CHAPTER TEN
– ERNESTINO –
Her words shock me, nevertheless, they sound true and make fucking sense. Nario’s behavior, the long-lasting anger and hatred with me becoming clan leader, his work ethic, his disinterest in an arranged marriage and mates…everything fits.
I glance down at the phone in my hand and end the call. If Nario was Sienna’s mate, it would also make him the traitor. Sewing the prisoner’s mouth shut while torturing them for information makes sense when you don’t need information at all because you’re already in on everything.
Fuck. I can’t believe this shit. My own blood brother wants me dead so he can have my damn job. No wonder he accepted Tony’s deal while I was claiming my fated mate. He doesn’t care at all. He lost his and is doomed to spend an eternity alone or settle with someone who he will never feel anything similar with compared to a fated mate.
Nario’s only goal in life is becoming clan leader. He lost when I completed the challenge first. I fucking earned it. Anger fills my veins at the confirmation of everything I struggled with these decades when I had him at my side.
No more.
“Tonight’s attack was on that fucker. We need to find him,” I growl.
Lilliana gives me a tight nod. “Definitely. We need to keep this between us for now, though. This kind of betrayal? Some will need proof and to be able to bring him to justice before the clan you have to give him something that directly links him to either stuff happening recently or in the past.”
I grit my teeth. “It’s not going to be easy.”
She gives me a faint smile. “Anything worthy in life is never easy unless your successes of the past.”
A sigh rips me and I reach out to pull her flush against my body. The feel of having my mate close, to be able to fill my lungs with her scent, is soothing the ache and pain in my bones.
My dragon choses this moment to speak up. She fights alongside of us. She puts the clan first. She is loyal, worthy, and is carrying the future of our breed. Lilliana, the Winged Protector, completes us.
I tip her head back and stare at her gorgeous face and echo the words of my dragon I wholeheartedly agree with, “You complete us.”
“Good.” She gives me a coy grin. “Because you’re the package deal I don’t want to live without.”
Our lips merge and I swoop my tongue in to explore her mouth. A moment of serenity is what I need. Mind, body, and soul reset and recharge to face the next hurdle life has thrown on our path.
A knock on the door breaks the serenity, and we’re back to facing the issues at hand.
“Enter,” I grunt and Leandro steps into the room.
“Ivano was just here. They fixed the gate and he’s put double the guards in place to keep watch. He’s gonna do a final check around the perimeter before he comes back here. Creed is keeping an eye on the prisoner since Nario is still missing. We don’t want him to fuck things up,” Leandro states.
Lilliana snorts. “Too late, he already irrevocably fucked things up.”
“Can you fill him in so I can go talk to your father and properly thank him, and Lucian for their help?” I ask my mate, and she instantly nods.
I take a step in the direction of the hallway when Leandro blocks my exit. “Fill me in about what?”
Lilliana’s voice is right behind me when she says, “Let your brother handle clan business, there are urgent matters he needs to deal with. Come on, as soon as I’ve explained you’ll be rushing to Tino anyway. So, let him handle business while you hear and process what I’m about to tell you.”
Leandro releases a sigh. “Right. Sorry, boss. I’ll come find you later.”
I grab his shoulder and give it a squeeze. Without looking back I rush down the hall and go in search of Alrigo. He’s talking to his wife, Sisley, and they both turn to face me as I come to a stop beside them.
“I’d like to have a word with both of you.” Pointing at a room on my left I add, “Please follow me.”
Once inside, I close the door to make sure we have some privacy.
Time is not on our side and it’s why I throw out, “My mate and I have reason to believe my brother is responsible for the attack. There’s no proof…yet, but for now it’s not my priority. Saving the clan and tracking Nario down to capture him for questioning is.”
“How can we help?” Alrigo instantly offers.
Sisley glances at her mate. “My brother would help his niece if you need more manpower. His soldiers might mostly consist of humans, but they are highly trained and skilled.”
“They come from a long line of supernatural hunters.” I nod, knowing my mate’s background and her ancestor’s history. “For now there’s no need to bring others into our war against Marshgloom. The reason they’ve been successful at some of their attacks is due to inside information. Now that we’ve found the root of the betrayal we’ll be able to end this if we strategically plan an attack.”
“You have been at war with Tony Mattia for decades–” Alrigo starts, and I get what he’s going to say.
So, I cut him off. “I am aware, and understand your questioning why I’m speaking of ending this war now while it has been going on for decades. Unraveling the festering root of the reason why the war started is a game changer. I do have to speak to him first and want the answers he’s been keeping from us. The reason our clan leader was killed the night of his arranged marriage was due to the woman already being mated. We never questioned who the mate was since it was futile back then and the result and betrayal between clans was there. Now, however, it’s a whole different level of betrayal if Nario was the mate of the dragonwoman who killed his own father just because he wanted to become clan leader.”
“Holy shit, and he failed ’cause you are clan leader,” Sisley gasps.
I turn to her and explain, “This is because of old traditions. Normally, when a clan leader wants to step down, he can appoint his son as a worthy follower. Elders, along with each member of the clan can vote and if it’s unanimous by the elders and a majority of the members, the appointed candidate becomes clan leader. This time the leader was killed and it was the choice of the elders to decide if they wanted to honor the dead clan leader’s wishes for the dragon man he was training, or go by old traditions and have candidates face the challenge where there’s only one who successfully finishes all first.”
Sisley winces. “Yikes. Bet he wasn’t counting on that little fact.”
“Or the fact that a mated dragon who kills the one who cheats with a mated dragon ends up dead as well,” I grimly state.
“That’s a whole lot of anger boiling up over decades of time. You should consider yourself lucky to still be breathing,” Alrigo murmurs just as there’s a knock on the door.
I wander over and find my mate along with my brother whose eyes are blazing.
“It explains so fucking much,” Leandro growls as he stomps inside the room. He points at Alrigo and Sisley. “Did you tell them?”
My gaze finds Lilliana. “Yes, they are our allies and with the circumstances we’re in? It’s good to have fresh opinions on the matter.”
“Fresh opinions?” Leandro snaps. “I’ll give that piece of shit my unsalted opinion as soon as we find him. Do you think the bastard ran off to Marshgloom?”
“Nah. After all those years Nario must feel comfortable to hide in plain sight.” Lilliana plunks down on the couch.
Leandro swings his arms away from his body. “If he feels comfortable, like you said, then where the fuck is he?”
Sisley wanders over to the couch. “Lilliana, have you tried to hold the two brothers’ wrists and scan for the other? You could get a direction of where to look if you focus on the brother’s connection.”
Lilliana’s eyes widen. “What?”
Her mother waves her hand. “Oh don’t give me that. You’ve always had a lot more abilities than Fiero. As a kid you could bring butterflies back to life until someone saw and tore the butterfly apart before your eyes.”
“I ripped the boy’s hands off, and those of his father,” Alrigo growls.
My mate’s eyes are still wide and she again says, “What?”
Alrigo chuckles. “Don’t worry, you know vampires can regrow them. I should have torn off every damn limb, they wouldn’t have recovered, but fucking hell…they traumatized you.”
Sisley pats Lilliana’s knee. “True. From that day forward you started to keep your abilities to yourself. We always knew you inherited more of your ancestors’ abilities combined than Fiero.”
“What?” Lilliana whispers, as if it’s her word of the day.
Alrigo drags a chair closer to his wife and daughter. “You can do more than you think, Lilliana. Your mother might have the angelic touch, but I was the first vampire created from the blood of a fallen angel turned demonic.” He glances at me and my brother. “This is not common knowledge. Others were made with diluted blood and vampires today are bitten, not born.”
Leandro and I both nod, letting him know it stays between us.
He seems to accept when he turns his full attention back to his daughter. “Angelic blood from both sides allowed you to bring those butterflies back to life. Like I said, you can do more than you think.”
“The blood angel,” I murmur.
Alrigo is in front of me within my next breath. “The fuck you just say?”
Shit. Lilliana wanted to keep things between us, but to hear Alrigo’s explanation? She’s definitely the blood angel from our legend.
“She’s the winged protector, the blood angel mentioned in dragon legends. Lilliana being pregnant brought overwhelming joy and hope for our clan. Our sister was the last baby born and even if she found her mate, they hadn’t been able to reproduce. We can’t explain it, but Lilliana’s presence brought fertility because she, and her mate Ivano, are now expecting a baby,” I explain. “You mentioning the fallen angel only shows the angel part comes from both parents. She’s the one who brings life.”
Leandro rushes over to Lilliana. “You can bring life? Bring people back to life? Even when they’ve been dead for decades? No matter the reason why or how they were killed?”
Her voice is gentle when she says, “I’m so sorry, Leandro. There’s no way to bring back your father. Circumstances are vital and your father’s body and soul are gone. Besides, after what happened with the butterflies, I never tried to bring back anything ever again. The boy who stopped me from bringing them back to life was right when he said it wasn’t natural. Death is part of life, and it’s not up to me to play with that balance. I haven’t tried…I can’t…that ability is lost.”
“It made you lose some of your strength, yet it didn’t make you less powerful. The ability is still there when you need it. I’m sure it’s only repressed by your own restrictions,” Sisley carefully states.
Lilliana jumps up from the couch. “Whatever. This isn’t about me, or some legacy. There are more important things to focus on and right now we need to find Nario and question him. We should also question the prisoner.”
“I just received a text from Lucian. He can’t reach Creed,” Alrigo states.
Leandro steps forward. “I’ll check on him and the prisoner. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
“Thanks, brother,” I rumble and pat his back as he walks past me.
“Are you ready to try and find Nario by mentally reaching out?” Sisley asks.
Lilliana releases a puff of air, frustration edged on her face when she grumbles, “Isn’t it a bit too late with one brother walking out of the room?”
Sisley waves her hand in a dismissive move. “Nonsense. I assume you know the way to where they are holding the prisoner so you can rule him out. Brothers and sisters are different entities and you can easily cross off their sister. Now, grab your mate’s wrist and focus on his siblings to get the location of all of them.” Her voice firms when she adds, “No more stalling.”
“Fine,” Lilliana grunts and moves closer.
Her fingers wrap around my wrist and there’s instant warmth spreading through my body from her mere touch. My breathing picks up and a tingling sensation spreads from my arm all over my body. The hard-on building in my pants is becoming too painful when she suddenly breaks the connection and is staring at me with a horrified look on her face.
“What? Tell me,” I demand.
“I know where he is, but it doesn’t make sense.” She doesn’t say anything else and jumps into a run to leave the room.
Rushing after her, I ask, “What doesn’t make sense?”
I hear footsteps behind us, letting me know the rest are following us.
Lilliana doesn’t look at me when she says, “Nario is in the mine.”
“The mine?” Surprise hits me then worry starts to seep in. “Why would he be in the mine? Is he planting more explosives?”
“I don’t think so, Ernestino…because I can feel he’s close to self-destruction.” Her words hit me hard and make my feet falter.
Where I come to a stop, Lilliana picks up speed. Alrigo knocks against my shoulder and grabs the fabric of my shirt to drag me with him.
“Act first, think later. We have to keep up with her,” he rumbles. “She’s the one who knows his exact location.”
Like Lilliana mentioned, this doesn’t make sense. Why would Nario be close to self-destruction? Jumping into a run, we catch up to Lilliana and follow her down while keeping an eye on our surroundings.
There are a few bodies scattered all over the ground from the surprise attack earlier. I’m not comfortable with walking into the mine while there were explosions earlier. Part of one wall collapsed and fell into the canyon beside the mine. It’s not safe to go in yet. Other parts might collapse. Yes, we are immortal, but that doesn’t mean we can’t die or be entombed.
“Lilliana wait,” I bellow.
She doesn’t wait and disappears inside. A string of curses flows from my mouth when I enter the mine behind her.
“She’s ran into things headfirst all her life,” her father states. “No matter how many heart attacks it gave me at any age as she grew up. Her abilities give her a unique strength, but she never takes them for granted or uses them for that matter. It’s why she trained herself with every skill she could teach herself. Combat, knife skills, weapon knowledge, spells and magic…she’s read every book she could find on different supernaturals. Her knowledge and brain capacity work at lightning speed when she’s in crucial situations. Hell, I’m pretty sure she can slow time down to think before she acts if she puts her mind to it. Angels have unlimited capabilities and she’s a unique one.”
“Thanks for the pep talk, but it doesn’t do shit until I have her safely in my arms again,” I snap.
I don’t care if my brother is close to self-detonation…I’ll kill him myself if he hurts my mate in any way. We all come to a stop when we see Lilliana standing in front of a wall of rubble.
She glances over her shoulder at me. “He’s trapped underneath.”
Frowning, I glance at the wall of boulders and shit that’s piled up from the explosion and blocked a tunnel. “What the hell was he doing here? Did he place the explosives?”
“I think we need to give him more credit. His ego is too big to sacrifice himself by blowing up the tunnel and dying along with it,” Lilliana dryly states. “We need to carefully get rid of this rubble and free him to save, and ask him.”
We all start to carefully remove some of the large boulders. It takes time, time we don’t have, to clear this shit and not have the tunnel cave in above us.
“Can’t you use magic?” the words fall right out of my mouth when frustration hits me full force.
Lilliana shoots me a glare. “No, it doesn’t work like that. I can do some magic, but I can’t simply wave my hand, or snap my fingers, and turn these boulders to dust. We could all be buried underneath shit if I do that.”
“There, look,” Sisley shouts, dragging our attention to a boot.
Finally. We start to clear the body and quickly drag an unconscious Nario from the rocks. Lilliana places a hand on each side of his face. A glow of light illuminates their faces until Nario’s eyes flash open.
“Lilliana,” he whispers, and his eyes find mine. “How did you find me?”
“Stop with the questions. You need to explain yourself,” I demand.
He scrambles to his feet and stares at me with wide eyes. “I’m so sorry, brother.”
“Sorry?” I snarl. “Sorry about what? Betraying your own clan? Me? Our father? Pick something and start explaining before I make you face your sins.”
His lips part, eyes still wide, and he starts to slowly shake his head. “I didn’t…Why would I…fuck.”
To my surprise he throws another question at me. One I didn’t expect and also have no clue why it would matter.
“Where’s Leandro?”