“No. I have to comb out his hair.”
A wide-toothed black comb appeared in front of her eyes as if by magic. “Here you go, hon.”
As Tam walked over to wrap her arms around Kyle’s waist, Tira saw them exchange a look. Kyle frowned down at his mate but Tam just shook her head as Tira began to comb the knots out of Duke’s hair.
It didn’t take her long and she knew she was starting to zone out but he was out cold and she could touch him to her heart’s content. Still, she knew she couldn’t do this all day.
She forced herself to stop after another minute then she stood there, unsure what to do next.
“Hey, hon,” Tam touched her towel-covered back, careful not to brush against any of her exposed skin. “Why don’t you get dressed then check on Nic? We’ll take care of Duke for a few minutes.”
“Okay, sure.” That sounded like a plan.
Turning her back to the room, she stripped off her wet panties and bra then pulled on the sweats Kyle had given her before she headed for the bedroom. She forced her feet to keep moving until she stood in the doorway, looking at Nic lying so still on the bed.
Dr. Marone was repacking his bag. The bench Kaine was lying on had been moved to the side wall where the wolf continued to sleep.
“Ah Tira. Looks like they’re going to be okay. Since I assume you’re staying, I’m ordering you to get some sleep as well.” He looked at her over his tiny reading glasses. “You look a little unsteady on your feet, sweetheart. Tam will obviously be here if anything should change. I’m headed back to the den.”
The elderly Dr. Marone had taken over as lucani army doctor two decades before she’d been born almost twenty-six years ago. Since she wasn’t lucani, they hadn’t had much contact but he looked exactly like her image of a doctor—short, round, bald and always smiling. She wanted to hug the man but she settled for a heartfelt though wobbly smile.
“I…” she wanted to say something. Needed to say something but she didn’t know what. Finally she nodded and walked to the side of the bed. “I’ll get some sleep. Thank you.”
He walked over to her and patted her on the back, making sure not to brush against her exposed skin. Her Gift wasn’t as strong as her mother’s, but skin-to-skin contact almost always triggered her visions.
Duke being one of the only exceptions.
Pulling the padded chair on the wall closer to the bed, she practically fell into it.
Eyes burning, she let her gaze eat its fill of Nic. From his gorgeous hair with its mix of shades from brown to red, to his starkly handsome features that never failed to make her heart ache. His skin tone was naturally pale but now looked ashen. That more than anything made her feel like crying.
She tried but couldn’t stop the vision as it ran through her head. The one she’d seen nearly a decade ago. She’d been a late bloomer, her Gift not kicking in until she’d been eighteen years old.
Blessed Goddess, she’d been so worried she’d never develop one. That she wouldn’t be the daughter her mother needed her to be. Would never be able to take her place in the boschetta when her mother finally decided to retire.
Now she wished she’d never developed it.
“Tira, here.” A steaming mug appeared in front of her face, the hand holding it connected to Tam. “Drink this.”
Tira took it without thought. “Do you believe in destiny, Tam? Do you believe that your entire life is set out before you and nothing you can do will change it?”
Tam didn’t hesitate. “No, I don’t.”
Tira lifted her gaze to meet the other woman’s. “Then you don’t believe I see visions of the future?”
Tam sat on the edge of the bed, her mouth curving in a comforting smile. “Yes, I do. I believe some people are set on a path they won’t deviate from. But I also believe your path can change in the blink of an eye and that what might have been doesn’t have to come to pass.”
Tira thought about that for a moment. Then she sighed. “Has Kyle ever told you our tragic little story?”
Tam nodded, her smile fading away. “What he knows of it, yes. He said you touched Nic and had a vision of his death. He said it was your first. I can’t imagine how horrifying that was.”
She didn’t bother to argue or agree. It had been hell, pure and simple. “I met Nic and Duke when I was fifteen and they were nearly eighteen. It was that lightning-strike moment, you know, when you realize what the whole chemistry thing is about.
“Nic always had this big grin that just made you want to smile along with him and Duke was always so quiet but he had that glint in his eye, the one that put you on notice that he was trouble. Good trouble. He never had a malicious bone in his body.
“For two years, I waited and bided my time. They were notorious flirts with the lucani girls and I hated that they always treated me like a kid because I knew they had feelings for me. I mean, I know why they did it now. I was young. And they were wild.
“And then Duke’s dad died and his mom took him away for all those months.”
She stopped to shake her head and take a sip of the decadent hot chocolate Tam had made, letting its heat seep through her cold body. “When he got back… That glint was gone. His mother dropped him at Nic’s parents’ house and disappeared again. He and Nic had to start their legion service in days. Nic and I, we kept in touch while Duke was gone. Nic gave me a cell phone so we could call each other. When he called me to tell me Duke was back, I snuck away from the boschetta so Nic could pick me up and take me to see Duke. I was eighteen then. And still a virgin. And I wanted them.”
She had to stop to take a breath but Tam didn’t try to hurry her along, she just sat there quietly, her focus squarely on Tira. Tam might be younger but she had an old soul.
“Duke seemed happy to see me and we had dinner together, just the three of us at Nic and Duke’s house and everything was going to be wonderful.”
Her throat closed as she remembered. “I was in love with these two gorgeous men who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Screw boschetta tradition that streghe never commit themselves to mates because it divides our focus between our duties and our love lives. I was stronger than that. I wanted it all.”
She forced her eyes to stay open. She didn’t want to remember exactly what had happened. But it was branded in her memory. Duke had stepped behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, Nic in front of her, reaching for her waist. Nic leaned down to kiss her, his mouth touched hers and—
Blinking hard, she tried to chase the memory away but the tears had already started. “I felt like I was right there, in the vision. I could smell the blood and see it pooling around his head on the ground. I heard Duke screaming for help. Then I flashed again and I saw the funeral.” She could actually feel the rain on her skin. “Duke had to take me back to my mom a crying mess.”
It hadn’t been pretty. Hell, it hadn’t even been simply messy. It’d been a disaster.
“Have you tried… Did you ever attempt to see if the vision changed?” Tam asked, her tone tentative.
Tira nodded, despair welling up along with the tears. “I got brave a few years ago. By then the guys had…moved on.” And so had she. For her own sanity’s sake. “But I couldn’t let it go. I just… I kissed Nic again.”
And nothing had changed. The vision of his death had been the same. The letdown had almost been harder that time.
“But you still love them.”
She met Tam’s gaze head on. “And I always will. How’s that for a sob story?”