You’re messing up my badass moment.
There was no reply, of course, and Giuliana shook her head.
“We find Heath, and if things happen, we take the battle when it comes. Deal?”
Pasquale only stared before he shook. Everything … changed. He grew larger—it was the only way she could describe it. His essence swelled, making his shoulders impossibly broad, his legs strong as oak trees, and his head cocked to the side. The press of his power nearly forced her to her knees, and she had to fight to keep on her feet. Canines burst forth in his mouth. Hers did the same in response.
“Be sure of your choice. It could mess up everything in our lives. It could mean losing your pack … again. It would mean learning things that could change everything you ever thought you knew. I am not a man to be played with, Giuliana. If I become serious about claiming you, there is nowhere you can run.”
She swallowed against his threat, knowing he was giving her the last chance.
But he’d sealed his fate. He did the one thing no one else had ever fucking done.
He gave her the choice.
“Deal. So when do we leave to go after Heath?”
Chapter Four
“I’ve tracked Heath out of Lombardi Pack lands.”
“I knew that. So why does that sound like a death toll now?”
They hadn’t left immediately after her declaration of war. And it was a war. Pasquale had closed in on himself, probably arguing with his wolf even as Giuliana did a celebratory dance with hers. It wasn’t a mating or anything yet. That wasn’t what they’d agreed on, but it could most definitely be the end result. The whole thing made Giuliana itch, but she couldn’t deny the way they came together was electrifying.
Even beyond climax-of-the-century addled brain, she could see how they could work … maybe. But it was nice to allow things to just go without a definite choice from the outset. The sequence of events was enough to make her feel like she’d been tossed up in a tornado, but at least she had some control now and that put her back on solid ground.
Pasquale’s hesitance to tell her about Heath worried her though. She didn’t want the young man to die because he’d made a stupid mistake, but even she couldn’t change things if he’d made too many. She looked to Pasquale to clarify how fucked they were.
Not enough.
Shut up, wolf!
“It’s in the direction of Scorched Earth.”
Holy. Shit.
Scorched Earth was an example of how dangerous portal cities could be. While each had their own breed of shifters and paranorms that lived alongside mages, they consistently weren’t all gold and glittery. Encantado was known for their wolves, with only a small group of lions—now even less—and phoenix shifters. They also housed some daywalkers, but mages held the largest number. The mages couldn’t stand against the shifters if things went south because, while they had numbers, they didn’t have many battle capable mages of high level.
Scorched Earth was one place all sides feared. Closest to the portal out, it was protected heavily by shifters and mages alike in case another monstrosity wanted to come through to destroy. The name came from the destructive damage a wayward dragon had created before it was annihilated. It was twenty square miles of charred land many only went near to sightsee.
“Why would he go there? Heath grew up on the streets of District 17. He knows the ropes better than any of us.”
“No one guards Scorched Earth from people going in. Their eyes are only on the portal itself and the area surrounding Customs when people come in from the outside. Too much land to cover.”
“It’s a death sentence there. Nothing grows, no amenities. Nothing. Why run there?”
“I don’t know. But he didn’t travel down south where the Moonstone Pack runs the entertainment section, nor is he close to Trinity Council lands.”
“You’ve been busy.”
“The moment Kalinda alerted me of a missing pack member, I went searching before clues got lost. I could only travel so far before being summoned, but I know our heading.”
“He bypassed Greenwald Park.”
Greenwald was a wolf’s dream. Filled with trees, it had open space to run and ran from the west to east side of Encantado. It served as a barrier as well, standing between Moretti and Lombardi Lands and the side of Encantado typically reserved for upper-class mages. They resided near the more touristy location of the south. They didn’t mind being so close to the more cultured southern wolves. It would have been easier to disappear in Greenwald.
Pasquale nodded. “I would have done the same thing too.”
