Page 96 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

“Wait, you marked him?” he asks, shock in his eyes as he looks at his sister. Sienna’s cheeks flush as she nods.

“It’s just marking,” she says quietly to him. He nods slowly before his expression turns to one of arrogance.

“I knew it wouldn’t take long.”

“Yeah, right,” I say with a scoff. “Since when could you see the future?”

He shrugs, draping his arm around Sienna. “I know the two of you.”

He then looks at Sienna, his smirk changing to a genuine, gentle smile, kissing her forehead. He looks at me as if wanting to say something, but before any of us can say anything else, all three of us turn, sensing someone watching us.

I scan the crowd, trying to find the source of whoever is watching us, and then I see him, a man slipping through the crowd. He looks ordinary enough, blending with those around him. He has a stocky build and is wearing sweatpants and a hoodie with his hood up. I can only see his brown beard, hands in his pockets, and from his body language, he’s clearly on edge.

Ahren smiles as he gives Sienna’s shoulders a gentle squeeze, and she smiles at the man. I see why he wanted her here, so we didn’t look so imposing. Smart move.

“Thank you for meeting us,” Ahren says. “Take a seat.”

The man looks between us, and I move over, allowing him to sit down, even though I’d rather have been closer to- stop. She’s with her brother; we aren’t a couple.

But we’re blurring the lines, and I can’t fucking deny that.

I turn my attention to the man who sits down at the edge of the seat; he’s clearly tense.

“We don’t have long; I can’t be seen with you,” he says, his voice low, filled with urgency, his accent thick. He appears to be human, but something tells me he’s not.

“We understand. My sister will cast an illusion; you won’t appear to be seated with us. You said you had some information in return for safe passage to the States.”

“Yes. It’s regarding the disease where we lose our wolves. Like me,” he mutters. So, he is a werewolf – or used to be.

“So, are you on the run?” I ask.

“He found out; he knows I know.” His entire body tenses. “He knows I know his identity.”

He’s scared – scratch that – he’s fucking terrified, and he’s not a small man. “Who knows?” I ask.

He turns his head, looking at each of us, and I catch a glimpse of his face, which has three deep scars running across it, one ripping right through his nose, leaving it deformed; his left eye is colourless. Whatever inflicted that injury took his sight from it, too. He might be in his late forties, but I’m not sure.

“Give me your word that you will grant me safe passage to Alaska.”

Ahren nods.

“We promise it,” Sienna says as she smiles gently. “Whoever you fear won’t be able to get to you.”

He looks at her and nods.

“My father was the Alpha of a pack – Zanna Nera in Italy. Most of us lost our wolves nearly two decades ago. But the ‘virus’, as they called it, wasn’t something in the air; it wasn’t even a disease. My father had his suspicions and felt something was amiss.”

He begins fidgeting, scanning the crowd before turning back to us and continuing. He was once an Alpha heir… Now, simply a human.

He did some research, but just as he was on the brink of finding something out – or he already had – he was found dead. Our entire pack was massacred. I had snuck out that night; when I returned, I found them dead and everything destroyed. The enemy was still there. I couldn’t find him, not without a wolf. I just heard him – something about finding the research.”

He pauses for a moment before he continues, “I realised it was my father’s research he was looking for, and I knew it was vital I protect it, so I took his research and ran. Yes, I know, like a coward.”

“Not really cowardly,” Ahren says lightly.

The man removes his hands from his pockets, placing his clenched fists on the table; he’s missing a few fingers, too, and it looks recent. Whatever this man has suffered was brutal.

“I’ve worked on it in hiding for years. And I found out what my father had discovered. This virus isn’t transmitted through the air – it’s carried by a person, and I finally found him. I know what he looks like.”