She got dressed and came out, reheated the rest of the coffee in the microwave, and berated herself for her weakness. One lap of Dominic’s tongue and she’d been ready to abandon all of her principles and make the beast with two backs with – a real son of a beast. He was a killer. An extortionist. And practically a stranger to her. What the hell was wrong with her?
Her gloomy thoughts were interrupted by a sharp rapping on the door.
“Depends,” she yelled. “Who is it?” Who even knew she was here? Right around now that smell-ability of Dominic’s would come in handy.
The door rattled as someone messed with the lock. She leapt to her feet as the door swung open - and Cin, Lorenzo, and four of Cin’s friends strolled in. Alberto, Yulia, Sarah, and Heath.
“Did you have to pick the lock?” Zoey said, annoyed. “You could have just said who you were!”
Cin shrugged. “Gotta keep my skills sharp.”
Zoey turned her attention to Lorenzo. “Does your mom know you’re here?”
“Will you can it with questions about my mom?” Lorenzo snapped. He never used to snap. Zoey just looked at him, steadily, until he dropped his gaze. “Sorry.”
“Call your mother and tell her where you are. Or leave.”
“She’ll yell at me!” He sneaked a furtive glance at Cin, who looked faintly contemptuous.
Zoey had no sympathy. “You’ve earned it.”
Grumbling, he grabbed his cell phone and headed into the hallway.
“Is lunch ready? Real roast beef!” Cin said, her eyes shining. “I’m drooling!”
“What?”
Cin looked puzzled. “The note you sent me? By gryphon messenger?”
Zoey shook her head in confusion. “I didn’t send you a note.”
“No roast beef?” Cin’s shoulders slumped and she looked disappointed. “Man. I haven’t had roast beef in like a year. My mom used to – never mind.” Tears glittered in her eyes, and she blinked them away angrily. Zoey had a feeling that it was more than the roast beef that Cin was missing.
Then Zoey glanced at the mini fridge in the kitchen. There was a bowl of fresh fruit sitting on top, she suddenly noticed. It hadn’t been there when she’d headed out in the morning. How had she failed to notice that? Because she’d been too busy melting into a puddle of lust.
“Hold on,” she said. She went over and yanked the fridge door open. It was full to the brim with sandwiches and cannolis and pots of tira misu.
“Oh, my God,” Cin said reverently. “Come to mama.”
“All that food,” Heath said, eyes big as saucers.
Lorenzo came back in the room with a scowl that said his mother had chewed him out – but his face lit up when he saw that Cin was smiling.
The kids descended on the food like a pack of starving locusts. Zoey, who was starving after biking around town all morning, joined them. It was delicious. They stuffed themselves until they were ready to burst, Cin and her friends sitting cross-legged on the floor because there weren’t enough chairs.
Then Zoey felt guilty. But deliciously full. But guilty. This was food from the Blood Oath pack. She was eating murder food. Extortion food.
The food was delicious, but wrong. Just like Dominic.
It also disturbed her that Dominic knew where to find Cin and her friends. That was why he’d sent them the note and steered them to her crash pad, she realized. Typical mobster - he was sending a message. A veiled threat.I know where your friends live. I can make life easy for all of you – or hard.
Damn it.
“So you got the message from the Gryphon delivery service,” she said.
“Yep,” Cin said cheerfully. “We were hanging outside the squat and the Gryphon flew right over us and dropped it off.”
“The person who sent you that gryphon –he’s someone to be avoided. He was sending you the message to get to me. To let me know that he knows where you live.”
