They had saved me that night by telling me to run and I’d failed to do anything to help them protect Cini because I was a coward and by the time they were released from prison, Cini was a shadow of her former self.
I’d known her since I was eight years old. At the time, Cini had been tiny and dainty, with wispy white-blonde hair and too-big blue eyes that seemed to stare right through you. She’d always been like a fairy princess locked away in a tower, and I’d fancied myself as her knight until I realized how truly powerless I actually was without the rest of my pack.
Now, six years later, I sat watching the three of them struggle with the situation at hand in their own ways, and yet again, I was powerless to help them.
Ranieri was loud, pacing from one end of the living room to the other. Elio was on the phone, calling any and every person he could think of to try and figure out what the hell had happened two days ago, and Dante? Dante cleaned.
I could hear the sound of water running in the kitchen and I knew that, if I walked in there right now, he would be on his hands and knees scrubbing the grout on the tiled floor.
It was the only way I ever knew that something was wrong with the usually stoic alpha.
And me? I sat watching it all, still feeling like an outsider as they all seemed to take on their roles perfectly, leaving nothing for me.
I was the one who seemed to be washed along with the whims of the pack—a pack that I wasn’t sure I still even wanted to be a part of.
I loved these three men like brothers, but I still hadn’t forgiven Elio for what he nearly made me go through with.
Months ago, when I had somehow found myself standing in a church dressed in a tailored tuxedo as a woman who I barely knew reluctantly walked up the aisle to us, I wanted nothing more than to run screaming from the building.
But Elio had convinced us that this was the only way to protect Alesso’s little sister—that the more power we consolidated the more we could push Amante Sr. out and free our trapped princess.
He swore up and down that it was our duty to our fallen packmate to protect his little sister and that was it.
I knew he was a damned idiot for not seeing how much we were hurting Cini in the process. That she wanted more from us and I at least could be honest with myself about it.
I’d been obsessed with Luscinia Amante from the moment I saw her peeking around her brother’s waist.
At first, it was the fancy of a little boy who had been taught by his parents to protect things smaller than him, but as we grew older I knew there was much more to it than that. She was my first friend outside of Elio and his friends, my study partner, and my very first crush.
I used to dream about kissing her in secret and watching her pale face flush in response.
Not that I was ever allowed to act on those feelings because, as soon as I turned eighteen, Elio asked if I wanted to join his pack more permanently and I’d never been able to say no to him before.
I was a coward, but at least I could admit to myself how I felt about Cini.
Now I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to tell her how I felt because she was missing, and according to our inside source, she hadn’t been seen in days.
Cini almost never left the Amante estate. She rarely even attended events with Amante Sr. as he claimed he was too embarrassed by her to be seen with her.
All of her tutors, stylists, and things she wanted came straight to the house and the last time she had left was our failed wedding months ago and she hadn’t spoken to any of us since despite the hundreds of text messages we’d sent her.
“I say we go up there and demand to be let in. He knows that our loyalty hinges on her safety—” Ranieri continued, his face starting to turn red as he stopped to look at me. “Nico, are you even listening?”
“No,” I said, sighing with frustration. “None of that will work unless you want some lovely new lead piercings, courtesy of Amante’s guards.”
“So what would you have me do? We promised Alesso we would protect her and we’re doing a pretty shitty job of it,” Ranieri huffed, running his fingers through his dark blond hair.
“Well, for starters you can sit down and chill the fuck out,” I told him, crossing my arms as my gaze slipped over to where Elio was in the corner talking quietly on his phone with stiff shoulders.
He hadn’t slept since he learned we were barred from the mansion and I could see that he hadn’t shaved or showered either. My normally put together cousin looked like a shadow of his usual self as he tried to find our missing princess.
This situation was mostly his fault. I knew it, he knew it, hells we all knew it.
I’d only brought up bringing Cini into our pack in a romantic sense once and he’d nearly kicked my ass for even suggesting it, claiming that Alesso would roll in his grave at the thought.
I didn’t agree. Alesso had been protective of his sister, sure, but I also remembered being seventeen years old getting caught staring at her for too long when she was swimming in the pool. He hadn’t been angry, in fact, Alesso had teased me about it for months afterward.
But something had happened the night Alesso died and it broke something in Elio. He threw himself into work as soon as they were released from prison and the next five years after that passed in a blur of mob life as he worked to become Amante Sr.’s heir.
