Bella Vita (52 page)

Dominic stepped up with Mike and together
they met the barrage of questions that my speech seemed to create.
By the end, they were both tired.

Wrap it up boys.
I sent them, not wanting them to be under the
verbal attack indefinitely and heard the meeting called.

We ate dinner together. I had requested that
the traditional ball be canceled- we needed to focus our energies
on what lay ahead of us.

“
Thank you, Em and Dom.
This is the first time that there has been such public peace
between our peoples.” Dom smiled at Acacia.

“
It's only through this
peace that we shall both be happy.” I smiled at her.

“
I propose a toast, 'To our
peoples' happiness and our friendships.'” Dom offered.

“
Hear, hear.” We called out
and sipped our drinks.

“
To us.” I said and we all
raised our glasses and drank.

Chapter
twelve

Time has a funny way of slowing down when
one expects it to speed up. After the announcement of our alliance
with the wolves, the attacks stopped. I figured it was so the
bastards could come up with a new plan of attack.

Life continued, we kept to our word and
built up a military- the first ever in the vampire history. Within
two weeks, we sent people into each major city, and started the
patrols around the outlying ones. Our people felt protected and
safe. Dom and I decided to start sending out people to try and get
more information on these evil witches or whatever they were.

Mike kept me informed about what was
happening within the packs. They were shocked, but highly pleased
by our public acceptance of the wolves. We had the backing of all
the packs- not just the Ireland one.

Acacia set the date for their wedding- the
beginning of the year. She wanted it on St. Patrick's Day. When it
came through the link, my stomach clinched in pain and I had to
excuse myself from the light meal I was taking with the staff.

Mia
bella
?
Dom was in
a meeting regarding the security around the vampire
schools.

Sì
?
I really didn't want to explain
why I was in pain and pouting in my room.

You knew this day would
come. It's the cycle that is part of each of us. The wolves need
their rulers to be united as well.
His
voice was reasonable and gentle- I didn't want it.

Oh, bite me. You're happy
for the news... I know you dislike how close I am to him
anyways.
I slammed our connection away
from me as I would slam down a phone.

“
What the hell does he know
anyways?” I huffed out into the empty room.

“
He knows enough to try to
appease you before he throws his happiness out.” Dominic was
standing in the doorway of my emergency door.

“
Get out!” I snarled at
him.

“
Sorry, love, not bloody
likely.” He scoffed at me.

“
I could have you removed,
Dom.” My voice turned icy as I walked away from him and to the
window.

“
No, you couldn't. I'm the
King, just as you're the Queen. I could be the worst man on the
damn planet and they wouldn't save you from me.” His voice was
cruelly true.

“
Go away, Dominic. I'm not
in the mood for this.” My stomach clinched again and I gripped the
windowsill in a death grip.

“
Does it truly physically
pain you?” His eyes clouded with concern.

“
Yes, because I feel his
tension, yearning, desire, pain, and every other emotion rolling
through him right now, as well as my own. It's like being assaulted
on all sides.” I hoped that explanation summed it up.

“
Would you like me to call
him?” I felt like it was a huge concession for Dom to ask me first-
I knew he would either way.

“
I don't believe he's aware
that he's doing it. He's currently withdrawn. I don't know if he'll
even take your call.” The pain racked my body again and I fell to
my knees.

“
Don't move,
mia bella
.” I knew he
didn't understand the basis of what was happening- the emotions
that held such a physical bond to each of us.

Mike?
I tried to reach out to him, but in his darkness he couldn't
hear me.

Dominic, I don't think
he'll take your call... he isn't responding to my call to
him.
I had to figure out how to break the
connection.

“
Acacia, this is Dominic. I
don't know what's wrong with Michael, but whatever it is... it's
hurting Em.” There was a brief pause as I listened to him talk to
her. “ No, I don't know what the hell is causing this. She can't
reach him either. Go in there and club him or something. For all we
know he's destroying the universe or creating the Loch Ness
monster... just do something.” He snarled at the phone.

The pain swept through me again, I cried out
and curled into myself.

Mike, please, make it
stop.
I sent it to him with all the force
I could muster.

“
Thank you, Acacia.” Dom's
shoes made no sound on the floor but I knew the second he was by me
again.

I looked up at him and wished he would take
me out of my misery.

“
Mia
bella
, I'm going to put you on your bed.
The floor is no place for Her Majesty.” He smiled at me.

I tried to return the gesture but it became
a grimace.

My bed was soft and molded to my body
instantly. But the pain continued.

“
What did she say?” I
croaked out.

“
She was going to try and
talk to him, if that didn't work then she would try water and then
club him. I don't think she was kidding.” I could see how Dominic
wanted to be the one wielding the weapon.

I willed myself to relax
into a less clinched position. My breath was jagged and I was
sweating as much as a vampire can.

“
You'll be okay, Emma.” He
stroked my hair back.

It stopped suddenly. I had the clearest
vision of Mike being clubbed. I took a deep calming breath.

“
I'm okay. It's gone. I
believe he's unconscious.” I shook my hands as I tried to shake off
the feeling of the pain.

“
Hmm, that wouldn't have
been my first choice to get him to stop, but it seems to have
worked.” Dom sighed out a breath I hadn't realized he was
holding.

“
He'll be okay.” I knew
that she managed to knock him out and break through whatever had
enthralled him.

“
That's good to hear. I
think you should rest,
mia
bella
.” Dom cooed at me.

“
Will you stay with me?” I
didn't want to be alone when I had the dream of his sister and
dealt with whatever was going to stem from everything that had
happened lately.

“
Of course. I'll tell
Yasmin reschedule everything for tomorrow.” I watched him close his
eyes and communicate with her. “It's done.”

“
Wonderful.” The thought of
having double to do tomorrow didn't send warm tingling feelings
through me.

Dom pulled down my blanket and went and got
out one of soft cotton sleep shirts. He beckoned me over and
motioned for me to sit. He untied my boots I had been wearing, slid
down my knee-high striped socks, helped me pull off the black
sweater I had on, and unzipped my zipper on my black pleated skirt.
His cool hands pulled me up, inched my skirt off me, unclasped my
bra, and then he pulled the cool aqua shirt over my head- it fell
to my knees. His lips brushed over mine like butterfly wings.

I sat back on the bed. Dom turned me and
lifted the blanket so I could scoot down. The sheets were cooler
than me- I knew that even when they adjusted to my body, they would
still be chilly to a regular human. He adjusted my pillows and then
laid next to me- on top of the blanket.

“
Hold me, Dom. The dream
will come, I can feel it.” I hated when I had to confess a weakness
I couldn't beat.

“
I'm right here,
mia principessa
. I won't go
anywhere.” His hand gently pushed my stray hairs away from my
face.

When I awoke a few hours later, my mind was
cluttered with images of mangled flesh, blood, mobs, and death- so
much death. Dom was whispering to me in the vampire language. I
knew he was trying to soothe me.

“
Thank you for staying with me.” I
looked down at my wrists as they felt sore- there were red marks on
each, I raised a brow to Dom in question.

“
You started to thrash. I tried to wake
you, but I couldn't bring you out of your spell. I had to restrain
you from hurting yourself.” He rubbed at the marks.

To mark a vampire took an incredible amount
of strength. If I had marks, that only meant I was in a bad way.
The dream was becoming more vivid, which could only mean that time
was drawing near. My body shook and it took me a moment to get it
under control.

“
Emma,
mia
bella
, please tell me what's going on.” His eyes were
lit with concern as his brows pulled together.

“
It was the dream of your sister. It's
becoming more vivid. The last time that my dreams became more real,
intense, it meant that...” I didn't want to tell him that his
sister's time was drawing near.

“
You mean that your vision will come to
pass?”
I watched him gulp.

“
Yes.” I nodded.

“
Then we shall try to find
Issy, warn her in some way. When the time comes we'll save them.”
He sounded so certain.

“
I don't know if we can. I
was only able to alter a little of the last vision I had. Or maybe
I hadn't at all- I did follow it through until the end, but it was
only after that I took control of.” I wasn't sure how certain my
visions were- maybe the ones I dreamed were set in
stone.

“
Well, we'll do what we
can. Issy doesn't want to be given to a mob, and we don't want her
boyfriend Jack to die- even if he's a werewolf.” A smile crept
across his face.

“
Aw, you're just so full of
pleasantness.” I laughed.

“
You know it. Now, I've got
some Bella Notte business to attend to. I'll be down for dinner in
a few hours. Will you be alright?” He kissed my pouting
lip.

“
Yes, I'll be okay now.
What's going on with BN?” My mind clutched to something
else.

“
Some more renovations at
some of the other ones. Abner wanted to talk about some possible
ideas- like maybe calling each one something different, he liked
Bella Vita. I like it and all, but I'm not sure if I want the chain
to be titled different things- you can only stick the word
beautiful in front of so many things.” He shrugged and got off the
bed.

“
It's an interesting idea,
I like beautiful life. Reminds you that life can be beautiful and
in the dark moments you need to remember that. Just a thought.” I
waved him off.

“
Cara mia, ti voglio
bene
, I'll see you in a little bit.” With
that he left the room.

Well, shit. I've no idea
what the hell I'm going to do.
I let my
mind wander back to the details of the dream- trying to find a
clue- as I went to take a shower.

I tried to examine
everything for an idea as to where this was going to take place.
Something I could use to track down Issy and Jack. I knew that they
went to one of the co-op schools. I could talk to Grandpa once he
was better, but I didn't know if it would be soon enough.
Maybe I should call Betty
. I wasn't sure if my seer mentor would be helpful in this,
but maybe she'd have an insight to it all. I decided that I'd call
her.

I got dressed quickly after the shower. It
looked like black was my current color as I had thrown on a black
tunic and some black leggings- and my black boots. I went to the
War room looking for Dom. I wanted to tell him about my idea. I
couldn't find him. I ended up in the library. I grabbed the phone
and pressed my private line number and dialed Betty's number.

“
Ello?” A French female
answer.

“
Hello, this is Emma
Hutchinson, I'm calling to speak with Bettina.” I was sure I was
making a
faux pas
in the world of how royalty reached people, but I didn't
care.

“
Oui, oui, un moment, s'il
vous plaît Votre Majesté
.” The poor girl said in her
haste to get her mistress.

“
Good thing I know French.” I said to
the receiver.

“
What the bloody hell has got my poor
maid speaking French and muttering at a speed it's so damn hard to
understand?” Was Betty's way of answering the phone.

“
Hi, Betty.” I smiled as I heard her
voice and her sudden intake.

“
Emma? You know you're supposed to go
through channels to call people when you're royal. You never just
pick up the phone and call people. My poor maid!” I could just see
her shaking her head.