Stephanie Julian - Moonlight Menage

Arus : magical power inherent in the Fata and Enu , races of Etruscan descent

Boschetta : Etruscan coven, traditionally comprised of thirteen streghe

Candela : Etruscan sprite, tiny magical beings with wings and a certain glow about them

Decurio : legion rank of commander

Eteri (pl. eteri ): Etruscan for foreigner, used to describe regular humans

Enu : humans of magical Etruscan descent

Fata : elemental beings of magical Etruscan descent

Folletta (pl. folletti ): Etruscan female fairy

Linchetto (pl. linchetti ): Etruscan night elf

Malandante : descended from the Etruscans but born with a bent toward evil, with a taste for power and wealth

Praenuntio : Goddess Gift of foresight

Salbinelli : Etruscan satyr

Sicari (pl. sicarii ): assassin

Speculator: spy

Strega (pl. streghe ): Etruscan witch

Versipellis (pl. versipelli ): literally “skin shifter”—shapeshifters including Etruscan Lucani (wolves), Norse Berkserkir (bears) and French loup garou (wolves)

“Nic! Kaine! Where the fuck are you?”

Varro “Duke” Ducati squinted through the thick smoke that muffled the sound of his voice. Stumbling out of the bedroom and through the hall, he headed in the direction he thought the stairs were in.

Gods damn, his head fucking hurt, he could barely think straight as it was. An oppressive heat licked at his skin, making sweat pour from his body and his oxygen-starved lungs felt like lead.

If he didn’t get out soon, he wasn’t going to make it out alive.

But he wasn’t leaving without Nic or Kaine.

Gods damn it, they hadn’t been expecting this.

They should have. They should have gone in expecting anything.

The house was empty. None of them had scented another person before crossing the threshold. They’d taken every precaution to make sure they didn’t trip any alarms, wards or spells. Kaine had assured them she hadn’t felt any so he had no idea what’d set off the explosions.

Nic had been on the ground floor, Kaine in the basement and Duke had been checking the top floor when the explosion had gone off below him.

He’d been knocked off his feet and hit his head on a nightstand in the room he’d been searching. When he’d regained consciousness a few seconds later, smoke had already engulfed the second floor.

Hands outstretched, he hurried forward, knowing the stairs could open at any—

A break in the haze revealed the stairwell directly in front of him and he ran for it, grabbing hold of the handrail, still cool to the touch, then took the stairs two at a time.

“Nic! Can you hear me?”

“Duke! Back here.”

Relief barely had time to register before he turned and ran toward the sound of Nic’s voice at the back of the house. The house wasn’t that big and it only took him seconds to reach Nic—

“Oh fuck .” He froze in the doorway.

“Where’s Kaine?” Nic’s voice sounded thready and weak.

“Don’t know. Shit , Nic. Don’t move.”

Tinia’s teat, the ceiling had fallen in, pinning Nic beneath a pile of rubble and a wooden beam.

Duke didn’t stop to think. He ran for Nic and started digging.

“No. No!” Nic shoved at him, strong enough to make Duke fall back on his ass. “Kaine. The explosion. Downstairs. I’ll be fine.”

No, he wouldn’t be.

Blood dripped from Nic’s temple and his ears and seeped from somewhere beneath his legs. His voice broke every couple of words to cough.

And the smoke continued to billow around them.

Duke shook his head. “I’ll get you out first then go down for Kaine.”

“Vaffan—”

“Shut the fuck up and help me dig.”

Duke continued to tear at the rubble with his hands. Splinters dug into his palms and fingers, cutting into his skin but he didn’t stop. He didn’t know how long it took until he could finally lift the beam off Nic but he was drenched and lightheaded when he shoved it just far enough away to free his friend.

Gods damn, so much blood.

No. Can’t think about that now.

With a strength he didn’t know he possessed, Duke lifted Nic off the floor and ran for the back door that had been blown off its hinges in the blast.

The house was secluded in the hills outside Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and it would take at least twenty minutes before any fire or police personnel could get here. He had to get his people out before they arrived.

Once outside, he placed Nic on the ground and tried not to notice how weak his partner was. Pale and gasping for breath, Nic slumped over and passed out.

Pushing the fear away, he ran back into the house, headed for the door to the basement in the hall just outside the kitchen.

In the narrow stairwell, the air was hotter and he scented something besides smoke the lower he went. Something his heightened sense of smell knew to be a spell.

Was it the one they’d tripped to set off the explosion? Didn’t matter now.

“Kaine!”

The only light came from the door above and it wasn’t enough to reach into the dark shadows of the basement.

Pulling the tiny Maglite from a pocket on his tactical pants, he shone its bright beam into the far corners.

His mouth dropped open at the sight of the iron-barred cells lining the walls.

“Oh, fuck.”

The basement extended so far beyond the footprint of the house above that he couldn’t see the end of the cells. Vaffanculo , what the hell was this place?

“Kaine, gods damn it. Kaine! Answer me.”

He heard something, a sound down the hall, and he took off, not bothering to check the other cells. If he had to, he’d make a more thorough sweep later if he didn’t find Kaine on this first pass.

More sounds, closer. Like someone trying not to make noise.

Duke slowed, trying to pick out where exactly the sounds were coming from.

And nearly didn’t dodge the fist aimed straight for his head.

His instincts saved him from getting cold-cocked as he ducked then grabbed the arm connected to the fist.

Sweat made the man’s arm slippery. Duke lost his grip and nearly lost his footing as a wave of dizziness overcame him.

“Don’t come near her, you bastard!”

Duke shook his head, trying to make his vision come into focus. Remembering the flashlight in his hands, he shone it into the cell.

A man stood there, naked except for a pair of basketball shorts. He had his hands up in a fighting position, though he dripped blood from a gash on his forehead and another on his powerful chest.

His short dark hair stood on end and he looked about as steady as Duke felt.

But his expression was determined and his words finally reached Duke’s short-circuiting brain. He sent the beam of light around the cell until it fell on the wolf lying motionless on the floor at the guy’s feet.

Shit.

Duke reacted without thought. Kaine was down and he had to get her out of the cell. Over this dead guy’s body, if necessary.

He took a step forward, ready to beat the guy into submission, but the man held his ground.

He wasn’t small and he was almost as heavily muscled as Duke. But the guy was eteri . He’d never win in a fair fight.