Giuliana must have thought the same thing because she slumped in her chair, hands to her head, and whimpered. “Can I just tell her it was all Romano’s fault?”
“No. I’m throwing you both under the bus. It’s not going to be my fault.”
“What great leadership we have,” Giuliana mumbled.
“The better to ruin your world with, my dear.”
Zahara arrived before there could be any more back and forth between them, her face paint vibrant and her white dress swishing around her ankles. Bells and coins tinkled together with each step from jewelry around her ankles, and she was barefoot, red paint on the soles of her feet.
“They have claimed her.”
“No, they took her,” Dominic clarified.
Her eyes swung to the Capo di tutti Capi. “For the Council, that is one and the same. They have been looking to fill their ranks since one of them died, and she has the power to do it.”
“I’m not leaving her with them,” Romano promised.
Zahara sucked a breath through her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Did I say there was not a way? I only stated what happened.”
Hearing there was a way outside of diplomacy that could take however long, Romano perked up. “And what would that be?”
Zahara shook her head as if Romano was completely slow. “Moon-bite.”
“Well, shit.” Giuliana was not helping. Not even a little bit.
“The full moon isn’t for two weeks. There isn’t any way I’d let her stay here for that long and hope I could give her the bite.”
The moon-bite marked the one receiving as a mate to the wolf who gave the bite. It was done under the full moon, and even if the man didn’t believe the chosen woman was his mate, his wolf made the decision and it was accepted.
But was he ready for that? Okay, he wanted her, and he knew she was his, but he’d always struggled with matings. Most wolves didn’t understand why he was that way, but they didn’t have his parents or his upbringing. Didn’t have to watch as a mate-bond forced two people together who didn’t love each other until … finally … they tore apart.
Would he be destined to the same result when Kalinda desperately fought him at every turn?
A moon-bite was never wrong, and it was what Dominic had used to have Zoey as his recognized mate and get out of the pre-arranged marriage with Fabiana Bianchi, but his hadn’t been a true bite.
“The Council will recognize such an important part of your customs or face backlash from the shifter community, which is larger in many ways than pure magic groups. By claiming her as such, you can be by her side while she is with them,” Zahara explained.
“That doesn’t bring her home.”
“One step at a time, Romano. If you are there with her, the chances of her leaving are much higher than her being there alone with no protection.”
“I can’t wait for two weeks to get there—if they give an audience that fast in the first place—and let that be the only way I can get to her.”
Dominic snapped his fingers. “I may have an idea, but I need to speak with Arturo first. Can you give a few minutes, Zahara?”
“It’s on your dime, and I charge extra for wasting my time.”
“Of course.”
Once the witch was gone, Romano turned to Dominic. “What is it?”
“Hold on.”
Dominic was already getting on his phone, and Romano found his wolf wanted to get out. It needed to run, fight, and tear through anything to get to Kalinda. She must have been terrified, fighting with everything she had to get out. In the time he’d known her, he learned she didn’t like to be trapped. Maybe he should have paid more attention. If he had come with her to make sure she was getting her job done in her shop instead of believing having free rein of pack lands would be enough, this may not have happened. Romano would have come with more men.
Instead, he’d overestimated the allure of pack lands and maybe of himself. For three days he’d given her space, but was there, a quiet protector she could rely on if she needed. But she’d never asked, not once. She moved around his home, cooking, cleaning, scribbling notes on ideas and putting them neatly on the bedside table of the guestroom for later use. Her mind was always working through some way to make Kalinda’s Katering better, to better assist her clients, or coming up with new recipes so she was one step ahead of the competition. He’d never seen someone work so hard.
He respected her fire and liked who she was more and more. Now, she’d been taken, and he had to get her back one way or another. The idea of taking her as a mate was permanent, and he wasn’t sure how to think about it.
