Page 54 of Map of Pain
But Marcuswasn’tlooking at Luka anymore. His attentionhadfixedon Nick’s throat scar, mouth agape. Then his gaze moved lower—to where Nick’s torn collarexposed the branded“G”on his collarbone.
Understanding dawned in Marcus’s amber eyes, followed by something that looked like horror.
Nick’s hand moved to cover the mark, phantom pain shooting through his missing fingers. The brand felt hot against his skin, as if itwerebeing seared into him all over again.
“No,”he whispered, his body beginning to tremble.
“Is that Gianmarco Nicoletti’s seal?”Marcus asked, his voice above a murmur, directed at Luka but cutting through Nick like a blade.
Hearing the name spoken aloud hit him like a physical blow. Nick’s knees buckled beneath him, and he slid down the wall to the floor, his hand already moving to the ground, fingers splayed.
“Again, Nicholas. Tell me again what it did to you—”
The voicewasso clear, so present. Gentle, wrapped in false comfort, but it sounded like Owen now. Shaw’s face blending with Gianmarco’s, the same disappointed smile when Nick couldn’t remember the details they wanted.
Reality bent, blurring at the edges. The trailer faded from view as his knees settled, the familiar position dragging him back to polished marble floors and floor-to-ceiling windows. The Chicago skyline glittered beyond—
“No, no, no.”His own voice, desperate and small.
But itwastoo late. Hands that never asked permission reached for him from the shadows of memory and pulled him in.
“Shh, it’s okay, kitten,”Gianmarco’s voice whispered, honey-sweet and poisoned.“There you are.”
Chapter twenty-one
Please come back...
Luka
Luka winced as Marcus spoke the name.Gianmarco Nicoletti.He’dseenthe brand earlier, the elegant filigree‘G’a familiar and sickening signature. Itwasa seal he recognized from his time in Chicago, a mark of ownership he hoped never to encounter again. Hehaddeliberately caged that memory, refusing to connect it to Nick. But Marcus spoke the name aloud, dragging it into the fragile space between them. Luka’s hands started to move, fingers forming a sharp, angry retort, but itwasalready too late.
A blur of motion tore past them. Caleb. He scrambled toward his brother, skidding to a halt just as Nick’s body folded in on itself. The posturewasa perfect, horrifying replica of what Luka witnessed in the hospital. The unnatural genuflection, a position of practiced submission. Nick’s head bowed as his hand vanished beneath his own knee, the sickening pop of knuckles a punctuation mark to his complete psychic collapse.
Caleb reached down, his hands ready to shake his brother’s shoulders.“Nick? What’s wrong? Hey, what’s happening to you?”
Luka’s arm shot out, blocking Caleb’s path. His hands flew up, signing with furious precision.«Stop. Don’t touch.»
Caleb stared, his own hands half-raised, his rudimentary sign language struggling to process the command.“Why? What’s wrong with him?”His gaze snapped to Luka, his expression hardening with accusation.“What did you do to him?”
His beast bristled, a low snarl of outrage rumbling through his chest.Us?He thinks this is our doing?He links us with that filth?The injustice of it coiled hot and tight in his gut.
“Caleb, it’s okay.”Marcus’s voicewascalm, a steadying weight in the chaotic room. He placed a hand on Caleb’s shoulder.“Let’s just hear what Lukahasto say before we do anything.”
Caleb shook the hand off but obeyed, crouching down to get a better look at his brother’s face. He recoiled as if slapped.“His eyes… they’re open, but…”His voice trailed off, strangled with horror.“There’s nobody home.”
Luka forced himself to look. Calebwasright. Nick’s eyeswereglassy, fixed on a point in a reality only he could see. Two dark, empty windows in an abandoned house. A hollow ache spread through Luka’s chest, a phantom pain for a soul thathadretreatedso far inside it might never find its way back. The air thickened with the scent of Nick’s terror—sharp and acrid that coated Luka’s tongue and clawed at the back of his throat. He could taste the old fear, baked deep into Nick’s very being.
Luka forced his feet to move, to step back from the raw, open wound of Nick’s trauma displayed on the trailer floor. It felt like abandoning him, every instinct screaming to shield the broken man from view, but crowding him would only make it worse. Hegestured to Caleb, a quick jerk of his head, then a flick of his fingers.Back up. Give him space.
Caleb’s facewasa mess of confusion and burgeoning tears. He glanced over his shoulder again and again, his gaze glued to his brother’s frozen body as Luka turned to Marcus.
His hands flew, the signs sharp with urgency and frustration.«When he gets trapped in a memory, ithasto finish before he’ll come out. I’ve stopped some before they take hold, but I don’t know how to pull him out when he’s this far gone.»
Marcus translated quietly for Caleb, whose face crumpled further.“What kind of memory?”Caleb choked out, his voice thick.“What could do that to him?”
Luka met Marcus’s amber eyes, his own expression grim. He let his gaze convey the warning before his hands formed the words.You might not want to tell him this next part.«I haven’t pried. But that brand on his collar is Gianmarco Nicoletti’s seal. And that’s not the only damage.»
Marcus’s composure didn’t slip, but a darkness swirled in his eyes. He turned to Caleb, pulling the trembling young man into a tight, grounding hug.“Caleb, listen to me,”he said.“Think about what happened at the warehouse. What did Nick tell you then? About how he ended up with the Society?”
