Return Of The Real Italian Alphas Read online

  “No doubt,” Gabriel said, smirking again. “Lead the way.”

  “Hey boss, don’t you think we should go back to find the knights first?” asked Rico uncertainly.

  “What for?” he asked. “Would we get to Gordral any sooner If we did?”

  “I suppose not, but—“

  “We follow Gaal-det,” Gabriel decided. “I like him better than I did any of them anyway.”

  “Right, then,” Rico agreed. “Come on, men. Follow the demon.”

  “Well, that’s something you don’t hear every day,” Betsy commented with a smirk. She grabbed Gabriel by the arm and used it to keep up with him. “You sure do like to do things in a big way once you get started, don’t you?”

  “You ought to know that by now,” said Gabriel with a private grin that made her blush.

  “Your female is as red as I am,” Gaal-det teased. “What did you say to her?”

  “It is not important,” Gabriel said dismissively, his own face reddening slightly as well.

  The group entered yet another wrought-iron gate and continued along the path. It didn’t take much time for anyone to work out that they were on the other side of the castle structure they’d entered before. Which was strange since they’d traveled down numerous corridors and it had seemed like they’d been going downward.

  “How is this possible?” Gabriel wanted to know.

  “The back of the castle’s yard is on a different level than that of the front,” he explained, not pausing overlong to glance at the structure. “This way.”

  He didn’t step toward the castle, but rather moved on to another opening which led into another cave. This one they followed upwards in a spiral and found themselves back inside the castle on one of the floors above. He march right past two guards and barged into the chamber they were supposed to be protecting.

  “What is the meaning of this?” shouted a man in Italian as he jumped up out of his bed, leaving two women there to cover themselves.

  “Gordral, it’s been a long time,” the demon said with a smirk. “I see you haven’t changed a bit. Are these sisters?”

  “These are sisters who are sisters,” he smirked. “They’re young, too. I turned them only about a hundred years ago on a whim. Stole them fresh from the church.”

  “So listen, you men have been at it again, sending these guys down looking for me,” he explained. “The thing is, I think this guy could actually have a legitimate reason to use the lance. I’d really like to help him.”

  “What are they saying?” Betsy wanted to know. “I can only pick out bits and pieces.”

  Rico put a finger to his lips and listened intently until the entire conversation between the demon and Gordral was finished.

  Gaal-det turned to the others. “He will only allow you to borrow the lance for the one intended purpose,” he explained. “And he intends to come along to make certain it comes back with him when you are done. Now, so you know, I’m coming along with the shield as well, so with his men and my help it should be an easy matter to get your little family all together again.”

  “We cannot leave right away,” Rico announced insistently. “I must return to my compound and collect the other men. And Gordral, I’d really like to learn more about how your lance was made. It may make it easier to accomplish our goals if I could manage to improve some of the weapons we intend to bring along.”

  “I will tell you what you wish to know, of course,” the ancient Crusader agreed. “After all, it has been my mission throughout my lifetime to rid the world of evil. Especially now that I know what evil truly is.”

  “Oh, and what is that?” Gaal-det grumbled.

  “Evil is forcing a man to live without his children,” he pointed out. “And taking the belongings of those who have less and keeping them for your own selfish needs.”

  “I hope you’re not talking about this shield yet again?” he growled. “I won it fair and square.”

  “Are those two bickering?” Betsy wanted to know, since the conversation was still in Italian and she was still only learning to speak the language.

  “Yes, ma bella, just like an old married couple,” Gabriel chuckled. “And doubtless they will continue all the way to Egypt before we get any sort of break from their noise.”

  “I heard that,” said Gaal-det with a brow raised in his direction.

  Smirking, Gabriel replied, “I made certain that you did.”

  *

  “You must know that we cannot all cross the water in your truck,” Gordral scoffed as they sat in a banquet hall of the castle discussing the details. “It would be much better if we just traveled underground. Besides, did you not tell me that your truck had already gone back with the men you did not bring down here?”

  “Yes, but—well, do you not grow tired of the lack of starlight?” Gabriel insisted. “Do you not wish for fresh air and maybe even some sunlight?”

  “I haven’t seen the sun in three hundred years,” Gordral told him. “I have truly become a creature of the night, if ever there was one. I even acquired my sisters by dark of night. The surface has become somewhat alien to me and to my men. Yet must we go wherever the lance goes, for we have been tied to it irrevocably.”

  “I see,” said Rico. “Then perhaps your way is best for now. But the real question is, do you know the way?”

  “To Egypt, yes,” said Gordral. “But I suppose we’ll have to come outside once we get there.”

  “Very well, then, if there’s nothing else to discuss, I would like to begin the journey within a few hours if we may,” Rico said. “Have your men prepare and then let us know when you are ready to set out.”

  “It is agreed,” Gordral said, shaking Rico’s hand. He then turned and shook Gabriel’s as well.

  “I believe Betsy and I will return to the chamber we were given for a short nap,” Gabriel said, rising and taking his wife’s hand. “Have someone inform us when it is time, will you?”

  “Of course,” Gordral agreed. “And try to remember that the caves echo this time, won’t you?”

  Smirking, Gabriel replied, “Good thing we didn’t tell her that.”

  “Indeed,” the knight said, nodding towards Betsy before he walked away.

  “What were you two just saying?” Betsy wanted to know.

  “He hopes our nap is restful,” Gabriel improvised. Betsy didn’t believe him, but since she couldn’t prove otherwise, she simply nodded. Her husband brought her with him out of the hall and to their chamber, drawing her with him to the bed awaiting them there.

  “Do you want to get kinky in a cave again, Gabriel?” Betsy giggled as his body covered hers.

  “You know that I do, my bella,” he chuckled. “But perhaps this time we should not ring the rafters quite so much.”

  “Ring the rafters?” she scoffed. “If I did, it’s only because you know what buttons to push. He was telling you he heard me, wasn’t he? That’s what I thought he said. I have been practicing, you know.”

  “Why don’t you practice something on me instead?” Gabriel teased her.

  Betsy willingly unzipped his pants and began to dine on his flesh. Chuckling, Gabriel threaded his fingers through her hair, offering her as much encouragement as was needed to get him ready. When he felt that her ministrations had accomplished the desired effect, he flipped her onto her back, yanked off her pants and underwear together, and entered her, thrusting until her desire matched and exceeded his own.

  “Yes! Yes!” Betsy told him. “Right there!”

  When they’d both finished yelling, Gabriel laughed outright.

  “What’s so funny?” Betsy grumbled.

  “There went the rafters again,” he told her with a huge grin.

  “Somehow I don’t really feel bad about that,” Betsy admitted. They both burst out laughing again, and then there was a knock on the door.

  “I was sent to tell you two to get dressed since we’ll be leaving within the hour,” said the knight through the door. �
�I believe nobody wants to wait for you to put your clothes on.”

  “Thank you,” Gabriel answered sarcastically, and the two of them get back out of the bed and straightened out their clothes. Then they went out and rejoined the others just in time as the knights returned to meet them as well.

  If they’d thought they walked a great deal before, they hadn’t known just how much farther it was to walk through the depths of the Earth to another country beneath a sea. Here and there salt water trickled inside, and at one point they had to skirt a huge whirlpool, but eventually they came out of a cave onto dry land. Trekking over the foothills, they made their way back to Cairo and Rico’s base.

  As they entered, the grave faces of the men who greeted them hinted at trouble brewing, and Rico was quick to inquire, “What has everyone so upset here? Is something amiss?”

  “Desmond is waiting for Gabriel and Betsy in your office,” one of the scientists explained. “He says he must speak to them right away.”

  “What?” Betsy gasped. “Desmond is here? Then where are the children?”

  “Rico, please begin your work right away,” Gabriel said, squeezing his shoulder. “Betsy and I will find out what is going on and let you know. We may need to leave here even sooner than we had expected.”

  “Yes, of course,” he agreed. “This way, Gordral. Let us see what we may learn.”

  Gabriel and Betsy took no time at all heading up the long hall to Rico’s office. They burst through the door, desperate to know what was going on.

  “Where are my children?” Gabriel demanded to know, taking Desmond by his shoulders and giving him a little shake.”

  “Your daughter is safe, boss,” Desmond told him first. She was not at the cabin when it was taken. As far as I know, Lupo never discovered her existence.”

  “And Mario?”

  “Taken, I’m afraid,” he said. “Lupo allowed me to live to bring you a message. I did my best to ensure I wasn’t followed, but there are no guarantees where he is concerned. He said to tell you that he has the boy, and if you want to see him alive again you had better return to New York immediately.”

  “Oh no, Gabriel!” Betsy gasped. “What are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to do exactly what he wants,” said Gabriel with a vindictive sneer. “We’re going to return to New York as soon as possible. After all, we wouldn’t want to ignore a direct order, would we?”

  “I’m missing something, aren’t I?” Desmond wanted to know.

  “Oh, you won’t want to miss out on this,” Gabriel said then. “It’s sure to be entertaining. We’ve got the use of Gordral’s lance.”

  “You’ve actually found it, then?” Desmond gasped. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Not only did we find the lance, we even found Gordral himself,” Betsy added. “That bastard has messed with us for the last time.”

  “Now all we need to do is figure out how to get everyone to New York,” said Gabriel. “I wonder if Rico would be able to get us a really big plane.”

  “Wait, how many people are you trying to take?”

  “About thirty, I think,” Gabriel said. “That’s including a small army of apostates and a bunch of us Alphas who possess some nifty little stones to help us stay alive.”

  “Right,” said Desmond skeptically. “Anyway, I was only asking since the plane that brought me here can seat twenty, and the pilot is in this very facility waiting for me to bring you back.”

  “Rico can fly a plane,” Gabriel mentioned. “I don’t think we’ll need your pilot friend for this trip.”

  “Yes, I quite agree,” Desmond said with a grin of understanding. “I’ll leave you to it, then. Just let me know when it’s time to leave.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The group of twenty-five passengers crammed into the small plane could easily be described as the strangest party ever assembled. What with several apostates including Gordral, one much disguised demon who had transformed himself to avoid scaring any spectators, and a group of Alpha werewolves, one of them female, the journey took almost a day and was a rather cramped endeavor.

  Of course Rico knew better than to land at the airport or at Lupo’s private air field so he had to decide on another spot to put the plane down. This was much more complicated since they were flying in from off the coast, meaning they were expected to be boarded in search of persons not in possession of proper paperwork, of which they had a few.

  In the end, he landed about a state too far north and they had to hijack a bus to get everyone where they wanted to be, but he didn’t seem to mind. It had been a while since he’d done anything naughty, and he seemed to enjoy the thrill.

  When Rico stopped the car and told everyone to get out and head inside, Gabriel did not pause to question him on the matter. But once all of them were safely in, he rounded on the man with all his questions eagerly waiting to be asked.

  “Why have we stopped here, and where is ‘here’ anyway?”

  “Calm down, Gabriel,” he said with a smile. “We were in no danger, I just thought that since we’ll be entering the caves soon we may as well get some rest and gather a few supplies before we do.”

  “Where are we supposed to get supplies?” asked Gabriel, confused now.

  “In the basement, of course,” he chuckled. “This is one of my safe houses. I have them all over the city.”

  “You own this place?” Gabriel clarified.

  “Yes, but not under my own name, which would be quite foolish if you wanted a place where you could hide, wouldn’t it?”

  “Yes, of course it would,” Gabriel replied with a smirk. “Rico, you never fail to surprise me.”

  “Thanks, boss,” he said with a grin. “Shall we go downstairs now?”

  Gabriel nodded, and the two of them headed for the stairs. When they reached the bottom Rico gasped with indignation as he looked at the mess all over the floor.

  “Somebody looted my stash!” he growled as he stalked across the room and began to straighten things along the way. He opened a safe in the wall that was hidden behind a shelf and saw that the contents were still inside. “Not somebody who knew what was really here, it would seem. Now to find out who our visitors really were.”

  “You have surveillance?” Gabriel smirked.

  “Of course I do,” Rico grumbled. “Doesn’t everybody?”

  “Nobody that I know of,” Gabriel smirked. He followed Rico into another room where a video and audio feed were connected into some surveillance equipment, and a yellow light indicated all occurrences of activity in the room. This first one obviously being their own entry, he flicked a button and they waited for the machine to play the second.

  Two young men had come down there about eight months earlier and dug through the stuff on the shelves, eating foods out of cans and smoking some of the weed they found there. Then they took the rest of the weed with them and left again, laughing all the way.

  “Just a harmless prank, I think,” said Gabriel with a shrug.

  “Harmless?” Rico grumbled. “They made off with three hundred dollars’ worth of product. I wouldn’t precisely call that harmless. If I wasn’t rolling in money already that could have really broke my bank. Those two are lucky I don’t know who they are or I’d really give them a piece of my mind.”

  The yellow light was still on once the clip had been shown, so Rico pressed the back button one more time. He expected to see the kids again, or maybe others of a similar nature, but that wasn’t what greeted his eyes.

  “Lucretia?” Gabriel mouthed, unable even to say the name. “How would she know about this place?”

  Rico was blushing slightly. “I believe I may have brought her here once, boss. I’d forgotten all about it. But I’m not sure if she was there on Lupo’s orders or if she had an entirely different reason.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, when we started working with her again, it kind of brought back a few things between us from the past—things you prob
ably don’t want to know about,” he explained. “This is the place we went to—resolve some of them.”

  “So you’re telling me that you slept with my ex-wife here, and you were foolish enough to bring the entire party to the same place now?” Gabriel asked incredulously. “What were you thinking? Lupo could have this place watched, bugged even. He may be aware right now of just how many of us there are and where he can find us. How much more stupid could you be?”

  “Calm down, Gabriel, it can’t be that bad,” Rico said. “She’s by herself and just looking around. If she’d been there on business her henchmen would probably have been with her.”

  “I don’t think I’m willing to take that chance,” he said stubbornly. “Since when has Lucretia ever been someone we could trust? Clearly I never could if you’re telling me that things went on between you in the past as well.”

  “I never meant for it to happen, you know that,” he insisted. “But damn, Gabriel, the woman may be a bitch but she’s really hot. I’ve never understood how you could have dumped her in the first place.”

  “You said it yourself, she’s a bitch,” Gabriel said. “I just couldn’t deal with it anymore.”

  Rico nodded. “So, do we stay or do we go? We could easily grab some things and head out.”

  “Yes, I believe we must go,” Gabriel decided. “We are too close to the completion of this mission to take a chance on Lucretia’s whims.”

  “All right, I’ll tell the men to gather supplies and we’ll be on our way,” he agreed. “Boss, I hope this doesn’t change things between us. I really do love you like a brother. I would do anything for you. You must know that.”

  “All is fair in love and war,” Gabriel said wryly. “You are welcome to her, my friend. See if you’re able to tame her where I could not.”

  “As to that, I don’t know if she wants me,” he replied. “The last time we spoke we had an argument because I wouldn’t switch sides to Lupo’s team. I told her that loyalty was much more important than love could ever be and she stormed out in a huff. Something tells me it wasn’t exactly the right thing to say.”