He looked around the clearing.
“I killed them,” he said dimly, his gaze focusing on Benedict and Primo.
Giuliana was still on her hands and knees, puking in the grass.
“Carlo,” Ottavio wailed, cradling his shattered arm. “Look what you’ve done!To me!I’m your brother!”
“No, Ottavio. Look whatyou’vedone.” Carlo’s face was bleak as he stalked over to Ottavio. He pointed in the direction of the city. “You had Benedict open the gates to hell. All those people dying, just so you could lure Arturo here. You knew he’d have to respond to a ghoul attack. And then you’d throw him through the portal. That was the only way you could kill him, wasn’t it? You couldn’t take him on in a fair fight.”
“Carlo, you’re fixed! You’re okay now!” Ottavio tried to scoot away from his brother. He gave him a sickly, ingratiating grin, cringing as Carlo towered over him. “Look how strong you are! You’re stronger than ever! We can rule the pack together now! We can…ahhhhhhh….”
Zoey put her hands over her ears to dull the sound of Carlo killing Ottavio.
* * * *
Two days later, they were gathered in Arturo’s living room. Arturo had summoned Dominic, Romano and Zoey to his house, probably to ask Dominic to re-join the pack. That wasn’t an offer that Dominic could accept. He’d only come to say good-bye.
Giuliana was there, sitting to the left of her uncle, still looking pale and queasy, as they all were. Even Arturo’s normally healthy complexion had a pallor to it. Med-mages had done all they can, but they’d all feel like they had a bad hangover for at least another few days.
Carlo sat by Arturo’s right side. He wore a crisp pressed suit and his eyes shone with intelligence, but they were haunted now. Killing his own brother hadn’t been easy for him.
They sat nibbling on biscotti and sipping coffee for a few minutes, murmuring pleasantries, while Dominic waited for Arturo to get to the point of why he’d invited them.
But the question he sprang on him wasn’t the one that Dominic expected.
“Why did you bite Zoey?” Arturo asked. “It wasn’t a moon-bite.”
Dominic set down his coffee and arched an eyebrow. “How long have you known?” he asked. Zoey looked at him in confusion.
“I always knew,” Arturo said, leaning back in his seat. “You’re not a born wolf. You’re a made wolf. Only born wolves moon-bite.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Dominic asked his former boss.
Arturo shrugged. “It gave us an easy way to get out of having you enter an alliance with Fabiana. I knew they only wanted to do it to send her in as a spy. I suspected that they might use it as an excuse to declare war on us, but they would have done so either way. I also suspected that they were somehow behind the sabotage on our businesses, I just never guessed that Ottavio was part of that too.”
“I knew too,” Giuliana said. “It’s just not something that comes up that often, because made wolves are rarer than born wolves, and either way, most wolves end up in arranged matings before they get to meet their real mate on a full moon. But I knew it was impossible that it was a moon-bite. That’s why I questioned it. I thought Zoey had placed a spell on you or something, and she was just playing coy to make it more believable.”
“So this was never real?” Zoey spoke up, eyes shimmering with tears. Dominic shot Arturo a dirty look. He wished that Arturo had let him tell Zoey on his own, without springing it on her like this.
“My feelings for you have always been real,” Dominic said fiercely. “And once I shifted and bit you, my wolf took to you right away.”
Zoey blinked harder, and it hurt Dominic’s heart to see her questioning their mating bond. “But why did you even bite me in the first place?”
“Because Ottavio was about to kill you. I saw you walk up to him and ask for an audience with Arturo. He was just about to shift and kill. I know exactly what he looks like when he’s about to do that. I’ve seen him do it many times before.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “You’re kidding me. He would have killed me on the spot?”
“He was seconds away from tearing your throat out. I thought that he perceived that you had disrespected Arturo. Now, I realize that he didn’t want Arturo to know about the garbage situation in your neighborhood. But when I saw that look on his face, I just acted on instinct. To protect you. The only way to prevent him from killing you was to shift and mate-bite you.”
“But…that’s for life!” she spluttered. She looked at him with a hint of doubt. “Isn’t it?”
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “There’s nowhere in the world that you could run and hide from me, Zoey. You are mine. I meant it when I said that I was entranced by you the first moment I ever saw you. I wanted you so much that it was painful for me to talk to you, so I avoided you. I thought about you all the time, but I was willing to sacrifice my own happiness for the good of the pack. Then, when I saw Ottavio about to rip your head off, I just…acted. My wolf and I, together. And I have never regretted it.”
“Now I have a favor to ask of you again,” Arturo said, and Dominic tensed. It wouldn’t be easy to turn Arturo down, after living his life only for the Blood Oath pack for the last ten years.
But Arturo shocked him, yet again. “Primo’s death has created a power vacuum in the East. The Bianchi pack has been dismantled, and the surviving Bianchi family members have been leaving behind what are currently lone wolves. They need a leader. I have no desire to lead them. You will take over as theirCapo di Tutti Capos, with Romano as yourCapo, and I would like you to take Giuliana as your med-mage.”
“My brains must still be scrambled from the chaos realm,” Dominic said. “I could swear that I just heard you say that you wanted me to take over the former Bianchi pack.”
