Page 44 of Under a Wicked Moon
“Yeah.” Flynn scratched the back of his neck. “About that.”
“How isthateven possible, that she has him wrapped around her pinky? How?” Ky pointed at the hallway where Evie and Dom had gone, though now they’d disappeared.
“I think they’re cute,” Vivi said.
Roman chuckled. “Never underestimate a woman.” When both brothers stared at him, he held up his hands and shrugged. “Mom’s the badass who pussy-whipped the most dangerous magical creature I’ve ever met. Based on what we just saw,she’s enjoying the hell out of it. I say good for her.” He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s eat. I’m hungry. If Mom’s here, she brought her chef. I’m telling you, Vivi, that man is worth every outrageous penny she pays him.”
In what felt like slow motion, Ky took a seat around a rustic table near a lit fireplace emitting heat and the aroma of burning wood. The scent took him back over a century when all indoor gatherings smelled of such.
Laughter surrounded him as the food was passed to him. Silverware clinked against the plates. Wine was poured. He stared at the food, offered on large platters, unable to move to serve himself anything. Everything looked decadent and beautiful, but his stomach roiled in resistance.
“No Lambrusco for you tonight, Flynn?” Evie elevated the glass to look at the light and the bubbles cast through it. Ky recalled how many times she’d gotten Flynn to laugh while drinking a bubbly drink to the point it came out his nose.
Flynn shook his head and put a hand over the glass when the server neared. He never imbibed carbonated drinks in his mother’s presence anymore, not since it’d become a game with her. Even Roman laughed at Flynn’s indignance when offered a glass of the sparkling red wine.
Dom cracked a smile. The mage freaking smiled?
Evie could be playful one moment and a vicious, detached killer the next. She was their most ardent defender and teacher. Her requirement that they come together once a month, something she’d started about a decade ago on the full moon, was for their safety—to prevent lust-induced insanities and to reaffirm their connection as a family. The difficult part had been keeping their location on this particular night once a month secret from their handler. None could know Evie existed, especially the ones who held power over all of them with the curse. But they’d done it. All Gerard knew was that they wentinto lockdown to cope with moon madness.
Evie raised her glass. “No regrets.”
“Hear, hear.” Roman clinked his glass against hers.
“I second that.” Dom leaned forward to toast, as did Ky.
Ky dropped his head when tears threatened. His heart felt so full to be here that it hurt. Two days ago, he’d thought he might never have this again. He uttered a silent prayer of thanks to God for giving his life back to him. He kissed the bronze archangel pendant and thanked Michael as well. This richness, this fullness with all the people he loved most was the reason he survived. This was why he fought those bastards and refused to give them anything—why he hadn’t given up. To surrender was to put these people in danger. He would protect them to his dying breath.
This wasn’t a hallucination. Or was it? No collar wrapped his neck, threatening to knock him out before he got darted with the amnesic sedative. No more experiments. No more pain to be endured.
His breaths felt tight, he was light-headed, and his ears began to ring. He needed to get out of here.
A small hand wrapped his under the table. “You’re safe.”
Vivi’s words centered him, but he couldn’t formulate a response as his mind remained lost in the scattered memories of what happened. Of trying to convince himself he wasn’t going to wake up to find this all a bizarre dream. Of trying to accept the normalcy of a family meal with his assassin-for-hire mother and her mage boyfriend.
“Look at me, Ky,” she said softly. She brought their hands up from beneath the table. She squeezed and brought his hand to her mouth to lay a kiss on it. “You’re safe.”
He forced himself to stare at her face, swallowing hard. He didn’t trust his voice. His question came out in a shaky rasp. “How do I know any of this is real?”
The voices around the table dropped off. He cared little that they stared. What if all this was his imagination?
Vivi released his hand. She took a slice of bread from the basket, lifted his hand, and put the bread into it. “This is how you know.”
When he made no move as the warm slice of bread rested against his palm, she broke off a piece of the soft center and lifted it to his mouth. “Smell. That’s not something that can be put into a bottle.”
The bread’s yeasty aroma saturated and teased his nose. His brain identified its ingredients and the method necessary to make it. He opened his mouth and let her feed him the bread. The simple flavor washed over his taste buds, real and devastating.
He watched her take a small bite and likewise close her eyes to experience every nuance of the bite. “Thisis the only way we’ll know what’s real for the rest of our lives. The activation of the senses.”
“How can you be so wise and calm about this when you were in there for so much longer? A few months and I’m not certain of anything.”
She compressed her lips and sighed. “I suspect they weren’t sure how to handle you when they got inside your head. Because of the damage the spirit or whatever it was that possessed you left behind. Because of who you’ve evolved into.”
She glanced around the table. “All of you may be physically strong, but your true strength, Ky and Roman—and even you, Flynn—lies in your conviction in one another.”
“Hear, hear.” Evie raised her glass. “Famiglia.”
Chapter Sixteen
