Forbidden

Reciprocity

Luca

Where are you? I need you.

The two sentences crowded Luca's already jumbled thoughts, and for what felt like the hundredth time, he pulled his phone out to respond. And like each time before, the message thread below it stopped him. That conversation was the reason he wasn't out with his pack pretending to help hunt down Rosita. He did everything he could to cover up any tracks he found along the way without raising suspicion, but now, he had to pray his aunt was far enough away to be safe.

He hadn't set out to ignore Van. After discovering the truth about Livy and his declaration to his father, he had needed a moment to sort out his plans. It was all well and good to want something, but achieving it required planning. Luca wasn't so lost to his anger that he couldn't remember that, and Van was already in place to help him. Had promised to do whatever was necessary. But then a day turned into two... then three and four.

He sighed and hunched lower in his coat. Cold seeped into his bones from the brick wall behind him, and he wished he was at home in the family parlor, surrounded by his parents and siblings while snowflake clumps as big as his hand swirled down from the heavens. As if privy to his thoughts, a small cluster landed on his lashes, making him blink until the powder became icy liquid sliding down his cheek.

Messaging Van after so long felt wrong. Like he was using her, and that had never been his intention. He cared for her far more than he should, and the dangers involved in keeping her in his life finally hit home. If Abe could upend the pack so easily to find Rosita, what would he be willing to do for his daughter? Until Luca was certain there was no other way to rescue Brantley and Livy, he was going to leave her alone.

His phone dinged, and a bit of the tension eased from his frame as he read the response.

Price: She's fine. I saw her go into Wanda's with a bunch of Novitiates.

Luca: Thanks, man.

Well, he would leave her alone as far as she was aware. There was no way he could receive a message like that from her and not make sure she was okay, but he tried to play it cool. Van knew him well enough to choose her language carefully, and as he suspected, she was trying to make him emotional enough to respond. It had almost worked.

"Dude, it's freaking cold out here."

Yeah and you're almost thirty minutes late, Luca thought as he slid deeper into the shadows.

Tommy didn't look at the shifter across the alley. With bare hands almost blue, he struggled to unlock the door. He slipped inside, and to Luca's ears, the lock clicking back in place was louder than a gunshot. Two minutes later, a door at the back of the alley creaked open.

"Why is it colder here than out there?" Luca demanded, facing Tommy after shutting the door. The lights remained off, but he could see the bulky shape of the other man.

"I'm not paying to heat this place when I'm not here. The Asylum doesn't pay that well," the tech guy replied, adjusting the thermostat and pointing to another door. "We're going in there."

"I thought we would meet at your place like always. Coming to the middle of the Warehouse District seems a little risky."

Luca settled into a plush armchair in the new room. Unlike the rest of the building's interior, the walls were covered with drywall and a pleasant neutral beige. There were no windows, and when Tommy flicked on the light, Luca noticed the door was sealed well enough that even splinter cracks of shine shouldn't escape to the other side. The only other furniture was a chair and big desk. Everything else was tech gear.