“Not like that.” I pulled in a shuddering breath. “I’ve made it my job to keep my heart frozen. But you melted all the ice away, and now I’m drowning in all these feelings, and I might never come up for air. I’ve lost control, Dante, and I think I’ve fallen in…”
“You’re exhausted and hungry and were betrayed by someone you loved. You need to give yourself time to heal.” He frowned down at me, head tipped, eyes full of worry. “Let me feed you before I leave.”
My insides pinched together when I thought of him going up against my uncle.
The utter folly of what we were planning to do.
“Stop thinking, Emberline, and drink.” He pulled me to his throat, leaning back, taking me with him so I lay blanketed over his powerful body, strong arms banded around me, the mess we’d made slippery between my thighs. “Drink from me and make me the happiest male in the world.”
Feeding led to another round of lovemaking, and only when I was sated, cleaned up, and dozing against him did I remember he had to leave soon.
“Be careful.” I traced the edge of one of his tattoos, the ends of my fingers tingling. “My uncle is always a step ahead, even when you think he’s not.”
“I’m always careful, Emberline, and I’m not leaving just yet. Go to sleep so I can watch you for a little while longer.”
“Glad that’s not creepy at all,” I whispered back, right before I slipped away.
58
DANTE
An old storage shed crouched at the edge of a dead canal in Cannaregio, with rotten shutters and a sagging roof, was not where I planned to spend my morning, but there were assurances I needed before I faced Giovanni.
Wards crawled over the clammy brick like glittering spiderwebs—Nico’s handiwork. Anyone who wandered too close would only see a narrow alleyway with a dead end, get the feeling they had somewhere else to be, and leave.
I opened the door and smelled rotten wood and brewing anger.
“I told your brother about Emberline.” Nico shot me an apologetic look. “And Giovanni. Andthe plan.”
Well, that explained the anger.
Gabriel stared out the window, sunlight cutting a sharp line across his face. Nico leaned against a wall, every inch the bored soldier, except for the keen way his eyes tracked me—calculating how close I was to losing my shit again.
Too godsdamned close.
“The fucker’s dead,” Gabriel agreed mildly to the unspoken question floating between the three of us. “If you don’t kill him today, that is. Not sure this is the best plan, brother, given yourmood.”
I shut the door and threw the rusty bolt, wardshumming as they settled back into place. “As tempting as that thought is, he has to stay alive. Fornow.”
Nico snorted, going still, nostrils flaring as I drew closer. “Well, well, well, listen to the voice of reason. Weren’t you the one who was talking about tearing his head off just a few hours ago?”
“I slept on the idea.” My jaw ached from clenching it so tight. “And while Giovanni’s a dead male walking, the slippery bastard still serves a purpose.”
Making love to Ember, holding her in my arms, and watching her sleep had soothed some of my temper, forcing me to reevaluate the situation, to think past my own consuming anger. This had to work. We couldn’t risk any fuckups, much less mistakes made in anger.
Even though leaving him walking around free felt wrong.
An image flashed, vivid and vicious. Giovanni on his knees before me, begging for mercy he would never get. My knife in his chest, Ember standing behind me, safe, watching her uncle’s blood stain the cold stone.
I enjoyed that image far too much.
Gabriel watched me with that too-perceptive gaze. “How is she?”
I swallowed around the jagged knot in my throat. “Sleeping. Finally.” I hesitated, then added, “She kept clawing in her sleep, like she was drowning.”
My intuition told me there was something else wrong, something I couldn’t put my finger on. The ring of silver around her dark eyes. The way she seemed half-lost in a dream. How she’d been staring at the floor around Nico, like she was seeing something I couldn’t.
My brother’s eyes darkened. “When we take him down, Ivote we drown his ass. Make his dying last a long, long time.”
