Inferno by Bianca D'Arc Page A

cooling unit she’d ever seen. He opened the glass door and began placing bottles from the box into the cooler.

    Duncan answered with a mock growl and launched a cloth napkin at Dante’s back. It slid off and hit the floor.

    “I’m not picking that up.” Dante pointedly ignored the scrap of white fabric at his feet. Megan couldn’t help it. She giggled.

    Dante turned and favored her with a wide grin. “I’m glad you find us amusing,” he said, and the funny thing was, she believed he meant it.

    “Sorry. You two just don’t act like I’d expect two powerful supernaturals to behave. Remember, I’m a loner. I don’t have much experience hanging out with your kind—or even my own kind.”

    “Why?” Duncan asked softly, reclaiming her attention. “Why do you walk alone, Megan?
    Where’s your family? Your pack?”

    “I have no pack. I never have. As for my family…they’re all gone. I’m the only one left of my line. After me, it will be no more.”

    She didn’t tell them that she thought perhaps that was a good thing. After all, the twin wolf were lords who had caused her line so much shame were long gone, but their descendants still paid the price. Megan would end it. She would repay their wrong and restore her family’s honor. Then the line would die out with her. It was sort of poetic really.

    “It’s not natural,” Duncan said quietly. “ Were place great value on their family units, packs, clans and tribes.”

    She shrugged. “What can I say? I’m only half were , and I’ve never known what it was like to be part of something like that.”

    “And you never knew your father?” Finished stowing the wine, Dante moved to stand beside her. “Was it just you and your mother? No siblings?”

    “No. No brothers or sisters. Just mom and me. And now she’s gone.”

    “I’m sorry.” Dante crouched at her side, cupping her cheek in one warm, powerful hand. “I know what it is to lose loved ones and to be alone in the world.”

    “It isn’t so bad, really. I like my freedom. I get the feeling pack life would be too restrictive for me.”

    “Perhaps,” Dante agreed. “But you should have had the opportunity to find out. It’s one thing to choose to be alone. Another to have a solitary existence thrust upon you.” How well her ancestors knew that truth. They’d been ostracized from all were society for what they’d allowed to happen. Bad decisions and bad information had led them to a heinous mistake that could never be fully recompensed. For over a century, they and their descendants had worked to right their wrong, but the stain was deep and was hard to cleanse.

    Megan was almost there. This last mission and she’d been promised absolution for herself and for her family line. Her ancestors were gone. Nevertheless, she knew their spirits watched over her, waiting for the day she completed the task so they too, could be free to move on. It was a huge responsibility to have resting on her shoulders, but she knew no other way. She’d been raised with the knowledge of her biggest task in this life and had worked steadily toward achieving her goal. Now it was almost in sight.

    She couldn’t let her feelings grow conflicted. She couldn’t get attached to Dante d’Angleterre.
    He was a job to her—a means to an end. He had to be. She couldn’t allow it to go any deeper, no matter how tempting he was.

    She drew back from him, taking her empty plate in hand and standing. She moved toward the sink. Duncan rose and intercepted her, taking the plate out of her hands.

    “I’ll wash up,” he said gently. “You still need to be careful of your injuries.”

    “Thanks.” She didn’t know where to go, but she needed space. “I’ll be in the living room if that’s okay.”

    Dante watched her as she left. She could feel his eyes on her all the way down the hall, and she didn’t breathe freely again until she was out of his view.

    “She’s running scared,” Dante said