Lucca (The A'rouk Brothers Book 3)

by Serena Simpson

  “Me? I'm as innocent as they come.” She gave him a smile. “We wanted you to know where we were going.”

  She stepped back standing with Jaz and Rive like they were a posse.

  “Baby, where are you going?” Damon asked River as he came to a stop in front of her.

  She crossed her arms and cocked her hip giving him a defiant smile. “To the mall.”

  “Tempest, didn’t we try this earlier? You never made it to the mall.”

  “We will this time.” She looked at him through narrowed eyes and dared him to disagree with her.

  He ran his hand over his forehead before he cocked his head at her. “They say a long life is overrated. Let’s go to the mall.”

  She shook her head. “Girl’s only.”

  “Who’s driving?”

  “I am.” Jaz stuck her arm up in the air like she was inside of a classroom answering a teacher posed question.

  The males groaned.

  “Hun, this isn’t like driving on our plane.”

  “I’ve got it don’t worry about it.”

  “I’ve still got your card, so all we need is a vehicle.”

  Three sets of eyes stared at Lucca. He turned and looked at his brothers.

  “Don’t stare at me. I just popped in,” Damon told him.

  The others nodded in agreement.

  “I feel like this was planned. What makes you think I have a vehicle? We seem to be leaving them all over the place.”

  He could see his Dante’s head moving out of the corner of his eye. “They’re all back in my garage, Aren’t they?”

  He nodded. Lucca opened his hand, and a pair of keys appeared.

  “Take the one we last used. It has a high safety rating.”

  Jaz and River laughed. Tempest threw herself into his arms for another kiss.

  “You’re marvelous,” she whispered into his ear before taking the keys.

  “When will you be back?”

  She turned around to flash Lucca a smile. “When we’re done shopping.” She winked before leaving the kitchen.

  “She winked at me? Your mates are corrupting her.”

  “Uh-huh, that’s what happening.” Damon laughed before turning back to the prophecy on the table.

  “What do we know about their weakness?” Julian was reading the prophecy again. This time he was frowning.

  *~*~*~*

  “That was much too easy.”

  “I have to agree with River.” They had just turned onto the highway, and none of them could believe that their mates hadn’t tried to keep them in the house.

  “They’re up to something. Mick likes to plan when he thinks I’m doing something else. It’s his way of trying to protect me.”

  “Damon does that too. Have you any idea how long it took him to tell me we were coming back in time? Like it was a secret. I knew we were coming back when Lucca left the house.”

  “Lucca would do anything to keep me safe. If he thinks he can keep me from fighting, then he will try. He still doesn’t understand, the only chance we have of winning is if I am there.”

  Tempest watched the road in front of her looking at the ever-changing landscape.

  “I don’t think we have to worry. We eliminated every possible lead we had. All that’s left was some male named Harold that tried to get Lucca to kill me.”

  “Harold? Was he tall, dark-skinned and looked like a movie star?”

  “Yeah, how did you know?”

  “He used to be my handler in the future.”

  “Then how is he here?”

  “Because he’s not human. I thought he was human because Roy was human, my other handler. River do you know him?”

  “I’ve seen a man that fits your description, but he stayed in the background.”

  “So, he has something to do with the two of you, and he actively tried to kill Lucca and me.”

  “What does this mean?” Jaz was pulling into a spot in front of the mall.

  “It means that he could have been around in the beginning. He may know what happened to me.”

  “He may, but I bet he is what happened to you.” River's voice was devoid of emotion as she spoke.

  “Can’t be him. Whatever did this to me wasn’t human.”

  “Do you think Lucca is human?”

  “No, he’s Created with the ability to… Oh.”

  “Yeah, I doubt he’s human, and I bet he has the ability to shift.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we have something they want. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, pondering what it means to be a daughter of the Earth. Follow me.”

  They got out the car and followed Jaz to a small area filled with trees, dirt, and flowers. She knelt by a tree and placed her hand in the dirt playing with it. Soon little shoots of grass began to grow as well as flowers.

  “That’s amazing.”

  “Not really.”

  “River?”

  She knelt and felt the dryness of the ground. She placed her hands together, and small trickles of water came from her hands until the dry dirt was moist.

  “I don’t know what you can do, but I bet you can do something.” River smiled at her.

  “Wind.” She held up her hand allowing the wind to converge on the palm of her hand until she had a tiny tornado.

  “That’s powerful.”

  Jaz nodded. “I think our abilities is what’s attracting them to us.”

  “They want to reseed the planet?” What would they want with someone like her that could control the wind? It was a nice parlor trick and could cause problems if she was out to destroy the Earth, but she wasn’t.

  “No, they want to destroy the planet. I don’t have it all figured out yet, but if they destroy me, it hinders the planet's ability to heal itself.”

  They walked into the mall watching the women around them laughing and having fun.

  “Let’s get something to eat. Believe it or not, I’m hungry.” The food court was noisy to be so early in the day.

  They got their food and began looking for a place to sit.

  “Hey, you can sit with us.”

  “Rena?”

  “In the flesh. You know Dee, and this is Lorali. The others couldn’t make it, but you’ll meet them soon.”

  “Do you just hang out at the mall?”

  “Nope, we may have gotten a phone call that a certain person of interest would be here today.”

  “Lucca called you.”

  “Nope.” Dee shook her head.

  “The really top-secret stuff gets done by Dante. You’ll catch on soon enough.”

  “He seems nice.” They all laughed.

  “What?”

  “He’s more than nice Tempest. He has his hands in everything but only because he lives to see his family happy.”

  “I live to meet his mate.”

  “What if he doesn’t have a mate?”

  Rena’s eyes clouded. “That would be the second worst day in my life.”

  “What was the first?”

  “The day my sister died.”

  They sat in silence as they played with the food on their plates.

  “No more being sad. It was a long time ago.”

  “Rena’s right. Why are we here?” Dee looked around at the expressions on their faces. “Something tells me we are not going to shop.”

  “I thought, maybe if we got together away from the males, you could tell me what happened to you. That might help to spur some ideas of what I need to do to be free.”

  “I’ll go first.” Jaz told them what happened to her. How it felt to know she was marked for death and didn’t have a say in what was happening.

  River grabbed a cup of coffee before she started telling her story. She focused in on the hopelessness of knowing that only one of them could survive.

  “You each defeated the enemy. I’m still not sure how you did it after hearing your stories.”

  “I think the important part is that they did it.” R
ena looked at Tempest.

  “I know, never give up and all the things that go along with it. When Harold tried to get Lucca to kill me, I was scared. What if he killed me? After a while, I was more scared that he would die. I knew my life was worthless without him. How could I fall for him so fast? Then I realized something that shook me to my core. I think we both will die.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I would do anything to save him, and I know he would do the same for me.”

  “Then we only have one choice.”

  Every eye turned to look at Jaz, but it was Tempest that spoke.

  “We kill Harold.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “Let’s buy clothes.” They all groaned and looked at Dee.

  “Have it your way, but if I don’t come home with bags and none of you go home with bags…”

  “What are we waiting for? The males will follow us around rightly thinking we’re up to something.” Rena got up looking for the best direction to go.

  “You would think they would have better things to do.”

  “Tempest, we are there better thing to do. Mick has spent forever alone. That’s how he describes it. He told me what it felt like when he watched the Dare’s receive mates, but he was still alone. His priority is making sure I’m fine.”

  She wanted to protest, but then she thought of her knight in shining armor. She had seen his eyes when he thought he lost her. What could she say when his pain was so stark, so easy to see?

  “I wish I had my own money.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to buy Lucca a present.”

  She sighed and kept following her new friends… new sisters? They walked around the mall everyone picking up at least one item, but she simply looked. Until they walked into a jewelry story. In front of her on display was a ring with what she thought was an onyx jewel.

  “Hi.” The salesman came up to her. “Can I help you?”

  “No… maybe. I was looking at this ring.” She pointed at it. “It’s beautiful I can see my mate wearing it.”

  “You have excellent taste.” He brought it out for her to look at.

  “Onyx?”

  “No.”

  “What is it?”

  “Good question. No one knows what it is, and it’s not been given a name. The rumor states that it fell from the sky like a meteor. It’s very rare, and we were lucky to receive one of the rings to sell.”

  She brought it closer to her face. “I see a knight inside the stone.”

  “I can assure you there is nothing inside that stone.”

  “Oh.” She looked at the knight again it was on a white horse.

  “If it came from a meteor, it must be very expensive.”

  “I assure you it’s one of a kind. Your mate will cherish it forever.”

  “Thanks, but—.”

  “Can I see the ring?”

  “Rena, I was just looking at it, no big deal.”

  She took the ring from Tempest. “This is beautiful. I think I’m jealous that you saw it first.”

  She looked at Rena then relaxed. The smile in her eyes and the way her lips were quirking told her she was playing with her.

  “We’ll take it.”

  “Wait… what? Rena, you can’t do that.”

  The salesman walked away to ring up the order.

  “Tempest, when you live a long time, and you have money; you never seem to be able to give enough. So, if I can help my friend, my sister, I’m going to do it. Think of it as all the birthdays I’ve missed across the centuries. Then there is the fact that I believe your mate deserves something nice.

  “You don’t know the A’rouks the way that I do. I’ve seen them torn apart by things they couldn’t change. Finally, I see the spark that was there the first time I met them. You’re part of the reason its back. I’d say kiss Lucca for me, but I’ll be too busy kissing Aran.”

  She walked over to the salesman and handed him her credit card before she looked back at Tempest and winked.

  Tempest took a hand and wiped at her eyes. The store was dusty they needed to clean it. It had to be dusty because she wouldn’t be tearing up because of Rena, and the other females accepting her like she was part of the group. That was impossible. She also wouldn’t be tearing up because she loved Lucca so much that being able to give him a present was something she felt soul deep.

  Rena handed her the small box, and they left the store.

  “We need to leave.”

  They turned to look at Lorali, who was doing a slow sweep of the level they were on.

  “Now? River and I were—.”

  Lorali was shaking her head. “We need to go.”

  “When Lorali says we need to go; we go,” Rena said and Dee shook her head in agreement.”

  They started moving towards the exit closest to where they parked the car.

  “Shit.” Lorali turned them around so they could hide against the side of the building.

  The car that Tempest, Jaz, and River arrived in was surrounded by two males and two females.

  “I take it the dark-skinned male is Harold?” Lorali’s voice was dry when she asked.

  “That’s him.” She looked at her hand thinking about the pain he caused her. Without knowing it, he gave her the key to Lucca’s beast.

  “The other male is Sloan.” Hatred coated River’s voice. “Can we kill him too?”

  “Yes.” They turned to look at Rena. “We have to do it one at a time. I’m tired of seeing my sisters suffer because some maniac decides he has a grudge against them. Do you know who the females are?”

  “No.”

  “Alright, we keep an eye out for them. As we all know, there’s nothing more dangerous than a female.”

  They nodded while Lorali pulled a weapon out of her boot. Rena and Dee pulled their hair clips out.

  “What’s a hair clip going to do?”

  Dee looked at Jaz, and the hair clip turned into a gun. Rena did the same.

  “I want one of those. Do they sell them in the Mall?”

  “I wish they did. I would arm all the females of the Earth.” Dee laughed, but it was cold.

  “Aran gave me mine and Niko gave Dee here’s.”

  “Lorali?”

  She turned her arm over pushing her sleeve up. She had a beautiful tat of a dagger with a rose around it. Her hand slid over it, and the dagger was sitting on the palm of her hand.

  “I want one. River, Jaz do you have one?” They shook their heads.

  “How do we get out of here? I can make a wind storm or a tornado.”

  Lorali put her gun away but keep the dagger in her hand. The others turned into hair clips that they kept in their hands.

  “We leave the car. We all came with Rena, and her car is bulletproofed.”

  “Bulletproof?” Jaz asked.

  “Yeah, the guys got tired of males coming for their mates and took some extreme action. Honestly, I’m not sure a tank could hurt Rena’s car.”

  They walked around the building keeping their back to the wall, so they only hand to worry about a frontal assault.

  “Why do they want you so much?” Dee asked as she provided cover for Tempest.

  “I don’t think they want us. They want anyone with the Moniker Daughter of the Earth. They think that by destroying us, they will destroy parts of the Earth making it easier to get to the unknown galaxies.”

  “What’s in there that they want?”

  “Some say that’s where heaven is,” River replied.

  “Angels,” Tempest replied.

  “We learn more about Earth every day.” Lorali gave an uncomfortable laugh.

  They stopped when they could see Rena’s SUV.

  “What do we do just walk towards it?”

  “We could run.”

  “Tempest, I love you, but let’s just walk.” Lorali shook her head but couldn’t stop smiling.

  “You’re going to be the best little sister ever,” Rena whispered to her.r />
  The set off at a casual stride walking to the SUV. They piled in, and she started the car.

  “That was easy.”

  “Way too easy?”

  They nodded their heads both Tempest and Rena were correct.

  “I’m calling Niko.” Dee had her phone out, but all she could get was static. “Our phones are being jammed.”

  “Mental communication.” Lorali was already trying to reach Sergey. “What the hell?”

  “Did you get the ‘I’m sorry you have reached a frequency that is no longer in service?’”

  “What’s happening?”

  “Whoever those four are; they have lots of power and they’re determined we won’t make it to Lucca’s.”

  “Just let me out the car.”

  “Did you hear something?” Dee asked.

  “I did,” Rena volunteered. “Every now and then, I hear this faint buzzing. It’s cute but slightly annoying.”

  “I heard the same buzzing.”

  “The next time you hear it find a magazine roll it up and hit the buzzing; I'm sure it will stop.”

  “Just what I always wanted a family that will abuse me.”

  “Rena, will the wheels on your tank-like SUV survive that.” River was pointing out the window to railroad ties that pointed up just enough to shred tires.

  “Aran’s going to be so pissed.” She applied the brakes and tried turning the SUV at the same time. The tires squealed, but the forward motion of the vehicle kept them moving until they plowed headfirst into a tree.

  “Ow, this isn’t good.” Tempest put her hand to her forehead and came back with blood. Lucca wasn’t going to be happy. She wanted to laugh, but the pain in her chest stopped her.

  “Lorali?” She used her hand to feel the seat next to her. She was sitting right next to her. “Where are you at?”

  Carefully she opened her eyes. The light coming through was hitting them like a red-hot poker.

  “Lorali?” The seat was empty, but there was blood. “Jaz, River?” They were sitting in front of her with Rena in the driver’s seat and Dee in the front passenger seat. Now the SUV was empty.

  “This isn’t funny. Where is everyone at?”

  She leaned over to open the door and would have fallen out if not for the seatbelt that Rena demanded they put on. When she tried to push the button to get loose was when she realized that her hand wasn’t working. It had been crushed during the embrace of the tree. Pain assaulted her as she watched her fingers wondering if they would ever move again.