Chapter 6 #2
“Just go with it.” He shrugged. “I always have only your best interest at heart. Besides, if you play along with her you might gain even better access into the Alfero family, have you thought about that? Right now, they’ll tolerate you if she confesses love, if you’re a threat they’ll have eyes on you, if you work with the Vescovi—they'll have no choice but to invite you into each and every circle by way of fear. Keep your enemies close and all that. Become the threat, and they’ll invite the wolf inside to watch.
” He sighed. “Besides, she wants to feel alive, seen. You up for the task? Or is your heart still broken?”
My smile felt sad, out of place, awkward. “Don’t have one, it was fully obliterated a few weeks ago.”
“Good.” Cassian tilted his head. “You really think the Alferos have the intel once you’re in? Or is it false information?”
“They’re so neck deep in the De Langes, they probably have everything. All I need is one name,” I said. “The name of the shooter so he can meet the same fate.”
“And if it’s me?” Cassian asked.
“Then I’ll apologize in advance for making a mess of all your rich blood and try not to hit an artery?”
Cassian nodded. “Just keep my face intact—but I’m not the shooter. I don’t shoot kids, and I was basically one at the time too. Whoever took out the hit, whoever ordered the De Langes to target your house will pay. I promise.”
They would. Tenfold. I’d cleanse the entire family line and make them wish they were never brought into this world, and then I could finally face my little brother’s grave and say I was worthy to fucking gaze upon it.
“Then get it,” Cassian said. “Get close to the Alferos. Find out who ordered the hit. Who pulled the trigger. You get your info before I get mine—you win a prize. If I get what I need first?”
My voice was low. “What happens to the loser?”
Cassian flipped a coin into the air. It caught the moonlight and spun like fate before landing in his palm. He didn’t show it—just smiled, slow and deadly.
“I never hit and tell.”
Ah I forgot, this was the game part.
I stirred awake, thoughts dark from that interaction weeks ago, and stared out at the heavy curtains.
Tempest was already gone—big shock. We hadn’t exactly ended the night on the best terms. Sunlight sliced through the thick black curtains like judgment or maybe something else.
I refused to think it was longing or need for something more than a fight with her before sleeping with one eye open.
With a curse, I threw off the blankets and quickly got ready.
We had our first official brunch as a married wolf also known as eating with the wolves.
I was used to the five families but that didn’t mean I looked forward to dining with them when so many of them had hot tempers and sharp objects nearby.
I mean at least hide the steak knives, did they learn nothing after all these years?
By the time I made it into the kitchen I was already exhausted, mentally, not physically, my brain had a hell of a workout just trying to figure the game plan after my conversation with Cassian and also remembering our lovely little date at Lake Michigan before all of this went from possibility to reality, nightmare to reality.
Truth.
There was a sharp knock on the front door, precise and deliberate.
Followed by the doorbell ringing. I heard the click of Tempest’s heels, the door opening, and then she was in the kitchen holding a small white box that matched her perfect white jumpsuit and nude heels.
This couldn’t be good for me. Nothing pretty ever ended up that way.
She set the box down at the table and took a seat opposite then started sipping out of a small porcelain cup like she had all the time in the world.
"Coffee?” I asked.
She pointed with her free hand like words were too hard to express that early in the morning or that maybe just maybe expressing them on me was a waste.
I quickly made a cup then joined her and stared down at the box.
“A wedding gift?” I finally asked after a painfully silent four minutes where I wondered how much of her pink lipstick would press against the cup and what it would look like if I wiped it all off with my mouth.
I had a hypothesis that it wouldn’t take long.
And that it somehow would taste like candied espresso.
Yeah, I needed to buy a succulent.
Join a gym.
Do anything but get distracted by her mouth.
The worst part was that I wasn’t even thinking of her as a replacement for her sister and the stolen kisses we had.
She was an entirely different person, a puzzle I was just introduced to that I very desperately wanted to solve if only to prove to myself I could and that nothing was beyond my reach.
Was that arrogance? Maybe. Probably. She intrigued me, though.
the first person to make me feel intrigued in a long time.
Maybe that’s why I was hanging on when I should let go when I should dissociate and just do my job and focus on the box in front of me and why I was here.
She was using me plain and simple.
The same way I was using her.
The end.
No notes.
Tempest finally set her cup down. “Think of it as a little something to get your day started.” She changed the tone of her language, it was lighter at the end, less of a threat.
She even lifted her empty cup in a mock toast. Interesting.
She was… nervous. I made her nervous or the circumstances made her nervous?
I made a mental note and stashed it away.
She burst out laughing, ah fake laughs, how I’ve missed them. “I’d be stupid to marry you then kill you. After all, what do you even bring to the table other than the fact that I don’t have to worry about getting married off anymore?”
"My dick,” I said quickly gaining a quick blink from her before she looked away.
“And my intellect, not to mention my good looks and shooting ability but okay, let’s go with whatever deranged and depressing version of me you have stored into your brain so you can sleep at night without jumping my bones. ”
“I wouldn’t jump,” she scoffed.
“You would,” I said quickly and with a smirk I knew she wanted to smack off my face. “And you want to, but that’s beside the point. Apparently, I have a gift from my wife to open.”
Inside the white box was a sleek metal vial nestled in custom blue padding. It shimmered in the light—clear liquid and a glass dropper.
My eyes narrowed. What sort of game was she playing at now? What sort of test? I had a small clue only because I knew Cassian, but I hoped it wasn’t what I thought it was. “Looks more like a chemistry set than a gift.”
Tempest leaned back in her chair. “You agreed to infiltrate for me. Something wrong?” Her eyes sparkled with amusement. “Don’t you trust me?”
I stared her down. It would be so much easier if she was anything but pleasant to look at. She was so stunning my eyes burned just looking at her. “No. Actually, I don’t. I barely know you, wife.”
“Shame,” she said with a mock pout. “Because you get all the perks of the Alfero name. Protection. Power. A shiny new identity, even. And all I ask in return is one small thing.”
I lifted the vial between my fingers weighing, its contents. It wasn’t heavy. “What’s in it?”
“Viagra,” she said without blinking.
The corners of my mouth twitched. “Nice try, but we both know the last thing I need help with is getting it up. I mean unless we’re talking about you. That might need some encouragement, considering you sleep with deadly weapons.”
"I could say the same for you.” She stared down at my dick then lifted her gaze to meet my eyes.
Damn if it didn't make me want to crawl across the table out of nothing but the need to prove something despite feeling broken inside and burying the pain of all the ways my life went wrong and all the ways I was on the cusp of righting it.
She rose slowly, heels clicking against the marble tile. She stopped just short of me, though, her hands clasped around mine closing my fingers on the vial. “This game has rules,” she whispered. “And one of them is: only say as much as needed.”
“Will I die?” I teased.
“Not today,” she answered with a wink. Just what had Cassian told her? What was she searching for? What did she know?
"And tomorrow?” I pushed. “What about tomorrow?”
Tempest shrugged, spun on her heel, and called over her shoulder, “I’m off to open wedding presents. Hurry up with the espresso and take your present, daddy hates it when we’re late.”
“Don’t call him Daddy.”
“No, you don’t call him Daddy,” she yelled, her laughter echoing off the walls in a way that was a bit unrestrained. I loved it. “Then again, try it, see what happens. I can almost promise you death will be next.”
“I’ll take my chances with the vial.” I shoved it into my pocket, tossed back the last of my coffee and braced myself for the next few hours.
Because I was about to walk into the seventh circle of hell.
Family. Job. Death. Betrayal.
I was my own walking crime show. I cracked my neck and went in search of my gun. “Married life is super fun! Having a blast!” I called down the hall. “Just in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t!”
“Good talk.” I yelled back. “Anything else you need, wife?”
The only answer I got was a knife being tossed from upstairs as it clattered to my feet. “I can’t fit that in my purse. Can you strap it to your leg?”
Cute. “Yours doesn’t work?”
“Fine.”
She stomped down the stairs and pulled down her white slacks. “I just did my nails and I didn’t have time to actually get them done, so they’re press on and super easy to flick off, can you just attach it here.” She tossed me the black band. “And cinch it around here.”
She turned.
I saw a nude thong.
And that was it.
Just nude.
My brain misfired for a few seconds. How was it possible to look so smooth just like her skin? Where did it start? Where did it end? Should I pat her down just in case? I licked my lips.