This felt…personal,somehow.
Without being obvious, I scanned the rooftops again,then the shadowy, narrow street to my right.Nothing.If I kept this up, Nico would start giving me endless shit about being paranoid, and I’d never hear the end of it.
Our boots whispered over worn paving stones as we tracked the faint trace of human scents through the maze ofcalli.Three mortals, young and completely unaware of the dangers of this city at night, were less than ten minutes ahead of us.
And behind them, the scents of the monsters who hunted them.
“Left,” Nico directed quietly. “They cut through Calle del Forno.”
I didn’t need his reminder; I knew this city better than him, but I let him talk. Nico liked to pretend he was the one in charge, and I let him because I was generous like that.
“You’re missing the party tonight.” Nico got talkative when we were hunting. “Too bad, the last night is always the best, and I was so hoping to get laid, but I’m stuck here with you,working.”
“You have my permission to leave.” I slanted him a look that clearly said shut up or go away. “Maybe if you get laid, you’ll stop being such a pain in my ass.”
“Fat chance, Paròn. You’re stuck with me tonight.”
We slipped beneath a low archway, staying within the shadows clinging to the canal beside us, the water so still, it looked like a stretch of black glass, the reflection broken by a gondola ghosting past, the oar’s soft splash a dull echo.
Again, the nape of my neck prickled, and I paused, looked over my shoulder, scanning the rooftops, and finding nothing.Fuck.
Maybe my overactive imagination was catching up to me.
“Their scent reeks of hate.” I refocused, getting my head back in the game. “Eastern. Not from our Dynasty.”
Nico snorted. “Of course not. Our idiots at least know the rules. They must have slipped inside the city with one of the envoys, thought to enjoy some sport while we were distracted.”
“Good thing we don’t get distracted.” I shot him a toothy grin when he fell back into stride beside me, long coat wrapping around his knees, dark hair pulled into his signature braid. Nico hummed with the same restless energy that dogged me ever since that disastrous meeting with Emberline.
I’d been thinking about her ever since.
Challenging my father like that… she was lucky he hadn’t killed her out of hand, and the stunned look on her face when Giovanni had offered her up like some consolation prize… well, she couldn’t say I hadn’t warned her.
Except…I’d ended up getting caught in the trap, too.
Fuck, ever since that night, every time I’d closed my eyes, all I could see were those big, brown eyes, those red lips, imagining how good they’d feel wrapped around my cock. Her skin had been softer than velvet, she’d smelled like pure sin, and…
I needed to get my fucking shit together.
My job was hunting these fuckers down tonight and killing every last one. Releasing all this pent-up aggression and frustration before I split wide open at the seams.
Nico bumped my shoulder. “You’re quiet.”
“I don’t babble inanely when I’m hunting.” I made a sharp right down an alleyway barely wide enough for my shoulders. “Like some people I know.”
“You’re brooding,” he corrected. “You aren’t worried about your upcoming nuptials, are you, Gabriel? Theillustrious Signorina DiRavello… I have to say, my friend, words don’t do her justice. That dress… I’ll be having my own fantasies about that dress, at least until you two make it official.”
I ground my teeth together. “We’reworkinghere, Nico.”
“And?” He lifted his hands in a mock shrug. “Can’t I multitask? Fantasize about your future wife, kill trespassing leeches, discuss your tragic love life… bitch because I’m not getting laid tonight?”
“There is no love life to discuss. And you’redefinitelynot getting laid tonight.”
“Exactlymy point.”
We stepped onto a narrow bridge, slick from condensation. I listened, filtering through the layers of sound until—there.
A muffled cry, cut short.
