CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Agod-awful beeping sound woke Dominic. Beside him, Mila reached over to the nightstand and turned off the alarm. He was just about to snuggle up to her when she fluidly slipped out of bed and stood tall, as alert as a fucking marine. He blinked. “Were you already awake?” he asked, his voice thick with sleep.

Pulling on an old flannel shirt, she said, “Nope. I was having a really strange dream that I was playing poker with Wonder Woman.”

He flicked a quick glance at the digital clock. Only 7:15 a.m. “Come back to bed, baby.”

“Gotta be at work at nine.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t come lie with me for a minute,” he pointed out, but she’d already disappeared into the bathroom. She returned after only a few minutes, looking fresh as a damn daisy. Then . . . it was like she was on fast-forward mode as she moved around the room, brushing her hair, changing into fresh clothes, and dabbing on a minimal amount of makeup without even looking in a mirror—he’d never seen anything like it. Honestly, he was tired just watching her.

Shaking his head, he asked, “How can you go from a deep sleep to wide awake, and then be completely ready in a matter of minutes?”

She shrugged. “Call it a leftover from my childhood. And adolescence.”

“A leftover?”

“I lived with two wolverines, GQ. If you didn’t get to the breakfast table fast, you didn’t get breakfast.”

Huh. He hadn’t thought of that. As she went to walk past him, he snagged her shirt, yanked her close, and then rolled her onto her back beneath him. “Better.” He took her mouth in a long, lazy kiss. “Good morning.”

She combed her fingers through his hair. “Good morning. Bet it feels weird waking up in someone else’s bed when it’s not the middle of the night,” she teased.

“I did wake up, remember?” Spooning her, he’d played with her clit until she was dripping wet and then fucked her right there, like that, before they both fell back asleep. He hadn’t felt even the smallest pull to leave. “In the past, I always went home because I didn’t want to lead anyone on.”

She looked at the ceiling. “You know, I’ve never understood why some guys worry that if they stay the night at a woman’s house, she’ll think it means something. Honestly, if a guy fell asleep in my bed and didn’t leave before morning, I never thought it meant something. I figured he was fucking tired. And since I very much hoped he had worn himself out making sure I had had myself a good time, I didn’t see it as a bad thing.”

Well, Dominic supposed that was indeed one way to look at it. “I don’t know anyone like you.”

She sniffed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Good. It was meant as one.” Nuzzling her, he yawned.

“Go back to sleep if you’re still tired.”

Drawing back, he brushed his nose over hers. “I want another kiss.” She lifted her mouth to his. Smiling, he began to slide down her body. “I didn’t say where I wanted it.”

After making her come with his mouth twice, he fucked her hard into the mattress. Ignoring her bitching about how he should have done it before she’d washed and dressed, he slapped her ass and headed into the bathroom. He did his business, brushed his teeth with a spare toothbrush he found in a drawer, then pulled on his clothes.

Checking his phone, he noticed a text message from Taryn asking how Mila was doing. The nosy she-wolf was also poking for information on how Mila had responded to his insistence that she was now his. He rattled off a quick reply, assuring her that all was well, and then went in search of Mila. He found her sitting on the living room sofa, sipping coffee while reading something on her cell phone.

“Coffee’s in the pot, if you want me to get you some,” she said without looking up.

He dropped a kiss on her head. “I’ll get it.” When he returned from the kitchen, she was still preoccupied with her cell phone. Mug in hand, he settled on the sofa next to her and nipped the tip of her ear. “What are you reading?”

“The numerous texts I received from my pride mates this morning, asking how I was feeling. Many of them are also fishing for details on whether or not you stayed.”

Marveling at how it didn’t feel the slightest bit weird or awkward to be waking and spending his morning with Mila, he said, “Taryn, my Alpha female, wanted to know if you were okay and whether you’d accepted that you’re mine. The pack is going to want to meet you.” He splayed his hand on her thigh. “I want them to meet you.”

“I can’t tonight. We’re invited to my parents’ home for dinner.”

“Sounds good.”

“You say that now. But my mother’s brothers will be there.”

Dominic’s eyes widened. “More wolverines? Excellent.”

Mila shook her head in disbelief. “Yeah, you definitely have some screws loose.”

“Will they be pissed to hear that there’ll be no arranged mating?”

“Don’t know.” She gave him a patronizing smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from them.”

“Good of you.” Tracing the brand on her neck, he asked, “How do you think your pride will feel about this?”

“Probably glad, since it means I won’t be moving to Russia. None of them were happy about it. My parents will no doubt be ecstatic that their little plot to get us together worked. They think you’re the shit. Honestly, I was surprised they didn’t change their minds about you after seeing that long list of names in the online article.”

He winced. “Makes me look like a player, doesn’t it?”

“You’re not a player. You didn’t play anyone. You just did your best to keep people at bay. One day, when you’re ready, you’re gonna tell me why.” It was a statement, but it held no pressure.

He squeezed her thigh. “Yeah, one day.”

“I noticed Charlene was on that list.” She sipped her coffee. “That explained a few things.”

He frowned. “What things?”

“You know, that she feels she has some sort of . . . well, I wouldn’t say claim to you, but there’s a little possessiveness there.”

Dominic shook his head, having never picked up on such a thing. “She’s mated.”

“Like you once said to me, just because someone is imprinted on another doesn’t mean they can’t still have lingering feelings for someone they were previously involved with. You were once involved with Charlene.” Mila took another drink from her cup. “She has a proprietary note to her voice when she talks about you.”

His hackles rising for a reason he couldn’t quite explain, Dominic narrowed his eyes. “And she talked to you about me?”

Mila nodded. “A few times.”

“Saying what, exactly?”

“The first night you spoke to me at the club, she later warned me in a very friendly way that I wouldn’t get a happily-ever-after from you. You know, like she was just looking out for me. The day after she caught us coming out of that little alcove where you’d kissed me, she sent me a text—I’m guessing she got my number from the employee files or something—saying that she’d heard about the jackal attack, hoped I was okay, and that she was very thankful that you had been there to intervene. She then cautioned me to remember that you were a ladies’ man, and I shouldn’t read anything into your concern for me. Said she believed the only person you’d ever commit to would be your true mate.”

Motherfucker.Confused as to why the fox would interfere like that, Dominic shook his head. “Charlene knows I’ve never been eager to find my true mate. At one time, she was very much the same, which was why I was comfortable having a brief fling with her as opposed to a one-night stand. I knew she wasn’t somebody who’d read anything into it.”

“Why did you end it?” asked Mila, putting her empty cup on the coffee table.

“I didn’t. She did.”

“Did you object?”

“No. I had no reason to. There was nothing between us.”

Mila couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Charlene had wanted him to object. Maybe the fox had hoped that by pulling away from him, she’d spur him into pushing for more. “How did you feel about her imprinting on someone else?”

“Happy for her. I thought of her as a friend, nothing more.” Setting his cup on the coaster on the coffee table, he added, “She tried discouraging me from pursuing you. When she mentioned over the phone yesterday that I hadn’t been to the club, she assumed I’d given up on you, and she seemed pleased by it. Said I was too old to be chasing skirts.”

“Maybe she’s just looking out for you in her way and wants you to find someone you can settle down with—someone not me. People often aren’t fond of pallas cats.”

“Well, I’m very fond of my cat.” Dominic lifted her and sat her on his lap to straddle him, marveling at how she seemed to fit there just right. As she went lax against him, he smoothed his hands up her back. “Very, very fond.” He kissed her, licking into her mouth. Feasting and savoring until his head spun with her taste. “I shouldn’t have pulled back from you and put distance between us.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.”

“It won’t happen again.” Dominic didn’t miss the spark of doubt in her gaze. “I’m all in this, Mila. I made a commitment to you, and I don’t have to tell you that I don’t take shit like that lightly. I wouldn’t have put that brand on your neck if I wasn’t sure that you could trust me to honor it. I can’t promise you that I won’t fuck up, but I can promise you that I’ll give this everything I have. Okay?”

Mila twisted her mouth. “All right. I promise to do the same.”

He gave her a lazy smile. “That’s my girl.” He kissed her again, sipping from her lips, liking the way her heartbeat quickened. The same heartbeat that had briefly come to a halt the previous evening, he remembered. And that thought was enough to take his breath away.

Never again.The next time danger came her way, it would find him in its path. “I’ve got to be honest, I’m not feeling good about you staying here after what happened in the basement.”

She smoothed her hands down his hard chest. “Vinnie and the boys will secure the building.”

“It should have already been secure. If I hadn’t trusted that you were safe here, I wouldn’t have kept my distance. In fact, I would have worked on getting you to stay on my territory for a while.”

“Can you honestly tell me that a snake shifter couldn’t have found a way onto your territory in much the same way that it did this building? Because you’d be totally lying if you said yes. In any case, I won’t be hiding away on your territory or anywhere else. That’s not who I am, and it’s not who my cat is.”

“I respect that you’re a highly dominant female, baby—”

“Prove it. Don’t try to change me. Don’t ask me to go against my nature. I know you want to protect me. But wrapping me up in cotton wool truly wouldn’t help the situation. The hit isn’t personal to me. It’s just a means of flushing out Alex. If I seem too difficult to get to, a price might suddenly appear on my mother’s head, or my father’s. Then the pride would be scrambling, trying to protect us all at once. Their attention and resources would be divided. Only two things will help—finding Alex and learning the identity of who put out the hit. I’m hoping Nick’s hacker-ally can help with the latter.”

Dominic fucking hated that he couldn’t deny she made sense. Still . . . “I don’t want your parents in the line of fire either, but I can’t agree that it’s better for the threat to remain focused solely on you.”

“I’m not asking you to agree with it. In your shoes, I wouldn’t like it either. But the pride has a better chance of protecting me if I’m the only one they need to worry about.” She put her finger to his mouth when he would have protested. “Let it go. Choose your battles wisely. This isn’t one you’ll win, and I think you know that already.”

He sighed. “I rehearsed this conversation in my head several times. You always gave the same responses you did just then.”

She shrugged. “I can only be who I am, Dominic.”

Drawing her close, he dabbed a kiss on her mouth. “Then you leave me only one option.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you have a brand-new shadow.” He smiled. “Say hi.”

“I don’t need to be shadowed.”

“No, you don’t. But it’ll make me feel better to have you in my sights. Would you really expect me to do anything else? I’m a highly dominant male wolf, baby. I protect, defend, and stand beside what’s mine.”

She heard what he didn’t say: he respected her level of dominance, and he needed her to accept his in return. And she couldn’t exactly dismiss it, could she?

With her elemental understanding of how dominant shifters worked, her cat didn’t bristle at his need to be close to her. In fact, the feline approved of it. “You’ll get bored.”

He frowned. “Being around you is never boring.”

“It will be after you’ve spent hours just sitting around the barbershop, doing nothing.”

“Watching over you isn’t ‘nothing.’ Especially when it gives me peace of mind.” He scraped a hand over his jaw. “I need another shave anyway. And wouldn’t it be nice for you to have me there to distract your pride mates when they come to check on and possibly fuss over you?”

Actually, it would. “What about when they start asking about our marks? Which they will, because they’re all nosy as hell.”

“I’ll just tell them the short version—I charmed, melted, and romanced you.”

She snickered. “Romanced. Right.”

“Hey, I can be romantic.”

“Sure,” she said drily, stretching out the word.

“Okay.” He straightened his shoulders. “Roses are red, and so are other flowers. Take off your panties, I just need a few hours.”

“Oh my God.”

He chuckled. “Kidding, kidding, here’s a good one. Roses are red, fit for a bride. Get flat on your back, and spread your legs wide.”

She stood up, shaking her head. “There’s no helping you, there really isn’t.”

“Yeah, I know.” Fisting her shirt, he dragged her back onto his lap. “Not done with that mouth yet.”

Later that day, Mila raised her hand to knock on her parents’ front door, but then she paused. “Quick warning: My uncles . . . well, they don’t hate my dad. They just hate that he mated their sister and wouldn’t move to Russia. But it means they can be assholes toward him. It’s mostly Isaak. He likes to pretend Dad isn’t even there. Of course, Dad just thinks it’s all pathetic, but it can make dinner conversation awkward.”

Dominic palmed Mila’s nape. “Baby, Trey’s grandmother makes a point of insulting most of the females in our pack at almost every meal—I know all about awkward.”

“My uncles might give you a little grief, since they’re snobs when it comes to other breeds. They only respect their own kind.”

He shrugged. “It makes no difference to me whether they like me or not.”

Mila couldn’t imagine them not liking Dominic—he could win over anyone. He’d hung around the barbershop all day. Theoretically, it should have been annoying to have him constantly watching her and taking up space. It wasn’t. Especially since he always supplied everyone with coffees, dealt with any pride mates who came nosing around, and was sure not to get in her way while she worked.

She’d expected him to get restless and start doing dumb shit to entertain himself, but he’d seemed happy enough to just laze around and chat with people. And watch her in a way that made her blood heat. He’d also had fun cornering and kissing the life out of her during her breaks.

Turning back to the door, Mila was just about to knock when it flew open.

Valentina smiled. “You are here.” She ushered them inside and kissed both their cheeks, making a huge fuss over Dominic. Rolling her eyes at that, Mila turned . . . and found herself swept up in a massive hug.

“Uncle Isaak,” she greeted with a smile, patting his back.

Grinning broadly, he held her at arm’s length. “My little Milena! So beautiful, just like your mother.”

Dominic’s brows lifted. “Milena?”

Isaak frowned at him. “It is good, strong Russian name.”

Sergei pulled her close, his face soft. “Do not worry about this assassin matter. We will find your brother. Aleksandr will not have gone too far.”

“Aleksandr?” echoed Dominic.

Isaak shot him another frown. “It is good, strong Russian—”

“We got it, we got it,” James cut in.

Isaak cocked his head. “I hear a squeak, Valentina. Perhaps you have vermin.”

Valentina swatted his arm. “You will not play these games with my mate.” Turning to Dominic, she said, “These are my brothers—Dimitri, Isaak, and Sergei. Boys, this is Mila’s man, Dominic Black.”

Dominic nodded at the three male wolverines as they silently assessed him. They looked very much alike—dark, muscled, hair slicked back . . . kind of like the bad guys in The Matrix, minus the sunglasses.

With his chest puffed out and mask of sheer arrogance, Isaak seemed to stand out most. Shorter than his brothers, Sergei gave Dominic a somewhat genteel smile to put him at ease, but there was far too much cunning in those amber eyes for anyone to be relaxed around that guy. As for Dimitri . . . he just seemed to broadcast “try me, motherfucker” with his menacing glower and dark aura, even as he hugged Mila so gently. Oddly, though, Dominic got the sense that Sergei was the most dangerous of the three.

Dimitri looked at Mila. “What about Maksim?”

“I’ll kill him if he even thinks to come for her,” Dominic said in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. “Ripping out his throat won’t bother me in the slightest.”

After a long moment, Dimitri gave a small shrug. “We will still get alliance without the mating, it is no matter.”

Sergei moved closer to Dominic, his nostrils flaring. His nose wrinkled in distaste. “A wolf, Milena?” Letting out a put-out sigh, he gave Dominic another once-over. “At least you are not cat.”

James’s brows snapped together. “Hello, Mila’s a cat.”

Sergei glared at him. “Our Milena is wolverine.”

“No, she’s a pallas cat,” James stated.

“Her animal has the skin, muscle, and bone of a feline, but it is not the body that is important. Our Milena has soul of a wolverine—we all see it. Therefore, she is wolverine.”

“No, she’s really not.” James raised a hand when Sergei would have argued. “I’m done. Let’s sit and eat.”

Mila gave her father’s hand a supportive squeeze as they headed to the dining table. She sat between him and Dominic while Valentina piled food on plates, filled glasses, and generally fussed over everyone before finally joining them at the table.

Digging into his meal, Dominic silently marveled at how fast and how much the male wolverines ate as he listened to them talk of the many people they’d spoken with about Mila’s brother. Alex had been sighted in various places, but he didn’t stay anywhere for long and didn’t seem to be heading in a particular direction. “How long does Alex usually go roving for?”

“A few months at a time,” Mila replied, holding a forkful of pasta to her mouth. “Though he did disappear for a year once.”

“A year?” Dominic repeated.

“Wolverines like to roam,” said Isaak, his voice deep and gruff. “It is in our nature, our blood, our bones. Only a mate can anchor us.”

Dimitri lifted his glass. “Aleksandr roams more than most, though.”

Lips thinning in disapproval, Sergei nodded. “The boy needs a father.”

James bristled, pausing in slicing into his meat. “He has a father.”

Isaak glanced around. “I heard another squeak, Valentina.”

Giving her brother a light slap on the head, Valentina urged, “Eat your food, Isaak.” That only appeared to amuse the male.

Sergei drummed his fingers on the table. “Tell us more about the website your mother mentioned, Milena.”

“Dominic knows more about it than I do,” she said, but she relayed what information she had. Dominic added a few details in between bites of food.

“How confident is the other wolf that he can crash the anonymity network?” asked Dimitri.

“Very. If Donovan says he can do it, I believe him,” said Dominic.

“Once we have the website manager’s name, we will deal with him,” declared Sergei. “First, we must track Aleksandr. A wolverine can only be found by another wolverine. We will retrace his steps. He will be found, Milena—do not worry.”

Isaak nodded. “Then we will kill who put out the hit. All will be fine.”

“Except that Mila’s cat will probably attack Alex the second she sees him,” said James, shooting her a droll look. “I can’t count the number of times I saw that feline launch at his face in a fury. She always got him good.”

“He always deserved it,” Mila asserted.

Dominic’s mouth quirked. “You fought a lot with your brother?”

James snorted. “They fought constantly. There was no disciplining them over it. If I yelled at her for hurting him, he’d turn on me, saying no one got to shout at his sister. The same thing happened if I yelled at him for hurting her. They stuck together, even as they drove each other insane.”

Isaak lifted his chin. “Wolverines always stick together. It is in our nature, our blood, our—”

“Bones, right.” James sighed. “I remember the time I went out into the yard to find that Mila had dug a shallow grave. She was also shoveling dirt back into it. It was only when I went over that I saw Alex lying in the grave, out cold and hog-tied with a goose egg on his head. When I asked her what the hell she was doing, she said, ‘It’s a kindness, Daddy, he’s not fit to live.’”

Dominic chuckled. “How old was she?”

It was Valentina who responded, mock frowning at Mila. “Ten.”

Sergei nodded, proud. “Even then, she knew to bury evidence of her crime.”

“Why did you try to bury him alive?” Dominic asked her.

Her mouth tightened. “He drew satanic symbols on my bedroom floor and threw all my underwear into the front yard.”

Dominic frowned. “Why?”

Mila sipped her soda. “Alex never needs a reason to be an ass. He often breaks into my apartment in the middle of the night and raids my fridge.”

“He doesn’t have his own home?”

“Sure he does, but he’s a scavenger of the worst kind.”

“He will be angry that he did not get hand in making death adder snake pay,” said Valentina.

Mila flexed her fingers. “I fought that motherfucker hard.”

“Well, of course you did,” said Isaak. “You are an Ivanov.”

James sighed. “She’s a Devereaux, actually.”

Isaak looked at his sister. “There is more squeaking.”

Valentina slapped the table. “Isaak Ivanov, you will cease with your games!”

Isaak leaned toward her, scowling. “You could have had good Russian mate! Wolverine. Strong. Powerful. Instead, you chose dumb, psychopathic cat!”

Valentina’s eyes flared. “He is not dumb or psychopathic!”

“A man who does not drink vodka must have heads in the freezer and bodies in the walls!”

“I will not do this with you!”

Mila turned to Dominic with a sigh. “Unreal, right?”

Smiling, he draped an arm over the back of her chair. “Is it wrong that I really like your uncles?”

Rubbing her temple, she grabbed her glass. “I had a feeling you’d say something weird like that.”