Lucca

by Karen Michelle Nutt

  Her rose-colored lips slid into a smile that set his heart beating like a bat wishing to be free of its confines. How did she do that with a mere look and without glamour to aid her? Was she part Fae? A witch? Whatever the case, she must have casted a spell over him, like a net to capture her prey. Only he didn’t want to struggle to be free.

  “Actually, Juliet is a family name on my mother’s side. I’m sure my parents thought it was cute to give me the name to go with my father’s infamous last name.”

  Her voice was seamlessly smooth without a hitch as she told the story, but she didn’t quite meet his gaze.

  The story was made up. He was sure of it, but why? Perhaps the true story embarrassed her and she didn’t trust him with the truth. He felt a pang of disappointment.

  “You wouldn’t by chance be a very distant relation to the Christopher Marlowe?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “I believe as the family story goes we changed our name in honor of the playwright.” He partially told the truth.

  Juliet slowed her pace. “This is it.” She waved her hand at the restaurant they stood in front of with the ramp leading to the door, an added feature no doubt to accommodate wheelchair access.

  He stared at the bold writing on the window: Doug’s Downtown Grill. They were on Main Street in the Historic Garden Grove district and if he hadn’t been so enamored with Juliet, he would have realized where she was taking him. “I went willy-nilly without a fuss too,” he cursed under his breath.

  “Did you say something?” Juliet’s brows drew together over the bridge of her lovely upturned nose.

  Yeah, there’s something the matter. This is Eli’s hang out. You know the one who had me banished to the human realm for trying to kill him. “Are you sure this place is good?” His gaze met hers with a hopeful glint to persuade her to choose another location, preferably one where Watchers didn’t frequent.

  She took the steps that separated them and looped her arm through his, leading him toward the door. “It’s the best.”

  Maybe Eli wouldn’t be in there. He had a mate now. Wouldn’t they eat at home, maybe before a roaring fire with candles lit and the fireplace burning? You are such a Nancy.

  As they entered the restaurant, along with the aroma of Italian sauces, cooked meats, and fine wines hitting his senses, Lucca picked up on the preternatural beings present. His gaze lingered at the bar. Two men stared up at the flat screen television mounted on the wall where some kind of sport was being played which required uniforms and a ball. He really didn’t follow football or baseball, but both tended to be American pass-times for families. The males at the bar were human, the bartender, too.

  “Will that be two for dinner?” the dark haired hostess asked, already picking up a couple of menus.

  “Yes, two,” Juliet answered.

  They followed the waitress to the back room where the booths and tables were set up for dining. His gaze landed on the long table to the right of them and knew why his back ached, his wings bulking at the idea of being bound. Was it a Watchers' convention tonight?

  Gideon, Zaiden, and Eli sat at a table, looking too large for the low-back chairs. His gaze shifted to the female next to Eli and frowned. Ryden sat next to her mate. So, maybe the meeting wasn’t of a preternatural sort. Rydan may be mated to Eli, but last he checked, she was still human.

  Ryden chose that moment to look up, her gaze meeting his with surprised recognition. She leaned near Eli and whispered something to him, most likely a warning that their enemy stood not more than a few feet away from them.

  Lucca’s brows lifted in surprise. Why hadn’t the Watchers noticed him first?

  Eli’s gaze riveted to him with murderous intent. Ryden took hold of his arm as if she could keep him in his seat.

  Lucca let out a snort. Without his glamour it would be suicide to face one of the Fallen, especially a newly mated one. Preoccupied with Eli seated at the table, he forgot Juliet stood beside him until she spoke, drawing his attention back to her.

  “Are they friends of yours?” she asked with a nod in their direction.

  Friends? Not likely. The bastards stood by while the elders bound his wings. “They’re…” Backstabbing bastards, the lot of them. “…colleagues.”

  Juliet looked at the waitress, who stood waiting next to a booth meant for them. “We’ll be there in a moment,” she told her.

  “I’ll just leave the menus on the table then,” the hostess offered.

  “Thank you.” The hostess walked back to her post and Juliet turned toward Lucca again. He should have marched her out of the restaurant right then and there, but his feet seemed planted where he stood.

  “There’s no need to be rude.” Her voice sounded far away.

  Anger, frustration, and a weird need to draw a broadsword egged on his body to take action. For what? Protect Juliet, rang in his ears. His gaze focused on the table of Watchers. Before he could decipher what that meant, Juliet spoke again.

  “We should at least say hi.”

  “Juliet, wait.”

  It was too late to stop her. Her agile steps took her to the table where the brethren appeared as uncomfortable as he felt.

  “Hello, I’m Juliet Romeo.”

  Gideon glanced over to Lucca with a frown, but recovered quickly enough to break the ice. “We meet again.” He pushed his chair back and stood, giving a gallant welcome, which seemed out of character with his spiked auburn hair, skull earring, and leather duds. It must be the charming smile that kept humans from thinking he was a thug. “I’m Gideon Sharpe.”

  “Nice to have a name to the face.” Juliet returned the smile with one of her own.

  Gideon’s mouth curved into a bigger grin. The eegit. Lucca’s eyes narrowed, sending daggers in Gideon’s direction, but the Watcher chose to ignore him.

  “Let me introduce you to everyone,” Gideon finally offered. “This is Zaiden LeGard,” he pointed palm up to the large warrior with a wave of dark hair and piercing blue eyes. Zaiden gave her a slight nod, his blue eyes taking on an icy sheen.

  Was he trying to glamour her? Lucca took a step forward to only halt his steps. His gaze shifted to Juliet, her gaze fixated on Zaiden, but he didn’t pick up a telltale sign of a human being glamoured. Matter of fact, Juliet arched a brow at Zaiden as if she knew what he was trying to do and had somehow blocked him. What in the world? Was she challenging him? His hands fisted as he moved forward again, ready to shield her, but the Watcher’s gaze shifted with bored indifference.

  Gideon turned toward Eli, who still eyed Lucca with suspicion. “This is Eli and Ryden Grigori.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Juliet,” Ryden gave her a warm smile before her gaze wavered to Lucca. Ryden no doubt wondered what devious plans he had in the works for Juliet. Ryden may not recall their encounter from the other dimension of time, but he would wager Eli informed her of his insidious deeds. Pity. It made this little impromptu meeting even more awkward, as if it wasn’t already.

  “Why don’t you join us?” Ryden offered.

  Lucca almost laughed at how the Watchers shifted their large warrior bodies in their seats, their jaws clenching as if they were biting their tongues. Believe him, he no sooner wanted to share their company than they wanted to share his.

  “I don’t think—” Lucca tried to intervene, but Juliet was quicker, shooting down his escape.

  “We’d love to.” She glanced at Lucca with a disarming smile, making it difficult to refuse. Her power over him was proving to be an annoyance. Why couldn’t she let him usher her to the nice little booth in the corner where no one would bother them?

  He moved forward, pulling the chair out for Juliet. Not that he wanted her to sit next to Zaiden, but he couldn’t afford to be boxed in. He needed a corner spot just in case things got ugly.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Juliet sat back in her seat. She never witnessed so many Watchers in one room. She didn’t fear them. Well, not in the sense that they meant her any harm. The Fa
llen Angels had their own worries and tended to stay out of her business. It was the Archangels she had to worry about coming after her and Owen. Raziel gave her a special weapon to use against the purebreds. The ability to recognize when glamour was being used was one of the special talents she possessed. With practice she had learned to hold the glamour back when a preternatural tried to use it on her.

  At least her ability worked on the Nephilim. Chances were the Archangels would fry her before she’d have a chance to recognize the threat.

  Her gaze took in each Watcher’s appearance. Eli had the face of a saint, with angular features and eyes the color of whiskey. Gideon looked a little rough around the edges with his auburn spiked hair and leather attire, but his grin took the edge off his badass persona. Zaiden’s dark looks and ice blue eyes would definitely turn heads, but there stood an undercurrent of darkness around him as if he witnessed too many horrible deeds and couldn’t entirely shake free of them. All of them were lethal in one way or the other. Raziel’s teachings warned her of the Fallen Angels, the Nephilim were included in the branded name. They were warriors and males you didn’t want to cross if you knew what was good for you.

  She glanced at Zaiden, who did a pretty good imitation at pretending she didn’t exist. Funny, she could almost believe he feared her, or at the very least, was leery of what she might reveal about what went down at Leroy’s. Good. Maybe it would keep him quiet. She had a hunch verbally sparing with him would wear her down.

  She glanced at Lucca, who shifted in his seat, appearing as uncomfortable as a man awaiting execution. One wrong word and he’d either end up bolting for the nearest door or come up punching the closest Watcher.

  She rested a hand on his arm. He looked at her and it seemed to calm him. Lucca may have once worked Black Ops or something of the sort, but he was in no way a match for preternatural beings. How did he know so many Watchers anyway? Her gaze swept over him, wondering if she missed that he was a preternatural being, too. He was as large as the Watchers, but she didn’t detect the glow the half angels had surrounding them. No glamour poured off him like the other three males at the table, who were forced to conceal their true self.

  Eli put out an extra amount of magic, shielding it around Ryden as if she needed protection. From whom would she need protection in the friendly family restaurant? Her? Lucca? For the life of her she couldn’t imagine what threat they posed.

  Gideon’s distorted glamour wavered in and out like a ghostly image having trouble materializing. He looked healthy enough, but it was as if he suffered an injury and had yet to heal completely. He had a smaller structure than the other two Watchers. Heck, he was smaller than Lucca, but she had no doubt he’d be a formidable opponent if a fight broke out. He probably stood close to six-foot one or two, while the others stood closer to six-foot four or five. All built like they spent time at the same gym.

  Her gaze wavered over Lucca again. Maybe that’s where Lucca met them. Did Watchers actually need to work out? She never thought to ask Leroy about that. For a moment sadness seeped into her heart. She would never speak to the Angel again. She shook off the melancholy. She’d have plenty of time to grieve in the privacy of her home.

  Lucca’s gaze met hers and she realized she’d been staring at him. God, his eyes were an incredible shade of blue gray, cool stormy winter sky, but fierce in their assessment of situations. Then his gaze darkened as it wavered over her with a beat of forbidden desire. Her breath wobbled, catching in a sexual way as she imagined his lips covering hers, taking her under until she begged for more. She blinked and inhaled sharply, wondering where the thoughts had come from and why she wanted to act on it by grabbing his hand and dragging him back to her place.

  “How did you two meet?” Ryden’s voice brought Juliet tumbling back to earth with a crash. She swallowed the lump in her throat and forced herself to turn away from Lucca. Ryden’s eyes were a light brown, reminding her of brown sugar. A beautiful contrast to her dark tresses cascading down her right shoulder in waves of ebony. “We met…” What did she tell them? Which time constituted as true introduction? The time he sniffed behind her ear or when he insisted on buying her groceries and walking her home? Or was the crime scene where they truly met and exchanged names? She could leave out the part where she drew her gun on him first.

  Lucca remained mute, sitting there next to her all wound up, edgy, and if she hadn’t misread his heated gaze a minute ago, frustrated as well.

  “They met at the Laundromat,” Gideon supplied the answer. All eyes shifted to him. He cleared his throat. “Clothes get dirty.” His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. He cleared his throat and leaned forward to reach for his water glass.

  “And how did you both end up at the same crime scene?” This was from Zaiden. He turned in his seat, pinning her down with his ice blue eyes, frosting over with suspicion.

  So much for the Watcher keeping quiet.

  “You referred to Lucca as some detective as if you didn’t really know him, but here you are on a date with him,” Zaiden accused her.

  Lucca and she spoke at the same time.

  “This isn’t a date,” she claimed.

  “It’s none of your business,” Lucca chimed in.

  She glanced at Lucca who closed his eyes in a deliberate blink. Her words had hurt him. She hadn’t meant them to, but her pledge to not get involved with him was becoming difficult to uphold. Then Zaiden threw it in her face. How could she not lash out? She resisted the urge to cross her arms over her chest in a defensive manner. She refused to cow down. She opened her mouth to respond, but it was Lucca who spoke.

  “How do you know about the crime scene, Zaiden?” Lucca’s voice matched the chilly look Zaiden had bore down on her.

  She breathed a sigh of relief when Zaiden shifted his gaze to Lucca.

  “I think you know the answer to that. What I want to know is why you’re involved?”

  “Get off your higher-than-thou attitude with me,” Lucca met his challenge head on. “I don’t answer to you.”

  She could literally feel the hostility flowing from Lucca. Any moment there would be a brawl and she sat smack dab in the middle of it. “Listen boys, can we tone down the testosterone a bit. The back lash from the both of you is making me nervous.”

  Lucca snorted and she was sure a curse flew from his lips, but he was polite enough to keep it at a low murmur.

  Zaiden sat back in his seat, but his hands gripped his thighs as if he was having a difficult time reining in his anger.

  “I personally would like to know what you were doing there?” Juliet questioned Zaiden. “How did you know to show up? Or do you sit by a police scanner hoping to find a good homicide to spend your day?” She smiled sweetly at Zaiden, knowing her gaze told him she wouldn’t play nice. Go ahead, angel boy. I’d love to see you talk your way out of this one.

  Zaiden’s gaze riveted to her, his eyes narrowing. “I am not in a habit of discussing my business with...” His nose flared and she all but heard what he left out.

  Humans. He didn’t discuss his business with humans. “Too bad. I want to know who or what killed Leroy. I want to know what we’re dealing with and how I’m going to take the preternatural being out.”

  Zaiden lost his hostility for a moment. His brows raised and was that admiration lighting his eyes? He looked away before she could decipher.

  Eli fastened his look on her now. “How do you know about preternatural beings?”

  She knew how to read between the lines. He wanted to know how she knew about the Fallen. The answer proved a bit tricky. How much should she reveal without putting her and Owen at risk? The less people who knew about them the better.

  She chanced a look at Lucca, wondering how he was taking this conversation. Surely, he knew about his friends… Uh…his colleagues weren’t human. His eyes pinned her down.

  She placed a hand on his again, the heat of him racing up her arm. “I’m sorry. Please tell me you knew about your friends being…
Nephilim.”

  Lucca’s stared at her, but he didn’t pull his hand away thinking she was all kinds of crazy. That was a good sign. His gaze wavered to the others seated at the table. If she didn’t know better, she’d think they communicated some sort of code to each other before Lucca met her gaze directly.

  “I knew they were Watchers. How did you?”

  “Auras, of course.”

  This statement seemed to confuse everyone further.

  “I can see Angels and half Angels’ auras.”

  Gideon let out a low whistle. “Didn’t know I had one.”

  “Everyone has one,” she explained. “Angels and half Angels have a brighter glow because of the glamour.” Why was she revealing so much information? Her gaze riveted to Eli, her hand went to her pendent she wore, King Solomon’s seal warmed to the touch. The link between Eli and her broke, releasing her from his ability to manipulate the situation and making her feel safe, relaxed, and willing to reveal secrets.

  She’d entered a den of dangerous predators, and Eli was the worst with his subtle way of influencing her way of thinking. Thank God for the pendent Raziel had fashioned for her.

  The waiter, with light hair and an easy smile, arrived with two more waters and fresh baked bread. “I see we added a couple more to the party,” he said. “I’ll be back in a moment to take everyone’s order.” He headed to another table where an elderly couple had been seated moments before.

  Juliet couldn’t stay. She was out of her element here. She let down her guard, revealing too much already. She pushed back the chair and turned toward Lucca. “I need to go home. I forgot, I work the early shift tomorrow and I’m wiped out.” She hoped Lucca would take the hint. She didn’t want to leave him here, even if he knew what these men were. He obviously didn’t like them all that well, or at the very least didn’t trust them.