Defying the North Wind Read online

  Then he heard laughter on the wind.

  He looked up. On a nearby roof, looking down at the burning devastation, he saw Caecius’s familiar muscular form.

  Luca’s rage didn’t boil or bubble. No, it was as cold as the frigid waters of the Arctic.

  He wanted to go after the damned Tempest Wind, but when he saw the movements inside his hotel—his people—he focused on them instead.

  He lifted his hands and called the North Wind. Bring me the clouds.

  Wind howled through the piazza. He blocked out the noise of the fire. Caecius’s laughter. The suffering of his people.

  What he couldn’t block out was the quiet presence of the woman beside him.

  Quickly the clouds gathered overheard, boiling and churning. Then the rain started to fall.

  The flames sizzled and hissed. He glanced at Rayne. “If you want to help, then help the injured.”

  With that, he ran into the nearby alley. Once out of the sight, Luca called on his wind. He jumped into the air and the North Wind gave him the push he needed to land on the roof.

  A few feet from The Northeast Wind.

  Luca didn’t bother talking. His icy rage had closed his throat. Instead, he launched himself at his enemy.

  “Bring it on, WindKeeper.” Caecius’s bearded face was edged with amusement. “I feel your rage. It feeds me, makes me stronger.”

  Luca slammed out with his right fist, and followed with his left. But Caecius had survived many battled over many lifetimes, and even being trapped for centuries by the Keeper of the Winds hadn’t diminished his fighting skills.

  The rain continued to hammer down on them, and the smell of water mingled with the stench of smoke. A scent that fed Luca’s rage. He knew that many of his employees were dead or horrifically injured down below.

  For each blow Luca delivered, he took one. The punches to his already injured ribs knocked him back. His powers allowed his body to heal faster than a regular human, but he still felt pain.

  Caecius bent low and swiped out with his foot. Luca stumbled, glanced down at the drop to the burning hotel below, then regained his footing.

  Water sluiced over them but Luca ignored it. The fury running through him energized him, made him stronger.

  He had to free Caecius from his mortal body and banish him back to his prison.

  Then something hit the roof tiles beside them—hard. Bang. Bang. Bang. Screams from the crowd below echoed upward.

  Hailstones pelted the roof and ground around them.

  Good, another way to hurt Caecius. One stone hit the Venti Tempesta in the head, making him curse.

  Luca let out a savage laugh and embraced his anger.

  ***

  Rayne climbed up a pillar and reached above her for a handhold. She pulled herself up to the first set of windows, balanced on a railing, then leaped upward. Her hands caught ornately carved stone and she climbed up to the second set of windows.

  Below she heard the escalating screams of the crowd. Hail rattled down with violent fury.

  A hailstone hit her shoulder with brutal force, causing her to lose her grip and swing outward. She kept her left hand clamped to the stone and pulled herself back in.

  Damn it. Venti was going to kill them all. Ignoring her aching shoulder, she kept climbing.

  She reached the top and hauled herself over the ledge.

  Then she saw them.

  It was the first time she’d seen one of the Venti Tempesta in real life. Caecius didn’t look like an evil monster. In fact, except for his dark beard, he looked similar to Luca. Same powerful build, dark hair and chiseled face.

  But she knew he was pure evil. He embraced the vice his wind carried and infected as many people as he could with it.

  She glanced at Luca’s face…and froze.

  He was smiling, his eyes the same frosty blue she’d seen earlier. Her heart gave a solid thump. Anger was driving him, taking him over.

  If he fully gave into it, he would become as rotten as Caecius and the two of them would destroy the world.

  She stood, her gaze swinging back to the Tempest Wind. She was sure he sensed that Luca was on the edge.

  She had to stop this.

  Rayne sprinted across the roof. As she neared the men, she dived forward.

  And tackled Luca to the ground.

  He roared, twisting to look at her. His eyes narrowed. “What the hell are you doing?” He turned his head back to Caecius and shouted his frustration.

  She followed his gaze and saw the Tempest Wind running along the rooftop. He leaped into the air and landed on a neighboring building.

  Luca sat up, and as he moved to stand, she gripped his arms. “No! Not until you get control of yourself.”

  “I am in control.” He dragged her to her feet. “You let Caecius escape.”

  “You’re pelting the crowd, and the survivors, with hailstones the size of baseballs, Venti. You’ll hurt more people. You, not Caecius.”

  Luca’s mouth thinned to a hard line but she saw her words didn’t register through the rage.

  How to reach him? Then she remembered seeing him in the darkened square, being beaten by the men. Gathering her courage, she kicked out, catching him in his rock-hard stomach.

  He took a step backward, but didn’t fall. His hands curled into fists. “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “You need to snap out of it.” She lifted her hands. “The pain, it helped you gain control before so…attack me.”

  A deep frown cut across his face. “No.”

  She kicked out again. A wicked roundhouse that caught him square in the jaw. His head snapped back.

  “Fight me,” she yelled.

  He shook his head, but she saw the way his jaw clenched tight.

  Rayne moved in low and snapped a chop to his thigh.

  This time he growled and lunged forward.

  She braced herself for a hit. Instead his big body took hers to the ground. She was laid out flat on her back, an enraged WindKeeper on top of her.

  His chest was rising and falling rapidly. She stayed still, watching him. The rain had plastered his dark hair to his head and his white shirt stuck to him. His bronze skin felt cold though. Icy.

  She bucked beneath him. “Fight me.”

  “No.”

  She wanted to scream. She’d failed. Doing something, acting, had achieved nothing. She was as useless as her mother.

  But then Rayne saw a swirl of deep blue in his ice-white eyes. As she watched, his irises returned to cobalt and his skin warmed.

  He reached out and cupped her cheek. “You are either very brave or very stupid.”

  “I’ll go with brave.”

  Those strong fingers stroked her cheek, his eyes so intense she was having trouble breathing.

  “I’ve heard the Aurae can help a WindKeeper control his vice—”

  Her muscles tensed. “I’m not sleeping with you for the good of mankind. I’ll do what I can to help, but when I welcome a man into my bed, it’s because I want to, because it’s my damn choice. I don’t want you naked, Venti.”

  “Shh.” His finger briefly touched her lips and then he rose, taking his weight off her. He held out a hand. “Unfortunately for me, it seems you calm the anger without us having to get naked.”

  She stared at his hand for a moment before reluctantly taking it. When she looked around, she noted the hail had stopped.

  “I need to help my people.” He moved to the edge of the roof and looked down, shadows flickering in his eyes. The sound of sirens echoed around them. “Trust me?”

  “Not really.”

  His fingers tightened on her hand. “I deserve that. But you can.” He pulled her close and stepped off the roof.

  Rayne’s breath caught in her chest. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around him. They fell, but instantly a strong wind caught them and lowered them gently to the ground. She glanced at Luca’s expressionl
ess face. So much power within him. He released her and strode back into the square.

  Rayne stood in the shadows behind the crowd of people who’d gathered in front of the burned out shell of the hotel. But she only had eyes for Luca’s dominant figure, watching as he talked with the polizia, comforted a crying woman and talked with a bedraggled man in a hotel uniform, whose hands were bandaged. But as Luca moved through the crowd, she noted he seemed stiff, not his usual fluid self.

  When she saw he and some of his employees had finished dealing with the injured, she moved over to him. “How badly are you hurt?”

  “It’s healing.” He swiped a hand through his sodden hair. “I just need some rest.” His intense blue eyes burned into her. “You should go. Luckily, Caecius didn’t realize what you are. If he does, he’ll come after you.”

  “I’m a trained Aurae warrior.” She wasn’t afraid of anything or anyone.

  Luca leaned in. She smelled smoke on him, but also the scent she knew was pure Luca, pure male. Her pulse leaped.

  “You should be afraid. If not of Caecius, then of me.”

  Chapter Three

  Luca watched Rayne hold his gaze, her chin tilted.

  She had courage. He liked that. She pushed back her wet hair and it drew his attention to the way her tank clung to her slim curves. Her skin was a pale, incandescent cream that he wanted to taste.

  “Well, I’m not afraid of you either, WindKeeper.” She cast a glance at the ruined hotel. Sorrow flashed briefly across her face. “There’s no more we can do here. Come with me, we’ll get your wounds cleaned up.”

  Luca knew he should tell her to go. He should get far, far away from this fascinating woman. He could check into another hotel, regroup, and plan a strategy for going after his enemy. Oh, the burning need for revenge was already whipping his insides into a frenzy.

  Except when he looked into cool green eyes the color of freshly cut grass that frenzy calmed. “Okay.” He moved up beside her. “Where to?”

  “Come with me.”

  They moved through the backstreets of Venice, neither one of them talking. They passed a couple perched on a railing beside a canal, caught in a passionate embrace. Lost to the real world and its hardships. For them, everything was perfect and shiny.

  Luca felt a brief spurt of…something. He looked away and focused on Rayne’s slim neck and that hair the color of his favorite Chianti. Life had never been shiny or perfect for him, not since he’d hit his teens and become the Keeper of the North Wind. Not since he’d fought his everyday battle with the vice of anger. He studied the strong profile of Rayne’s face. Something told him her life hadn’t given her an easy path either.

  They crossed a small arch of a bridge. He didn’t want or need perfect. He had his brothers and his duty. That was enough.

  Rayne stopped in front of a terracotta-colored building wedged between similar ones, all painted in bright colors. Wrought iron, shutters and flower boxes gave the old buildings character. Rayne unlocked the door and waved him inside.

  The décor inside was…feminine. The curtains were floral, the colors light and airy, and the furniture delicate twists of wood. He felt like the bull in the china shop.

  “This isn’t your house,” he said.

  She flicked him a glance.

  “Not your style.”

  “It’s an Aurae safe house. We have a few all around the world.” She pointed down the hall. “Let’s head to the library.”

  When he entered the large room at the back, with windows overlooking a lovely little canal, he noted the frills and floral were gone. This room was all smooth, warm wood, and comfy suede couches, complemented by small touches of rich jewel tones. A cushion here, a vase there.

  “This is yours.” He turned in a slow circle, studying the hundreds of books lined up on the shelves.

  “It’s my favorite.” She walked to a cupboard and opened the door to expose a tiny refrigerator. “And yes, I decorated it.” She grabbed an ice pack from the miniscule freezer compartment. “Sit. Let me see your ribs.”

  Luca dropped into an armchair and unbuttoned his shirt. “I thought you didn’t want me naked.”

  She rolled her eyes and perched on the chair’s armrest. When she looked at his ribs, she let out a loud hiss. “Jesus, you’ve been walking around like that?”

  He glanced down. Okay, the ugly mottling of bruises wasn’t pretty. It felt strange to have someone worry about his bruises. He’d lost his parents several years ago and even before that, they’d been loving but tough on him and his brothers. As WindKeepers, they couldn’t be coddled.

  Rayne pressed a finger gently to the darkest area. “You might have broken some ribs.”

  “I did. But they’ve healed now. In the morning, the bruises will be gone.” He watched the way her gaze drifted over his chest, down to his stomach. A burn ignited in him that had nothing to do with anger.

  He watched her face, the bloom of color in her cheeks. This was the real Rayne. It was why the cool, efficient Rayne had bugged him so much. She’d been hiding the real woman.

  He wanted her. Adrenaline from the fight still charged through him, leaving him with an edginess that needed an outlet. But it was more than that. She stood up to him like no one but his brothers ever had before. In the boardroom, in a fight, damn, even above his burning hotel and facing a Tempest Wind, even when Luca had been caught in his anger, she hadn’t been intimidated.

  He reached over and touched her hair.

  She stilled. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking.”

  “Look but don’t touch.” She knocked his hand away.

  Someone had left her wary. The faintest tinge of anger twisted inside him. He wanted to know who.

  Without warning, she pressed the ice pack to his ribs. He sucked in a breath. She shot him a tiny, pleased smile.

  “Bitch,” he said.

  Her smile widened. “Don’t you forget it.”

  Oh, he’d have his revenge. But he knew revenge was always better cold, like the North Wind.

  She shifted her weight. “What’s next? How will we catch Caecius?”

  “I need a plan. I’m not waiting for the bastard to target more of my people.” Horrific images of the dancing flames and the screaming victims replaying in Luca’s mind made his shoulders tense. “I need to lure him out where I want him.”

  “How?”

  “Not sure yet.” But he was working on it. Luca didn’t like to admit it, but he and Caecius were not so different. They were both driven by anger. Luca just needed to figure out what would lure him out and the same thing would probably work on the Tempest Wind.

  The thought had his temper spiking. To calm it, he looked at Rayne. “Tell me about the Aurae.”

  “There aren’t many of us left. Few survived The Purge.”

  Luca frowned. “The Purge?”

  She stood and started to pace. “The last time the Venti Tempesta escaped, they didn’t just wreak havoc with their vices.”

  Luca easily recalled that time, centuries ago. He possessed the memories of all the WindKeepers before him. Even now, he heard the screams and cries of the victims.

  She stopped and looked at him, her face tense. “They targeted the Aurae.”

  He blinked. “I know they are cunning, but I wouldn’t have thought them patient enough to carry out a plan like that.”

  “They’ve had plenty of time to plan, trapped in the bodies of horses for centuries. They believed the Aurae were what were stopping the WindKeepers from succumbing to their vices and joining forces with the Tempest Winds.”

  Could it be true? Luca steepled his fingers. Was that why he and his brothers were coming so close to giving into their vices? Because the Aurae had all but disappeared? Dante and Antonio had barely survived their vices…and only then with the help of two Aurae descendants. “What happened?”

  “We’re not entirely sure how the Venti Tempesta did it, but
somehow they poisoned the seasonal breezes.”

  Luca’s eyebrows drew together. The WindKeepers controlled the cardinal winds, the Venti Tempesta the other winds, and the Aurae held the seasonal breezes.

  “Aurae fell ill. Died painful deaths. At the time The Black Death was blamed but Aurae all over the world sickened and died.”

  Her voice hitched. He saw that she too held her ancestors’ memories, felt their pain and suffering. He wanted to pull her into his arms. He frowned at the strange need.

  “A few survived The Purge. Weakened, frightened, they went into hiding. Many hid and denied their heritage. My mother’s family moved to London.” Green eyes lifted to stare into his. “Our leader vowed we’d never sacrifice ourselves for the WindKeepers again. That we would not be their chattels.”

  Luca slowly stood. “I don’t fight for myself. I fight to keep the world safe. That is my duty. Whatever role the Aurae play, it is not for the gratification of the WindKeepers.”

  She looked away.

  He gripped her chin. “Do you believe your leader’s words? Do you feel the same?”

  Rayne shrugged. “Maybe it doesn’t matter what I think. The leader of the Aurae is my mother.”

  ***

  Rayne pulled away from Luca’s touch and strode to the window, her insides churning. Talking about her mother always made her feel this way. Talking with her mother was even worse. Ariel Santini had always inspired both love and hate in Rayne.

  Staring out the window, Rayne didn’t see the peaceful canal, or the dark gondola passing by in a slow, graceful slide. She sensed Luca move up behind her, saw his reflection in the glass.

  “Why did you decide to help me today?” he asked.

  “My mother is the queen of doing nothing.” Rage choked Rayne. “For too long, she’s kept her head buried in the sand and urged other Aurae to do the same.” She’d done the same thing at home and her daughters had paid the price. Skye had paid the highest of all. “Now the Venti Tempesta are free and we don’t have the luxury of thinking only of ourselves.” Rayne spun, her chest brushing Luca’s. He hadn’t re-buttoned his shirt and that glorious male chest filled her vision. Damn it, but she was tempted to touch him. “I won’t stand by and watch the world be destroyed just to keep myself safe.”