“Where is the body?”
In that moment, she couldn’t have been prouder of a young pack member finding his way. He may have been clumsy and not battle-hardened. He may have been afraid of Dominic’s Alpha call, as he wasn’t shifter and couldn’t fight on the same grounds, but he was a member of the Lombardi, and it showed.
“We don’t have it,” Giuliana answered.
“Is it retrievable?”
“I would have brought him home.”
Lorenzo nodded and crossed from the foyer to where Cin wept quietly in a pillow. He pulled her into his arms and sat so she could balance on his lap and tuck her face into his neck. His large hand soothed her with easy, soft strokes down her spine.
He pressed his lips to her ear. “Why don’t you go work on the piece for Zoey?”
He was quiet— not enough her shifter hearing couldn’t pick it up—but Giuliana acted like she didn’t hear it anyway.
“I can’t work right now.”
“This is the best time for you to work. You know that. How much did you make when Heath went missing?”
What a difference a disappearance had made. It surprised her, really. This wasn’t the young boy shaking with fear when he’d come to Kalinda and she’d been called to answer his fear Heath had been taken. This wasn’t the Lorenzo she remembered wanting to swallow his tongue when he thought Heath would be killed.
Growing up fast always hurt the most, but it sometimes brought steel where weaker wood had been.
Cin nodded and got up. “I’ll talk to you later?”
The question was directed at Lorenzo, and Giuliana understood what Cin was really saying. You’ll tell me what you can, right?
“Yeah, babe. Always.”
Assurance taken, Cin left the room with only a backward glance in Giuliana’s direction. After a moment, Lorenzo sighed. “Tell me.”
“We found his blood in a clearing in the Greenwald and the scent of wolves. I didn’t find his body, but there was enough there to tell me he didn’t make it.”
Lorenzo swallowed before raking his hands through his dark hair. “The wolves weren’t … ours?”
Giuliana shook her head. “No. Dominic never gave the order to execute him. He kept his word on finding him first and questioning him.” She reached out and touched his knee. “There is more.”
Pasquale shifted, and Giuliana went quiet. This was his part of it to tell. “They were Bianchi.”
Lorenzo and Pasquale were on their feet, Pasquale beating Lorenzo to his gun at the door.
“Your people?”
Lorenzo may have not made it to his weapon, but he made up for it in fury. He balled his fist and swung at Pasquale’s face. The wolf dodged the blow enough he wouldn’t break Lorenzo’s fingers, but he took the brunt of it.
“Yes.”
“And you come into my home?”
Giuliana rose, but she stopped when Pasquale shook his head. “You know what happened with Primo and Dominic.”
Lorenzo, huffing, faced Pasquale. “Of course.”
“Then you know not all of my people joined Lombardi.” Pasquale looked to Giuliana.
“The sect that attacked Heath were Bianchi but not really part of the pack.”
Lorenzo turned to her, but he backed up in a way he’d still be able to see Pasquale and his weapon.
