And not just any vampire, but the Dynasty heir.Moron.
Going by the way Nico was now spinning his knife on the table, I had my doubts the arms dealer would last to see tomorrow morning. But Dante was my only concern.
He needed to feed, he needed sleep, and he needed…gods, he needed a bath.
But the way his infuriated gaze swung between us, picking us down to the bone, all three would have to wait.
“Someone had better start talking,” he rasped, voice rough from the dust and the screaming. “Because I swear to the gods if you tell me you justimprovisedyour way into theFossa with the help of some human fuck twat who happened to have a helicopter…”
“We didn’t improvise,” I cut in, only to be stared into silence.
“Don’t even get me started on the fact you were there,tesoro, because right now, my instincts are telling me to beat the living shit out of these two assholes for allowing you anywhere close to that shithole,”—his voice turned into a growl—“that close to the fucking Overseer...”
Gabriel inhaled, pinched his nose. “We didn’t have time for a clever plan, Dante. As far as keeping Emberline out of a rescue mission, well, next time, I’ll let you be the one to fucking try to stop her.”
“You don’t know how close you came to being trapped there.” Dante swallowed. “All of you would have been…” He dragged his hands down his face and pivoted away, shoulders shaking. “You don’t know how close you came to dying.”
“We weren’t getting trapped,” I said quietly. My husband shot me a dangerous, pointed look. “We had a contingency plan, and everything worked. Perfectly.”
Well, perfectly might be an overstatement… but we were alive.
“What sort of contingency plan?” Dante groaned sarcastically. “That fucking mortal with the big mouth?”
“A locater, buried beneath my skin,” Gabriel explained, reaching up to rub the nape of his neck. “Cutting-edge biotech the arms dealer uses for ops. As for that humanfuck twat,”—he leveled an amused look in his brother’s direction—“using the humans was a strategic decision. Giovanni tracks every vampire within the Dynasty, especially the Draconi.
“Humans…” Gabriel shrugged, dust drifting off his shoulders onto the table. “Humans are outside of his realm of interest. Chances are, Gio’s just now receiving the first reports of trouble, and we are long clear.”
“How I would love to be a fly on the wall forthatcall,” Nico mused, throwing his battered, dusty boots up on the table before I shot him a disapproving glare. “Someone’s getting their asses chewed, right about now.”
Dante’s expression shifted from confusion to a slow, dawning realization. “You let a mortal put a locator in you?”
Gabriel didn’t blink. “I let him put a tracker in me so when we found you, we all had a way out. You’re fucking welcome, you ungrateful bastard.”
My throat tightened from a flash of gratitude so fierce, my eyes watered. Gabriel had risked everything, partnering up with that arms dealer. He hadn’t told Nico or me until the very last second, likely because he knew we’d fight his decision, but now…
Now, I could fucking kiss him.
“Is this, perchance, the arms dealer I was supposed to discredit for Rocco Demente?” Dante wondered out loud.
“The very one. Now, he’s working for us on retainer.”
“Unless you let me kill him,” Nico interrupted, stopping his spinning knife. “Could get that little job done right now and save you a couple hundred k.”
“No killing. For now. I told him I’d pay, and I mean to keep my word.” Gabriel rolled his neck, then his shoulders, things popping grotesquely back into place. I was tempted to tell him that was bad for the joints, but honestly, I was too fucking exhausted to micromanage.
“So, what now?” Dante shook his head and took two steps to the couch, falling onto the cushions beside me with a groan. I wrinkled my nose. That bath couldn’t come soon enough.
“There might be survivors. By tomorrow, Giovanni could know about the rescue mission, that I’m free, that Emberline’s alive, that you and Nico are both working against him, and we’ll all be fucked.”
“Not necessarily,” I murmured. “Half the guards got buried beneath tons of rock; the prisoners killed the rest. There might not be anyone for him to talk to. We need to tell you about the meeting between Gio and Severin…”
“We’ll talk about your uncle’s schemes later. I should get back to the family palazzo,” Gabriel interrupted, shooting his brother a hard look. “Have a heart-to-heart with our new chef. Nico, I want you there. Formoralsupport.”
I chuffed out a tired laugh at the euphemism.
The room was growing fuzzy around the edges, my knees were like rubber, now that all the adrenaline had drained away, and every bruised and battered piece of me ached like I was a thousand years old.
“That’s what he said. I don’t know how long he’s been poisoning Marcello,” Dante was explaining when I blinked the room back into focus. “Or if he can even be saved at this point.”
