Chapter 10

FREYA

Luca started speaking hesitantly. “Well... I should probably... I guess I’ll start with my commanding expression, as you call it.”

I nodded, urging him to go on.

“My face starts to look like that when I lose control. And it usually has something to do with you.”

“With me? What do you mean?” I asked.

He licked his lips.

“Usually, I have amazing control. In fact, I haven’t lost control in years. Not since puberty. But ever since you’ve come into my life, things have changed. You bring out my strongest emotions.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“It usually comes from one of two emotions. One is anger. Like when I found that man on the plane was harassing you—”

“He wasn’t harassing me,” I interrupted. “All he had done was—”

Luca’s hands gripped my hips tightly.

“Freya, do not say another word. You do not want to argue with me on this matter. The protectiveness and possessiveness I feel for you are overwhelming.”

I began to shrink in on myself, not liking his words.

“What’s the other emotion?” I whispered.

He brought his fingers to his temples, massaging them for a moment, then looked at me with a pained expression.

“It’s when… Well, it happens when I… When I—”

“It happens when he’s turned on. When he’s feeling a little frisky. When he wants to put his dick in your—”

“Matteo, that’s enough!” Luca’s booming voice interrupted.

Matteo was now at the bottom of the stairs, smiling widely at both of us. He shrugged.

“Just trying to make it easier on ya, Don.”

Luca groaned his disapproval as I quickly scrambled out of his lap, trying to put as much distance between us as possible.

“Is that true?” I asked once we had the table between us.

“Bruzzatore comes out when you’re mad or when—”

“Yes, when I’m attracted to you. I wish Matteo had put it in nicer words, but what he says is true.”

I shook my head. “Why? What does it mean? Are you angry at me when you do it?”

His shoulders sagged as he watched me. “Freya,” he breathed out. “I wish I could take your fear away.”

“You’re the cause of my fear,” I spat, not even totally convinced of my own words.

Hurt flashed in his eyes, and I felt a twinge of regret in spite of myself.

I took another step back. “Can I please go home? Will you let me go?”

“No.” His voice came out sharp, leaving no room for argument. “I am not letting you go. You are mine.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, beginning to feel extremely frustrated. “I am not yours! I am nobody’s but my own!”

I watched as his eyes slowly darkened. I knew that this time it wasn’t because of lust. It couldn’t be. And if what he’d told me was true, then he was getting that fierce expression out of…anger.

“Your face…,” I said.

“You’ve upset him,” Matteo said, coming toward us. “He doesn’t like you denying his possession of you.”

“But I’m not his possession!” I shouted stubbornly.

Luca’s chest began to heave, and his entire body shook.

I took another step away from him, my back meeting the kitchen island.

“Donna, do not say another word,” Matteo said. “Bruzzatore is becoming extremely upset.”

“Who’s Bruzzatore?”

Luca gave Matteo a look that would have made me fall to the ground, groveling.

“That is something that he would like to explain to you himself, Donna.”

I shook my head.

“Explain what to me? I don’t understand! And stop calling me ‘Donna’! My name is Freya!”

Luca began seething, moving his head around as if there was a kink in his neck.

Matteo turned to me. I must have looked completely terrified because his expression softened like he was trying not to freak me out.

“You should touch him. You need to calm him down,” he said.

“I am not doing that! I am not touching that lunatic!”

I heard snapping, and my eyes went to Luca.

His face wrinkled into an expression of pain as his entire body convulsed forward.

He bent down, his shoulders rising and falling as if he was having a fight with himself. Whatever he was fighting in his mind, it seemed to be winning.

And then, all of a sudden, his shoulders dropped, and he was perfectly still.

“L-Luca?” I asked, hearing the tremulous note in my voice. He was still looking down at his lap.

I don’t know why, but I felt goosebumps rising up my back as I stared at him. Something was wrong. This wasn’t like anything I’d seen from Luca yet.

Slowly, he began to raise his head until he was staring right at me. And when he did, I felt my stomach do a backflip.

His face had contorted. It looked like the strange, commanding expression but total, all-encompassing. He looked dangerous and like he wanted to eat me.

“Luca, are you okay?” I asked, already knowing the answer. Something was horribly, horribly wrong.

“Luca is gone,” he said.

I sucked in a breath. The voice that came out of Luca’s mouth wasn’t his. It was deeper, guttural. This was the voice of a monster.

He moved, his arm coming towards me, and I jumped backward instinctively.

Standing up, I ran to where Matteo was standing and grabbed his shoulders.

“Matteo, we have to get out of here! Please, we have to run!”

Matteo shook his head. “You cannot touch me, Donna,” he said as he brushed my hands off of him. “Don will not be happy if he sees you touching me.”

~Okay, so he’s officially a lost cause.~

I looked back at the man that used to be Luca just in time to see him stand up and start moving towards me. He loomed, almost as if he were taller than Luca had been.

I held my breath, my heart pounding so hard that I could feel it in my chest. And then the thing that used to be Luca moved.

It looked at me, and I gasped.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice shaking uncontrollably.

The Luca-shaped monster stepped forward and extended a hand to me.

“Bruzzatore. And I’m here to show you that you’re mine.”