“And any other wolf would find themselves looking for their teeth. But I mean, hey, go ahead and let the youth die for beauty.”
Kalinda tried, she really did, to ignore Romano’s added quip, but she couldn’t help it. She stomped down on his instep, hard. He howled, and she smiled cruelly at him. “Don’t play with me or try to rearrange my life.”
As it did earlier, his face lost all manner of joking. “And don’t think I’d allow you to ever be hurt or give your protection over to another.” He glared at her, his dark eyes piercing.
Kalinda sucked in a breath, believing him. But what would that mean for her? She had to keep her work going, and Romano was a distraction she didn’t need.
Okay, so she could admit, at least to herself, having such a powerful, sexy man around wouldn’t be the worst thing to ever happen, but she didn’t want him to assume he’d have more than just access to her for protection. She wasn’t going to lose who she was.
She loved Zoey, independent and happy soul that she was, but she hadn’t run a business and claimed a place in the world. Kalinda’s Katering had partnered with The Daily Grind, a coffee shop in the district, to sell her baked goods and to also have their coffee as part of her events. If things kept going the way they were, their partnership could go national and she’d have to be available to travel for that if she could.
She had dreams, chances, things to conquer … She didn’t want to feel, once again, like her life was changing by no choice of her own because someone else saw something in her. She refused.
“It’s me or me. Or, or me. Take your pick, then I’ll tell you what each one gives you.”
Kalinda didn’t care how good he looked—and he looked really good. She wasn’t going to just take him up on his offer. She liked her own path. “And what if I choose option number four?”
Romano arched a brow. “What option would that be?”
“Staying on pack grounds and not having you as a personal escort.” Boom! Kalinda thought that was an ah-mazing idea.
Instead of responding to her directly, Romano tossed a pointed look Zoey’s way. “I didn’t take your old boss to be a scaredy cat, Zoey, but maybe I was wrong.”
What did he just call me? Oh no.
Kalinda shifted in his lap enough so she could semi-face him and dug her nails into his collarbone. Romano winced but otherwise made no outward show of what she was doing. She leaned in, ignoring his smile and his scent to whisper in his ear.
“Don’t try to handle me. You won’t like my retaliation.”
Romano wrapped his arms around her, fisting one giant hand in her braid and forcing her head into the crook of his neck. She melded to him, chest to chest, her butt pressed firmly to his rapidly hardening front.
“Oh, Kalinda, I think you’ve wanted to be managed for a very long time; you just haven’t found someone strong enough to do it. So you get all three of me.”
Three? Oh, the options. Right.
“And you know what that means? By the end of this all, you’ll know exactly who you belong to.”
Hell. No.
But part of her, deep inside, was boiling-hot and turned on. A part of her she couldn’t deny wanted to say yes.
Chapter Three
Kalinda Thorton was unlike any woman Romano had ever met, within the pack or outside of it. She was strong, and that was saying a lot with the women they had in the pack. She wasn’t going to be anyone’s doormat, and she didn’t care he was a shifter when she threatened him.
He could get behind a woman like that—permanently. And on top of, and any other position she’d care to explore.
Of course, said occupant of his thoughts would rather leave him hanging out to dry than accept the desire pulsing between them. And it was. She could deny it all she liked, but his wolf senses still picked it up. The moment she was around him, his wolf wanted to start a firework party with Kalinda as the star—on her hands and knees.
To be honest, Romano did wonder why his wolf reacted so heavily to her.
He was tempted to shift near her to see how his wolf reacted, but if he learned anything from watching Dominic, it was that having a mate chosen before she even had a chance to understand could cause a ton of issues.
Granted, if things called for it, that’s exactly what Romano would do.
Of course, he could be jumping the gun with all of this, but he doubted it. For whatever the reason or cause, Kalinda was his, and he’d make sure she knew it.
For now, she stood in the middle of his home fit to cause a tornado right in his living room. He smiled at her just because he couldn’t keep it at bay and he knew it riled her up.
“It’s been four hours. Four. How are my things in your house? Why are they here?”
He could probably explain he’d thought to make her comfortable by having some of her own items in a new space during a dangerous situation, but instead …
“Why not?”
If a woman could scream silently, Kalinda did.
She warmed up the space, filled it. He’d never been one for a lot of things to clutter the space. He’d kept his living room to a simple couch and recliner in the same matching chocolate and his large flat screen mounted to the wall. The kitchen, though stocked with stainless steel appliances and an island, wasn’t used very often.
His bedroom got all the attention, but he doubted she’d like to hear him talk about that.
Instead, in black yoga pants that hugged her curves like he wanted to and a scrunchy, white long-sleeved top, she curled her toes into the carpet and put her hands on her hips.
Red. Her toenails were brilliant red, a flag in front of a bull, and it was the only “unprofessional” part about her. Her hair was still pulled back in the severe braid, and he wondered how the strands would look released. Hell, he wanted to know how Kalinda would look released, unchained from her need to control and run everything.
If he asked her, she’d probably give him a one-finger salute or tell him to take a flying leap. Maybe if he got her really relaxed, she’d do it for him. He wanted to grip those strands.
Wait … no. That was odd. He wanted her, sure, but it was never to the point of complete distraction. She was talking, and he refocused on her.
“Can you be serious for just one minute?” She raised a brow. “I get it. You’re the consummate jokester and don’t take life seriously, but I take mine seriously, and I want answers to my questions.”
“You misunderstand my joking,” he protested.
“Oh? How so?”
“I take you very seriously, Kalinda. I take any threat to your life as a threat to mine. Don’t think I don’t take everything about you seriously.”
“What’s my mother’s name?”
That caught him off guard. “What?”
She smiled pretty she-wolf style, full of sharp canines, if she’d had them. That was hot. Her lips were full and plump. He could imagine them in places, and that image was enough to nearly bring him to his knees. It was real, her naked, dark nipples hard, her slim waist flaring into rounded hips, and her legs open to show her pretty—
Dammit.
What was wrong with him? It was like he could see the vision superimposing on the world around him. He could smell desire in the air, both his and Kalinda’s, but he could scent her agitation too. The agitation brought his attention back.
“I asked you what my mother’s name was.”
He narrowed his eyes. Whenever he tried to have a serious conversation with her, she batted him away and walked off. That could be his fault because he usually started out by going into his default mode: heavy-handed flirting. Hell, it worked with literally every other woman he’d ever met, but not Kalinda. “I don’t know.”
“What is my favorite color?”
“Red?”
She looked down at her toes. “Nice try, but no. Okay, what do I like to eat?”
Romano got the point she was making, but it didn’t mean he had to like it or understand why she was makin
g it. “I don’t know that either. What does that matter?”
She frowned at him and shook her head. “Let’s leave this conversation at ‘you are here to protect me and do a job.’ Don’t make it about me.”
“But it is about you. Just because I don’t know the answers I haven’t been given the chance to learn doesn’t mean I don’t take you seriously.”
She hmphed and strolled to the kitchen. Damn, but he liked the way she moved. His gaze was locked on to her ass when, feeling like a horny teenager, he was lost once more in the vision. The scent of old power—ash and deep earth—tinged into the room. He pulled back, looking around. Where was it coming from? It didn’t make sense. None of his alarms were going off, and no one would be stupid enough to come directly to pack lands.
Romano kept one eye on Kalinda as she opened cabinets and shook her head every time she found more of her things. He kept watching for any danger coming their way as she began to cook. In a few minutes, his place smelled good enough to make his mouth water. The smell of old power was gone.
“What are you going to make?”
She startled, as if she’d forgotten he was there. “A potato and sausage soup.”
He followed his nose to the kitchen, sniffing and picking up garlic and herbs cooking in the pot with pieces of bacon. He was happy her fridge was fully stocked and had brought over her supplies as well. She’d had her home filled better than most restaurants, and he wasn’t sure how long she’d have to remain on the compound.
“What made you start cooking?”
She shrugged. “It calms me down.”
He frowned, and she laughed—small sound that was captured nearly as quickly as it began. He liked the sound of it and would have to make her do it again.
“I don’t know how to explain it. I always liked being in the kitchen and making good food. To watch how people felt when they took a bite and it soothed their soul. Something about a good, homecooked meal makes people relax. My mother always worked several jobs to help pay for things as we grew up.”
“We?”
Her face darkened. “My sister and I. Mom paid for everything and made sure we didn’t work. Not even in college. Cooking for Mom started out as a way to help out around the house, but eventually, I realized I loved it and decided to go to school for it.”
He decided to shelve asking questions about her sister or mother. He’d heard from Zoey she’d lost her mother a few years before. The wound of it was still raw. Messing with her was much different than hurting her. He wouldn’t do that.
“Did they see if you were a hearth witch?”
She shook her head. “When they scanned me for registration, the only thing that came up was my ability to moderately induce comfort through my cooking. They weren’t even sure how I did that either, but it was enough for me to be remanded to an Enchanted Zone.”
Romano couldn’t relate to having not grown up among others like him. He was a Born Wolf and had never lived in regular society, but he’d heard horror stories of those who’d been taken from their life and families just to come to places like Encantado.
Non-magics were terrified of people with magic abilities, even if their magic was so mild it barely existed. They were frightened of its power, so they shuffled off those who made them feel threatened into cities located near the inter-dimensional portals which had torn open decades ago, spilling magic into the world.
Most people who lived in the portal areas had some level of magic. But in the general population across the United States, there were also random mutations of people who had developed magical abilities ever since the 1950s.
The moment they were discovered, they were relocated to a portal city. Sometimes their families went with them, sometimes they didn’t.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “You’ve fared better than a lot of people, but I’m sure it’s still been hard on you, leaving everything behind.”
“Sometimes.” She shrugged, trying for casual, but he could hear the undercurrent of pain in her voice.
It was probably the first real conversation he’d had with her, a glimpse into another side, and he could see, maybe, why she thought he was only playing with her. He’d been in her life for months because of Zoey but had never really talked to her this way. So much for Dominic coming to him for advice on women. It seemed Romano needed to get some himself.
He watched Kalinda silently for a few more minutes. When the earthy smell returned, he surreptitiously left her to investigate but still found nothing. Stalking to his guest room, he checked in there last. He’d put most of her clothing and items into that room for her. He’d known she wouldn’t have liked sharing his room, even if he’d have preferred that. His first priority, still, was to understand why someone wanted to hurt her and what that would mean.
For all intents and purposes, Kalinda was simply a business owner in District 17 without any connections to large sums of money or powerful friends. Even with knowing Zoey, it didn’t make her a part of the pack, and she wouldn’t be privy to insider knowledge. Anyone in Encantado would understand that but be leery of messing with her just the same. The fact they’d targeted her anyway was a problem.
A big one.
He grabbed his spell phone and dialed Dominic, who picked up after a couple of rings. “Was there anything at her home?”
“Nothing. It’s clean, and the only scents were hers and what seems to be the mailman’s. Nothing was out of place, nothing searched through, and all of her documentation matches what she told us. Kalinda Thorton is a Level-2 mage who owns Kalinda’s Katering.”
Dominic sighed. “I was really hoping not to call Zahara.”
“Something personal there?”
“You don’t remember, do you? I wondered why you didn’t react to me saying something about her.”
“Remember what?”
“How you healed.”
Romano didn’t remember much about the time, years ago, when he was thrown through a portal into the Chaos Realm and Dominic pulled him back out. The trolls that had shown up during their monthly warrior-class guard service hadn’t been expected, neither had the portal. One minute he was fighting for his life with Dominic, and the next he was being dragged into darkness where he’d felt literally pulled apart and brought back together in so many pieces, and not all of them were his. But no, he didn’t remember much of it, except in dreams, and he didn’t recall them when he woke up.
“Romano?”
“Yep. Crying about the Chaos Realm over here. Thanks for the recollection.”
“You’re a bastard, but I like that about you. That’s about all I like,” Dominic mused. “Where was I? Anyway, Zahara was brought in to help heal us. Yeah, shifters heal fast, but troll wounds and portal energy are something else entirely.”
“Why would she bother me though?”
“Because your wolf thought she was an enemy and tried to kill her a few times. She’s going to charge us out the ass the minute you come in.”
“I’ll cover what it takes. If my wolf was agitated, it saw her as an enemy. I didn’t try to go back and tear her to pieces, so she should have sent me a thank you note,” Romano smirked.
“Yeah, don’t push your luck.” Romano heard the annoyance in his Capo’s voice, and it made him smile even wider. “The Viscount Pride’s involvement bothers me though. The allergy was a ruse; we know that.”
Of course, it was. No shifter would eat something they were allergic to unless it was the first time and they didn’t know. “But why did they need the ruse?”
“They’re working for someone else?”
“Maybe, but we won’t know for sure without more investigation. I’ll give Zahara a call and see if she’s willing to make a house visit. Until then, keep Kalinda preoccupied while we sniff out her business.”
“Got it. Let me know if you find anything. She’ll start asking questions soon enough.”
Dominic was off the call without saying anything else.
I guess I
’ll get some grub then.
The soup was sizzling as he came back into the kitchen and Kalinda was mixing something else. Her hands moved faster than he’d ever seen a simple human’s go, and his hackles rose.
“What are you doing now?”
When she looked at him, everything froze. Her pupils were dilated, her mouth parted on a pant. What the hell? Old and new, desire and need, desperation and fear all permeated the room, and now he had a direction—Kalinda.
“Food,” was her only response.
Her voice wrapped around his manhood and wouldn’t let go. He’d never in his life heard a woman sound like that with the most mundane word. It shouldn’t have made him hard as a rock, but it did. He took a step forward, his wolf pushing and snapping.
“Kalinda?”
She blinked and picked up her spoon before bringing it to her mouth. Her pink tongue darted out and lapped at the chocolate mix she’d been working on.
Before he could stop himself, Romano took another step, and another, until he was within reaching distance. “What are you doing?”
“Eating.”
She was totally hinting about something else, something I’d be more than happy to take her up on, right here in this room.
Her eyes traveled down his body, stopping between his legs before she lapped at the chocolate again. He swore her warm, wet tongue slicked its way over the head of his shaft. He slammed his hands to the table, trying to snap her out of it. As much as he’d like to take her on the island in front of her, this didn’t feel right.
“Are you seeing colors, Kalinda?”
“Mocha and olive. And maybe pink, if you’d like.”
That would be her, him, and … fuck.
Nope, he was not doing this. He gripped his spell phone like a talisman and redialed his last call.
“Romano, I swear to fuck you have the worst damn timin—”
Mated to the Enforcer (Mafia Wolf Shifters) (Encantado Shifters Book 2) Page 3
