“You’re not relieved to be rid of me?”
Zoey thought she might actually explode, she was so furious. “You win first prize for being the dumbest wolf on the face of God’s green earth. Abandoning a mate claim…your wolf would be okay with that?”
He shook his head in resignation. “No. My wolf would go crazy. And it would take me with it.”
“And you didn’t think that was information that you should share with me?” she yelled, and punched his arm. “Ow! You see?” She shook her hand, which stung.
“I would do anything to keep you safe. And right now I’m a lone wolf caught in the middle of a pack war, and you’re my mate, which paints a big fat target on your back.”
“You’re not lone, you still have me!” Romano called from the hallway.
“Stop listening!” Dominic yelled at him. “Good God. Can’t a man do something heroic and self-sacrificing without an audience?”
“How about cowardly and insulting?” Zoey said angrily. “How could you think so little of me, that I’d run at the first sign of trouble? And how dare you give up on yourself like that?”
“I knew she was a keeper!” Romano yelled.
Dominic leapt to his feet. “I will kill you,” he shouted at the door so loudly that the walls shook and a painting fell to the floor.
“I’m going to wait downstairs so you can guys can not-have sex!” Romano shouted back, and they heard his footsteps pounding down the stairway.
Dominic sat down again.
“I will consider being your mate,” Zoey said, struggling to contain her hurt and fury. “On one condition. You stop hiding things from me. Right now you’re treating me like a bed partner, not a real mate, or wife, and I will not accept that. I deserve better than that.” She blinked away tears. “You’ve made me feel like I deserve better – but every time I start to get close to you, you do something to push me away. Don’t try to deny it.”
Dominic looked stricken. “You’re right. Romano was right too, which I am never going to live down, but most importantly, you’re right. And I am sorry. I am so very, very sorry. You do deserve better from me.”
“Then tell me why you shut me out.”
“Because everyone I’ve ever loved has died,” he said bleakly. “And I’m afraid that I can’t keep you safe.”
His pain settled around her like a damp, chill cloud. “Who did you love?”
“My parents. I was ten. My father was low level mafia, human mafia, and my mother was collateral damage when their car exploded. I was sent to live with an aunt and uncle with ten kids who resented my taking food off the table. I joined the army the day I turned eighteen. My fiancée, who was my high school sweetheart. She waited for me to come home from overseas. Then she was relocated to a portal city when I was twenty-two, and I moved with her. And she died, because I failed to protect her.”
Engaged. To someone else. Jealousy warred with pity, so bright and bitter that it snatched her breath away. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t kind, but there it was. “What happened to her?” she asked carefully.
“The Ogre invasion of Bitter Hills.”
She shuddered. That had been a bad one. There had been a magical flare-up in the chaos realm, tearing open the portal near Bitter Hills, Colorado until it was triple the size it had been. Ogres had flooded through, in the hundreds. Thousands of humans had died.
He grimaced and looked away. “Unfortunately, I survived it. Barely. The ogre picked me up and threw me fifty feet. I heard her die, Zoey. I heard her scream, and then I didn’t hear anything.” He shuddered, and the color drained from his face. “I was in the hospital for weeks. When I got out, after about a six month drunk, I decided to go wolf. I didn’t expect to survive the transition, I didn’t care either way. But I knew that I never wanted to feel that helpless again. You can’t win against magic in a fair fight, so I needed to be magic myself. I wanted to be able to protect those I care about.”
“I’m very sorry. And I’m not going to lie to you, part of me is really jealous. I know that’s not fair at all, it’s horrible really, I just…it feels so good to have you love me, Dominic. It really does.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I want all of you.”
He cupped her chin in his hand and all the love in the world poured out of him, she could feel it, warming her and filling her. “You have all of me. You are my everything.” He paused, and looked at the door.
“What is it?” she said, following his glance.
“I just wanted to make sure that son of a bitch Romano didn’t sneak back up here and eavesdrop. It’s okay, he didn’t. If he was there he couldn’t stop himself from chiming in about how he told me so. And I’d be skinning myself a new rug.”
She burst out laughing, but it was cry-laughing. She laughed and laughed, tears streaming down her cheeks, dammed-up emotion flowing from her. There were many scary things in Encantado, but the only thing that had genuinely terrified her lately was the fear that Dominic would never open himself up to her.
“I’ll get you tissues.” Dominic hurried to the kitchen and returned with a box.
“I love you so much.” She sniffled, and dabbed at her face. “Tell me about the wolf bite. About bonding.”
He frowned a little at that. Still hesitant. “When we shift to our wolf form and bite a female hard enough to break the skin, no matter the time of month, it forms a mate bond. That’s why we’re very careful not to bite a female accidentally. I know you’ve seen playful nips, but we have enough control over our animal to make sure it doesn’t go too far. Once we’ve mate-bitten, the wolf craves the female’s presence. It becomes attuned to her feelings and wants to please her. And if the female is a wolf, which most of the time it is, then she instinctively reciprocates. If she’s human, then her feelings have to develop more naturally, and it takes longer. I should have been more sensitive to that.”
“We’ll work it out. Maybe…maybe it would be better if we left the city until this feud is over, and went to some other portal city?” Then she shook her head. “I can’t, though, because my friends are stuck here. Will Arturo let them stay with him?”
“Yes. Once he offers his protection, he wouldn’t withdraw it without reason. I’m the one he’s angry at, not them.”
“All right. Should we tell Romano to come back in?”
Dominic grinned fiercely. “Hell no.”
“Ooh. I know that look. It’s a little scary.” She returned his grin. “I like it.”
Tenderly, he stripped her pants off and she stepped out of them, and then he grabbed her shirt and ripped it open, buttons flying off.
“Dominic!” she screeched.
“Sorry,” he smiled without apology. “I’m an animal. Can’t help myself when I’m around you.”
“I forgive you…on one condition. There’s something I’ve been wanting to do since the first time I laid eyes on you.”
Before he could speak, she sank down on her knees in front of him and unbuttoned his pants.
“Oh, God,” he groaned. “Zoey, I should be the one pleasing you, since you’re my…oh, baby.” His protests ended when she took him in her mouth, swirling her tongue over the thick purplish head of his cock. She lapped up the pearl of pre-cum, and then traced the rim of his cock with the tip of her tongue.
His labored breathing sent flashes of pleasure through her body. She took him into her mouth again and tipped her head back, letting him thrust into her as he held her head in place.
“So. Fucking. Good.”
She moved her head in rhythm, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked. His breath quickened, and she stroked his balls with her fingers, lightly scraping her nails against the sensitive flesh.
“Zoey!” he cried out, and she felt his balls tightening. He tried to pull out of his mouth but she grabbed his hips and held him there, and he came, hard. She swallowed every drop of the thick, sweet cream, and he stood there shuddering and panting, stroking her head.
“Fucking hell,” he groaned finally, an
d then grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
“Hey!” she squealed, as he carried her into he bedroom.
He grunted out two words that let her know she was in for a world of pleasure and maybe a little bit of delicious pain.
“My turn.”
Chapter Twenty
“Oh, God, so good,” Zoey moaned. “More. Don’t stop. Don’t stop, Dominic!”
Dominic looked down at her empty plate. “You really like my cooking, don’t you?”
She jammed her fork into the pancakes and flashed him a grin. “Just keep feeding me the deliciousness, and nobody gets hurt.”
She was glad they had the apartment to themselves. Romano, under great protest, had been sent packing last night, so that Dominic could molest Zoey without Romano hearing and yelling his approval. He had gone back to pack property, but insisted he’d come back in the afternoon so they could talk about their future. It didn’t matter how much Dominic had tried to argue that Romano was no part of his future.
Dominic slid his spatula under the pancakes on the frying pan and expertly flipped three more on to her plate.
Then he joined her at the table. Zoey poured on syrup and slathered on butter. She took a bite of fluffy pancake and groaned in appreciation.
“That’s right. Eat up. You’ll need your strength. I’ve got plans for you.” He waggled his eyebrows lasciviously.
“I’m about to get married to an insatiable pervert,” she said - happily. She licked butter off her lip, then realized that his gaze was suddenly, intently focused on her mouth.
“You’re going to lick me like that after breakfast,” he assured her. “And I’ve got some creative ideas for the maple syrup.”
“It’ll get the sheets all sticky!” she protested.
“True,” he conceded. “Okay, we can do that part in the bathtub. Don’t try to argue with me,” he added sternly. “Arguing with your mate is a spanking offense.”
She ran her tongue around her lips, and was rewarded by hearing him suck in his breath.
“But how will you punish me?” she teased him. His lips curled up in a smile, which quickly faded. His gaze flicked to the left. Towards the window.
“What?” she asked. He’d been very distracted this morning.
“Did you hear that siren?”
“Not this time, no. But now that you mention it, I have heard more than the usual amount of sirens this morning, headed north.” Their gazes met across the table. North. Towards the area where she’d lived up until very recently, where a lot of her friends still lived.
They had both turned their phones off last night. They hadn’t watched television either. The entire city could be burning down.
“I’ve heard a lot more sirens than you have,” Dominic said. “I wasn’t really paying attention at first. But…” his brow wrinkled. “I am going to call Romano,” he said, and hurried over to his cell phone, charging on the counter. He pressed the power button to turn it on. “And I will have him watch over you, and I will go North. I don’t want to leave you, but I have an obligation to the city.”
As he spoke, sirens blared.
Zoey hadn’t heard those sounds in months, and never this far south. Shelter in place. Magical emergency.
Zoey’s heart stuttered in her chest. A city-wide alarm? She’d actually never experienced one of those. That was bad. Ok, so some of her friends were still at Arturo’s, which was built like a fortress and could probably even withstand dragon-fire, but a lot of them were still in District 17.
What could it be? Trolls, ghouls, dragons, ogres? It could be anything.
And someone started pounding on the door. Dominic sniffed the air as he hurried to answer.
“Arturo,” he said, and yanked the door open.
Arturo loomed in the door way, eyes blazing with that eerie glow. Carlo and Ottavio and half a dozen foot soldiers stood in the hallway behind him.
“There are dozens of ghouls and at least five ogres rampaging into the city,” he said quickly. “Giuliana escaped my guards and headed up there so she could start healing. My men can’t find her. I’ve been trying to call you. We’re heading up there now.””
“You left me on my own after my mate was kidnapped,” Dominic said. “And it’s your overbearing nature that drove Giuliana to run out there on her own, without the protection of the pack. If anything happens to her, it’s on you.”
“Let me at him! I’ll fucking kill him!” Ottavio howled. Arturo sent a blast of power at him and Ottavio’s howl ended in a yelp.
“I will help find her,” Zoey said.
“You’re right, and I was wrong.” Arturo spoke so fast his words were blurring together. “When it comes to Giuliana, I lose all of my common sense. It was not your fault she left my house, it was mine, and I punished you for my mistake. I apologize.” And he actually inclined his head to the side, exposing his neck to Dominic. Zoey knew that show of submission was a huge, enormous deal for the Capo di Tutti Capos. “If you help her, I’ll reinstate you in the pack.”
“I gave you my loyalty and pledged my life to you for the last decade, and you abandoned me when I needed you most. I will never be part of your pack again, Arturo.” Dominic’s voice was thick with fury. “I will work with you to find her, because she is my friend. And I will help take down the ghouls, because it is the right thing to do. And then we’re done.”
“I’m coming! You need me. I can find her,” Zoey said.
Dominic looked as if he wanted to argue, but Arturo said “My men will make sure she’s safe.” So they followed Arturo out the door, crowded into a giant SUV, and drove north. Another car full of his men trailed behind them.
Cop cars and ambulances zipped through the streets, which were mostly abandoned. Cars were parked haphazardly, many in no-parking zones. Storefronts had pulled down steel shutters. Customers would be crowded inside, waiting fearfully, trying to get ahold of their loved ones. Signs blinked over designated shelter areas. As they drove they saw a few doors open with people standing in them, waving in any stragglers. Homeowners would take in any strangers who’d been caught far from their own homes when the siren went off; times like this were terrifying, but they also bought out the best in people. Differences vanished, and the city as one united to fight off the threat.
They took the road to the northeast, going right through Bianchi pack territory, but during a city-wide alert all hostilities would be suspended.
They passed through the modest suburbs with small concrete block houses and bars over the windows. This was where lower income families were able to find affordable homes, since everything in the north was cheaper. But everything came at a cost; the price they paid for cheaper homes was the ever-present magical threat that hovered over their heads.
Bicycles lay abandoned on sidewalks. A woman rushed out into her fenced in front yard, grabbed a yapping collie, and ran back into her house, slamming her door.
Arturo’s driver pulled in to the parking lot of a warehouse next to a wooded area. A command center had been established there, and police and shifters and mages rushed to and fro.
There was a row of bodies to one side of an asphalt lot, under tarps. Med-mages and EMTs were treating bleeding victims who had been grouped together in a triage area.
They all scrambled out of the SUV, Dominic keeping Zoey right by his side. Arturo’s foot soldiers crowded around him, awaiting orders.
“I don’t like you being here. I should have just had you call me with her location,” Dominic said to Zoey, tension vibrating through his whole body.
“That wouldn’t work as well and you know it,” she replied. “I’ve been focusing on her the whole ride up here. She’s been moving around, and I’d have to keep calling you back and telling you her latest location. And she’s not the only person who might need to be found.”
“We need to go get her, now,” Arturo growled. His eyes were glowing so bright they could have illuminated a ballroom.
Shouts and screams from the wooded area to their right distracted them. Arturo jerked, his nostrils flaring.
“She’s not there, she’s to the left,” Zoey said.
“Go help,” Arturo said, pointing his foot soldiers in the direction of the screaming. They tried to argue, clearly unhappy about leaving their leader unprotected, but he bellowed “Don’t fucking question me!” and sent a way of skull-rattling power rolling over them.
They shifted without another word and ran in the direction that he’d pointed. Zoey quickly led Arturo, Ottavio and Carlo and Dominic into the wooded area to the left. She wrinkled her nose. The air reeked of ghoul.
They kept pushing through underbrush until they found Giuliana in a clearing, crouched over an injured, glassy-eyed human on a stretcher. There were EMTs and cops there too.
Giuliana ignored them as they rushed over to her. She was pouring all of her energy into healing the man, and as Zoey watched, blood stopped flowing from the man’s gashes and his color went from waxy to merely pale.
“He’s stable now,” Giuliana pronounced. The EMTs lifted the stretcher and hurried through the woods.
A terrible smell washed over them, and three ghouls came crashing through the bushes, headed straight for them. They were tall and cadaverously thin, their mouth filled with too many sharp, pointy teeth. Their eyes were pits of pure blackness, their hair yellowing greasy strands plastered to their head. They were naked, but their genitals were so shriveled that it was impossible to tell their sex.
Zoey tensed as all of the wolves shifted and attacked the ghouls, tearing into them. The smell in the air was so ripe and horrible that it made her gag. It made her yearn for the scent of three-month-old garbage ripening in the sun on her neighborhood streets.
And then it was over. Ghouls fortunately were utterly mindless rage machines, and all they did was lunge at things and tear at them with their long claws and sharp fangs. They couldn’t plan or strategize in a fight, they didn’t dodge or feint or flee, so they were easy for wolves to take down. Once their heads had been ripped off, they stopped moving. But continued stinking.
Mated To The Capo (Mafia Shifters Book 1) Page 16