Luca's Magic Embrace

EPILOGUE

Tristan burned down the open highway on his Harley. Aside from going wolf, there was nothing like the freedom of tearing it up on his steel horse. Returning from a week of running his wolves had brought a much needed peaceful vibe to both him and his pack. After helping out with the mess down in New Orleans with Kade and Sydney and trying to keep Kat out of trouble, his own wolves needed his attention.

He smiled, considering the she-wolves who had vied for his attention over the holiday. Preferring to keep jealousy and discourse to a minimum during their run in the wild, he’d rebuffed their advances. Sure, he’d danced with a few and flirted shamelessly, in his usual style, but he’d decidedly stayed celibate. Tristan wanted to keep his head clear and focused, and women certainly had a way of blurring the lines. At the very least, they took up a lot of his time, and time was a commodity when it came to pack activities. Instead of self-indulging, he’d given of himself, concentrating on the needs of all the wolves.

It was no secret that the pack elders yearned for him to mate, but Tristan knew it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Leading the pack was an earned honor that he enjoyed doing alone. After all, he was by no means lonely; the ladies were drawn to him like bees to honey. Everyone knew that the Alpha happily played the field as long as no commitment was required.

Tristan had made up his mind a long time ago, that he wasn’t willing to settle for any woman just for the sake of mating. Yes, there’d been women he liked a lot over the years, but no one female was a true mate to his wolf. The only serious relationship Tristan had had in recent years was his friendship with Sydney. While she was well and truly an Alpha female, she was human, not wolf. So while they’d made love on occasion, and he’d even asked her to move in with him, he knew she wasn’t his mate.

He admitted to himself that watching his good friends find love struck a chord in his heart. Kade and Luca were at peace and truly seemed happy. At times, it made him wonder if perhaps he was missing out on something in life. Regardless, it wasn’t as if he had even a hope of finding his true mate within his own pack. While many of the she-wolves appeared quite lovely on the outside, he knew that most only wanted him for his Alpha status. And the human women he’d met were mostly interested in his bank account.

Despite the pressures to create a breeding pair for the pack, which would greatly increase the number of cubs born to all wolves in the pack, Tristan had no intention of giving into an arranged mating. No, he’d grown up seeing many an Alpha pair irrevocably tied through a forced mating, hating each other, yet shackled together for eternity for the sake of their wolves. Even though the archaic custom was still practiced in a few regions, Tristan and his brothers had long ago begun the tide of change from old world to modern pack laws. As a result, all of the Livingston brothers lived unmated, but were contentedly and successfully leading their packs. Adhering to the law of the natural selection of mates, they frowned upon imposing an artificial Alpha mating. The new tradition bred strength and happiness into his pack members. Tristan felt strongly about the law; he would not be forced into a pairing nor would he force others in his pack to submit to it either.

The shit storm that New York Alpha, Jax Chandler, had caused was brought about by his perverse belief that a male Alpha could simply pick his wolf as his mate, indifferent to her agreement. Tristan had always felt strongly that not only would his woman submit to him of her own volition, she’d also choose him as a mate. So when Jax decided he wanted Kat for his mate, there was no way Tristan was letting that asshole simply take his baby sister. From what Marcel had relayed to him, things had settled with Jax. Marcel had spoken to him over the phone, explaining clearly that Kat was in no way interested in becoming his mate. Jax was understandably irritated by her brush off but told Marcel that he’d back off if that’s what she wanted.

However, Tristan didn’t trust that Jax would give Kat up without at least a face-to-face meeting. It seemed too easy that with one call from Marcel, Jax would give up his claim. After Marcel had told him that Luca had been attacked and had killed Sköll, who claimed to be a New York wolf, how could he trust that Jax would back down? It had been reported that at least seven wolves had been killed outright, and two were missing. Over the past two weeks no one had spotted them, despite large sweeps of Marcel’s territory. Despite Jax’s insistence that Sköll and his wolves were not from his pack, Tristan and Marcel weren’t convinced either way.

When he got home, Tristan planned to call Kat to tell her to stay down in New Orleans for a few more days, to take some more time off before returning to Philadelphia. It had only been a few weeks since Luca’s attack and Tristan wanted to make sure things were nice and calm at home before she returned. Being down in New Orleans would make it harder for Jax to abduct her if he didn’t keep his promise. By the time Tristan reached the city, the Sunday traffic had died down. Taking the direct route into town, he figured he’d stop off at Eden. While away, he’d left his longtime manager and friend, Zach, in charge of running the club. After a quick inspection to make sure there were no problems, he’d go home and call Luca to congratulate him. Damn bastard was getting married, too. His friends were dropping like flies.

He smiled, thinking of the petite sorcière that had captured Luca’s heart. Now, she was a lesson in perseverance, he’d thought to himself. She’d been through hell and back and now was making great gains as an elemental witch. Before he’d left on his pack run, Luca had called, and spoke about her like she literally walked on water. Tristan had teased him about being whipped, but he honestly was happy for his old friend.

Rounding the corner, Luca’s tires came to a screeching halt as he pulled into the parking lot. Police cars and fire trucks flashed their angry lights as spectators watched the melee. Tristan jumped off his bike, and ran up to the front entrance. Grey smoke billowed upward as the firefighters put out the last of the flames. Zach held up his hands, begging Tristan to step back.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Tristan demanded.

“I had to run an errand. I was only gone for thirty minutes, man. I swear.”

“I don’t give a shit if you had to leave. I am only going to ask you one more time, what the hell happened to my club?”

“Police say someone broke in and set off a Molotov cocktail in the main room near the long bar.”

“Security cameras?”

“Not sure, ‘cause they won’t let me in. I’ve been trying to tell them about the cameras. I don’t know the extent of the damage yet. And Eve, she’s still in there.”

Eve was a fifteen foot yellow boa constrictor, who was on display behind the bar. She wasn’t exactly cuddly but Tristan had raised her from a baby. He needed to get in the building to see if she was alive.

“Fuck!” Tristan raged. Someone had deliberately set fire to Eden; not enough to burn the whole building down, but enough to send a message. Sensing that the trouble with the New York Alpha was far from over, he pulled out his cell and called Marcel. His suspicions were confirmed; Kat was on the run from a couple of rouge wolves. Her car had been carjacked and they’d killed her driver. She’d managed to make it into the marshlands and had led them on a chase, narrowly escaping capture. Marcel was on his way to pick her up and was setting a trap for her attackers. Tristan cursed Jax Chandler as he ended the call.

Ignoring Zach’s pleas to stay out of the building, he charged forward. As much as he wanted to interrogate Zach about witnesses or what else the police had said happened, he knew that he could find the kind of evidence that only a wolf could identify. A hair. A nail. Body fluid. A scent. The perpetrators might have left an identifier behind. This had just become personal, and he vowed to go on the offensive.

Firemen and policemen shouted at him as he tore into the building. Tristan trod carefully as he entered the main room, near the dance floor. The entire area was charred; a fine black soot covered every surface in the room. A barrage of chemicals from the extinguishers along with kerosene permeated the scene. Normally, the club would have been thoroughly bleached in the morning hours; there shouldn’t have been any odors remaining except the jarring whiff of Clorox.

Foam and water made walking slippery, but he was thankful it was now clear of smoke. Approaching Eve’s vivarium, he noticed someone had broken the glass. She was missing. Maybe one of the firefighters or policemen broke the glass and took her? It was also possible that the perpetrators had done it and that she’d escaped on her own. Tristan walked behind the bar inspecting the area for evidence of his snake, but saw no trails in the soot or foam. Someone had carried her.

Sniffing the air, Tristan lifted a board that had fallen off the wall. Underneath it was a small pool of blood; he dipped a few fingers into it and held it to his nose. Female blood. The scent was heady, but he couldn’t place it as a shifter, witch or vampire. Yet it wasn’t exactly human either. If she wasn’t a wolf, then that meant Jax might not be involved in this stunt. With no other identifiable scent besides Zach’s, she was most definitely a person of interest. He’d tear up the city to find the woman who’d torched his bar.

Tristan wiped the blood on his jeans and scanned the room, surveying the vast damage. He predicted they’d need to tear the entire structure down and rebuild. Releasing a sigh, he resolved to find the arsonist and put an end to Jax’s nonsense, especially given the ambush on his sister. The two events had to be connected.

Leaving the bar, Tristan heard screaming mere seconds before he registered the sickening sound of creaking. As if appearing in slow motion, flecks of ash floated gracefully from above. Tristan only had time to look up before the charred ceiling came crashing down upon him, crushing him into the rubble.