Moonlight Temptation

by Stephanie Julian

  He was a liability. He had no combat training.

  After this, he would.

  Beside him, Dane’s wolf growled, his fur bristling as he sniffed the air.

  Dane was going. They needed his nose because they needed the other two lucani who’d accompanied them to hold guns.

  Ryan knew one of the men by name. Seth Lucini barely opened his mouth, except to say yes and no, and only if a head motion wasn’t enough. The guy had brown hair, brown eyes and features that allowed him to blend into a crowd. He wasn’t sicari, like John and Kaine. He was rank and file lucani legion.

  The other man… Ryan had no idea who the hell he was but he wouldn’t want to run into the guy in a dark alley. Six-four, at least, two-hundred-thirty, all of it muscle. Tattoos decorated the back of his shaved head and neck and probably the rest of his body, though that was covered by the same black tactical gear worn by John and Seth.

  He reminded Ryan of Sylvester Stallone without the movie-star polish and he thought John had called him Race.

  “Cam and Stella de Feo will be here in a minute.” John slammed a gun into the harness on his back and checked the knife on his belt. “Cam’ll teleport us into the building after Stella and Cam confirm our targets are in there. Ryan, you stay out here, ready to treat any injuries.”

  Ryan nodded again. “I will be.”

  When this was over, he was going back for EMT training. Maybe even medical school.

  And he damn well wasn’t going back to Philadelphia.

  Dane and John and his team would get the girls and Alex back. He couldn’t let himself imagine any other outcome.

  Because, God damn it, he loved Evie. And so did Dane.

  And they weren’t going to lose her.

  “We have no idea what they tranq’d them with so—”

  John spun, gun in hand, which he immediately lowered when the tank disguised as a man materialized out of thin air behind him.

  “Shit, Cam. Sorry. You snuck up on me.”

  Cam de Feo shrugged it off then held out his hand…for the pretty blonde woman who materialized at his side.

  Ryan had seen some freaky shit in his life. Hell, he watched Dane turn into a wolf. But when a man built like a linebacker who had pointed ears too unusual to be simply abnormal materialized out of thin air, that made him question his sanity.

  Cam didn’t stop for introductions. Apparently none were needed. “Stella and I already checked out the building. We’ve got to go now. They’re getting ready to move.”

  “You saw Evie?” John asked. “And Cat and the boy?”

  Cam shook his head. “No, but they’re in there. We heard the men talk about moving cargo so they’re still here. We found an empty room to stage but we’ve got to go now. We can’t wait.”

  John nodded. “Then let’s do it.”

  Cam nodded then bent to kiss his wife. And this was no peck on the cheek, goodbye kiss. This was a full-out passionate embrace that no one seemed to think was inappropriate for the situation.

  When he finally released her, she smiled and Ryan swore he saw heat flare between them, even in the frosty chill of the air.

  Then Cam grabbed Seth by the arm and laid a hand on Dane’s neck.

  And they were gone.

  * * * * *

  Dane could smell Evie and his wolf wanted to race out the door and kill anyone in his way.

  It took every ounce of his legendary patience to sit quietly on the floor and wait for Cam to transport the rest of the team into the building.

  It didn’t take long, maybe thirty seconds, but apparently it was long enough to trip whatever security Ettore Marrucini had set up.

  Because when John cracked the door to slip out into the hall, Marrucini’s men were waiting for them.

  A hail of bullets nearly cut him to shreds before Race threw out his hand and the guns jammed.

  “Kaine!”

  At John’s shout, Kaine blew by him, racing up the hall toward the men who’d tossed their guns aside and drew knives.

  With the element of surprise lost, Race and Seth followed close on Kaine’s heels to engage the four men at the end of the hall.

  Dane followed, Evie’s scent calling to him. He thought he’d be able to squeeze by and find Evie.

  But Marrucini’s men had them bottlenecked and they fought with deadly fury. Seth already had blood on his face but the guy who’d hit him looked a hell of a lot worse, even though he was still on his feet.

  And standing between Dane and Evie.

  He growled, watching the fight, looking for a break.

  John had engaged a guy who didn’t look to be more than twenty years old. And when he snapped the kid’s head back with a jab that bounced him off the wall, Dane saw his opening.

  He raced up the hall, past the battle. Kaine snapped at his tail as he ran by her but wouldn’t stop. He had to find Evie.

  Turning the corner, he followed her scent up the next hall, where he also smelled another two men, one of them Mal.

  He skidded to a stop, his paws sliding on the polished vinyl floor.

  Evie was up there, just ahead—

  A blast rocked the building, knocking Dane sideways. He scrambled to keep on his paws, using his nails to steady himself then he took off running because now he smelled heat. Fire.

  And he knew Evie had just joined the fight.

  * * * * *

  Bastard. Just a little farther…

  The man who’d shot her in the neck with the tranquilizer dart was behind the door.

  She heard him through the wood. Heard the click as he loaded the dart then the snick of the lock disengaging.

  Huh. Guess all that training really did help.

  She’d have to thank Cat when they got out of this mess.

  Because it’d been the sounds of fighting in the distance that had made her begin to create the little ball of fire now sitting in her hand.

  Ready…

  The door opened and Evie lifted her hand.

  She didn’t think. She didn’t hesitate. She let her rage fuel her magic until it practically burned her hand. Then she threw it with every ounce of her strength at the door.

  And watched as wood splintered outward, burning the door into ash and knocking the man who’d been on the other side into the wall behind him. He slumped to the ground and, when she was sure he wasn’t going to get up, she picked up Cat’s wolf, surprisingly heavy for such a small animal, and headed for the door.

  * * * * *

  “Cam!”

  Ryan turned from watching the building for any sign of movement and saw Stella grab for Cam.

  She nearly buckled under his weight and Ryan ran over to help her before they both fell.

  “Get him into the back of the truck.” Ryan had already started to drag them both toward the Lincoln Navigator John had driven his team in. He and Dane had driven separately in Dane’s Jeep.

  Cam looked pretty fucking bad and John knew the guy wasn’t going to be making any more trips inside that building.

  “We need to drive down there to pick them up,” Cam said. “Whatever wards they put on that building, they fucking drained me. I’m not going to have enough juice to get them out. We have to go to them.”

  Ryan looked at Stella. “Please tell me you can drive a stick?”

  She nodded as she buckled Cam into the middle row of the Navigator. “Absolutely.”

  Ryan ran back to the Jeep and peeled out, praying to whatever gods were listening that they weren’t too late.

  * * * * *

  The fire alarms screeched, the high-pitched whine fucking with Dane’s hearing.

  But he didn’t have to rely on his hearing to find Evie. He followed the smell of smoke, which had obliterated every other scent for the moment.

  Around another corner, he saw a man sprawled on the floor, shards of burning wood surrounding him. Dane’s medical training caused him to pause and sniff the man.

  Unconscious. He should—

  “Dane!”r />
  He spun to see Evie walk through the now-empty doorway, Cat’s wolf groggy but awake in her arms.

  The man forgotten, he howled at her then nudged at her leg with his muzzle to head in the opposite direction down the hall. Behind them, the sounds of fighting continued and Dane wasn’t taking the chance that Marrucini’s men were winning.

  There had to be another exit.

  “Dane, what about Alex? Where’s Alex?”

  He didn’t stop to answer her question, which he couldn’t have done anyway unless he shifted. Which they didn’t have time for.

  He forced her to keep going. The scent of cold air tinged with airplane fuel made him take the next turn.

  Where he saw a man holding Alex in one arm lift his other and point.

  The blinding pain was like nothing he’d ever felt before.

  A spell. Cold as ice. Frigid. Powerful.

  He dropped to the ground, Evie’s agonized cry the last sound he heard.

  * * * * *

  Ryan had just pulled to a stop at the rear of the building when he saw a man get into a black Mercedes, Alex in his arms.

  His first instinct was to block the car from leaving.

  Then he saw Evie run from the building, a small black wolf in her arms.

  Turning, he drove straight for them, slamming on the brakes and turning the wheel so the car came to a stop inches from Evie. Behind him, he heard Stella screech to a stop in the Navigator.

  “Ryan, Dane’s been hit! You have to go back for him.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine but Cat’s still groggy from the drugs. Ryan, you have to get Dane.”

  He nodded. “Get in the car and stay there.”

  He had the gun in his hand as he ran for the door Evie had exited. He knew how to use it. And he would, if he needed to.

  Opening the door, he saw no one in the hall so he ran. But the sound of footsteps approaching him made him pull into a shadowed doorway and wait until he realized he knew the voices.

  “John, Kaine. It’s Ryan,” he called before he stepped out into the hall, the gun shoved in his jeans. “Shit.”

  John carried Dane’s wolf in his arms, over a hundred pounds of dead weight.

  Ryan couldn’t tell if the wolf was breathing. His heart pounded out a hard rhythm.

  Race and Seth followed behind with Kaine at their heels. No one appeared to be chasing them but they didn’t slow down.

  “Race, you and Seth take the Jeep with Cat.” John headed for the Navigator where he laid Dane on the back seat as Stella moved into the middle with Cam and Kaine jumped in as well. “Evie, let’s go.”

  Ryan took the bag Evie had retrieved from the Jeep and caught the wide-eyed fear on her face.

  “It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.”

  She let him pull her close, let him press a kiss to her temple as she wrapped her arms around him and clung for several seconds. Then they both maneuvered into the backseat with Dane between them as John drove them home.

  Chapter Nine

  “This spell isn’t like anything I’ve seen before. It feels…cold,” Margie said. “Almost metallic.”

  Nica Belludi nodded as she held her hands above Dane’s body. “I’m not sure what to do with this. I’ve seen Mal magic before. This is different.”

  As the boschetta’s healer, Nica had a Goddess Gift that allowed her to heal through the touch of her hands. Evie had believed she could fix anything from broken bones to internal bleeding.

  “Are you telling me you can’t help him?” Evie heard the tears in her voice and drew in a deep breath as Ryan pulled her back against him. She didn’t want to cry. Not now. They had to fix Dane before she’d allow herself a good cry.

  Nica frowned as she turned to Evie, shaking her head so hard her dark hair fell over her shoulder. “No, I’m just saying this could take me a while to figure out. And I’m afraid if I do something wrong, it could trigger something else. The spell’s complex. And it’s so damn cold. It’s like laying my hands on the tip of an iceberg.”

  “And that’s what’s making his core temperature fall, this spell?” Ryan’s hands clenched her shoulders, almost tight enough to hurt.

  Nica nodded. “But I’m afraid if we try to warm him through conventional methods, we may set off another layer of the spell. We need to find a way to bring his temperature back up before hypothermia sets in. I think that might be the way to combat the spell.”

  “Like…burn it out of him?”

  Margie turned to give her an assessing look before nodding slowly. “Yes, just like that.”

  Ryan’s eyes met hers, dark with worry. “You can do this, Evie. I know you can.”

  Such faith. But did she believe?

  Evie didn’t know much of anything at the moment. She only knew she wanted Dane to wake up. And she had the Goddess Gift of fire.

  Behind her, she heard John take a deep breath and release it slowly. “Evie…”

  She turned, expecting to see John shaking his head. But she saw only steady trust in his expression.

  “Be careful but don’t falter,” he said. “We’ll be right here for you. I’ll be right outside the door, Evie. You call for me, I’m here in a second.”

  She nodded, unable to speak. His belief in her went a long way to believing she could do this.

  After a final nod, John looked at Margie, who gave her a brief smile then waved Nica ahead of her as they walked out the door. Kaine reached forward to squeeze her arm before she slid past John and disappeared, that same trust in her eyes that she saw in John’s.

  John stepped toward her, his arms circling her shoulders for a brief, tight hug before he turned to Ryan.

  “You’re staying?”

  “Yeah.”

  John stared some more but Ryan held his gaze. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”

  “Not on my life.”

  Evie didn’t see John leave. She’d already turned to Dane, lying so still on the bed.

  Their bed. She had to keep that in mind. It would ground her as she fixed this. Fixed him.

  They couldn’t lose Dane.

  She crawled onto the bed next to him, her knees touching his side, her hands on his chest. God, he felt so cold.

  “Ryan, could you…”

  She didn’t know what she needed until he stepped behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

  Then she closed her eyes and let the fire take her.

  * * * * *

  An hour later, Ryan pulled the covers over an exhausted Evie as she lay next to Dane on the bed.

  Ryan had just told John and Kaine he’d call them when Evie woke. He didn’t really expect that to be until the next morning. Kaine had pulled a reluctant John away to get some sleep after she’d made Ryan a mug of hot chocolate.

  He hadn’t known how much he loved the stuff until he’d had Kaine’s. It tasted like sweet ambrosia and he swore she must have put a tranquilizer in it because he actually thought he might be able to sleep now.

  Dane was still out cold, though his core temperature continued to rise. Slowly.

  Whatever Evie had done to combat the spell seemed to have worked.

  But it’d wiped her out.

  Ryan wished Dane would wake the hell up.

  What if he’d sustained brain damage from the prolonged drop in his core temperature? What if she hadn’t managed to burn out all of the curse or spell or whatever the hell the guy had infected Dane with? What if he never woke up?

  Every fucking awful possibility paraded through his head until it ached.

  He thought about following the hot chocolate with a few shots of Jagermeister, just to help him sleep. But he wanted to be coherent and ready if either of them needed him.

  At the moment, he felt pretty fucking useless.

  At least while Evie had been helping Dane, he’d been providing literal support, his arms around her shoulders, his chest against her back. He swore she’d drawn energy from his body as she’d worked on Dane.<
br />
  Now…

  He sighed, looking over his shoulder at the chair on the other side of the room. He really wanted to sit.

  But…he needed to call Dane’s mother. And he needed to check on Cat. Margie had put her in Dane’s spare bed on the other side of the hall.

  The girl had still been in her pelt when Ryan had sent John and Kaine home but Margie had told him that was to be expected after the high level of tranquilizer they’d used on her.

  Still, he couldn’t sleep until he’d seen Cat.

  Dragging toward the door, he left it ajar so he’d hear if either of them called. Or whispered. Or moved.

  When he pushed through the door into the spare bedroom, he stopped when he realized Margie wasn’t the only one in the room with Cat.

  A lanky teenage thug sat on the edge of the bed. The kid had tats running up both arms, his short, dark hair spiked in every direction and his jeans looked as if they’d been run through barbed wire.

  He didn’t look up at Ryan but Ryan knew the kid had heard him enter.

  “I told Margie I’d wake her when Cat opened her eyes.” The kid’s voice sounded ages older than he looked, husky and weary. “But…she won’t. Not even for me.”

  It was on the tip of Ryan’s tongue to ask who the hell the kid was, but Ryan heard fear in the boy’s tone and he moved to the bed.

  “Damn it, why didn’t someone come get me?” He moved to the other side of the bed, his veterinarian training taking over as he started to examine Cat.

  “I was just about to. I thought…” The teen shook his head. “What do you need?”

  “I need my bag from the front room. I’m afraid she’s slipping into shock and having a reaction to the drugs. Damn it, why the hell didn’t I see this earlier?”

  Because he’d been preoccupied.

  “Hey—” He turned to find the teen gone, only to have him reappear in the doorway seconds later with his bag. “Thanks.”

  “What do you need me to do?”

  Ryan opened his bag and started pulling out what he’d need. But he spared a look at the other guy and saw fear in his pale gray eyes. Since he had no idea who the kid was, he’d been about to tell him to leave but thought better of it.

  The guy obviously cared for Cat and if anyone had ordered him out of the room when Evie had been healing Dane, he would’ve fought tooth and nail against it.