“No, no, I haven’t developed another Gift. The one I have is more than enough. It’s just that when you lose your sight, your other senses become much better.”
Su’s formerly clear blue eyes were clouded now and stared sightlessly in his general direction. That, more than the streaks of silver in her hair and the tremble in her voice, made his chest tight with frustration. Because there was nothing he could do for her.
He immediately flipped back to the first time he’d met Su. It’d been right after Tira’s first vision, the one that had fucked them all over so badly. He’d had to take Tira home after she’d calmed down. It’d taken him an hour to get her to stop crying, holding her in his arms and rocking her. Nic had had to leave. Tira had been unable to look at him without sobbing.
He’d driven her home, his own shock and fear stealing his speech, and Su had met them at the door. She’d known what had happened, had seen it in her own vision.
He’d found out later that Su had known hours before what was going to happen. That she’d seen her daughter’s agony but she’d never told Tira.
Su had taken Tira in her arms that night, nodded to Duke and shut the door behind her. He’d come back the next day to check on Tira and he and Su had forged an unlikely friendship.
Foolishly, he’d thought it was because Su knew she’d never have to share Tira with them.
But over the years, he’d begun to wonder if she hadn’t been hoping…
“How are you really feeling, Su?”
Su’s lips curved in what looked like a grimace. “Healthy as a horse and sharp as a tack. Unfortunately, I know it won’t last. Tomorrow I may not remember my own name.”
His hand tightened on hers and a cold shiver raced down his back. He hated the fact that he could do nothing for this woman. And that she was so calm about her own fate.
He couldn’t even bear to think about this happening to Tira.
Before he could say something, anything, Su’s expression became determined. “You need to get her to change her mind, Duke. I don’t want her to rot away here taking care of me. I made mistakes. I don’t want her to repeat them. She won’t listen to me. I’ve tried to talk to her but she’s too much like me. Too stubborn for her own good.”
Blessed Goddess, he wished he had that much control over Tira. But he didn’t. He couldn’t.
“I’m the last person she listens to, you know that.”
“Then you have to change that. You and Nic. I don’t want her to end up here, strapped to some damn bed like a lunatic. There have been times I’ve thought about telling her to leave the boschetta, to give up her Gift and let someone else carry the burden. But my daughter’s Gift is strong and vital to the boschetta. She knows giving up her Gift to another, letting another carry her weight, would be weak. And Tira’s not weak. She has to see that. She has to know it.” Su stopped to take and release a deep breath. “I worry so much, Duke. You have to do something. And soon. Or I’m afraid it will be too late for all of you.”
“Are you sure it’s okay to move him, Tam? He still looks really pale.”
Praying to the Great Mother Goddess that his knees didn’t buckle as he walked to Duke’s truck, Nic tried not to let the fear in Tira’s voice get to him.
She and Tam had remained on the porch while he and Nic headed for the truck, ostensibly for Tira to get last-minute nursing instructions.
Nic knew she was worried about him. Which was both gratifying and ass-chafing.
Yeah, he looked like shit. For that matter, he felt like shit. He’d had his insides rearranged when that beam had fallen on him.
But he wasn’t dead. At least, not yet.
According to Tira’s vision, that was coming soon enough and he’d be damned if he went to his grave with regrets.
The three of them had wasted the past eight years. He wasn’t wasting any more. His plan would work. It had to.
And after he and Duke made her theirs, then he’d be able to die. Maybe not happy but at least satisfied, knowing Duke would be there for her.
“Well, I wanted him to stay a few days more but you know what he’s like,” Tam said. “I don’t think he’ll do any more damage but keep him in bed as much as possible. The internal bleeding has stopped and lucani healing is remarkably fast so he shouldn’t be in danger of starting again but keep an eye out for unusual paleness and lethargy.”
Tira sighed deeply before she thanked Tam and headed for Duke’s Jeep at the bottom of the steps. Nic had pulled himself into the front passenger seat. No way could he get in the back without contorting his body in ways it really wouldn’t like.
Duke stood by the front bumper, watching him with narrowed eyes.
Yeah, he got that Duke wasn’t totally on board with the plan. At least not yet. But when Nic got a chance to tell him what he planned, Duke would be fine. He had to be.
Because Nic couldn’t bear to be apart from her any longer.
As he watched her come closer, he felt the arousal he tried to keep banked struggle to run rampant. He’d had years of practice keeping it confined but he’d hadn’t spent much time with Tira.
That was going to change so he needed to keep it together.
When she reached the car, Nic watched her and Duke exchange glances, heat passing between them before Tira dropped her head and slipped into the backseat. When Duke climbed into the driver’s seat, he sighed, shoved the car into gear and headed for Tam’s old house.
Since joining Kyle as sicarii, he, Duke and Kaine had moved into the old Guiliano place. It was only a mile or so away from Kyle’s and though it only had one bedroom when they’d moved in, he and Duke had added on another two bedrooms.
And he didn’t plan on sleeping alone in the king-size bed he’d built with his own hands longer than a few nights.
Looking into the rearview mirror, he caught Tira watching him with those clear blue eyes before she quickly shifted her gaze out the window again.
Leaving him to stare at her perfect profile.
She personified the word lovely to him with her soft features, rounded chin and cheeks, full lips and huge eyes. Golden blonde hair fell in waves past her shoulders. She’d gotten the unusual color from her father, who she’d never met. Su had never even told the guy she was pregnant.
No way would he ever let a woman run him away from his child.
If he was ever lucky enough to have one.
Which wasn’t looking too likely at the moment.
He caught back a sigh before it could escape. Didn’t want Duke and Tira to think—What? That he was tired?
Hell, he ached all over, he wanted to close his eyes and sleep so badly his body had already started to shut down and he had a hard-on.
He was screwed. Completely. Absolutely.
And he needed a few minutes to recharge.
He’d close his eyes, just until they got to the house.
And when they were all enclosed by the same four walls, nothing was going to stop him from showing her what she meant to him.
The drive to the ramshackle-looking house took only minutes, so Tira didn’t have much time to second-guess her decision. No, she had just enough time to work herself into a state of panic.
Which she absolutely hated. Hated the feeling that she couldn’t handle herself. Handle her life.
Taking several deep breaths as Duke pulled to a stop at the steps to the front door, she tried to get the panic under control.
Idiot. Get a grip.
Duke opened the car door, the squeak of the hinges tearing her thoughts back to the present and, when he stuck his hand back in to help her out, she didn’t hesitate to take it.