He grabbed Marco’s chin and turned his face to the side. The cut looked deep but not life-threatening and Diego let out a relieved sigh.
Marco may hate him but he was Diego’s only remaining family and that meant more than Marco would ever know.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m fine. Stop pawing me.” Marco drew back, out of reach. “And get the hell off the plane. I don’t want to have to explain to Cole why you were still on it if it blows up.”
Turning, Marco climbed down the ladder and out of sight.
Shit. Marco had needed him and he hadn’t been there. Again. Didn’t matter that he’d been passed out.
Shit.
Diego turned to find Amy Jo staring at him.
She smiled, just a short quirk of her lips. “Family can suck.”
Her words held a wealth of compassion and understanding. Then she moved past him and down the stairs, missing the ghost of a smile that curved his lips. Even after everything she’d been through, she still managed to hold it together. Hopping over the last step to the ground, she made straight for Bella and Steven, standing several yards away from the plane.
He caught the flash of her silver-blond hair shining in the sun. Blonde didn’t usually do it for him. But that tight little ass in those jeans that only reached her knees made his skin feel too tight for his body. And the bounce of breasts under the blue t-shirt that matched her eyes… His cock hardened, throbbing and insistent.
Fuck it all. It was a bitch of a time to notice the way the woman moved, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted her. Wanted to throw her over his shoulder and find somewhere private and screw her brains out.
Which just made him feel like an animal.
Even from this distance, he could see the bruise on her chin where he’d hit her. His fingers throbbed in response. He wanted to put his hands on her and heal her then put his lips there and kiss the spot, slowly moving to her—
“Diego, get the fuck down here so we can figure out what the hell to do.”
Marco stared up at him from the bottom of the stairs. The wound on his forehead had yet to stop bleeding. But it was the hint of fear in Marco’s eyes that got him moving despite the pounding headache threatening to split his head open.
Outside, he took stock of their surroundings. Marco had put them down on what appeared to be the only strip of flat land in sight. Hills ringed the area and a forest covered the hills.
It had taken tremendous skill to do what Marco had done. His little brother was a damn fine pilot. No matter what Marco might think, Diego was proud of him. Except when he wanted to kill him.
Marco had ducked under the plane and now stood on the opposite side from Steven, Bella and Amy Jo. Diego locked gazes with Steven for a brief second, shaking his head just once. Steven nodded in acknowledgement. They’d be left alone.
Diego walked over to Marco. “Let me see your head. I don’t want you to bleed to death on me.”
Taller and stronger though he was, Diego knew Marco could be on the other side of the plane in two seconds if he wanted. Marco had inherited his versipellis nature from their father, but he’d learned how to flash—to move from one point to another in a second—from his half-linchetta, half-human mother, Paloma.
Diego took it as a good sign that Marco didn’t pull away when he put his hand over the bloody gash.
“What would you care?” Marco didn’t bother to put much heat in his words. This was an old fight, one Diego despaired they would ever find a way to end.
Still… He caught and held his brother’s gaze, so like their father’s. “Grow up, Marco. The only person here with a problem is you. You may not want to believe this but you are my family. We may not have had the closest upbringing but I love you more than anything in the world. Now, shut up for two seconds while I fix this. Then we’ll try to figure out what to do.”
Marco’s eyes widened in shock for several seconds before he wiped his expression clear.
Despite how similar they looked, Diego was more than seven years older. Neither had known the other existed until Marco was a young teen and Diego almost twenty-one. They’d met over their father’s grave.
Needless to say, it hadn’t been a good day.
Their father had a lot to answer for. Too bad he’d died before Diego could kill the son-of-a-bitch for completely screwing up his sons.
“We don’t have all day here.” Marco’s low growl pushed through his memories.
Diego sighed and shook his head. “Shut up, Marco. Just…shut up.”
Surprisingly, he did, and Diego forced himself to concentrate on healing his brother’s forehead. The blood they shared should have made it easier, but emotion got in the way.
He remembered Marco’s fear of him the first time they’d met. His own initial rejection. His mother’s quiet sobbing after the funeral. The hatred in Paloma’s eyes as Diego took his father’s ring from his dead hand before they lowered the casket into the grave.
That ring was his birthright as the oldest son of Gilbert Falco, only son of Vincent. Should anything happen to him, Marco would take the ring.
Of course, as of now, if anything happened to both of them, their line would die. There were less than twenty versipelli Iberian lynx left in the world. He and Marco represented the last hope of their kind.
And neither of them seemed inclined to find wives and produce heirs.
“Diego.”
He didn’t answer right away. He knew he’d finished healing Marco’s injury but hadn’t removed his hand. He waited a second before he moved it to Marco’s shoulder. Marco shrugged it off and turned to pace.
Damn stubborn fool. Diego wanted to slap his brother’s thick head. Wanted to tell him how much of what his mother had ingrained into him had been flat-out lies.
Sighing, he shook his head again. “So, what happened and where are we?”
Marco stopped but didn’t turn to face him. Instead, he looked out over the trees.
“We’re in the southern Appalachian Mountains, Georgia. The bastards hit one of the gas tanks. I didn’t send out an SOS, but I can’t be sure no one saw us go down. I hate to leave the plane but we need to get out of here.” He paused, appeared to weighing his words. “I thi— We need to split up. Steven and Bella should fly ahead. We take the girl in the car.”
Diego didn’t say anything right away, watching as Marco stiffened, just waiting for Diego to shoot him down.
So he had to fight back a smile when Marco’s jaw dropped as he said, “You’re right. Let’s go.”
* * *
“So, Castiglione is with the wolf bitch, the grigorio, and three others.”
Remo repeated what his enforcer had just told him. Just to make sure he had it correct.
Damien swallowed audibly. “Yes. We believe they’re headed for New Orleans.”
Of course they were headed for New Orleans. Cole’s congress was being held there.
The grigorio was an unexpected bonus because where there were grigori, there were bound to be cursed streghe. And Menrva’s nails.
How perfectly wonderful for the Etruscans to gather all the pieces together for him in one place. Unknowingly, of course, but that just made it all the better.
Veive wanted Remo to put the lucani on notice that they were under attack and vulnerable. The god wanted Cole dead. And since Veive didn’t want all-out war with the other Etruscan deities, he’d chosen Remo as his instrument of delivery.
The deities would think nothing of the Mal going after the lucani. Business as usual.
After Remo had delivered Cole on a plate, Veive would give him the streghe. And the nails.
And, of course, he’d have Steven.
First things first, though. Remo kept his gaze on his underling. “And you were doing what exactly in Pennsylvania?”
Damien didn’t answer right away. Which meant Remo wasn’t going to like what he had to say. Still, the man was Mal, and pure Mal were hard to come by. Remo could build an army of eteri willing to d
o his bidding for the right price, but a pure-blood Mal was worth his weight in gold.
Even if he was an occasional idiot.
“Looking for grigori, like you told us.”
Yes, Remo had told his men to look for grigori. If he happened to find a few nails without Veive’s help, so much the better.
Still, Remo paused, knowing there was more to the story than Damien was admitting to. “Is there something I should know?”
Damien didn’t hesitate. “It’s under control.”
Remo wondered for a second if he should push it then decided it didn’t matter. All that mattered were finding the nails. “Then get on a plane for New Orleans. I’ll meet you there.”
Chapter Nine
“So, we’re splitting up?”
Amy Jo sat on the bed dressed in new khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt, her hair still damp. Bella had just walked out of the motel bathroom, a towel wrapped around her head, dressed in new clothes, as well.
How the woman could make Walmart denim shorts and a five-dollar tank top sexy confounded Amy Jo. Must be magic. Of course, the woman was a by-god princess.
It hadn’t taken them long to find a path that led to a road off the mountain. Though she hadn’t liked it, they’d stolen a car at the first house they’d come across then stopped at the first chain department store they’d passed, buying food and clothes and a few things Amy Jo wasn’t sure she wanted to know about.
Diego had paid for it all with a credit card that didn’t have his name on it.
They’d found a motel no one would look at twice. The boys had one room, the girls the other. Bella had let her shower first, the hot water washing away some of the stress of the past hours. Still, she couldn’t help feeling she had a huge target on the back of her head and, sooner or later, someone was going to take her out.
Bella huffed and tossed the towel on the floor in a ball. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what the guys are deciding. They think we don’t know they’re over there hatching plans. Wouldn’t it shock the shit out of them if we decided to leave without them? It’s not like we’re incapable. Bastards.”
“I don’t particularly like feeling helpless either, but it’s nice to have someone else do the thinking, at least for a little while.” Amy Joy couldn’t contain her sigh as she fell back on the full-size mattress and closed her eyes. “I feel like I haven’t slept in years, I’m so tired.”
The bed dipped beside her as Bella sat. “How are you feeling? I know the past two days must have seemed surreal to you. Especially on top of everything else.”
Amy Jo snorted. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Are you worried about being alone with Diego?” Bella rushed on as if Amy Jo was going to stop her. “He can be hard-headed and close-mouthed. But he really is one of the best grigori and he’ll keep you safe. I don’t know Marco but Diego will keep him in line.”
Amy Jo opened her eyes to find Bella staring down at her. “Sounds like you know Diego pretty well.”
Bella nodded. “My brother has been pushing me to marry him for a while now. He keeps finding ways to put us together.”
Amy Jo felt her mouth drop open. “You’re kidding.”
The princess’ smile was infectious. “Nope. Diego’s never expressed an opinion one way or the other, but it’ll never happen.”
“Because you love Steven.”
Bella’s smile disappeared. “For all the good it does me.”
Amy Jo scooted farther onto the bed and propped herself on an elbow. Now seemed the perfect time for questions and answers. And she had more than her fair share.
“And your brother wants you to marry Diego because he’s a werewolf, too.”
“Actually, Diego’s an Iberian lynx. And he’s from a royal family, too.”
“He’s a prince and a cat?”
Bella smiled. “King, actually. And don’t ever call him kitty to his face. There aren’t many of them left.”
Whoa. Werewolves and now werelynx. And kings and princesses, to boot. “I grew up dirt poor in North Carolina. My daddy left when I was born and my momma had four kids to feed and clothe. We didn’t have much time to dream about fairies and elves and stuff. We were too worried about where our next meal was going to come from. So, what else is out there that I don’t know about?”
“Like the Tooth Fairy and the Boogeyman?” Bella teased, her smile showing just a hint of her sharp little canines.
At least, Amy Jo hoped she was teasing. “I always hoped there were fairies, pretty little girls with wings who glowed.”
“Actually,” Bella sighed and her expression sobered, “there are. We call them folletti.”
“What do you mean, ‘we’?”
“I’m a member of the Etruscan race. Our civilization has been intact for more centuries than we can recall. Most of our written history has been lost to us. Some historians believe the Etruscans migrated from northern Europe centuries before the Italian tribes settled in the seven hills area that would become Rome.”
Amy Jo cocked her head to the side. “But you don’t think so?”
“No. Our oral history tells us we originated there, indigenous to the peninsula. We have always been magical, a race apart from humans. Actually, two races, the Enu and the Fata. The Enu are magical humans. The Fata are earth elementals, what you’d call fairies and elves. And then there are our deities who…”
Bella sighed, drawing her top lip between her teeth to chew on it.
“Who...what?” Amy Jo prompted.
“Well, they’re…”
Amy Jo caught the undercurrent of what Bella wasn’t saying. And started to shake her head. “No. No, that’s just— No.”
Bella just stared at her before she shrugged. “Okay. You’re right. You don’t need to know everything all at once.”
Yeah. Okay. She could handle this. She could. Deep breaths, in and out. After everything that had happened to her, she couldn’t figure out why this was messing with her head. Maybe it was just too much. Fairies and Puck and things called folletti. And now gods and goddesses…
She’d managed not to lose her sanity after that night in Central Park. And she’d been damn proud of herself, even on the days she couldn’t force herself to get out of bed. She was still here. And now she had people willing to help her.
But the one friend she’d made was about to abandon her to the man who’d managed to reawaken her damaged sex drive.
She didn’t know if she could trust herself with Diego. And that truly sucked.
“Amy Jo, are you okay?”
The princess had that look on her face again—part concern, part apologetic understanding.
She shook her head but she wasn’t answering the question. She was trying to shake some sense back into her life. Time to change the subject. “So, what can I expect from this voodoo woman?”
Bella’s mouth twisted in a quick grin. “Andrea is a strega, a witch. She’ll be able to see inside your mind and pick out the information you’re repressing. If this group is planning to attack during congress, your information could save lives.”
“So, this congress… What does it do?”
“Congress is basically a strategy session but Cole has never held one. My father never held one that I know about.”
“And what do they do?”
The princess’ expression shuttered and Amy Jo knew she’d stepped into forbidden territory. Which just made her all the more curious.
“I can’t actually tell you,” Bella said. “Partly because I don’t know all the details and partly because it’s lucani army business.”
Amy Jo’s mouth opened and closed before she got her voice to work. “Did you just say army?”
“Yes, I did. The lucani are the Etruscan enforcers. The American legion was pretty out of hand when my grandfather agreed to move here and whip the lucani into shape. The Roman legion actually had an entire auxiliary of lucani during the height of the empire. When the Etruscans moved to the new world in the 180
0s, they went a little wild, nearly wiped themselves out. My grandfather reinstated the legion as a way to keep order.”
Damn. Amy Jo had considered herself a pretty open-minded person. Hell, she turned into a wolf three nights out of every month. And she was still having a hard time wrapping her brain around all of this. “I feel like my head should be spinning around in circles.”
Bella grinned. “And I can’t believe how well you’re handling all of this.”
“You do know this all sounds like the plot of some Joss Whedon show, right?”
Laughing, Bella fell back on the bed to stare at the ceiling. “Mm, I loved ‘Angel,’ but I thought the show lost its focus in the third season.”
“Oh, God, I so agree. They should have left that twit Fred on Pilea.”
“Thank you.” Bella laughed, throwing her hands in the air. “Ooh, please tell me you’re a Dr. Who fan?”
“Are you kidding? I would have followed Ten anywhere. And I have to say Eleven’s growing on me.”
They sighed in unison. Television was so much more fun than real life.
“It’s going to be okay.” Bella’s softly spoken words broke through the fog that had surrounded Amy Jo’s brain when reality crashed back in. “Diego would die before he let anything happen to you.”
“I do remember some of what they did to me.” She could barely get the words out but couldn’t hold them back. They soured in the back of her throat. “I lied about that. Are you telling me this woman could erase what happened that night from my mind?”
“If you want.”
Did she want that? “I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t know if I want to forget. I don’t want to forget their scent because one day I’m going to hunt them down and kill them.”
“And that’s what you want?” Bella’s voice was barely audible.
Amy Jo nodded, fierce resolve stiffening her backbone. “Yes. I want to rip out their throats and tear their beating hearts from their bodies. I want them to know I’ve taken their lives, just as they took mine.”
Almost a minute passed before she lifted her gaze to Bella’s, almost afraid of what she’d find there. But there was no condemnation. Only understanding.
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