Page 73 of Sworn to Revenge
“Now you’re speaking my language,” I don’t spend another moment in this basement, with its stale stench of blood and sweat clinging to every corner, joining Luca on the steps the second he turns his back. We leave Will bleeding on the floor. Whether Mariano’s won or not doesn’t matter anymore.
All I need to know now is what the hell happened to Bay.
Pedro
“Whatever hell you went through, it’s got nothing on that creepy sea witch. She looked at me like I was her next meal,” I joke, forcing a laugh to break the tension. At least Bay’s safe. For now...
“Pedro, you always have to make a joke about everything, don’t you?” Mariano sighs, taking a sip from his whiskey glass. Luca downs his whole drink in one gulp, leaning back on the sofa and staring at the empty glass like it holds the answers he’s been searching for his entire life.
“The pain from the Huntress’s Kiss... it’s like taking all the pain you’ve ever felt and hurling it at you threefold,” he tries to describe what he went through, but none of us really want to know what that feels like.
I can only imagine what he went through. Seeing my brother like this—so raw, so broken—stokes a fire in me. If I’d been there, I swear, I would’ve turned every one of those huntresses into grilled fish.I steady the electric currents running through my body, just like Alin taught me. It’s already become second nature in the last day.
Hold on—did he just say ‘Huntress’s Kiss’? That’s what Alin mentioned on the phone.
“So, you found out how the Huntress’s Kiss works?” I ask curiously now, my frustration momentarily replaced by intrigue. Luca straightens up and places the glass down on the coffee table in Flavio’s entryway. Mariano also looks interested, his gaze fixed on Luca.
“Not only did we figure it out, but it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had to do,” he declares, and Mariano and I give him a look urging him to continue, hungry for the details. Disgusting? What could she have made him do? I have to know—I chuckle to myself.
“I had to drink Bay’s blood. From her mouth,” he says, as if he’s talking about the weather. It takes a second for the words to hit me, and then my glass crashes down onto the table, nearly shattering. I stand up, a curse barely contained under my breath.
“You did what?” Mariano gasps, his face shows surprise as well, but my fingers start tingling with electricity.The Huntress’s Kiss—a kiss,I should have known.My bastard brother kissed Bayanddrank her blood?
“Pedro, get a grip!” Mariano commands, eying the sparks dancing around my fingers. I bite back the anger, forcing myself to breathe. Focus on the current. Channel it, like that traitor’s wife taught me. Guide it forward, directly to the part I want to release the energy from. I direct it back to my fingers and send the electric currents toward the fireplace in the living room—a few sparks ignite but quickly die out since there’s no gas to sustain them.
“Can you stop being so crazy possessive? It saved your brother’s life,” Mariano reminds me with an eye roll followed with a sigh.
“And now I’m thinking about ending his life myself,”I mutter through clenched teeth, dropping back onto the couch. My fingers itch—not with electricity, but with the urge to wrap them around his neck.
“Get in line—Alin almost drowned me in the shower when I got back,” Luca declares as if he enjoyed the whole thing.
“For once, I’m with your wife on this,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady, but the anger’s simmering just below the surface. “At least tell me you didn’t have to hurt her to get that blood?”
“Me? No. She did a fine job of that herself. And I have to say, it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted in my life, and that’s after tasting your mother’s cooking,” he announces, leaning back in his armchair. Mariano’s laughter follows immediately.
“Bro, if it’s worse than his mom’s cooking, I think I’d rather let the whole hunters’ pod take me.” They both laugh, and I narrow my eyes at Luca, not hiding the threat in my voice.“So you had the nerve to kiss my woman and then call her disgusting? In one breath?”
This time, the sparks come alive, flickering wildly across my skin like tiny bolts of rage. I can feel them stinging, crackling with every heartbeat, a sharp burn that matches the fire in my chest. I don’t even try to stop the storm roaring through me—it feels good, too good, to let it out now. When one bolt strikes my whiskey glass, the shattering sound is like an echo of my anger, the whiskey spilling across the table like a warning.
“Pedro, control!” Mariano snaps, now with a threat of his own, covering his face with his hands in protection. And reluctantly, I calm the electricity in my body once more.
“You’re standing in front of your brother, who happens to be your capo, in case you forgot.”
No. I haven’t forgotten.But that won’t stop me from choking him if he dares to bring it up again. I don’t break eye contact, making sure he understands that even as the capo, he can’t have the woman I’ve claimed as mine.
“I meant her blood, Pedro. Is your jealousy blinding and deafening you?” Luca asks, amused as if he planned it beforehand, and Mariano sighs.
“I told you, bro, you joined our club a long time ago.” He raises his glass in a toast to me, but I’ve lost all desire to drink, and my drink is already shattered all over the floor anyway.
“So Bay is coming straight back to New York?” Mariano asks, and I wonder if I should go back early and wait for her there. Maybe swim out to meet her? I’ll have to speak with Alin.
“She’ll return to New York after she delivers her prey, but she was zoning out the whole way to the beach. The Guardian kept communicating with her, and it seems like it’s two-way now—she can talk back to him as well,” Luca informs us, and my jaw drops in shock.
“She what?” The question escapes my mouth louder than I intended, and Alin and Cora emerge from the staircase.
“What’s all this noise about?” Cora asks, yawning. They’re both dressed in pink cat pajamas.
“Everything’s fine, go back to sleep,” Luca assures them. “I’ll be up to bed soon,” he adds, speaking to Alin in a softer tone. Yeah, you can tell he’s trying to stay on her good side today. For the millionth time, I have to thank her for keeping Luca in line.
