Page 41 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)

CHAPTER 41

MAX

“I can walk myself across the room, Massimo.” Malachi batted me away, and I raised my hands in surrender.

Despite his words, I trailed close behind him as he made his way to a patio chair and settled into it with a weary sigh. All his clothes here were just as uptight and business-y as he always was, so I’d scrounged up some of my own for him to wear.

I couldn’t remember a time I’d seen my father in anything as relaxed as the pair of black joggers and an unbuttoned cotton henley I’d found. The tops of his bandages woven around his chest peeked through the deep v-neck, reminding me of just how gruesome his injury was.

He’d lost his wings.

My back ached at the imagined pain, the brutal invasion, the total devastation and loss of identity he must be feeling. But, of course, my father was as ironclad with his emotions as always.

The healers had kept him overnight at Headquarters, checking his vitals and running tests while they bandaged and spelled his wounds, but then he’d been discharged to recuperate. Nothing other than blood loss and fatigue had shown to explain why he was still so weak, so their best suggestion was to rest and give it time.

At his request, I’d transported us to the Tuscan villa where I’d grown up to recover. It was the closest to the drama happening in Venice, and my father never liked to be far from the action, no matter how injured he was.

I’d called Rhain to find out what had happened in Venice after we left, but other than briefly letting me know étienne hadn’t made it, he hadn’t had time to give me a full update yet.

That had hit like a gut punch, even though I reminded myself étienne had known the dangers going into that battle. I knew vampires had died in the Palace, but étienne had been one of the good ones. He’d had a good vision for the future of our species, and enough support to get us there. I could only hope whoever replaced him as duke would have his same goals.

Satisfied Malachi wouldn’t try to move again, I went inside to fill a glass with water and brought it back out to him. He shot me a look that probably meant I can get my own water , but I ignored him.

The patio overlooked the rolling hills of Tuscany, rich green from the spring rains. Everything smelled fresh here, almost enough to wash out the strong medicinal smell wafting off my father. But instead of taking in the view, Malachi closed his eyes, tilting his face up to the sun and finally seeming to relax.

“Is it time to talk about that ring on your finger yet?” he asked, eyes still closed.

I twisted my wedding band, staring down at the dark metal. He’d eyed it in the recovery room at Headquarters, but hadn’t asked about it then.

“I called you,” I said, my voice coming out shakier than I’d anticipated. Clearing my throat, I looked back over the rows of hazelnut trees just outside our property line.

“Yes, well.” He shifted on his lounge chair, his face contorting in pain as he settled again. “I was indisposed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about Project Oleander?” I asked, twisting my wedding band again. I knew I should take it off. Summer and I were done. I’d been enough of an ass to her to more than ensure that. Still, the metal felt almost fused to my soul. She was the closest thing I had ever felt to family, to a wholesome and good relationship. “About Rhain, about my mother.”

He sighed, the sound as weary as I’d ever heard him. “Everything was so uncertain. We’d kept your ruse as Dante for so long, it was a risk to send you looking for dens, let alone get you involved with Oleander. Despite what you may think, I always try to do what’s best for you. I want to keep you safe.”

A bitter laugh escaped me, the words so close to how I’d felt about letting Summer go, and yet they stung, like a knife plunged through my heart.

“The girl?” My father asked again, and I dropped my hand.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re over. She was just the wolf who helped me find the dens, and I did what was best to protect her — tying her to me, and then letting her go.”

Malachi’s eyes shot open, lifting slightly off the lounge. “Wait. You married the wolf who” — he leaned forward, wincing — “the Hunter ? The one from Venice?”

I nodded grimly.

“Where is she now?” He looked back towards the house, squinting, then swiveled back to me. “Is she here?”

He seemed inordinately upset about this, but I shrugged. “At home. Timber Creek.”

His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “You — left her there? Alone?”

“Not alone. She has her pack. Summer is West Larkin’s sister, and I trust him.”

“Massimo. She’s a Hunter .”

I threw up my hands, frustrated that even now all these secrets stood between us. “Yes, you said that, and the Conclave said that too, but what’s the big deal?”

He dropped his feet to the ground closest to me, his shoulders hunched as he leaned forward, pain flashing across his face.“You don’t understand. If any of the Conclave survived, they will hunt her down and kill her rather than risk the Hunter line existing. The only reason vampires have been able to stay hidden for so long is because they thought they eradicated the Hunter bloodline, even the ones with latent powers. Hunters are supposed to be gone.”

My veins turned to ice, my stomach souring. But she was safe. She had her pack. West wouldn’t let anything happen to her. “Why did you tell me to find a wolf then?”

“Because they are the only ones with senses strong enough to even begin to detect a vampire den. The magic that cloaks a den from our eyes has a scent, yes, but only if you are right on top of it. Honestly, I figured your presence in a vampire’s territory would be enough to draw them to you, curious as to why you were there. You’re unregistered with any den, which is rare in itself. Traveling with a wolf only made you that much more noticeable. A regular wolf could track a vampire’s victim, the trace of magic enough to follow, and your chances were high of getting lucky. To trace a vampire like a Hunter can is unheard of. I never dreamed you’d find yourself one.”

“Once again, don’t you think you should have told me you were using me as fucking bait?” My voice rose with my anger. “Why do you keep sending me on these missions? Are you hoping I fail? Hoping someone takes me out for you so you can be put out of your responsibility of being my father?”

He jerked back at my words, a different pain washing across his face. “Massimo.”

“No.” I cut my hand through the air, pacing in front of him. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. I don’t want your reasoning. You used me, once again, and I’m tired of this. You led me into a trap, and put not only me, but my wife in danger, all tied up with a cute little name like when I was a child. I’m not a child, and I’m through with your shit.”

“Max,” he said, pushing to sit on the edge of his chair with an audible gasp of pain. “I am so sorry I’ve hurt you, but I need you to listen to me.”

“What?” I growled, decades of hurt and anger bubbling to the surface.

“Do you care for her?”

I jerked back, the sudden change of topic jarring and yet so typical of my father, avoiding all the hard conversations. “Summer?”

“Your wife, yes.”

If he meant the word to cut, he succeeded. “Of course I do,” I bit out. How much of a monster did he think he’d raised?

“Have you gotten a report from Venice?”

I shook my head, not following where he was going. “I haven’t heard much from Rhain yet,” I said instead, shoving down all the rest as I took a chair near him. “I don’t know if any of the Conclave survived.”

His hand rested on my shoulder, his brow creased in distress. “Then go back to her. Until we know more, we have to assume she’s in danger.”

My chest felt like it was caving in, the ache too real to even consider going back to Summer. If I apologized and she didn’t forgive me, the pain would be so much worse. But fuck, I didn’t even know if I could forgive myself for letting her believe I’d used her just my like father always used me. “She has a whole town to protect her. Believe me, she doesn’t want me around her anymore.”

Malachi narrowed his eyes. “What did you do?”

How was it four little words could transport me back to my youth? In an instant, I was a child again, caught in the act of some mischief and getting scolded.

And like a child,I scowled. “It was for her own good.” The defense sounded weak even to my ears, and Malachi’s glare hardened, sensing the lie for what it was. “I’m no good for her. The Fixation — I don’t want to —”

“Fucking hell, the Fixation ,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes before bringing his gaze back to mine. “You’re not all hers, Massimo. You’re also half mine. Half angel , Max. Never forget that. You can fight the fucking Fixation.”

I sat, stunned. He’d never spoken to me like that in over a hundred years.

Still, I heard myself confessing before I could stop the words, “I’ve already felt it starting. I can’t control myself around her. I think about her all the time, want her, need her in a way I’ve never felt with anyone else. It’s a compulsion, a need I can’t say no to.”

Malachi looked to the heavens, heaving a weary sigh. “That’s not the Fixation. That’s love , my boy.”

That — what ?

“Look, I’ll level with you.” He tipped his head towards me, his grey eyes unwavering in their attention. “Do vampires love more intensely than other species, sometimes leading to an unhealthy obsession they coin ‘the Fixation’? In my limited experience with the species, yes. But that doesn’t mean the Fixation is inevitable, or that it can’t be fought even if it does start to take over. And you, as half-angel, have an even smaller chance of developing it than a full vampire, and a greater chance at fighting it.”

I wanted to believe him. Fuck, it was so tempting to agree with his words. “The way Gia spoke of it —”

“Was from the perspective of a full-blooded vampire, and an old one at that,” Malachi cut in. “The older vampires are, the stronger everything becomes for them — love, hate, rage, obsession. Her experience has no relevance to yours.”

I sat with that for a minute, replaying my interactions with Gia, with other vampires, with Summer. Grigor’s obsession with getting Quentin back was beyond that of just vengeance, that much was clear. Even Nicolette had seemed obsessed with me to an unnatural degree given how little time we’d ever spent together.

His wordsdid track with everything I knew of the species, but the fear that I’d hurt her in some irrevocable way was still there. “My shadowmark keeps growing on Summer, almost taking over her whole back. She’s wearing me like a brand.”

Malachi raised his grey brows. “And you can think of no other reason a wolf’s magic would intertwine with yours? Tying you together?”

I reeled back, stunned by his words. Shifters had mates, souls their animals identified as the other half of theirs, partners they wanted for life. Up until now, I’d never considered the shadow magic to be anything but my own selfishness claiming what I wanted.

Was her wolf doing the same, spurring on the magic of my shadowmark? My breath caught, the realization that I might be Summer’s mate hitting me full-on. A lifetime at her side flitted through my mind: sunny days spent at her side in her café, evenings spent with her wrapped in my arms, taking her on adventures just to see the awe in her face. Fuck, I wanted that more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life. But I knew myself, knew how dark my past was. No matter how much I wanted her, I’d only stain Summer’s light with my shadows.

With a heavy swallow, I changed tack, deciding to risk asking some of the other questions I had for my father. “Gia also said — she said she’d sent us away for our safety. From her, and maybe the king. What happened there?”

“That” — Malachi’s mouth formed a thin line — “is a long story.”

My eyebrows lifted as a bitter laugh escaped me. “Oh, so it’s only my love life we’re interrogating? I’ve given you a century to explain, and yet I know nothing. Time to fess up.”

“It was my fault.”

We both started at the voice. From the shadow of an olive tree on the edge of the patio, Gia herself materialized.

Malachi sat up with a wince, his hand going to the bandages wrapped around his chest. “You’re alive.”

“It would seem so,” she agreed. Gia wore a brocaded gown similar to the one she had on the last time I saw her, but then she’d been covered in Osric’s blood. I couldn’t see any of it left, but the heavy scent of copper and smoke lingered on her, days later.

Now, instead of seeming like the vampire queen, she looked tired, a little tentative. Maybe even guilty, like a mother who’d abandoned her son at birth should. Whatever had softened in me at the thought of a future with Summer hardened instantly, my protective walls slamming up against my parents.

Gia gestured to one of the chairs. “May I?”

My father stared wide-eyed, like a man besotted even after a century, as he nodded. I glanced between them, noticing the pain my father wore like a mask for the first time. Her presence didn’t just crack his steely facade, it dissolved it.

His lips were slightly parted, as if he was afraid breathing wrong would make her disappear. His eyes were downturned, lined with a heartbreak I wondered if I’d see in my own face if I looked in the mirror.

Malachi stared at my mother like I did Summer, like she was the only thing he could see. Like she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Like he was afraid he’d inevitably fuck it up again, and she’d be there and then gone in an instant.

Sweeping her skirts to the side, she lowered herself into a chair across from Malachi, and his shoulders dipped on a deep exhale. “I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

Her lips curved in the hint of a smile that told me she saw my father’s pain as clearly as I did. “You must know I’d always come for you, cuore mio . That I would have come for you a century ago, if I could have.”

I turned away as my father let out a small gasp, feeling some moment passing between them as I sat there like the worst third wheel.

“How did you find me?” he asked, and I stared at the faded tiles beneath my feet, riveted in place as the man I thought unbreakable shattered in the face of a woman I thought he’d hated.

She sat back in the chair, tipping her head up as she breathed in the Tuscan air. Her posture was relaxed, except for the fingers curled around the armrest, gripping tight. No matter how indifferent my mother seemed, she was just as affected by this reunion as Malachi.

“This was always our place,” she said, eyes still closed. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here” — her head dropped back down, eyes flicking to me and then back to my father — “but I hoped, after all these years…”

He nodded, looking momentarily to me, then back to her.

This time, that small smile turned into a smirk as she looked at me. “This is the home where you were conceived.”

I choked on air, coughing into my hand. “Just what every child wants to hear.”

“What I told you in the palace was true, Massimo. I sent both of you away to protect you from the Fixation, afraid of what the curse would do with my love for you both. But it was not my own Fixation I fretted over.”

It clicked. “Osric?”

She nodded, a new layer of sadness creeping into her gaze as she looked at my father again. “I won’t make excuses for Osric, but the male you met was not the one I fell in love with. The Fixation and the blood madness started to creep in several centuries ago, not only as an obsession with me, but as an unrelenting vengeance against angels, whom he saw as superior to him. It was slow, in the beginning, just a bitter anger.” Gia sighed, looking out over the hills. “We fought it together. I helped him rule when he struggled with his thoughts, his coherency. It was my decision for vampires to go into hiding, to remove us from memory, to protect ourselves. I used his Fixation with me against him, knowing he wanted me more than he wanted to destroy the world around him. He was too powerful for his own good, Massimo, you must understand. He was a good man once.”

“You loved him.” I didn’t exactly say it like a question, but it was one. I just wasn’t sure if I meant to emphasize the love part, or him .

How could she love someone like him?

Why him, and not us?

A sad smile graced her lips. “Spend a couple hundred years watching one of the loves of your life lose themself, then judge me, Massimo.”

I bit the insides of my cheeks until blood welled in my mouth, frustration building with each word of this story. But what could I say to that?

“The problem was, when your father started digging into vampire lore and discovered the truth, I went to kill him before Osric noticed. I had everything planned, ready to keep my people from imploding from a war we couldn’t win. But I never planned on you , Malachi.” Malachi looked grim, but not surprised, to hear this as she turned to address him. “I loved you so much, cuore mio . For many years, you breathed life back into me. Your vision for the future of our world invigorated me; I believed in something again. I had forgotten what a pure love felt like, and you reminded me every day.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I didn’t deserve you, and I knew it, but I was selfish, and I wanted you more than I’d wanted anything in a very long time.”

None of us said anything for several moments, the sound of the rustling leaves in the trees and birds chirping in the distance our only soundtrack.

“And then you happened.” Gia almost chuckled. As much as I wanted to pretend I didn’t care about what excuses she was sure to give me, I hung onto her every word, a child desperate to understand why I hadn’t been enough.

She stood from her chair, moving in front of me. Her sleeves bunched as she lifted her hands to frame my face, cool fingers tracing my jaw and cheekbones. I looked into her eyes, the same deep blue as mine, fighting to breathe evenly.

“I am so sorry, Massimo.” She smiled again, but this time there wasn’t a hint of happiness to be found on her face. “Sorry to have missed out on knowing you. Sorry to have left you in the dark for so long. Sorry I wasn’t there to witness all your firsts.”

I pulled back from her touch, feeling electrocuted by the words I’d wanted to hear my whole life.

Her hands fell to her sides, shoulders dropping in defeat. “Vampires are a dying breed, and our birth rates drop every year. The day I found out I was pregnant was the best and worst day of my life. It was a wake-up call, that no matter how much I loved your father, I couldn’t have both him and save my people from the power-hungry leader Osric had become. You would be born a half-angel, and it would only be a matter of time until Osric learned the truth, that you weren’t his.

“By then, his Fixation with me was too far gone for him to see reason. My affair with your father would have been the ultimate betrayal. He wouldn’t have only killed me. He would have killed all of us, then gone after the angels too . Everything I’d done to protect my people from a war against the angels we couldn’t win would have been in vain.”

The weight of her stare was almost unbearable, so I looked at my father. He’d dropped his elbows to his knees, his body hunched over in defeat, and my heart squeezed for the man who had always done his best.

I hadn’t understood the drive behind most of his actions, but in this moment, I saw he’d done everything he could to shield me from how deeply his own hurt ran. Here I was, a constant reminder of everything he couldn’t have, even looking like her. A reminder of how much he and Gia had given up to protect their kinds.

That he expected me to fall in line with this same level of selflessness made more sense, even if it still stung that he’d never given me all the information I needed to make my own choice.

I didn’t want to empathize with him, didn’t want to feel bad for the parents who had hurt me, but standing here, it was impossible for me to ignore the fact that they were both good to their marrow.

“I sent Malachi away, and as soon as you were born, I left you with him.”

“And Osric?” I asked. “Did he never notice you were pregnant?”

“I let him think the baby died,” she admitted. “As I said, vampire pregnancy is rare, and miscarriages or still births happen often. It didn’t take much convincing for him to buy my story.” Her brows furrowed, any hint of a smile long gone. “Even if he hadn’t bought it, my mourning was more than convincing. Since I could never see you again, either of you, I didn’t have to fake it. You were dead to me, in that sense. I had to hope I’d never see either of you again, even if the thought nearly killed me.”

Silence settled over the patio as the Tuscan sun set over the hills, its warm orange glow casting long shadows between us.

“You did the right thing.” Malachi’s words had my brows rising in surprise. “You saved our son.”

“I won’t ask your forgiveness, nor will I offer an apology,” Gia added to me. “I stand by my actions. But perhaps, in time, now that things are safer, you would be open to a relationship?”

The tentative hope in her eyes cut me like a knife. But this was a lot. Too much.

I couldn’t deal with her question right now. I had the answers I’d wanted for decades, and I needed time to process them. For today, we had bigger issues to return to.

“About Summer.” I winced, but pushed through. “They accused her of being a Hunter. I need to know more.”

Gia let out a long sigh, walking to the railing. Her deep brown hair fluttered in the wind as she looked out over the land, silent for another moment.

“All of the lore about vampires and wolves as mortal enemies isn’t entirely wrong. That you married one” — she looked over her shoulder, a mischievous grin taking over her face as she chuckled — “your ancestors are surely rolling over in their graves.”

I bristled at her comment, but she turned to look at me, hands resting behind her on the railing as if she needed an anchor in the weight of this conversation.

“Wolves have always been elite among the shifter breeds. Their pack bonds allow them to hunt with an ease no other animal can claim, and their tracking ability is the stuff of legend.”

“Get to the part where my wife might be in danger.”

Malachi’s eyes met mine, that same disapproving look he often gave for shows of disrespect, but I was at my limit of emotional displays for today.

“One of a vampire’s greatest advantages is our ability to mask our scent, leaving us nearly untraceable. It was the only reason our kind could disappear for so long. If we cloaked ourselves in shadows, were untraceable by scent, and kept to ourselves, punishing those who turned humans and erasing the minds of any who thought they’d seen us, we could disappear. The only thing preventing that from happening was a rare breed of wolf shifter.”

“Hunters.”

She nodded, pushing off the railing to begin pacing. “There weren’t very many of them left by the time I decided we needed to go into hiding, so we crafted a plan to lure them to us.”

“You killed them all.”

She stopped, keeping her back to me. “You have to understand, the deaths of a few to protect my people, to keep Osric’s madness in check. He would have killed so many more.”

I ground my teeth together, thinking of the lives I’d justified taking for the same reason. But the difference was, I killed those who were a harm to others. She’d killed wolves just because they were different .

“I won’t harm her. I am surprised any are left, but I won’t harm her.”

I stood, shadow walking to meet her, wrapping a hand around her throat. She gasped, her eyes tinting red as her fangs dropped at the threat I posed. “But it’s not just you, is it? Did anyone survive who might try to track her down because she’s a Hunter?”

“It’s possible,” she hedged, eyes changing back to blue as she stared up at me. “Chaos erupted after you left Venice, a civil war between our kind that has been brewing for centuries.”

“After you shoved us out the window, you mean.”

The corners of her eyes crinkled, ever so slightly. “Well, you are your father’s son. I couldn’t risk you staying behind to help with that lionheart of yours.” Her palm landed softly on my shoulder, near my heart. “I needed to be sure you’d leave. Safe.”

I dropped my hold on her neck, taking a step back.

Her hand dropped, breaking contact, as she continued, “We’re still trying to figure out who died, who remains, and what side everyone is on.”

That wasn’t reassuring, and a bad feeling settled into my chest. “Can’t you order them to stand down? Aren’t you officially queen now?”

Gia huffed a breath, straightening out her skirts but allowing the topic change. “I believe it’s time for some restructuring within our society, so that remains to be seen. I’ll need your contact information, but we’ll know more soon.”

“ My contact information? Why?”

Her eyes tinged with red once more as the wind fluttered around her, lifting her skirts and hair. Shadows danced across her skin, rising from her fingertips and under her sleeves as she tipped her chin up, a seriousness settling over her features as she stared me down. “Because if I am crowned queen, you are my heir. Welcome to the royal family, Massimo Dante Russo-Lazzari. Mio figlio. ”