by Steph2
“Well, since I didn’t grow up knowing about magic, I’m still not real sure how it all works, but I think right now she’s just checking things out.”
John finally pulled his gaze away from Nica and Evie to look at Tanner. “So you’re not like Kaine and Nica?”
He shook his head. “They call us eteri. The Etruscans call anyone who doesn’t have magical blood eteri.”
His gaze narrowed as his brain started to slowly kick over. “Etruscans? Like Italians.”
Tanner nodded. “They came from Italy originally, yeah. But their civilization has been around for more than three thousand years. Look, I know it’s a lot to take in all at once but you’ll get used to it.”
John shook his head, though he wasn’t saying no to anything. It was more like he was trying to shake some sense into his head. And not having much luck.
Etruscans, huh? He filed away that piece of information to talk to Kaine about later. He’d have a hell of a lot of questions for Kaine later but right now he needed to be here. With Evie.
Several long minutes later, the glow suffusing Nica’s hands gradually disappeared and the healer or whatever the hell she called herself finally opened her eyes.
She sighed, twisted her neck as if it were stiff and rubbed her hands together as if to warm them. Tanner walked over to her and put his arms around her.
Nica sank back against him tilting her head to the side so he could press his lips to her neck. She drew in a deep breath then slowly released it.
As she lifted her head to look at him, his heart sank at her grim expression.
“Just tell me,” he said. “Whatever it is…”
“I will,” Nica nodded. “I just think we should sit down first.”
*
“So, the magic is affecting her nervous system? And if it gets worse, she could die.”
Nica frowned as if that wasn’t exactly right. “Basically, yes, that’s what I think. I’d like to call in one of our doctors so I can talk to him but that’s my initial thought, yes.”
Christ, another witch doctor? “And this is the result of some spell the woman who kidnapped us put on her?”
“A series of spells, yes.”
Rage boiled in his gut as he sat on a comfortable chair in Nica’s living room. Nica sat on the couch in front of him, flanked by Tanner and Jensen. She held Tanner’s hand while her other rested on Jensen’s leg. She hadn’t stopped touching them since they’d sat down. John had the sense she needed the contact, as if she was…recharging. Why the hell he thought that, he didn’t have the slightest. Maybe she just liked touching them.
Behind him, he heard Kaine pacing. He wanted to grab her and force her to sit here with him. He needed an anchor. He had so much shit going through his head right now, he could barely think straight.
As if he’d called to her, Kaine walked over to stand next to him. Her hand fell on the arm of the chair, only inches from his elbow. He wanted her to touch him, needed the contact.
Which was why he didn’t reach for her.
“Do you want me to call Dane?” Kaine’s fingers curled into the chair.
“No, I’ll do that,” Nica smiled at her. “But you need to call Kyle. Let him know what’s going on.”
“Who’s Kyle?” He looked up at Kaine but she was staring at the floor, nodding. And looking like she was going to be sick.
“He’s my…commanding officer.”
“You’re in the service?”
Finally she looked at him and those deep brown eyes hardened. “Not in any you’d recognize. I need to go make that call now.”
He nearly grabbed her arm as she strode by on her way to the front door. The tension had returned to her shoulders, and she held herself ramrod straight. She didn’t want to call this guy, whoever the hell he was. Would she be in trouble?
So many unanswered questions.
“John. John?”
He looked back to Nica, still holding onto her men.
“Dane Dimitriou has a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He’s well versed in human anatomy as well as, uh, other forms.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I know this all sounds so cryptic and I don’t want to scare you. It’s just that, well, you’re eteri, and there are things you don’t know. Things it’s in your best interest not to know.”
“My best interest is knowing how to cure Evie. Can you do that?”
Nica looked him straight in the eyes. “I’m not sure. I don’t recognize all of the spells. If I knew exactly what had been done to her, maybe then I’d have a better idea of how to treat her. How to untangle the spells.”
“What if you had the woman who did this to her? What if she told you what she’d done?”
“Then we’d be a hell of a lot closer to finding out how to treat her.” Nica’s gaze narrowed on his. ”Are you telling me you know where the woman is?”
“No, I don’t.” Which wasn’t a complete lie. He didn’t know exactly where she was. But he had a lead. One he would follow up on as soon as he met this doctor Nica wanted to call to treat his sister.
He’d have to leave Evie here and that made his heart nearly freeze in his chest. But he didn’t have a choice and he trusted Nica. No idea why. He just did.
And when he got his hands on the woman who’d done this to his sister, she’d give him answers. He’d make sure of it.
*
“Kyle.”
“Kaine? What’s wrong?”
Might as well just rip off the bandage. “John Simmons and his sister are at Nica’s. I picked up John in a bar. We had sex and as I was sneaking out the door of his apartment, Evie caught me and had a magical melt down. The streghe’s spells didn’t work on her. She still has power and Nica is going to have Dane come take a look at her. You need to come do damage control. I can’t…”
The words stopped in her throat and stuck there until she could barely breathe.
Vaffanculo, she didn’t know what to do. Everything was fucked up and it was all her fault.
“I just can’t…”
“Kaine.”
She needed to run, wanted the comfort of her pelt but even that was denied to her.
“Kaine!”
Kyle’s voice snapped her back to the moment. “Yes, sir.”
“Baciami il culo. Don’t flake out on me now. I’ll be there in half an hour. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Fuck the sir shit,” Kyle growled. “You’re freaking me out. Just stay put.”
He hung up without another word and Kaine slid her cell phone back into her pocket.
She’d freaked out Kyle. Great. Just great. She swore she’d never seen the man ruffled, much less freaked. But she’d managed to do it.
Fuck.
With a tired sigh, she fell into one of the wicker chairs on the porch and studied the pale sky as the sun got ready to rise. The cool air served to calm her nerves, at least a little anyway.
But her stomach rolled and her temples throbbed.
Kyle was going to kick her ass and rightfully so. This was her fault.
She should’ve stayed away, like Kyle had told her to. When John had approached her at the bar, she should’ve blown him off instead of being selfish. Instead of feeding her infatuation by having sex with the man.
But, oh Blessed Goddess, the sex had been amazing.
She wanted—
The front door opened and John walked out. He turned his head to look right at her, as if he’d known where she was.
He looked tired. Which made sense. He’d only gotten a few minutes of sleep. Which was more than she’d had.
“Nica’s calling the doctor now. I assume you talked to your…Kyle?”
“Yes, he’ll be here in a half hour. Probably less if he lets Tam drive.”
“Tam?”
“His mate.”
“Ah.”
John released a hard sigh then walked to the chair next to hers but instead of sitting in it, he dragged it directly in
front of hers so when he sat in it, all she could see was him.
“I think it’s time for a few more answers, Kaine.”
Yeah, it was probably past time but she shook her head. “You’ll have to ask Kyle.”
“First I had to talk to Amity.” His gaze pinned her to the chair. “Now I have to talk to Kyle. You can’t speak for yourself?”
She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes but she forced them back. “Depends on what you want to know. We have strict rules about what we tell outsiders.”
“You mean eteri.”
Her eyebrows rose. “How do you know that word?”
“Tanner told me. He also told me you’re Etruscan.”
All relatively innocuous facts. “Yes.”
“Are you like Nica? Can you do what she does?”
A little stickier now. “I can control power, yes.”
His gaze narrowed. “But you’re not like Nica.”
“Look, John, my people have very strict laws about what information we give eteri. For very good reason.”
“So you can sleep with them but you can’t tell them what you are?”
She tried to conceal her flinch but wasn’t sure she succeeded because John’s eyes narrowed even more. The man was a trained SEAL. He was smart, strong and not used to taking bullshit from anyone.
She wanted to tell him everything. Wanted to spill her guts and hope like hell he didn’t look at her like she was an animal.
But she didn’t want to hurt again like she had when he’d made the decision three months ago to have every memory of her and the Etruscans wiped from his mind.
“Yeah, I can fuck them.”
Her harsh statement didn’t seem to have any impact on him at all. “Did you use magic on me to make me want you?”
He should just shoot her with silver bullets, she decided. It might hurt less. “Do you think that’s the only reason why you would have?”
“No. I don’t. Jesus Christ, Kaine. I saw you in the mirror at the bar and I wanted you. It was like a match to gasoline. I never wanted anyone that much that fast. So give me a break here, would you? It’s been a fucked-up night.”
John slumped back into the chair, his eyes closed as one hand lifted to rub his temples, as if he had a headache. Which he probably did.
Before she knew what she was doing, she reached for him, for the hand clenched around the arm of the chair. Her fingers slid against his and he spread his fingers to lace them together.
“I’m sorry.” She was. Totally and absolutely sorry he had to deal with this.
His eyes opened and she got caught in that green gaze. She fell into the warmth she saw there, in the heat. For her. There was worry, too, for Evie. But right now, he only had eyes for her.
“Come here.”
Her mouth dried at the command in his tone. She was a soldier. She took orders from her superiors. But she’d never been much for blind obedience.
Still, she let him tug her to the edge of her chair as he leaned forward. He moved slowly, like he didn’t want to spook her but she wasn’t spooked.
More like mesmerized.
She stared into his eyes until the very last second before his lips touched hers. Then she let her eyelids fall and the touch of his lips wiped away everything but his taste.
He didn’t try to devour her. He just kissed her with a need so enticing, she felt like she was freefalling.
His lips moved on hers, brushing lightly then pressing harder.
He released her hand and her arms slid automatically around his shoulders. His hands curved under her arms, lifted her out of her chair and onto his. With their lips still sealed, her legs spread until her knees settled on the outside of his strong thighs.
She knelt above him, her head higher than his as she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. His whiskers scratched at her palms, a delicate rasp that made her fight to get air into her lungs even while she refused to release his mouth.
Blessed Goddess, she wanted to eat him up.
His arms came around her waist, hands spreading on her back as if soaking in her heat. Or keeping her from getting away.
He let her control the kiss but he drove her crazy with each flick of his tongue against her lips. He wanted in and she let him have his way because she wanted the same.
His tongue invaded but only for a second because he encouraged her to do the same, to slip her tongue into his mouth and wrap around his.
She flashed hot, her nipples tightening into hard tips that she wanted to press against his hard chest. Or better yet, have him suck one into his mouth and bite.
A moan worked its way out of her chest and into her throat. That sound should have embarrassed her with its neediness. Instead, it made him answer with a deep growl that made her sex clench.
She smelled her own arousal, wondered if he could, too. She wanted him to know how much she desired him. How much she needed him.
But in the still-rational recesses of her brain, she heard the distant approach of a car.
She wished she could shut it out, wanted to stay here in the moment with John.
But she knew the sound of that motor.
Kyle would be here in minutes. And he’d have a heart attack if he found her sprawled all over John.
She broke away abruptly and scrambled off his lap, turning her back on him and heading for the other side of the porch.
Damn it. Gods damn it, why this man? Why now?
“Kaine.”
He rose from the chair and headed her way but stopped when she held up one hand.
“No. Kyle’s coming and I don’t…”
“What? Don’t want him to know about us?”
Fat chance of that happening. Kyle already knew she’d slept with John. And if she hadn’t told him, he’d be able to smell John all over her, anyway.
She knew she’d worried everyone who cared for her in the past few months. Nic, Duke, Tira, Kyle, Tamra. Even her dad, though he hadn’t been around to see how she was handling everything. He was off who knew where doing who knew what for the lucani king.
Par for the course.
“No,” she said. “He already knows.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t want him to go primeval on your ass, okay? He can be a little over-protective.”
“You’re a grown woman.”
“Yes. But he’s my commanding officer. He takes his responsibilities more than a little seriously. And I’m a responsibility.”
As she spoke, Kyle’s jeep came into sight down the road leading into the streghe’s village of New Tarquin.
In the haze of dawn, she saw Kyle in the front seat, as well as Dane Dimitriou. And when the Jeep finally pulled to a stop, Kyle stepped out then reached into the back to help Tam.
Taking a deep breath, she sought a little bit of peace, a tiny bit of calm in the face of Kyle’s take-no-shit attitude.
She straightened as he reached the porch, her chin lifting, her arms stiffening at her sides until Kyle had reached the bottom of the porch steps. Then she saluted with her right fist to her left shoulder.
She didn’t give his rank, knowing he wouldn’t want John to know anything more until Kyle decided on a course of action. And it would be Kyle’s decision how much to tell John and when.
She’d already fucked up enough.
Kyle just shook his head as he came up the steps. “Kaine, gods damn it, don’t—”
“Kyle, honey,” Tam none too gently elbowed her mate out of the way to get to the porch, linking her elbow through Kaine’s until they stood side by side. “I think you should take John and go with Dane to see Nica while Kaine and I have a little talk, okay?”
Tiny and fierce, with baby-fine blonde hair and an expression that could cow a grown man in seconds, Tam took shit from no one. Including her older, tattooed hard-ass of a mate.
With a sigh, Kyle held Kaine’s gaze for another few seconds before he motioned to the man waiting behind him.
“We’ve
got our orders, Dane. Let’s go see what’s what. You and I,” he made sure she knew he was talking to her, “will talk later.”
She nodded. She knew this was only a brief reprieve.
“We’ll be in in a minute.” Tam shooed the men away with one hand as she tugged on Kaine’s arm and pulled her toward the other end of the porch. “I just want a few minutes.”
Kaine chanced a look over her shoulder at John, who was watching her with a steady gaze.
“He’ll be fine,” Tam whispered, knowing Kaine would be able to hear her. “He’s a big boy and Kyle doesn’t bite. At least not unless I ask. And then only if I can bite him back.”
A slight smile tugged at Kaine’s lips. “You know I really don’t want to have those images about my commanding officer in my head. And I know why you said it. I’m fine, Tam. Really.”
“Well, we can all use a time-out now and then. You looked a little, um, flustered.”
“Kyle told you I slept with John, didn’t he?”
Tam’s nose crinkled as she frowned. “Well, it was more like he started ranting about cutting off a particular appendage of John’s for daring to touch you. But yeah, I got the general idea.”
The men still stood on the other end of the porch and Kaine couldn’t help but hold her breath until Kyle stuck out his hand to re-introduce himself to John. Not that John remembered him.
Dane had already gone into the house.
“So,” Tam said. “How are you really?”
Kaine shook her head. “I have no fucking clue.”
*
Though not as strong as the first time he’d seen Kaine, John had that same sense of déjà vu with her commanding officer.
He hadn’t dreamed about this guy though so he didn’t have a clue what the fuck was going on.
The guy’s dark hair hung to his shoulders and the tattoos on his arm were like no script John had ever seen. He looked like he bench pressed two-fifty easy and walked with a distinctly predatory stalk.
The man had the air of an officer and John straightened under his amber glare.
He almost didn’t expect the guy to put out his hand and introduce himself.
“Kyle Rossini.”
“John Simmons.” He bit back the “Sir” that automatically sprang to his lips as he shook the guy’s hand.
Kyle wasn’t his commanding officer. He didn’t have to take orders from this man.