by Thorne, Elle
“So I hear.” Isabel nodded.
“I don’t believe it.” Vax set his jaw.
Isabel bit back a smile. This one would be an interesting one later in life. He was so much like his father, and yet, it seemed in some ways, he was the polar opposite.
“I think it’s true, Vax. I think there are times that a witch can best a shifter. Their spells make it so.”
“I’ve never met a witch.”
Isabel thought of Desideria, Esmerelda’s sister, who was her and Ana’s teacher at their boarding school. Desi had become a good friend to the two Valenti sisters.
“Some witches are okay.” Isabel kept her voice low. She knew that there’d be no way Giovanni Tiero would be fine with her saying that. She could see his rigidity would interfere with his accepting any other supernaturals. She also knew that many shifters went an entire lifetime without ever encountering a different type of supernatural being.
“Have you ever met any?” Veila asked, wiggling her brows.
“I have.”
“Tell me about it,” Vax demanded, as if he were alpha and already running the show.
Give it a few years, little man.
“Ask your father if I can regale you with tales of supernaturals, and if he says yes…” Isabel let her voice trail off.
She knew they’d never ask that, and they’d never get their father’s permission. Their crestfallen expressions affirmed her belief.
“So can we go see the fox? We can slip out the secret way Veila and I discovered. We left the little fox some food. It’s very friendly.”
“Who’s friendly?” A male voice came from the doorway.
Giovanni.
Isabel was saved from answering, but now there was a new question at hand. Would the children tell him who was friendly? Would she feel guilty enough to reveal their secret? Did they really have to keep it a secret? Was he that rigid?
One glance at his jawline, the firm set to his expression, and she knew, this man had the makings of an alpha. He epitomized it from his unyielding expression to the hardness in his eyes.
What have you gone through to make you so inflexible, so distant?
Not exactly a question she could ask him, considering she was a trespasser on his land, and he seemed suspicious about their motives.
And yet, when she caught him looking at her yesterday, there was something in the depths of his eyes that reached out to her.
“No one, Daddy.” Veila delivered her father a slight moue with her answer.
Isabel studied Veila.
Oh, that one will be trouble when she’s full grown. She’d wrap men around her little finger. They’d underestimate the core of steel in Veila. Hopefully, she’ll find that right man who gets it, who gets her.
It didn’t seem that Giovanni would be in danger of being fooled. His expression didn’t yield an iota. He nodded, and let out a low, “Uh, huh.” Definitely, he wouldn’t be fooled by Veila’s charming ways. Giovanni turned toward Isabel, a questioning look on his face.
Isabel shrugged.
“Vittorio?” His deep voice called on his son to answer.
“I’m not sure you’d like the answer.”
Oh, boy. This young man will be trouble, too, for his father later. Isabel hid the smile at Vax’s rebellious side. There’d be hell to pay later. Hopefully, Giovanni’s unyielding ways wouldn’t drive his son away.
A measure of sadness plagued Isabel, for she’d liked to have known what would happen between the father and son.
By then, she imagined she’d be a distant memory for the children and their striking father who she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about.
“That’s all you have to say?” Giovanni’s eyes had narrowed as he studied his son.
“Yes.” Vax stood his ground.
The energy between father and son crackled.
Isabel prayed the repercussions wouldn’t be harsh. God knew, these two kids had it difficult enough without a mother in their lives.
Giovanni leaned closer to his son and said, “I can respect that.”
Whew. Isabel kept the shock from showing, though her gaze remained locked on Giovanni’s dark stare.
Giovanni rose, turned. “Dinner’s in an hour and a half. Don’t be late. Clean up.” And with that he was gone.
Not big on affection, is he?
Vax stepped toward the threshold and peeked down the hallway. “He’s gone. Now, let’s go see the fox.” He grabbed Isabel’s hand, tugging her to a stand.
“Vax.” Isabel stood firm. “Stop.”
He glanced back and up into her face. He must have read her expression because he said, “No. Don’t tell me you don’t want to go. You said we’d do something I wanted to do.”
“I didn’t say it could be something that would be against the rules.”
“Rules. Rules. Rules.” Vax snatched his hand out of hers. “I’m sick of rules.” Red splotches of fury colored his cheeks.
Veila wrapped her arms around his. “One day.”
He put his hand on hers. “One day, we’ll run our own world. Our way.”
“One day, we will. We’ll have our own world.” Veila repeated. “I’ll be with you the whole way.”
“And Gavin too. We’ll take him with us. I miss him.”
“I miss him, too. Let’s ask Father to invite him to stay with us while we are here.”
“Who’s Gavin?”
“Grigorio’s son,” Vax answered.
Before Isabel could ask who Grigorio was, Veila supplemented Vax’s answer. “Grigorio is on the Tiero security team. Gavin stayed in Rome.”
“Why are you all here now? Why not in Rome?” Isabel didn’t mean to pry, she wasn’t trying to get nosy, but she did wonder about the Tiero—especially Giovanni, though a part of her wished she didn’t.
Giovanni Tiero was dangerous the way a murky bottomless pool of water could be dangerous. The way an electrical field could be dangerous. Or a volcano. Or a hurricane.
But goodness, he was tempting, the way the darkest chocolate could tempt with the heavenly aroma and decadent taste.
“This place is the only place he hadn’t brought our mother,” Vax whispered.
Veila gasped. “What? How do you know that? Who said?” she asked. “And why didn’t you tell me?”
It struck Isabel that these two were far more mature than most counterparts would be. It made her sad to think this had happened because they’d lost their mother at such a young age and had a very no-nonsense alpha of a father.
“I heard Father telling Uncle Tito that we’d be safe here and it was the only place Vanessa hadn’t been.”
“Vanessa. That’s your mother?”
Both nodded.
Maybe Giovanni was avoiding the memories he’d shared with Vanessa in the other places, perhaps that’s why he’d come here. Isabel pinched off the irrational twinge of jealousy.
The room’s ambience was heavy with emotion.
“So, what’s your second choice for the afternoon’s activity?” Isabel pushed the subject to a safer one.
Vax’s brows drew down. He looked just like a miniature Giovanni when he was in deep thought. “A board game?”
Isabel nodded. “That’s better than getting your father riled up with breaking his rules.”
Veila nodded in agreement. “You pick, Vax.”
“Nah, you go ahead.” Vax glanced out the window.
Perhaps he was sad he wouldn’t get to see the fox.
Chapter Ten
Evening was coming. Darkness had already begun to weave shadowy fingers among the woods that surrounded the villa.
Isabel returned to the guest bedroom to change for dinner, again, with an assortment of the dresses Tiero hospitality provided. She glanced out the window, wondered how Ana was faring. If the witch Esmerelda had freed Tino.
She thought of that moment when she’d met Tino. How she’d shifted into her tigress in order to talk to him. She could hear in her sister’s and Tino
’s voices that those two were fated mates. She hoped that it would end well. Bruno was not one to be trifled with.
Isabel frowned.
Was that movement she’d seen at the edge of the sculptured lawn? With tigress’s supernaturally enhanced sight, she surveyed the area.
There it was again. A slight figure, and an even slighter furry one nearby.
Vax.
And a little red fox.
Vax was kneeling in front of the fox with something in his hand. From the fox’s reaction, Isabel was certain the something in Vax’s hand was food.
She studied the interaction between the boy and the fox, trying to determine if there was anything off about the fox; if there was anything at all that would give away the presence of preternatural beings.
Nothing. The fox seemed to be just that. A fox.
Yeah, and I’m an expert on preternatural beings.
Okay, true, she wasn’t, but still, the fox seemed wary of the boy, would it be wary if it were a familiar? Or would it be trying to entice him deeper into the forest and away from the safety of his father and his father’s shifter security team?
She watched the interaction, wishing it would end quickly, wishing the boy would hasten into the villa before his father discovered he’d ignored rules and admonitions.
Such a hardheaded boy. And yet, she found herself admiring his rebellious spirit and hoping his father wouldn’t completely destroy it over the years.
Isabel gasped.
There, in the shadows, the same white tigress that had stood next to Giovanni’s tiger when she first met him. The newcomer tigress’s gaze was fixed on Vax, a very serious expression on her face.
Serious how, though? Isabel couldn’t tell if it meant danger or not.
It was clear Isabel’s tigress wasn’t willing to risk Vax’s safety to find out. Before she could control herself, Isabel had popped open the double doors that led to the balcony on her second floor guest bedroom. Her tigress pushed Isabel aside, insisting on a shift, and this was definitely one of those times Isabel had no desire to argue the point. Time was of the essence if young Vax was in danger from the tigress.
Isabel welcomed her tigress’s morphing, though she knew it would yield an excruciating amount of pain until the transformation was complete. She urged her tigress on, encouraging her to push forward. In her human form, Isabel’s tigress began to unfurl, her sinewy and muscular body pushing its way through the barriers of flesh. Her body sounded the change with the signature creaking and crunching of sinew, tendons, and bones.
Here we go. Isabel braced herself, receiving her tigress into the forefront of their existence. With a tremendous push, excruciating agony seared through her body, ignoring the clothing that would remain intact, though not completely untouched.
Her tigress’s power coursed through Isabel as she dropped to all four, fingers and palms replaced by pads and claws. Skin covered in a luxurious black and white patterned fur. She arched her back as her tigress’s tail twitched against the pain.
Seconds later, her tigress stood in the guest bedroom, snarling at the danger that Vax may be in. Isabel’s tigress exploded into a leap that brought her to the stone railing of the balcony, then sprung forward, airborne, propelling herself with supernatural speed toward the immaculate lawn.
In the near distance, the other tigress raised her eyes toward Isabel’s. She released a growl, a sound that traveled across the distance, and raised the hackles on Isabel’s tigress.
Isabel landed gracefully in the grass, recognizing the other tigress’s growl as one of warning. She returned the threat and dashed toward the tigress.
Ahead of Isabel’s tigress, Vax stared openmouthed at her. The little fox turned tail and vanished into the forest. Vax sidestepped and ran toward the house while Isabel stayed between him and the other white tigress.
It took him mere seconds to cross the lawn and enter the door. In one of the windows, Isabel saw him run up to Giovanni and tug on his sleeve. She turned her attention back to the interloping tigress, only to find that she’d taken flight and was a silhouette merging into the forest’s shadows.
Oh, hell no.
She had no intention of letting the tigress vanish without answers.
She’d try to sync with her, linking in their minds in the way of shifters, the silent communication that allowed shifters to talk when in their animal form.
Isabel nudged the tigress’s mind for sync, pushing for that link. She knew the other white tigress was no regular tigress. She was a shifter’s tigress. She surely would know how to link.
There was no reply to Isabel’s nudging. No acknowledgment of Isabel’s efforts to communicate. The tigress merely kept running, dodging between trees.
Fine. So be it. If the other tigress wouldn’t talk with her, she’d hunt her down and find out what she was doing here and if she meant harm to the Tieros.
A part of Isabel asked her why she’d do this, but Isabel’s tigress wouldn’t be talked down.
Isabel picked up the pace, following the other white tigress deeper into the trees, away from moonlight, away from allies.
Chapter Eleven
Gio laughed at Tito’s joke, took a sip of his before-dinner drink.
A slamming door jarred his attention.
He turned abruptly when the library door opened. Vittorio ran in. “Son, what have I told you about slamming doors?”
“I’m sorry, Father. But it’s an emergency.” Vittorio was out of breath, his eyes wide in a panicked look.
Gio bit back his retort at Vittorio’s response because his thoughts traveled to his young daughter.
Veila. Is she okay?
That’s where his mind first went, because usually the two of them were found together. His son looked genuinely afraid. This wasn't the time to lecture him on etiquette. “What is it?”
“Isabel. She’s run into the forest. It looked like she was being chased. Or chasing something.”
He cocked his head. “Where did you see her? Where were you?” Gio was prepared to hear an answer he wouldn’t like. He knew his son’s rebellious nature.
Vittorio looked down, then raised his gaze to meet his father’s. “I shouldn’t have been out there. I know I was disobeying you. I’ll take the punishment, but can you check on Isabel, please? She was in her tigress form.”
What? Why would Isabel be shifted and running into the woods? Running away from the villa? From him? He pushed back his initial reaction, which he shared with his tiger. They couldn’t bear the idea of losing Isabel. He felt as if he were drowning in a whirlpool, and the life preserver he’d been counting on had disappeared. Or run away.
After we’d agreed—
When she’s supposed to stay—
He didn’t want to dwell on that. Isabel was his guest and the woods weren’t the safest place to be alone, not even for a tigress.
“Tito. Take care of the young ones. I’ll be back shortly.” He was so close to a shift, his tiger so ready to react, that his voice resembled a low growl.
“Wait,” Tito advised. “You shouldn’t go out there alone. You know—”
Gio remembered Federico’s warning before he’d left this morning. That there would be areas in the forest dangerous to a shifter and to stay out of the woods until Esmerelda had returned.
He’d wondered about that statement, wondered why Federico seemed to know about this. Had he fallen prey to the dangers he warned Gio about?
Gio raised his hand to halt Tito’s attempt to stop him and wasn’t surprised to see there was a darkening of black and white stripes forming beneath his own skin. Yes, his tiger wasn’t going to wait long to shift. “I have to go.” He opened the door to the library, sprinted to the front door and opened it. He turned to see Vittorio watching him.
“You’ve done well, son. We’ll talk later.”
Damn it. Vittorio shouldn’t have been out there alone; he should not have been able to slip out. I’ll have to talk to Grigorio. How’d Vittorio
escape our security team?
He ran out, taking the steps two at a time as his body yielded to his tiger, surrendering control readily. He’d cover far more distance in his tiger’s body. And he’d be far more effective if there was anything to deal with.
Almost anything, he corrected himself, for he knew there were beings out there he may not stand much of a chance against. His mind didn’t want to visit the ideas of what beings Isabel might find herself pitted against.
Gio’s muscles stretched, his tendons extended, his bones thickened and lengthened. In his full tiger’s form, his chest deep and wide, drawing in air in large gulps as he took long leaps across his lawn, making a beeline as he followed his son’s scent.
He could tell Isabel used block again and wondered why. He knew he’d only be able to follow the trail as far as Vittorio had gone, but from there he’d have to do some tracking, picking up clues that her hasty venture into the woods had left behind. He arrived at the spot where Vittorio had stood. He picked up the scent of a fox, rendering a solution to the mystery of why Vittorio was out here.
I’ll have to talk to that boy about the dangers.
He’d spent so much time sheltering his children from the horrors of life as a shifter. The perils of witches, vampires, elementals, hybrids, and sometimes even other shifters were not topics he’d shared with his children. He should change that, especially considering what had happened to their mother.
Yes, I’ll work on that posthaste. As soon as I bring Isabel home.
He realized what he’d just thought, a second after he’d thought it. This isn’t her home, he corrected himself, though he knew it was the sentiment of his tiger equally, if not more so.
Putting the cart before the horse. Yes, he seemed to be doing just that.
Or maybe it’s my tiger doing that.
He pushed his thoughts to matters that were urgent: finding Isabel.
He paused to study the ground, found signs of her egress toward the forest and took off.
Moments passed. More moments. Maybe twenty minutes later, maybe more, he noticed a change in the environment. The night sounds had slackened. He froze in his tracks in the middle of the path she’d clearly come down. Unsure of her whereabouts, and uncertain of the tension that was almost palpable, Gio’s tiger sidestepped off the path.
