Chapter Nineteen

 

Before they went into Dominic’s apartment above the restaurant, Romano tromped up the stairs to make sure it was safe.  Then he went back downstairs and gestured at them to go inside.

“We’re here, instead of Arturo’s?” Zoey said, flopping onto Dominic’s couch. “I mean, I’m certainly happy to be closer to Sergio’s restaurant, but is it maybe safer at Arturo’s right now?”

“Romano, go wait out in the hall,” Dominic said.  Romano obeyed instantly, leaving the apartment and closing the door behind him.  Dominic sank down onto the pillow next to Zoey, his eyes hollow and his face grim.

“What’s wrong?” Zoey asked, stricken.  She’d never seen Dominic look so…lost.

“Nothing’s safe right now, Zoey,” Dominic said bleakly.  “Arturo believes that I put his niece in danger, and therefore, he has kicked me out of the pack.  As a lone wolf, I can’t offer you the same kind of protection that I would have before.  If you want me to relinquish my claim…”

“What did you just say to me?” Zoey spluttered.  “That’s…I don’t…I’m seriously tempted to punch you right now. The only reason I don’t is because it would hurt me more than it would hurt you.”

“You’re not relieved to be rid of me?”

Zoey thought she might actually explode, she was so furious. “You win first prize for being the dumbest wolf on the face of God’s green earth.  Abandoning a mate claim…your wolf would be okay with that?”

He shook his head in resignation. “No.  My wolf would go crazy.  And it would take me with it.”

“And you didn’t think that was information that you should share with me?” she yelled, and punched his arm.  “Ow! You see?” She shook her hand, which stung.

“I would do anything to keep you safe.  And right now I’m a lone wolf caught in the middle of a pack war, and you’re my mate, which paints a big fat target on your back.”

“You’re not lone, you still have me!” Romano called from the hallway.

“Stop listening!” Dominic yelled at him. “Good God.  Can’t a man do something heroic and self-sacrificing without an audience?”

“How about cowardly and insulting?” Zoey said angrily.  “How could you think so little of me, that I’d run at the first sign of trouble? And how dare you give up on yourself like that?”

“I knew she was a keeper!” Romano yelled.

Dominic leapt to his feet.  “I will kill you,” he shouted at the door so loudly that the walls shook and a painting fell to the floor.

“I’m going to wait downstairs so you can guys can not-have sex!” Romano shouted back, and they heard his footsteps pounding down the stairway.

Dominic sat down again. 

“I will consider being your mate,” Zoey said, struggling to contain her hurt and fury. “On one condition.  You stop hiding things from me.  Right now you’re treating me like a bed partner, not a real mate, or wife, and I will not accept that.  I deserve better than that.”  She blinked away tears. “You’ve made me feel like I deserve better – but every time I start to get close to you, you do something to push me away. Don’t try to deny it.”

Dominic looked stricken.  “You’re right. Romano was right too, which I am never going to live down, but most importantly, you’re right.  And I am sorry.  I am so very, very sorry.  You do deserve better from me.”

“Then tell me why you shut me out.”

“Because everyone I’ve ever loved has died,” he said bleakly.  “And I’m afraid that I can’t keep you safe.”

His pain settled around her like a damp, chill cloud.  “Who did you love?”

“My parents. I was ten. My father was low level mafia, human mafia, and my mother was collateral damage when their car exploded.  I was sent to live with an aunt and uncle with ten kids who resented my taking food off the table.  I joined the army the day I turned eighteen.  My fiancée, who was my high school sweetheart.  She waited for me to come home from overseas.  Then she was relocated to a portal city when I was twenty-two, and I moved with her.    And she died, because I failed to protect her.”

Engaged.  To someone else.  Jealousy warred with pity, so bright and bitter that it snatched her breath away.   It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t kind, but there it was. “What happened to her?” she asked carefully.

  “The Ogre invasion of Bitter Hills.”

She shuddered. That had been a bad one.  There had been a magical flare-up in the chaos realm, tearing open the portal near Bitter Hills, Colorado until it was triple the size it had been.  Ogres had flooded through, in the hundreds.  Thousands of humans had died. 

He grimaced and looked away.  “Unfortunately, I survived it. Barely.  The ogre picked me up and threw me fifty feet.  I heard her die, Zoey. I heard her scream, and then I didn’t hear anything.” He shuddered, and the color drained from his face.  “I was in the hospital for weeks.  When I got out, after about a six month drunk, I decided to go wolf.  I didn’t expect to survive the transition, I didn’t care either way.  But I knew that I never wanted to feel that helpless again. You can’t win against magic in a fair fight, so I needed to be magic myself. I wanted to be able to protect those I care about.”

“I’m very sorry.  And I’m not going to lie to you, part of me is really jealous. I know that’s not fair at all, it’s horrible really, I just…it feels so good to have you love me, Dominic.  It really does.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I want all of you.”

He cupped her chin in his hand and all the love in the world poured out of him, she could feel it, warming her and filling her.   “You have all of me.  You are my everything.”  He paused, and looked at the door.

“What is it?” she said, following his glance.

“I just wanted to make sure that son of a bitch Romano didn’t sneak back up here and eavesdrop. It’s okay, he didn’t.  If he was there he couldn’t stop himself from chiming in about how he told me so.  And I’d be skinning myself a new rug.”

She burst out laughing, but it was cry-laughing.  She laughed and laughed, tears streaming down her cheeks, dammed-up emotion flowing from her. There were many scary things in Encantado, but the only thing that had genuinely terrified her lately was the fear that Dominic would never open himself up to her.

“I’ll get you tissues.” Dominic hurried to the kitchen and returned with a box.

“I love you so much.” She sniffled, and dabbed at her face.   “Tell me about the wolf bite. About bonding.”

He frowned a little at that.  Still hesitant.  “When we shift to our wolf form and bite a female hard enough to break the skin, no matter the time of month, it forms a mate bond.  That’s why we’re very careful not to bite a female accidentally.  I know you’ve seen playful nips, but we have enough control over our animal to make sure it doesn’t go too far.  Once we’ve mate-bitten, the wolf craves the female’s presence. It becomes attuned to her feelings and wants to please her.  And if the female is a wolf, which most of the time it is, then she instinctively reciprocates.  If she’s human, then her feelings have to develop more naturally, and it takes longer.  I should have been more sensitive to that.”

“We’ll work it out.  Maybe…maybe it would be better if we left the city until this feud is over, and went to some other portal city?” Then she shook her head.  “I can’t, though, because my friends are stuck here. Will Arturo let them stay with him?”

“Yes.  Once he offers his protection, he wouldn’t withdraw it without reason.  I’m the one he’s angry at, not them.”

“All right.  Should we tell Romano to come back in?”

Dominic grinned fiercely.  “Hell no.”

“Ooh.  I know that look.  It’s a little scary.” She returned his grin.  “I like it.”

Tenderly, he stripped her pants off and she stepped out of them, and then he grabbed her shirt and ripped it open, buttons flying off.

“Dominic!” she screeched.

“Sorry,” he smiled without apology.  “I’m an animal.  Can’t help myself when I’m around you.”

“I forgive you…on one condition. There’s something I’ve been wanting to do since the first time I laid eyes on you.”

Before he could speak, she sank down on her knees in front of him and unbuttoned his pants.

“Oh, God,” he groaned. “Zoey, I should be the one pleasing you, since you’re my…oh, baby.”  His protests ended when she took him in her mouth, swirling her tongue over the thick purplish head of his cock.  She lapped up the pearl of pre-cum, and then traced the rim of his cock with the tip of her tongue.

His labored breathing sent flashes of pleasure through her body.  She took him into her mouth again and tipped her head back, letting him thrust into her as he held her head in place.

“So. Fucking. Good.”

She moved her head in rhythm, her cheeks hollowing as she sucked. His breath quickened, and she stroked his balls with her fingers, lightly scraping her nails against the sensitive flesh.

“Zoey!” he cried out, and she felt his balls tightening.  He tried to pull out of his mouth but she grabbed his hips and held him there, and he came, hard.  She swallowed every drop of the thick, sweet cream, and he stood there shuddering and panting, stroking her head.

“Fucking hell,” he groaned finally, and then grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“Hey!” she squealed, as he carried her into he bedroom.

He grunted out two words that let her know she was in for a world of pleasure and maybe a little bit of delicious pain.

“My turn.”