Chapter 10

CHAPTERTEN

Dom held Stella down on the floor, barely trusting himself to control his temper.

In his shedu form, the scent of her was overwhelmingly strong. He breathed her in and tried not to rub his head against her and purr.

Snap out of it, Dom!

Stella’s smile quickly disarmed his temper. He shifted back into his human form, still holding onto her arms, her body soft underneath him. She didn’t struggle to get away but watched him with those incredible green eyes.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t lock you up this second," he said through his teeth.

"Because you like it when you have to chase me?" Stella answered hopefully.

She wasn’t wrong. No matter how civilized they became, the shedu still loved to hunt. It was one of the qualities he liked and yet frequently despised himself for.

"You have a death wish. That’s the only explanation for your behavior," Dom replied, trying his best not to think about her being between his legs. "You’ve got people trying to kill you, you refuse to let me help you, and you still walk around like you’re impervious to danger."

Stella shifted her hips against his, and Dom bit back a growl.

"Do you want to know what I found out, or do you just want to lie there all night?" she asked, color spreading along her chest.

Her scent shifted, and Dom picked up arousal amongst the honey and nutmeg. She tried to wriggle again, but he gave a deep growl that made her stop.

"Don’t tempt me, misteriosa. I’m still angry with you for standing me up and then stealing my boat."

"Why? Because women are just meant to give the great Dom Aladoro whatever he wants and do whatever he says?"

Dom smiled. "You think I’m great?"

"Get off me." Stella was getting more flustered the longer he lay there, and he loved it. It was his hardening dick that snapped him out of it. He lifted off her before she could feel it.

"Convince me not to lock you up for your own good, Stella," he said as she got to her feet.

"Because if you do, I won’t tell you what information I got tonight." Stella clawed at the bundle of laces at the back of her corset. "Let me get changed, and I’ll tell you all about it. I can’t breathe in this stupid thing." She saw him watching and turned. "Don’t just sit there, help me."

Dom got up and pushed her hands away. He grabbed the bottom of the corset with both hands and tore it in half.

Stella gasped in surprise and held the front of the corset in place to keep her breasts covered.

What a pity.

Stella hurried behind a painted changing screen. "You could have just undone the laces," she muttered.

"My way was quicker," Dom replied as she tossed the ruined dress over the top of the screen. "Talk, Stella."

Distract me, so I don’t come behind there and do all the things I want to do to you.

Stella must have sensed she had him on a razor’s edge and that his control was slipping because she finally told him about her night.

Dom could only shake his head at the audacity of her actions and marvel at how they’d actually worked. Stella told him about Luna and the ledger as she washed the makeup from her face.

"Do you think she’ll keep up her end?" Dom asked.

"There’s no reason why she shouldn’t. She’s lost someone the same as me," Stella said, finally reappearing. "You are going to have to forgive the clothes. After wearing that corset, I need comfort."

Gone was the brothel waitress. Stella’s golden hair was down, and she was wearing a pair of men’s silk pajamas in a rich dark scarlet.

She was a lush blur of Aladoro colors, and seeing her in them made every cohesive thought fly out of Dom’s mind.

Stella pushed the sleeves of her shirt up and folded her arms.

"Are you going to glare at me all night, or are you going to say something?"

"You drive me crazy," Dom said and then realized he’d said it aloud.

Stella’s frown melted. "I know, but at least you can’t complain about being bored. Are you hungry?"

"Depends. What are you offering?" He looked her over and was rewarded with her cheeks turning red.

"Food, Domenico. I’m offering to cook you food. To say sorry for stressing you out tonight," she huffed and headed for her bedroom door. "If you’re not interested, shut the window on the way out."

Dom followed her, unwilling to let Stella out of his sight for a second in case she vanished again. As much as he wanted to strangle her for being so reckless, Dom didn’t want the night to end just yet either.

The Vianello kitchen was a warm, comfortable space, the kind that said it belonged to a family, with scars on the wooden table and lines on the doorway to mark Stella’s growth over the years. There was a fridge covered in notes and painted pictures.

The kitchen at the Aladoro palazzo was set up like a restaurant; cold and sterile, a place for people to work and not to linger.

Dom sat down at the counter and watched Stella move on the other side, pulling out utensils and cookware as she glided about. She pointed at a wine rack.

"Grab one of those, will you? I feel like we both need a drink. Though you probably already had a head start with Arkon," she added. Dom grabbed the nearest bottle of red wine and passed it to her.

"You were watching that closely?" he asked.

"I had to make sure no one was going to stab you or rob you blind."

Dom smiled. "You failed. Arkon cleaned me out."

The cork came out with a pop, and Stella filled two glasses. "Please tell me you got something worthwhile out of him for that much money."

"He’s going to look through his letters and check his contacts, see if there is anything about the missing people. He will be a good ally to have once we get enough evidence together."

Dom accepted the glass she offered him. She tapped her own against his with a smile and then turned to open the fridge.

"Here’s hoping Luca didn’t devour everything. I swear that boy never stops eating," she complained, pulling out ingredients with one hand and holding her wine glass to her lips with the other.

"You care about him?"

"Yes. He’s like the annoying little brother I never had."

"You’re lucky to have him."

Stella laughed. "So he likes to remind me. Your parents never thought about having more kids?"

"Why bother when they got perfection the first time around?" Dom said and grinned when she rolled her eyes at him. "Honestly? I don’t think they have had sex since Carmella got pregnant with me."

"Really? God, that sounds miserable. I thought your parents were a love match or mates or something," she said.

That Rodrigo had married into the Venetian aristocracy and took the Aladoro name was strange enough to have the tongues of the Republic still wagging over it. Many had speculated that they were mates, despite how rare true mates actually were, but Dom knew the real truth. It was all for the power of the Aladoro council seat and influence.

Dom’s laugh was bitter enough for Stella to look up at him. "I’m sure my mother thought it was for love in the beginning. Rodrigo, on the other hand…Who knows? But if they were true mates, he’d never be such a prick to her."

"Sorry to hear that. You and your father really don’t get on? You’ve always seemed close."

"For appearance’s sake, we do, but my father and I were never close. When I took my alpha tests, I knew I couldn’t even stay in the same palazzo as him," Dom replied.

"You ranked higher than him."

"How did you know?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

Stella topped up his glass. "You see it a lot in the lower-class shifter families. The head of the house needs to have the authority, and having a kid outrank them compromises that. You aristos have big enough houses to hide away from each other, so having an alpha child is seen more as a sign of good breeding, but everyone else? It’s too hard, so they move." She studied him. "What level are you?"

Dom had another mouthful of wine. "I do believe that is a third date question, signorina."

"That high, huh? Now it makes sense why you’re so bossy."

"I’m so bossy because you are an unregistered magic user, and people are snatching unregistered magic users," Dom said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I have a valid reason to worry, Stella. Can’t you see why I don’t like the idea of you walking the streets alone at night and running blindly into danger?"

Stella gave him a strange look that he couldn’t interpret before annoyance crept back in.

"Believe it or not, Dom, I can take care of myself. I’m not a helpless woman that needs a big strong male around to tie her shoes. Is it the alpha level or that you’re a predator shifter that makes you act like such an overprotective dick?"

"My father is both of those things, and he wouldn’t lift a finger to protect anyone but himself. You could be dying in the street, and he would curse you for making him walk around you. It might be hard for you to believe, but I do care about what happens to you, Stella. I haven’t even begun to be an overprotective dick. I only want you to acknowledge the danger you are putting yourself in."

"Honestly, Domenico, I am more in danger in here with you than out on the street," Stella replied as she dumped fresh pasta into boiling water.

Dom reared back like she had slapped him. "I would never hurt you," he said softly. Did she honestly think that?

"That’s not what I meant." Stella turned to face him, her expression unreadable. "I know you’d never physically harm me. If I did, I wouldn’t push your buttons so hard."

"Then what did you mean?"

"You’re a Council member, and you’re sitting in a ruined suit while I cook you midnight pasta, Dom," Stella said, running a hand through her hair. "Relaxing this much around you is dangerous to me. You know what I’m hiding from the world. You can use it against me whenever you feel like it. It’s dangerous for me to think that we could become friends."

Something inside Dom uncoiled at the knowledge that she wasn’t afraid of him harming her. He had seen his mother caught in too many acts of violence for him to want any woman to ever believe him capable of lashing out, no matter how angry he got.

"It’s the same for me, or didn’t you think of that? The secret we share is enough for you to discredit me. Us being alone together right now, with Luca as a witness upstairs…you could lie about me taking advantage of you. You could put together a whole false case against me if you wanted to, and I’d be held accountable because of my position. There are plenty of ’dangers’ real and imagined with us being friends." Dom held up a hand when she began to argue. "That doesn’t mean either of us would ever do it. I wouldn’t be here if I thought otherwise."

"Then why are you here?" she asked.

"I want to be your friend in spite of the dangers," Dom said, and then shrugged. "It’s up to you to decide to trust me, Stella. I said I’d never tell anyone about your magic, and I meant it. I have no intention of exposing you, even if the law says I should. Now that is a real risk, misteriosa; one I’ll take."

"But why?" she pressed. Her back was to him while she was busy at the stove, and not having those sharp eyes on him made it easier to confess his feelings.

"I was sleepwalking before Carnevale. Meeting you was like waking up for the first time in years," Dom replied honestly, despite the risk of spooking her enough to kick him out of the palazzo and her life. "Even if you did disappear afterward, change your number, and never reach out."

"I was protecting my secret. Kind of pointless now that Lady Fortune screwed that up," Stella replied.

"I’m glad she did."

Stella placed a steaming bowl of creamy pasta in front of him and stuck a fork in it.

"I’m still not so sure," she said, mischief in her eyes. "You seem like a lot of trouble I don’t need, Aladoro."

"Like you are one to talk. I haven’t even stood you up or stolen your boat."

"And yet you’re still here," Stella said as she sat down beside him.

Dom gently nudged her with his shoulder. "I can’t go back to sleep, Stella. You make me feel alive."

Stella’s cheeks went pink, and she dropped her eyes to her pasta. "So what’s the plan now?"

"We wait for either Arkon or Luna to come through and look over the files that Claudia put together in the meantime," Dom said, after a mouthful of pasta. "I can assure you, as a Council member, I am excellent at paperwork."

Stella smiled, but her eyes clouded with worry. There was a vulnerability that Dom hadn’t seen before.

"What if they don’t come up with anything? Every day we sit on our hands, the chances of finding Claudia and the others decrease."

Dom put his hand on top of hers. "If there is no word in the next day, then I’ll get the inquisitors on it."

"Families have tried. The inquisitors don’t give a shit."

"They will if it’s a direct order from me. I’ll figure out a way to make it happen without involving you." Dom ran his thumb over the back of her hand, trying to reassure her. "Your secret magic will remain that way."

"Thank you, Dom," Stella replied softly. "I’m sorry for stealing your boat tonight."

He laughed, bending his head so he could look her directly in the eyes. "You’re lying. You did it because you delight in vexing me."

Stella’s grin turned wicked, her lips hovering close to his. For a heart stopping moment, Dom thought she was going to lean in.

Please kiss me, Stella.

She stopped at the last second, and said, "Someone has to keep you on your toes, prince."