5. Smoke And Mirrors

Nero

As soon as I get back to the townhouse, I light up a cigarette and start to pace.

Camellia said I felt familiar, and she reacted to my name. That shouldn’t get my fucking hopes up, but Gods, it does. 

I take a deep drag; the nicotine doing little to calm my nerves. The bond between us isn’t as strong as it should be, but it’s there. It’s not broken, not severed, but someone fucked with it. 

I can’t leave her here, not now. Not when I’m so close. I need to make an impression, win her over, make her remember. I need to stay in this town, figure out what happened to her and why she doesn’t remember us. There’s no other option.

Orion and Osiris walk in, looking expectantly at me. They can sense my agitation.

“I’m staying,” I finally say. “I’m not leaving until I figure out why she’s here and what happened to her memory.”

Osiris raises an eyebrow. “You’re sure about this, Nero? Staying in this town isn’t exactly part of the original plan.”

“I don’t care about the original plan,” I snap, the frustration boiling over. “She’s here, she’s alive, and she doesn’t remember us. Something happened to our bond. It wasn’t severed, and she didn’t reject me. It feels like someone fucked with it. But for what reason?”

Orion leans against the wall, arms crossed. “You think someone did this to her on purpose? Messed with her memory and the bond?”

“I don’t know,” I admit, running a hand through my hair. “But I’m not leaving without making an impression on her and winning her over. My name triggered something, but she got a bad headache from it. If I can trigger more of her memories, maybe we can piece together what happened.”

Osiris nods slowly, understanding dawning in his eyes. “Alright, we’ll help you however we can. But what about back home? Someone needs to keep an eye on things in the pack.”

I take another drag from the cigarette; the smoke curling around me. “I need you to go back and keep things in check. Make sure Cezar doesn’t develop a coronary because I’m not there.”

Osiris groans, clearly not thrilled with the idea. “Fucking great. Babysitting duty with Uncle Cezar. Just what I needed.”

Cezar is our uncle and advisor. He was against us coming here in the first place, and told us never to negotiate with Matteo in any capacity. So I doubt he’ll be very happy to hear I’m staying longer.

“I know it’s a pain,” I say, clapping him on the shoulder. “But I trust you to handle it, just don’t tell anyone about Camellia yet. Orion and I will stay here and keep digging.”

Orion nods. “We’ll find out what’s going on, Nero. And we’ll bring her back.”

Osiris sighs, but he doesn’t argue. “Fine. But if Cezar gives me any crap, I’m not holding back.”

“Deal,” I say with a small smile. “Just keep me updated and, for the love of God, keep Aeron in line. You know he takes advantage when I’m not there.”

Osiris grins. “You know I love nothing better than ruining our baby brother’s fun,” he says with a chuckle and Orion rolls his eyes.

When Osiris heads out to pack his things, I turn to Orion. “We need to be careful. The less attention we draw, the better.”

Orion nods. “Agreed, especially in Matteo’s town; speaking of which, he’ll be curious as to why you’re still here. But what’s the next step?”

“Set up a meeting with the fucker, but I need to get closer to her,” I say, pacing again. “She needs to trust me again. I need to help her remember without overwhelming her.”

Orion raises an eyebrow. “And how do you plan to do that?”

I sit down and cross one leg over the other, ankle to knee. “I’ve been in love with Camellia since we were fifteen years old. I’ve loved her for half of my fucking life; I just need to prove it to her again. The fact that the Goddess decided she was to be my mate was just a bonus. She’ll always be mine.”

“That’s all good and well, Nero,” Orion says, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees. “But how are you going to win her over? If it’s witchcraft—”

“Don’t remind me,” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose. “My name triggered something in her memory. Our life is still there, hidden behind a fucking block in her mind.”

But I can’t push her. I need to do it delicately, even if everything in me is screaming to pull her into my arms and kiss her. Five years of torture. It’s been five fucking years since I held her in my arms.

Orion looks thoughtful. “So, you think it’s a matter of breaking that block? If it’s magic, we might need some outside help.”

I nod. “Exactly. But we have to be careful. If someone went to the trouble of blocking her memories, they might have eyes on her, or even on us.”

“True,” Orion agrees. “We need to play this smart. Incremental exposure might help her recall more, but we can’t rush it.”

“I’ll start with small things,” I say, thinking aloud. “Familiar scents, little details that could trigger more flashbacks. We need to be patient.”

Orion smiles slightly. “Patience isn’t exactly your strong suit, Nero.”

I smirk back. “Yeah, well, desperate times. I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back. She’s… she’s my fucking mate, Orion. I can’t lose her again.”

I lost all hope of not finding her. Developed a reputation that would have made her flinch. When an Alpha loses their mate, they lose half of their power; but I used that pain and turned it into strength. 

Or so I fucking thought. She was never dead, just missing.

“You know, we could also look into Matteo. Chances are he doesn’t know who Camellia is to you, or he wouldn’t insist you come here every time,” Orion offers.

I nod. “I thought about that, too. He would have used her as leverage to get what he wanted. But still look into him, anyway. I don’t trust the fucker, you know that much,” I say and light up another smoke, taking a drag. 

“Alright,” Orion says, standing up. “I’ll handle setting up the meeting with Matteo and keep an eye on things here. You focus on Camellia. Just be careful.”

“I will,” I promise. “We’ll get her back, Orion. I know we will.”

Orion claps a hand on my shoulder. “Spoken like a true Leonetti Alpha. Now go and get your woman,” he says with a chuckle before walking out of the room.

Go get my woman; if only it were that easy to break whatever spell she has over her memories. It would be nothing if she were home where my pack witches could deal with this block, but she doesn’t trust me that much yet.

But she wants to. I can tell she wants to when she looks at me. Then there’s my son and the fact that he’s grown up without his father. I’ll never be able to get back the time lost, but I can make up for it now.

I lean my head back against the sofa and sigh, closing my eyes. “Lupina,” I breathe, my heart pounding as I say the nickname. “Who the hell took you, baby?”