Blood and Fire (55 page)

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Authors: Shannon Mckenna

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Suspense, #Action & Adventure, #Contemporary

BOOK: Blood and Fire
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She just wouldn’t be able to survive that a second time. And if it happened once, why not again, when she least expected it? In spite her discovery. She was still reeling from it. Riding a hormonal roller coaster.
Lily broke eye contact with some difficulty, Tam being Tam. She scanned the crowd until she found Val a couple of rows behind her. A tiny baby swathed in hot pink chenille was draped on his shoulder over a burp rag that protected his elegant black suit. Rachel was beside him.
Val gave her a nod, a smile. Rachel bounced and waved. Lily’s throat tightened, looking at the tiny baby. She was so glad fo them. At least some stories had happy endings. And not just this one. There were two rambunctious black-haired toddlers crawling all over Zia Rosa’s and Sveti’s laps. The very kids she and Bruno had pulled out of King’s burning house. So Bruno had gotten custody of his little siblings. Something good had come of all this evil. There was that to cling to.
She dragged a Kleenex out of her purse. Bruno stepped up behind his brother to give him the rings. Their gazes crossed. No getting away. They stared at each other while Kev and Edie exchanged their vows.
Lily didn’t hear a thing. She was trapped in an airless, invisible prison. All she saw was Bruno’s face. All she heard was her heart, thudding. Emotions rose up, swelling out of control. Threatening to burst out in some inappropriate, badly timed way, a sobbing fit, a fainting spell, a freak-out. She’d worn low heels in case she ended up running. And waterproof mascara. The gummy stuff weighed her lashes down like they’d been painted with tar.
Then Kev and Edie joined in a clinging kiss so joyful and inevitable the room broke into cheers, howls, applause. Everyone rose to their feet, yelling and whooping. So happy that these two fine people had found such joy together. Something snapped. The sobbing part was coming on.
Oh, shit. Not now. She jerked loose of Sveti’s hand and ran toward the back of the conservatory, out into the garden, pointing herself blindly toward the parking area—
A hand seized her arm, bringing her up short with a jerk.
She gasped, wet eyes wild, staring into the face of Alex Aaro. She sagged, trying to catch her breath as her heart tripped and stuttered.
“Oh, God,” she quavered. “Oh, God, you scared me to death.”
“Sorry,” Aaro said. He sounded both apologetic and sullen.
She stared, pointedly, at her trapped wrist. “I will accept your apology if you let go of me.”
“Uh, no,” he said.
She was alarmed. “What do you mean, no?”
“I just mean no,” he repeated. “You can’t leave yet.”
She yanked at her arm. “How dare you?” Her voice began to rise in pitch. “How dare you push me around? Let go of me, goddamnit!”
He easily managed her flailing and struggling. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?” she shrieked. “I have had enough of this shit!”
“Yes, you have, absolutely,” he said. “And I will let you go, I promise, as soon as Bruno gets out here.”
Her stomach went into freefall. She began to shake her head. “You can’t do that to me. You just can’t.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, helplessly. “I have to. I promised. I’m sorry.”
“You’ll be sorrier when I start screaming!”
He shook his head. “No, Lily. Every person here, every last damn person, will back me up. Go ahead and scream. You’ll see.”
“Then I’ll just tear your face off, if no one will help me,” she snarled. “Say good bye to your eyes right now!”
“I don’t care,” he said, grimly stoic. “I would rather die badly, right here and now, than let you disappear on him a second time.”
She realized how her abduction in the hospital must have felt from his viewpoint. The crowd was spilling out into the garden, curious people looking their way as the string ensemble started to play again.
“You don’t understand,” she said, haltingly. “Things are different now. Between us.”
“I don’t care,” Aaro said. “That’s for you guys to thrash out.”
“That’s exactly it!” she wailed, jerking at her trapped arm. “I can’t deal with any thrashing right now!”
“Lily.”
Bruno’s voice wiped her mind clean. She forgot Aaro existed. The manacle on her arm disappeared. Along with all the available oxygen.
Close up, she could see the damage he’d sustained in their adventure. Shiny pink marks on his cheekbone, the thickened eyelid. A notch in his ear. Burn scars on his hands. But it was the pain in his eyes that made her feel like a fist was squeezing her heart.
Bruno released her eyes, flicked his gaze to Aaro. “Thank you.”
“Anytime, man.” Aaro slunk away.
She watched him go. “Anytime, my ass,” she muttered, sourly. “Does he take hostages for you on a regular basis?”
“No,” Bruno said quietly. “Just you, Lily. You’re special.”
“Not really,” she said. “I’m been enjoying my non-special status lately. My life is so normal now. Quiet.”
His jaw contracted. “I see,” he said. “Congratulations.”
They stared at each other. Now was the time to deliver her bombshell. The timing was terrible, but how could she see him again, on another occasion? Torture herself, over and over, with these feelings?
But it was absurd to pile another burden onto a man who had just single-handedly shouldered the responsibility for two toddlers.
Bruno, I’m pregnant.
Uh, OK. So? What could he do about it?
This was not the moment. She’d miscalculated. She called on her minimal knowledge of wedding choreography for a distraction. “Um, aren’t you supposed to be in a receiving line, or something?”
“I bailed to come after you. Skipped out on the exit march, too. Like a rhino on stampede. Ronnie had to go out on Sean’s arm. Edie’s aunt is going to tear me to shreds and stomp on the pieces.”
“Oh. Well, then. That’s bad. You better get going,” she urged. “Can’t have any of that. Tearing and stomping, I mean.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’m used to it. Being stomped on.”
She shrank away, sensing a trap. “Um. I think that’s my cue to—”
“Are you staying for the reception?” His scarred hand clamped her wrist. Her wrist went nuts at the contact. A ripple effect that shot bright sparks all through her system.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” she quavered.
“I have to talk to you,” he said. “Please. Come with me.”
She grabbed a wrought iron gate and hung on. “To where?”
“To the receiving line. I can’t risk letting you out of my sight.”
“No problem!” Liv McCloud popped up, Eamon in her arms, and leaned to give Lily a kiss. “Glad to see you, Lily. You’re wanted urgently in the receiving line, Bruno. Hurry. Edie’s aunt is twitching and frothing. Don’t worry, Eamon and I will babysit Lily for you.”
“I don’t need to be babysat!” Lily snapped, testily.
“Of course not.” Liv took her arm. “Le’s go pay our respects to the bride and groom, shall we?”
It was a unique form of hell to have everyone hugging her, exchanging grins and winks, thumbs-up, when she was just going to let them down again, once they knew the truth. The receiving line itself was the worst. She was passed from one McCloud to the next, getting fierce hugs and significant glances from each one. Bruno grabbed her when she got to him and held her tight, in a hard, breathless clinch. The raw, burning look in his eyes just undid her.
Edie gave her a hug when Bruno finally released her. “Thanks for coming.”
Lily laughed, soggily. “I had to, right? To get the portrait of my mom. Holding it for ransom like that, that was a very dirty trick.”
“Whatever works, right? I kept my side of the bargain. It’s in the car, all ready for you,” Edie assured her. Her arms tightened around Lily again. “He needs you, you know?” she whispered.
Lily’s heart was squeezed. She extricated herself, greeted Edie’s sister, a dewy creature named Ronnie. Then Tam gripped her arm.
“Congratulations for Irina,” Lily offered. “I saw her during the ceremony. She’s beautiful. I’m so glad things turned out well.”
“Me, too,” Tam said. She leaned forward, breathing the words into Lily’s ear. “Far be it from me to criticize a sister for giving a man a hard time,” she murmured. “Just be sure you don’t make yourself pay too high a price for it. Satisfaction’s hollow when you’re all alone at night.”
Lily jerked herself loose. “It’s not that simple!”
“Right. Nothing ever is.” She shoved Lily right into Zia Rosa’s waiting arms. “Good luck.”
Zia’s smothering embrace was sharply perfumed with jungle gardenia. Zia cupped her hands, pinched her cheeks. “
Ehi,
you’re pale!
Sciupata!
Not eating?” Her eyes slitted. “How’s the tummy?”
“Just fine, just fine,” Lily assured her hastily. “The best.”
“You seen our little Tonio, and Lena? Ain’t they cute?” She jerked Lily’s chin around. “See? Look! Miles has Tonio, and Sveti’s got Lena.”
Lily looked. The kids really were beautiful. Tonio giggled madly, head and shoulders flung back over Miles’s arm as Miles yanked up the kid’s crisp white blouse and snuffled his belly. Lena was on her butt on the floor in her white dress, trying to take off her little white Mary Janes, while Sveti crouched next to her, imploring her to reconsider.
“They are beautiful,” she said, with utter sincerity.
“Ah, but they need a mamma, hmm?” Zia Rosa murmured, sentimentally. She pinched Lily’s cheek again.
A strong arm slid around her waist, pulling. “Zia, that’ll do.”
Lily didn’t know whether to be grateful or panicked when Bruno swept her away from them all, maneuvering her into the ballroom all decked out for dining and dancing. A band was setting up, and the glamorous string ensemble she’d noticed at the ceremony was tuning up, too. “What’s with the musicians?” she asked him.
“The Venus Ensemble?” he asked. “What about them?”
“Six gorgeous girls in low-cut sequined gowns, and they play really well, too? It just seems like a statistical abnormality to me.”
Bruno grinned. “Nah. Remember what happened to Kev and Edie? The mind control, and all that crazy shit?”
“Sure I remember,” she said.
“Those were the girls that got imported to do the crowning jobs. Trafficked from Moldavia, Belarus, the Ukraine, with all the usual tricks. Promises of jobs, green cards. Since the best crown interfaces were with female artists, the traffickers recruited girls from conservatories. And obviously, they favored the pretty ones.”
“That’s so creepy.” Lily looked at the group of beauties busily tuning their instruments, chilled at the thought.
“It is, but it turned out OK. After Kev saved them, they got green cards and formed this string ensemble, and now they’re raking in the dough. Posh weddings, receptions, concerts. They’re famous, and hot, and they kick ass. Their agent can’t handle all the offers.” He waved. A dark-haired violinist smiled back. “But this gig they’re playing for free.”
The first violinist lifted her instrument to her chin. The others looked at her for a moment of expectant silence.
A nod, and they launched into Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.”
 
Bruno gasped as the music slammed into him like an eighteenwheeler. He hung on to reality by a thread. The music dragged him back to that hour in Julian’s car, lying in the backseat with a smothering black mask over his head, wondering what was happening to Lily.
His blood pressure dipped, his stomach flopped. He gasped for breath. Everything swirled and spun.
“. . . the matter? Bruno? Are you OK? Bruno!”
He was against a column, Lily’s shoulder bracing him. He dragged her anxious face into focus.
“Are you OK?” she asked. “Should I call someone? Are you sick?”
“Just get me away from this fucking music. Please.
Fast.
”
He kept his arm around her as she steered him away from the music. It almost disappeared when she pushed through a door into a dark, quiet corridor. She opened the first door she found, which proved to be some sort of library. She positioned him in front of a wingback chair. He thudded into it, still gasping for breath.
Lily put her hands on her hips. “So. What’s this all about?” she asked. “You don’t like baroque violin suites?”
“Nah, they’re OK.” He swallowed, his mouth trembling. “That particular piece was playing on the car radio while Julian was driving me to King’s headquarters. It’s just . . . it’s a bad memory.”
“Ah. I see.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Wait here. Be right back.”
“Lily! Don’t—”
Don’t go.
He was saying it to empty air.
He lurched to his feet, but his knees wobbled, and he flopped back down again, despair opening inside him like a sinkhole.

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