He had her there. Most good Italians and the Family married others in the human world. But, as they were wolves, the mate overrode Old World prejudices. Luciana—Fabiana’s mother—was a high-class Italian woman bonded to a cruel man. Her mother once told her Primo hadn’t always been that way, that being made a wolf had altered him. She’d blamed Arturo for changing her husband forever.
“Adonis and I never should have met, but he had a penchant for running away, and I found him. Or maybe I should say my nose did. He’d just learned to shift, and not all the men around his father were wolves. They didn’t know his secret and shot at him, thinking he was a stray. Tomás, my father, always told me that bringing Adonis DeLuna into our home that day was one of the best decisions I’d ever made. Later, he probably thought it was the worst.”
“What happened?”
Raph shook his head. “You want to know the rest, come to the dining hall.”
“You can’t just leave me on a cliffhanger like that. I hate those.”
“Of course you do. You’re a woman who doesn’t like to leave things unsolved. This is a puzzle you’ll never guess, and it’s the one night you’re going to get to try.”
And the bastard left. He justleftafter starting that story.
Adonis knew a lot about Fabiana and her history, but she was sad to realize he didn’t often share much of his past with her. He kept her focused on who he was now. And as much as she could appreciate that, she wanted to know more, needed to see what made him the man he was today.
“Raphael is an asshole,” she grumbled as she stood from her chair.
Her joints popped, and she stretched to give them as much relief as she could before taking her half-eaten sandwich with her to the dining hall. It didn’t take long to get there, and the hallways were empty of anyone but the soldiers at this time of night.
Those who worked at the shows or attractions were on the strips and the families weren’t in the main house. It was eerie how everyone adhered to an unspoken schedule in this place. Their lives were not only the pack but their own personal ones, with plenty of time to focus on what they needed.
“You made it,” Raphael commented with a smile when she entered the room and dumped her leftovers in the nearest trash bin.
A steaming plate of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and a hunk of bread waited for her. The scent of it alone made her mouth water and her stomach growl.
“Good, I got you here.”
“The story got me. Now continue.”
“Pushy, pushy.” Raph chuckled. “I always keep my word. My father and mother helped Adonis heal, and when he shifted back, my father called his and arranged a meeting.”
“A meeting to get his missing kid back?”
Raphael bit his lip and sighed. “Our fathers were leaders of drug cartels, Fabiana. They don’t simply head to the nearest police station. We were Born wolves, adding strength to our smaller numbers, but Adonis’s father, Antonio, had a larger group backed by splintering cells from Zetas in Mexico. He was mean and cruel in his punishments, but we had saved his heir.”
Cartels. It explained quite a bit.
“This was a chance for an alliance,” Fabiana mused.
She knew how these families worked. Either Raphael’s father would demand it, or the gift Antonio had to give would equal the value of his son’s life, his heir. This was the way of blood oaths like that.
Raphael nodded. “Exactly. My father was at least smart enough not to ask directly for the alliance, stating he was only doing what any father would do in that circumstance.”
Fabiana snorted. “Men from our sort of families don’t do good deeds without expectations.”
“Tomás wasn’t an idiot; he knew the right way to get what he wanted. Soon enough, Antonio called for a ceasefire between their groups and a chance at alliance. One day, Adonis was to marry my older sister, Maria, and the families would be tied.”
“It didn’t work out that way.”
“It did, at first. Adonis and I spent a lot of time together after that. In Antonio’s home, I was respected and prized. I was born a wolf and had natural abilities not seen in many Made wolves. Adonis grew in strength the more he learned from me. He shifted faster than others, pushed his speed to higher limits, and he was fearless.”
“Sounds like him now.”
Raphael laughed. “True.” He eyed her plate. “Eat.”
“I’m eating.” Fabiana scooped up a spoonful of roast and mashed potatoes and stuffed it into her mouth for effect. The flavors burst over her tongue and she began eating with gusto.
“This is amazing!”
