16. Flint

Iwalked out and was hit by his scent. The same scent I’d dreamed about every minute since he left.

He came for you, for us!My wolf was alert, having been lethargic since Tony walked out the door and had been pestering me to go get him.

How many days has it been?

Four. My beast was good at keeping track of time.

Are you sure? Not fourteen or forty or four hundred?

Find him!He’d had enough of the math and wanted to be with our mate.

Tony was close by, my keen eyesight telling me the only place he could be hiding was near the dumpster. Hoping he wasn’t in the dumpster, but I’d welcome him even if he stank of rotten fish.

You would? Ewww!

Hush, I told my beast as I walked toward it. I almost paused and took deep breaths, while his intoxicating fragrance filled my lungs, but couldn’t stop, not when I was close enough to touch him.

He answered me with a ridiculous excuse about trash. Those four days hadn’t affected his sass, thank gods, but his wounds were healing.

“You shouldn’t be out here in the middle of the night. You never know who you might meet.”

“Oh noes. What if a mobster kidnapped me and locked me in his basement? I’d better skedaddle home this instant.”

I laughed, I couldn’t help it. Despite my heartache, a possible threat to our business and to me as Alpha—not that we’d identified one, but my spidey senses were tingling, and Emilio had men tailing both Foley and Sewell—and me not paying attention to work, my mate’s silliness lifted my mood.

“Sounds crazy, right? That’d never happen.” He tossed a wrapper in the dumpster and brushed something off his hands.

“I’ll drive you home.”

“Your place or mine?” he quipped before sniggering, probably a nervous reaction.

“Yours.”

He took a step toward me, a faint illumination from the streetlight caressing the curve of his cheek. “I don’t want you knowing where I live.”

“I know exactly where you live, Tony,” I snapped and regretted it.

“Of course you do,” he huffed. “Fine. Drop me at home. I’ll give you the clothes.”

After telling my security detail the address, I drove through the empty streets. taking quick glances at him as he sat beside me. He wasn’t huddled and hunched over which I took as a positive sign.

“Found someone to replace me?”

“That I can never do.” I’d probably said too much, but the last days without him, I’d been lost, going through the motions of work while my heart yearned for him. I slept in the basement, in the sheets he’s used, his scent massaging the loneliness just a little.

“So you’re out of the kidnapping business?”

“I didn’t say that.” Even if he did grow to love me, the issue of us marrying our principles, and our moral compasses leading us on the same path, were close to zero.

I pulled up outside his building, trying to think of an excuse to get him to stay, but knowing as I did days ago, I had to let him make up his own mind.

“I’ll get them, but they haven’t been washed.” He didn’t move.

“I prefer them that way.” That sounded a bit icky and a lot creepy, but I’d said it. Too late to take it back.

He paused, his elbow on the armrest. “Is that a fetish? Sniffing someone’s dirty clothes?”

I rested both hands on the steering wheel, stopping myself from leaning over and kissing him. “Nope.”

He made no move to get out. “You owe me an explanation.”

“About the clothes?” I didn’t want to discuss the stupid clothes, but if us talking kept him in the car longer, I’d describe in detail how I’d wrap them around myself while I slept.

“Everything. The bite on my shoulder, the mate thing, you sleeping in the basement. And how you did the trick with the fur and the snout. That scared the crap outta me.” Filtered light from outside shone on his face, and as he turned his head, shadows played a game of tag with the light.

“Now?” I’d prefer to enjoy a meal with him, but that was probably out of the question.

He rummaged around in his pack. “You provide the entertainment, and I have refreshments. Chips, nuts, or candy?”

I took the chips and yanked the packet open; its splitting was the same sound my heart made since Tony left. But as I shoved my hand in the packet, he did the same. It rustled and his fingers brushed against mine. Laughter bubbled out of him, and I wished we were lying in the grass near my medium-sized-ass pool, his head on my shoulder.

Hr grabbed a bunch of chips while I took one. Perhaps our chip-taking habit reflected our personalities. Tony jumped into life with both feet, arms wide open while questioning everything, whereas I ate one at a time, careful not to spill any crumbs.

My wolf groaned, saying, They’re just chips!

We both bit into the snacks at the same time, the crackling a contrast to the laughter and rustling.

“Okay, shoot.” A look of horror passed over his features, and he shoved out both hands, placing them on my hip, but not touching the gun. “No, don’t.” He’d had his hands on me before, mostly in anger. But this time he didn’t remove them. “Oops. I’ve put salt and barbeque seasoning over your jacket and shirt.

“Can’t have that,” I joked, and we shared a glance. Maybe, just maybe, we could be something to one another other than mafia shifter and human or kidnapper and kidnapee. “I could take them off.”

He withdrew his hands. Fuck, I’d ruined the moment.

“Sorry, bad joke.” I dug into the chip bag, hoping he wasn’t going to rush out of the car. “What did you want to know?”

“I don’t suppose you’ve found out any more about my father.”

“A little. From what I understand it was a terrible accident. In the waste management plant.”

“That’s what my dad said too.”

I left it at that as the stories were vague, with both Emilio and Dad giving conflicting accounts told to them by both my grandfather and father.

“Fine. Let’s start with mates. I gather it doesn’t refer to friendship.”

I had two choices. I could lie or be truthful, but Tony didn’t have enough background information to process mateship ‘cause he didn’t know shifters existed. How could I tell him he was the one for me?

I decided to do neither.

“You think we are so very different, and in many ways we are, but I also lost my alpha father too early. Not like you with the only memories provided by your dad, but as the eldest son, I carried on the family business while helping my dad and brothers grieve.”

He licked around his mouth, and I squeezed my thighs together as my cock swelled. It would be so easy to pull him toward me and lick the seasoning from his lips.

Do it!My wolf was fed up with the shifter/human conversation.

He placed a hand over his mating mark. “Okay, let’s start with the easy stuff. Why this? It’ll leave a scar so it’ll be part of me until my dying day.”

My wolf whimpered, not wanting to think of our mate going to the goddess.

“It’s bound up with mating. Our kind are a little different to many people on this planet.” I was being deliberately vague, but he wouldn’t accept me mumbling about our differences for long. He’d want answers.

“Yes, because most people on Earth are good and honest. They don’t kill for a living or rip people off.”

I sat, allowing the words to percolate in the small space between us. I should defend the pack and our way of life. We didn’t kill indiscriminately, and we were more Robin Hood than the Sheriff of Nottingham. Sorta. That was how I thought of it. But we did expect loyalty, and the punishment was swift if we didn’t get it. We looked after our own and cleaned up others’ messes.

But anything I said would sound like an excuse.

“It’s not like that.” I looked out the window at a paper bag being blown by the wind. That was me with Tony at this moment. I was powerless, my longing for him leaving me limp and battered.

The chips were finished, and I took out my frustration on the crinkly packet, scrunching it into a tiny ball.

“Wow! What did that poor packet ever do to you?” He snatched it out of my hands, but I took a chance and my fingers latched onto his. His gaze met mine, and we sat, our fingers entwined, not moving or speaking. His chest heaved, and his scent changed, just a little. Frustration mingled with… I didn’t want to put a name to it, fearing I’d jinx whatever this was, though my wolf jabbered in my head that this was the moment, instinct would tell him what we were to one another.

“I have no right to ask this, but I need a favor.” Usually when I asked for a favor, money was involved.

“Go on.” He didn’t pull away.

“Everything you’re confused about will be explained if you let me show you something.”

Tony’s eyes swept over my crotch before studying my face. “Even my father’s death?”

I shrugged. “Probably not that, but it will help you to understand who he was.”

“Fine.” He peered over the back seat. “Is whatever it is in the car?”