Fighting Temptation [Brac Village 11] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) (13 page)

“Give. Me. My. Mate,” Carmine bit out between clenched teeth. “Or I swear I will shoot you.” He raised his gun higher, aiming for Egon’s forehead. He had many hours on the shooting range and was a damn good shot. If Egon tested him, Carmine would prove that he could put a bullet between the man’s eyes.

“You pathetic fool!” Egon turned toward Delyn. “How dare you give me someone else’s mate!”

“Kill each other later,” Carmine snapped at them. He could care less if those two battled to the death. “Give me Turi.”

Delyn moved toward the hut door, backing up slowly. “You’ll never have my son.” He pulled a long, jagged knife from his robe. “I’ll kill him before—”

Carmine fired, hitting the man right between his eyes. Delyn dropped to the ground, unmoving.

“He’s not here,” Egon said in a tone that said he could have cared less if Carmine had just killed his brother. What the hell was with this family? Didn’t they know a damn thing about loyalty?

“He’s in the hut!” Kiki shouted. Before Carmine could stop the man, Egon turned and slapped Kiki so hard that his head snapped back. Carmine fired his gun once more, but Egon had shimmered away before the bullet even came close.

Carmine didn’t hesitate. He hurried to the hut and went inside. Turi was spread out on the bed, looking as if he were asleep. Kiki came in behind Carmine. “Delyn must have given him a potion to make Turi sleep.” The man cut his eyes at Carmine and then down toward the dirt floor. “He planned on taking Turi while your mate was drugged.”

Carmine knew exactly who
he
was. He shoved his gun in his holster and then pulled Turi from the bed, cradling his mate in his arms. Carmine hugged him close, pressing his lips to his mate’s cheek. “I have you, baby.”

Turi didn’t move. That worried Carmine. Even though Kiki had just said that Delyn had given Turi a potion to make him sleep, he wouldn’t feel better until the pack doctor checked his mate out.

As he exited the hut, Carmine saw Maverick and Zeus standing just outside the hut. He cursed when he realized that he hadn’t even gotten the chance to ask why Grainne had been coming here. It no longer mattered to him. Fuck the case. Turi was more important. He had filed it as a mugging and that’s the way it would stay.

Maverick’s light-grey eyes were smoldering with anger as he looked down at Turi. “Did Egon take him?”

It took a moment for Carmine to understand what the guy was asking. “He didn’t violate my mate.” Those words kindled the hatred in his heart for Delyn and Egon even further. Carmine wanted Egon to pay for this. He had seen in the man’s eyes that he didn’t care that Turi was his mate. He wanted the guy and had defied
Ultionem
orders to have Turi.

Carmine looked down at Delyn’s dead body. “He was going to kill Turi.”

“We already know what happened,” Zeus said, standing there like a mighty mountain. Maverick was tall, but Zeus was taller, and a hell of a lot thicker. The man looked like the devil himself had spawned the leader. “Egon will pay for this. There is nowhere he can hide that we won’t find him.”

Carmine inclined his head. The only thing he wanted to do was get his mate home. He turned toward Kiki, feeling bad for how things had turned out.

Kiki waved a hand at Carmine. “Don’t worry about me. These backward ass people can turn their backs on me if they want, but they are not driving me from my home.”

Again, Carmine admired the man for his brass balls.

A stranger stepped forward, his stance bold and strong. “He will be safe.”

“And you are?” Carmine asked.

“Iam. I’m the leader of the Wood elves. I am sorry I was not here when Delyn took Turi but I tried to stop it once I found out. I sent my sentinels out to look for you, to make sure you were safe.”

Carmine thought about the sentinel in the woods, knocked out cold, and was glad as fuck that he hadn’t shot the man. “You might want to look for the guy I rendered unconscious in the woods.”

Maverick chuckled. “We already found him. He’ll be fine.”

Carmine was glad. “I want to get my mate home.” He glanced over at Keating, giving a dip of his head, thanking the man for being there for him.

Keating gave him a tight smile, returning the nod.

“Iam will shimmer you there and I’ll drive your car back,” Zeus offered. Carmine wasn’t going to argue. He wasn’t looking forward to the long drive home. His fingers curled tight into Turi as Iam grabbed his arm and shimmered Carmine and Turi home.

Within seconds Iam was back, Dr. Sheehan at his side. After the doctor examined Turi, he said what Carmine had suspected. “He just needs to sleep it off.”

“Thanks,” Carmine said as Iam shimmered the doctor away. He crawled into bed next to his mate and pulled Turi close, vowing he would never again let someone take this small man from him.

Turi slipped the coiled piece of plastic around his wrist, vowing never to take it off again. To hell with that. He wasn’t taking any more chances with his safety.

“I thought you didn’t need that.” Carmine nodded toward Turi’s wrist.

“So did I until Daddy Dearest kidnapped me,” Turi said. “I’m not going to let him do it again.”

Turi noticed the way Carmine looked away. His expression was guilty as hell. Turi had been knocked out for the last twelve hours. He was still tired as hell, but he made himself get out of bed. He was trying to put all the pieces together of what had happened when he got back to the village, but a lot of things were very fuzzy.

“We need to talk, Turi.”

He didn’t like that tone. Something was amiss and Turi had an urge to run. Carmine wouldn’t look at him as he took a seat on the couch. Turi’s insides were coiling tight as he knelt at Carmine’s feet, glancing up at his mate’s handsome face. “What is it?”

His mate reached out and brushed the strands away from Turi’s face, tucking them behind his ear. Carmine’s eyebrows dipped slightly as he chewed on his bottom lip. It was an odd look for the man. Carmine always seemed so self-assured, so in control. The hesitation was unsettling.

“Since the first moment I laid eyes on you, I fought the mating. I told you about my father and the reason why.”

Turi scooted closer, placing his hands on Carmine’s knees. He had a feeling he would need the leverage. “You did.”

“When your father kidnapped you,” Carmine said as his fingers traced along Turi’s jaw. “I was scared out of my mind. I thought he would shimmer you somewhere and I would never see you again.”

So far Turi liked what he was hearing. Carmine was confessing his feelings and Turi was eating it up. He just had a feeling that Carmine was leading up to something.

“On the ride to your village, my emotions were a wreck. I was scared, angry, and ready to kill someone to get you back. But in that cauldron of emotions, one of the feelings that I was experiencing took me by surprise.”

Turi was completely confused. He had no idea what Carmine was trying to say. He knew that men weren’t good at expressing themselves, but his nerves were afraid and Turi wished that Carmine would just tell him whatever it was he was trying to say.

Carmine reached out and placed a hand on either side of Turi’s face, tilting his head back and staring down into his eyes. “I realized that I love you, Turi.”

Turi swallowed past the lump in his throat. He knew that Carmine cared. The man had shown it in every way. To know that Carmine loved him was something that Turi could only dream of. His fingers curled into the denim fabric of Carmine’s jeans. “I love you too, Carmine.”

His mate smiled, but he could see trouble in the man’s café-brown eyes. Carmine had more to say. Turi just knew it. “Just say it.” His nerves couldn’t take the suspense. Turi had been through enough already. He didn’t want any more bad news, but wouldn’t stop Carmine from saying what was on his mind.

Carmine pulled Turi from the floor, cradling him in the man’s strong arms. Turi was getting really scared. He could tell that Carmine was stalling. “Please, just say it, Carmine,” Turi begged in a whisper.

“I killed your father.” Carmine’s arms tightened around him, almost cutting off Turi’s supply of oxygen. He could tell his mate was waiting for the fallout, for Turi to scream and shout and possibly hit him.

“Did you do it on purpose?” Turi asked, his mind spinning at the news. Although Delyn had been a bastard to Turi, the guy had still been his father. He wasn’t sure what he was feeling right now. His emotions had shut down and he was feeling a bit numb.

Carmine pulled back, shaking his head. “He pulled a knife and was heading inside the hut. I couldn’t let him kill you, and I couldn’t let him take you away from me, Turi—not again. I knew that if he took you from the hut, I would never see you again.”

Turi searched Carmine’s face and his gut was telling him that his mate was still holding something back. He wasn’t sure if he could handle any more bad news. His father was dead. Those words kept echoing in his mind. “Please tell me the rest, Carmine. Stop holding out on me.”

Carmine’s hands brushed up and down Turi’s arms. “You are way too perceptive.”

Again, the man was stalling.

His mate sighed. “I heard Kiki telling his father that you aren’t Delyn’s child. He said that your mother was pregnant when he met her.”

Turi couldn’t say that he was devastated by the news because Delyn had not been a good father. Stunned would be more appropriate. “He wasn’t my father?”

That explained so much. It explained why Delyn had always told Turi that he was a burden and had treated Turi with a cold distance his entire life. The man hated the fact that Turi was a reminder that his mate had been with another before him.

Turi wished his mother was still alive. He had so many questions about who his real father was. But the secret of who his biological father had been died with his mother. Turi was pretty damn sure Delyn wouldn’t have told him.

“Are you okay?” Carmine continued to pet him, worry in his eyes.

“I will be,” Turi answered honestly. “It’s just a lot to take in at once.”

They both turned when a loud knock sounded on the front door. Carmine stood and moved from the couch. His mate’s strides were predatory, telling Turi that the man wasn’t playing around. Turi hoped like hell that there wasn’t trouble on the other side, because he could tell that Carmine was at the end of his rope.

Carmine glanced out of the window and then moved to the door, opening it. Turi was a bit surprised to see Maverick standing on the other side. “We need to talk, bear.”

His mate moved out of the way, allowing Maverick to stride inside. Turi watched as the extremely tall man took a seat in the chair across from the couch. He was curious to know why Maverick was here.

Carmine sat down next to Turi, pulling him back into the man’s strong arms. “Did you find Egon?”

Maverick shook his head. “He’s nowhere to be found, but when he resurfaces, we’ll be there to catch him.”

Turi knew that Maverick was talking about the
Ultionem
. The alpha tossed something that Carmine caught in midair. When Carmine opened his hand, Turi saw a small key lying in his mate’s palm.

“It seems that damn key is getting a lot of mileage these days,” Maverick said as he settled back.

Turi’s heart began to race as Carmine unlocked the bracelet from around his wrist. He wanted to shout for joy that he had his freedom back, that he could now shimmer. He never wanted to see another bracelet again in his life.

Carmine tossed the key back to Maverick. “Thank you.”

The alpha inclined his head. “I just stopped by to get the bracelet off of Turi and give you an update on Egon.” The man stood and headed toward the door. He glanced back over his shoulder, his eyes piercing Turi. “I’ll also be looking into who the biological father is.”

Turi bit his bottom lip, stopping the sob from escaping between his lips. All he could do was nod as the alpha walked out.

Carmine dropped a kiss on Turi’s temple. “We’ll figure all this out.”

Turi knew that he would never feel safe as long as Egon was on the loose. But having Carmine on his side helped settle his nerves. “I know.”

* * * *

Maverick walked to his motorcycle, deep in thought. He already knew who Turi’s father was. He just wasn’t sure if he should tell. It was none of his business, but it had bothered him to know all the turmoil that Turi had already gone through.

He should’ve just kept his big mouth shut.

Damn bleeding heart.

He wasn’t sure it would be in Turi’s best interest to tell the man that Marino Malone was his biological father and that Turi was half-demon. Delyn had known and had tried to make Turi pay for something that wasn’t his fault.

Maybe it was better to let sleeping dogs lie. Marino wasn’t even aware that Turi was his son. More than likely the guy would try to use that information to his advantage.

No, it was best Turi didn’t know. With his decision made, Maverick straddled his bike and took off. But he didn’t head straight home. Tonight he felt like riding. He held so many secrets that some days the burden became too much.