"Of course, we will wait and see the pony, sometimes the name comes to you once you see the horse, si? Now, I think I am going to take Pavi out for a nice ride. Do you wish to come along and ride on Impavido with me?"
His eyes lit up as he threw his arms around his father's neck. "Yes, Daddy, please! And Cory too."
Cory laughed. "Not this time, little buddy. I promised Madison I’d call her when I got home. We have plans for the night. But I'll let Kate know you're going out for a ride with Dad."
Shade put Lorenzo down and he took off for the wooden crate of carrots and grabbed several, heading in Pavi's direction. Shade shook his head, but his grin was wide. This was the life he had tried to put off, the life he had tried to avoid, not because he didn’t want it, but because it would be too painful to lose it. He hoped, one day, to repeat this same scene with his grandchildren, when he would have much more time to spoil them.
79
Mateo gathered his things. He was heading back to the Canton residence in G-town. Shade informed him that Alec and Braden were ready to get back on the campaign trail, and he’d still be assigned to Alec. He felt weird leaving for this assignment without Hyde, but clearly, his fellow warrior was no longer needed.
Mateo knew this campaign would go much smoother now without Rissa, and both Alec and Braden would be in a better frame of mind without her. He and all the other warriors had no doubts that Rissa’s death wasn’t an accident, but in their culture, he also knew no one would intervene. A male and his mate shared an eternal bond, and although the male could release the female, there was really only one way to break the blood bond.
He stopped in on Hyde before leaving the barracks and saw him sitting in his room with a laptop in front of him, but he was staring blankly out the window. Mateo knew he was taking Rissa’s death harder than most, but he’d never share those feelings. "Heading out, brother, just stopping in to say goodbye."
Hyde looked up to see Mateo standing in his doorway with his bags in hand. "Where you going?"
Mateo dropped his bags outside the door and strolled in, taking a seat. "Canton residence, they’re restarting the campaign."
Mateo eyed him carefully, not sure how he’d respond. Hyde put his head in his hands and sighed, feeling a great heaviness inside him. "Great. Guess I’m heading back to the Dead House."
Mateo leaned forward in the chair, his elbows on his knees, his hands intertwined. "Look, Hyde, I know this isn’t easy, but you can’t seriously miss that bitch. She was a hot mess, brother."
Hyde shook his head. "You didn’t know her like I did. She had a soft side. I tried to coach her, but she seemed intent on self-destruction. She didn’t deserve this."
Mateo laid his hand on his brother’s shoulder. "She got to you, brother. I get it. It’s hard, when you’re a protector, not to develop a bond. But you’ve got to let it go. There was nothing you could do. Your job was to protect her from danger from the outside. What goes on between a master and his mate is none of our business."
Hyde nodded but couldn’t stem his anger. "He killed her, you know he did. We all know he did. Why didn’t he just fucking release her?"
Mateo stood and walked to the small table holding the Midnight, he poured them a drink and walked back, handing Hyde one of the glasses. "We both heard that fight not long before her death. He asked her straight out if she wanted to be released. She caved at his feet. Being released was a scare tactic and I think Canton was running out of options, to be honest. She was out of control. Besides, if Canton released her, he’d have to think about how that would look to his voters. They would have to play out the whole mortal divorce thing, right in the middle of his campaign. But you’re too close to see the big picture, you’re not thinking straight, warrior. There are rumors she was with another master. Think about all the crap she pulled, no other master would put up with that bullshit. But if she fucked another master, fed from him, he’d have no choice. They did some kinky stuff, brother, but you know as well as I do, she belonged to him and he’d never share her blood with anyone."
Hyde downed the Midnight and listened to Mateo. What the hell had Rissa done? Slept and fed from another master? Who? Hyde looked up at him. "She wasn’t around any masters I was aware of. Hell, I was with her everyplace she went, brother. She was never out of my sight."
Mateo shrugged. “Maybe it was before you. She did what she wanted, when she wanted. Hell, she manipulated your ass with that balcony ordeal. Let it go, brother.”
Hyde sighed. "That’s probably what bothers me the most. I hardly spoke another word to her after that incident. She broke my trust. We left things unfinished between us."
Mateo laid his hand on his brother's shoulder and squeezed hard. "She knew you cared about her beyond your duty, she was lost without you half the damn time. But this is how she repaid you, breaking trust and manipulating you. She cared about one thing, Hyde, herself. No matter what you think, that’s the bottom line, and Master Canton knew that as well. He’s no fool. Get back to the Dead House, it’s a change from being a high-profile protector, but you’re a Medici warrior, you did your job, and Shade won’t let that go unnoticed.”
Hyde knew Mateo is right, and although Rissa was gone, he’d never forget her. Standing up, he fist bumped his brother. "Per sempre, brother. Get your ass over to Canton's before he decides he wants me back."
As they both laughed, Mateo knew Hyde would be fine in time. Sometimes, even warriors got too involved in their job.
80
Madison and Cory lay stretched across her bed. She’d been reading and he was watching a soccer game on TV. It had been a dark, rainy day that made them postpone their plans of taking a long ride through the countryside on Cory's motorcycle for another day.
She dropped the book by her side and stretched out, reaching her hands above her head, as she yawned. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d read for pleasure, and not for homework. This had been such a beautiful, lazy day. Cory spent as much time here with her now, as he spent at Bel Rosso. She rolled over on her side and looked at him, propped up against a mound of pillows, with one hand behind his head.
He’d told her a little earlier about the funeral he’d attended. Madison had watched the news coverage of it on TV. The death of the Presidential candidate’s wife was the only thing the news was covering lately. Madison had asked how they knew the Senator, and Cory had said his dad did some work for him. Madison wondered if the Senator knew Shade was a vampire but decided not to ask. She looked at his delicate profile as he watched the TV when he became aware of her staring at him and turned his head, smiling at her. "Did you ask your parents about taking me to California to meet your mom?"
"I talked to my dad, he wants us to wait until after the baby is born and we come back from Florence.” He rolled toward her, throwing his arm over her hip. "But he has no objections to us going to visit my mom. He likes the idea. You still want to go, right?"
"Yeah, of course! But you said we, when we come back from Florence. Does that mean I'm going to go to Florence for sure?"