by Anna Lowe
He held up a hand, telling Marco it was all right. He had his mate. Nothing else mattered.
Ariana nodded sadly. “Remo’s accusations are regrettable — but understandable, I believe. However, we shall look forward, not back. Signore Monserratti, what say you to extending your contract? Permanently, I mean.”
The others nodded in agreement, and even Remo didn’t protest.
Sergio’s jaw dropped. They would let him stay in Rome — permanently?
Ariana smiled. “We need some young blood to help us protect Rome. A fresh perspective.”
Sergio’s lips moved, but he couldn’t speak. He could barely think. To go from being tolerated to welcomed — with a permanent job, no less — exceeded his wildest dreams. He looked at Lena, whose eyes filled with pride.
“I think that’s a yes.” She grinned.
Hell yes. Sergio closed his eyes. The worst morning of his life was turning into the best. He’d won over his mate and the Guardians of Rome.
“It would be my privilege,” he managed at last.
Ariana turned to Lena. “Which brings us to you, dear girl.”
Lena’s lips wobbled. “Me?”
Sergio tightened his hand around hers. Whatever Ariana demanded of Lena, he would be there to protect his mate.
Ariana smiled kindly. “There’s an empty seat waiting to be filled at our table. When you’re ready, I mean.”
Lena bit her lip. “Ready for…?”
Ariana stood and pulled out the empty chair. “Ready to fulfill the role of a Fire Maiden — and ready to follow your father’s legacy.”
Lena’s chin snapped up. “My father?”
Sergio looked up, just as surprised. Lena’s father?
Ariana nodded. “Leonardo D’Accardi, a dearly missed friend and legendary Guardian. He died protecting the city, you know.”
Lena’s eyes went wide, and Sergio’s did too. Lena was the daughter of Leonardo D’Accardi — a dragon descended from the legendary Liviana, queen of all dragons?
Several of the Guardians spoke out in surprise. “Her father? How can that be? Leonardo left no heirs.”
Ariana shook her head sadly. “Leonardo hid his secret well. He had to in order to protect his daughter’s life. I was the only one he confided in.”
Lena shook her head. “My father abandoned my mother and me before I was born. He did it knowingly. What kind of legacy is that?”
Ariana looked at the empty chair, then Lena, her eyes grave. “Your father didn’t abandon you, child. He was feverishly making arrangements for your safekeeping when he was killed.”
Lena’s eyes flashed. “He only wanted a son. The minute he found out my mother was pregnant with a girl, he sent her as far away as possible.”
“To protect you from his enemies,” Ariana explained.
Sergio slid an arm across Lena’s shoulders when her knees wobbled. “But my mother said…”
“She didn’t know. She couldn’t have known. If Leonardo’s enemies discovered he had a daughter — the first female dragon born to his noble bloodline in generations…” Ariana trailed off, then sighed. “He had to let you go. He entrusted his secret to me, and me alone. Shortly after, he was killed. Unfortunately, he’d covered your mother’s trail so well, I could no longer track her down to offer support.”
Lena closed her eyes, and a single tear slid down her cheek. “All this time, we were wrong about him.” She wiped her eyes. “My poor mother, thinking we’d been abandoned.”
“He loved her.” Ariana’s voice was gentle. “So much, he found the strength to send her away. The ultimate sacrifice for her own good, and yours.”
Lena gulped, and Sergio did too. His family might not have been an exemplary one, but his mother had done her best, and he knew all about sacrifice.
Gaius sighed. “That sounds like Leonardo, all right. And the gem…”
Lena cupped the diamond. “This?”
Gaius nodded. “The Eruzzi diamond, from the treasure hoard of Augusta, a Fire Maiden descended directly from Queen Liviana.”
“The hoard passed on to Leonardo, a direct descent of that family line,” Dante added.
“Spelled gems become active at the touch of any Fire Maiden,” Ariana explained. “But only Leonardo’s heir would allow the gem’s full power to shine through.”
“A worthy heir, not that Amber woman,” Dante muttered in distaste.
Lena gasped and covered her mouth. “Oh my gosh — Amber. Is she okay?”
Tolino stepped up with an amused expression. “I arranged with the third mate to take her to safety after Vicente left the yacht.” He laughed. “The only person we have to worry about is the third mate. If Amber works her — ahem — charms on him…”
Sergio snorted. He’d count himself lucky never to deal with Amber again. “Charm isn’t the word.”
Lena, meanwhile, ran a finger over the gem’s surface. “I did feel its power. I felt it when I flew.”
Sergio looked at it. He’d sensed that power as well. The air had practically buzzed with electricity, giving him hope during the darkest moment of the battle.
“The power of your ancestors was with you, my dear,” Ariana said quietly.
Sergio replayed the scene in his mind. He’d only caught glimpses of Lena’s tangle with Enzo during his fight with Vicente, but what he’d seen had blown him away. Lena was too new to shifting to fly and fight as well as she had. But with the help of the diamond…
“You did it,” he whispered, kissing her hand.
She looked doubtful. “With the gem’s help.”
Ariana shook her head. “Even the strongest spell cannot carry a coward into battle. Wouldn’t you agree, Signore Monseratti?”
Sergio nodded, and Ariana smiled at Lena. “It was your own strength that saw you through.”
Lena’s chest heaved with a deep breath. Then she contemplated the gem. “My father…” When she looked up, her eyes glistened with tears. “Why was he killed?”
Remo cleared his throat gruffly. “A generation ago, the shifter mafia was expanding so quickly, something had to be done.”
Sergio scuffed the ground. His family — again.
“Leonardo took on the assignment,” Remo added. “And he was making progress, too, dismantling parts of the organization. Bringing the leaders to justice, one by one. Then, one night, he was lured into a trap by Salvatore Monserratti…” Remo trailed off, looking at Sergio.
Sergio went perfectly still. Salvatore was his uncle. The man he’d been forced to kill.
He looked at Lena. Was it pure coincidence or destiny that he’d unknowingly avenged her father?
“So, we come full circle,” Ariana said, breaking the silence that followed. “We lost a good man, but now, we have discovered his daughter. She will make an equally worthy Guardian when her time comes.”
Ariana motioned, and Lena slowly ran her fingers over the back of the empty oak chair.
“You’ll need training, of course,” Ariana murmured. “There’s so much history to learn and so much about the shifter world you need to know. But when you’re ready, this seat shall be yours.”
Lena opened and closed her mouth, unable to say a word.
“Yes, it is a lot to absorb,” Ariana said. “And it has been a long morning. Perhaps we should continue our discussion tomorrow. What do you say, gentlemen? Enough for one day?”
Lena looked like she’d had enough for a lifetime, and Sergio could relate. The past few hours had held their share of surprises for him too.
“Basta.” Dante reached for his wine goblet. Enough.
“Basta,” Gaius murmured, stepping back.
Remo locked eyes with Sergio, then nodded and spoke quietly. “Basta.”
It was an apology, if a weak one, but Sergio didn’t mind. He simply nodded back and echoed the others.
“Basta.” Then he tugged Lena a little closer and turned to Ariana. “Are we dismissed?”
Ariana’s eyes sparkled. “Yes, you
are dismissed.” Then she stuck up a finger, making a show of being strict. “But make sure you’re punctual to our next meeting. Tomorrow at…shall we say, ten?”
Everyone nodded, and Marco led the way to the door. Under any other circumstances, Sergio would have spent a minute muttering to his friend outside. That was a habit they’d picked up in the Foreign Legion — complaining about little, inconsequential things to mask the deeper emotions inside — like that feeling of Holy shit, we could have all died.
But Lena was leaning into his side, if wearing a brave face as always. The three of them moved quickly through the long hallways of the Guardian compound, then emerged into dazzling sunlight. The river gurgled on either side of the little island, and leaves whispered in the wind. Somewhere not too far away, a car tooted its horn, and dozens of others honked back in reply.
“Ah,” Marco deadpanned. “Rome.”
Sergio looked around while his wolf whispered, Home.
Really home. Forever. No need to leave ever again, unless he and Lena so chose.
“Wow,” Lena murmured, looking around. “It’s all so…normal.”
A group of tourists milled around the Ponte Fabricio, taking selfies on the ancient bridge. A passing child licked a cherry gelato, and a pack of cyclists on old-fashioned race bikes whizzed along the riverside trail.
“Normal?” Marco snorted. “Rome?”
Sergio chuckled. Rome wasn’t normal in any sense of the word. It was chaotic. Crumbling around the edges. A little too popular for its own good. But Rome was proud. Beautiful. Stoic.
“Home,” he murmured.
“What did you say?” Lena asked, turning to him.
He cleared his throat. “I said, it’s time to go home.”
She smiled wearily. “Your place or mine?”
Chapter Fifteen
“Are you sure my place is all right with you?” Sergio motioned up Gianicolo Hill.
Lena nodded. Yes, yes, and yes. There was no way she would succeed in getting Sergio past Signora Donatelli and into her own apartment. Not for long anyway, and not with any sense of peace.
Because she needed that peace. Desperately. That, a good, long sleep, followed by an entire day of making love. That was as much of the future as she could handle at the moment.
Step by weary step, they wound through the streets of Trastevere and headed up Gianicolo Hill with all its villas and that huge, leafy park. The place she’d met Sergio for the very first time.
She smiled at the sense of things coming full circle. One harried episode of her life was slowly winding to a close, but another chapter was beginning. A calmer, safer one — or so she hoped.
“Here we are,” Sergio murmured, leading her to a familiar gate. He punched a code into a touch pad and motioned her in, but she stood still, gaping.
It was the very house she had always paused to admire. The one she’d felt drawn to from her first day in Rome.
“You live here?”
He nodded, all matter-of-fact. “In the cottage around the back. Come, I’ll show you.”
On the outside, she managed to keep herself together, following him. But on the inside…
Her mind spun. Every time she had walked by the house in the past, her imagination had gone wild with fantasies of living there.
Destiny. Could it really be?
“Just around here,” Sergio murmured, bypassing a wide staircase that led to a grand entryway.
Lena craned her neck as they walked. Ivy clung to the side of the villa and the tall stone walls that sheltered the property from the street. Birds squawked from the foliage, and somewhere in the tangled garden behind the house, a fountain bubbled.
“Wow,” she whispered.
It was an oasis of calm and grandeur in a city that seemed to bustle day and night.
Sergio led her to a cottage around the back — one crafted with as many beautiful details as the main house, from the swirls painted around the windows to granite blocks forming a terrace at the front door. The cottage was tiny, but high ceilings and airy windows gave it a sense of space. The entire front section was one big kitchen/dining/living room, with doors leading to a separate bedroom and bathroom. The place was bare and spare, as she’d half expected from Sergio.
“This is great. So much character,” she murmured, looking from the intricate designs in the plaster ceiling to the antique tiles underfoot.
Sergio laughed. “This is just the servant’s quarters.” Then some realization hit him, and he stood perfectly still.
Lena’s stomach sank. Now what? She glanced around, wondering what unwritten law of the shifter world she was about to discover the hard way.
But a smile dawned on Sergio’s face, and his eyes sparkled. A moment later, he grabbed her hand and led her outside.
“Wait…” She dragged her feet. Wasn’t he as tired as she?
But Sergio was a man on a mission, rooting around the flowerpots beside the main entrance until he extracted a key.
“Um, Sergio?” She was exhausted. He had to be too. Why was he hell-bent on showing her the villa now? “Won’t the owner mind?”
He shook his head while working the lock open, then pulled her into a grand entry hall.
“No one has lived here for years. Follow me.”
Their footsteps echoed over a gleaming marble floor then tapped up a staircase wide enough for four people to ascend side by side. Lena craned her neck at the vibrant frescoes on the walls. The first few showed Rome in ancient times, with more pastures than buildings. The next few moved forward in time, showing Rome expanding to its glorious peak, then declining and finally reviving again. But among the toga-clad senators of the early scenes, amidst the shopkeepers in a busy market scene, and over the rooftops of medieval times, she spotted other details. Dragons soared over the city, keeping it safe. Wolves peered through trees and around corners, patrolling the seven hills. Eagles wheeled over the river, and bears stood ferociously on their hind legs.
“Are all those Guardians?”
Her whisper carried through the silence of the house. A sad silence, as if those walls longed for a new family to make it their home.
Sergio nodded. “Guardians and the forces at their disposal.”
They passed the second and third floors, where huge, airy rooms branched off all around. The house was magnificent, yet homey. Most of the floor-to-ceiling windows were shuttered, but the few that weren’t let light flood in, making the space cheery and bright.
“This is gorgeous. What a place to live,” she murmured as Sergio led her ever higher.
Finally, he pushed through a door, and outdoor noises piped up again. A huge terrace covered the entire roof, except one corner, where the villa’s imposing tower stood tall. A crenelated wall ran around the terrace, giving the place the aura of a castle.
“Wow,” Lena breathed.
The villa stood at the crest of the hill, and all of Rome spread out below in a cityscape of towers, churches, and hills. The rest of the vista was a sylvan dream with views over a huge, leafy forest that stretched all the way to the Vatican. The dome of St. Peter’s peeked out above centuries-old trees, and to one side…
Lena’s mind swirled with memories. “That’s the park where we first met.”
Sergio nodded slowly, still wearing that gobsmacked look. “Destiny.”
She tilted her head, and he went on.
“You know who owns this house?”
She shook her head slowly. Please, let it not be Vicente. Or Dante. Worse, Remo.
“It was owned by one of the Guardians of old,” Sergio explained. “Leonardo D’Accardi.”
Lena nodded along automatically, but when the name finally registered, her jaw went slack.
Sergio took her by both shoulders. “Your father.”
The past hours had brought her one knee-buckling revelation after another, and she nearly sank to the floor. All those times she’d walked by the house, admiring it… All the times she’d felt a mysterious pull to
this place… Had she somehow sensed the connection?
“It belongs to you now,” Sergio whispered. “Leonardo’s only heir.”
She swayed on her feet, then turned in a slow, incredulous circle. “Mine?”
Sergio nodded. “Yours.”
She looked at the woods, then at Sergio, and finally echoed his whisper. “Destiny.”
Destiny, something deep inside her confirmed.
Then she took a deep breath and clutched Sergio’s hands to her chest. “I only want this if it’s yours too. No, wait. I meant more than that. I mean, I want… I want…” She gulped. “I want you.”
His eyes glowed brighter than ever. “I want you too. But wolves… We mate for life, you know. All shifters do.”
She pulled his hand to her cheek and closed her eyes. “I want that. Forever. With you.”
For the next minute, cuddling just that little part of him was enough, and every thump of her heart was a joyous song. But somewhere along the line, Sergio stepped closer, and their cheek cuddle turned into a tight hug.
“I love you.” Her voice was muffled against his shoulder, but Sergio still heard. He nodded immediately and replied in a choked voice.
“I love you.”
For a while, he held her, and they swayed as if in a dance. Then Sergio turned his head and kissed her ear… Her cheek… Her chin…
She was tired. Confused. Overwhelmed. But Sergio’s touch ignited every nerve in her body, giving her a second wind. Before she knew it, they were locked in ever deeper, hungrier kisses. Her hips pressed against Sergio’s, and her arms tightened around his shoulders. Gradually, her senses became hyperaware of the contact while tuning out everything else.
The beast inside her stirred, and she could feel it slowly taking control. At first, she resisted. But then it hit her. Why deny herself love, pleasure, joy? Why deny Sergio those things?
Still, she broke off, panting. “One thing.”
Sergio looked up, disheveled from the way she’d furrowed her fingers through his hair.
“I want this more than anything. I want you,” she assured him.
He tilted his head. So what’s the problem?
