Oh, now, that wasn’t good. Amy Jo needed the Princess. Desperately.
“No, please,” she blurted out. “I’ll talk. But only to the Princess.”
There, that got their attention. The man named Steven leaned a little closer to her, his dark blue eyes nearly hypnotizing in their intensity.
“What do you need with Arabella?”
Amy Jo took a deep breath. “I need her to save me.”
The man’s gaze narrowed.
“Save you from what?”
The Princess and Steven had spoken in stereo, which brought out Amy Jo’s weak smile.
“I guess, ‘from the bad guys’ wouldn’t be enough of an explanation, huh?”
“No, it wouldn’t. What’s your name?” Pretty Boy asked.
Now, that was a question she could answer without prevarication. “Amy Jo Bauer. I’m twenty-six and I was born and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Transylvania County, North Carolina. And I’m not making that up. There really is a Transylvania in the States.”
The Princess and Pretty Boy flashed each other a look and she hurried on before they decided they didn’t want to hear any more and gagged her. Or something.
“You know, I lived all my life reading about werewolves and vampires. I love that kinda stuff but I never really believed in them. I mean, who would, right? Well, except for you all, of course.” The Princess raised her eyebrows and Amy Joy figured she better move on. “Anyway, I was in New York City for a librarian conference three months ago. At the New York Public Library. I’d never been to New York and I thought this conference would be a great way to see the city and get some credits.
“So one night after a lecture left out early, I got a cab to Central Park just to take a walk. I know you’re not supposed to walk alone in Central Park after dark but it wasn’t dark when I went in. And then I just started to walk. It’s beautiful and so amazing that the park is right there in the center of that big city. But then it got dark. I started to get a little scared but I figured I’d have to come out somewhere, right? Or there’d be a cop walking around and he could tell me how to get out. Only…they found me first.”
She stopped to take a breath and Bella said, “Who found you?”
A chill ran up her spine just thinking about this part but in for a penny, in for a pound. She looked straight at the princess, trying to ignore the two men sitting there as well. “I don’t know who they were. I don’t know how many there were. I do know there were at least three.”
Amy Jo swore the air stopped moving in the room, it got so very still. But that could just be her. She’d never spoken about this part aloud. Not to anyone.
“I didn’t expect there to be werewolves in Central Park. Stupid me, huh? Caught by werewolves on the night of a full moon.”
Pretty Boy drew in a sharp breath and muttered something in a foreign language under his breath. But she couldn’t look at him. Not him or Steven. The pity she saw on Arabella’s face was enough to make it hard for her to breathe. But Amy Jo forged ahead because she hadn’t even gotten to the important stuff yet. After a long, slow breath and a mental skip over the next few hours—it
had
been a full moon—she continued.
“I lost consciousness sometime before dawn and I’m pretty sure they didn’t mean to leave me alive. I think they got scared, maybe heard a cop. I don’t know. Anyway, they never took my wallet so I don’t think they even knew my name. Maybe they thought I was close to death after…after what happened, but obviously they don’t know me all that well. My momma made sure I could take care of myself. She made sure I could fight. And I’m damn sure not a quitter. When the sun came up, I walked until I found my way out.”
Luckily, the dress she’d been wearing hadn’t been too badly damaged. The cab driver hadn’t even given her a second look. “I got a cab back to my hotel and took, like, a few showers.” Try ten. “Then I started researching. That’s what I do. I’m a research librarian. Mostly I work on the Internet, so I knew where I had to look to find the answers. I am so sorry about the hypo, but I calculated everything out precisely, ’though I had to guess at your weight. But you can’t weigh more than a hundred and ten, Princess.”
Then she turned to Pretty Boy, still watching her with such intense copper eyes, she almost couldn’t hold his gaze. “And I’m so sorry about that bump on the back of your head. I told James not to hurt anyone, but he’s a little slow on the uptake. I really didn’t want to hurt anyone. I just need you to save me.”
There. That was everything. She took another deep breath, waiting for someone to answer her but they just kept looking at her.
“Well?” she asked.
The Princess looked at Steven, who shrugged his shoulders and looked at Pretty Boy. Pretty Boy never took his eyes off of her. “Save you from what?” he finally said.
“From the curse.”
Pretty Boy’s eyes narrowed even further. “What curse?”
She huffed and would have stamped her feet if she wasn’t all tied up. “Weren’t you listening to anything I said? Why, from being a werewolf, dummy.”
Chapter Six
Bella had thought she’d heard it all.
Not only had Amy Jo been bitten on the night of a full moon, when
lucani
had been known to lose themselves to the call of the wild, but she thought she was cursed.
And she thought Bella could un-curse her.
Even better, she’d called Diego a dummy.
“Ex
cuse
me?” Diego said, as if Amy Jo had called him a bastard. The look on his face was almost worth the convoluted but amazingly coherent story the girl had told.
Bella jumped in before the girl could go off on another long-winded explanation. She held up one hand and both the girl and Diego turned to her.
“I get the curse part, Amy Jo. Tell me why you think I can lift it.”
“Okay, so here’s the deal.” The woman shifted as if trying to get comfortable. “Do you think maybe you could sit me up or something? I’m kinda getting a crick in my neck from looking up at y’all.”
Diego leaned back and crossed his arms. “Are you really this stupid or do you have to work at it?”
Amy Jo’s eyes narrowed down to slits, managing to look down her nose at him even though she had to look up at him.
Bella figured Diego deserved whatever the girl threw at him.
“For your information,” Amy Jo said, “I have a master’s degree in information and library science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I have a level-three security clearance from the United States government and I have worked with the current administration on delicate matters of national security. I have never had so much as a
parking
ticket in my life. Three months ago, I became a werewolf,
which
, I have to tell you, was
not
the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. But I will
not
be called stupid by a man who lets his hair grow as long as a
girl’s
!”
Diego’s mouth actually dropped open but he said nothing as Steven choked back a laugh. But Bella couldn’t contain hers. “Untie her, Diego. Right now. Before she says something else and makes the top of your head fly off.”
Diego didn’t move for at least ten seconds. And for those moments, she thought he might simply refuse. Finally, he whipped out one of his knives with more flourish than normal and made a show of slicing through the rope Steven had tied Amy Jo with.
While he did, Bella started to sift through the myriad pieces of information Amy Jo had related. Curse, uncurse, men in Central Park, full moon, bitten. Had she really been bitten on the night of a full moon?
Bella shivered. She’d heard stories…actually she’d heard horror stories of
eteri
who’d been bitten on a full moon. Stories meant to terrify young
versipelli
away from ever inflicting
eteri
with the
versipelli
spell through their bite.
This woman had to have the heart of a lion to have lived through what she’d described.
And if the look she was giving Diego was any indication, she did.
Amy Jo rose, rubbing her hands over her jean-clad thighs. The woman had curves to rival Marilyn Monroe’s and straight, platinum hair that framed her face. Her features were pretty, not beautiful, except for those eyes. They were the most remarkable shade of blue.
“May I sit, Princess?”
Bella grimaced. “Yes, but please, my name’s Arabella. I’m not really a princess.”
Amy Jo sat on the bed opposite her, as far from Diego as she could get. “Yes, actually, you are. A descendent of the ruling wolves of Sicily, your family came to America in 1905 to control the American legion. You’re a veterinarian by training, but I’m assuming you’re really considered a doctor.”
Holy hell
. Bella’s lips parted but she didn’t have a clue what to say. This woman knew a hell of a lot for being
eteri.
Way more than she should. And she’d found it all in the past three months? Hell, was there a website somewhere listing every Etruscan secret for the world?
“And you know all of this how?” Diego asked in a clipped tone. “You’re not hereditary.”
Amy Jo stuck her nose in the air and gave him that haughty look again, even as he towered over her. “I assume you use that term to identify yourself as being
born
into a werewolf family. Obviously that’s correct since I already told you I was only
bitten
a few months ago. I also told you I’m a research librarian. If the information is out there, I can find it.”
“But it’s not like we have a website where you can go and look this stuff up. Right?” Bella cut in before Diego could say whatever he had on his mind. “How did you discover so much about us? You said the man who bit you left you for dead.”
Amy Jo swallowed hard and nodded, returning her gaze to Bella’s. “He did. But that was after they’d…played with me for a while.”
Bella felt both men stiffen—and her heart weakened just a little bit more for this woman.
“Do you know who they were?” Diego’s fury leaked out of his tone.
Amy Jo shook her head but wouldn’t look at him, her gaze now glued to a spot on the bedspread. “No. I haven’t been able to find that out. Not yet. But believe me, when I do, I’ll take care of them.”
Diego’s mouth curled in an approximation of a smile. One that would’ve made his enemies think twice about attacking. Still, he couldn’t seem to stop egging Amy Jo on. “Maybe you should leave your revenge to the experts, considering how this little fiasco turned out for you.”
The girl stiffened but didn’t rise to the bait. And Bella’s estimation of her went up just a little more.
“Anyway.” Amy Jo snagged her gaze again. “I heard them say your name, Princess, and it gave me a starting point.”
“Did they mention any other names? And really, the princess thing’s getting old. Call me Bella.” She smiled at Amy Jo. “Considering you’ve shot me up with a hypodermic needle already, we should be on more familiar terms.”
Shaking her head, Amy Jo’s mouth fell into a frown. “No, I heard no other names. I truly am sorry about that hypo but I really thought it was my only option. Your, ah, reputation made me a little leery about approaching you.”
“My reputation?” She frowned. What reputation? “What did you read about me on the Internet, anyway?”
Amy Jo shrugged, her gaze shifting just to the left of Bella’s. “Well…you kind of have a reputation for being a bit of a… well, kind of stuck up.”
“Kind of?” Diego’s amused tone increased her ire. “Guess you
can
believe some of what you read.”
Bella ignored him. “I still don’t understand what you think I can do for you.”
Amy Jo sighed. “The legends say you have the power to reverse the curse.”
Bella shook her head. “Do you mean cure you of lycanthropy?”
Now Amy Jo smiled and it lit her entire face. “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”
Okay, now Bella knew the myth Amy Jo was talking about. Knew it well and knew it was just that. A myth.
The other woman stared at her with such hope that Bella felt like a complete and utter failure when she said, “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to cure you.”
For one brief second, all the life left Amy Jo’s face and she looked like she might pass out. Diego actually made a move to catch her as she swayed. But before she toppled over, she caught herself and some of her determination returned.
“Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’ve researched this whole thing pretty much top to bottom and I have a ninety-seven-point-nine-percent rate of accuracy. According to my research, your blood, when mixed with mine, should have a negative effect on the virus. Kind of like making it null and void, you see. I know it sounds irrational, but, jeez, six months ago, if you had told me werewolves were going to ra— bite me and turn me into some creature from a horror movie every month, no offense, I would’ve told you to get your head examined. But I’ve adapted. I’ve even been able to curb the impulse to rip out the throat of every living thing I see. But you can’t just dismiss my re—”
“Amy Jo.”
“—search out of hand. There’s got to be a way—”
“I’m sorry,” Bella said as gently as she could. “There’s no cure that I know of that’s ever worked.”
Amy Jo’s eyelids flickered, as if she’d been slapped. Then she took a deep breath.
“I can see how you might… I mean, I know you might not have ever…” Her eyes filled with tears and lower lip began to tremble. “Really? Never?”
Bella shook her head, her heart twisting painfully in her chest. “No.”
“Oh.” That one word held a wealth of disappointment. “Okay, then.” She paused for so long Bella wondered if she’d finally talked herself out. After at least thirty seconds, Amy Jo said, “So I suppose you’ll want to punish me for that hypo, huh? I understand completely. But if you wouldn’t mind, could you make it fast? I really don’t think—”
Amy Jo started to cry then. Big, heaving sobs that weren’t pretty but would have melted the heart of a stone statue. Steven and Diego froze like teenage boys on a first date.
Idiots
.
Without a word, Bella motioned for the men to leave the room. Steven nodded and headed for the door. He never could handle women’s tears. Diego stared at the sobbing woman for several seconds before backing off. She ignored the warning look he sent her before closing the door behind him.