Her uncle nodded to his bodyguard. “Paul, take her to the car. We’ll take her back to the lab first. Let them find out exactly what her powers are. Then I can decide how best to use them.”
Though the rest of her body was unable to move, fear made her heart pound in a furious rhythm.
Lab? What lab? Oh God. Everything Cam had said was true. Not that she hadn’t believed him. She had. But she’d never thought her uncle would hurt her.
How wrong she’d been. The look in Daniel’s eyes made her heart freeze as if it’d been packed in ice. Cold calculation and evil intent shone from the dark depths.
Cam, I’m so sorry. She’d messed up everything, all of Cam’s plans. He shouldn’t have to save her from her own stupidity. If she couldn’t save herself, she could at least try to save Cam and his brothers.
Stella tried to open her mouth to speak, to tell Cam to get the hell out of here. But nothing came out. Damn it, what had Daniel done to her? Her uncle’s oversized gorilla Paul had nearly reached her when she felt a slight movement of air directly in front of her. God, she should have known Cam wouldn’t just let her uncle take her.
In the next second, Cam materialized between her and Paul. The bodyguard didn’t even bat an eye as he deflected the blow Cam leveled at his head. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Nino and Rio materializing behind her uncle.
She tried to watch both fights but couldn’t keep her attention from Cam. She continued to struggle against the invisible binding around her, trying to find a weakness in it, as Antonin and Rio grappled with her uncle.
They fought silently, the only sound the smack of fists against skin. Cam fought with the same ruthless intensity with which he made love. Paul didn’t stand a chance. He had Paul laid out on the floor only seconds before another of her uncle’s personal bodyguards burst through the kitchen window.
“Take Stella,” her uncle ordered as the man tucked and rolled, stopping only inches from her.
Her uncle was holding his own against Rio and Antonin, fighting with a glee she could see in his expression. The brothers fought well together and they managed to land a few punches that weakened the invisible bonds. Just not enough for her to get free.
As the bodyguard reached for her, Cam disappeared and reappeared behind the man, clapping both hands on his head. Cam snapped it to the side with a sickening crunch.
“Stella, get the hell out of here now!” Cam yelled over his shoulder as he ran to help his brothers who, despite the odds, were losing.
Her uncle fought dirty and he was stronger than he looked—much stronger.
Rio lay sprawled by the door, his eyes closed and blood trickling from his mouth. He looked unconscious. Stella struggled harder against the invisible chains binding her.
Antonin was starting to lose ground, her uncle pounding his body with several punches before Cam jumped Daniel from behind and tackled him to the ground.
With a final push, Stella broke through the spell or whatever it was Daniel had woven around her and ran toward Rio.
As he pulled Bonnini off Antonin, Cam caught a glimpse of Stella grabbing Rio under the arms and trying to pull him away from the fighting. He wanted to transport them all out of here but he couldn’t do it. Not when he also had to keep working the spell that weakened Bonnini’s ability to cast his own spells and paralyze them. It was the only thing making this fight somewhat fair. But he knew if the bodyguard still in the car entered the fight, they might be done for.
With his arms around Bonnini, Cam threw the man away from Antonin, Rio and Stella. He had to get them the hell away from here. Cam knew he could take Bonnini by himself but not if he had to worry about his family. And the amount of energy he needed to keep Bonnini’s magic at bay was draining his strength too fast. He needed to recharge, to draw new energy to fight and get them out of here.
As if he knew what Cam was thinking, Bonnini smiled, all teeth and cold eyes. “It’s tough to fight when you’ve got liabilities, son. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”
A bolt of pain hit Cam in the legs as Bonnini flicked his fingers at him. The spell felt as if someone had cut his hamstrings and his knees buckled.
“Cam!”
Stella’s fear came through loud and clear in her voice and he caught himself on the nearest chair before he hit the ground.
Cam strengthened his own protection spell and got back on his feet.
“You can’t win, boy. You’re not strong enough.” Bonnini taunted him with the words as he tested Cam’s spells, searching for a weakness.
What the bastard didn’t know was that Cam’s family gave him strength. He would fight twice as long and three times as hard to protect his family—including Stella—before he died. And he would make damn sure he took with him whoever was trying to hurt them.
Without warning, Cam lunged at the other man, getting in a solid blow to his chin before Bonnini hammered him with a right hook that caught Cam in the temples. He saw stars burst in his field of vision and took a step back to shake his head.
Bonnini was no longer smiling but he didn’t look worried. “So,” he said, “what are your plans here? We appear to be equally matched in strength but your vulnerabilities are easy to hit.”
Behind him, he heard Antonin gasp in pain but he couldn’t turn to see what the bastard had done to him. Cam remained focused on Bonnini, searching for his weakness.
Bonnini continued, “Whatever it is, you’d better work fast, because the other men in the car will be investigating soon. Your brothers are a little worse for wear. They won’t be hard to kill. Don’t worry about Stella. I won’t harm her. She’s too valuable at the moment.” Bonnini looked over Cam’s shoulder. “But I’ll make you a deal, niece. Come with me now and I’ll let the boys live.”
Cam opened his mouth but Stella beat him to the punch. “How do I know you’ll keep your end of the bargain?”
“Stella,” Cam growled, “don’t even think—”
“I’ll let them leave first,” Bonnini said.
Cam sensed Stella moving behind him, getting closer. “No! Gods be damned, Stella—”
“He’ll kill you, Cam.” Her voice sounded steady in his ear but he knew Bonnini would attack if he looked away. “I don’t want to live with your blood on my hands. And he won’t hurt me. Will you, uncle?”
She moved in front of him and in his peripheral vision, he saw the gun she’d stuffed in the back of her shorts. And then he started to pray.
Oh blessed Goddess, I beseech your aid. Keep her safe. Please, Goddess, keep her safe.
Stella stood before her uncle, both hands reaching out to him, palms up. “Let them go. Now. And then I’ll leave with you.”
Goddess, don’t let her reach for the gun too soon.
“Cam,” she said without turning her head, “leave. Take your brothers. Get out of here.”
And then Bonnini, in his arrogance, made the mistake Stella must have been waiting for.
He looked at Cam with a smirk and was too late in realizing what Stella had done.
She shot Bonnini at close range in the stomach with what was probably the bodyguard’s gun. Bonnini’s anger quickly turned to bemused pain as Stella backed straight into Cam’s arms.
He watched the man clutch at his stomach, watched him fall to the ground as blood poured from the wound. Cam wanted to make sure the bastard bled out and died but the safety of his brothers and Stella came first. Cam released the spell he’d been working to keep Bonnini’s spells off them.
Turning Stella in his arms so her front pressed against his, he bent and opened his mouth over the pulse beating at the side of her neck. Despite all the fear and anger she must be feeling, she responded to his touch. She moaned and her body heated, the arus in her blood rising up to meet his own. He eagerly drew on the erotic surge of power between them.
Cam let it build for a second before he worked the spell to transport his family back to his home.
Chapter Ten
Ste
lla felt a weird sense of displacement before realizing they’d left the cabin and stood in Cam’s living room.
Cam’s arms circled her waist and they tightened for a few seconds before releasing her as he slowly slid to the ground, unconscious.
“Oh God, Cam.”
The first thing she noticed was the blood on his hands. She fell to the ground beside him, her hands grabbing his t-shirt and pulling it up as she looked for wounds. She only saw more blood.
“No, no, no.” That one word kept spilling out of her mouth as fear landed on her chest like a thousand-pound weight.
“Stella,” Antonin said quietly, “it’s not his blood.”
She heard Antonin behind her but the words didn’t make sense. How could that not be Cam’s blood? It was all over him—
She looked down and realized her t-shirt was covered with blood, as were her hands and arms.
Her stomach rolled. She tore the t-shirt over her head, uncaring that it left her chest naked, and dropped it. That was her uncle’s blood.
“Here, hon, put this on.” Antonin had walked to the couch to set down Rio and was coming back to her and Cam. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and handed it to her. Stella quickly covered herself, trying not to get more blood on her hands and arms, but it was pretty much a lost cause.
Antonin knelt on the other side of Cam, feeling for a pulse at his neck and his wrist. “He’s okay. He’s just drained. Getting all of us out of there took a lot of energy.”
Cam looked so pale, too pale, but at least it wasn’t his blood.
“He’ll be fine in a few hours,” Antonin continued. “He just needs to sleep it off. How about you? Are you okay, Stella?”
Lifting her gaze for a few brief seconds to meet his, she nodded, though she wasn’t at all sure she was all right. She’d just shot her uncle… All the blood. Her hands started to shake then her arms and her shoulders. Her whole body shuddered in reaction.
She’d killed him. She had to have killed her uncle.
Her eyes landed on Cam, on his pale face. He’d just risked his life for her. Now she had to be strong for him. She wouldn’t think about or even try to work through what she’d done right now. Soon, but not now.
“Is Rio okay?” she asked.
Antonin nodded, still staring at her closely as if he expected her to fall apart any moment.
“Can you help me get Cam into bed?” she asked.
“Sure.”
Between the two of them, they managed to move Cam through the house and up into his bedroom. There, they stripped off his soiled clothes. Stella barely heard Antonin say he was going to take Rio to a safe house to recuperate and would bring Cam’s car back later.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?” Antonin asked before he walked out the door with Rio in his arms.
She nodded. “I’ll be fine. I just need a shower and some sleep.” She wasn’t worried about her uncle finding her. Judging from the amount of blood on her clothes, he had to be dead. She wanted to feel something, anything about that fact. But she didn’t feel a damn thing.
Then again, when she looked at Cam, her heart hurt and she could barely breathe. She wanted to shake him until he opened his eyes so she could talk to him and make sure he was all right—which would be a stupid thing to do, because he needed to rest.
Instead, she dragged herself to the bathroom and took the quickest shower ever. Wrapped in a towel, she wet a washcloth and brought it back to the bedroom so she could get some of the blood off Cam.
As she stroked the cloth over his naked body, he didn’t move. At least she could tell he was still breathing.
If he’d died… If anything had happened to him… Her heart would not have survived.
She loved him. Completely. Soul-deep and forever.
But here he was, unconscious but breathing. When she was finished, she dropped the towel and washcloth beside the bed, crawled in beside him and pulled the covers over them.
* * * * *
Cam woke with a nasty headache and a warm soft body pressed against his side.
He dismissed the headache and pulled the body closer, sighing as Stella snuggled against him. He took a deep breath, smelling his shampoo and soap on her.
Stretching, he recognized the feel of his own bed. Glancing at the window, he saw bright light trying to peek around the edges of the shade. He must have been out for hours—which was probably a good thing because if he’d woken any sooner, he still might have been pissed. Stella had risked her life for him. What would he have done if something had happened to her? What if he hadn’t been able to transport them back to his place?
Unaccustomed to the fear tightening his chest, Cam muttered a spell to light the candle on the bedside table. The light burnished her blonde hair, tangled but otherwise stick straight, and outlined the pale gleam of her arm across his chest.
The rest of her was covered by the sheet. He’d do something about that in a minute but first he’d just lie here and hold her, listen to her breathe, draw her scent into his lungs.
He still couldn’t believe she’d shot her uncle. She’d saved them all. He’d have to go back to the cabin and clean up. He’d have to make sure Bonnini was dead. And if he wasn’t, he would need to make sure Stella was safe.
Dread settled in his heart with icy fingers. How would Stella handle what she’d done? Would she blame herself? Or would she blame him?
He’d gladly take the blame, take anything she could throw at him—because if she ever put herself in that much danger again, he would tie her to his bed and never let her out of his sight.
Hell yes, that was an order. And he didn’t give a shit. His arms tightened around her body. He couldn’t live through anything like that again.
“I can practically hear you thinking, Camillus de Feo. Stop.” Her voice husky with sleep, Stella shifted against him, rubbing her bare leg against his.
Maybe they could talk later.
She propped herself up on her elbow and stared down at him, her pretty green eyes shadowed. “How are you feeling?”
He stopped himself before automatically saying he was fine and took stock first. His head still hurt and his joints ached from the amount of power he’d channeled to get the four of them back here. But he’d live—and if his thickening cock had any say in the matter, he’d do more than just live.
“I’m okay. A few aches and pains. What about you?”
“Still shaky. You scared the crap out of me.”
His mouth dropped open in shock. “You’re kidding, right? Stella, for Christ’s sake, your uncle could have killed you. You took decades off my life.”
She shrugged as if her life didn’t mean everything to him. “He would have killed you, Cam. You and your brothers. I couldn’t let him do that.” Tears gathered in her eyes, the restraint she’d been holding over her emotions starting to crack. “I had to do it. I had to make him pay for killing my parents. If you had done it, you would have worried that I’d blame you.”
Damn it, she was right. Still, she shouldn’t have been the one to pull the trigger.
He sat up so he could pull her into his lap. He needed to hold her against him. As her arms wrapped around his waist, her tears began to fall, drenching his chest. Her silent sobs tore at his heart more than loud weeping ever would have.
He felt helpless, unsure what to say, what to do. He had never been good with words so he tightened his arms and let her cry.
After several minutes, her sobs started to lessen.
“Stella.”
She sniffed. “What?”
“Look at me.”
She shook her head, her hair brushing against his chin. “Need a tissue.”
Her demand made him smile in relief and he looked around for a substitute so he wouldn’t have to get up. He leaned over the side of the bed and snagged the towel lying there. She took it and wiped her face without looking at him.
He put a finger under her chin and lifted it. She resisted him for two seconds bef
ore she looked up, almost defiantly. Her eyes were bloodshot, her skin blotchy and her nose fire-engine red.
Cam had never seen anyone more beautiful.
“Stella. Sweetheart, talk to me.”
She sighed. “I feel so stupid, Cam. And so betrayed. I lived with him for years and never suspected what he was capable of.”
He slid his hand up to cup her cheek, stroking his fingers over her soft warm skin. “Why would you, hon? You’re not anything like him. He had everyone fooled.”
Her nose crinkled. “Not you.”
“Only because he got arrogant. This isn’t your fault, Stella.”
“It feels like it is.” She sighed again then her eyes closed and she let her head nestle against his shoulder. “Do you think he’s dead?”
Cam certainly hoped Bonnini was dead. Otherwise there’d be more trouble down the line. “I’m not sure. I’ll need to go back to the cabin, check things out. Antonin and I will have to do some investigating. But I know he’ll never hurt you again. I won’t let him.”
Stella placed her hand over Cam’s chest, resting it above his heart. “Does that mean you’re going to be sticking around for a while?”
Cam’s breath caught in his throat. Was that hope he heard in her tone?
He thought about begging her to keep him around but figured why bother. He’d just tell her he was and let her deal with it. She’d handled him pretty well up until now. “Yeah, it does. I’m not going anywhere, Stella.”
She tilted back her head to look at him, a small smile kicking up the corners of her mouth. Her gaze was heated. “That’s good because I have plans for you, Camillus de Feo.”
He swallowed and his body reacted instinctively. Okay, now he had a full-blown erection, egged on by the circular motion of Stella’s fingers on his chest. They made tiny teasing circles, arousing and maddening.
“Are these plans long-term?” he asked. His heart thudded at breakneck pace.
Her fingers hesitated for a brief millisecond and her gaze burned a little brighter. “They can be.”
“Do they involve a commitment?” He held his breath, waiting for her answer.
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