Dante (Blood Brothers Book 5) (9 page)

Maggie had to ask
,
although she suspected she already knew the answer from what she could determine from Liliana’s tale.
“Who was the sidekick you mention?”

“Adonis. He and
Beatrice
have a lot to answer for, but it’s Giovanni’s wish they come to no harm
—
yet.”

Maggie
was thoroughly confused
.
How could Giovanni truly be on their side if that was true
?
“Why would he want them alive when
Beatrice
and Adonis have
perpetuated
so
much evil?”

Liliana
sighed with exaggerated impatience. “It’
s not so simple. They’re
brothers. If you had siblings, would it be so easy to kill them off?”

Maggie was an only child as far as she knew, but if she did have a brother or sister, killing them would probably be a difficult decision to make. “I see your point. But
,
what about
Beatrice
? Couldn’t he let you kill her, especially after what she’d done to your aunt?”

Liliana
tossed a lock of her dark red hair over her shoulder as her expression became wistful. “Honestly, I wasn’t strong enough to go against her at the time, but over the years my powers have grown, and
now
I
’d make a formidable adversary for that bitch
. However, when one has practiced black magic as long as she has, it possesses them.
It takes on
a
form that sometimes even the most powerful witches and warlocks have trouble conquering.
Giovanni didn’t want me to risk my life challenging her, but he has another reason, a private one. I believe it’s his story to tell, however. The rest you’ll have to wait and hear from him.”

Maggie hadn’t known what to think of
Liliana
when they’d first met, but her heart went out to this beautiful witch who’d
also suffered at the hands of their mutual enemy
. Impulsively, she took
Liliana
’s hand. “Your loyalty is a credit to you. I hope you get the revenge you seek.”

Liliana
nodded with a smile. “Thank you, Maggie. I hope we can save the children before it’s too late.

Maggie hoped so
,
too
.

<><><>

”What do you mean the women aren’t there?” Dante demanded into the phone.

“They aren’t at the penthouse,” Marco barked into the receiver. “They left a goddamn note saying they’re on their way to Florence
—
apparently to meet up with Giovanni.”

“Like hell they did! All of them?”

“Yes.”

“What did Ro
meo
and Nico have to say about it?”

“What the hell do you think? They’re pissed. No, they’re enraged. I could fucking strangle Maggie right now
!
”

Dante
could practically feel his brother’s anger seeping through the phone.
“Calm down, Marco. We’re leaving Vancouver now. We should be back at the penthouse in a few hours. Can you hold tight until then?”

“How the hell do you expect me to wait for you when not only
is my child
in danger, but
now
my wife as well?”

“
I understand how you feel, I’m none too happy that the women have disobeyed our orders but p
anicking won’t change anything. Besides, you can’t run off before I get back. There’s strength in numbers. And we’ll need all the backup we can get. The other teams have turned up nothing. In fact, except for the small band of the Serpent Gang we stumbled upon, there’s been no sighting of other members. According to Isis, the ones we did see were low-level members.”

“How does your friend know this? If you ask me, I’d be careful around her.”

“Isis has been a big help. Look, we’re in transit now so we’ll talk about this later.”
Dante clicked off the phon
e without waiting for Marco to respond. First Paris had expressed his concerns about Isis and now
,
Marco. Dante
wondered what his other brothers had to say on the matter.
He wished he could
shrug the comments away
but he still had a few
of his
own suspicions
, despite the brief explanation she’d given
.
He couldn’t however, stop that nagging sensation in the back of his mind that there was more she had yet to reveal. But he wanted to believe her and because of that,
he
pushed those doubts away.

A long time ago, he thought he might have found his bloodmate, but it had been a ruse to break him,
courtesy of Adonis. He prayed
Isis wa
s everything she appeared to be because he doubted his heart could stand another deception.

He glanced over to see her in the seat next to him. Hey eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and even
.
She was so beautiful while she slept.
Unable to stop himself, he grazed her cheek with the back of his hand.

Isis released a soft sigh and her eyelids fluttered open. “Mmm.” Blue-gray eyes that Dante could easily get lost in stared back at him.

Isis smiled at him, revealing white teeth. One front tooth was slightly crooked, but it made her smile all the more enchanting. The slight flaw in the midst of her perfection made her seem more real. “How long have I been
asleep
?”

“Not long. We should be in New York soon.
Sorry to wake you.”

“
It’s okay
.
I probably wouldn’t have slept much longer any
w
ay
. I’m too full of nervous energy.”

Dante smirked.
“
It didn’t seem like it a few seconds ago.”

She offered him a sheepish grin. “I guess I was a
little
tired, but I’m up now. What about you? You haven’t gotten any shut-eye in the past forty-eight hours.”

“I require little sleep. When you’ve lived as long as I have, there are many things one learns to live without.”

“But I’m sure
,
you
need to get some rest.”

He shrugged. “Eventually. But I can go a little while longer
without it
.”

“Were you able to make those calls?”

“Yes. I’ve heard back from my brothers. Thankfully, all their teams are still intact. Marco and his group are back at the penthouse. They ran into a dead end. There was no one in residence where they went. It was the same deal with all the teams.”

Her finely winged brows flew together. “Do you mean no one was at any of the locations?”

Dante shook his head. “Not a one. I have a theory, however.”

“And what’s that?”

“They must all be where the children are or heading that way.
My guess is,
Adonis wants them heavily guarded.”

“If that were the case, why would he call on the entire gang?”

“You
,
yourself
,
said the members in Vegas were mainly underlings. Maybe he has no need of them or he could be using them for another purpose.”

Isis
creased her forehead
as if in deep concentration. “Actually, now that I think about it, they may
not even
be at the Vegas compound now. I remember one of them
, a vampire named Asp, mention
heading off soon. I assumed he was talking about himself, but he could have been referring to the group. Maybe if we had arrived a little later, they would’ve been gone too.”

“You could be onto something. I’ll send one of my agents to look into it. I’m glad you’ve come with us. We’d probably still be trying to locate the gang’s hideouts.”

Her brows shot up. “You’ve certainly changed your tune quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

“You weren’t sure you could trust me before.”

Guilt assailed him because he still had his
concerns
, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. He’d overreacted and probably should have thought things through more thoroughly before lashing out at her. “This is a stressful period and sometimes
,
I act before I think.
Forgive me
?” Dante caught her by the chin and pressed his lips against hers. His cock jumped to attention, but
unfortunately there wasn’t much he could do about it.
Dante
promised their next time would be in a big comfortable bed.
That way, he’d have room to explore her delectable body properly, tasting every inch of her golden skin.

“Mmm, when you kiss me like that, I think I can forgive you anything.” She revealed her charming smile once again.

Dante caressed her cheek
with his palm
. “You probably should get some more sleep.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“That’s okay, because I get to look into your beautiful eyes.”

A hint of red colored her cheeks. “F
lattery will get you everywhere.”

“Which parent did you inherent them from? They’re an unusual shade.”

“From my father
,
actually, although I’ve been told I’m the spitting image
of
my mother.”

“She must have been quite lovely.”

A haunted look entered Isis’s eyes. “Yes. She was, but I could never see myself in her.”

For the first time in their acquaintance, Isis was opening up about her past and it intrigued him. Dante wanted to know everything about her. “What were your parents like?”

“They were good people. I think you would have liked them. My father was Beta to his brother, my Uncle
Luis
. They were twins, actually. Papa wasn’t much of a talker, but when he spoke
,
it was usually something profound. He rarely showed his emotions except to me, my mother, and his twin, but when he smiled it was always with his eyes. He was affectionate to those he cared about, but took his position in the pack seriously.
He was very strict, however, and when I was younger I resented that because I felt stifled at times. But now
,
I realize he was that way to protect my mama and me.
” There was a wistful note in her voice and Dante could feel the pain radiating from her.

He understood how Isis felt. Even after all these years, the death of his parents still tore at his heart. “And
,
your mother?”

A smile touched Isis’s lips. “She was intense and so full of life. I think when she was with Pack
Khan
,
they stifled her spirit. My father gave her the freedom to be who she was. I think that’s part of the reason she fell in love with him. It’s been a while since their deaths, but I still think about them
all the time
.”

“There’s no shame in your thoughts. I still feel the loss of my parents
and it’s been centuries.
I
often
think or at least I hope they’d be proud of
the man I’ve become
.”

Isis smiled, rubbing his arm. “I know they would. From what I understand, you took over the care of your brothers, becoming both father and mother to them. I’ve only met all your siblings briefly
,
but I can tell how much you all care for each other. Besides
it’s hard not to have heard about the famous Grimaldi brothers. You’ve done a lot for the immortal community. Were it not for the Underground, the rogue population would probably be out of control.”

“Admittedly, I didn’t begin the organization for altruistic reasons. It was more to root out my parents’ killers, but over time, it grew to be much more. I’m happy to have accomplished what I have, but until I can avenge my parents’ deaths, I doubt I’ll ever be satisfied.”

Her gaze cut away from his and a far-off look entered her light eyes. Dante sensed something was wrong, but figured she’d share what was on her mind when she was ready. “Dante?”

“Yes?”

“When you were younger, did you ever do something you weren’t proud of?” Her voice sounded distant. It was almost as if she was trying to tell him something, but instead of analyzing her tone, he focused on her question.

Dante closed his eyes as the memories came flooding back. When he thought of the things he’d done for money to take care of his brothers, he shuddered. Those lean years, when he’d been the plaything to wealthy women and at times
had
resorted to petty theft, still haunted him, but he’d done what he had to and there was no point in dwelling on it. “Yes. I have. Unfortunately, there comes a time in everyone’s life when they may have to make moral decisions that might go against their principles.”

“Do you think it’s possible for a rogue to be reformed?”

Where were these questions coming from? “I suppose it’s possible, but I’ve never met one. Why do you ask?”

She raised her shoulder in a slow shrug. “Curious, I guess.”

Dante raised a brow. “Is there something you wanted to tell me? You’re not trying to confess to a nefarious past, are you?” he teased in hopes of making her smile. It didn’t work. In fact, her face lost all color.

She shook her head, making tendrils of her dark hair fall all over her face. “No
,
n
othing
like that
.
B
ut
,
w-what if I did say I killed a bunch of innocent people?”

Dante laughed softly. “Isis, I think you’re more tired than you realize. Get some sleep.”

Her mouth fell open, and then she closed it again. “Yes. Maybe
,
I am tired.” She pressed the button to recline in her seat and closed her eyes.