His Mate By Vengeance (Lunetti Pack #1)

Chapter 1 Angelo

CHAPTER 1: ANGELO

Angelo leaned against the back wall and let the chaos wash over him as he waited for his pack to tell him what they needed from him. Flecks of dried blood remained on his knuckles, which he hadn’t had time to wash up properly before returning to the pack house. That was the only remaining sign he’d pounded the face of the fucker who’d been stalking one of their packmates into the concrete, though. Shifter healing for the win. His wolf was itching to be let free to run off the lingering aggression, but he’d had to put that on hold for this shitshow.

The flatscreen TV on the wall had been muted so their Alpha, Marco, could make the calls he needed to. Angelo watched the silent screen as emergency services swarmed around a nightclub that was spewing black smoke into the air. If only whoever set the explosion had caught their intended target, Marco wouldn’t need to be on the phone dealing with the arrogant jackass head of the vampire coven.

As much as Angelo wanted to stop whoever had threatened their city and their business with this bomb, he wasn’t all that cut up about them trying to take out the vamp leader. Kyan was a smarmy, white-collar board chair who charmed oblivious humans with his billions, then peddled their blood and flesh in the shadows when they weren’t looking.

“It wasn’t us. You know we don’t deal in silver shrapnel bombs. They’re just as dangerous to shifters as they are to vamps,” Marco growled into the phone, clearly running out of patience. Kyan had kept him on hold for long minutes—the disrespect as blatant as a spit in the face.

Marco didn’t have the call on speaker, but Angelo heard the vampire’s reply regardless, courtesy of his wolf’s sensitive hearing. “Are you, or are you not, in control of every arms deal in this city? If not, I’ll have to expand my business in that direction to prevent any further fuck ups,” Kyan snapped.

Every wolf in the room bared their teeth at the threat. They might have to share a city with the bloodsucking traffickers, but any encroachment in arms dealing was a direct challenge to their territory that they would respond to with lethal force.

“See how long your leeches last if they try,” Marco snarled before hanging up and tossing his phone on his desk hard enough to crack the screen.

His Alpha took a deep breath to get himself under control before turning to the heavily muscled man lounging on the couch next to him—his right-hand man. “Sai. We need to know who planted that bomb and where the fuck it came from. Get on it.”

Silas tilted his chin up in acknowledgment, squeezing Marco’s shoulder in a silent show of support before gesturing for one of their enforcers to follow him as he strode from the room. Both their eyes flashed golden as their wolves moved close to the surface. They were all struggling to control themselves with the tension this attack had caused.

Their pack might not have been the target of the bomb, but by using explosives like that, the attackers had ensured they would be implicated—either as suppliers or for losing control of that supply. They’d be lucky if this didn’t start a war with the vamps like the one that had killed Angelo’s family decades ago. Fucking vamps. They’d take any excuse to kill. It was fundamental to their nature and if Angelo had his way, they’d all be dead or locked away.

As a child, he’d watched the light fade from his sister’s eyes as even her shifter healing failed to fix the exsanguination of every drop of her blood from her body. She’d gasped her last breath as she lay next to the cold, dead bodies of their parents and he still dreamed of the death rattle of her lungs every night. He would never let that happen in front of him again. He hadn’t spoken for an entire year afterward. Hadn’t let anyone close. Could count the number of times he’d laughed since then on the fingers of one hand.

If his Alpha hadn’t taken him in and given him back a purpose through his role as head of security for the pack, he might’ve slid into a slow death behind them. Wolves didn’t do well without touch, without a pack. He was just lucky Marco understood he couldn’t take part in the darker parts of their business—the protection payments, the arms deals that were so grey in their morality they bordered on pitch black.

Angelo wasn’t na?ve. He knew what his pack was. How they made their money. But they weren’t without ethics—no innocents killed, no trading in flesh like the fucking leeches—and Angelo operated in the lightest part of their shadow. He protected. And if sometimes the people he was protecting were later taken out by his packmates, that was his Alpha’s prerogative.

Lost in thought as he was, Angelo didn’t notice Marco had answered another call until his stern voice cut through the tense quiet of the room. “Dar, we’re not your fucking babysitting service. I have enough on my plate tracking down whoever’s behind this. Take care of your own.”

Angelo straightened where he stood as a chill of anxiety slid down his spine. Darius was another vamp, brother to Kyan, but somehow not involved in the coven business—a loner. Angelo didn’t understand that at all. Family—pack—was everything. Although he guessed if his family dealt in human trafficking, he wouldn’t be lending a hand either. Darius and Marco had some relationship he’d never quite figured out. Not friends, not even allies yet, but more than the strangers or enemies they should’ve been. There was a mutual respect there he didn’t understand at all.

The vampire’s voice was smooth and charming as he replied. Dar could talk a shifted wolf into eating vegetables if he put his mind to it. He wielded enough power he could’ve shaped the city into whatever image he liked, but he’d always stuck to the shadows. “Come now. I’ll owe you a favour, Marco. And so will he. Isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for? A chance to undermine my brother’s power base? An in with our kind? This is a beginning for us.”

The hackles of Angelo’s wolf rose in the back of his mind even as a sinking feeling filled his gut with lead. He wished he’d caught the start of this request, so he knew what was at stake and who they were talking about. The way Marco’s flashing gold eyes found and held his across the room said this was about to become a problem for him.

“I have a guy who can keep an eye on him. He can use one of our safe houses for a week. No more. Then he’s on his own,” Marco said.

“Perfect. The safe house alone will suffice. He doesn’t need a minder. Send me the address and I’ll pass it on,” Dar replied.

“He’s a fucking assassin. I’m not letting him loose in my pack lands without a guard. He’ll follow Angelo’s orders, or I’ll deliver him to Kyan myself,” Marco snapped.

Angelo fought to keep his face from showing his feelings as pure, unadulterated rage filled him. He had no idea who exactly this guy was that he would be guarding, but there was no fucking way he’d protect a vampire assassin. Someone just like the man who’d killed his parents and his sister. For all he knew, it could even be the same guy. They’d never found him. The rest of Marco’s conversation faded into static over the throbbing of his heartbeat in his ears and the snarling rage of the wolf inside him fighting to break free.

The next thing he noticed was his Alpha’s face filling his vision. Angelo was big. Like, really big. Six foot three with muscles on his muscles. He had to be to guard people against the kinds of threats his pack dealt with on a daily basis. But there was a reason Marco was the leader of their pack, and his Alpha loomed large and threatening above him.

“Do we have a problem?” he asked, voice too quiet. A warning Angelo would do well to heed.

“Don’t ask this of me,” Angelo pleaded, hating how his voice almost cracked with the emotion he would usually never show. “I can’t guard someone like that.”

The next thing he knew, the back of his skull was cracking against the wall and his Alpha’s fingers were squeezing tight around his throat. Pure dominance crashed over him through the bond every wolf had with their pack’s Alpha. Breathing was impossible and the bruises Marco was leaving would take hours to fade. Stars filled his vision as his consciousness became a tenuous thing.

Marco’s voice was low and dangerous as he spoke. “Angelo, I make many allowances for you, but I will not tolerate a challenge. Are you challenging me?”

Fuck. He should’ve seen the signs. Marco was usually the epitome of control, but every few months, he’d hit a wall. Watching your mate die in front of you would do that to you. Silas would usually anticipate it and take him somewhere to let off some steam before it affected their work—a kink club or the fighting ring. Angelo knew it had been too long because he always accompanied them as their silent protective shadow.

Somehow, Angelo managed to shake his head in a weak response. Marco’s fingers loosened enough for him to form words and he croaked out a rough, “No, Alpha.”

At his capitulation, anger turned to sympathy in Marco’s eyes. Angelo wasn’t sure which was worse.

“Good. I know your past makes this more difficult for you, but you can trust that I would never make you protect someone like the man who killed your family. I would tear his throat out myself before he even breathed near you. I know Corvin. He may be a vampire and an assassin, but he’s like us. He has a code he operates by. The pack has used his services before, and we likely will again. I need to know that I can trust you to take care of this. To take care of him. There are larger matters at stake here than your damaged soul and everyone else I could trust with this will be needed to shake down our suppliers.”

Angelo swallowed hard against the pressure of his Alpha’s fingers and drew in a deep breath, forcing himself to back down from the dangerous state that thinking of his family always put him in. What was so special about this vampire that Marco was only considering his inner circle to guard him? He knew his Alpha was trying to give him what he’d always needed in his role for the pack—to be the protector instead of the aggressor, to help instead of hurt. But this time he genuinely wasn’t sure which would make him feel worse: protecting a vampire assassin or torturing arms dealers for information.

“You can trust me, Alpha. Always,” he croaked, following his wolf’s urging and baring his throat in submission as he kept his eyes carefully lowered.

Marco’s hand slipped around to the back of his neck, scent-marking him, and he pressed their foreheads together. “We will find the fucker who killed your family one day, and he’ll pay for what he did. I promise you.”

Angelo pushed down the pain like he had a thousand times before and nodded. One day. Until then, he was babysitting a leech, apparently.

“It’s only a week, Angelo,” Marco said as if he could read his thoughts, which he almost could through their pack bond.

“Which safe house is he using?” Angelo asked and he could’ve sworn Marco almost winced before his face returned to his stern visage, giving nothing away.

“Kyan will have eyes everywhere. It has to be the cabin. It’s the only place remote enough.”

Angelo opened his mouth to let loose a string of curses and then thought better of it as Marco bared his canines that had lengthened in a partial shift. His Alpha was out of patience with him. Snapping his jaw closed, he swallowed his protest. The cabin in the woodlands bordering the city where their pack ran was the size of a studio apartment—just an open-plan living area and a bathroom.

Just one bed.

Fucking hell .

Two hours later, Angelo was driving one of the pack’s black SUVs with bulletproof glass up the narrow driveway of the safe house as the sky turned red with dusk. He’d wound the window down as soon as he left the main road to wend through the forest, letting the familiar sounds and smells of his pack lands ease the tension of his wolf inside him.

It was autumn, and the air was crisp with the promise of easy prey—the rabbits would be barely a mouthful, but he’d caught the scent of white-tailed deer earlier. His mouth watered and his teeth elongated as the wolf inside him stretched out its awareness, but he forced it all back.

We’re working for Alpha , he reminded the beast that was his other half. He had perfectly good groceries in the trunk and, if he was lucky, he’d get to stalk vampire prey this week instead of animal. A low growl escaped him at the reminder of who he’d be guarding. He’d had to stock up on blood bags for the vampire he was protecting as well, shoving them into a special temperature-controlled cooler.

As he pulled up to the modest cabin, he scanned his surroundings for any sign his client had arrived. The motion sensors and cameras linked to his phone hadn’t gone off, but that didn’t mean much when you were dealing with vamps, especially powerful ones. The damn things didn’t show up on normal video and even the high-tech equipment they used to protect the safe house would be hit-and-miss with one as old as this assassin probably was.

Sitting in the car, he inspected the silvered raw wood of the cabin’s cladding and its shadowy windows for long breaths. It looked empty, but something told him he wasn’t alone—the birdsong was just a touch too distant and there was the faintest scent of metallic blood carrying on the breeze, so slight he would’ve missed it if he wasn’t sitting frozen in his seat like he was fucking prey.

Dammit.

Easing himself silently from the vehicle, he slunk toward the house using all the stealth of the apex predator he was. No vampire was going to have him hiding away. Maybe he’d get lucky and the hint of blood in the air would be from this Corvin guy lying dead inside. The blood smell wasn’t nearly strong enough for that, but a wolf could dream.

Strong or not, the scent wrapped around him as he pushed the door open on silent hinges and stepped into the cool interior of the cabin. The metallic tang was still not much more than a faded memory, but it was twined with other smells now and Angelo drew in a deep breath despite himself, nostrils flaring as he processed the notes like the smell of this vampire bane of his existence was a fine wine. Somehow, in addition to the taste of blood and darkness, he smelled of… fresh mint? Underlaid with something unidentifiable that had his breath catching. He’d never met a vamp whose scent was so clean, refreshing, and enticing.

Oh, fuck no. Not enticing. Nothing about a vamp was enticing.

A slight rustle in the bathroom and a waft of soap smell said the vamp had taken a shower. Angelo frowned at the careless move even though, personally, he didn’t give a shit if this guy died a painful death. What if Angelo had been an attacker instead of his protector and he’d been caught naked and vulnerable? His cock perked up at the thought, but he ignored it. Traitor . Crossing muscled arms in front of his broad chest, he waited for Corvin to emerge, hoping to frighten the vamp into taking more care.

He let his face settle into a threatening scowl as the door opened and a waft of steam entered the small room. The frown didn’t last long because his brain glitched and his eyes widened as Corvin stepped into the room with one hand towelling his hair dry. He was wearing nothing but a scrap of black lace that barely covered the delicious-looking cock Angelo definitely wasn’t staring at with his mouth watering. Not at all. Not even a little.

Fuck.

He didn’t know what he’d imagined the vampire assassin would look like, but it wasn’t this. Like shifters, vamps tended to be blessed with an uncanny agelessness and supernatural strength that made the ubiquitous beauty of their kind almost mundane.

Corvin was anything but mundane.

He’d never seen a vamp like him in their line of business. Corvin barely reached his pecs, unusual in their crime families where shifters and vampires alike usually loomed large. The assassin was all slender, sleek muscle. Soft blond hair swooping to one side fell just above his shoulders, framing the kind of bone structure a supermodel would die for. High cheekbones shimmered even in the dim light of the cabin’s interior with whatever make-up he’d donned when he could’ve been putting some fucking clothes on, and his eyes were lined in dramatic black. His skin was much paler than Angelo’s warm tan, not surprising given vampires’ avoidance of the sun, and he couldn’t stop himself from tracing every elegant exposed muscle with a hungry gaze. A disturbing tattoo of an eye peered out from his sternum, but it wasn’t the magicked ink that drew his attention like a magnet because both the man’s nipples were pierced.

What he wouldn’t give to…

“Well, hello there, tall, light, and handsome. See something you like?” Corvin teased, leaning back against the wall. The flash of his fangs as he spoke was enough to snap Angelo back to reality.

Shutting down every stray thought, every expression, every thrumming pulse, he stared at the vampire with his best emotionless robot expression. The one that had always kept his pack from getting too close.

“No,” he snapped, his brain not getting with the programme enough to come up with anything more articulate.

A slow smile spread across Corvin’s face and his eyes flashed silver in the way vamps do when they’re hunting prey. “I can hear the lie in your voice and the excitement in your blood.”

“It’s anger, not excitement. Put some fucking clothes on.”

Corvin’s eyes trailed down Angelo’s body as he considered his demand, and it was all he could do not to shift on his feet or lunge at the vamp who clearly had a death wish. The vampire smirked as his gaze drifted below his belt and saw the bulge he had no hope of hiding. Angelo gritted his teeth and let out a low growl of warning.

What the fuck was wrong with him? He didn’t like vamps. Hell, he barely liked his own kind. He was a quick fuck in the back hallway of a club kind of guy, and always with a woman, because who could be bothered with male shifter dominance posturing just for a quick hook-up? He did not want whatever that cocky look was proposing.

Spinning on his heel, he stormed out to the car to grab the bags and the cooler he’d left there. By the time he’d managed to Tetris the supplies into the tiny cupboards of the kitchen, he was feeling a little more under control and he turned back to the magnetic presence he’d been ignoring who was now lounging on the bed. At least the vamp had found some clothes, even if they were some sort of mesh shirt that did nothing to hide his piercings and a black, kilt-like skirt that would be all too easy to hike above his waist.

“I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. Or should that be paw? I’m Vin, your friendly neighbourhood assassin,” the vampire said, sliding off the bed and holding out a hand to Angelo as he flashed him a manic grin. His voice was pure sex—gritty, but still soft enough to entice a man to his death.

Angelo kept his expression blank as he contemplated the delicate hand before him. Was this guy for real? Vin’s eyes hardened as the seconds passed and Angelo remained frozen in place, but he kept his hand waiting. Finally, just to break the stalemate, Angelo relented and engulfed the soft hand in his own, giving it a perfunctory shake and ignoring the zap of electricity the skin-on-skin contact sent through him. It had just been too long since he’d been to a club. He’d fix it when this week was done.

“Angelo. Your bodyguard,” he said.

“Lucky me. My very own guardian angel,” Vin said.

“I’m a fucking wolf. There’s nothing angelic about me and if I had my way, you’d be dead,” Angelo snarled, squeezing Vin’s hand hard enough that something would’ve broken if he’d been human. He didn’t know what to make of his own behaviour. His pack would’ve been wide-eyed at the amount of emotion he was letting leak through.

A hint of steel entered Vin’s tone. “You could try, anyway. But you won’t. I know how your packs work. Your Alpha gave you a command. You’ll follow it like a good little puppy.”

And then the tiny man reached up with his other slender, delicate hand and wrenched Angelo’s fingers off his own in a move so fast he barely had time to process it before he was spinning with his arm twisted up behind him and his face smashed against the nearest wall. He tried to shove backwards, but the damn vamp was like an immovable boulder. With as slight as his build was, he doubted Vin was actually stronger than him, but the vampire had training on his side and he was old . Powerful. Angelo was forced to admit it would’ve been him who died if that was what Vin had wanted.

“Submit, wolf,” Vin said from behind him, still sounding calm as anything while his cool body pressed up against Angelo’s in a way that shouldn’t have felt good given he was a fucking vampire assassin who’d pinned him in place like a bug.

Angelo growled again, but his wolf knew when someone more dominant was in the room and he was baring his neck before he could stop himself.

“Good puppy,” Vin said, releasing his arm and patting his ass before drifting back to the bed and pulling out his phone as if nothing had happened.

Angelo could feel the heat of rage and embarrassment rising in his face. It was one thing to submit to his Alpha, but to this vampire ? What. The. Fuck? It took everything in him to keep it all inside.

“If you’re so deadly, why do you even need me?” Angelo asked through clenched teeth.

Vin glanced up at him with a slight frown. “I don’t. Like Dar said, I just need the cabin to lie low in for a few days. The timing was unfortunate. I was on a job for Kyan only a couple of doors down when the bomb hit, so he suspected me immediately and knew exactly where to find me. Honestly, I’m a little insulted. If I wanted him dead, he would be. He should know that. My safe houses were compromised, and he has eyes in too many places for me to get clear without leaving a trail of unnecessary bloodshed behind me.”

“Oh, so the vampire assassin has a conscience?” Angelo scoffed.

He could swear a flash of disappointment crossed Vin’s face before he smoothed his expression. “Be grateful. If I didn’t, you’d already be dead.”

Angelo bared his teeth again, but his wolf wasn’t having any of it when they’d already submitted, refusing the partial shift of his fangs he was going for.

“Are you going to be this tiresome the whole week? I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s only one bed and I don’t think the dining chairs will be very comfortable to sleep on,” Vin said.

“I’ll shift and sleep outside,” Angelo muttered.

“How will my Angel guard me if he can’t see me?” Vin teased, leaning back on his hands and arching one elegant brow.

“As you already said, you don’t need me.”

“But your Alpha told you to guard me,” Vin said.

“He also said if you don’t follow my orders, he’ll deliver you to Kyan himself.”

Vin’s smirk just grew wider. “Kinky. What are you going to order me to do, Angel?”