MoonlightTemptation (6 page)

Ryan stopped to draw in a breath and Dane would have refuted
everything he’d said. If he could.

He knew he couldn’t. And Ryan knew it too.

“But if we fuck this up,” Ryan continued, “
she
gets
hurt. And if you didn’t have that stick shoved so far up your
fucking
ass, you’d realize that this girl is something special. And not just for her
blood.”

“Tinia’s teat, Ryan. I’m not going to bleed the girl.”

“But I know you, Dane. I know you’re just dying to figure
out what’s going on with her and Grace Bell’s kid. I can’t believe you haven’t
been using her already.”

Anger began to build, even though Ryan hit closer to some
home truths with every jab. “I’m not some freak-show mad scientist who’s going
to carve her up in the name of science.”

“Then why haven’t you talked to her about your ideas? What
the fuck are you waiting for? Alex Bell isn’t getting any better. Are you going
to let him die when you know there’s something you can do to help him?”

“Fuck you, Ryan. You know I won’t do that.”

It went against everything he believed as a doctor to let a
little boy suffer.

Still… Evie had been abducted by Grace Bell and subjected to
tests without her consent. She still had nightmares, not to mention the fact
the magical powers she hadn’t known anything about had been triggered by those
tests.

Yes, he’d been hesitant to approach Evie about using her
blood to help Alex.
Vaffanculo
, who wouldn’t?

“Yeah, I do know that.” Ryan sank back into the couch, his
gaze steady. “What I don’t know is what the hell you want. If you really want
me to help you seduce Evie because you can’t loosen your tight ass enough to do
it on your own, I’m in. But I’m telling you now, I like her. And I’m not going
to let you stomp all over her because like it or not, she has feelings for you.

“And if I decide to do this, if I decide to throw myself
behind your plan, I’m gonna make damn sure she feels the same for me. Are you
sure that’s what you want?”

Dane looked Ryan in the eyes. “Yes.”

Chapter Three

Evie was dressed and ready to run again by seven-fifteen.

With her hair pulled away from her face with an elastic
band, she figured she looked pretty damn bad. She’d only gotten about four
hours of sleep and that had been spotty.

She’d been tempted to call Ryan and tell him not to bother
but that was the coward’s way out.

And she hated being thought of as a coward.

So when Ryan pulled up in his yuppie SUV, dressed in a
long-sleeved shirt that fit like a second skin and running shorts, she stepped
out onto the porch.

The sun was barely over the horizon and it had to be even
colder than last night.

“Good morning, sunshine. Sleep well? Great time for a run. ”

Wow, that smile. It might almost be too much this early in
the morning. She eyed him cautiously. “You’re one of those people who like
getting up at the crack of dawn, aren’t you?”

His smile widened as he walked closer. “Ah, babe, it’s the
best time of the day. Most of the assholes are still asleep.”

Without warning, he bent to kiss her, as if he’d been doing
it for years. As if he had the right.

It wasn’t a sexual, stick-his-tongue-down-her-throat kiss.
It was a “Good morning, really nice to see you” kiss.

And she couldn’t have been more shocked if he
had
stuck his tongue down her throat.

She was so used to not being touched. To being carefully
avoided so she wasn’t upset. Upset meant she lost control. And that was bad.

Bad meant inanimate objects could become flying objects at
any moment, although that hadn’t happened for at least a month.

She stilled, waiting for the fallout. For something to
happen, a tree limb to fall on his car, the porch light to blow.

Nothing happened.

“Hey, you okay?”

Ryan cocked his head to the side, waiting for her response.

This time she didn’t have to force a smile. It came
naturally. “I’m fine. You ready?”

“Absolutely, doll.” He waved a hand with a flourish. “Lead
on.”

She started out at a slow pace, not wanting to wear him out
in the first mile. She’d been a runner in high school. At least until the drug
addiction made it impossible but after rehab, the running had helped keep her
head clear.

But when she realized Ryan wasn’t struggling to keep up, she
increased their speed.

“It’s beautiful out here,” Ryan said once they’d gone about
a mile down the lane. “And you gotta love having no traffic. In Philly, it’s
like running an obstacle course.”

“I was born and raised in Reading.” Though not as large as
Philadelphia, it had the same pros and cons as every large city. “When I moved
out here, the silence got to me. All those birds singing in the morning and the
crickets at night. Creepy.”

Ryan laughed, the deep, rich sound raising goose bumps
definitely not due to the cold. “My first visit to Dane’s place, I met the
lucani
king. And Dane’s parents. Talk about surreal.”

“I met Cole once.” Evie smiled at the memory. “I liked him.
Still don’t know exactly what a king does, but I guess he does it well.
Everyone seems to like him. My brother does and he’s a good judge of
character.”

“I haven’t met your brother yet. John, right?”

“Yeah. He and his girl—mate, his mate will probably be over
this morning. He stops almost every day unless he and Kaine are out on
assignment. They’ve been on assignment the past week so I’ve had a reprieve.”

She heard Ryan give an amused exhale. “I gotta say Kaine
always scared me a little. So damn quiet and she can kill you with one hand
tied behind her back. Strong woman.”

“Yeah, but she’s different with John. They make the perfect
couple. They both smile more around each other. It’s nice to see.”

And occasionally depressing, though she’d never say that to
John.

“Hard to take all that happiness sometimes, huh?”

She slid Ryan a brief glance and nearly stumbled when she
got caught in those too-pretty blue eyes. “I thought you were a vet, not a
psychiatrist.”

And there was that perfect smile again. “Minored in psych.
Always had an interest. Plus, it helped. With the addiction. Not that I thought
I could cure myself but I had more of an understanding of what I was feeling.
It came in handy.”

They ran for a while without speaking, an easy silence that
surprised her. She’d expected to be nervous around Ryan but the guy just didn’t
do nerves. Maybe he was magical after all. A great big magical chill pill.

Which would explain why he and Dane were friends. Dane
needed to chill even more than she did at times.

For the rest of the forty-five-minute run, they talked about
nothing important and by the time they got back to Evie’s borrowed home, the
sun shone bright and her brother’s car sat in front of her house.

“Speak of the devil.” She muttered the words under her
breath but she knew Ryan had heard when he laughed behind her.

Which made John, standing deceivingly at ease on the porch,
narrow his eyes and give Ryan the once-over.

She loved her brother more than anyone else in the world.
But his timing sucked today.

Every internal wall that hadn’t snapped into place yet this
morning flew up with an almost physical jolt. She stiffened, drew in a deep
breath and prepared to face her brother’s onslaught of questions.

Which Ryan cut off by walking up to John with his hand
extended.

“Hey, you must be John. I’m Ryan Maguire. Nice to meet you.”

John’s eyebrows made a slow slide upward and, for a brief
second, Evie thought he might ignore Ryan’s hand. But even though he’d become
overly protective of her recently, John didn’t have an arrogant bone in his
body.

“John Simmons.” His eyes narrowed. “You’re Dane’s friend,
right? Kaine mentioned that you were visiting. I didn’t know you knew Evie.”

“We met last night. Dane and I were over for dinner.”

Now John’s expression showed almost comical shock and Evie
sighed though she really wanted to laugh.

It was going to be a long morning.

She stepped up onto the porch and kissed her brother’s
cheek, eliciting another shocked look. She hadn’t been much for public displays
of affection lately and John knew that. “I hope you didn’t drink all the
coffee, bro. I have a feeling I’m going to need a gallon.”

* * * * *

“How are you feeling today, Alex? Any changes since we
talked Monday?”

The little boy in the wheelchair managed a smile for Dane
but only barely. His blue eyes held a dull sheen but his hair shone like
vibrant copper under the bright lights in his room at the holding facility.

Dane wondered why the
sicarii
, the
lucani
king’s assassins, didn’t just call it a jail, considering that’s exactly what
it was.

A jail holding one little boy and his mother.

“Still achy but not as bad as it was before, when it rained.
Momma says that’s normal though. To feel achy when it rains.”

The boy looked over his shoulder at the closed door then at
Tamra Rossini. Tam had become invaluable to Dane in the past few months as the
only trained nurse living with the
lucani
. Her mate, Kyle Rossini, was
the lead
sicari
.

When he finally turned back to Dane, he leaned forward. Dane
did the same, knowing the boy wanted to tell him something but was afraid his
mother would overhear from the next room.

Grace Bell had fought bitterly against allowing her son to
meet privately with Dane at first and honestly, Dane could see her point. She’d
been raised to believe the
lucani
were ravening monsters.

Of course, her demands hadn’t counted for anything. The
sicarii
had simply locked her in another room where Alex couldn’t hear her screams.

“Is there something else, Alex?”

Today, Grace was on the other side of the door. She’d
learned how to play the game. No more screaming.

The boy nodded and his voice dropped to a whisper. “I didn’t
want to tell my mom but my stomach doesn’t feel too good either.”

“Does it hurt?”

Alex shook his head. “No. I just feel like I’m gonna throw
up all the time. And I’m really tired, Dr. Dane, but I’m afraid…”

The kid was afraid to go to sleep. His nightmares starred
wolves who hunted him through a dark forest. And something even worse in the
shadows… Something he couldn’t see but knew was stalking him.

Out of sight of Alex, Tam shook her head, her mouth
compressed into a flat line. She’d grown close to Alex these past few months as
much of his day-to-day medical care fell to her. And he needed a hell of a lot
of care.

Between Grace and Tam, they managed to keep him relatively
comfortable. Relatively being the operative word.

According to Grace, the boy had never been healthy.

Dane nodded, though his chest felt as if someone were
compressing his lungs. A ten-year-old boy who only looked about seven shouldn’t
have to deal with nightmares that were real. “I understand. How bad is it? Are
you getting any sleep at all?”

From the looks of him, Dane didn’t think so.

The boy shrugged and dropped his gaze. “A little but… I
don’t feel as good I did last summer.”

When Grace had been taking Evie’s blood and making serums to
keep her son healthy.

Vaffanculo
. “All right, Alex. I understand.” Then he
put his hands on Alex’s shoulders and waited until the boy looked up at him to
do something Dane never did. “We’re going to make you better, Alex. I promise.
Don’t worry.”

The boy’s smile split his face. “Okay, Dr. Dane. No
worries.”

As he stood, he caught Tam’s gaze over the boy’s head. She
looked shocked, which was no surprise. He never made promises he couldn’t keep
and, with Alex’s situation, there were no guarantees.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Tam, I’m heading back to the labs.”

He knocked on the door leading to the front of the building,
avoiding a confrontation with Grace. He didn’t want to talk to her today.
Didn’t want to argue with her again.

Because she was right.

He’d been avoiding the obvious solution until he couldn’t
ethically do so any longer.

He didn’t speak to anyone as he made his way out of the
“holding facility”. The young
lucani
female who served as Alex’s guard
nodded his way but didn’t say anything and he left without running into either
Duke or Nic, the
sicarii
in charge of the facility.

The walk back to his office took a few minutes and the bite
of the cool air helped clear his head so, by the time he walked through the
door of his lab, he was ready to get to work.

Dane knew one thing that would make Alex feel better. And it
was time he acted like a doctor and did what needed to be done.

* * * * *

“So, how was dinner?”

Cat sat on what Evie was beginning to think of as the girl’s
perch.

On the kitchen counter, a mug of hot chocolate in her hand,
Cat watched Evie practice a simple incendiary spell.

All of the
streghe
in the
boschetta
, including
Cat, had specific areas of expertise in the magical arts. They called them
Goddess gifts.

Cat had an affinity for plants and healing, same as her
mother. Nica healed with her hands. Ralisa manipulated metals. Tira and her
mother, Su, saw the future, which wasn’t much of a gift, if you asked Evie.
It’d nearly driven Su crazy and had almost cost Tira the lives of her lovers,
Nic and Duke.

Evie had yet to figure out what exactly she specialized in
but she figured it wasn’t fire. She’d yet to make the wick of this damn candle
do anything other than sputter and die.

In the background, ABBA sang about some guy named Fernando.
Cat had decided ’70s pop would help Evie get in the spell-working mood.