He didn’t pursue her, so she stopped moving. “That is a request,” he said, in a calm voice. “Your friends live here, right? I would think that if this neighborhood has issues, you’d want them taken care of, wouldn’t you? So, if you need help, ask me.”
She glanced at Jordan’s body. She couldn’t stand here having a conversation with a dead body ten feet away from her and the smell of blood clotting her nostrils. She turned and hurried out of the back door.
Dominic was right on her heels. He moved to block her as she hurried down the steps. “Where do you think you’re going?” he snapped her. “I was talking to you.” Romano trailed behind him, but stood back, giving them space.
“I just saw a man killed right in front of me! Excuse me if I can’t make casual conversation when there’s a dead body ten feet away from me.” And she burst into tears.
“Oh,” he said, sounding chastened. “I’m sorry. Really sorry.” And the next thing she knew, he’d gathered her in his arms. She sagged against him.
“I apologize,” he said gently, stroking her back. “I’ve lived this lifestyle so long that death just doesn’t have much impact on me.”
“Well, maybe it should,” she said, sniffling hard.
“Yes,” he said, his voice surprisingly wistful. “Maybe it should.”
She leaned against him longer than she should have, just because it felt so good. Finally, she stepped back. He let her go reluctantly.
She heaved a sigh. “Thank you,” she said stiffly. “Are you saying that your boss didn’t know that the garbage wasn’t being collected?”
“Of course not.” Dominic looked offended. “Jordan was supposed to be paying the garbage disposal company. I don’t know how the hell he thought he could get away with this.”
“Well, he wasn’t the brightest bulb on the tree.” She tried to wrap her head around what he’d just told her. She didn’t think that he was lying. She got the impression, somehow, that he would never lie to her. He might tell her things she didn’t want to hear, he might refuse to answer her questions, but he wouldn’t lie.
That changed her view of him just a little. One of the things she’d been most furious about was the thought of the Blood Oath pack ripping off poor communities and leaving them to live in filth, with no recourse. Now that she knew that wasn’t true, how did she feel about Dominic? She still didn’t know.
He was violent and aggressive and a killer - but he was also capable of surprising tenderness and protectiveness.
“It will never happen again,” Dominic told her. “I’ll be visiting the head of the garbage disposal company first thing tomorrow to see why they didn’t report the issue back to us.”
Alarm flashed through her. “You’re not going to kill him, are you?”
He looked puzzled. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“What’s the point?” Zoey said, feeling a surge of frustration. “They’re criminals. You’re criminals. The people in power here take whatever they can get away with. How are they any different than you?”
His voice took on a crisp edge. “Is that how you see things?”
She gestured around her at the piles of stinking trash that were heaped up around overflowing garbage cans. “That’s how it is, Dominic.”
His brow creased. “That’s not how Arturo runs things, and it will not happen again. I’m going to spend the next few days putting out the message that if anyone collects fees and doesn’t perform the services they are paid for, they will die in more pain than they ever dreamed possible.
“That’s the kind of thing a criminal would say, isn’t it?”
He raised his eyebrows questioningly. “Do the police give you protection, Zoey?”
She shoved her hands in her pockets. “The police force can’t really handle magical threats all by themselves, even with the mage division and the shifter division. They’re overwhelmed. There are entire neighborhoods that are no-go zones. There’s only so much they can do.”
“Exactly. We provide a service. We charge people for that service. If you visit any other neighborhood in our territory, you’ll see that the promises we make, we keep. What we charge is like a tax, except unlike the government agencies, we can deliver on our promises. They won’t go out of business if they fail. We will.” He was staring right into her eyes now, his gaze holding hers captive. The intensity in his voice made her feel like he really, really cared what she thought.
“I hope so,” she said grudgingly.
“I was going to take you out to dinner, but I understand you probably don’t have much of an appetite now. So I’ll just walk you home instead.”
“Would there be any point in arguing?”
He grinned at her. “Well, arguing with your mate in front of his second in command is a spanking offense, at the very least. And I’d love any excuse to get my hands on your delectable ass. So please do.”
She shot him a sidelong look of defiance. “I greatly look forward to being walked home by you. Thank you so much for that chivalrous gesture.”
