Chapter 11 Cal
CHAPTER 11: CAL
Luca looked like the weight of the world was crushing him into the bare concrete floor and it was triggering all his protective instincts. Ignoring Angelo’s surprised look, Cal pulled Luca into his arms and pressed a kiss to his temple.
“You’ll figure it out, baby. Let’s get home where you can work your magic in cyberspace,” he said.
Luca tilted his head up and Cal breathed a silent sigh of relief as his expression changed from helplessness to calculation.
“There’s an idea. Could you use your magic to help direct my facial recognition search instead of me trying to get these photos into a state the program will recognise?” Luca asked.
Cal opened his mouth to reject the idea and then paused in thought. Fuck, that was actually really clever. Luca’s brain was a thing of beauty and his competence was damn sexy. Cal was so screwed. He really hadn’t needed any more reasons to want him.
“We can give it a go,” he said .
“Thanks, babe,” Luca said, pressing a quick kiss to his lips.
They both froze as they realised what he’d just done and Angelo huffed out a breath from nearby, which was probably the equivalent of hysterical laughter for the staunch head of security.
“Can we pretend that didn’t just happen?” Luca asked, his voice strained.
Angelo clapped Luca on the shoulder as he headed back towards the stairs. “Vin’s going to ask me about you two,” he said.
Luca groaned. “What can I give you to withhold that information from your mate?” he asked.
Cal wasn’t surprised when Angelo didn’t even deign to answer that. He knew how shifters were with their mates, which is why he’d been so suspicious of Luca’s mating-like behaviour toward him until he’d learned Luca’s mate had died. Angelo would tell Vin whatever he wanted to know.
Releasing Luca from his hold, Cal rubbed at the ache in his chest that had formed when he thought of Luca’s dead mate. How could he be jealous of a dead man? It was ridiculous. He needed to get Luca out of his head because he’d come to a very sobering realisation as he comforted him—he wasn’t sure he’d ever be whole again when Luca left. Doing his best not to focus too hard on Luca’s ass, he followed him back up the stairs and into the main pack house.
“You coming to debrief?” Angelo asked them, pausing in the lobby.
“Nah, I want to get started on the search,” Luca said.
“Let me know as soon as you have something.”
“Will do.”
Cal gripped Luca’s nape and pulled him back before he could step out the front door. “Someone’s already tried to shoot you here twice. Let me check it’s safe,” he said .
Luca growled, the noise sending shivers across his skin. “Between the two of us, I’m much more likely to survive a gunshot wound,” he said.
“But they’re not aiming for me, sweetheart,” Cal said, stepping past him.
The pack’s apartments surrounded the front entryway in a semi-circle, forming a line of defence between them and the rest of the city where the most likely line of attack would usually come from. It should’ve made them safer, but with the traitor being pack it just meant there were far too many places a sniper could hide among the balconies and rooftops overlooking where he’d parked the bike out front, especially in the shadows cast by the building’s lights. It must be past midnight with how long they’d spent napping and then checking on the missing body. They needed to get home to bed. At least it was faster to check his Ducati for an explosive device than it would’ve been to check a car.
Once he was satisfied they weren’t about to be ambushed, he opened the door for Luca and drew on the moisture in the air to form a shield of ice around them with his magic as they left the building.
“Fuck, that’s weird. I can’t smell or hear a thing around us except you,” Luca muttered.
“Sorry,” Cal said, straddling the bike and passing Luca his spare helmet.
“I wasn’t complaining. You smell damn good.” Luca’s words were quickly followed by a hiss of annoyance. “Dammit. I’ve completely lost my brain-to-mouth filter with you,” he complained.
“Luca!” a voice called, before he had a chance to get on the bike behind Cal.
Glancing around, Cal saw an older man approaching, clearly another Lunetti by his resemblance to both Luca and Marco. His hair might be more salt-and-pepper, but he had the same sharp jawline and piercing gaze.
“Uncle Gio!” Luca cried, sounding happier than he had all day, and wasn’t that a kick in the guts? Cal wanted to be the reason he was happy.
Cal frowned and scanned their surroundings for any threats again as Luca stepped out of the protective shield he’d raised to let his uncle embrace him. He would’ve got off the bike and stepped closer, but the look Luca shot him told him to stay back. Instead, he stretched the magical shield he’d woven to cover their new position, weakening it a little so Gio hopefully wouldn’t notice.
“I’d ask you if this was the guy you texted me about, but I can tell by your scent that he is. That and how protective he’s being,” Gio said, stepping closer to Cal and extending his hand with a smile as he introduced himself. “Giovanni Lunetti.”
So much for hiding his shield from the guy. Gio’s grip was firm, but he didn’t try to test Cal’s strength, which was a small miracle given the dominance games he’d come to expect in a mafia shifter pack.
“Calder Blackheart,” he said.
“ Blackheart ?” Luca smirked. “Could you have a more emo witch name?”
“So, you’re the one who’s stolen my favourite nephew away. He sent me photos of your place. It’s gorgeous.”
“Thanks,” he said, a vague wariness pinging in the back of his mind at Gio’s interest in his penthouse.
He knew Luca hadn’t cleared his uncle yet and there was something he couldn’t quite put his finger on that was making him want to bundle Luca into his arms and tear out of there.
“I’m so happy to see Luca finally opening up to someone after everything that happened. I knew it would just take the right person, although I didn’t expect it to be a witch,” Gio said.
“And that’s enough of that, Uncle G. We need to get going,” Luca said.
“Let an old man take comfort in his family healing, Luca,” Gio chided, pulling him into another hug.
“You’re not that old.”
“I like that you have someone to protect you when we’re not around,” Gio said, putting his foot in it again. Didn’t he realise how much Luca hated when people thought they had to protect him? “What kind of shielding are you using? Is it blocking sound? Seems a bit overkill,” he added, turning back to Cal.
Cal raised an eyebrow in surprise. Now he was definitely wary. No way was he telling this guy what kind of protections he had in place. “You know how it is. I don’t want anyone but me hearing his moans when he has my machine between his legs,” Cal deflected, ignoring Luca’s glare in response.
Gio would’ve had every right to get angry at the tone he’d taken, but instead, he barked out a laugh. “Ah, young lust. I remember those days. You should hold tight to this one, Luca. Stay in his penthouse where he can screen all those noises.”
Cal tilted his head to the side, trying to figure out what Gio’s deal was. Gio had still been hugging Luca as he spoke and his words were muffled where he’d turned his face into Luca’s hair. It took everything in Cal to resist pulling Luca away.
“Goodbye, Uncle G,” Luca said pointedly.
As he was pulling on his helmet, Gio turned to Cal, and for just a second, he thought he saw despair in those eyes that were so similar to his Luca’s.
“Keep him safe ,” Gio silently mouthed to him, while Luca’s vision was blocked .
Cal gave a sharp nod, but before he could ask Gio what the fuck he was talking about, he’d spun and headed back toward the pack’s apartments.
“Something’s up with your uncle. I think you should focus your search on him,” Cal said as soon as they walked through the door of his penthouse.
“What the fuck, Cal?” Luca shouted, turning on him and shoving him hard enough to make him stumble and fall to the floor. “Uncle Gio would never do anything to hurt me. He saved my fucking life. The only reason I’m not a feral wolf haunting the forest is because of him.”
Pain spiked in his tailbone where it cracked against the wood. That was going to bruise. Luca loomed over him, eyes glowing, fangs lengthened and bared, claws slipping from his fingers. Cal would’ve been proud of him for the partial shift that showed his control if he wasn’t needing to focus on holding eye contact and dominance in case Luca attacked him for real.
“That’s enough, baby. You need to calm down and listen. Gio checked no one could hear us and then told you to stay safe with me, but he’s not supposed to know you’re still at risk. He was hiding his face so no one could read his lips. He thought someone was watching us, but he didn’t tell you or do anything about it. He just walked away,” Cal said, pushing back to his feet.
Luca was shaking his head the entire time he was speaking. “He probably got wind of why I’m really here and was just respecting Marco’s wishes not to talk about it,” he said, stubbornly.
“That is a possibility, but you know whoever took that body was probably family and you haven’t managed to clear him.”
“I fucking know that! You don’t have to throw my failures in my face!” Luca snarled.
Cal sighed. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with this until Luca calmed down. “I’m going to go check on the bar. Give you some space. Let me know when you’re ready for me to try and magic that guy’s face into your computer.” And what a weird fucking sentence that was. How had his life gotten so surreal, so quickly?
Luca spun and stalked over to his laptops at the dining table, not bothering to reply as he opened them. Cal watched for another few minutes while his boy worked, fingers flying violently over the keys. He wished he could take away his hurt, but nothing was going to do that until they found this traitor.
Walking up behind Luca, he leaned forward slowly, giving him time to pull away, before pressing a kiss to the bruise he’d left on his neck. The sound of frenetic typing paused, but Luca didn’t give any other sign he was focussed on him.
“I respect the hell out of you for your loyalty to your family and I know you’re going to find this traitor no matter what it costs you, because that’s how good you are. You’ve got this,” Cal said, nipping lightly at Luca’s neck before making a quick exit. If he stayed any longer, he was only going to distract them both from what they should be doing.
The crowded energy of the club was just what he needed to keep him from rushing back upstairs to his hurting shifter. Between helping cover the bartenders now that they were one short, and sorting arguments at the door over their heightened security, he barely got a chance to take a breath.
“I’m taking five outside,” he called to Eve when the line for drinks finally lulled as everyone headed to the floor to watch his dancers’ final performance of the night .
She waved him away as he headed out the side entrance toward the parking garage. He’d barely shut the door behind him when a bolt of pure magic filled his vision. Throwing himself to the side in a roll that re-bruised his still aching tailbone, he threw up a hasty shield and turned to where he’d sensed the attack coming from. Bloodlust rushed through his veins as he imagined finally bringing the traitor targeting Luca out into the open. It quickly fizzled into sullen annoyance as three Harleys pulled up in front of him, their headlights half-blinding his eyes in the dim light. Fucking Elemental Mayhem MC. They should know by now that their intimidation tactics didn’t do shit to him.
“That was a pathetic spell. What do you want?” Cal growled as the roar of the engines cut off.
“It was a warning. If I’d wanted you to be hurt, you would be,” Wyatt shot back at him.
Gathering raw power to him, Cal took a threatening step forward, ready to show this asshole what hurt was. His movement was interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind him. He couldn’t afford to take his eyes off the three bikers still sitting astride their bikes, but he didn’t need to look to know who it was. He could sense it. This could go downhill very quickly.
“If you want him to be hurt, you’re dead,” Luca growled from behind him.
Wyatt’s eyes flicked back and forth between them, a mixture of curiosity and concern showing before he could hide it. “You’re under Lunetti protection now? That’s gonna be a problem. Your independent streak is one thing, Cal, but allying with our competitors is something else entirely. We can’t have witches defecting to the pack.”
“And yet you have a witch defecting to an anti-supernatural terrorist group,” Luca said, coming to stand next to Cal and surprising the shit out of him when he wrapped an arm around his waist and pressed a kiss to his jaw.
“Ah, I see. You’re thinking with the wrong head,” Wyatt said, smirking.
“Fuck off, Wyatt. If this is about what I owe you, I told you before. I’ll pay cold hard cash or nothing,” Cal snapped, turning a little so his body was between Luca and the witches. The last thing he needed was for Luca to be caught by a stray spell while he was supposed to be protecting him.
“And I told you that’s not what we’re accepting in payment.”
“Have you had any luck finding poor Riley?” Luca chimed in, and Cal glanced down at him in confusion. Who? What the hell was he talking about?
All three riders were off their bikes the next second and Cal shoved Luca behind him and erected a wall of sparking blue ice between them and the threat.
“What do you know?” a woman to Wyatt’s left asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.
Not just any woman, either. Now that she was off her bike, he realised just who Wyatt had brought with him—Skye, Cal’s ex, who had almost ruined him eleven years ago. They’d obviously brought her to try and throw him off his game.
“Give me another hour and I’ll have an address,” Luca said.
“In exchange for what?” Wyatt asked, his arm going out to block the woman from coming any closer.
“Get all the kids out when you find them and leave Cal the fuck alone,” Luca said.
Wyatt was clearly torn on the best course of action. “I need to call Blaze,” he said, turning away from them and erecting his own soundproof shield of blue water magic around himself .
“What the hell are you playing at? Who’s Riley?” Cal whispered to Luca, ignoring Skye’s efforts to catch his eye.
“I’ve been tracking some missing teens for Portia. Trafficking. One of them is related to the MC. I had a name from one of the teens, and I just managed to crack a trail of shell companies to find the properties he owns in the city. I’m pretty certain they’re being held at one of them. I just need to figure out which one.”
“That’s fucking awesome, but I can’t let you do this for me. Do it for them, of course. But it can’t be about what I owe the club. They already think you’re protecting me. I can’t be associated with you,” Cal said.
He knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left his mouth. The flash of hurt on Luca’s face told him that, as did the flash of his fangs. “Fuck you, Cal. I can do whatever the hell I want.”
Their conversation was cut off by Wyatt turning back to them. “You’ve got a deal, but only in relation to Cal’s debt to us. This situation between him and your pack and what that means for the balance of power in the city will need to be worked through. Soon,” he said to Luca.
“I’m standing right fucking here, asshole—” Before Cal could say anything more, Luca’s palm wrapped tight over his mouth, smothering his words. Cal tried to shove him away, but he was all business, using his shifter strength to contain him.
“Thanks, Storm. I’ll get you the address within the hour,” Luca said.
Of course, Luca would call Wyatt by his road name. All the crime families respected each other’s quirks like that. And now Luca had dragged him right back into the middle of that shit when he’d spent a lifetime fighting to stay clear. It was just like his ex all over again. She’d said she was helping him, too, and he’d just about lost the club to the MC as a result .
“I thought you were too good to associate with lowlifes like us, Cal. He got a magic cock or something?” Skye said, sneering as she looked Luca up and down. “Watch yourself, shifter. He’ll drop you faster than anything.”
Wyatt pulled Skye back from whatever she was about to start, and the three bikers tore out of the garage with an echoing roar of overpowered, compensating-for-something engines.
“Look, I know you have good reason to hate drug dealers, but the law-abiding don’t have a monopoly on doing good, and none of us are turning vulnerable parents into fucking addicts, not even the MC. Did you really want them dealing drugs from the rooms you run self-defence classes in? You needed currency with them and I gave it to you. You’re welcome.”
Cal knew he should be grateful for the save. Luca could’ve used that information as leverage in the never-ending politics of Trinity City’s supernatural community and instead, he’d used it for him. But really all he’d done was take a highly disputable debt to the MC and turn it into a favour Cal had no way of repaying to the Lunetti Pack because he knew Luca wasn’t going to accept a damn thing from him. Not only that, but the MC could use this to force him out of his bar. They’d only tolerated him operating because of his neutrality. Luca might not be a conniving bitch like his ex, but the effect may well be the same.
“Go find that address,” Cal said, voice clipped as he ignored Luca’s explanation and shoved all his turmoil deep down inside.
At least if those teens were found, some good would come of this shitshow. Luca glared at him and then stalked back inside, flicking his middle finger at him as he went. Cal growled and resisted the urge to throw the shifter over his shoulder and teach him some manners .
Returning to the bar, he buried himself back in his work. But this time it didn’t do a damn thing to help him forget the hurt he’d seen on Luca’s face. Hurt he’d been the cause of this time. He groaned to himself as he dropped the box he’d hauled out from the storeroom on the ground, dropping his head. Dammit. He owed Luca an apology. And a thank you. His shitty attitude wasn’t Luca’s fault. The man had just been trying to help—both him and those teens who desperately needed him.
“You look like someone kicked your puppy,” Eve said, nudging his shoulder with hers. “Your wolf puppy, in case that wasn’t clear.”
Cal rolled his eyes.
“Seriously, boss. Are you okay?”
“I think I might’ve been the one doing the kicking,” he admitted.
Eve pushed him away from the bottles he was restocking. “Go sort your shit out. I’ve got this.”
He didn’t even pretend to hesitate. It was near closing and the bar was still half full, but he was going to be next to useless until he cleared the air with Luca.
Luca wasn’t at the dining table when he stepped back into the penthouse, and for a heart-stopping minute, Cal thought he might’ve left. He wouldn’t blame him. But when he rushed over to the guest bedroom, the shifter was lying on the bed, computer in his lap as he worked. He didn’t even look up as Cal ripped the door open.
Standing in the doorway feeling a little ridiculous for the dramatic entrance, Cal took a calming breath. “Did you find them?” he asked, as if that was the reason he’d burst in there all along.
“Sent the address five minutes ago,” Luca said, his tone flat.
“Good— ”
“Don’t,” Luca warned.
Cal sighed, and stepped closer, settling on the edge of the bed a little out of reach just in case his feisty shifter came after him. “Luca, I’m sorry. I didn’t handle that well. Thank you for your help.”
“Careful. People might think you’re associated with me,” Luca said.
Cal winced. “I’m so sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have let Wyatt and Skye get to me. That’s no excuse, though. I messed up. I hate that I hurt you.”
That made Luca look up. “Who’s Skye?” he asked, an edge to his voice.
If he didn’t feel so much like a piece of shit, he might’ve smiled at the jealousy in Luca’s voice. “My ex. She’s Blaze’s sister, but I stupidly thought she was with me for love. I heard her on the phone to the MC the morning before our wedding making plans to move their product in as soon as she owned half the club.”
“She violated your trust,” Luca said.
“She did.”
“I’m not her. I won’t let them take your club from you, Cal.”
“What about the pack?” Cal asked.
“We have no interest in taking the club, and Marco would never do anything to hurt you unless you betrayed me,” Luca said.
“And why is that again?” Cal pressed.
Luca winced and turned back to his computer. “Go get some sleep, Cal. You look like shit.”
“Nope. Not good enough,” Cal said, grabbing Luca’s laptop and placing it on the bedside table.
“Hey! I was using that!” Luca cried.
Yanking his legs, Cal pulled Luca down the bed until he could roll on top of him, pinning him to the mattress. “Tell me why your ruthless mafia boss Alpha wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Because he’s not an asshole,” Luca said, glaring up at him.
Cal barked out a laugh. “He is absolutely an asshole to anyone who’s not in your pack.”
Luca turned his head and looked away.
“Which means he thinks I’m pack,” Cal said, his magic vibrating in his skin and his vision narrowing to the beautiful man pressed up against him as he waited to hear Luca’s explanation.
He could feel his world shifting on its axis around this man and he needed to hear the why of it from his lips. Luca had protected the safe place he’d created in the club when he’d removed the threat from the MC. He gave his time to save the very same teens Cal did, just in different ways. The pack might be criminals, but Luca was right. That didn’t mean they weren’t doing good in the world and he couldn’t deny that a piece of his bruised heart had healed when he realised someone had his back after all this time. Maybe even a whole pack if Luca was telling the truth about Marco.
“Sure. Because you saved my life,” Luca said, but he still hadn’t made eye contact.
“Did your mate really die?” Cal asked.
Luca flipped him so fast and sudden that he didn’t realise what was happening until he was face down on the bed, by which time Luca was already out the door and partway down the stairs.
Intuition was an ice-cold dagger to his heart. Very rarely, his magic would work that way. Warning him of danger. It only did it when it was a matter of life or death.
“Luca, baby. Stop! It’s not safe!” Cal yelled, stumbling out of bed to give chase and cursing himself for triggering this panic attack .
He almost broke his neck taking the steps five at a time as he raced after Luca’s retreating form. Thank fuck he’d locked the side door behind himself when he’d come back inside because the delay as Luca fumbled the deadbolts was the only reason he reached him in time.
As Luca slammed the door open, Cal barrelled into him from behind, tackling him to the ground hard enough that Cal heard his kneecap crack open on the concrete of the garage. His magic that he’d reached for as he ran shut off so fast he screamed in agony at the disconnection. Dampening spell. A powerful one. If he’d had one more second, he could’ve shaken it off. His natural strength was too great to be kept down that way, and if he’d been moving any slower, he never would have run into it.
Now, it was too late.
The pain of his broken leg didn’t have time to register because a breath later, the world turned white in a flash of bright fire before everything went dark.