by V Vee
He knew she would probably be pissed, but he would make his intentions known, not only to her parents, but to her. He would do whatever it took to not only have her company, but to have her.
Angelo had yet to lose when he wanted something, and he wasn’t about to start now. Joi Young was his. She belonged to him. And goddammit, he would have her.
“Angelo?” Joi gasped in surprise. She glanced over her shoulder, then stepped out the door, pulling it closed behind her. “What are you doing here? How did you know where I was? How did you know where my parents lived? Wait, did you have me investigated? Are you stalking me?”
Angelo chuckled and reached out to place a finger against Joi’s mouth. He groaned when he felt her shiver. Her full, pillow soft lips touching his index finger was giving him all manner of illicit thoughts. His mind conjured images of those same lips pressed against, or sliding along, the length of his shaft. Her pink tongue slipping out to lick at the flesh that covered his thick hardness, flicking at the precum that formed at the head of his cock. He bit his bottom lip as he stared down into Joi’s darkened brown eyes, his nose taking in the delicate and intoxicating scent of her wetness. He had a need, one so fierce it almost caused his knees to buckle, to sink to the floor of the front porch, lift the hem of her dress, and press his mouth to her center. To suck her juices deep onto his tongue. To imprint the taste of her on his memory, on his tastebuds, to hear her calling out his name hoarsely.
He cleared his throat and trailed his finger from her lips, over her jaw, down her neck, over her shoulder, down her arm, and down to her fingers. He never let his eyes leave hers. Kept her gaze captured with his own.
“One question at a time,” he finally replied. “I’m here because I have never been rejected before. Never been told no. I must admit that it is not a feeling I’m particularly fond of, so I was hoping we could talk and come to some sort of… negotiation. A win-win situation. Where we both get what we want, or we both lose something and end up winning in the end? I knew where you were because of your GPS signal. I know where your parents live because of the report I had pulled on you. I wouldn’t say that I had you investigated, per say, but I didn’t want to let you walk out of my office, and possibly my life and never be able to see you again, so I had a small background check done on you and found out you’d purchased this house, then gifted it to your parents. Stalking has such negative connotations. I was just pursuing you… intensely.”
He watched as Joi blinked at him once, twice, before she laughed, shaking her head. He was a little afraid that this laughter—though it sounded completely different—was similar to the hysterical kind she’d released earlier that day in his office. He was just about to ask her if she was okay, when she voluntarily reached out and grasped his forearm in order to balance herself as she stumbled slightly on the front porch. She didn’t stop laughing, merely leaned into him as her laughter slowly subsided. Angelo wrapped his arms around her, relishing in the opportunity to hold her in his arms.
Long moments later, after Angelo had thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of Joi in his arms, he released her when he felt her shift to pull away.
“I haven’t frightened you away then?” He asked her.
It was an altogether new feeling for Angelo, the nervousness that trembled low in his belly and caused his wolf to howl within as he awaited her answer. Angelo looked down into Joi’s upturned face and offered her a hesitant smile.
“I should be afraid, shouldn’t I?” Joi murmured almost to herself. Angelo didn’t answer, pretty sure the question was rhetorical in nature.
“I mean, any sane woman would be. A man does an investigation into her background just to find out where she is? I should be screaming for my mother to call the police and pleading for my father to come out here and deal with the maniac on his front porch, and yet...” she shrugged and Angelo wished—oh how he wished—that he could tell her that the reason she was not afraid of him, did not feel that burden to call out for help was because she was destined to be his. Because she was born, created, to be by his side always. Born to be his helpmate. Born to carry his pups. Born to rule his pack alongside him. But that was a burden that Joi was not yet ready for. It was a mantle she wasn’t prepared to carry—yet.
“Perhaps you realize that you can trust me?” He offered.
Angelo smiled when Joi snorted out a laugh.
“No. That’s not it. I think it’s because I was just about to call you and your arrival here feels oddly... kismet,” Joi retorted.
She took a few more steps away from him and Angelo felt the loss of her warmth, of her softness pressed against the hardened planes of his body like a missing limb.
Her words penetrated the haze that had settled around his mind then and he smirked.
“Why were you calling me, sweetheart?” He asked her. “Could it be that you have thought over my... proposal and reconsidered?”
Joi released a sigh of frustration and ran her fingers through her hair. The hair that Angelo could scent was not her own.
Why did she wear such a contraption on her head? Did she think herself less beautiful without it? Less deserving? Less professional? Angelo was certain that even had she been completely bald he would still find her the loveliest woman in the world. But, in the short amount of time he had known her, Angelo also knew that to say such a thing, now, would not endear him to her more. No, it would, in fact, only make him more suspicious in her eyes.
“I have reconsidered, yes. But I am hoping that we can negotiate terms? We can do this in your office, with our lawyers present if need be, but,” she sighed and glanced away from him.
Angelo wanted to demand that she return her gaze to his own, but he knew that he had to allow her to move at her own pace. The time would come for her to learn his habits and his ways. To learn that he could spend hours just looking into her eyes and never grow bored. When long moments passed and still Joi looked away from him, silent in her rumination, Angelo reached out and touched her chin, capturing it between his thumb and forefinger and turned her face back to his own.
“I am willing to negotiate with you, Miss Young... Joi,” he said, letting her name flow from his lips like a beloved song.
“Are you?” She inquired softly.
“I told you I would give you the world, Joi. You have only to ask,” he told her.
Joi frowned at him. “But why? You never told me why.”
Angelo lowered his head until their lips were a hairsbreadth apart.
“Because you are mine. Mine to care for. Mine to love. Mine to protect. Mine. And all that I have. All that I am. Is yours.”
Angelo lowered his mouth to hers taking her lips in a deep, smoldering kiss, one he felt through his entire being. His wolf howled in pleasure as the taste of their mate washed over his tongue. It was the howl of pleasure. Of desire. The triumphant cry of a conquering hero. Angelo wanted to beat his chest. To roar out to all near and far that his mate, his Joi, his queen, had allowed him to touch her. To kiss her. But, he restrained himself. And before he could take the kiss further, to deepen it as he so longed to do, a decidedly feminine throat cleared from his left, startling Joi from his embrace.
Angelo wanted to growl at the intruder but the acrid scent of shame and embarrassment from his mate, stilled his tongue.
“Kim! Um... what... w-what are you doing here?” Joi stammered.
Another woman, almost as beautiful as his mate, just a bit older, gave Joi a smug look before she answered.
“Momma and Daddy wanted me to come and check on you. See if the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormons had converted you out here on the front porch. But, I’m glad I can just tell them that you’re simply out here, sucking face with one of the richest men in the world. A man whom you’re planning to work with. They’re going to be happy to know that he isn’t a pile of shit on the sidewalk.”
Angelo didn’t have time to question the other woman, Kim, before she turned and walked away. He looked down at Joi who groaned
and rubbed her face. He watched her carefully, discreetly sniffing the air to gauge her mood, when she spun around and pointed at him.
“We’re going to talk about that kiss later, and your somewhat creepy words to me, but for now? I guess you’re meeting my family. My parents.”
Angelo bowed low to Joi and gestured toward the open doorway. “It would be my pleasure.”
***
Talia stepped away from the group and walked outside. Her phone was vibrating in her pocket and she knew who it was before she even looked at the device. Gritting her teeth, she answered.
“Ciao, Papá.”
“Ciao, Figlia. Come va?”
Talia rolled her eyes. She hated it when her father attempted small talk with her. She knew why he was calling, and she really wished he would simply get to the purpose of why he’d phoned her. The longer she was away from everyone, the more suspicious she appeared.
“Che cosa vuoi, Papá?” she asked impatiently.
The deep, dark chuckle he released filled her with dread and Talia swallowed the bile that arose in her throat.
“You are just like me, Little One,” he said, abandoning his use of Italian. “You have no need for niceties, always wanting to get to the meat of the matter. As is our way.”
Talia clenched her fist, hating the reference to yet another secret she was keeping from her best friends. Nausea rolled through her. She hated that she was in this position. She knew it was her father’s intent when he laughed uproariously once more.
“Have you nothing to say, my daughter?”
Talia shook her head, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. No, she didn’t have anything to say. Any words that came out of her mouth, her father would only twist around to fit his own agenda. She had not spent much time with the man who had sired her, but the moments she had she’d become aware of one very glaring fact: Her Papá was a self-serving asshole.
And she was in his debt.
“Papá, is there something important you wanted to talk to me about? I am with my friends and the longer I spend away from them, the more suspicious they’re going to become,” Talia pointed out.
“Yes, yes,” her father’s voice lost its amusement and became dangerously serious. “I know exactly where you are… and who else is there with you.”
Ice filled Talia’s veins. The only person who was there besides her—the only one who didn’t actually belong was Angelo Marconi, her father’s enemy and his biggest business partner. The man had taken an interest in Joi, one Talia knew could only be attributed to one thing. Joi was Angelo’s mate. Once a shifter found the one created for them by the gods they possessed a single-minded focus to bond with that other person. As often as possible.
Growing up, even as a half-breed, Talia had been told stories of fated mated pairs throughout history. From the very first couple: Adam and Eve, Adam who had been created human and had been “married” to Tabitha, but had met Eve, who’d been bitten by a wolf and though she’d been “created” from Adam’s rib—as innocuous an explanation of the appearance of a second woman in the Garden of Eden as Talia had ever heard—the woman had intrigued him. He’d been Eve’s mate. Eve, the first shifter.
Shifters were told to hold their mates in the highest regard. They were all given one, and though they could marry and procreate with any one, it was only with their mates that their shifter nature could be passed down. Only with their mates could they ensure the health and well-being of their offspring.
Only with their mates would they find true peace and a feeling of completeness.
Shifters who went too long without finding the one created for them oftentimes went crazy. They would lose touch with reality, become feral, and, becoming a danger to themselves and others around them, have to be put down. Talia wasn’t exactly sure how the shifter community had been able to keep the deaths—murders—of so many people, so many shifters, under wraps, but for centuries they’d been doing so.
And it would continue. Starting with her father.
That is, if he didn’t kill Angelo Marconi first.
Chapter 6
Joi was acutely aware of Angelo walking behind her. Acutely. Her every nerve ending was on fire. The miniscule hairs on her body, from the top of her head and all over the rest of her form, was standing on end. Her fingers twitched as if seeking out his touch. It unnerved her. Her stomach which was rolling with nervousness and unease was now filled with butterflies, swarming around in her belly in anticipation.
How could she be so… sensitive to someone she’d only just met that day? How could her body, her senses… hell, her soul be so attuned to a man whom she’d spent only a short time with?
Maybe he’s your soulmate, her stupid romantic, idealized mind whispered.
Joi scoffed internally. She didn’t believe in soulmates. In one person being made for another. Of one true love for everyone.
Of destiny and fate.
Joi believed that people made their own destiny. That you could fall in love with anyone, if you put in the time, the effort, and if you really wanted to. All it took was overlooking flaws, red flags, and one’s internal voice letting them know if the relationship was a good one or not.
It was how she’d wound up in a relationship with a man who only wanted her for her money. It was also how her sister, Kim, ended up with a man who was an abusive, cheating asshole. A man who appeared perfect to the rest of the world. Doting. Romantic. Indulgent. But who was toxic and evil internally.
No. It wasn’t fate or destiny making her skin heat, her heart pound, and her pussy wet. It was pure, unadulterated lust. That’s all. Angelo was gorgeous. Joi couldn’t think of anyone—man or woman—who wouldn’t be affected by him. Who wouldn’t want to spend time with him. Who wouldn’t fantasize about him naked.
She was pretty sure the sight of Angelo alone had made many a man question his own sexuality and made women madly in love with their partners consider cheating. Joi wasn’t an enigma. She wasn’t weird in this. She was simply attracted to him. That was all.
“You seem to be thinking very hard about something,” Angelo’s deep voice flowed into her ear and his warm breath brushed over the skin of her neck. Joi barely restrained the shiver that threatened to make a liar of her earlier internal musings. Clearing her throat, she glanced at him over her shoulder.
“Merely crafting my words to my family,” she lied.
Angelo quirked an eyebrow. “You cannot simply speak to them? Your family requires that you have a speech prepared to explain my presence?”
Joi sighed and stopped feet away from the kitchen where everyone still congregated. She turned and faced Angelo, tilting her head back so that she could look him in the eye. Her fingers twitched again, her arm jerking towards him, before she yanked it back to her side. She ignored the smirk that appeared on Angelo’s face and fixed her own into a patient expression.
“My family is extremely understanding, loving, and compassionate. I could go in there right now, tell them that I’d decided to not accept your offer and you were here to simply try to change my mind and they wouldn’t judge me for it. In spite of my older sister saying something about finding us on the front porch kissing. I could also go in there, tell them that I’d decided to turn down your proposal because we were attracted to each other and you came over to pursue me in that way, and still, they would be understanding.”
Angelo frowned, and Joi shook her head, not sure how he wasn’t understanding what she was trying to say.
“The problem is not that they won’t understand, it’s that I don’t know exactly what I want to say.”
Angelo’s expression cleared, and he nodded. “Perhaps I could help you with that?”
Joi chuckled and shook her head. “Um… no, Mr. I-Pursued-You-Intently-Not-Stalked-You.” She giggled when Angelo’s cheeks flushed red. “I will explain whatever this is, to them and tell them about our negotiation,” she said gesturing back and forth between them.
With a final nod in A
ngelo’s direction, she turned back around and headed into the kitchen. She could tell Kim had just finished telling their family about what she’d seen when she’d gone looking for Joi, by the expressions of shock, confusion, intrigue, and anticipation evenly distributed on everyone’s face. Joi glared at her older sister, who merely smiled smugly back at her, and cleared her throat nervously again.
Smoothing her palms down the fabric of her outfit, Joi offered her family and friends a small smile.
“Um… everyone, I want to introduce you to Angelo Marconi, the CEO of Woodland Pack Incorporated. He came by… well, he came by for a number of different reasons.” She exhaled and decided that telling the truth was probably the best way to handle things, rather than giving half-truths, or only telling her family what she wanted them to know. Kim and her mother, Jackie, would pester her until she finally revealed all, and if it wasn’t them it would be Elisabeth, Lizzie, and Talia. Her best friends had a way of merely waiting her out until she gave them all the dirty details. And that didn’t even factor in her father’s way of telling her long stories about his days working in the car industry or growing up in the era of Jim Crow. Her aunt Cammy was the worst out of them all, though. The older woman who spent years as a Civil Rights attorney, before becoming a judge, had a way of interrogating her until Joi ended up confessing to crimes and wrongdoings from when she was a child.
