They walked down past the barn to a small bakery. The scent of bread made Byron’s mouth water.
Gev opened the door with a tinkling of a bell, and a woman behind the counter shouted, “Vicenzo!” She lifted the counter and came out, hugging the bigger man. Gev said something to her, and the woman reached up to hug Byron, too, planting a sloppy kiss on both cheeks. Byron blushed, and the woman laughed, shouting something in Italian with a name, Adriano, and heading to the back.
A man came out, wiping his hands on his apron. He was older, balding, and he went over to Gev, shaking his hand and then giving him a hug. Gev introduced Byron – at least that’s what he took it as, and the man shook Byron’s hand in a crushing grip. “It is nice to meet you,” the man said in heavily accented English.
“Nice to meet you too, sir,” Byron said, withdrawing his hand and trying not to shake the life back into it.
Gev asked, “Do you have any ricotta ciambella?”
“For you and your guest, we have anything you want. Momento.” He smiled and nodded to the two men. Gev turned and went outside to sit at one of the tables out there.
“You will like this,” Gev said, taking Byron’s hand, and looking out at the street. Then Adriano returned with three plates, one piled high with filled donuts with sugar, the other two empty. “Mange’,” he said, and smiled.
“Graci,” both men said, and dug in. The donuts were filled with sweet ricotta cheese, and tasted better than any Krispy Kreme donut he had ever had.
They were eating, when a man came over to their table. He had his hat in his hand and looked worried, apprehensive in approach. “Excuse me,” Gev said to Byron, taking his hand and squeezing it. Then he turned to the man and said something.
The man took a seat across from him with a “graci”. He spoke, his head down, his voice quiet. As he spoke, Gev’s expression soured. Byron looked at his lover, concerned. “What’s wrong?”
Gev said, without taking his eyes off the man, “He says that his granddaughter was kidnapped by the local Mafia in Sicily after she went there with her friends on a trip.” Gev snapped something back at the man, who cowered a bit. “It seems Eugenio here has some debts to pay and his granddaughter was part of those debts.”
Gev sat back, thinking, taking a bite out of a donut. Byron said, “He wants us to go save her?”
Gev looked at Byron. “Us?”
“Well, of course, us.”
Gev only smiled. “You don’t have your mace.”
“You said I don’t need one. Time for me to get my paws dirty, maybe?”
The smile got wider, and proud. “That’s my mate,” he said, then turned to Eugenio. He snapped something to him, and the man nodded profusely. He got up, practically scraping himself on the ground, and he left.
Gev sighed and finished his breakfast. He took out his cell phone, and Byron nodded for him to continue. He had a brisk conversation, then turned back to Byron. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Byron leaned into the muscular man. “Do you think I would sit home like a ninny waiting for you to come home? I’m going with you.”
“No, I’m sorry to bring you into the problems of my home.” He sighed, put an arm around Byron, then kissed his temple.
“I love you, Vicenzo.”
“And I love you,” he replied, and they shared a kiss.
Six hours later, both of them basically flew out of the back of a black sedan that was parked down a lane in Canneto, Sicily. It would have seemed out of place, but there were other black sedans on the main street.
Gev changed into his wolf form immediately, while Byron hid and changed. He knew he would have to learn how to change faster, to deal with the recovery a lot faster. His own Arachnos pain-resistant training helped.
They dodged down the alleys and side streets, moving like shadows. Gev stopped outside a fenced-in section and peered between the slats. <Two men with guns at the door. You take the left.>
Byron also looked through the slats, and saw the one he was talking about. Both were armed with automatic weapons. Both would be aiming high.
<Ready?> offered Gev.
Byron huffed.
Gev literally leapt vertically over the fence, his paws gently touching the top, and then launched at the man at the right. Byron wasn’t quite so graceful, but he got over the fence and ran at the man on the left. Both men had the safeties on, and never got a shot off.
Gev had made a clean kill, Byron was a little more messy, getting blood all over his paws. A barrel of collected rainwater was nearby, so Byron washed his paws in it.
Meanwhile, Gev made progress with the door, opening it and peering inside. Byron followed – it lead to two sets of steps that went up, and one set that went down into a cellar.
<Bet she’s in the cellar,> thought Byron.
But Gev was already heading down. Byron also went down, checking his rear. He stayed at the bottom step while Gev headed in further.
He heard the door open upstairs. He heard a young woman’s voice from the cellar, saying something in high-pitched Italian.
Gev said nothing, but he could hear a snarl from the wolf’s throat and his claws scrabbling on the concrete. He glanced back – Gev was trying to untie her from a pole.
Someone was coming down a set of stairs from upstairs. It was still at a distance, but Byron could hear it. Byron turned to look up the stairs, staying in the shadow of the cellar. The steps got closer, and Byron crouched, ready to spring. They stopped, and another door opened. There was more walking, and it fell away into the distance.
He turned back again, and saw that Gev was trying to lead her to the door. The woman looked terrified, and balked when she saw Byron. Byron turned to her, and nuzzled at her hand to show that he was harmless. Then he started up the stairs, turned back to her and whined very quietly. She glanced at Gev, and nodded, then followed Byron up the stairs.
Byron took the front, Gev the rear this time, as they herded the woman out of the building. She gasped at seeing the dead guards, but Gev pushed her to move forward. She got the gate undone, and all three stepped out. Gev stood on his hind legs to shut the gate, but she understood and did it faster.
Byron and Gev then both ran forward a bit, and the girl realized what was happening next. Byron ran slowly enough for her to catch up, and took paths that didn’t involve too much leaping or jumping. They were about ten feet away from the car when he heard the yelling.
Gev changed again and stood out in the street, the door open. The girl ran across the street, and Byron started too, but didn’t see the car coming. The car slammed into him, running him right over.
He rolled with the hit, rolling under both sets of tires. As he came out from the back, he was more stunned than anything. Gev cried out in dismay. The driver got out of the car as Gev picked up Byron in his wolf form and carried him to the car. At first the driver was irate, but Gev gave him a look and the man immediately backed down. Gev got Byron into the car, placing him gingerly on the back seat, and yelled at the driver to “Va!”
Gev knelt on the floor between the front and rear seats and laid hands on Byron. Byron felt the heat from his hands radiate out. First, the pain went away. Then, the bones broken, already reknitting, reformed faster. Then the fuzziness went away.
“Mio amore…” Gev whispered.
Byron turned his head and licked Gev’s face. Gev hugged the wolf tightly.