Page 49 of Unravel Me

The omega immediately heads toward the front door.

A brief silence follows, and during it the beta says, "By the way, I'm Renato Santoro. This is my nephew, Mauro, and…" He gestures toward the hallway where the omega disappeared. "That's my brother, Emilio."

Oh… wow.

I suddenly realize these are the people Davos told me about, right before giving me the candy! He just conveniently forgot to mention the existence of the hot nephew, Mauro.

I reach out to Renato, and he shakes my hand.

Then I offer my hand to Mauro. I’m just weirdly tempted to somehow strike up a conversation with him, leave myself an opening, ahem, to…

"Hey, I'm Jared." I flash him a charming smile, and the alpha immediately responds with a smile of his own, but not with words.

Instead, Renato says, "Mauro is mute. He can hear, but he can't speak."

I blink in surprise. Just then, I catch voices coming from the hallway

"Good morning, sir. I'm sorry to bother you. My name is Veyron Nolan, and I'm looking for a missing omega—"

CHAPTER 8: MAURO

6 years ago

When I open my eyes, I'm still lying outside the door leading to Rocco’s room. The blond omega's screams are still coming from inside. I push myself up, my whole body trembling, and wipe the blood from my face. The world around me sways as if I were on a swing.

But if that bastard thinks I'm going to give up, then he doesn't know a damn thing about me. I'm the man who resisted drugs designed to destroy my brain permanently and erase my memory through nothing but sheer force of will, and I'm not about to quit now. My vision keeps swimming, dark spots spinning at the edges, but I force myself toward Luca's room anyway.

As I pass the briefing room, voices drift out into the hallway. I slow down to listen and let out a quiet breath of relief. I recognize only Ennio and Luca.

Perfect. That's the best possible scenario, especially if our uncle—the goddamn capo—isn't in there.

I shove the door open. They're both wearing tactical gear, so they must've just come back from an operation, and they're not alone. Four other soldati are in the room, gathered around what looks like a debriefing, going over whatever happened. Something in the back of my mind tells me they were supposed to hit the Russians tonight, but I can barely hold a thought together, swaying heavily.

I type into my phone with trembling fingers:

"Everyone out. I need to talk to Ennio and Luca."

As always, every soldati looks to Ennio before moving. That's how it works around here. Whenever Anzo isn't present, everyone waits for Ennio to confirm the order.

Ennio gives a calm nod, and immediately they all stand up and file out of the room.

I start typing again as fast as my fingers can move, and my phone reads the words aloud.

"Rocco has an omega in his room. I have to get him away from him. Please… help me."

Luca snorts. He looks at me like I just asked him to dance a waltz in the middle of the room.

"You really don't want to do that. Rocco's insanely territorial about his fucktoys. He doesn't let anyone interfere in his business."

"I don't give a shit. I want that omega out of his hands," I type furiously.

"Why?" Ennio asks. The question is short and cold, and his black eyes lock onto mine without the slightest flicker.

As fast as I can, I type my answer.

"I have this strange feeling that he's my True Mate."

Yeah… I take a huge risk.