Page 18 of Their Reckless Thief (The Below #1)

CELESTE

Vincenzo’s garage was an underground palace of horsepower and wealth.

The sleek, predatory machines looked like they’d cost more than anything I could steal in a lifetime.

A subtle, but palpable haze shimmered around them.

In The Below, magic powered the engines, but everything else looked eerily similar to the cars in the human world. Except, of course, the price tags.

Luca’s grip on my arm tightened, and the world suddenly went black. In a split second, we had moved to the opposite side of the garage. I covered my face with my free hand, trying to breathe through a wave of nausea. “What the fuck was that?”

Luca smirked. “Veilstepping. I can travel instantaneously from one point to the next as long as I’ve been there before. And I can take people with me if I’m touching them.”

“It feels like someone turned me upside down and shook the hell out of me. A little warning next time, okay?”

“What would be the fun in that?” Luca strode toward a car that screamed excess, its black paint reflecting everything around it.

It was sleek and deadly, just like him. He opened the passenger door for me, the chivalrous act completely out of place for someone who’d literally wrapped me in his shadows an hour ago.

I snorted and shook my head, but slid into the leather seat. The interior was as opulent as the exterior, making me feel even smaller and more out of place. Luca closed the door softly and rounded the front, then got behind the wheel without a word.

The silence was almost suffocating as he pulled out of the garage and onto the streets.

The eerie magic of The Below cloaked the world in a strange half-light and made everything feel a little off.

I wasn’t sure where Luca was taking me, but the fact that he hadn’t spoken since we left the mansion was starting to grate on me.

He appeared perfectly content with the quiet, but it gnawed at me, prickling under my skin.

Just as I opened my mouth to break the silence, a vision tore me from the present.

Tendrils of dark smoke bound Luca’s hands behind his back and wrapped around his body.

Blood stained his shirt from the fresh welts marring his skin.

His head hung low, his face obscured, and shadows clung to him as if they were trying to shield him, but they, too, were weakened, barely visible.

The image shifted, the dark tendrils of shadow attempting to rise but collapsing under another’s force.

Then came a figure—smoke and shadow merged—delivering another punishing blow that drove Luca to his knees, his breath rattling as he choked.

I jolted back to the present, my breath catching and a cold sweat breaking out along my skin. Beside me, Luca was completely unaware. I blinked, grounding myself in the real world, but the image clung to my mind, sending a chill down my spine.

“What’s wrong?” Luca’s voice broke through my daze. He must’ve felt my stare because he glanced at me, his silver eyes studying my face for even the faintest shift in my expression.

I shook my head and cleared my throat, but I couldn’t shake the haunting vision. “Nothing. Just… thinking.”

He focused on the road again, and I watched him carefully. I had an overwhelming urge to question him, to demand answers about where his loyalties truly lay and what kind of danger he’d put himself in. But I held my tongue. Pushing him wouldn’t lead to anything useful.

Instead, I focused on the questions that had been simmering under the surface. “So, how does this work? You work for The Shadow, who’s Vincenzo’s enemy, but you also work for Vincenzo?”

Luca didn’t so much as glance at me. “You could use your imagination to answer that one.”

“So, you’re a spy?”

The muscles in his jaw tensed. “I owe my life to Vincenzo. I trust him. I worked my way up in The Shadow’s ranks, earned his trust, but my loyalty has always been to Vincenzo.”

That shut me up for a second. Loyalty was rare in The Below—I certainly hadn’t ever encountered it here. “What are you, anyway? The way you manipulate shadows… I’ve never encountered anything like that before.”

“I’m fae,” he said simply, like that answered everything.

I raised a brow. “Okay, but what else can you do with the shadows? Because the things I’ve experienced…”

Luca’s grip on the wheel tightened, but his face remained impassive. “I can do a lot more than what you’ve experienced. The shadows are an extension of me. I can use them to bind, to fight, to conceal. They obey my will.”

I settled back against the leather, thinking about when his shadows had touched me. It hadn’t been oppressive or terrifying. In fact, it’d felt intimate . Surreal. Borderline pleasurable.

“And how do they feel to everyone else? Because when I felt them…”

Luca glanced at me then, his silver eyes flicking over my face, assessing. His lips curved into a subtle, almost imperceptible smile. “They feel how I want them to feel.”

Before I could think of a response to that, shadows curled out from him and snaked across the seat, winding their way up my arms and across my collarbone.

My breath hitched as they trailed over my skin, featherlight yet undeniably present.

He wasn’t even looking at me. His eyes were still on the road, as if this were nothing to him.

I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped my lips. The sound was barely audible, but I knew he heard it. That slight smile turned into something sharper, more knowing.

It was the first time I’d seen Luca smile. And fuck, I hated that I wanted to see it again.

The shadows became more insistent, tracing my skin, slipping under my jacket, trailing down my spine, wrapping around my thighs.

My pulse raced as they moved, every touch sending jolts of warmth and sensation through my body.

It was pleasure . Pure, unfiltered, glorious pleasure.

I bit my lip to keep from making another sound, but it was too late. I wanted more. Needed more.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it was gone.

I let out a frustrated breath, my body aching at the absence of that touch. “Prick.”

Luca smiled again—twice in a few minutes. That had to be some kind of record for him.

“You wanted to know,” he said so casually, as if he hadn’t just wrecked me with the most surreal experience of my life.

“You must be very popular with the ladies,” I said, even though it grated on me for some reason.

I stared out the window, willing my mind to stop spinning. It was difficult to focus when all I could think about was his shadows caressing me. They’d been so close to every part of me and made me feel things I wasn’t prepared to feel.

I hated this. I hated that he could get under my skin so easily. That these men, these monsters, were starting to unravel me. And it had only been twenty-four hours.

When Luca pulled the car to a stop, I peered out the window at the unfamiliar streets.

We were deeper into The Below than I’d ever been, somewhere far beyond the parts I knew.

This place was darker, thicker with magic and danger.

The streets were narrower, the buildings stacked against each other like they were trying to suffocate the life out of anyone passing by.

My stomach twisted.

I glanced over at Luca. He hadn’t said a word since the shadows had touched me in the car, and now, his silence was even more unsettling. He scanned the streets as if he was expecting something or someone to jump out at us.

“What are we doing here?” I asked, trying to mask the anxiety crawling all over my skin.

“I’m on a mission for The Shadow,” he said, his voice clipped.

He didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t press. The gnawing in my gut grew stronger as we stepped out of the car and into the shadows. Luca moved with quiet confidence, his posture rigid and alert, like he was ready to strike at any moment.

I followed close behind, doing my best not to look out of place in a part of The Below that radiated hostility. My senses were on high alert. It felt like I was being watched from every dark corner, every shadowed alley.

“Stick close,” Luca muttered. “And don’t try anything.”

“Wasn’t planning to,” I shot back, though I wasn’t entirely sure I could keep that promise. My inner voice was screaming at me to make a run for it, to slip away while Luca was occupied.

As we turned down a side alley, the energy shifted. It was quieter here, but not the peaceful kind of quiet. No, this quiet pricked at your skin and made your heart beat just a bit faster. Luca’s stride lengthened, his gaze narrowing as he focused on the end of the alley where a figure waited.

My pulse quickened. Something about this was wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but the air around us crackled with tension.

The figure stepped forward, cloaked in shadows so dense I couldn’t make out their features. Luca’s entire demeanor changed. He squared his shoulders, clenched his jaw, and the shadows that always clung to him flared to life, curling around his wrists like they were ready to strike.

I took a cautious step back, instinct kicking in. Whatever was about to go down, it wouldn’t be pretty. And if I were smart, I’d stay the hell out of it.

“Luca,” the figure rasped in a voice that was gravel scraping against metal. “You’re a bit late, don’t you think?”

Luca didn’t bother with pleasantries. His cold, calculating gaze fixed on the figure as he took a slow, measured step forward. The tension between them crackled like a live wire, sharp and dangerous.

“Give me what I came for,” Luca said, shadows swirling around him. “Or this won’t end well for you.”

The figure’s chuckle curled like smoke through the alley. Something about it made my skin crawl. “You think you can just waltz into my territory and make demands? I don’t care who sent you, Luca. You’re playing a dangerous game here.”

A sudden surge of magic crackled around us, static electricity crawling across my skin. My breath hitched. This figure wasn’t a low-level thug. The dark energy radiating off them was palpable, almost suffocating.

A hand flicked out from under their cloak, and instead of the flash of silver I’d expected, I saw something worse—a black, swirling mist that coiled around their fingers like it had a life of its own.

My heart leapt into my throat. They weren’t reaching for a weapon.

They were conjuring one. The mist solidified, forming a twisted, barbed blade of dark energy that glowed with an eerie purple light.

The figure’s visage glinted with malice as they raised the blade, the edges humming with the threat of dark magic. Luca didn’t flinch. Didn’t even blink.

“Didn’t know you were bringing dessert, Luca. Bet she’s got a mouth on her. How much to take her for a spin, huh?”

Luca’s shadows shot out, wrapping around the figure’s wrist like a steel trap. His opponent let out a strangled gasp, eyes widening in surprise, but Luca’s grip was merciless.

A sickening crack echoed through the alley as the shadows twisted the figure’s wrist, snapping it like a twig.

His shadows slithered higher, coiling around the figure’s neck like a snake. My breath hitched as I watched, frozen in place. The deadly precision, the effortless control… It terrified me.

Luca could kill this being in an instant.

Hell, if he wanted me dead…

The figure struggled against Luca’s hold, gasping for breath, but the cold sneer on their face didn’t waver.

Bile crept up my throat. The vulgarity of it made my stomach churn, but before I could react, Luca’s gaze snapped toward the figure, a deadly calm settling over his features.

“Don’t,” Luca warned, his voice low and lethal. “Don’t fucking push me.”

Despite being seconds away from death, the figure didn’t know when to quit. They wheezed out a sick laugh, their eyes dark with lewd hunger. “Bet she tastes as sweet as she looks. I’ll have her screaming my name instead of yours before the night’s over.”

Something inside me twisted as a mix of disgust and rage bubbled up. My fists clenched at my sides, but I didn’t have to move.

Luca moved faster than I could comprehend. His shadows snapped tight around the figure’s throat. The sickening crunch of bone breaking echoed in the narrow alley, cutting off the figure’s laugh.

One second, the figure was alive and spouting vile shit. The next, they were crumpling to the ground, lifeless, their neck bent at an impossible angle.

Before I could fully comprehend what I’d just witnessed, Luca turned to me, his face unreadable, shadows slowly retreating.

“You’re safe,” he said, as if that made everything okay.

I blinked at him in disbelief, my pulse still racing. Safe? Safe was the last thing I felt right now. I was standing next to a man who could kill with nothing more than a thought. And he expected me to feel safe ?

“If you wanted me dead,” I whispered, my voice barely audible, “I’d be dead right now, wouldn’t I?”

Luca’s silver eyes met mine. There was no warmth in them. “Yes.”

Just like that. A simple, blunt truth. No hesitation, no doubt. The realization that he could kill me in seconds settled deep into my bones.

And yet, I didn’t think he would. Not yet.

I swallowed hard. “Uh, what now?”

Luca looked down at the lifeless body at his feet, then back at me. “We finish the job. Stay close and keep quiet.”

I wanted to snap back at him, but then I remembered those shadows wrapping around me, the intimacy of it…

Luca was more dangerous than I’d imagined. That should have terrified me. But the strange thing was that it didn’t. Not as much as it should have.

Luca turned, back rigid as he moved away, leaving the dead man crumpled in the shadows. I swallowed, breathing through the nausea.

This wasn’t just a mission. This was Luca’s world. And right now, I was a pawn in a much bigger game than I’d realized. Did he bring me here to scare me into submission?

Fuck these men and their mind games.