CHAPTER 25
They were in the warm night, running down a shadowed street before Christan could speak to her again. He didn’t trust himself. The delusion in the kitchen was over. He’d expected her to react; she’d been too damn aware of him not to be aroused. But when she responded with such wild hunger Christan hadn’t known which of them was the aggressor. He’d wanted only to absorb her, taste that sweet pleasure, feel her tiny bites against the tattoos beneath his skin.
She hadn’t known which ones would arouse him, the way they would arouse him, and her tongue had been indiscriminate. Even now he fought the aggression, the imperatives from another time. The demand for blood. Or for her, naked and spread beneath his hands while he trembled with carnal needs.
She made him crazy—he had no other excuse. But he wanted her, knew she would have joined him willingly. Knew, also, that despite the heat and mutual need, it would have felt like making love to another man’s wife.
He’d felt that way before, when the secrets had gone too deep and Gemma turned her back to him. When their bed became a battleground in a war he hadn’t understood until it was too late. The master of war, in all his arrogance, had failed to see the one tactic that would win the field of valor.
It was the connection between two lovers that made the act important. And there was no connection, not yet, not between him and this woman in this lifetime. Only a past bleeding through.
Christan had hidden aspects of himself, kept the secrets in every lifetime, other than the first lifetime, and even then, he hadn’t been totally honest. He wondered, now, if he was capable of honesty when it came to her. He was not the man Gaia thought him to be. He certainly wasn’t the man Gemma thought she knew, not now, and he never would be that man again.
Christan pulled Lexi down an alley, his grip punishing, feeling as if they were further apart than ever before, the gulf between them beyond emotional. It was what they were. What she was. What he was. They were heading toward the Museo di Storia della Scienza. When he stepped around the corner she resisted. Christan glanced down and read the wariness in her eyes.
“Arsen called,” he said.
“I didn’t hear the phone.”
“Telepathically.” As if that was normal. “He found Katerina Varga. She’s sitting in an outdoor café.”
Christan pulled Lexi closer, but it wasn’t from the desire for physical contact. They merged into a crowd of tourists and he didn’t want to lose her. Moving around the piazza, he kept to the shadows, avoiding the lights that spilled wavering shafts of yellow onto the cobbled stone. In this area of Florence, the streets were narrow and the traffic was limited to pedestrians. There were small alleys, rows of bikes stacked like dominoes. Arched tunnels connected buildings, creating dark spaces where enemies could hide. Non-violent defense would be impossible.
Lexi’s hand trembled, delicate beneath his grasp. Christan looked down and loosened his hold slightly. He didn't want to let her go.
“Christan.” Arsen’s voice was clear in his mind. “Ahead of you, café on the right. She’s sitting at the back table, out of the light.”
“I see her,” Christan answered. “How did you track her?”
Arsen didn’t answer.
To Lexi, Christan said, “She’s there, wearing the blue top, black hair at her nape.”
“I see her.” The girl was in her early twenties but with a guarded expression, making her look more experienced than her years. “Do you want me to approach her?” Lexi asked. “Or is Arsen going to do it?”
“Not Arsen.” Christan knew his second wouldn’t want to do it. He felt Lexi try to pull her hand from his grasp.
“Is there a photo of Kace on your phone?” she asked. Christan looked down at her, puzzled.
“Why?”
“I’ll go. I can show the photo to Kat. Will you let me do that? Borrow your phone?”
Christan didn’t answer.
Her voice was soft, gentle. “Christan, do you want to go instead?”
“We’re not sure it’s safe.”
“Then I’ll be the least obvious. I won’t be reckless.” Her fingers stroked against his arm. His eyes narrowed when she reached into his jeans pocket and retrieved the phone.
It happened so quickly, she was across the piazza before he could react.
As Lexi hurried across the cobbled distance, she heard Christan's muttered curse and didn’t stop. He hadn’t wanted her out of his physical control. She ought to feel angry about it, but she didn’t. Instead, she felt as unsure with their relationship as he appeared to feel. What had happened in the kitchen had been impulsive, she realized it now, as much her fault as his, but they still needed to work together.
Katerina was watching her approach. She looked young and wary, but confident. As Lexi slipped into a vacant chair at the small table, the girl rose to her feet.
“Please wait, Katerina” Lexi said. “I only want to talk.”
“How do you know my name?”
“We have a mutual acquaintance.” Lexi pulled out Christan’s phone and thumbed open the photo of Kace. “Do you recognize this man?” she asked, even though she’d watched the surveillance footage and knew Katerina did.
The girl looked at the image on the phone, glanced around and then sat down. She did not relax. “He introduced himself at the museum the other day, suggested we share coffee.”
“He’s been hunting you.”
“I’ve suspected it.”
“Then I hope you’ll trust me, Katerina.”
“Why?”
Lexi slid the phone back in her pocket and folded her hands. “I talked to Renata.”
“I’m surprised Dante let you through,” the girl said. “You must have connections.”
“The good kind.”
“There are no good connections.”
“It was Renata’s choice, and some of the connections are good.” Lexi’s voice gentled. “Dante’s good, the way he cares for her—that much was obvious.”
Katerina didn’t answer.
Lexi said, “I want to help you.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry you feel the need to hide.”
Katerina did not seem receptive. She reached out and deliberately pressed her finger into the memory lines on Lexi’s wrist. “You’re having dreams?”
“Yes. They haven’t all been pleasant.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To make you an offer of safety.”
“I’d rather trust myself.”
“I understand,” Lexi said. “but if you intend to hide, pay attention to the places that attract you and stay away from them. Kace isn’t stupid. He’ll figure it out and track you.” She paused. “Like we did.”
“Track me how?”
“We’re all drawn to elements from our past lives and you seem to be drawn to Etruscan history. There will be geographical areas that will feel familiar and safe. Others will feel tense and unfriendly. Go for those. The negative energies probably won’t be from past life influences at all. They’ll be emotional imprints that aren’t even connected to you.”
Kat’s mouth twisted. “You’re an expert?”
“Yes.” The simple truth.
“You saw what they did to Renata.” The girl fell silent as a group of laughing tourists walked by. “You’re the one who should be watching where she goes, because they’re after you. Last I heard, the mate to Three’s enforcer has a special bounty on her head over the rest of us.”
“How would you know?”
“I’m not as isolated as you think. I realized who you were the minute I saw you, and everyone knows they’re here.” Katerina nodded toward the shadowed alley. “An enforcer and his second-in-command, together in the same city? It’s all over the street, but it doesn’t matter because the immortals will destroy whoever they can. And they’ll use the girls as bait.”
“Arsen is here to help.”
“Then tell Arsen take you home.” Katerina’s voice was brittle. “And stay away from me. They follow you, they find me, too.”
Someone laughed in the distance. There was the sharp interruption of crockery and silver, crashing to the cobbled stone. Voices followed, offering embarrassed apologies. The night closed in around them.
Lexi said, “I can help you stay safe.”
“No. You can’t.” Kat was adamant as she rose to her feet and gathered up the papers spread out around her.
Lexi saw Christan moving. She grabbed the pen that Kat left behind and scribbled on a paper napkin, pushed both at Kat when the younger girl turned.
“This is my personal email, and the number of my cell phone. Is there any way I can contact you?”
But Kat disappeared into the shadows like a fading ghost. Christan’s hand closed around Lexi’s arm and he bent his lips to her ear. “Run,” he whispered, and pulled her in the opposite direction.