Visions of Vengeance: A Paranormal Romance (The Gypsy's Curse Book 2)

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Visions of Vengeance: A Paranormal Romance (The Gypsy's Curse Book 2) Page 19

by Meg Anne


  She twisted and fought against his grip, but it was no use. She was no match for his strength.

  Once they were away from the crowd, he pulled her into an alley and shoved her against a wall, leaning in until his nose was barely a breath away from hers. “Your kind deserve all that you’ve endured. My ancient line is dying out because of you.”

  She blinked, shocked to hear his admission, after he’d so vehemently denied it. “All the more reason to help me,” she sputtered.

  His eyes seemed to glow with blue fire as he stared at her, his lips twisting with disgust. “There’s only one way to lift the curse, Gypsy bitch, your kin saw fit to that.”

  She swallowed. “Surely you must know of another way.”

  He jerked his chin once. “Nay. The only way we’ll both be free of this is if one of mine could ever fall so far from grace as to find themselves in love with one of yours.” He leaned close again, his words an angry whisper, “And that will never happen. The O’Learys would never sully our bloodlines with your filth. It would be the ultimate betrayal of everything we believe in.”

  “You condemn so many with your hatred,” she whispered, hope dying inside of her.

  He shrugged. “Better to die with honor, than risk everything for something as foolish and insignificant as love.” He pushed away from her then, checking to ensure that no one was around. “Consider this your warning. Do not try to speak with me again, Gypsy. You will not survive a second encounter.”

  He walked away without a backward glance, and she slumped down, back into the dirt, her entire body shaking. From the inside of her cloak she pulled out the crumpled piece of paper that her mother had handed her on her thirteenth birthday. There were only three words scrawled on its yellow surface: Tine minte amria.

  Remember the curse.

  Skye sat up with a gasp, her heart racing in her chest. Her body trembled and her skin was icy, in direct contradiction to the warmth of the room and the heat coming off the strong body beside her.

  Lucas sat up, fumbling to turn on the light beside him. “Skye? You okay?” he asked, his voice still groggy with sleep.

  She turned toward him, jolting back as the face from her dream superimposed itself over his.

  “Skye?” Lucas asked, worry clouding his face as he studied her. “What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head, blinking away the remnants of the dream. “Nothing. Sorry.”

  He took one of her hands in his. “Was it another one of those dreams?”

  She nodded and licked her lips, her mouth dry. “Yeah. They feel so real.” She rubbed her forehead with her free hand. Even that small movement was hard. She felt like she’d been run over by a truck. The way that these dreams affected her made no sense.

  “Was it about my family again?” he asked.

  “No.” Her lips lifted in the ghost of a smile as she dropped her hand back into her lap and turned to face him. “Not unless your last name is secretly O’Leary.”

  Lucas’ face turned bone white. “What did you just say?”

  Chapter 29

  Lucas

  Lucas stared at Skye, not sure he’d heard her correctly. As far as he knew, there was no way she could know about that name he’d seen scrawled in the book. He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone other than Giles. Had she somehow overheard them?

  His heart slammed in his chest as he stared her down, waiting for her to repeat herself. She wasn’t even in the house, he reminded himself, willing himself to breathe.

  So what other explanation was there? How the fuck could she know that name? And how was it tied to her dreams?

  She lifted a brow, eyeing him warily. “I said, unless you have a secret identity and your real name is O’Leary, it had nothing to do with your family.” Her voice was soft and cautious, as if she was waiting for him to tell her he was joking.

  “O’Leary,” he repeated.

  “Yes.” The word was drawn out, uncertain. Skye stared at him, all sleep gone from her eyes. “What’s wrong, Lucas?”

  He pulled in a deep breath, steadying himself. “After that thing with the book, and inheriting the power or whatever, Giles asked me to try to read the journal.” He kept his voice steady, trying like hell to remain calm as he explained. “When I opened it, there was a message inside.”

  “Okay,” she prompted, her brow furrowed.

  “Addressed to the O’Leary heir.”

  “You mean the spell book?”

  Lucas nodded. “What exactly was the dream about?”

  Skye blinked a few times, the color draining from her face. She searched his gaze, like she was struggling to process what he’d said. “It was about my visions again. Or, I guess I should say my family’s curse. I was a different woman this time, though. She was a descendant of the one who was originally cursed by a druid named Calum, Calum O’Leary. The woman was begging the head of the O’Leary line to break Calum’s curse, but he refused.”

  Lucas’ pulse roared like thunder in his ears. This had to be some sort of cosmic joke. There was no way any of this was actually possible. “That’s entirely too much of a fucking coincidence.” He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and began to pace, feeling Skye’s eyes on him the entire time.

  “I don’t understand, what does the book have to do with any of this?”

  “I inherited my power from that book, a book which belonged to my Druid grandfather. I never would have unlocked it had I not been descended from that line.”

  He didn’t think it was possible, but her face paled further. “The O’Leary line.”

  “Bingo.”

  “Holy shit, Lucas!” Skye jumped up so that she was standing in front of him. “So what the fuck does this mean? Your great-great”—she gestured wildly with her hands—“times ten or so grandfather is the one responsible for my family having these visions?”

  Lucas shrugged, just as stymied as she was. “It would seem so, if your dreams are to be believed.”

  ‘Written in the stars.’ Her words from earlier came back to him. What if she was right? What if their meeting had been predetermined hundreds of years ago?

  Skye chewed on her lip, closing her eyes as she weighed what he’d revealed. Lucas watched the expressions play across her face. The panic, the uncertainty. A flare of frustration rose within him. Whether there was some curse linking the two of them or not, it didn't fucking matter. He was in love with her. It didn’t matter to him one iota that he was some Druid heir or that she was a Gypsy Seer. In any scenario that mattered, Skye Giovanni was meant for him. If he was honest with himself, he’d probably known it the second he stepped foot onto that balcony.

  “You mentioned that they’d cursed each other. What was the other half of the curse?” he asked, pulling her attention back to the present.

  Skye’s eyes were sad as they met his. “None of the O’Learys would know true love until one of them fell in love with a Gypsy.”

  Now it was Lucas’ turn to pale, the color draining from his face, and he sat down hard on the bed, staring up at Skye. “I mean, I guess that explains some things.” Lucas’ thoughts chased themselves around and around. No wonder he’d had so many failed relationships. “It’s a wonder my parents even got married then, with a curse like that,” he muttered darkly. “How was that possible by the way? Or are you going to tell me they never actually loved each other?”

  Skye knelt down in front of him, taking his hands in hers. “Of course they loved each other, Lucas. The curse refers to true love, soulmates, if you will. I’m willing to bet if we looked through your family tree, there are probably quite a few marriages.”

  “So then the curse didn’t work?”

  She shrugged. “Of the people that were married, I bet they were the minority. And even then, more than a few were likely broken marriages, with a significant amount of children born out of wedlock. Relationships are hard, even when people do love each other.”

  Lucas frowned, not liking what her words implied. “I’m pretty s
ure you just called my ancestors a bunch of bastards.”

  Her lips quirked up. “At least one of them definitely is.”

  He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, you can say that again.”

  Skye squeezed his hands. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. If there’s a way to break the curses, we’ll find it.”

  Hope flared brightly in his chest. “Wait. There is. You just said it yourself. When an O’Leary learns to love a Gypsy. Done and done!” He pointed to himself and then to her.

  Her eyes shone in the moonlight that filtered in from the window behind him. He realized it was the first time he’d made the admission out loud, and he’d done it awkwardly at best. It was hardly the way she deserved to hear the words.

  “I love you, Skye.” He brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek, tilting her chin up to press a kiss to her lips.

  Her smile was blinding. “I love you, too.”

  He captured her mouth with his for another kiss. Resting his forehead against hers, he murmured, “See, curse broken.”

  She gave him a half-smile. “As much as hearing that means to me, I don’t think it’s that easy.”

  Lucas pulled back a little, frowning down at her. “What do you mean?”

  Skye lifted one of her shoulders in a small shrug. “Curses, as a rule, tend to be fairly complicated, and saying a few words out loud to break them seems a little too easy. People say things they don’t really mean all the time.”

  His brows drew together, and his lips pulled down in a frown. “I’m not just saying words, Skye. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Hell, I’ve never even told anyone outside of my immediate family that I loved them.”

  Silver lined her eyes, and she pressed her hand against his cheek. “Oh, Lucas, I know. I’m not saying that at all.” Her voice was thick with emotion, and Lucas relaxed; she hadn’t meant to imply his feelings weren’t real.

  He tugged on the end of her long braid. “So, what are you saying then, Twyla?”

  She shook her head, threading her fingers with his. The smile she gave him was filled with hope. “I don’t know, Loomis. I mean, we’re obviously walking a path that was created for us long before we were born. And if these new dream-visions, or whatever the fuck they are, are any indication, then things are definitely changing already.”

  Lucas needed to be closer to her, so he lifted her up and pulled her body into his. “I’ll bet we’re closer than you realize to breaking this curse.”

  “Curses,” she corrected, running her hands through his hair.

  He rolled his eyes. “Because it wasn’t impressive enough to be close to breaking one of them.”

  She chuckled. “Don’t you get it, Detective? You’re my superhero, you can do anything. One curse, or ten, eventually you’ll find a way to break them all.”

  Lucas didn’t have a word for the emotion that ran through him at her loving words. “Only because I have such an awesome partner helping me.”

  Skye tilted her head. “What does James have to do with anything?”

  He smacked her ass. “You know I wasn’t talking about him. None of this would have been possible without you, Skye.”

  She opened her mouth to protest, but he stopped her with a kiss. “Enough talking for tonight,” he growled. He ran his hands down the backs of her thighs and pressed against her until she straddled his lap. Pushing his hips into her, he whispered, “You said that words were easy. So let me show how much I love you without them.”

  The soft thud of Lucas’ bedroom door was the only sound in the house when he closed it behind him around two that morning. Skye was still sleeping soundly after he’d taken over an hour to prove to her just how much he loved her.

  Love. Now that had been a surprise. A nice one, certainly, but he’d be lying if he didn’t admit it had been completely unexpected. Sexual attraction and even lust were emotions he was familiar with, but love? Never in his thirty years had he experienced it. Nor had he imagined it would have been possible to feel something this powerful for a woman he’d only known for a few weeks at most.

  Lucas stepped out onto the patio and tapped his captain’s contact information on his favorites screen. It was about nine pm back in Chicago, so his boss would be just sitting down with his nightcap.

  “Hi there, stranger.” Captain Daniels’ deep baritone sounded over the speaker. “Wondered when I’d hear from you again.”

  “Hey, Cap, how are things back in the States?”

  Daniels let out a long sigh. “Honestly, peaceful. It’s the damnedest thing. Your guy up and disappeared.”

  The news hardly surprised him. If anything, it only confirmed what he already knew, given the local murders Skye had learned about. “Wonder what’s up with that,” Lucas responded dryly, already knowing the answer. Pop had returned home.

  “Who knows? Could be he’s taken a break or moved on somewhere else. We’ll catch him eventually; I just hope it’s before anyone else gets hurt.”

  Not likely. “How’s my girl?” Lucas asked, changing the subject. He had no answers for his boss, no way to tell him anything without lying, which was something Lucas despised doing.

  Captain Daniels laughed. “Oh, you mean my Lucy, she’s great. Currently bugging Cynthia for dinner.”

  “Smart girl; Cynthia is a fantastic cook.”

  “That she is.” There was no need to clarify which she he was referring to. The sentiment was true either way. The line went silent for a minute before the captain asked, “So, when are you and Matthews coming back? It’s not easy having my two best detectives gone at the same time.”

  “Soon,” he promised, feeling a pang of guilt. “My vacation ends on the first.”

  Daniels sighed. “Well, all right then. I suppose we’ll just have to make do without you two for a little while longer. How’s your sister?”

  Lucas ran a hand through his hair and watched a lightning bug disappear into the trees. “She’s better, but I think it has more to do with the fact that she’s not seeing the damage every day. Once we get back, we’re going to get working on putting everything back together.”

  “Glad to hear it; her coffee is the best around.”

  “She’ll be happy to hear you think so.”

  There was a soft rustle, and Lucas overheard Daniel say, “Alright, alright. I’m finishing up right now.” Daniels chuckled. “I gotta go. The wife is waiting for me to start the latest episode of The Rookie. Take care of yourselves out there, and give me a call if you need anything.”

  Lucas smiled, appreciating the offer. “Thanks, boss. Enjoy your night.” Lucas ended the call and put his phone back into his pocket. So much had happened in the last couple of weeks and the idea of going back to normal seemed like a pipe dream. Once they finally got rid of the Druid for good, it was going to take some time to come back around. After all, murdering your family wasn’t something you could just move past. He let out a derisive snort.

  That is, unless your name was Oliver MacConnell—or was it O’Leary?—and you were trying to wipe out your entire line.

  Not that he was going to succeed. Lucas would make sure of it. Now, more than ever, he had shit to live for, and he’d be damned if his psychotic Druid grandfather took any of it away.

  Lucas pushed to his feet and headed back inside to make some coffee. Sleep wasn’t going to return to him anytime soon, so putting the time to good use and memorizing more of the spells in the little black book topped his to-do list.

  The sooner they were finished here, the sooner they could try going back to normal, and that was something he was more than looking forward to.

  Chapter 30

  Skye

  Skye stepped out into the hall, a smile on her face. He loves me. Lucas’ words from last night still rang loudly in her mind, and it was all she could do not to break out in song.

  Which would not be pretty; Skye was anything but a singer. In fact, her voice was quite flat, and she wasn’t about to risk Lucas changing his mind.
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  She was laughing at her thoughts when she turned the corner of the hall and nearly ran face first into the man she’d been daydreaming about.

  “Hey, you.” He reached down and pulled her to him for a deep, toe-curling kiss. Why did everything feel so much better now that he’d said those three little words?

  “Hey, yourself,” Skye responded with a smile. “I was just coming to look for you.”

  “Oh?” He raised an amused brow.

  “After coffee, of course.”

  Lucas grinned down at her. “Priorities I suppose.”

  “Definitely.” Skye noticed the worry lines by his eyes and sobered. “What’s going on?”

  Lucas ran a hand through his already disheveled hair and shook his head. “Just tired, been up since two.”

  “Why?”

  “Couldn’t sleep.” He yawned. “I’ve been memorizing spells, trying to make sure we’re ready when he shows up.”

  Skye could see the exhaustion on his face and the weight of all the stress he carried in the slump of his shoulders. She wished like hell she could help carry some of the burden, that she could do anything more than offer words to help with this fight, but they were all she had.

  Words and warnings.

  “I’m here for you.” She lifted onto her toes and kissed him gently.

  “Baby, I know you are.” Lucas rested his forehead against hers, and they stood like that for a few moments, enjoying the silence of the morning. And the quiet comfort of each other.

  “Want to grab that coffee?” Lucas finally asked, pulling away so he could look at her.

  “Only if you go get some sleep.”

  “Not happening.” His hands traveled down her back and cupped her ass, sending some major anti-sleep thoughts through her mind. “Unless you want to join me.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, his dimples flashing.

  Even sleep deprived, her detective was majorly sexy. Skye didn’t think a lifetime together would ever minimize his effect on her. Skye pulled away and grinned at him. “You need sleep, Detective, and we both know if I go in there you won’t be getting any.” Lucas pouted, and it was so damn adorable, Skye almost conceded.

 

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