“As I said before, you are incredibly brave, my little wolf.” Adrian dropped a kiss on her forehead.

Lavinia started to shake. Her body temperature had dropped, and he feared that she would go into shock soon enough.

“What now?” she asked.

“Let’s secure Scarface in the underground chamber, and then we’ll take a long, hot shower. What do you think?” He stroked her arms and back, trying to warm her frigid skin.

“Sounds like a great plan,” she said, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. Moving in his embrace, Lavinia turned to face the unconscious wolf. “Let’s throw him in the pit.”

With one last kiss, he released her and moved to the wolf’s frontal paws. “Open the trapdoor for me, please.”

He dragged the werewolf across the kitchen and into the pantry. As Lavinia held the trapdoor, he pushed the large body through the hole and let the animal fall with a satisfying thump.

“What if he wakes when we are upstairs?” Lavinia asked, lowering the trapdoor. “This latch isn’t going to keep him down.” She pointed at the metal latch securing the panel to the floor.

Adrian looked around, looking for something big enough. “The fridge might work.” Yanking the appliance from the wall, he pushed it into the pantry, placing it on top of the trapdoor.

Ready to wash the grime and blood caked all over them, Adrian took her hand when running steps echoed through the house. He automatically stepped in front of her still naked body, ready to kill whoever dared to threaten his bloodmate.

To his surprise, Mark burst through the kitchen door, looking as if he had run all the way from Rome. He wasn’t alone, a squad of men from the Directive Special Unit accompanied him.

“What are you doing here?” Adrian asked with mixed feelings. He was happy that the Directive would take the werewolf off his hands, but he would have rather spent a few minutes alone with Lavinia first.

“Adrian,” Mark said, stopping abruptly in the middle of the room. He briefly assessed the bodies on the floor before looking back at Adrian. “You are both okay.” Relief was written all over his face. He asked the men to wait for him outside before finally answering Adrian’s question. “Long story short, Maia informed the Wolf Council about you and Lavinia—”

“Maia did what?” Lavinia said. “She promised she wouldn’t report me to the Wolf Council!”

“She only mentioned Adrian’s name, and kept yours out of the report,” Mark answered.

“But why?” Lavinia stepped forward, her small body exposed to the rest of the room.

Adrian’s vision turned to red, and his fangs lowered as adrenaline surged through his system. Ready to fight his friend over his bloodmate, Adrian took a fortifying breath and moved in front of Lavinia, hiding her lovely form from Mark’s and the other men’s eyes.

Adrian had thought that once they bonded, his jealousy would abate, but it didn’t seem to be the case. If anything, his reactions had grown stronger in the last day, and now he felt every emotion with keener senses.

“Go ahead,” Adrian said to Mark, reaching behind him to take Lavinia’s hand, which she softly grabbed. “Why did the psychologist involve the Wolf Council?”

“Maia meant well.” Mark wearily looked at Adrian. “Lavinia wasn’t answering her phone, so Maia followed interspecies procedure. She called Lavinia’s family first, and when Lavinia kept not answering both her calls and her father’s, she had no other recourse but to inform the Wolf Council of a possible kidnapping situation.”

“I’d explained to her it was the Vampire’s Thirst, and she seemed to understand my situation well enough the other night.” Rage possessed Adrian. “She said that wolves experience the Hunger.”

Mark raised one hand in a pacifying gesture that only incensed Adrian. “Try to understand her position. Maia feels responsible for Lavinia. She is not only a werewolf like Lavinia but also the best Directive counselor in Rome. I expressly asked Maia to keep an eye on Lavinia and help her overcome her grief. You came in, acting the way you did, approaching Lavinia as if you wanted to brainwash and drain her—”

Adrian’s rage burned him from the inside out. “I’d never—”

“I know that you’d never hurt Lavinia or any other woman, but to Maia, you are a vampire—a day-walker—and, well, our race has gotten away more than once with murder. Can you blame her for taking her job seriously and trying everything in her power to save Lavinia?”

“Lavinia needs saving solely from her own race.” Only Lavinia’s soothing touch on his hand kept Adrian from snapping.

“I still don’t understand how these men found us here,” Lavinia said from behind him.

“The Wolf Council’s proceedings are open to the wolf society,” Mark answered. “Any werewolf can access the published records. It was easy to discover that members of the Caliban Clan have been hanging out at the Roman premises of the Wolf Council. Their last request was for any instance of vampire-wolf incidents.” He paused before adding, “It’s how they found about Carolina and her vampire and werewolf lovers. Someone reported them.”

Adrian felt Lavinia stiffen behind him and turned to take her in his arms. It took her a moment to stop crying.

“I thought this place was your secret hideout or something,” Lavinia finally said, her intense eyes staring at him. “How did they find us?” she repeated her question.

Adrian caressed her back. “It’s not common knowledge that I own this island, but my properties are all registered and in compliance with both mortal and supernatural laws. Accessing the supernatural data isn’t easy, but if you have a contact inside the mortal Tax Bureau, you can obtain my records for a bribe—”

“It would’ve taken some time, though, to find where we were. You said you own lots of different properties,” Lavinia said, voicing Adrian’s same thought. “We could’ve been anywhere.”

“It was actually easy. The Calibans only had to follow your steward home and torture him until he told them your destination.”

Adrian pivoted on his heels to face Mark. “Flavio—”

“He’s dead,” Mark said, shaking his head slightly. “I’m sorry.”

Adrian’s fury threatened to explode, but once again Lavinia’s touch anchored him. “He was a good man,” he said, wanting nothing more than to open the trapdoor in the pantry and unleash his rage on the werewolf.

“They flew to Athens and took a boat—”

“We would’ve heard them coming if they used a helicopter.” Adrian had wondered how the werewolves could approach the island without him or Lavinia being the wiser. “And they must have deactivated the motion sensors.”

“They did. I found the broken cables and smashed boxes while I ran up the hill.” Mark passed a hand through his hair.

“And how did you end up here?” Adrian asked.

“Maia called to warn me she had filed a report with the Wolf Council.”

Adrian couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “And why would she inform you?”

“As I said, Maia was well intentioned and thought of all possibilities, even the one that Lavinia wasn’t answering her phone for an innocent reason. As soon as she told me, I started to call you to give you a heads up—”

Adrian remembered seeing his friend’s unanswered calls when he used his cell phone to text Lavinia on the helicopter. Back then, his mind was otherwise occupied, though.

“While I was trying to get in contact with you, I asked Collins for a special clearance and the Wolf Council’s cooperation in the matter, and I tracked down the Caliban werewolves at Flavio’s apartment. Unfortunately, I was too late to save him.” Mark’s stare remained unfocused for a moment before he added, “I commandeered one of the Directive’s faster choppers and immediately flew over with the squad.”

And that explained the second riddle of how neither Adrian nor Lavinia had heard Mark’s helicopter. The Directive used state-of-the-art technology, and its fleet was famous for being both invisible and silent.

“We’ve got a gift for you down there.” Adrian pointed over his shoulder at the fridge now occupying the pantry. “Thanks to Lavinia’s fast thinking, one of the werewolves is still alive,” he said.

“I want to be present when you interrogate him,” Lavinia said.

Are you sure? he asked her through their mental link.

I’m sure, she answered.

Okay. “Okay,” Adrian repeated out loud to Mark. “But first, we need to clean ourselves.”

Mark nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.”

Adrian pointed his chin at the squad waiting outside before subtly tilting his head over his shoulder at Lavinia.

Mark understood and walked out of the kitchen, joining his men in the hallway. “Let’s move back into the atrium,” he said before leading them away.

When they were finally alone, Adrian cradled Lavinia in his arms and ran upstairs.

Werewolves are used to being naked in front of others. It’s not a big deal, Lavinia said telepathically. Her words sounded serious, but there was a glint of amusement in her eyes.

Would you mind greatly to humor this quirk of mine and never show your body to anyone else but me? He kissed her softly. You are too beautiful for those heathens’ eyes. And I am too jealous.

It’s been confirmed. You say the sexiest things ever. Lavinia threw her arms around Adrian’s shoulders and kissed him back passionately. I can’t say no to you even if I wanted.

Thank you, my love. I am indeed the luckiest man alive. Adrian opened the shower stall and proceeded to show Lavinia how thankful he was to have her in his life.