.”
“Bet on it. Now…” Sal tapped a finger on the table as if calling a meeting to order. “Tell me about this phone call, babe.”
Nica repeated the call word for word. Obviously she’d already told Sal about Friday night and the spell the guy had hit him with—which Jensen still didn’t remember—because Sal mentioned it in his follow-up questions.
“Since we didn’t find the guy in the database, I’m gonna call Cam, see if he can stop by. Maybe he can get you to remember something about the guy that’ll help identify him. And we’re going to have to tell Tira’s mom and yours what’s going on.”
Nica grimaced. “Can we hold off on that? Just until Monday? The boschetta doesn’t have any better resources for finding Tira than we do and it will just…set them off.”
Sal shook his head. “No can do, babe. I have to tell Daniela. She deserves to know what’s going on. Your mother…well, that’s up to you. I’ll see if I can head off Daniela, tell her we’ve already got the de Feos working on it and to sit tight. We’ll let her know what’s going on when we have news. Honey, if we don’t tell your mom, she’s gonna find out from Tira’s mom and you don’t want that kind of trouble.”
Nica sighed then nodded though she wasn’t happy. “I know. It’s just…”
“Just what?” Tanner asked.
She turned to him with a frown. “My mom is a bit of a… Well, hard ass is probably the best word to describe her. And she’s not big on men. Any men. She’ll want me to come home. She’ll think I can be better protected there.”
Jensen laid his hand over hers. “Will you be?”
“No,” Sal cut in. “She won’t. She’s safest here. Let me call her, Nica. You call Cam and update him. Then take a break, lie down a little. You don’t look too good, sweetheart.”
* * * * *
Nica’s temples throbbed and her stomach ached as she set the phone back in the cradle.
Fear for Tira and worry about Jensen and Tanner sat in her gut like a brick as she rose from a chair in Sal’s front parlor.
Cam had had nothing new to tell her. He was working with his brother Rio to track down the guy she’d seen the other night but so far, nothing.
All she wanted to do was crawl into a bed and let Jensen and Tanner make her forget everything. Just for a little while. Just until she felt like the ground wasn’t wobbling under her feet.
“Nica.” Warm and firm, Tanner’s hands settled on her shoulders, drawing her back against his chest. “You need a break. Why don’t you go lie down for a while?”
Leaning down, he nipped her earlobe, sending shivers through her body and reawakening her libido. How she could even think about sex at a time like this?
“I know for a fact you didn’t get much sleep last night.”
No, she hadn’t. And thinking about why she hadn’t gotten much sleep made her body that much hotter.
She turned in his arms, closing her eyes as she wrapped her own arms around his waist and settled her cheek against his chest. “I don’t think I’ll be able to rest.”
“You don’t have to sleep. Just close your eyes.”
“Will you come with me?”
If they wanted her to rest, the least they could do was help her relax. She wanted them, both of them, to make her forget just for a little while what a mess she’d made of her life at the moment. Every time she thought of how scared Tira must be, her temples throbbed even harder.
If Cam didn’t find Tira by Monday, she was going to hand herself over. It wasn’t fair for Tira to pay for something Nica must have done, for the mistake Nica must have made to reveal herself—
“Hey.” Tanner tugged on her hair, forcing her to look up into his steady blue eyes. “Come on. Bedrooms are upstairs, right? Let’s go find one.”
Yes, she wanted that. Even if it was only for an hour. “Okay.” She turned to look over her shoulder. “Jensen?”
Jensen sat on the couch in front of the window, looking out onto the street. He looked lost in thought but he glanced up at her when she said his name a second time.
“Will you come up too?”
She wanted—no, she needed both of them. She didn’t understand why or how that had happened so fast. Probably a combination of fear and anger.
Then again, maybe it was just because of who they were. And how much she’d come to care for them in the past few days. How she loved Tanner’s easy smile and Jensen’s hard-won grin, Tanner’s laid-back intelligence and Jensen’s sharp-eyed intuition.
Her breath caught when Jensen shook his head. “I’ll be up a little later. I’d like to talk to Sal first.”
She bit her lip to stop herself from begging or demanding him to come with them. The man wasn’t her play toy, he wasn’t her servant.
But he must have seen something in her eyes because he stood and walked over to her. Eyes open, he kissed her, his hands smoothing over her ass in a caress.
“I won’t be long, honey. I’ve just got a few questions.” Then he leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “Tanner will keep you busy ’til I get there. But you better save some for me.”
Before he could move away, she laced one hand through his hair and tugged, just once. “Don’t be long.”
His smile was slow but heated up fast. “You won’t even miss me.”
He held her gaze for another few seconds until he flashed his brother a look. She barely caught Tanner’s brief nod out of the corner of her eye. But even if she hadn’t, she’d have known what that look meant.
Keep her safe. Keep her out of harm’s way. Tie her in knots sexually and make her forget.
Jensen wanted to talk to Sal. Alone. Probably about her. And he wanted her out of the way.
At any other time, that attitude would have pissed her off. Right now, she just wanted to forget.
She took Tanner’s hand and led him up the stairs.
* * * * *
Jensen walked back to the kitchen, trying to formulate questions while half his brain wanted to be upstairs making love to Nica.
She’d wanted that too. And the sooner he took care of this, the sooner he could get back to her.
Her friend’s kidnapping weighed on her mind. She thought this was her fault. He knew better.
As children, he and Tanner had lived through hell with their father. The sick bastard had beaten them for anything from not making their beds to crying out in the middle of the night from a nightmare. He’d used their mother as a punching bag, didn’t matter if h
e was drunk or not.
To the outside world, he’d seemed normal, maybe a little uptight. But not the monster he and Tanner knew him to be.
Until their mother had had enough and shot the bastard dead when they were twelve.
By that time, they’d figured out they weren’t the ones at fault. No matter what they did, their dad was going to beat them.
Nica thought this situation was her fault. Jensen knew better.
But that didn’t mean her friend wasn’t in real danger.
And Jensen needed to do something about that.
He walked through the house back to the kitchen, where he heard Sal’s hooves clicking against the linoleum floor.
A satyr. He was going to talk to a fucking satyr.
How whacked was that? How completely fan-fucking-tastic. Sal had been right. Jensen had been into mythology and sci-fi and fantasy books and movies as a kid. They’d provided an escape for him, the way music did for Tanner.
But now, knowing there were creatures—no, not creatures, beings—in the world straight out of fairy tales, it made him realize the world wasn’t as god-awful as he’d thought.
There was still magic.
He reached the kitchen and stopped in the doorway, catching Sal in the act of bending down to get something out of a lower cupboard. The guy’s stubby little tail twitched.
“What’s up, kid?” Sal asked without turning away from his search of the cabinet. “You got something on your mind. Spit it out.”
“How much danger do you think Tira’s in?”
Sal sighed, reached into the cabinet and pulled out a can before straightening. “I think if whoever’s holding her realizes she has power, they won’t be giving her up. And given that they already know about Nica, they’ll attempt to get more information out of Tira.”
Jensen’s back straightened. “Torture?”
Sal walked to the table and hopped onto a chair, his hooves dangling a few inches above the floor. Jensen forced himself to stop staring and look the guy in his eyes. “Since I don’t know who these people are, I can’t say no to that.”
His mother had endured years of torture at the hands of his father. He couldn’t stand by and let another woman suffer like that. “I want them to come after me. I want you to put a tracking spell or something on me so that when they take me, you can find Tira.”
Sal didn’t say anything right away, just sat there staring at him.
“You and Tanner are twins, right?”
Jensen frowned. “Yeah. But what does that have to do with—”
“I know sometimes twins have special abilities, special languages. Sometimes they can even hear each other’s thoughts.”
Jensen’s frown deepened. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
“It means you and Tanner may already have the ability to find each other without creating a spell the person holding Tira may be able to sense.”
Well hell. He hadn’t thought of that. But Sal had. Tanner and Jensen barely talked about their ability with each other. Why did Sal seem so sure he and Tanner could or would communicate like that?
“Now don’t get offended.” Sal shook his head, a small smile curving his lips. “No one ever told you there’s something magical about twins?”
Jensen snorted. “Not in my house.”
“No, I guess not.”
The even tone of Sal’s voice made Jensen’s back straighten.
He knew.
Jensen stared into Sal’s eyes, seeing no pity.
Jensen couldn’t stand pity. It made him feel twelve again and facing the cops who came to take his mom and his dead father away.
Bigger and stronger than Jensen, Tanner had always taken the brunt of their father’s anger. They both had scars from the bastard but that night, that prick had bloodied Tanner’s face, something he’d been careful never to do. And their mother had finally—after so many years of abuse—reached her limit.
She’d shot the bastard with his own gun. The gun he’d been threatening Jensen with after he’d told his father he couldn’t finish his homework.
Why his mother had picked that night to find her backbone, he didn’t know. Maybe she’d realized the strength it would take to get rid of the bastard would cost her more than she could stand and she figured her sons were old enough to take care of themselves. And her, as it turned out.
Neither Jensen nor Tanner had ever asked her.
But that night she’d ripped the gun out of their father’s hand and shot him with it. Right after he told her he’d kill her when she wouldn’t give it back.
Jensen had made the call to the cops. And when they’d gotten there, they’d taken one look at Tanner and rushed him and their mom into an ambulance.
But they’d treated Jensen, who had no visible wounds, with kid gloves. As if he’d been psychologically damaged.
He’d absolutely hated that.
He and Tanner didn’t talk about their father. They barely talked about their mother. Both were gone. And they’d survived.
But Sal knew the story. And probably, so did Nica. And she hadn’t seemed to treat them as anything other than regular men.
Then again, she was pretty extraordinary.
“She knows?” He had to make sure.
Sal nodded, still no pity in his gaze, only calm respect. That, more than anything, served to calm Jensen’s racing heart. “She won’t say a word until you do though. So I suggest you and your brother spill your guts.”
Just thinking about exposing themselves like that—
Well, it wouldn’t even come close to what Nica had to hide on a daily basis, would it?
Jensen nodded, though he didn’t know what he was agreeing to. Yes, they should tell her. But first, they had to find Tira.
And Jensen had an idea about that.
“I need to go home.”
“Really?” Sal asked though he didn’t look at all interested in what Jensen needed to go home for.
“So whoever took Tira can come for me.”
Sal just stared at him so he pushed ahead.
“You’re right about the twin bond Tanner and I share. We haven’t used it much lately but if I get taken, he should be able to find me. Or at least the general area. I’m assuming you’ll be able to get backup for Tanner. He’s good with his hands. Don’t think he can’t defend himself—”
“If they use magic against him, like the spell they used on you…” Sal shook his head. “He’ll be a walking target. He’ll get in the way.”
“And you don’t have some spell or whatever you can lay on him to make him immune?”
“No such spell, kid. You’re either immune to magic or you’re not. And there aren’t that many immunes wandering around.”
“Tanner won’t want to be left behind. Not with me missing. And as soon as I leave he’s going to know. I was kind of hoping to give them time to get, uh…”
Sal lifted one eyebrow. “Lost in each other?”
That was a good way to put it. “Yeah. Lost enough that I can get a decent head start before he realizes I’m gone.”
Because if Tanner had any inclination of what Jensen was going to do, he’d want to go too. And one of them needed to stay behind with Nica.
Sal nodded, though to what, Jensen couldn’t tell. “You sure you wanna do this, kid? From what Nica told me about the spell laid on you the other night, you might not come out of this with all your parts intact.”
“You know my background. You should know, too, that I’m not willing to stand around and let an innocent woman be hurt when I can possibly do something about it.”
Sal’s smile lit up his face. “I like you, kid.”
“Enough to let us keep seeing her when this is all over?”
Jensen figured Sal had the power to erase their memories at the snap of his fingers. Nica had said she’d screwed up the spell the other night. Sal wouldn’t make that mistake.
Sal’s smile disappeared as fast as it had appeared. “Not u
p to me, Jensen. Nica has…responsibilities. It’s not my place to tell you what they are. And I can’t honestly say she should give them up because of you two. No matter how you all may feel about each other.”
“You don’t find our relationship—perverted?”
Sal snorted, more disgust than humor. “Kid, you ain’t seen perverted until you’ve met the Roman deities. They make you look like a choirboy.”
Jensen blinked. Deities. Had he really said deities? As in gods?
His brain clicked like a broken record for several seconds. “Did you… Do you mean…”
“Don’t hurt yourself, kid.” Sal laughed. “There’s a lot about the world you don’t know. Try not to worry about it now. You really sure you want to do this?”
No. “Yes.”
“Then you better get the hell out of here.”
* * * * *
Tanner felt tension radiating from Nica’s body like heat as he led her up the stairs.
She gripped his hand so tight, his fingers began to throb. And she kept looking over her shoulder as if Jensen would suddenly appear and follow them upstairs.
He wasn’t sure what Jensen wanted to talk to Sal about. But Tanner had a feeling he wasn’t going to like whatever Jensen was planning. And his brother was planning something.
Tanner just couldn’t figure out what. He found it hard to read Jensen as well as he used to. As they’d gotten older, it’d been tougher to find that sense of knowing what the other was doing and where they were.
“Tanner?”
Dragging himself out of his thoughts, he realized Nica had stopped. The room she’d taken him to was dark but he clearly saw a bed behind her and the worried look on her beautiful face.
So much worry.
His muscles tensed with the need to wipe that look off her face. The hand not holding hers balled into a fist as fast-building emotion ate at his gut.
After the hell of childhood, he’d learned to keep his emotions to a steady simmer, never letting any of them come to a rolling boil. Nothing good ever came from an excess of feeling. Hell, his parents were the poster children for that one.
So he’d banished anger and fear from his life. And, he realized, severely crippled his ability to love.
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