“Wow, for someone who comes from a criminal organization, you really suck at lying.” Zoey shook her head. “You actually want people to think that of your pack-mates?”
Giuliana’s face contorted in frustration. “Fine. Our men don’t beat their women, it goes against our pack’s code. And also none of our women would tolerate it. Doesn’t matter. Stay the hell away from Dominic.”
“Suddenly, I actually feel like calling him for a very romantic date. And if you start following me again, I will not hesitate to snitch on you.”
“You bitch!” Giuliana gasped.
“Thank you.” Zoey gave a sarcastic curtsy. Then she climbed back on her bike and peddled away, chased by a stream of what were probably very colorful insults, but they were in Italian so for all she knew, Giuliana could have been shouting out the alphabet.
But she probably wasn’t.
Chapter Fourteen
Dominic rained a hail of blows on the punching bag in the pack gymnasium, which was tucked away at the back of the Arena. It exploded under the force, and he threw back his head and howled in fury. That was the third one this morning.
He was boiling with frustration. Zoey was nowhere to be found. Normally he’d have men on her apartment 24 hours a day, but with the war against the Bianchi pack, they didn’t have the manpower. She’d briefly gone to her apartment yesterday, but by the time one of his men got there, she’d left again, and her friends claimed they had no idea where she was staying. He knew they were lying, but he also knew that if he had them tortured to make them talk, she’d never speak to him again.
Damn, love was complicated.
His wolf was furious. It craved its mate, wanted to nuzzle her, smell her, press up against her. It wanted to feel the peace that came to him in her presence – only hers. Yesterday he went running in the woods and challenged a bear to try to get some release. The bear took one look at him, turned, and ran for its life.
After the night he’d spent with her, he couldn’t believe that she’d run off and leave him over one little argument.
And it had been a hell of a week. The Bianchi pack had burned down a restaurant that was under Blood Oath pack protection, so the Blood Oath pack were now rebuilding the restaurant and paying the owner for the loss of revenue. They’d kidnapped four Bianchi pack foot soldiers in revenge and blown up an armored truck that was carrying money from one of their casinos. The Bianchi pack had refused to ransom their soldiers, who were still being held prisoner, so the Blood Oath pack dressed them up in frilly outfits and sent pictures of them to taunt the Bianchi pack.
He still hadn’t been able to track down the business owners who’d gone missing, and he knew that Arturo could only tolerate his failure for so long before having to take some kind of disciplinary action against him. It didn’t matter that Arturo had also failed to find them; the businesses had been in Dominic’s territory, and he was responsible.
Romano had been trying to reach him all morning. Every time that he answered, Dominic snapped “Did you find her yet?” And when Romano said “no,” he slammed down the phone.
As he swept up sand from the latest punching bag he’d destroyed, the door flew open, and Romano stalked in.
Dominic whirled to face him. “When did you decide that life wasn’t worth living?” Dominic snarled.
“There was an attack on one of our armored vans this morning,” Romano said calmly. “The driver was badly burned, Arturo brought him here so Giuliana could heal him. Giuliana’s pissed because she wasn’t allowed to go to the scene and the driver nearly died. Arturo asked me to tell you since apparently you’re not answering your phone. He was at his house, he’s on his way here. I told him that you were already on it.”
Dominic shook himself. “Fuck.” Then he grimaced. “Thanks for covering for me.” He dumped a dust-pan full of sand into the trash.
“Always,” Romano said promptly. “And no, we haven’t located Zoey yet. She’ll have to come up for air eventually. She has friends that she cares about, and her bank account’s running on fumes.”
“All right. Damn, she’s good at hiding.” He shook his head.
“Do you want my opinion?”
“Not ever, actually, no,” he growled.
Roman bent down and scooped up some shreds of leather from the punching bag and tossed them into the trash. “You’re letting the past hold you back. Zoey isn’t…her.” Wisely, he stopped himself from saying the name.
He knew what had happened to Dominic, long ago. He knew why Dominic had gone wolf. But he had no right to bring that up.
“Tread very carefully.”
Romano, as usual, ignored him. “You’re letting a ghost get in between you and the woman you moon-bit. And it’s making you act like a real douche.”
“Since when do you fucking care about my personal life?” Dominic growled.
Romano looked surprised. “This isn’t some roll in the hay. When it’s a mate, that’s different.”
Dominic’s wolf nearly exploded out of his skin. Instead, he took a swing at Romano, who just barely managed to duck. “Next word out of your mouth, if it involves Zoey, will be your last.”
