“So, let me get this straight. The only reason you’re getting Lucas back is because you guys like the way he sings,” Bennett growled.
“And because he’s your mate,” Gabriel said. He had always been a tough shell to crack. Bennett thought it was probably because of all the shit his biological dad had done to him when he was a kid. He had a hard time attaching himself to people, trusting those around him. So Bennett wasn’t surprised by his less than warm attitude. The normality of it actually calmed his nerves some.
“Lucas has a kind heart. He fits into our family,” Ramsey said.
“Yeah,” Gabriel whispered.
Bennett didn’t say a word. Because that was true. Lucas did have a kind heart. That was the one thing Bennett worried about the most. Those bastards wouldn’t kill him with a bullet or by draining his blood dry from his body. No, they’d make him heal until Lucas had no energy left.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nicolono could not take one single second of inept behavior from his followers. Not one had come back with good news, and it was starting to wear on his nerves. Frank hadn’t come back at all. He was either dead or he had deserted Nicolono. Either way, he wasn’t surprised.
There was dissension in the coven also. He could see it in the way some of them had stared at him the last few days with mistrust in their eyes. He blamed Silvia. Her curse changed Angel, made him see Nicolono differently.
He knew for a fact it was Angel who had created the rebellion. He hadn’t thought of a proper punishment. After he did he would make Angel wish he had never started questioning Nicolono’s leadership.
Nicolono absently patted Jules’ hair, running a hand down him as if he was a dog. Jules was at his feet, kneeling the way Nicolono hadtaught him. Jules had become his pet, of sorts. He had always wanted one.
He should kill his wife, but he couldn’t live the rest of his life without her. The longing and loneliness were getting worse. She was the only one who could save him. He knew what Thomas’ curse entailed. Longing for a woman who hated him, and was crazy with it, was the worst kind of torture.
They had been together for seventy years. He had always thought they were kindred spirits. At the time they’d met, it was a custom for a man to take a woman as a wife, even in a coven. The war had ended, and all those fine boys were coming back. Women like Silvia got married because they were shoved out of jobs. Silvia hadn’t escaped the same fate and Nicolono had taken advantage of her situation.
He had seen her walk into a dress shop and decided she made an easy mark. He had been wrong. Very,verywrong. It had turned out okay. They’d fucked in one of the changing rooms and then had gone back to his place. She had never left his side.
He had never had a connection like that with anyone else in his long life. He looked down at Jules, who wouldn’t meet his eyes. The boy was far too timid for his liking. It was too bad he saw that after everything he went through to have Jules for himself. Now, he didn’t even want him. He would’ve liked to have fucked him. Just once would do and then he would send him down with the blood whores to be used by his followers.
No. What he really wanted was Silvia.
“Why can’t you be more like Silvia? Curse me and yell like she does. Instead, you sit there like a scared, trembling child.” Nicolono looked at him with disgust. “Get away from me. As soon as the male witch is found, I’m sending you down with the other blood whores. You’re pathetic and useless.”
Nicolono brought his hand up and backhanded Jules across the face. Jules cried out and fell back on his ass.
“I said get away from me.” Nicolono raised his hand again, intending to strike him a second time if he didn’t obey.
Jules scrambled away, running for his corner of the room. He curled up on himself. Nicolono could hear him sob.
Silvia had never been so timid. She’d learned when to push Nicolono and when to back off.
He stood from his spot in front of the fireplace and went to the door.
Someone knocked as he was reaching for the handle.
Damian was on the other side. As of yet, Damian hadn’t shown the same signs of rebellion that Angel had. Nicolono knew the man was cursed, he just didn’t know how. Damian had always had a stony look on his face. He was one of those men who was hard for Nicolono to read, and he couldn’t very well push his buttons if he didn’t know what those buttons were.
“The witch has been captured.” Damian walked away without a word.
“You just walk away from your leader?” Nicolono asked, following him down the hall.
“You’ve been told. My job is done,” Damian said without turning around.
So he was affected by the curse, it seemed.
“Tell me, Damian. When my wife cursed you, what did it feel like?”
“It didn’t feel like anything.”
“What did she have you do?”
