He nodded as he wiped tears from his eyes. “I understand. It’s probably smart. I’d do the same thing in your position.”
I gave him a weak smile. “Diego? Luis? Can you find him a spot?”
The two men stepped forward. Donatello got out of his chair and joined them.
“I have a suite outside by the pool that should work for him,” Donatello said as he placed a hand on Maxwell’s shoulder. “We call it the pool house for obvious reasons. How do you feel about hot tubs, young man?”
Maxwell frowned. “Uh… I don’t think I’ve ever used one.”
Donatello chuckled as the group walked out the door. “You’re gonna love it. You can wash away your worries.”
Nico shrugged. “Now we wait.”
“Wait for what, Nico?” I asked.
“We wait for Viola to make contact. Now that we have her son, she’ll have to make contact. I’m sure of it.”
“Oh my God, Nico,” I hissed. “Do you really think that? There’s no way this is going to get us the outcome we’re looking for. All that’s happened is that we’ve turned into kidnappers. We’re locking up a poor kid, for God’s sake.”
“What do you want, Maddy? We had no other option. This was the best plan we had, and the best chance we were going toget, so we had to take it.” Nico looked angrier than he should have. It was probably the stress, but it still irked me.
“Because, Nico, I told you this wouldn’t work. Donatello and I both said it. Now we’ve done this, and it might get that kid’s brothers and sisters killed.”
Nico looked down at the floor, gritting his teeth. “I made the call. We all voted. It was what we needed to do. What the hell were we supposed to do, Maddy?”
My anger was growing with each passing second, and his refusal to see what a bad idea this was only spurred it on.
“You know what, Nico? I can tell you one thing that would be better. Maybe not having a goddamned prisoner of war locked up by the pool. How about that?”
Nico held a hand up and shook his head. “I get that. It’s not moral, but our backs were pushed to the wall. I didn’t hear you offering any other suggestions before we left.”
“So, this is my fault?” I was nearly shouting now, but I couldn’t rein in my voice.
“Yo!” Felipe called out. “Enough, you two. Jesus Christ, don’t we have enough to worry about without you two biting each other’s heads off? Damn.”
I didn’t like being told what I could and couldn’t say. I whirled on Felipe and jabbed a finger toward him.
“We are having a conversation, Felipe. I don’t think we need extra input,” I growled.
He simply cocked an eyebrow at me. “Tensions are high. I get that. But you guys shouting back and forth can’t be good for the baby, right?”
My jaws locked shut. I hadn’t thought of that, but my anger wasn’t going to go away that easily. No one seemed to be listening to me, and I needed some alone time.
“I’m going for a run. Call me if anything changes,” I said and stomped toward the door.
“Maddy— ” Nico called out, but I slammed the door behind me, cutting off whatever he had been about to say next.
The island was a tropical paradise—the entire perimeter was beachfront except for the back of the island, which had a cliff face that dropped down to the sea from forty feet up. Thankfully, there was a large grove of pine and palm trees near the center of the island. I shifted and sprinted toward that. My wolf took over, and I was able to take a step back and really look at things. I was scared, frustrated, and hormonal as all hell. That discussion should have never infuriated me so much. It pissed me off, and I was angry that it had made me look like the stereotypical, overexcited female.
All these months, and we were still dealing with this. As I raced through the trees, my paws digging into the sandy soil, I wondered when it would end. We had to be nearing the end. I didn’t think I could survive much more of this. My baby deserved all my attention, and I couldn’t even do that. Everything seemed to revolve around Viola and what she was going to do next.
My paws ascended the rocky hill at the back of the island. I padded to the edge of the cliff and sat on my haunches, breath panting in and out past my lolling tongue as I stared out at the turquoise water. What kind of world was I bringing my baby into? How could I make sure they would always be safe?
There was a moment, the barest flicker of thought, where I wondered if I could end all this. What if I let my wolf run free and wild—a raging werewolf beast running on bloodlust and rage, tearing Viola apart—all with a simple sip from the vial?
Shaking that thought from my head, I shifted back to my human form and sat, legs hanging off the edge of the cliff, enjoying the view. That wasn’t a road I needed to worry about going down—not yet, anyway.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d sat there, but it must have been a while. I caught Nico’s scent as he hiked up the hill to meet me. My mouth stayed shut as he walked up and took a seat right next to me. We sat in silence, staring out at the vastness of the sea.
