Chapter 24

CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR

Dom observed Zahir’s reactions as Stella explained what they knew, what Claudia had collected, Luna’s list of Clarissa’s clients, and the three Swords members that were on it.

"Ciro has always been a slimy little shit," Zahir commented as he rubbed his stubbled chin. "Of the three, you’re right to suspect him. Massimo, I know of, but even though he’s a gang leader, he’s a decent guy."

"He cut Stella," Dom hissed. "What is decent about that?"

"Can you blame him? Imagine if your Stella went missing, and then some cocky shit came into your house, started asking questions, and acting suspiciously. Knowing shedu, you would have torn his throat out and then asked questions."

Dom couldn’t argue with that. If he were in Massimo’s position, he wouldn’t be hiding out in a gambling den. He would be tearing the city apart.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to shake off the rush of overprotective and violent impulses at the thought of Stella being taken.

"Do you have any idea where we should start on Ciro?" Stella asked.

"His investments most likely. Shrikes are shady; it’s in their nature, the creepy little hoarders. Dom, if he’s doing business with your family, you have to be careful to come out of this cleanly," Zahir warned.

"You say that like you care," Dom replied.

Zahir smiled. "Of course I care. You are the one Aladoro I like, and you will be the head of your House one day. It wouldn’t serve me to piss you off or annoy your charming companion when we are only getting to know one another."

Dom bit his tongue, trying not to react as Zahir favored Stella with another hot look. She smiled back flirtatiously as she toyed with the collar of her shirt, flashing his mark.

Dom’s body clenched just looking at it. Stella was showing the king exactly who she belonged to, and his heart spasmed with love. Zahir took the hint with a delighted chuckle.

"Oh Stella, you have brightened my evening like the star you are. I’ll let you two get back to whatever it was you were doing," Zahir said as they all rose. "I’ll show you the way out so you don’t get lost."

He took Stella’s hand, and Dom followed them as they went through another door, the original one gone, and back to the house’s ground floor.

"You know, habibi, I have an amazing potion I can give you to help Domenico keep up with you in the bedroom," Zahir said to her over the noise of the house. Stella flashed Dom a sexy grin over her shoulder.

"Thank you for the offer, but my male doesn’t need the help," she replied, and Dom’s face heated. My male.

Zahir’s brows shot up. "Really? That certainly hasn’t been my experience with shedu."

Dom contemplated the virtues of smacking Zahir in the back of the head and thought better of it.

Outside it was cold and windy, and Dom could finally breathe properly again, now that he was away from the colored smoke in the house.

"It was delightful to meet you, Stella. Please come again," Zahir said, kissing her cheeks and leaving streaks of gold. "I’ll be in touch, Dom." He patted his shoulder while making his way back inside.

Antonio was pacing near the dock. "There you two are! It’s been four hours, and I was beginning to worry."

Stella stumbled. "What? We couldn’t have been gone that long."

"Time tends to move differently around the djinn if you aren’t careful," Dom said, taking her hand.

He fought the urge to wipe the golden shimmers off her face. The bastard knew exactly what he was doing when he left his own mark on Stella. It was purposely provoking him.

"Stay with me tonight," Dom insisted, pulling Stella close as Antonio navigated the canals.

Stella’s eyes sparkled with trouble. "I don’t have any clothes."

Dom wrapped her under his coat to protect her from the cold wind. "You won’t need any."

"Fine, but I have early meetings tomorrow, so you can’t distract me with your sexy shedu magic in the morning," she warned.

"I’m not going to promise something I can’t deliver on." Dom jumped when she pinched his ass. "Please, Stella, stay with me."

Stella frowned, perhaps sensing something was the matter even if she didn’t know what. Dom hardly understood the problem himself.

"Okay, Dom," she said, and he breathed a little easier.

They pulled into the canal entrance to Dom’s palazzo, and Antonio waved them on.

"I can secure the boat. Take Stella out of the cold," he said. He glanced between them with a strange look that Dom couldn’t interpret. Antonio pushed him gently. "Later, master."

Upstairs, Stella kicked off her heeled boots with a happy sigh. "They look good, but they kill after a while."

Dom helped her out of her jacket, laying a kiss over his mark on her neck. "If I didn’t know better, I would say that you were showing this off tonight."

"So what if I was? Did you like it?"

"Immensely." Stella arched into him as his hands slid across her stomach. He went to kiss her cheek and muttered a curse when he saw Zahir’s gold.

"First things first," he said, scooping her up and carrying her into his bathroom. He sat her down on the counter and wet a face cloth.

"What is it with you carrying me into bathrooms?" Stella saw her reflection in the mirror. "Oh. That’s why you looked like you were about to toss Zahir into the canal. Predator shifters!" She offered him her cheek, and he lightly dabbed at it with the cloth, trying to get the gold off.

"We can’t help it. It’s in our blood. If he was another shifter, I wouldn’t have held back from kicking his ass. He’s lucky he’s going to be helpful to us, or I might have dunked him in the canal just for the fun of it."

Stella made tsking noises at him as she unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands over his chest. He finished cleaning the last of Zahir’s gold off her as she undid his belt and slipped a hand into his pants.

She grinned like a fiend as he hardened from the brief touch. Her other hand tugged at his pants until they slid off.

God, this woman.

My woman.

Dom kissed her, burying his hands into her soft curls. She managed to unbutton and shimmy out of her clothes before wrapping her smooth thighs around him.

"You want something, misteriosa?" Dom ran his stubble along her cheeks.

His hand stroked up her thigh to where she was already wet for him. He hadn’t exactly been gentle with her earlier and hadn’t planned on pushing her that night.

His woman had other ideas. Stella stroked him harder, and a deep purr rumbled through this chest.

"I want the same thing I’ve wanted ever since I saw you in this suit. And that’s to get you out of it and into me, where you belong." The possessiveness in her tone made his desire spill over.

Dom grabbed her ass, pulled her to the edge of the counter, and guided himself slowly into her, inch by inch.

Stella moaned, leaning back as he got settled. Dom licked her lips, and she grabbed him by the hair and pulled him to her mouth.

Dom devoured every little gasp she made as he thrust deeper and harder into her. He tightened his grip on her ass, lifted her off the counter, and pressed her up against the wall. Her hands clutched tightly to his shoulders.

"Dom—"

"Don’t worry, love, I won’t drop you," he assured her.

Stella cried out as he buried himself in deep, her shapely hips beginning to move, greedy for speed and release.

Dom sensed her magic rising, her scent changing with a charge of electrical current, but he didn’t stop.

He wanted every part of her losing control. He licked a bead of sweat off her neck, moving up to bite the lobe of her ear.

Dom held her firm so he could take control and fuck her deep and slow. He wanted to take his time and enjoy this feeling of being inside her. His world always felt right when he was this close to her.

Stella’s neck and face flushed, and he knew she was close. She moaned, her mouth latching onto his shoulder and smothering her cries.

"That’s it, bite me, leave your mark," Dom begged. God, he needed that, wanted to see that she owned him. That she wanted to.

“Fuck, Dom," Stella gasped as he started to speed up again.

Her legs tightened, and sparks of magic lit up the space between them as she began to tremble through her climax. Her teeth bit down hard into him, and his own release streaked through him so sharp and hot, it left him breathless.

He hung onto her, their bodies pulsing with heat and tiny zaps of magic until they disappeared back inside of her.

"I wonder if that’s going to happen every time now?" Stella said, struggling to catch her breath.

Dom grinned and kissed her as he lowered her to her feet. "That I can just about guarantee."

Stella rolled her eyes playfully. "God save me from smug males."

"No one can save you from this one," Dom said and pulled her into the shower with him.

* * *

Dom woke alonethe next morning, Stella’s scent all over his bedsheets. He was usually a light sleeper, but when they had finally crashed into bed the previous evening, he had been knocked out cold.

Dom pulled on a robe just as Antonio tapped on the door and came in with his breakfast.

"Lady Stella said to tell you that she didn’t want to risk waking you, but that she had meetings," he said, handing Dom his double espresso.

"Did she have breakfast at least?"

"I sent some pastries home with her."

"Thank you." Dom sipped his coffee and opened his curtains to look across the canal at the Vianello palazzo.

"If I may be so bold, master, there is a woman that you don’t let get away for a second time."

"I don’t intend to." Dom topped up his coffee, but Antonio continued to stare.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Fine. Happy. Why?"

"No reason." The bell rang downstairs, and Antonio quickly headed for the door. "That will be the mail. I’ll be back momentarily."

Something is up. Dom wondered if Carmella had him spying for her again.

He put it from his mind as he showered and dressed. His heart flipped when he touched the small bruise Stella’s bite had left on his skin.

With his shifter healing, it would be gone by the end of the day. That only meant he would have to see her every night to earn himself a new one.

Dom sighed a little at the pile of new correspondence on his desk.

The first few were daily memos from the Doge and war reports, but the third sported the King of the Djinn’s black-and-gold seal.

"Least it’s not a phoenix this time, flashy prick." Dom broke the seal and scanned the lines.

Tonight, 10:30 pm, Isola Le Vignole. Princess of Zadar.

Your enemies are closer than you think. Trust no one with your mate, Aladoro.

Z.

Dom’s heart stopped.

Your mate.

The events of the last week—fuck, the previous eight months—all the way back to the moment he first saw Stella in a crowded room at Carnevale, flashed in front of his eyes, clicking together like puzzle pieces. His instant connection to her; the sadness that he lost her; his need to protect her and to claim her.

"Master, would you like more coffee?" Antonio asked. "Dom? What’s wrong?"

"Did you know?" Dom asked, his voice barely there. "Stella. She’s my...I mean, Zahir said that she’s my..."

"Your mate?"

"Oh, God." He leaned over his knees, trying desperately to get air back into his lungs.

"I wasn’t sure if you had figured it out or not," Antonio said.

Dom looked up. "But how? She’s human!"

"It’s not unheard of, just rare. Dom, stop panicking. It’s going to be fine." Antonio went to a side table and poured two glasses of scotch. He pressed one of them into Dom’s hand. "Drink."

Dom did as he was told, feeling like a cub again with Antonio getting ready to lecture him.

"What am I going to tell her? Stella is going to freak out, and I can’t blame her. She’s going to fight me about it."

Antonio smiled. "Probably."

"She already thinks I’m too bossy. If I tell her she’s my mate, she’ll bolt."

"You don’t know that for sure. I’ve seen you two together, she’s in love with you. She will understand."

Dom ran a hand through his hair. "What if I don’t tell her?"

Antonio’s face went from understanding to furious. "Domenico Caesar Aladoro, you will not turn your back on this. Not claiming your mate will break you apart. Believe me, I have seen it before." Antonio’s eyes flashed brilliant green, his own beast rising with his anger.

"The shedu I knew who turned her back on her human mate. She didn’t tell him and pushed him away. She thought she was doing them both a favor, and it pulled the heart out of her until there was barely anything left. I won’t let you do that to yourself, and I won’t let you do it to Stella either. At least you have some idea what’s happening to you. That poor girl isn’t going to understand the impulses that come with it. It’s going to scare her if you don’t explain it!"

Dom thought about her flashing her mark the previous night; Stella had almost preened when she showed it to Zahir. The way they both craved each other.

God, she had even toyed with him the way shedu do, making him hunt about in circles until he ran her down and she submitted to him.

"Shit. She’s already been doing it without realizing it," Dom said, collapsing back in his chair. "How do I even begin to explain this to her?"

"Do you love her?"

"You know I do. You heard it in my heartbeat the night she stayed for dinner."

"Then you start at the heart, and if you can convince that, the head will follow."

Dom clutched at his glass, anxiety beginning to eat its way through him. "What if she doesn’t want this life? You know how vibrantly free she is. She was reluctant to even date me because of my position, and the fear that I would put her aside when I get bored. She’s never going to be like Carmella. I doubt she would want to be a Council member’s wife."

Antonio snorted. "And you know this is how she feels for sure, do you? There’s no reason for her to give up her family business or any other part of her life. If you need someone to ever plan a party for you, Carmella will oblige."

"Do you think she’ll accept Stella? She is very determined that I marry some rich shedu female."

"Your happiness is your mother’s first priority, Dom. No one will deny you your mate. It’s illegal by our sacred laws to harm a mate or to try and prevent a true mating. If the damn djinn can tell she’s yours, the shedu will in a heartbeat," Antonio said firmly. "That’s not to say Carmella and Stella won’t circle and snarl at each other in the beginning, but I think both will survive it. It’s Rodrigo you’ll have to worry about because it’s his plans you will be ruining."

"If he tries to stop me from having Stella, I’ll deal with him," Dom snarled.

Antonio didn’t look remotely shocked. "Perhaps it’s time you did. He’s taking advantage of your birthright, after all. But that doesn’t mean it has to end in blood, Domenico."

"I know. I’ll threaten his position and money, and he’ll back down. He’s always loved those more than me anyway."

"Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that." Antonio refilled their glasses and raised his. "To your mate; may her beautiful light enrich both of our lives."

Dom laughed and tapped his glass on his. "May she not try and kill me when I tell her." He pulled out his deck of cards, shuffled, and drew one. The Lovers. Of course.

Dom drank down the rest of his scotch and made a decision. He would find the missing people first, and then he would make Stella Vianello his forever.