Romano moved with her when she tried to go around him. “For now, you are home. Go have some rest and then we can think about what Zahara has told us. If she needs to come again, we can get her out here.”
T-minus ten seconds and counting.
“Get out of my way and let me go.”
“Can’t. Been told I have glue on my hands. Sort of makes things stick. Want me to show you how fun that can be?”
T-minus nine seconds.
“We’re going to head out. Call if you need anything.” Zoey had the nerve to wave her fingers over her shoulder before Dominic ushered her out. The woman wanted to die.
T-minus eight seconds.
“Maybe we can enjoy the soup you made. Are you hungry?”
“No, I’m not. I want a big, hulking brute to get out of my way.”
“Oh, big and hulking. You say the sweetest things and I haven’t even shown you the biggest part yet.”
He wants to die. I know it. T-minus seven seconds. Six, five, four …
She jerked her knee up, fed up and wanting to get out desperately. Her chest tightened and a knot formed in her throat. She was losing it, twisting and turning down fear. Control. She needed it. Had to have it. Without it, things got lost.
“Not happening, sweetheart.”
“I am not your sweetheart.”
Three, two, one …
One minute, her arms were laden with her items, and the next, everything crashed to the floor. She didn’t understand it, but she was flying off the handle, leaping at Romano in a fit to get out and be free. The door was so close and yet so far.
“Easy there. I got you. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
It didn’t matter. She wanted out. To escape, to compartmentalize so she could regain some semblance of who she was. She panted, trying to suck in deeper breaths, but it was like using a coffee straw.
“Come here.”
Romano took her into his arms again, carrying her away from the carnage in his living room and past the guest room. In a few more steps, he kicked open a door to a large, darkened room. She caught a glimpse of deep mahogany and crimson that blurred together moments before she flopped down on a bed.
The door slammed shut, closing them in, and she scrambled back on the bed away from him. He didn’t let her go far, gripping her ankle and yanking her down to the end of the bed. It was just like in the Chaos Realm, when Zahara had given her something to hold on to, and she couldn’t help the sense of calm that came over her, a momentary peace.
“Tell me what you need. What I saw a moment ago was panic, and I understand panic,” he whispered.
His voice was so much more because he didn’t speak loudly. He hovered over her, his weight just inches away, his mouth closing in on hers.
“Tell me what you really need and I’ll give it to you. But leaving when you know it isn’t safe isn’t a decision the Kalinda I know would make.”
Romano’s lips danced over hers with each word—a taunt, a promise. She found herself mesmerized, her breathing slowing to match his. He never looked away from her. It was one of the most intimate moments she’d ever had without a single stich of clothing being gone. He saw her and asked her what she needed.
Kalinda swallowed, afraid to speak but unable to stop herself.
“I don’t know.”
His large hand, warm and familiar, cupped her chin, his thumb caressing her bottom lip. “You don’t always have to have the answer. It’s okay to be lost.”
She couldn’t respond. Not when his mouth claimed hers. Not when he set her ablaze with silken lips and a skillful tongue that traced the seam of her closed mouth and demanded entrance. She let him in on a sigh, and he devoured her.
Nothing with him came easily. He filled her, tasting every crevice of her mouth, laying claim in a way she hadn’t thought possible. The only place they were connected were by their mouths and his hand on her chin, but she felt his weight pressing in on her. He may as well have fully rested his weight down on her.
She let him lead, following his tongue and letting go. Her nipples hardened in her bra, and she felt achy in a new way. She was tempted to curl her fingers into his shirt, to rip it from his body and take what she knew he would offer, but she knew she’d regret it. That she’d hate that she was so weak. The longer he kissed her, though, the more that thought faded until she was all molten heat and need. Kalinda trembled with it and needed more.
When their lips parted, she was willing to say yes to his next question.
“Get some rest, Kalinda. I’ll be here to watch over you. I promise.”
Instead, Romano gave her what she needed when she hadn’t even known it herself. Security.
Chapter Five
Okay, so she was woman enough to admit she was running. Three days of being cooped up in the house with the ever-present panty annihilator who touched her all the time but never went beyond that—which she didn’t want, of course … right—had stretched her nerves thin. She needed to run, to get some fresh air, and return to her business. She knew the Viscount Pride probably still had beef with her, but after three days, no summons from them or the Council had come forth. Zahara may have never been wrong before, but there was always a first time. Kalinda hadn’t had any flare-ups since that first day either.
Zoey had spilled the beans, to the complete embarrassment of Kalinda, that she’d somehow magicked a blowjob but hadn’t exactly finished the job when Romano called for help. How was she to know what was brewing between them was real and not the magic she’d used? Sure, she’d been attracted to him before the flare-ups got bad, but she’d only met him around the time her magic started changing, and it seemed she unconsciously used the power.
For now, there was too much to think about and too much time to think about it. She’d had to allow Silva to run the business the last few days, and thank God she had the Fae, but that didn’t mean Kalinda could afford to be away from her business indefinitely. Silva told her orders were coming in from The Daily Grind, and Kalinda had to keep up with that engagement. It was too important.
So Kalinda had a plan: find Lorenzo and see if he could help get her out of there.
Lorenzo was a low-level fire mage teenager who’d been taken under the protection of the pack. He also had a super protective mother, and as a result, he’d developed mad skills at sneaking, evading, and escaping supervision when he wanted to.
Romano had been called to handle something in the main house, and it gave Kalinda enough time to make her move. It was now or never. She’d put on jogging clothes and her tennis shoes and tucked her phone and keys into her bra. Not the most comfortable, but it kept her hands free and looked a lot less like she was planning an escape. She took a lap around the edge of the compound. It was much larger than she’d expected. The pack lands were comprised of a subdivision with Dominic’s home and his Enforcers living around his location. After working up a pretty good sweat, she figured she’d been seen by enough wolves to disappear.
After a short distance, she veered off her path in search of one of the teens Dominic’s pack had taken in and built a community center for. When they weren’t in the apartments he’d had built for them, they spent a lot of their time working on pack lands and had gained a sense of family. Cin’s jewelry was highly sought after around town, and if she kept going the way she was, her growth would be very good for her nationally too.
Lorenzo would be ideal. His best friend Heath would do in a pinch. Years of living on the street had made him good at dodging just about anyone: cops, store owners he’d just boosted merchandise from, or security guards. And sure, Lorenzo, Cin, and Heath were grateful to the wolves for helping them out, but they were still kids. And they still loved the chance make a little mischief sometimes.
She spotted Cin and Lorenzo a few hundred feet away, standing in a clearing sharing the headphones from Lorenzo’s spell phone. Heath sat on the ground with his knees drawn up under his chin and watched them with an odd expression on his face. K
alinda felt bad for him. He was kind of a third wheel these days.
Well, maybe helping her escape would take his mind off things for a minute. She started to head their way.
“Out for a stroll?”
Kalinda nearly tripped and fell flat on her face when Giuliana paced next to her, barely breathing hard. The wolf, she was sure, could run for miles without tiring. The benefit of her genetics.
“Yes, for now.”
Giuliana’s brow arched at that. “Oh? Do tell.”
“Depends. Are you still a master of escaping?”
She wasn’t Lorenzo, but Giuliana had dealt with her oppressive uncle, Arturo, tracking her wherever she went and keeping her from having much of a life. Now that she had joined Dominic’s pack, she had a lot more freedom. She’d been able to open a vintage clothing shop, and she no longer had her uncle tracking her movements every moment of every day. She was still pack, however, and Kalinda couldn’t be sure she would help, wild streak or not.
Giuliana shrugged. “Depends on who you’re running from.”
Kalinda bit her lip. She wasn’t exactly sure she was ready for that conversation. Yet.
“Ah, Romano.” Giuliana nodded in understanding. “He’s not a bad guy, not really. His parents messed him up pretty badly, you know?”
Kalinda hadn’t heard about that. All she’d ever gotten from him were jokes and double entendre. Oh, and hot-as-fuck need pouring off of him. But the parents thing intrigued her. “How?”
“Ask him sometime. As to escaping, I suppose I could help, for a couple hours at least. But if my Alpha asks, I’ll tell him where you are.”
Well, a few hours to get her head straight was better than nothing. “Fine. I just need to go by my house and clean up before checking in at the office. I may need to make some orders, and there are plenty of baked goods in there for you as payment.”
“Done. Let’s head to my car.”
That was easy.
Ten minutes later, they were passing through the exterior guard post out of Lombardi Pack lands and into the city proper. Another fifteen minutes and she was nearly to her home. Kalinda damn near felt like she could cry.
Giuliana leaned over and inhaled deeply. “You smell different.”
“I’m really tired of hearing that. You know, that will give a girl a complex.”
“It isn’t unpleasant, but you normally smell like chocolate or vanilla, you know, food. Now it’s food and old magic. It’s wild.”
“Had a run-in with the Chaos Realm,” Kalinda hedged. She wasn’t sure how much Romano or Dominic had shared, but she wouldn’t give away more information than she needed to.
Giuliana cut her gaze at Kalinda but didn’t ask anything else. Probably respected the boundary since she’d put one up herself about Romano. Once in her home, Kalinda took a much-needed shower, changed into her work gear, complete with her favorite heels, and headed back out.
“Ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. Doesn’t seem like I’ll have enough time to hang out and relax in my own home.”
Giuliana winced. “I know it doesn’t help, but if Dominic wants you protected, he has a reason. He really isn’t one to overreact, and trust me, I know all about that.
Yeah, she did, and Kalinda wouldn’t argue with that. Still, it chaffed not being able to be her own person anymore. It seemed like it was all an overreaction for no reason.
Heading into her office was uneventful as well. When they got there, Silva was moving around outside in front of cargo vans loading platters and giving work details as if she’d been doing it for years.
“Tatiana, you have the Baker party. Lily, get what we have over to The Daily Grind and tell Danielle or Tony that Kalinda will get the rest of their order to them as soon as possible. Jasmine, you have the Walkers, and we’re good for the day. I’ll head out to do some rounds and keep up with reservations.”
She was a regular drill sergeant. To keep down a whole lot of questions, Kalinda waited until everyone left for their posts before she got out of the car and headed in. Silva met her at the front door.
“I thought that was you. Are you okay?”
“It’s all a precaution right now, but thanks for running everything. Looks like I don’t need to even be here.”
Silva wrinkled her nose. “Okay, where is my boss and what have you done to her?”
Kalinda laughed, and it was the first time she’d felt free in a while. Everything that had been happening weighed heavily on her shoulders, and even for someone as serious as her, it was a lot. But …
Kalinda stood up tall, wiped her hands down her front before making sure her bun was neat and secure on top of her head. “Where are we with the order from The Daily Grind?”
“There she is.” Silva smiled softly. “You’ve got orders for twenty whole lemon cakes, a hundred assorted muffins, add in an assortment of coffee cakes and Danishes. Danielle added for you to hurry it up. She’s getting cranky, like when she has no coffee.”
Kalinda snorted. “She owns a coffee shop; she’s never out of coffee.”
“Just passing on the message.”
“Heard, loud and clear. I suppose I should get to work, and Giuliana, you get meals for babysitting.”
Silva looked over Giuliana quizzically. “Wolf?”
“Got it in one. Hi, I’m Giuliana, resident babysitter for the day.” She extended her hand to Silva.
There was an awkward moment of silence as Silva stared at Giuliana’s hand. Kalinda frowned, wondering what that was all about.
“I won’t bite,” Giuliana commented with a hesitant laugh.
“That’s what they all say.”
“Well, you could just try it out.”
Silva shrugged and shook her hand but snatched it back as if burned. Giuliana did the same, eyes widening. “You’re—”
“A worker for Kalinda, and it’s nice to meet you. The vintage shop is yours, I think?”
“Um, yes.”
Well, that wasn’t weird at all.
Kalinda wondered at the interaction, but Silva turned to lead them into the shop before she could ask any questions. Still, Kalinda wasn’t going to let it go, and would have to get Silva alone to understand what had happened.
Silva had been an odd hire for Kalinda after losing Zoey. She’d had experience in baking, managing, and customer service skills to boot, making her an instant attractive prospect. But she’d had no references, no real history, and didn’t seem like she wanted to share it much. Living in portal cities wasn’t exactly the safest place to be, and Kalinda had gotten used to the certain level of anonymity the people liked to have at times, but Silva still pushed the envelope into crazy-weird.
Her interview had consisted of baking a three-tier cake, each layer made from a different flavor, then assisting with serving while managing clients. She’d excelled at it all, impressing Kalinda greatly. But in the time she’d known Silva, Kalinda hadn’t found out much of her past except she was Fae and had no intention of living within Fae land borders.
The inside of the shop smelled of flour, sweets, and food, a scent that soothed Kalinda instantly. This she knew and understood. Her kitchen gleamed from the polished stainless steel, thanks to Silva who, it seemed, had stayed diligent in keeping it that way.
“Giuliana, I’ll be in here for some time working. If you’d like, you can be in my seating area. I have cable and a setup in there for you to be comfortable.”
“Sweet! I can catch some DIY shows while I’m at it.”
The wolf was gone instantly, and Silva released a breath.
“Silva, you’re on sous.”
For a time, they worked silently, Kalinda pushing her magic into food as she chopped, blended, and slid batter into the oven. She had cuts of prime rib warming for Giuliana and figured enough time had passed she could ask what was going on with Silva.
“What was that earlier?”
Silva’s hands froze for a moment before she went back to mixing her fro
sting for the coffee cakes. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Kalinda lifted a brow. “You know me better than that by now.”
“It’s not something I like talking about. Where have you been?”
“Is this one of those ‘I’ll show you mine and you show me yours’ moments?”
“Maybe.”
Silva never looked up, but Kalinda could sense this was important. She sighed. “The whole thing with the Viscount Pride seems to lead the wolves to believe the lions are attracted to my changing magic.”
“It has been arcing lately.”
“Jeez, it seems everyone but me noticed it.”
“You noticed. You just didn’t think about what it could mean. You’re a workaholic, Kalinda, and everyone knows that. I was surprised you could stay away from this place for a few days, despite what happened.”
“It’s my business.”
“And your shield.”
Kalinda looked up and met Silva’s gaze. She’d never really looked into Silva’s eyes before, and now could see they were green with a rim of purple around them. They were beautiful, but as Kalinda stared, those eyes glittered golden and the pupils dilated.
“Well … yes,” Kalinda forced out. “It has become a place of comfort. I built this with my own two hands. I use my mother’s old recipes every day to pay homage to all she did for me and my sister.”
“And now your magic is shifting, changing, and that group, the lions, were affected by it.”
Kalinda nodded. “Dominic and Romano had me checked out with Zahara.” Again, she found herself skirting the truth, not sure how much of it should could share with anyone.
“Hmmm,” Silva said as she packed the frosting into pastry bags for decorating later.
“Oh no, that’s not the end of this. It’s your turn, Tinker.”
Her trademark action showed up when Silva wrinkled her nose. “I would like to tell you she was not Fae but a fairy. Much different. A sprite, or what have you, from the element of wind who could help people fly with her fairy dust. A fairy answers to the power of the Fae if it is so ordered or they are bound. I am not a fairy, and much cuter.”
Mated to the Enforcer (Mafia Wolf Shifters) (Encantado Shifters Book 2) Page 5
