Read Online A Cowboy in Ravenna by Jan Irving - Free Book Online Page B

swallowed. “Sometimes they latch on to me, as if I know how to fucking help them.”
    Trin was rigid. “You’re talking about the lost ones. You know where they are?”
    Sabin studied Trin before his gaze went to Chace. He reached out, gripped Chace’s hand. “You have to help them. You…care. You would be good for them, the little ones.”
    “We’ll help them,” Trin said. “Tell us where they are.”
    “Help who?” Chace looked at Trin. “Tell me.”
    Trin swallowed. “Outlaw shifters steal children. Sell them as slaves.”
    “These kids are like you, they have gifts?” Chace asked.
    Trin nodded. “Even if we mate with humans, the shifting gene is dominant.”
    Chace scrutinised Sabin. “You are one of the lost ones, aren’t you?”
    “I don’t need to be rescued,” Sabin said.
    “Oh, yeah, I can see that.” Chace raised a brow pointedly at the black eye.
    “We’re wasting time,” Trin said. “You’re in no shape to help anyone right now so it’s down to us.”
    Sabin gripped Chace’s arm. “He didn’t hurt you when he… But the mark on your neck is fresh.” Sabin’s brow wrinkled, as if he was confused.
    Chace touched it. “He didn’t hurt me. It was…special.”
    “Special… Whatever.” Sabin eyed Trin. “I have a meet set up tonight with the seller but he’s expecting someone real, a player.”
    “I can handle it.”
    “ We can handle it,” Chace said.
    Sabin nodded, eyes hardening. “Your little mate has a soft heart. I want him to take part or it’s no deal.”
    Trin’s jaw tightened. “I won’t put him in danger. He’d be too attractive to our kind.”
    “That’s his tough shit,” Sabin said. “Do you want to help the kids or not?”

    “I have to make a call,” Trin told Chace as they left the room.
    “Who are you calling?”
    Trin shook his head. “I don’t want you involved in this.”
    “Trin, you’re a man of your word so now I am involved,” Chace said with a familiar frustration. Trin was still hiding from him. “Sabin would only share with us if I took part.”
    “I don’t have to like it.” Trin rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t…” He lowered his voice as they pulled back off the main street and took shelter under a tree, well back from the many cyclists that bumped over the ancient cobbled street. “I haven’t been inside you yet so we’re not fully mated.”
    Chace inhaled sharply.
    “I have to keep you safe but I also need to help those kids.” Trin shoved back his hair. “We don’t even know if we can safely fully mate.”
    “We’ll help the kids. Let’s focus on that.”
    Trin left a brief message to someone to call him and then put his BlackBerry away.
    “So you do know how to use it.”
    “When I have to.” Trin gave an impatient shrug. “I should have known he wouldn’t answer right away. Stubborn bastard.”
    “Do we need to do anything else?”
    “Not till tonight. Tonight we meet the local shifter’s pack.” Trin’s hand ghosted down Chace’s forearm. “Do you think you can handle that?”
    Chace swallowed. “Sure.”
    “They’re kind of hard core, from what Sabin said.”
    “I got that.” Chace lifted his head, took in warm Italian sunshine. “Let’s go sightseeing. Sabin’s resting and the guy you called hasn’t called you back and we can’t do anything about meeting this pack until tonight.”
    Trin gripped his arm. “I’m sorry, Chace, for ruining this for you.”
    Chace shoved him. “You’re kidding, right? You think I could tamely go on with my holiday while kids suffer?”
    “No, you couldn’t.”
    “All right then. I thought we’d go to the Basilica of San Vitale today. It’s the most famous, but…” Chace reached up and cupped Trin’s cheek.
    Trin nuzzled his face into Chace’s hand, as if he couldn’t stop himself. “Don’t. Not here in public. I don’t want to shame you.”
    “I feel no shame being with you. I don’t care if people stare at us, spit at us.