Shit.
Duke reacted without thought. Kaine was down and he had to get her out of the cell. Over this dead guy’s body, if necessary.
He took a step forward, ready to beat the guy into submission, but the man held his ground.
He wasn’t small and he was almost as heavily muscled as Duke. But the guy was eteri. He’d never win in a fair fight.
And Duke had to get Kaine out of there, so it wouldn’t be a fair fight.
Yet something about the guy’s stance made him pause.
Their mission had been to retrieve whatever eteri had been trapped in here. This guy was definitely eteri. And he seemed to be protecting Kaine.
He stood over her in a defensive position, almost as if he were ready to drop and cover her body if he needed to.
Knowing he could be making a huge mistake, Duke held up one hand in classic truce position. “Look, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to get you out. That’s my partner on the floor. Let me pick her up and we can all leave. Now.”
Before we die in here.
He didn’t say that aloud. Hell, he could barely think it but strength drained from his body with every passing second. He wouldn’t be able to stand soon and he still needed to carry Kaine out of here.
The guy glanced down at Kaine for one brief second before tightening his fists and shaking his head.
“I’ll take her. You don’t look like you could carry her right now. You lead the way.”
Since Duke didn’t want to argue and it was looking less likely that they’d make it out of here alive, if the sound of the house creaking around them was any indication, he nodded.
“Fine. But we gotta go now.”
Duke took a step back and watched the guy pause, as if weighing his options.
“Look, man, I’m about ready to keel over. Pick her up so we can get the fuck out of here. I don’t have the strength to carry both of you and if it comes down to you or her, I’m choosing her. Now move.”
The guy dropped his fists and bent to pick up Kaine.
Her dark gray fur looked black in the shadows and Duke caught a glimpse of what looked like blood trailing out of her mouth.
Vaffanculo, we’re screwed. All of us.
Duke turned and started back down the hall past the cells. He didn’t bother to make sure the guy was following him. He knew he was. He could hear him. His breathing sounded labored but he stumbled after Duke and managed to keep his hold on Kaine.
When they got to the steps, Duke figured the guy couldn’t make it to the top with Kaine.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure he could either but stopping now wasn’t a consideration.
He turned, ready to take Kaine by force if he had to, but the guy looked at him with clear, determined eyes. He wasn’t giving up Kaine.
Duke turned and led them out of the house.
Fresh air hit them in the face as they stumbled onto the grass just as Duke heard a loud groaning creak and the house imploded.
Reality wavered and swum in front of his eyes as soot and dust filled the air.
He couldn’t stop now. He had to get everyone back to… Back to the den. Yeah, that’s the plan.
Load everyone into the car and drive.
He could do it. He had to.
“I wish there was more I could do, Tira, but physically, she’s in good health.”
Tamra Rossini had her hand wrapped around a mug of tea as she sat at the island where Tira Belludi was chopping ingredients for her mother’s calming potion.
“Well, I appreciate your time.” Tira forced a smile and continued to chop, taking care not to cut her fingers. “I honestly didn’t think there was anything you could do but…”
Hope springs eternal. Wasn’t that the phrase?
Tira should have tossed that four-letter word out of her vocabulary years ago.
Tam shook her head, her expression soft with sympathy. “Do you know… Is this something that runs in the family? Like your, um…”
Tam paused, her face screwed up in a frown as she tried to find the right word. Tira sometimes forgot Tam hadn’t been part of the Etruscan world until only a few months ago when she’d met and mated Kyle Rossini.
“My Goddess Gift.” Tira nodded, trying not to think about the implications of her answer. “It can be, yes. My grandmother lived to be ninety but she lost her faculties around age seventy-seven. My mom’s only fifty-one.”
And that just absolutely sucked. But she couldn’t dwell on it or she knew she’d start crying and not be able to stop for hours.
She couldn’t afford that. She had responsibilities to the boschetta. She had her mother to tend to.
Panic wanted to strangle her lungs but she forced it back and continued chopping.
Tam absently tapped her fingers against her mug. “And there’s nothing you can do to stop the psychosis…or reverse it?”
Tira shook her head. “Nothing we’ve ever found.”
A hereditary Etruscan strega with the Goddess Gift of praenuntio, the ability to see future events, Tira was screwed no matter which way she looked at the situation.
The knife came down a little harder than she’d planned, causing Tam’s face to scrunch into a grimace.
“I’m sorry, Tira. I just…”
“Tira, I smell smoke,” Suvera Belludi called from her bedroom.
Her hand clenched around the knife handle as Tira took a deep breath. She smelled nothing but the mint on the cutting board. “Everything’s fine, Mamma. Nothing’s burning.”
“Well, of course not. Not here, dear.”
Concern licked up Tira’s spine and Tam started to frown.
It was probably nothing. Her mother hadn’t had a lucid vision in weeks.
Still…
Tira put her knife aside and headed for her mother’s room, just down the small hallway to the side of the kitchen. Stopping just before the door, she made sure she pushed every thought out of her head. Then she steeled herself.
Stepping into the room, Tira looked straight into her mother’s vacant eyes and forced a gentle smile. When what she wanted to do was cry.
Strapped to the bed, Suvera looked her way with a smile almost as vacant as her stare.
“Do you know where the smoke is, Mamma?”
Su shook her head, her gray-streaked ash blonde hair falling over her face in disarray. “No. But the boys can’t see well in the smoke. And the blood is making it hard for them to think. I’m afraid they won’t be able to get out, sweetheart.”
Tira’s heart tripped over the “boys” comment. There were only two men her mother called boys with that tone of voice. But she had to be sure.
She cleared her throat to get rid of the knot but didn’t quite manage it. “What boys, Mamma?”
“Why, your boys, sweetheart.”
All the air rushed from her lungs and black tinged the edges of her vision. She nearly fell to her knees before she grabbed the doorjamb and forced her knees to lock.
Su smiled. “They’ve always been such handsome boys.”
Blessed Goddess. Something was happening or was about to happen to Nic and Duke.
Tira ran to the bed to grab her mother’s hand, strapped with Velcro restraints to the bed, to see if she could tap into the vision, see what her mother was seeing.
Nothing. She saw nothing.
Behind her, she heard a faint beeping and turned to find Tam reaching into her pocket for her cell phone.
Tam’s expression made Tira feel like someone had kicked her in the stomach.
“I’ve got to go.” Tam turned on her heel and flew back to the kitchen.
Tira released her mother and ran after Tam.
“What is it? What’s going on?”
Tam had already grabbed her medical bag and was halfway to the front door. “I don’t know. But the code was 9-1-1. Four injured. That’s all Dr. Marone said.”