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The air thrums around him, that silver haze sparkling and dancing. The leaves in the trees blow in a nonexistent breeze, and even the grass seems to murmur, bending towards him. Roots that lie beneath the ground twist and turn, the very earth responding to his presence. He might not know how to use his witch powers just yet, but they’re still there, waiting, lying dormant.
He snaps Luigi’s neck, and the job is done. He stands to his feet with perfect grace and then walks to the one surviving consigliere. He’s cowering away next to Aidan, a bookish-looking vamp who was clearly more of an advisor than a fighter.
“Venezia, yes?” Luca asks, his voice commanding. The terrified man nods. “Your name?”
“Simon.”
“Well, Simon, this is your lucky night. I need you to do me a favor.”
There’s little doubt that Simon will say yes, which he does immediately.
“Go now, Simon. Leave this place. Spread the word of what has happened here. Tell them all that things are different now. I am in charge. From now on, there is one Cosca, and it is mine. Tell them of my strength, of my alliances. Tell them the time of the old Dons is over. I am not an unreasonable man, but anybody who crosses me will die, just as easily as Alfredo, Luigi, and Federico. They thought they were powerful. They were not. You understand?”
The vamp trembles but nods, and as soon as Aidan relinquishes his grip on him, he runs away to spread the legend, to build the story. To seal Luca’s reputation in fear and respect.
Luca watches him go and then looks up at the sky, at the silvery light of the moon. I stare at him in awe. Blood on his face, fire in his eyes, radiating power. Luca d’Argento. My man. My love. My world. I love him, and I would die for him—but what is he becoming?
Chapter 26
Luca
Iwant to do nothing more than take Rosa in my arms and carry her away from this place. To disappear into bed with her and not leave it for days. I know she’s been aware of the distance between us, and I know it has hurt her. I have hurt her. I hate that, but I had my reasons. I will explain it all to her later. In that bed I am dreaming of.
But now? Now, there is more work to do. The bodies of the Cosca Dons disintegrate just like any other vampires when Rosa and Donna stake their hearts, though perhaps they take slightly longer. Still, the end result is the same—they are dispatched into nothingness. All those years, all that power, all that frantic scrambling to build and keep their empires. Everything and everyone they have sacrificed to stay on top. Now they are just dust, blowing away into the night. A lesson I will try not to forget.
“That was … interesting,” Aidan says, approaching me. Is he nervous? He seems a little nervous. “You could have fucking told me what you were planning.”
“I didn’t tell anyone, Aidan.” Not even Rosa, the woman who is the other half of me. She had been as surprised as anybody when the wolves appeared.
“Why not?”
I fix him with a stare, and he backs off an inch. Yeah. Definitely nervous. Before, I was only his scary vampire boss. Now, I’m his scary vampire-witch-whatever-the-fuck boss. One who just upended the whole world order without warning.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you, Aidan.”
“No. Course not. So … what happens now?”
I look around the clearing. The wolves are slinking off into the trees, and when it suits them, they will emerge in their human forms. Sophia is stroking the thick ruff of fur around the blue-eyed wolf’s neck, and he licks her hand before he bounds away towards his pack. She sighs, gazes after him. This is a side of her I have never seen before. Possibly a side of her that never existed before, because fuck knows I get it, finding the person you’re meant to be with can change you.
The owls have flown away, and eventually, I know, they will also make themselves known in person at the Firenze court. This brave new world Luigi mentioned is going to be a complicated one for sure. I’d already put feelers out to the other Cosca courts, knew that there was corruption. Discontent. Those who were more than ready for the old guard to stand down. It will take time, and Luigi was right, there will be anger, retaliation. I’m confident we can handle it, and besides, it had to be done.
I told myself I was aiming for peace, but deep down I knew it was never going to work. How could I ever trust men like that? How could I ever build alliances with people who were even remotely associated with the destruction of my own family? Not just that, but men who had perpetuated everything that was wrong with our society?
The short answer is, I couldn’t. So, the prepping for war was my main preoccupation. Now, I have won. I am victorious. I should be elated, but all I am is tired. Part of me yearns for the simple life that young Luca d’Argento knew, that could have been mine. Farming, growing, nurturing. Instead, I’ve spent my whole life killing.
I sense Rosa approaching, turn to face her. She reaches up, wiping blood from my throat where Luigi managed to wound me. It will heal within the hour, but she still looks distressed by it, as I would in her position.
“I am sorry I didn’t tell you,” I say simply, taking her hand and kissing it. Her green eyes shine up at me, full of love, but also tinged by doubt.
“Why didn’t you?”
“I wasn’t sure the wolves would come. That was a Hail Mary, given my history with Sophia’s father. And the shifters … well, they’re hard to pin down at the best of times. I didn’t tell anybody, not even Matteo. I needed to keep it all under wraps. Nobody could know.”
She frowns, bites her lips. Takes her hand from mine. “You don’t trust me?”
I hate the pain in those few words, and everything they imply. “Of course!” I assure her. “Of course, I fucking trust you. But I also wanted to protect you. If I told you, you would have insisted on being part of it. By reaching out to the other groups, I was showing my hand—putting a target on my back. I couldn’t take the chance of putting one on yours too. Besides, it was all up in the air. I didn’t know who would be a friend, who would be an enemy.”
She nods, looks away. “Apparently not.”
