Seduced by Two

by Stephanie Julian

  “What the—” Tanner started but never finished and Nica knew the spell had taken hold.

  Tears welled as Tanner’s then Jensen’s eyes lost focus. They stared into space as the spell reordered their memories, remade their image of her. They’d remember her tomorrow as a redhead, her features completely different. They’d think she’d left the bar with them but that they’d parted at the curb. She’d gone home, they’d gone home and no one had had mind-blowing sex.

  They wouldn’t remember her or the way they’d loved her. She’d become a ghost. Hell, she wouldn’t even be a memory. She’d be nothing.

  Not fair. So not fair.

  Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she took a deep breath then dialed a number she’d committed to heart but hadn’t needed to use. Until now.

  After a brief conversation, she hung up and watched the best night of her life disappear before her eyes.

  Chapter Three

  Jensen woke up on the couch in the living room, his head pounding.

  How the hell much did he drink last night?

  He looked around and saw Tanner asleep on the recliner in the corner.

  Damn, what the hell had they done?

  Rubbing a hand over his face, he sat up, running his fingers through his hair and unbuttoning his shirt. He paused when he realized he was missing a button.

  When had he lost that?

  He remembered going to the bar last night, remembered he and Tanner talking to a woman, a redhead. Which was unusual because neither of them typically went for redheads.

  They’d walked out of the bar together but they’d parted company at the curb and he and Tanner had come home alone.

  Or had she come home with them?

  No, if she’d come home, they wouldn’t be sleeping here.

  Goddamn, he knew he hadn’t drunk that much.

  He tossed a throw pillow at Tanner, who barely moved when it hit him.

  “Tanner, wake the hell up.”

  “Fuck off, Jen.” Tanner didn’t even open his eyes, just grabbed the pillow and stuffed it under his head. “I’m sleeping.”

  “Tanner, come on. What’d we do last night?”

  Bits and pieces of memories floated through his head but it didn’t seem to make any sense. Like disjointed pieces of a picture that didn’t quite add up to a whole.

  And he remembered having the weirdest fucking dream…about a woman who’d vanished in midair. From right there. In the middle of the living room.

  She needs help. You shouldn’t have let her go.

  “Tanner, get the hell up. Something happened. Something’s…wrong.”

  But what? Why the hell did he think something was wrong?

  Tanner opened his eyes enough to squint at him. “What are you…” He shook his head and sat up, his expression evolving from sleepy disorientation to confusion. Looking down at his clothes then around at the room, he finally lifted his gaze back to Jensen’s.

  “We went to that bar last night, the one Daniel told us about,” Tanner said. “We talked to a woman, a redhead. Then we came home. Alone.”

  Jensen shook his head. “Yeah, that’s what I remember too. But…I had a weird dream last night. About a woman who—”

  “Disappeared right there.” Tanner pointed at the middle of the room. “I had the same dream.”

  “We haven’t done that since we were kids.”

  Tanner nodded, his expression tightening. “What’d she look like?”

  “Dark hair, dark eyes. Pretty. Quiet.”

  “Serene.”

  Yeah, that was the perfect word. “Who was she?”

  “I don’t have a fucking clue,” Tanner practically growled. “But she’s in trouble.”

  “I know. How do we know that?”

  “Again, I have no clue. I just… Jesus, this is like an episode of Supernatural.”

  Jensen didn’t laugh at the joke like he normally did. Whenever something vaguely weird happened, whether a light bulb blew or their keys turned up somewhere they didn’t belong, Tanner would make some crack about the TV show with two brothers who fought supernatural villains. That Jensen’s name was the same as one of the show’s stars just made Tanner work that much harder to crack those jokes.

  Right now, it wasn’t funny. Because something really weird was going on.

  “We need to find her.” Jensen knew that for an absolute fact. She needed them. And he wanted her back. Now.

  Tanner was shaking his head. “This is really weird.”

  “I know. We need to go back to the bar. We met her at the bar, right?”

  Or had they?

  Tanner sighed, his gaze searching the floor as if for answers. “I only remember the redhead. Did you try to pick her up?”

  Jensen shook his head. “You know I don’t go for redheads. And neither do you.”

  Tanner sighed. “We need to go back to that bar.”

  * * * * *

  “Are you sure you’re going to be okay here alone? I can stay—”

  “Sal, really. I’m fine.”

  Well, she wasn’t but she wasn’t about to tell the legendary salbinelli Salvatorus, powerful guardian of the Etruscan race, that all she wanted was for him to leave so she could curl up in a ball and cry in peace.

  Sal clomped over to her, the sound of his hooves muffled by the carpet on the living room floor of the safe house he ran for the Etruscans.

  Inches shorter than her own five-two, Sal had handsome Etruscan features, glossy black curls and tiny black horns peeking out of those curls. Muscles packed his upper body—his shoulders, his arms, his broad chest—until his lower stomach. Where what had been human became goat.

  She wondered what Tanner and Jensen would do if they ever got a look at Sal. Would they run screaming?

  No, they wouldn’t run. They hadn’t run last night. They’d stepped in front of her to protect her.

  Would they try to hurt Sal? Attack him for being different?

  She’d seen Tanner’s expression as he watched her hands. He’d been dumbfounded. But not disgusted.

  Of course, he’d been too stunned to completely understand what was going on. And he’d been terrified for his brother’s life.

  But even then, he’d trusted her enough to let her unbind the spell that had been shutting down Jensen’s internal organs.

  “Niccola, I don’t think I should leave you alone.” Sal sat on the couch next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “Babe, I don’t figure you want me to call your mom but—”

  “Goddess no.” She shuddered. “I’m no longer a child. And my life will be over soon enough.”

  Damn it, she hadn’t meant to say that aloud.

  Closing her eyes, she wished the words would magically disappear. Sal probably thought she was an ungrateful bitch.

  He didn’t know her well. They’d only met once or twice when he’d been to her tiny village to see one of the streghe about something. He led a secluded life because of the nature of who and what he was. He could go out on the street in the guise of a young boy if he worked a powerful enough glamour. But the magic needed to hold the illusion for any length of time required a huge expenditure of power.

  Power was something Sal was said to have an almost unending supply of but he used it in his position as guardian for the Etruscans. He shielded this safe house, which hadn’t been discovered in the two hundred years since he’d opened it. And he got foolish women out of messes like the one she’d gotten into last night.

  She’d been given a powerful Goddess Gift to serve her people and all she’d done was complain about it for the past several months. And now someone knew who she was and what she could do.

  Total bitch.

  “I’m sorry, Sal.” She sighed. “I am not ungrateful. Just…”

  “Feeling a little trapped?”

  Her gaze flew up from her dissection of her shoes to meet his gaze. “I… No, not trapped, just… Tinia’s teat, yes, I’m feeling trapped. And it really doesn’t make me f
eel any better to actually say that. It just makes me feel worse.”

  “Okay then,” Sal said. “Here’s something to do while you sit here and mope. I’ve got a computer in the next room. There’s a file on it with pictures of known Malandante enforcers. It’s right on the desktop called Mal. Yeah, I know. Original. Go through the pictures. See if you recognize the guy who attacked you while I’m gone.”

  “Do you think he’ll go after Tira? Or Jensen and Tanner?”

  “Tira should be fine. Her foresight will act as an early warning system and she’s agreed to lay low for the next day or so until we figure out what’s going on and who this guy is.”

  Sal paused and she forced herself to meet his dark solemn eyes.

  Maybe she didn’t want to hear the answer to her question.

  “I think, if whoever’s after you thinks he can draw you out by going after the Miller brothers, he will. Short of breaking all kinds of written and unwritten rules about eteri knowing about Etruscans, they’re on their own.”

  Her heart twisted but she’d known what he was going to say.

  She never should have gone home with them last night. And she’d never see them again.

  And if something happened to them, she’d blame herself for the rest of her life.

  * * * * *

  Jensen walked into Lacey’s Stay-A-While and stopped just inside the door.

  He let his gaze travel over the entire room, stopping to thoroughly examine every woman in the place.

  Which didn’t take long. It was still early for a Saturday, only around six, but he hadn’t wanted to wait at the house any longer. Tanner had a meeting he couldn’t miss but he’d be there as soon as that ended.

  Hopefully by then, Jensen would have found the woman.

  His unease had grown all day and he hated the sense of disorientation that came with it. Like someone had gone into his brain and scrambled his memories. Why someone would do that or even how someone would do that made it all the more ludicrous.

  And yet…

  Walking up to the bar, he sat at a stool at the far end, away from the door so he’d have a clear view of anyone entering or leaving.

  The male bartender he remembered from last night walked over. He didn’t see the female owner, Lacey.

  “What can I get you?”

  His stomach rumbled at the smell of grilling meat and tomato sauce wafting around the room. “A menu? Food smells great.”

  The bartender laid one on the counter, still eyeing him. “You were in last night. You just move to the area?”

  Jensen flashed the guy a look, noting the shoulder-length brown hair, the intent hazel eyes and the hard expression. As if he knew Jensen had questions. But that was stupid. Why would this guy think Jensen was there for anything other than dinner and a few drinks? Paranoia must be gaining on him.

  “Born and raised in Robesonia,” Jensen finally answered. “Nice place.”

  “Yeah, my wife thinks so. It’s hers. I’m Teodoro de Feo.”

  Okay, maybe that explained the guy’s interest in him. He was warning Jensen away from his wife. Maybe he’d be happy to hear Jensen was looking for another woman.

  “Jensen Miller.” He stuck out his hand, which de Feo took without hesitation. “Nice to meet you.”

  The other man nodded even as he acknowledged the two guys who’d just sat at the end of the bar. “I’ll be back in a minute to take your order.”

  After figuring out what he wanted, Jensen waited for Teodoro—What was that? Italian?—to return, wondering how he should go about asking what was probably going to sound like an idiotic question.

  Hey buddy, could you describe the woman I was with last night? Was she a redhead or a brunette? Did my brother and I leave with her? And can you tell me where she lives because I think she’s in trouble? Why? Hell if I know.

  Yeah, that’d go over real well.

  “So, what’ll ya have?” Teodoro stood in front of him, watching him with sharp eyes.

  Jensen ordered a burger and fries and a beer, which Teodoro tapped and set in front of him after putting in his food order.

  “You look like a man with a question, Jensen Miller. Wanna tell me what it is?”

  Jensen set his beer back on the bar and looked the guy straight in the eyes. “The woman I was with last night. Do you know who she is?”

  Teodoro crossed his arms over his chest, never taking his eyes off Jensen. “Never saw her before.”

  “But you did see me with a woman last night.”

  His eyes narrowing, Teodoro nodded. “Yeah, a redhe—”

  “No. Not a redhead.” Jensen shook his head. “The brunette.”

  Teodoro froze for a millisecond and if Jensen hadn’t been watching so closely, he never would’ve noticed it. But the guy definitely knew something about his mystery woman. “Didn’t notice the brunette. Sorry. Food’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  Then Teodoro moved down the bar and out onto the floor to take orders from a table along the wall.

  Bullshit.

  The guy lied straight to his face without a tell. Too bad for him that Jensen could read people. And Teodoro de Feo was lying.

  But why?

  * * * * *

  “Are you sure it’s him?”

  Teo’s snort sounded like a whip crack through the phone line. “Positive. It’s Jensen Miller. Introduced himself then started asking questions about the woman he was with last night. Good thing Sal called to warn us this morning or I would’ve spilled.

  “I had Rio do background checks. No records, neither of them have so much as a speeding ticket. Good business reputations, well respected in the community. Sounds like they had a pretty gods-awful childhood though. Dad was a mean drunk, apparently. Their mom killed him in self-defense when they were twelve. They saw it all.

  “Their mom wasn’t quite right after that and they took care of her until she died when they were nineteen. Put themselves through college and used the money their old man left to start their construction business.”

  Blessed Goddess, not fair. Just so not fair.

  She’d known when she met them that they were not just average guys out to have a good time and get laid. They’d lived through hell and become better men for it. Men she’d never see again.

  “Nica,” Teo said, “you want me to get rid of him?”

  Nica sighed, her chest tightening with fear. Not for herself though. For Jensen and Tanner.

  She must have screwed up the spell somehow. They remembered her.

  And if the man who’d come after her last night decided the Miller brothers knew something about her, he didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d use a lot of restraint when it came to questioning eteri.

  Now what?

  “Nica? Still there?”

  “Yes, I’m still here. I just…don’t know what to do. Sal’s not back yet but I don’t like not telling the guys they might be in danger. If anything happens to them…”

  It would be her fault. Because she’d indulged herself when she had no business doing so.

  “Cam’s still trying to track the guy from last night.” Teo mentioned his older brother. Teo and his three brothers ran a supernatural security agency. As linchetto, night elves, they had special abilities that made their choice of profession a natural fit. “He’s not coming up with anything. Even though you weren’t able to identify him as Mal doesn’t mean he isn’t. Just stay put, Nica.”

  She hung up after saying goodbye but she couldn’t stay still. She paced, not able to sit and watch TV as she waited for either Sal or Cam de Feo to call.

  Waiting sucked. She felt like she’d been waiting all her life. Waiting for her mother to step down, waiting for her life to begin.

  She was really sick and tired of waiting.

  Her mother was always telling her how powerful she was, how she would be an asset to her people.

  Well, this asset was not about to let two innocent men be harmed because of her. She would go to them, get them
to invite her back to their house. If the man from the other night attacked again, she’d be there to defend the brothers. Or at least try.

  And she’d get to spend another amazing night with the two men who’d rocked her world.

  Grabbing her purse, she headed for the door. She wouldn’t think about what she’d do if they didn’t ask her to go home with them. They remembered enough about her to go back to the bar and ask for her. They must want to see her again.

  Her heart tripped over itself at the thought. And if she could keep them sufficiently occupied, maybe they’d ask her to stay until Monday.

  The man who’d attacked them had said he’d be in touch Monday. By then the de Feos should know who the guy was, what he wanted and who he was working for.

  She hoped.

  And before she left the Miller brothers, she’d wipe their memories again. She’d do it right this time.

  They’d be safe. And ignorant of the magic in the world.

  She’d have the rest of her life to regret leaving them. But hopefully she’d have wonderful memories to sustain her.

  * * * * *

  Tanner walked into the bar, ready for a beer and for Jensen to tell him he’d found the woman.

  He hadn’t been in touch with his brother because his cell phone had died. He’d forgotten to plug it in last night.

  Another anomaly. He never forgot to plug in his phone.

  He found his brother sitting at a table, finishing off a burger and fries. His stomach rumbled.

  Jensen looked up as he sat down. “Food’s good.”

  Okay, maybe he’d eat. But first, “What’d you find out?”

  Jensen swallowed, wiped his mouth with a napkin and settled back in his chair. His gaze slid to the bar for a brief second before he met Tanner’s gaze again.

  “We’re not crazy.”

  “She was here.”

  Tanner didn’t make it a question and his chest tightened with excitement. Which didn’t make a damn bit of sense. They still had so many unanswered questions.

  Yeah, but she’s real. And we can see her again.

  Jensen nodded as if he’d read his mind. “The bartender tried to bullshit me but he knew who I was talking about. I figure he already called to let her know we’re here.”