“You’re beautiful,” Lorenzo whispered, drawing her gaze away from the young minister and to him.
Cassie hadn’t realized she’d reached him. Not until he spoke and she finally looked into his dark blue eyes. As always, the middle Turlino brother was handsome in a tux. The suit seemed to accentuate the muscles she knew lived beneath the sleeves. Lorenzo was a well-oiled machine - both in human and wolf form.
“You don’t look so bad yourself.” She whispered back, already knowing this was a terrible idea.
Looking into the depths of his eyes, Cassie knew without a doubt that she would fall in love with Lorenzo all over again, and that he would never feel the same way.
He hadn’t seen Cassie face-to-face in seven years and she still took his breath away. Lorenzo hadn’t been able to look anywhere but straight at the woman that would be his wife in just a few short minutes.
She’d filled out a bit, her curves threatening to awaken more than Lorenzo’s wolf as the silk gown left very little to the imagination. Her unbridled confidence stoked a part of him he thought died nearly a decade ago.
The young wolf who loved another wolf too much.
It was very Romeo and Juliet, minus the death part.
He never knew why Cassie walked into his family’s hotel wearing little more than a red sequined scarf and gold heels, but Lorenzo knew she was his. For a month he tried to ignore the hum of desire that went through him every time she came to place a bet.
Lansky’s didn’t go on Turlino ground. Lorenzo could have - should have - killed her for the offense. Instead, he kissed her. Lorenzo claimed his mate the same way the wolf wanted to claim Cassie’s wolf.
Two years slipped away in the blink of an eye. Two years filled with more adventure and happiness than he’d ever known. One night gone for a run, let their wolves out of the cage so to speak. What started as frolic turned into a hunt as a hare appeared in the darkness.
After chasing it down, Lorenzo couldn’t stop the lust coursing through him after a successful hunt. He shifted and claimed her mouth with his the moment she did the same.
Nothing was the same after that night. His brother found out and ordered a hit on Cassie. He’d never looked back because the Lanksy wolf wasn’t his enemy and he wouldn’t have her blood on his hands.
And here she is, standing before you damn near in a nightgown getting ready to tie herself to you forever.
Lorenzo shifted, doing his best to quell the rush of blood surging south. When she stretched her hand to him, he reached for hers. She would never know it, but Lorenzo already loved her. He hated the match because it wasn’t hers or his choice, but knew she was his.
A small smirk slipped out when he realized she’d clearly scrubbed her makeup off in an act of defiance.
“Do you promise to remain faithful, loyal, and true? To defend his pack as if it were your own and to dutifully rule both packs when the time comes?”
Lorenzo let him look into her eyes. Amber mixed with blue as emotion swirled within them. A single tear slipped down her cheek and Lorenzo knew the only thing that mattered - Cassie did not want this. She did not want him.
“I will,” she whispered, clearing her throat before repeating it for all to hear. “I will.”
The single statement, the slightest change, and Lorenzo understood what this was between them. A pack law. A pack vote.
“And do you, Lorenzo Turlino, promise to remain faithful, loyal, and true? To defend her pack as if it were your own and to dutifully rule both packs when the time comes?”
Still locking eyes with Cassie, Lorenzo chose his phrase as purposefully as she did. “I do.” His words rang out, loud from the start.
“Then I pronounce you, husband and wife.”
No cheers sprang from the crowd of supporters. None likely supported this match.
“It’s my duty to protect you. To care for you. To grow the pack with you. I will take this seriously, will you?” Lorenzo bristled as Cassie pulled her hand out of his gentle grasp with the ceremony over.
“I will do the task meant to come from this. We parted ways almost a decade ago. This is nothing more than me following my grandfather’s wishes because the DIB is destroying us too quickly.” Cassie turned, effectively giving him her bare shoulder, and sauntered away.
Lorenzo sucked in a breath, ignoring the way her defiance sparked even more desire in him. He hadn’t wanted to wed her because it wasn’t his choice. Now she was his and he wasn’t sure what to do with it.
4
Lorenzo did his best to avoid Cassie throughout the entirety of the reception. There would be no happy smiling memories from this wedding for them. No stories to tell future generations. Nothing except for the cold and distant way Cassie continuously removed herself from his presence if Lorenzo dared to get too close.
She didn’t want this, of course she’s closed off. Lorenzo might have kept his distance, but he was only a man and the sound of the shower tempted him far more than it should. Closing his eyes, Lorenzo tried to steady his breathing only to inhale a breath of air that held only Cassie in it.
When they’d been younger, Lorenzo had been enamored by the way the woman always smelled of honeysuckle. Now he understood. She showered with it. An impossibly simple answer to a question that plagued him in his younger days. Anytime he inhaled the sweet scent he thought of her.
And now you’ll think of it all the time. It referring to the days before he put her life before his pleasure. Before her pleasure.
The water shut off and Lorenzo attempted to hop onto the bed, but in his haste his left foot caught on the corner of the wall that led into the bathroom and he missed, landing straight on his ass.
“Do you want me to pretend I didn’t see that?”
Scrambling, Lorenzo pulled himself up, resting his hand on the nightstand. His gaze going directly to her. Cassie had never been shy, but her zealous flaunting right this moment was out of character.
She’d stepped out of the shower, toweled off, and walked out absolutely nude save for the way a few lingering water drops clung to the points of her nipples and glided down her body.
He choked, unable to speak as lust wrapped around him like he was new to a woman’s body. Lorenzo’s cock throbbed in the loose silk slacks. If she didn’t cover herself, Lorenzo would take it as an offer she wished to fulfill a packmates rightful duty as a spouse.
“Cassandra,” Lorenzo growled between clenched teeth as he tried his best to ignore the way the scent of honeysuckle seemed to wrap around him and caress him like a lover. Blood drained faster from his hands as Lorenzo balled them at his sides, doing everything he could not to touch her.
“What? We’re married now.” She reached into the black and white overnight bag leaning against the wall. “You’re going to have to do a lot more than just see me naked, so get used to it. Neither one of us wanted this marriage, but we’re here, it’s done, and I’m not tip-toeing around you because you’re a male alpha and can’t handle a female alpha.”
Lorenzo shook his head, slack jawed, trying to understand which part of her sentence to pick apart first. “So, your plan then,” Lorenzo did his best to keep his gaze only on her eyes as he pushed off the nightstand to walk closer. “Is to walk around in the buff because you feel it?”
Cassie’s anger radiated out of her eyes as they narrowed to little more than slits. “My plan is to act as if you are not here and this,” she thumbed at the ring on her left hand, “is not there.” Cassie turned her back to him, digging through her suitcase for lord only knew what.
Lorenzo’s wolf growled. Cassie presented him her back, gave him opportunity and surely motive.
Without a further thought, Lorenzo realized it for the insult it was and snapped his hand out, grabbing her wrist and twirling her away from the damn luggage. Cassie crashed against him, and Lorenzo growled as the scent of honeysuckle filled his nose as surely as her heart thumped in her chest as her anger rose.
“You think I’m not a
damn threat? That you can just walk around like that and turn your back on me?” Lorenzo noted the rise in his heartbeat - in the way it began to subtly thump faster in his chest as Cassie didn’t do a damn thing to get out of his grasp. “I am a threat.”
Her lips parted to object, but she didn’t get to speak. Lorenzo’s right hand released her wrist and landed in her hair, bringing her lips to his and leaving her little say in the matter. A growl escaped as her soft lips opened, letting his tongue swirl over them to taste a hint of mint that lingered from the mint she ate on the way to the room.
Cassie groaned and her stance changed. She leaned into him, letting her breasts crush against his chest as she shook his left hand from her wrist.
Lorenzo pulled back, immediately aware of what he’d done.
“I didn’t mean to do that.” he released the tangle of her hair from his palm and stepped away, his knees bumping into the bed and dropping him on to it.”
“Of course, you didn’t,” Cassie whispered, her fingers playing over her lips. “But you did.” She walked closer, stopping only when she used her knee to spread his legs apart. She used her fingertips to touch his chest as featherlight as a butterfly. “You only cared about you and your wants. Again.” Cassie leaned over him as her hands snaked down his body, unbuttoning the buttons as if she’d done it her entire life. “You walked away from me. You made this situation a million times shittier than it already was.” She shoved the fully opened shirt off his chest and down his arms, straddling his lap. “This moment,” she took a deep breath and let her eyes flutter closed. “I would have killed for this moment a decade ago.” Cassie ran her hands up his bare chest, her nails gently grazing his skin. “Now all I can see is the man who took what he wanted and left.”
Her heartbeat raced so fast Lorenzo could hear it. Not the sound of prey that was cornered, but so very close. She was furious. She didn’t move, didn’t take away the temptation that was just within reach of her body. Lorenzo knew he shouldn’t have touched her, but arrogance and brash behavior were not his only flaws. This wolf was going to be the death of him.
Cassie Lanksy could saunter around naked for the rest of their lives and all it would do was punish him every damn day. He glanced into her eyes for any trace of emotion beyond the anger radiating off her in waves strong enough to drown a man. What he found was a hunger shimmering in her blueish-gold eyes.
“So, no, Lorenzo, you are not a threat because you’ve already broken me in the most profound way possible.” Cassie could have done anything she wanted to him in that moment and he would have allowed it for the way the pain ground out with her admission.
Lorenzo moved slightly, trying to do nothing more than set her on the bed away from his lap and the motion of her body dragging against his drew a groan from Lorenzo that he couldn’t hold back. Darting sideways, letting her sit on the bed with her hands splayed out in front of her until she rolled to sit up, was what he had to settle for.
“You’re never going to believe me, but I’m going to tell you anyway,” he swallowed, trying to force himself to focus on anything beyond the pulsating need to rip his pants off and take his wife right then and there. “You’re mine,” he ground out, closing his eyes to help himself focus on the words.
“Small technicality, wolf.” Cassie stood, trying to ignore the scream of her body to finish what she started. Her goal had been to torment the man, and instead she frustrated herself as well. The past was gone and she was stuck with him, she knew she’d enjoy it.
“Stop,” he panted, his eyes still closed. “You have always been mine. I’ve known from the moment you and that ridiculous scrap of a dress walked into the casino. My casino.” When his eyes opened, they damn near glowed with lust.
She’d pushed him too far and herself even farther as she felt the gentle wetness between her legs as she tried to walk to her bag again now that the idiotic urge to kiss him again was too tangible to run from much longer.
“I love you, Cassie Turlino. I have since the day we met.”
The words gave her pause if only because he sounded like he meant them.
“Lanksy, and bullshit,” small drops of spittle flew off her lips as she hissed at him, the anger slowly pushing the desire down.
“Not. Bullshit.” He huffed and let go of her wrist. “My brother caught me coming home that night. It was your life or my feelings for you. I will always choose you.”
“Prove it,” she reached for her dress in the suitcase and caught hold of a small section of fabric before tugging it.
“Jesus woman, you are ridiculous. If I wanted to just fuck you I could have and I would have. I stopped because I don’t want that for us.” Lorenzo pressed his lips together and Cassie watched his nostrils flare as he breathed in and out. “My phone,” he grunted, shoving his hand into his back pocket.
Without warning, he tossed it at her.
“Read it.”
Curiosity killed the cat. And maybe the wolf. Cassie glanced down at the screen and she spoke without realizing it. “Seven years later and it looks like you’re marrying her after all. Guess you wasted time letting me threaten you. Drinks tomorrow. I’ll make amends and we’ll be mature?”
“Who the hell sent this?”
“Tomas. He was furious - as I assume you’d intended your grandfather to be when you let him know you slept with a Turlino.” Lorenzo scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Jesus Christ, Cass, put some fucking clothes on.
“Is this real?”
“No I magically found a witch to spell my phone at the exact minute I needed to convince you that I’ve literally been in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you and you.”
“No,” she whispered and shook her head, rising off the bed and standing near the wall, still not putting the damn dress on. “I will not let this be some magical thing that’s okay because you love me.”
Lorenzo got off the bed, doing nothing to conceal the way his erection tented the slacks of his tux. His wedding tux. From your wedding.
“I do love you. I’ve loved you every minute of every day. Why do you think I’ve not married? I could have taken Alpha from my brother simply by taking a wife first.” He leaned against her, pressing her back against the cool wall.
She shivered, not from the cold, but from the man who’s body spoke of lust, while his mouth spread tales of love. Cassie closed her eyes, trying focus on anything but the way Lorenzo’s erection pressed against her body.
A breath came out and she panted. He fucked up, but she somehow trusted it was the truth.
Her core pulsed and she went weak in the knees for a split second as desire flooded through her, dampening between her thighs.
He was there. Lorenzo caught her, pressing her against his body and in doing so rubbed his cock against her where she needed him.
“This means nothing.”
Cassie stood on her tiptoes and he took the cue, lifting her and the other seeming to vanish.
She couldn’t think as she slid her hips back and then forward. He’d been ready, his vanished hand having gone to his dick, and in a single motion, he was where Cassie needed him.
Nothing mattered outside of the way her body needed his. When Lorenzo took her lips with his, she let him. Utterly unconcerned by anything except letting this man consume her.
Seven years dissipated in the blink of an eye. Lorenzo thrust his hips as he claimed her mouth with similar rhythms. Cassie wanted to run her hands down his chest, in his hair, anything, but he scooped her hands together with his one that didn’t hold her and pinned her to the wall.
“Lorenzo,” she whispered into their kiss as the motion set her in a different angle. He stretched her just to the point of pleasure and his chuckle made her think Lorenzo knew it.
The room spun as breath after breath became shallower with every thrust of his hips. Her back would be bruised in the morning, but the wall held, and she closed her eyes and gave into the coiling need building.
“Lor-en-zo,” she bro
ke apart his name in time to the thrusts. It overwhelmed her in the best way possible.
Cassie felt Lorenzo everywhere. In her, outside of her, over every part of her skin and on the tips of her fingers.
His name became a fractured chant on his lips until her head fell back against the wall as she screamed. Ecstasy rolled through, pulling every last bit of pleasure from her body as she knew her body twitch from the release.
A moment later Lorenzo growled out, panting himself. A normal man would have been done. Would have slipped free and set her down. Lorenzo merely started to walk. Dizzy didn’t cover the way the steps continued to wring every last ounce of pleasure from her.
He set her down, only to begin again.
5
If she moved, Cassie wouldn’t be able to stay in the strange dreamland her mind created. She wouldn’t feel the hard planes of Lorenzo’s chest under head or continue to reel in the bliss of the best sex she’d ever had.
Instead, she’d be lying beside a man who wanted nothing to do with her—a man who she claimed she wanted nothing to do with.
Then why are you fantasizing about a wedding night that will never be true?
Cassie blew out a breath and squeezed her eyes shut.
The shrill scream of her phone forced her eyes open.
The warmth and hardness were still there.
“Ignore it. It’s our damn wedding night,” Lorenzo whispered into her ear, nipping playfully at her earlobe.
“It’s real.” Saying the words didn’t make Cassie believe it. Casually, she reached out and pinched his pec.
“What the hell was that for?” Lorenzo snapped, gently swatting her hand away before she could do it again.
“What just happened…” she paused, utterly unsure of where or how to steer the conversation.
The phone stopped blaring through the room as Lorenzo sat up and tugged her upright as well, resting his chin on her head.
Supernatural Syndicate: A Limited Edition Collection of Magical Mafia Stories Page 12
