Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Dom stalked down the bustling avenue into Tivoli next to Evie.
Around him, the lights of early Christmas decorations sparkled in the night.
Reaching the far end of the block, he disappeared into the shadows to sense around the outdoor eatery where Willem instructed Evie to meet him.
Four humans sat outside already, each heavily armed and no doubt part of the ambush.
He sensed five or six other humans with weapons in various buildings.
He cloaked himself, manipulating all minds to only see her. On top of that, he put a shield that would repel gunshots or darts if they planned to tranquilize Evie and take her in.
As they strolled down the street, Willem walked out of the restaurant to take a seat outdoors. He waved.
Evie sat on the edge of the seat across from him and remained silent.
Dom took his place standing next to her, invisible to all. He sucked on a strong mint with the hope its piercing flavor might distract him long enough to get him through this. The need to crush Willem in the most painful manner possible burned him from the inside out.
“You made the right decision.” Willem bristled with a cocky confidence.
“How do you propose to free them from the curse?” Evie’s tone came out even despite the fury he sensed she hid.
Willem waved a hand. “We’ll get to that. You look…well.”
“You will answer me.” She retrieved a dagger from her pants and fisted it next to her thigh.
“Eh.” Who knows.
Dom bit down on the mint. It made an audible crack that made Willem look around in surprise. The snake had no clue nor intent to break the curse.
Willem said, “You seem different somehow.”
“Why did you do this to my children?”
“It was a good opportunity.”
“For you.” Stated as fact. “If you can’t get them free, why am I here, and why threaten one of your own children?”
The mint pieces burned Dom’s mouth. A new scan of the area detected three of the five humans with weapons were dead. Two more to go. Good job, Efrem.
The humans in this outdoor area of the restaurant who were clearly involved could be easily eliminated by him at the right moment.
“You’re going to accompany me back to England.” Willem’s cunning smile made Dom fist his own blade.
“Am I?” she asked.
One more hostile human sniper dead. One remained.
Willem made some sort of hand signal. When nothing happened, Dom assumed one of the dead humans had been meant to shoot Evie or do something attention-grabbing.
Willem pushed on his ear and whispered, “Plan B.”
This demented creature thought himself in control. Dom forced himself to take a deep inhale, but it didn’t calm the rage flooding his body. With nothing but death in his tone, he asked, “What is Plan B?”
“Who asked that?” Willem craned around, seeing nothing.
“My ghost is here,” Evie said.
Willem rolled his eyes. “It seems tranq’ing you is off the table. Probably because of that fucking Efrem. You will come with me willingly to England.”
“What would possibly inspire me to do that?”
A dark van pulled to the curb beside them. The side door slid open, and a body was shoved out. On brief glimpse… Oh, fuck.
Dom’s heart pounded in his throat. Wrath frenzied his power to the point of explosion. Jonas Lanzo’s body had the pallor and rigor of a long-ago death. A giant hole gaped where the middle of his chest should’ve been.
“Noooo…” Evie stood and backed into Dom.
My poor, sweet, faint-hearted Jonas… Evie’s words from long ago swirled in his head. This would destroy her.
Dom put one hand around her waist and whispered, “I got you. Do not move toward that van. Not yet.”
“Is he dead? Did you kill him?” Evie asked in a shaky voice.
“I had the weakest link eliminated. If you don’t accompany me, Flynn is next.” His flippancy over a life precious to Evie shattered Dom’s resolve to try to keep this scum alive long enough for Evie to end him. The bastard was dead.
Before he could act, Evie reached across the table and fisted Willem’s throat. “Where. Is. Flynn?”
Willem’s eyes bulged. Munich. Dom picked up the vision of an institutional building in the city as it flashed in Willem’s head.
To Evie, Dom thought, “I have his location. We need to leave.”
“What do you want with me?” With her opposite hand, she twisted and crushed her ex’s right hand.
He howled in pain. Tears poured out of his eyes and snot from his nose. “They wa…wanted a lycan baby. Hard to get a female.”
“You’re such trash.” Her lips twisted into a sneer as she shoved her knife between his ribs and twisted.
The three human hostiles in the restaurant shot at them. The bullets didn’t land, instead held in suspension around them. Without blinking, Dom used his power to redirect them back at the shooters. All three were now dead.
“You’re mine,” Willem choked out. I’ll do whatever the hell I want with you. I own you.
Dom closed in on Willem’s face and allowed himself to be visible for an instant, which was a mistake. The stench of the wretch overwhelmed his nose despite the residual mint in his mouth. “She was never yours.” Always mine.
Willem wheezed as blood began filling his chest. His fast-healing ability should already be halfway to repairing the damage from her knife unless he was still under the influence of the mhis. “You won’t get Flynn if you kill me.”
“I’ll get to him.” Evie shoved the knife into his chest in a different location. “Tell me what you know about ending this curse, or I’ll start slicing off body parts.”
“Stop,” he moaned. “No way to reverse it. That’s the point. There are safeguards in place. If I die…” The letter will go to Ian. He will take revenge as directed.
“He’s useless to us, Evie.” Dom snarled, “I will hunt Ian if he so much as thinks about hurting you.”
“What the hell are you?” Willem’s eyes bugged wide. “Ian will kill you both. He’s better than you.”
“No lycan can best me,” Dom said. “You don’t even know what I am.”
Four vans filled with hostile humans arrived.
I can’t believe that whore fucked this devil. Willem yanked the knife out of his chest and rammed it into Evie’s abdomen.
Dom’s control fractured. With a cry, he released an energy surge to melt the insides of every being hostile to him in the area. Willem’s body convulsed as blood gushed out of his eyes and nose. Hostile humans likewise convulsed and collapsed.
Bystanders screamed and ran.
He caught Evie to him, removed the dagger, and rapid-healed her.
She took back her blade. “I’m okay. Jonas…”
Dom stared down at Willem’s dead body. To make sure there was no way Willem could reanimate, he removed his head and incinerated it with a bolt of lightning.
Gently, he gestured for her to follow him to the van. He lifted Jonas’s body and signaled for Efrem to come out. When Efrem froze several hundred yards away, Dom stalked to him and yanked him into the in-between realm along with Evie. From there, he transported them back to her home.
Back at the secure flat in Rome, Efrem finally found words. “What the hell happened to all of them? What did you…how did you…?”
“I eliminated the threats,” he said flatly.
“That was next-level horror-movie shit. I can’t unsee that. They literally melted. I didn’t know anything alive could do that. Demons maybe, but a mage?”
Evie took several steps toward them but collapsed to her knees. “Not Jonas.” Tears poured down her face. “My poor baby.”
Dom lay Jonas on the nearby sofa. “He was already gone long before they brought him to the meeting.”
Evie shuffled on her knees to be next to Jonas. “Can you revive him? Can you help him?”
“He’s too long gone.” There was no way to ease her pain. “There’s nothing anyone can do at this point. His soul has moved on.” He knelt next to her and ran his hands over her abdomen. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” The agonized sob from her flayed something deep inside him.
She put a stabilizing hand on Dom’s shoulder.
“I’d give him my lifeblood if it’d bring him back.
My sweet baby.” She swept hair off Jonas’s face, but didn’t let go of her hold on Dom.
“Willem… Is he for sure…?” she managed to get out.
Dom nodded. “He’s—”
“He incinerated his fucking head,” Efrem interrupted while he knelt next to Evie, tears leaking down his face. “He killed them all. Without even moving. They’re all dead.”
“Flynn?” she whispered. “Where is he, Dom?”
“Munich. I think he’s alive. I am not entirely sure where, but I’ll figure it out. I’ll go get him for you.” He stood to move away and go find Flynn.
“Wait.”
He paused. Was she going to cast him out of her life for not saving Jonas? Would she despise him for stripping her of the ultimate revenge to have killed Willem?
She wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you. I think I might’ve…I might not have made it out of there if you hadn’t been there. If you can get to Flynn and bring him back, I’d appreciate that. But, Dom—”
She waited for him to acknowledge her. All he managed was a grunt.
“I need you back alive too.” She fisted her hands in his shirt. “Do you understand me?”
“Your son is my priority.”
“I appreciate that, but do you hear me?” She went on tiptoe to kiss him. “I need you. You must come back to me alive. Swear it to me.”
His chest hurt. She was the one his soul answered to and always would.
He hadn’t admitted it to himself until he announced it in his head before he incinerated Willem.
She was his, but not in an ownership way.
She was his to treasure and shield. His to teach how to thrive with her powers and defend herself. His to show what pleasure should be.
He would willingly die for her; she wanted him to swear he wouldn’t greet Death willingly.
Little scared him, but this did.
The Source would detect this—not that he cared much. This would cause a pretty big ripple. He feared their future. This was the mother to the child that would end everything.
“I will survive this, miri thagarni.” I don’t know if I’ll survive you, though.