Chapter 51
51
Weeks Later…
Layne
“ I t would be an honor, honestly, Layne,” Ronnie argues.
I shake my head, squeezing Bella so hard, I hear her protest, before I stand up and face Ronnie and his offer for me to keep Bella and Edward. “No. It’s not because I don’t love them or think they can’t do the job.”
He leans back in his chair and waits for more of an explanation. Clicking my fingers at the dogs, I release them for a final time back to Ronnie, taking my seat next to Dante.
Looking at my husband nearly causes me to lose focus. He’s looking exceptionally dangerous today, just how I like him. Being second in command of the Cosa Nostra over here is good for him, as was excising a lot of his demons via the prisoners downstairs.
Our basement at the tower is not a place I will probably ever visit. There’s no reason for me to go watch Pack De Luca torture people. I don’t need to see the proof of their honor or strength in violent and brutal displays. I get to see the aftermath, which is more powerful. Each time they return to me after dealing with one of the people who wronged them, there’s less pain in their eyes. My three husbands wear that closure and growth with as much pride as the blood on their hands.
Dante’s eyebrows rise when he sees me getting distracted, which is nothing new, but his smirk brings me to the reason we’re here.
“Bella and Edward are yours. I was going to ask to buy them off you, but Dante would also like to get me a gift, and I’m so into Dante’s gifts, it’s not funny.” I twist to look at Dante again, and he feigns innocence. He’s not at all innocent. The last few weeks have been full of so much, including Dante’s gifts. Each of them has been aimed toward keeping me physically or spiritually strong—but also reminding me my time of running is done, and it’s time to make plans for the future I want. “We did our research, and I made my decision. I’m hoping you can help us, though.”
“You know I will,” Ronnie answers, and it’s directed at both me and Dante. Which is another thing we’ve had to adjust to. The respect my pack has garnered in such a short amount of time isn’t surprising, neither is how people want to show it.
“Good. I’d like you to source two Cane Corso pups. Brothers, if possible.”
“Jesus.” Ronnie grunts as he rocks back in his seat again. “Big dogs with a lot of attitude.”
I shake my head, laughing, “Have you not met my pack?”
He doesn’t argue. It’s not really his place to, but at the same time, I’m pretty sure Ronnie would let me know if he thought it was a bad idea.
“I would like to ask you to help me train them. Bella and Edward have remarkable discipline. I never questioned their loyalty, even though they were only loan dogs. And that level of discipline is where I want the pups to end up. They’ll be with me pretty much all the time, even when we’re traveling or I’m working. Down the road, I’d also like to start breeding Cane Corsos. When people look at Cane Corsos, I want them to think of the De Lucas.”
Dante pulls me over, so he can kiss my head. When I floated the idea of aligning the breed to our family, he was an emotional mess, finally seeing for himself that I really have no doubts left that my happily ever after is with him, and our pack.
“We’re in no hurry, either. The renovations at De Luca Estate are expected to take a while, and honestly, the saging needed there will probably take longer. But when we do move in, I’d like the boys with us. I want it to be their first and only home.”
I check my watch, another gift. My pack has been going overboard with their generous displays of affection. This gift was from Valentine when he returned home one afternoon after clearing out Vitale’s room. He found his mother’s watch—a Patek Phillipe—and I may have sobbed like a baby when he gave it to me because I knew how overwhelmed he was to have found a piece of her. But he wiped my tears, as I did his, and I’ve barely taken his mother’s watch off since.
“Ronnie, sorry, we’re going to be late for our next meeting. Can I leave my request with you?” I stand up, and Dante places his hand on my back, making a shiver race down my spine.
The near feral hunger we had for each other has not diminished in the least. And as much as I adore all the gifts they’ve been showering me in, it’s their touches that mean the world to me.
Walking us to the door, Ronnie talks the whole way, giving me a rundown of what he’ll do and when I should expect to hear back. Not that it matters—I have the rest of my days.
Dante walks me to the driver’s side of our vehicle, opening the door and helping me into something Matteo gave me. Kind of. I won’t let him give up complete custody of the CT5-V Blackwing. As soon as Dante’s butt hits the seat, I floor it, taking advantage of a break in the traffic, of course.
I glance over at Dante, who is looking at me blankly. “I’m not paying your speeding fines.”
“No worries.” I wink at him, then focus on taking a tight corner. “I’ll sweet-talk the officer, pull my skirt up high, if need be.”
“The fuck you will,” he snarls, his top lip twitching. I don’t need to look at him to know it. He does it often enough when he gets snarly.
I laugh at the same time as his phone rings. “Sorry, baby, I have to take this call.”
While he talks business with a new arms dealer, I drive us toward our next appointment. And this one brings me lots of anxiety, because I think there might be something wrong with me. It’s the only reason to explain why I haven’t gone into heat. The amount of sex we’ve had is criminal. I wake up most days coming on someone’s face or someone sliding into my body. I’m not complaining at all about that. I am complaining about being completely drug free but not experiencing a heat cycle.
Thankfully, I keep getting lucky breaks in the traffic, so it looks like we’ll be on time to meet with Hannah and Rowan, the doctors in Jana’s pack.
We pull to a stop at a set of lights, and beside us, a Chevy Camaro pulls up.
The people inside the car are at that weird age where they're basically boys and definitely not men. They’re on the wrong side of the bridge, and they’re looking for trouble. The passenger rolls his window down and starts mouthing off at me, loudly, yelling increasingly obscene suggestions that I’m only driving this car because of someone’s dick I’ve been sucking. Once he starts, the others follow, and I don’t think any of them can see Dante sitting beside me.
“Open your window, baby. And stay still.”
“Don’t hurt them. They’re just…”
“Assholes. Layne, now,” Dante barks, his anger cracking out like a whip.
Pushing back against the seat, I lower my window, and the driver of the Chevy revs the engine aggressively while the passengers get even more offensive in their comments.
I watch Dante out of the corner of my eye. He’s clearly the bigger threat in this situation, and when he moves so they can see him, they also see the gun in his hand which is now pointed right at them.
“Apologize to my wife right this fucking second,” he bellows. His voice is loud, but it’s the blast of his designation that has them in a choke hold. “Right fucking now.”
The boys are full of bravado, and even though they can’t lift their eyes to look at me, they’re still muttering cocky and condescending slurs. My husband doesn’t let up, slamming his designation over them and leaving them looking like naughty schoolboys who’ve never faced an Alpha before. But the idiots keep challenging him.
Dante is pissed, and he gets out of the car.
If I was the driver of the Chevy, I would have floored it and gotten the hell out of here, but they’re locked in being rude assholes and saving face. Dante ducks low to speak through the passenger window, unperturbed by the traffic behind us.
“Apologize,” he growls.
And I get a couple of apologies, but their petulance is as obvious as the disrespect. I suspect, if Dante wasn’t aware of the time, he’d pull them out of their car and beat the living shit out of them.
“Grow the fuck up and learn some fucking respect. You got me?”
Dante goes to stand up, and I drop my head, smiling, because the cocky little shits think they got one up on him. He doesn’t walk away; he teaches them a valuable lesson about respect and being a little more aware of who you’re going toe to toe with. It’s an expensive lesson for them, too. Maybe it will save their lives later, or maybe not. He shoots out the tires on the passenger side of the car before pumping a couple of shots through the passenger window and into the windshield.
And then he leans down again, and it’s only then the young men are finally realizing how much they fucked up. Dante rests his forearms on the window’s edge and snaps photos of them. “By the time you’ve changed your tires, your faces will be circulating every corner of my territory. Any of my guards see you down here again, and they won’t be as nice as I’ve been. Capisce ? Now say, ‘sorry, Mrs. De Luca’, and make sure you mean it this time.”
The sudden drop in their aggression and the loud groan of realization from each of them is as obvious as the horn blasts from the traffic behind us. Dante stands up and stares down the line of cars before walking slowly back to the passenger seat and getting in while every person in the car offers him a sincere apology. Which only makes my smile broaden.
Dante places his hand on my thigh, pulling my skirt up higher, needing to feel my skin on his, but that’s okay—I need to feel him too.
“Little fuckers.” He grins, looking out the opposite window.
“I bet you and Valentine were worse,” I say, driving off when the light changes.
“You have no idea, babe, no fucking idea. Although Matty was even worse than we were. I can’t even remember how many times Nonna got her wooden spoon out when we were their age.”
“Let’s hope they learn something from today, then.”
“Doubtful. You might want to drive a bit faster; we’re going to be late,” he says, pointing at the clock at the same time another call comes through.
By the time we’ve found a parking spot in front of Styke, we’re only five minutes late.
Perhaps it was cocky of Valentine to immediately broaden his territory to include what were “neutral zones,” but he isn’t a Gambrillo, and he’s doing a lot of things differently. Although, it also isn’t a secret that he altered where his territory starts and ends to include The Dock, so I can safely visit Jana whenever I want.
I wait for Dante to open my door for me, and not because I’m unable to open the door myself, but the De Lucas are chivalrous to the core. The front manager welcomes us as soon as we walk in, but she gets interrupted.
“Dahlings!” Jana yodels as soon as she sees us, even though she is on the other side of the restaurant, talking to other guests.
And like when I first met her, as soon as she’s close enough, she sweeps me up in a patchouli-scented hug. “You look amazing!”
“I feel it.”
I was so nervous the first time I brought my pack here to meet her. I was half expecting her to slam the door in my face when I introduced them, but of course, all she did was laugh so loud, everyone looked before she squeezed the living shit out of me and got Valentine glaring at her.
“Come on, I’ve put you in the back to give you some privacy. Maybe Dante can…” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively before turning to look at Dante. “You’re treating my blossom well?”
Dante scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Does she not look like she came on my face only a few hours ago?”
I close my eyes and let the embarrassment wash over me. These two together are horrific; they have no shame in trading sex stories. A small nip on my neck has me opening my eyes. Dante guides me with a small squeeze of my ass toward where Hannah and Rowan are waiting.
Jana flitters over to them and snuggles up under Hannah’s arm before she reaches for Rowan. And since we’re now considered family, we’re left to fend for ourselves. But once we’re all sitting, our glasses full and Jana promising she’ll bring food soon, my anxiety bubbles up out of control and perfumes the air.
Dante shuffles his chair close enough to drape his arm over my shoulder, and he rests his other hand on my thigh. Before Hannah gives me the results, Dante squeezes my leg until I look at him. And even though we don’t speak, I know the message—the results change nothing. I know they've done everything in their power to make sure I understand, but I still carry guilt that Pack De Luca won’t get everything they want if I’m an Omega who can’t go into heat.
“Layne,” Rowan says, passing over an envelope. “This is the full report, so you can read it for yourself later, but the crux of it is, there is nothing wrong with you at all. The results of your blood test indicate everything is fine. Some of your hormone levels are still higher than where we would like to see them.”
“And that means?” I ask.
Hannah answers, her empathy obvious in her scent. “It means, you are fine and are going to have a heat soon. When, we’re not sure. You need to remember you used heat suppressors for so long, over what is generally considered a safe period of time to use them. But”—she exaggerates the but and rubs her hand on mine—“there was a reason you needed them, and I don’t want you being harsh on yourself for that.”
Rowan takes over while Hannah holds my hand. “Your endocrine system has become overly reliant on the drugs. Again, it isn’t bad. There’s no lasting damage we’re concerned about. All that’s happening is, your body is taking longer to adjust back to making its own hormones and maintaining them at a normal level during your whole cycle.”
“But what about all the spikes, the heat flashes?”
“Everything is happening as it should,” Hannah promises. “Your body is adjusting to being without the chemicals, but, by the sounds of it, is already responding like a packed Omega, even though you haven’t bonded.”
“Or you’re just getting good dick,” Dante whispers in my ear. And it’s exactly what I needed to hear. I laugh before getting serious again.
Rowan takes over again. In the same way I needed Dante’s humor, I need Rowan’s serious explanation. “The hormone instability you’re experiencing is because you went cold turkey and stopped all medication, which again, is not a wrong way of doing it. Except, now, you’re having withdrawals. There’s not a specific timeline we’d expect for your heat cycle. It’s just going to occur when your system is completely free of the toxins.”
“So, I’m fine? Really?”
“I’m not a betting man, Layne, but I’d say, within a month, you’ll have experienced your first heat. And will be sharing all the sordid details with Jana.”
“Good god, I hope so. I want all the slick stories.” Jana laughs raucously, delivering the first few plates for our dinner at the same time. She goes to walk away, or I think she does, until she’s wrapping her arms around my neck and talking into my ear, so low only I can hear. “The magic will happen when you truly accept who you are and have faith you’re allowed to ask for what you want. You can ask them for the world, Layne, and they’ll deliver you the universe. Or trust your heart and ask for them to bond you, because then you’ll understand you’re the cosmos, and they’re only existing because of you.”