Romano, in a rare moment of common sense, kept his lip zipped.
“And I am not driving her away,” he growled at him as he set the broom and dustbin in the corner. “I’m romancing her. I’m romancing the hell out of her.”
“Damn. So sweet. Even I melted a little when you said that.” Romano smirked – and then ducked again. “Too slow.”
“You really have picked today as the day that you want to die,” Dominic said. “What do you want on your tombstone?”
“How about ‘He died doing what he loved – annoying the shit out of people’. But really. Now that you’ve moon-bit her, there’s no going back, so you’ve got to make it work. You’re buying her fancy things and nice dinners, but you’re ignoring the one thing she’s really asking for.”
Dominic and his wolf began arguing. His wolf, pacing restlessly inside of the cage of Dominic’s humanity, wanted to be set free to tear Romano’s face off. The human part of Dominic was almost ready to break down and ask Romano what that one thing.
His phone started ringing, vibrating in the pocket of his jacket that he’d hung up on the wall. He grabbed it and answered. It was Zoey; she’d turned her phone back on.
“It’s Zoey,” he growled at Romano. “Take all your dumb advice and shove it up your ass.”
“What did you say to me?” Zoey sounded shocked.
Romano threw back his head and howled with laughter. He was laughing so hard his face turned red – as he stayed carefully out of Dominic’s reach.
“Not you!” Dominic shouted. “That wasn’t for you! I was talking to a dead man. Where are you?”
“We’re headed to the Arena. Are you there? Please be there.”
The strain in her voice sent chills through him. “I’m here. I’ll meet you out front.” He broke into a trot. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you when I see you. We’ll be there in five minutes.” Her voice was frantic, and his hackles rose. Something had upset her. He should have been there to keep her safe. Why wouldn’t she just let him keep her safe?
Romano was wheeze-laughing and crying. Dominic, boiling with rage at whoever had hurt Zoey, swung around and punched his nearest target – Romano - so hard that he heard ribs crunch. Romano fell over, still howling with laughter.
“Worth it!” He yelled after Dominic, and then got up and followed him, limping. His ribs would heal within the next few hours. That would teach him to mess with Dominic – no, actually, if history was any indicator, it probably wouldn’t.
And what exactly was Zoey asking for that Dominic wasn’t giving her?Dominic thought angrily, as he raced down the hall. He gave her food and beautiful clothing and hot sex and himself, for the rest of his life. Wasn’t that enough?
He knew that he wasn’t exactly experienced when it came to romance. Before Zoey, he’d had feelings for exactly one woman. That woman was no longer in the picture – because of Dominic. Because of his weakness.
He hadn’t had to woo Phoebe – they’d been high school sweethearts. It had just happened.
“All right, what?” he barked as Romano came limping up to him. “What does she really want from me, if you’re so smart?”
“She wants you to let her in. She wants you to answer her questions. You’re coming on all Big Bad Wolf, telling her you’re going to go kill a man, telling her she’s going to come be a mob wife, like it or not – if you stopped and explained things to her, you could turn it right around.”
Dominic gave him a look of disgust.Let her in?That was Romano’s big idea? That had to be wrong. Now he was sorry he’d asked.
Maybe Giuliana could have given him a clue, but she got all weird every time he even mentioned Zoey.
Minutes later he was standing on the sidewalk in front of the Arena as a taxi pulled up. Zoey spilled out of the cab, followed by a few people who he knew as friends of hers, from the background checks he’d done. There was Cin, the homeless thief. There was a frantic looking middle-aged woman named Andrea, and Andrea’s friend Stewart. They crowded around him, all babbling at the same time.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
They all started answering at once.
“Quiet!” He bellowed. He pointed at Zoey. “You. What’s happening?”
“Lorenzo’s gone. Andrea’s son.” Zoey gulped a breath. She’d been crying. Whoever made her cry was going to swallow all of their teeth before they died. “The Southside pack took him.”
“It’s all your fault!” Andrea shouted at him, and she slapped him across the face, then gasped and fell back a step.
He bared his fangs at the woman, who looked temporarily startled, but then lunged at him and grabbed his shirt.
