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  With a tender smile, Luca gently pried her fingers away and held them in his. Then he replaced them with his lips. He feathered kisses along the length of the puckered pink skin, and then ran his tongue up her neck to take her lips once more.

  “This scar is part of you, dolcezza. It is a badge of courage. Proof that you are a survivor. Never be ashamed of it. Don’t you know by now there is nothing that could ever make you less beautiful or less desirable to me?”

  Slowly Calli relaxed her fingers and let her arms encircle his waist.

  “Really?” she whispered, desperate to be convinced.

  “Dio, Calli. Every inch of you takes my breath away.” His voice fell to a whisper, sounding almost like a prayer as he lowered his head to mouth her straining nipple through the intricate lace.

  Calli felt the heat of his moist breath to the very marrow of her bones and she sagged against him under the onslaught of the new and unfamiliar sensations. His nimble fingers worked at the clasp, freeing it in seconds, allowing her breasts to tumble free into his hands. He worshipped first one and then the other with his lips and teeth and tongue. A shiver rolled over her from head to toe. He picked up his head and smiled. It was a smile that told her he hadn’t missed her reaction—a smile that teased her with the promise of even more to come.

  He unsnapped her jeans with a quick flick of his wrist and tugged them down over her hips to reveal the lacy red panties before she even realized what he intended. As soon as she stepped out of the jeans, Luca moved her slightly until she felt the bed against the backs of her knees. In the next instant, she sprawled upon the satin comforter and Luca’s big body stretched out next to her. His jeans were nowhere to be seen and her eyes widened in trepidation at the sight of his erection. It pressed insistently against her hip refusing to be ignored. Her fear returned, but only for a heartbeat. Then Luca opened his mind to her. Her gaze flew to his in alarm at what she read there. Raw desire. But then she saw that wrapped around and through it, bound inseparably to the need, was something more, so much more. The strength of his feelings nearly paralyzed her. Her heart tripped and her breathe caught in her throat. She reached for him and brought his lips to hers. The enormity of his love chased away any lingering vestiges of fear.

  As his long fingers stroked the skin along her hip skimming closer and closer to his ultimate destination, she couldn’t help wondering what he would feel like under her fingertips, or her lips. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought such curiosity should shock her, but it didn’t, and as Luca’s hands and mouth continued to play her body like a well-loved instrument, it simply made her want…something. She squirmed as he hooked his thumbs in the sides of her panties and shimmied them down her hips, following their slow, torturous path with kisses as soft as raindrops along her thighs. He tossed the panties away and stretched out next to her again. As he gently brushed her hair away from her face, and gazed into her eyes, she tentatively reached out and closed her fingers around the hard length of him. He was large. So large she couldn’t imagine how they would ever fit together. She swallowed her worry and concentrated on his expression as she tightened her grip. He felt like satin on steel and she ran her fingers up and down his length in exploration. Luca groaned as though in pain and stilled her hand with his own.

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  “No,” Luca whispered in an odd, strangled voice that sounded nothing like him.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “Carissima, your hands feel so good. If you keep doing that, this will be over before we even get started,” he groaned against her neck.

  “Oh.” She reluctantly pulled her hand away. “I’m sorry.”

  “Dolcezza, never be sorry for touching me. I’ve waited a lifetime to feel your hands on me. It’s only that I want this to be perfect for you, and you’re not ready yet.” Luca smiled at her tenderly and swooped to reclaim her mouth. She didn’t hesitate to open to his sweet invasion. While his tongue plundered her mouth, his hands lavished attention on her breasts, kneading and caressing them before repeatedly grazing her stiff nipples with his heavy thumbs, producing a feeling so exquisite it bordered on pain. Calli felt the sensation to her toes, and a rush of moist heat erupted between her thighs. Luca’s fingers teased over her flat belly and slipped into the nest of soft curls guarding her heated core. She tensed, but only for a moment as his clever fingers teased her with a slow, intimate massage that nearly sent her over the edge. He continued to ravage her mouth as a delicious pleasure began to build and spread. She bucked against his hand with a sound that was half whimper half moan as he slid first one long finger, and then another into her slick, wet heat, working them slowly in and out, probing and stretching to ready her while his thumb continued to stroke her sensitive nub.

  “Luca,” she panted into his mouth. “Please, I want…”

  “What do you want, carissima? Tell me…”

  “I don’t know. I…”

  “Just let go, baby. It’s okay. I’ll catch you. I’ll always catch you.”

  Calli looked into his eyes and gave up all caution and uncertainty, abandoning herself to what her heart and body wanted. As the waves of pleasure slammed over her, she clutched Luca’s shoulders, breathless with wonder as he rolled to top her and positioned himself at her entrance. Inch by painfully slow inch he eased inside her, beads of sweat peppering his brow as her body stretched to accommodate him, until he was fully seated inside her. He held his weight off her on trembling forearms, keeping perfectly still.

  “Are you okay, cara?” he panted.

  “We fit,” she whispered in wide-eyed wonder tilting her hips toward him. Luca closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

  “Slow down, carissima,” he ground out through stiff lips. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You could never hurt me, Luca,” Calli twined her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips pulling him even more deeply into her. She opened her mind and as their thoughts and feelings intertwined, he moved, slowly at first, more forcefully as she relaxed and moved with him. He dug his fingers into her bottom possessively and drove even deeper, guiding her hips until they found a perfect rhythm. As they moved together, their hearts and minds melding as closely and intimately as their bodies, she felt something stir inside yet again, something deep and hot and aching. Calli’s eyes filled with tears and she thought her heart might burst as she felt the unmistakably right sensation of invisible ties binding them together heart, mind, and soul. As Luca caught her to him she felt herself falling all over again and he roared his own release as they tumbled over the edge together. Calli didn’t doubt he would catch her. He would always catch her. And he did. In Luca’s arms, she knew, at last, she had really and truly come home.

  When she could finally draw enough breath to form coherent words, she regarded Luca with a frown.

  “What is it, cara?” Luca murmured, brushing her damp hair back from her forehead. “Is everything okay?”

  “I’m not sure,” she drawled lazily while tracing a finger down his chest. “I mean, I think I’ve got it, but maybe we should do it again to be sure. I did warn you I would need to practice.” It was a suggestion that Luca took completely to heart.

  ****

  Long after Calli had fallen into an exhausted but thoroughly contented sleep, Luca remained more awake than he’d ever been. He’d never been so aware of a woman’s body molded to his. He knew how to be alone, he knew how to be empty. He’d perfected it to an art form. He never realized the breadth of the yawning void inside him until Calli filled it so completely. His life had been filled with violence and danger, he’d never really considered how much. But he’d always had control. It was the one thing he’d always felt sure of. He knew that giving up his heart also required giving up control to a certain degree. It was a bit disquieting. It would take some adjustment. He looked down at the sleeping woman in his arms and pulled her closer. Her arms tightened reflexively around him. He tucked the blanket up around her sho
ulders and closed his eyes. She was worth anything he might have to give up in return. She was the missing part of his soul where love and hope had hidden away for far too long.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “What was that?” Calli jackknifed up in bed, clutching the sheet to her breasts.

  “What was what?” Luca tugged on the sheet to pull Calli back against him.

  “I thought I heard something downstairs.”

  “Probably Maria.” Luca began kissing his way up her shoulder to the side of her neck.

  “Luca, it’s barely five in the morning. Maria never comes in until at least seven.”

  “You probably dreamed it, bellissima. You were pretty worn out when you…” Luca froze suddenly with his lips against Calli’s shoulder. He went as still as stone and cocked his head.

  Luca sprang from the bed and tossed Calli his robe while poking his legs hastily into his discarded jeans. He quickly drew a dagger from the tattoo on his forearm and moved on silent feet to the door while placing a finger to his lips.

  Calli quickly dragged on and belted the enormous robe that covered her from head to toe and moved to the other side of the bed. Luca flattened himself against the wall next to the door and motioned toward the adjoining bathroom indicating Calli should go inside to wait. Calli shook her head.

  He motioned again. Calli planted her hands on her hips and stayed exactly where she was. He made a move to step in her direction when the door began to creak open slowly. Luca moved quickly, and in less than a heartbeat, he had the intruder by the shirtfront and the lethal point of his dagger rested against the man’s jugular.

  Kassian felt the cold prick of the steel against his throat and froze. His gaze passed beyond Luca to the rumpled bed and then came to rest on his sister enveloped in Luca’s robe. His eyes narrowed and his face darkened. His initial reaction was derailed by a sharp sting as Kat pinched the sensitive skin beneath his armpit. Hard.

  “Back it down, McAllister,” Kat whispered in a fierce tone. “We talked about this.”

  Kassian took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. His wife was right, they had talked about it. In truth, he’d been expecting to find Calli and Luca together. But expecting it and walking in on it were two entirely different things. It was hard to ignore hundreds of years of instinct. Sure, they loved one another, but finding his sister in any man’s bedroom, even Luca’s, was still a little difficult for Kassian to accept.

  Kassian’s glance slid to the side and met Luca’s unflinching gaze. He wasn’t fooled. He knew his friend well enough to read the defensiveness and uncertainty beneath the cool expression. Luca was worried about Kassian’s reaction to finding Callista in his bed. But apparently, he would fight for her. It didn’t escape Kassian’s notice that the deadly blade against his skin hadn’t moved.

  “You want to put your toy away before you hurt someone?” Kassian drawled.

  Luca started as if only now realizing he still held his weapon at his best friend’s throat. He dropped his hand and slapped the dagger against his forearm where it quickly dissolved into his tattoo.

  “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that,” he growled. “If I didn’t have such incredibly good instincts, you’d be dead right now.”

  “We were hardly sneaking. And if your instincts were so freakin’ good you would have heard me coming in the first place,” Kassian countered shortly. His jaw tightened as his eyes roved over Callista’s wildly tumbled hair and state of undress. “But I guess you were otherwise occupied.”

  “I was, actually. You have a problem with that?”

  Kassian recognized the cool, empty expression contradicted by the tense posture. Luca expected trouble and stood ready for a fight. Kassian was about to oblige him when Kat moved to place her body between her husband and her brother.

  “For the love of…stop it! The emotions flying around this room are giving me a headache! Honestly, you’re both acting like two children fighting over the last cookie in the jar. Callista, go and get dressed. McAllister, go downstairs and put some coffee on or something. You said yourself that Luca’s sigils were the most complex you’d ever seen. Obviously, he wasn’t relying on his instincts alone. Got it?”

  Callista stepped around the bed and came to stand beside Luca, the hem of the overlarge robe trailing behind her, making her appear even smaller than she was. She linked her arm through Luca’s and tossed back her hair, eyeing her brother with a defiant expression.

  “Go put some damn clothes on, Calli. We’ll meet you and Kat downstairs. Luca and I have a few things to discuss,” Kassian scrubbed a hand over his face.

  “Are you going to behave?” Calli asked.

  “You’re sure about this?” Kassian asked his sister using the private mental pathway the two of them shared. Calli answered with a wide, radiant smile that seemed to illuminate the entire room. Kassian conceded defeat. He’d never seen his sister so happy. His wife was right. Luca and Calli were bound, a complete idiot could see it. Kassian knew he was many things, but he liked to think an idiot wasn’t one of them.

  “I don’t answer to you, little sister,” Kassian answered in a curt tone that fooled no one. Even Luca relaxed and struggled to keep his lips from curling. Kassian spared a mournful thought for the days when he was actually in charge of his life. Battle, anger, remorse, there was a predictable flow and consistency. He knew precisely what to expect every day. Then Kat entered his life and Callista was found alive, and predictability became a scarce commodity. Kassian regarded three of the people who meant the most to him in the world and his chest ached briefly with the enormity of his good fortune. He wouldn’t change a thing. Of course, they didn’t need to know that.

  “Your badass reputation would take a real hit about now if I wasn’t the only empath in the room.” His wife’s amused voice swirled into his thoughts.

  “I am a total badass.” He mentally replied with a frown in his wife’s direction.

  “Save it for the Fallen, McAllister. I know better, but far be it from me to expose you for the big, squishy marshmallow you really are.” Katrina stretched up on her toes and planted her lips on her husband’s jaw.

  “You’re pushing, wife.” Kassian gave Kat a playful swat on the butt.

  “C’mon, Calli,” Kat extended a hand to her sister-in-law. “You get dressed and we’ll make the coffee so the big, bad warrior dudes can talk business.”

  The women retreated and pulled the heavy wooden door closed behind them leaving a heavy silence in their wake.

  “Soooo…you and Calli, huh?” Kassian spoke to Luca’s back as the blond warrior strode across the room, yanked a black tee from a drawer, and tugged it over his head.

  “Yeah.”

  “Figures,” Kassian chuffed out a laugh. Luca turned to face him from across the room, a puzzled frown creasing his forehead.

  “What?”

  “You’ve blown off half the women of the free world then let yourself fall for the one that’s been a pain in your ass for as long as you’ve know her.”

  “Mac, it’s always been Calli.” Luca sighed and approached Kassian who hadn’t moved from the doorway since entering the room. “She’s my soul, brother. No one else ever measured up.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I’m up to speed. My wife was happy to figure it all out for me,” Kassian rolled his eyes and punched Luca in the shoulder.

  “Oh, so now your wife is doing all your thinking for you, eh?” Luca grinned with a look of relief, returning the punch.

  “You best get used to it, my brother. I have a hunch you’ll find yourself paddling along in the same sinking boat soon enough.” Kassian burst out laughing at the look of horror that crossed Luca’s face.

  “My wife will defer to me in all matters,” Luca pronounced, but the look on his face told Kassian he was trying to convince himself more than anyone.

  “Alrighty then, you go with that. Meantime, we’ve got problems,” Kassian’s tone turned from teasing to serious. “Di
mitri called. When he got to Kat’s, the house was a mess. The boxes shipped from Miranda’s were open and the contents were all over the place. Since I never thought to have my people inventory the stuff, there’s no way to tell what, if anything, is missing.”

  “Damn, how could Monte have figured out where to look so fast? We just barely put the pieces together ourselves!” Luca pushed his hair back from his forehead and began pacing restlessly.

  “No idea. But that’s not all,” Kassian continued grimly. Luca stopped pacing and turned to regard him with a worried expression. “We can’t locate Elle Gates. She was staying at the house, or at least she was supposed to be. She was there when Kat called to let her know Dimitri would be stopping by and she didn’t mention anything about leaving. But there was no sign of her when Dimitri got there and when he checked at her apartment in the city, there was no answer at the door and the newspapers hadn’t been taken in. He asked around among some of the neighbors and she hasn’t been seen in days. I’ve tried her cell at least a dozen times with no luck.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I haven’t told Kat yet.”

  “Well, Kat must know something’s up, Mac. She can feel your emotions even if you block your thoughts,” Luca pointed out. “But what would Monte want with Elle?”

  “Beats the hell out of me. Leverage, maybe?” Kassian thought he pointed out the obvious.

  “But if he’s got the key already, what would he need leverage for? What’s he got to gain?”

  “Maybe the key wasn’t there, or he’s not sure he’s actually has it so he took her just in case? Hell, Luca I don’t know, but it’s one more complication we don’t need.”

  “Maybe,” Luca muttered doubtfully. “He knows we’d never let him get near Calli or Kat. Elle would be an easy target, so maybe she was the next best thing.”

  “Maybe,” Kassian agreed, his brows knitting together. “Well, at any rate, I think it’s time we paid Monte a visit.”

  “I don’t like it,” Luca grimaced.