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Giorgio knew that Enda was nervous. That was obvious by the fact that Enda barely spoke at all in the three-and-a-half hours it took to drive from Tuscany to Rome. Lamont and Damon didn’t seem to notice anything different. They just chatted among themselves, including Giorgio, as if it hadn’t been at least a year since he’d seen them last while in human form. They knew each other that well, they could almost finish each other’s sentences. Although they didn’t do that too often, which Giorgio was grateful for because he found that annoying, and he was sure Enda would, too.

But Enda sat quietly for the most part, just looking outside, watching out the window at the passing scenery. Although Giorgio had a mind link with him, he had no idea what Enda was thinking. He could only feel the slight tremors of panic that were likely coming from Enda’s bird spirit. Being out and about was going to be difficult for him, and Giorgio did understand.

He hoped that when Coda was devising his strategy, his itinerary or whatever else it was that Lamont wanted to call it, that he had taken Enda’s shyness and his lack of previous social interaction into account. Running around in skimpy briefs serving drinks to a limited group of entitled assholes on a boat was hardly comparable to coping with the crowds that often populated the tourist spots in Rome.

Enda seemed to brighten up a bit more inside the museum. The Palazzo Colonna, in the center of Rome, had an extensive collection of paintings, art pieces, and even furniture from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries. The immensely high ceilings and huge rooms probably helped Enda not feel so hemmed in, and with every inch of the building decorated in a baroque style, it was ornate and luxurious and designed to attract the eye.

There was art on every wall and on the ceilings, too. Enda seemed to enjoy the different art styles. Lamont and Damon kept a low running commentary on artists they remembered – apparently, both of them had been in Italy at the time. It helped keep the mood light, and Giorgio was glad that for a couple of hours, Enda could forget everything except the beauty found in every room.

Despite being pleased that Enda seemed to be relaxing, Giorgio had noticed a couple of people giving them more than a second look, and a few of them took out their phones and pointed them in the men’s direction. The four men together made a statement and would have done even without the article.

Giorgio wasn’t wearing a suit, but his pants and shirt were crisply smart. Lamont and Damon, both in black suits complete with dark sunglasses, walked behind them – playing their part. Enda was the bright bird among the four – his brilliant blue highlights enhanced by the bright lights within the museum.

Enda was the only one wearing jeans, although they were well-fitted – which was a distraction in itself for Giorgio. He’d paired them with a pale pink shirt and a dark blue embroidered waistcoat that Giorgio had zapped up for him. Giorgio got the impression that Enda was buttoning himself up, using his clothes as his form of armor.

“Do you remember that guy?” Lamont gave Damon an elbow to his ribs before pointing at a painting. “Honestly, he was such a fricking self-serving asshole, he seriously thought his shit didn’t stink.”

“Keep it down, guys,” Giorgio warned. “We’re in a museum.” But he appreciated that his two packmates were doing their best to make the whole situation appear casual and normal.

As for Giorgio, he was struggling with a spot of nerves himself. Every instinct in him, hound and man alike, wanted to keep Enda safe. Having to parade his mate around like a peacock to reach those ends went against every careful, cautious thing he had done in his life. But Giorgio knew how important the mission was.

Hiding away for the rest of their existence or at least until Enda’s father died of natural causes… Giorgio made a mental note to get in touch with Coda and see if he could find out how old that guy actually was. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to just hide away in somewhere like Tuscany for five hundred years until the guy just dropped dead of natural causes – assuming he was paranormal.

And Giorgio would’ve done that. Enda would’ve probably accepted those restrictions as well, given how he wanted to keep Giorgio safe. But the problem, in Giorgio’s mind, was that Enda’s father’s behavior was clearly escalating, and that had to be stopped. As much as Giorgio wanted to, he couldn’t hide Enda away at the cost of hundreds of other innocent lives being affected by the type of person that Enda’s father was. The pile of bodies Giorgio had rescued Enda from wasn’t easy to forget, and not knowing why they were all there – all dead – was a nagging mystery Giorgio wanted to solve.

His fear was that so many deaths in one place would suggest there was something else bigger that was about to happen. The weight of the unknown meant the man needed to be found, and Giorgio, in turn, needed Enda to be safe.

The other aspect was closer to home. Enda had been controlled and isolated for most of his life. He deserved the right to play tourist, to go to every country he’d ever wanted to and wander as he pleased. Hiding in Tuscany or any other place was going to render him a prisoner just as he’d been before, and that just wasn’t right.

There weren’t too many other visitors at the museum, and Lamont and Damon did a really good job of making sure that nobody came near them. At least Enda seemed distracted for the few hours they stayed there.

Giorgio was congratulating himself about that as they finally finished the tour, and Enda mentioned he was hungry. Lamont was looking at his list again, letting them know it was only a five minute walk to where they were meant to get lunch. When all of a sudden Damon yelled, “What the fuck?”

Grabbing Enda and pulling him to his side, Giorgio’s eyes widened as suddenly, at least twenty people all started to converge on them, screaming Enda’s name.

“Oh, my goodness, it’s you.”

“He’s so cute.”

“Please, please can I have a picture?”

“Don’t they make such a cute couple…”

It was like a flock of hungry birds descending on a bag of seeds. But it wasn’t birds, it was a huge crowd of young people with bright, fresh faces and phones all held up, anxious to take a picture. They seemed so excited to see him and Enda. Every instinct was screaming at Giorgio to wrap his arms around his mate and translocate them both to safety. But he couldn’t.

“I think I’m going to faint,” Enda whispered. “This is too much, far too much.”

“It’s all right, we can cope with this,” Lamont said as he and Damon moved forward, but Giorgio already knew Lamont wasn’t so sure they could, and he was having similar doubts.