Fighting Temptation [Brac Village 11] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (12 page)

What if Carmine was right? What if Kiki was here with his own agenda? He just didn’t know what to think anymore. “My head hurts.”

“That’ll happen when dealing with deception. All I’m saying is don’t let your guard down, Turi.” Carmine rested his cheek against Turi’s head. The gesture went a long way in soothing him. Even if his entire tribe turned out to be traitors against Turi, he knew he had Carmine.

“Do you at least have any crackers?” Kiki asked as he stuck his head around the door frame. “I could use those with the cheese.”

“He likes to eat,” Turi said to Carmine.

“And he’s still so skinny?” his mate teased.

“I prefer to be called tantalizingly thin,” Kiki said. “Now can we stop talking and feed me?”

“Be quiet before I kick you out,” Carmine bellowed. “Count your blessings that I haven’t already removed your head from your shoulders for showing up here in the first place.”

Kiki stuck his tongue out before ducking back into the kitchen. Turi looked up at his mate. “You really don’t have any food?”

“I could rustle something up.”

Turi pushed at his mate’s chest. “Stay here. He’s my pain in the ass. I’ll find something to tide him over.” He winked at Carmine. “Or maybe I’ll just tell him you don’t and he’ll go away.”

“Smart man.” Carmine smiled at him.

Walking into the kitchen, Turi decided he was going to tell Kiki to bug off when he noticed his cousin standing by the fridge, his body rigid. His eyes kept darting to the side of the door Turi had just walked through.

Turi caught the signal too late. His father was standing there, grabbing Turi before he could open his mouth and shimmering both of them away.

“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch,” Carmine said into the phone as he drove out to the Wood elf village. He couldn’t stop thinking about how he had promised his mate that no one was going to take him. That son of a bitch Delyn had made Carmine go back on his word.

“The
Ultionem
already made their decision and had told Delyn that Turi was not to be forced to mate his uncle,” Detective Lewis Keating said on the other end of the phone. “He went against their ruling.”

“I was going to head out there anyway. Turi had identified the body from that mugging case. He told me that Grainne had been coming to the village to speak with his uncle.”

Keating cleared his throat, but Carmine heard the censure in the man’s tone. “You should’ve told me that you filed the case differently. I could’ve helped you, Bianchi.”

“I’m heading your way. Don’t do anything stupid until I get there.” Keating paused. “I know you want to kill him, Carmine. But remember that he is Turi’s father. Whatever you do will have a lasting effect on your mate. It’s a decision you will have to live with.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Carmine said as he hung up the phone and shoved it down on the console. He could arrest the man for kidnapping, but Carmine knew that wasn’t what he was after.

He wanted Delyn’s head on a platter. But Keating was right. Carmine was going to take Delyn to the
Ultionem
and let them decide his fate. He wouldn’t kill Turi’s father, no matter how badly he wanted to.

“I swear,” Kiki said from beside him. “I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I had to track Turi down. How would his father know where he was?”

“Shut up before I tie you up and put you in the trunk.” Carmine wasn’t even sure why he had brought the man along. He could use Kiki as a bargaining chip to get Turi back, but from the way the man acted, he was pretty sure Egon was glad to be rid of the guy.

He had to think of a way to get Turi out of there. The elf could shimmer, something Carmine couldn’t do. If they spotted him coming, they could get Turi out of there and Carmine may never see his mate again.

His chest tightened at that thought. Turi had come to mean so much to Carmine. He may have resisted mating the man in the beginning, but that hadn’t meant feelings weren’t there from the get-go.

Carmine just wanted his mate back. He wanted Turi safe in his arms. His fingers itched to touch the man’s soft, black hair and he was dying to look into those pretty emerald-green eyes once more.

He wanted to kill Kiki for this, but his gut was telling him that the guy had nothing to do with Delyn showing up. No matter what happened, Carmine was going to eliminate the threat to his mate. He was tired of Turi being afraid and tired of wondering when his relatives were going to show up to kidnap him.

This had to end.

He pulled his car over about half a mile from the village. “We go on foot from here.”

“Why can’t I just shimmer us in there?” Kiki asked.

“Because I’m not going to be at anyone’s mercy. They’ll be waiting for you to do something like that. We do this my way, Kiki.” Carmine reached over and collared the guy, pulling him close as he let out a low rumbling growl. “If you betray me or Turi, I’ll slice your balls from your body.”

Kiki narrowed his hazel eyes. “You don’t have to threaten me. If I was going to betray Turi, I would have taken him as soon as he answered the damn door. Now get your paws off of me.”

Carmine released him. He still didn’t fully trust the guy, but Kiki was right. If he had wanted Turi, he could have taken him before Carmine got out of bed. Shoving the door open, Carmine got out.

He checked his gun and then placed it back in its holster. He was a shifter, but sometimes claws and teeth weren’t enough. He had learned that the hard way in his line of work. Plus he was heading into unknown territory. Carmine had no clue what he was up against.

“We have sentinels. They’ll be looking for you,” Kiki said as he joined Carmine at his side. “My father will have given the order to kill if they spot you.”

“Let them try.” Carmine began to move through the woods, keeping his eyes and ears open. Every so often, he stopped to scent the air, making sure he didn’t have company.

“I am so not used to moving this slow,” Kiki complained. “I’m used to shimmering in and out. How the hell do you do this all the time?”

“Be quiet,” Carmine warned. “Do you want to let them know we are coming?”

Carmine was mildly surprised when the guy curled his lips in. He had been expecting the man to argue. He grabbed Kiki’s arm and stilled when he heard a branch snap. Someone was out here with them.

Before Carmine could protest, Kiki had shimmered them in behind the intruder. The man made a slicing sign across his throat and then pointed to the guy standing in front of them. Carmine shook his head. He was not going to kill a sentinel for doing his job. This man was not his target.

Egon and Delyn were.

Kiki shrugged and then picked up a rock, smashing it down on the unsuspecting sentinel’s head.

“What are you, soft?” Kiki asked as the guy crumbled and he dropped the rock.

Carmine slammed Kiki against a tree, letting his canines elongate. “Never call me soft.”

“Then stop being so damn merciful. Do you think that guy would have shown you any if he were the one to get the upper hand?”

“I didn’t come here to slaughter, Kiki. I came here to get my mate back.”

“He’s your mate!” Kiki shouted the words. “No fucking way!”

Carmine was seconds away from rubbing his temples. Maybe he should have left Turi’s cousin at home.

“But that changes everything,” Kiki said as he pushed at Carmine’s hand. Carmine released the guy. “My father can’t force Turi. He’s already claimed. That’s a death sentence if he takes Turi, knowing the man already has a mate.”

“I’m not sure if he knows…yet.” Carmine began walking again. “But I’m going to make sure he doesn’t come anywhere near Turi again.” He knew he was talking with Egon’s son, but Carmine wasn’t going to candy coat things.

Carmine knew that Keating had sent help, but he wasn’t going to wait. There was no telling what was happening to his mate right now. His bear was threatening to burst free at the thought of anyone harming his mate.

“Shouldn’t you wait for backup?” Kiki asked. “The
Ultionem
can handle my father and Delyn.”

Carmine snarled at Kiki. “How do you know about that?”

Kiki pointed to his ears. “I heard the conversation. Even though my father refuses to be a part of the new council, he isn’t foolish enough to go against them.”

“Then you didn’t hear the entire conversation, Kiki. He’s already gone against them. They made their ruling. Delyn isn’t to force Turi into any damn thing.”

Kiki slapped his hands on his hips. Carmine noticed the guy did that a lot. “I said my father. Turi’s father is greedy. He won’t care what anyone says. He’ll try to hand Turi over to my father regardless of what the
Ultionem
decided.”

And that’s what worried Carmine. It seemed Turi’s father was hell-bent on mating his son to Egon, no matter the consequences. A man like that was very dangerous.

Carmine picked up his steps, determined to make it to his mate before anything happened. Kiki waved at Carmine and then pointed. Carmine could see the outlying image of a village. He stopped, glancing around to make sure no more sentinels were close by.

Kiki tiptoed close to him and then whispered in his ear. “I’ll go scout the place out and find out where they are keeping Turi. You hold tight. A surprise attack is best.”

Carmine nodded, but something kept niggling in his mind. Why would Egon’s son be so helpful when there was a chance that the elder just might die? It was true the elder was a perverted monster, but a child sometimes turned a blind eye to their parent’s depravities when it came to protecting them.

Why should Kiki be any different?

Feeling as if he were being played for a fool, Carmine moved slowly and quietly to the other side of the village. He saw Kiki go into a hut and then come back out a second later, glancing around.

“What are you doing?” a tall and slender man bellowed at Kiki.

“Looking for my father, Uncle Delyn,” Kiki answered. “What business is it of yours?”

Carmine felt his back molars grind as he stared at Turi’s father. He wanted to kill the man for selling his son. He would never understand men like Delyn. Family was everything. There was no way Carmine would sell any of his relatives—although he had a nutty uncle he wouldn’t mind lending to another family.

“Go get into trouble someplace else, brat,” Delyn snapped at Kiki.

Kiki moved in closer, lowering his voice, but Carmine was able to hear what the man said. God love his shifter hearing. “You’re just mad because I know the truth. Turi isn’t your biological son and you’ll do whatever it takes to get rid of him so you won’t be reminded that your mate was pregnant when you met her.”

Delyn raised his hand but Kiki moved out of the way before the man could strike him. “How dare you!”

Kiki flipped Delyn off before he hurried to another hut. Carmine squatted there, stunned at what Turi’s cousin had just revealed. Did Turi know? He didn’t think his mate knew that Delyn was not his biological father.

Carmine smiled when he saw Kiki duck out of another hut, glancing around. The man had balls. He would give him that. Maybe he could trust the man after all. His brows furrowed when Kiki tucked his hands behind his back and began to whistle. Carmine didn’t understand what the man was doing.

“Hey, pops.” Kiki waved at another guy who was walking toward him.

“I told you to never call me that,” the man snapped.

It seemed Kiki was a bane for a lot of men here. Carmine liked the guy’s spunky personality. He could see where Turi got his quirkiness from. Whoever Kiki’s mate was, they were going to have trouble on their hands.

“I see you forced Turi here after all,” Kiki said as he chucked a thumb over his shoulder. “At least you waited until he was an adult.”

The hatred in Kiki’s tone startled Carmine. The words were filled with a venom that could only come from—Carmine wiped at his brow as his stomach twisted into knots. He knew right then that Egon had to die. The man was a deviant bastard.

Carmine rose to his full height, ready to attack when a hand landed on his shoulder. He spun around, ready to fight to the death when he saw Keating standing behind him.

“Help will be here any second,” the detective whispered.

“And my mate is inside that hut,” Carmine snarled. He wasn’t sure if Egon had tried anything with Turi and he wasn’t going to continue to wait. Pushing Keating’s hand from his shoulder, Carmine walked into the village, his gun drawn.

“What is the meaning of this?” Egon said with a haughty tone that grated on Carmine’s nerves. Keating was right next to him, his sidearm drawn as well.

“You had my mate kidnapped from my home,” Carmine stated. “That crime is punishable by death.”

“Your mate?” Egon looked truly perplexed.

“Turi,” Carmine said. “Now release him before I blow a damn hole in your head.”

Egon swung around, his eyes searching. Carmine glanced to his right when Egon pointed at someone. He saw Delyn standing there, his face ashen. “You lied to me!”

Delyn looked just as confused as Egon had looked. “He has no mate,” Delyn defended. “The man is lying.”