6. Elio
CHAPTER 6
ELIO
I was so fucking fucked. All I wanted to do was stay in this nest and take my omega every way it was possible to take her, to drink my fill and feast on her cunt. Responsibilities were fucking annoying. I had no idea how the hell Marco had gotten anything done after bonding Gianna if this was what it felt like. I dreaded going back to the compound and having to function as a competent human being.
I pulled out my phone while Amara was asleep next to me.
E:
I need your help with something
M:
I need more details
E:
No you don’t
You owe me so just agree to help
M:
What do you need and where am I going?
I sent Marco Amara’s address.
M:
That’s in Rossi territory
E:
I am well aware of that
Bring Gianna
M:
I’m the one who owes you, not her
E:
Trust me we’re going to need her
Come as soon as you can
M:
Come implies that you’re there too
Aren’t you still in Naples?
E:
Just go
I settled back down, playing with the ends of Amara’s hair while she slept. We needed to figure out a plan, and that needed to happen sooner rather than later.
The sound of the buzzer woke her and she lifted a groggy head, blinking rapidly. “What’s happening?”
“I invited a friend over. Get dressed.”
“Fuck you. You can’t just invite people to my place.”
“And yet I did.” I climbed out of the nest and pushed the button to let them in. “Dress faster.”
Amara cursed me to hell and back as she snatched clothing out of her dresser and pulled it on hastily. I only bothered with my pants. I answered the knock at the door, letting Marco and a wide-eyed Gianna into the apartment. Amara peeked out of the bedroom and I gestured for her to join me.
“I have so many questions,” said Marco.
“You’re going to have to keep them because I only have so many answers.”
Gianna bounced on her toes. “I can’t believe you actually listened.”
I raised a questioning eyebrow at her.
“I joked when you were heading to the airport that you should come back from Italy with a bride so I wouldn’t have to be lonely?”
“Sorry, but who the fuck are you two?” Amara asked.
“Marco and Gianna. Marco is another underboss under Bianca. Gianna is obviously his omega.”
“And why are they in my apartment?”
I wrapped my arm around her waist in a warning grip. “Would you rather figure out a plan yourself?”
“Why do we need a plan?”
“Remember that whole worst-case scenario I mentioned for if Bianca is pissed enough over the bonding?”
“Oh…right.”
“Fucking shit,” said Marco. “How the fuck are we supposed to keep Bianca from being pissed? You went and got yourself bonded without permission?”
“Not intentionally,” I replied.
“How did this happen?” Gianna asked. “Didn’t you go there to deal with your grandma’s estate? Was this, like, a whole deathbed proposal situation?”
I tilted my head, considering. “No, but I wonder if that would work. I’m not sure how hard Bianca would look into the connections. Maybe a lie that Nonna wanted me to take care of Amara would be enough to forestall some of Bianca’s anger.”
“I’m not sure her love of Nonna Gallo would extend that far into benevolence over this situation.” Marco sighed, his hands on his hips as he thought. “Does she come with anything Bianca can use?”
“Rude,” Amara snapped.
I ignored the outburst and said, “Her father is a drug runner in Rossi territory.”
“Okay. We can work with that. I’m pretty sure it’s the lack of permission that’s gonna piss her off the most, but it’ll be good to have some things to soften the blow.”
“I need your help in figuring out why this happened too,” I said to Marco. “You’re good at getting information. Figure out how someone could get bonded without a heat.”
“What do you mean without a heat?”
“Whatever the hell it was that happened only lasted a few hours. If I knew of any drug that would do that and allow for a bonding that we both got slipped for some reason, I would assume it was that. But honestly I have no fucking clue.”
“I’ll look into it,” Marco promised. “I know there’s some pretty illegal research into heat inducers the clubs are wanting, but I don’t think they’re available outside of the States.”
“Good to know.”
“Should I assume Bianca has no idea you’re here?”
“I definitely told her I wasn’t flying back until tomorrow night.”
“All right, I guess that gives me a nice tight timeline to figure out what the fuck is going on.”
Part of me hated having Marco know all of this. While I was pretty sure I could trust him, there was always a risk that he would sell me out to gain favor with Bianca. We’d known each other for a solid twenty years, and over that time we’d become allies, and I liked to think we were friends too, but guarantees didn’t exist in this life. I was only willing to take the risk because I had no other choice.
“Gianna, can you take Amara to the nest and explain life at the compound?”
“Absolutely I can.” Gianna tugged my disgruntled mate away and into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
“On a scale of one to ten, how terrified are you right now?” Marco asked.
“Eleven. I wish I knew how Bianca would react.”
“You and me both.”
“I’m half tempted to drag Amara back to Italy and stay with one of my cousins just to avoid telling Bianca. This is a huge fuckup.”
“It is,” Marco agreed. “But I’m going to hope one mistake isn’t going to override twenty years of loyal service. Bianca would be an idiot if she killed you over this.”
I hoped she wouldn’t, for a multitude of reasons. “If she does, will you take care of Amara for me?”
Marco gave me a long look. “Of course I will. I don’t imagine she’ll want me to, but I’ll do whatever I can.”
At least that was one small worry assuaged. Any mate of mine deserved more than a rundown one-bedroom apartment.
I pulled out my phone and emailed one of my legal contacts.
Draw up a will for me naming Amara Pesci as the sole beneficiary to my accounts. Get it to me by tonight.
-E
A minute later the response came through.
Already started.
Marco and I sat at Amara’s kitchen table. “What has Bianca’s mood been like while I’ve been gone?”
“Bit more of a raging bitch than usual. Either she’s been pissed you’re gone or something else crawled up her ass the day you left. The Romanos have still been refusing all contact for negotiation. I think she’s about ready to storm their compound and steal that omega just to prove a point.”
“Shit.”
The Romanos were third in line for consolidated power in the city, not formally allied with either the Rossis or the Gallos. Whoever got them on their side would have a huge advantage. It was only a matter of time before blood started spilling as each side looked across the river to carve out new territory.
I didn’t blame the Romano don for not wanting to hand over his granddaughter. For all the shit the Rossis had done to grab power, cruelty toward their partner wasn’t known to be one of them. Bianca’s reputation for doing her own wet work and harshly punishing even those in her own organization had spread too far for even a mafia leader to be happy to hand over a family member to secure an alliance.
“I’m half tempted to see if the Romanos will meet with me just so I can improve Bianca’s mood before I take Amara home.”
“Good fucking luck with that. Santo has been blocked on every attempt. You could always sweep in and eat Bianca out. She’s usually in a better mood after that.”
I couldn’t stop the visible wave of revulsion that hit me at the idea.
Marco barked a laugh. "Welcome to my fucking world. I’ve been thanking every saint in existence that Bianca’s obsessed with Santo lately so she hasn’t asked me into her bed. It used to not be so bad…”
“I get it. You know I feel the same way about it. Always chafed at being ordered, but Bianca’s no slouch in the sack. She could make it fun when she had the inclination to.”
“It’s weird as hell having a mate now and hoping the day never comes that I have to do it again. I’m not sure what would happen if she ordered me.”
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that. It’s not like she needs either of us. Between Santo, Enzo, and the endless stream of capos trying to fuck their way to the top, she has no shortage of lovers.”
“Bianca doesn’t need a lot of things, but she takes them anyway,” Marco reminded me.
“Has she tried to take Gianna?”
“Not so far, but I try to keep her out of sight so Bianca forgets that’s an option.”
“How did you navigate it all?” I asked.
Marco shrugged. “Fuck if I know. I just try to get through life one day at a time. Gianna’s there when I get home, and that gets me through every bullshit thing we have to do to stay alive and stay in control in this life.”
“I don’t know anything about Amara, but I’m?—”
“Obsessed?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, that happens. Bonds do a number on your brain. I always thought it was a fucked-up lie that they became the center of your world, but it’s painfully true.”
I didn’t know what to do with a mate. Outside of the bedroom, a million worries invaded. How was I supposed to keep Amara safe? How the fuck were we going to make things work when we knew jack shit about each other and she wanted nothing to do with a mafia life? I could force her to the compound and unravel her in bed, but a life together required more than that. Marco started his research on his phone while the girls talked, squirreled away in the bedroom.
“Have you ever heard of ideal mates?” Marco eventually asked.
“If it didn’t come up in high school bio, I’ve never paid attention.”
“I don’t really want to read this entire paper, but the abstract is actually useful. Supposedly compatibility triggers short, spontaneous heats with the biological goal of forcing a bond. The people it happens to are basically never prepared for it to happen so they can’t take precautions to prevent the bond, and even if they did, there’s a chance anytime they were around each other, the omega would have spontaneous heats until the bond was actually successful.”
“Shit time to be an omega in that case,” I mused. “So, if that’s the case here, then it was a heat, just not one as we understand it?”
“Pretty much. I’d say it would be worth it to get a toxicology report to see if anything triggered it outside of biological compatibility, but I imagine anything that could have done that would be out of your system by now.”
“So, you’re saying I should have actually listened to my cousin back in Naples and had a blood test?” I snorted.
“Would’ve helped, yeah. At least to be certain.”
Anita was going to love that. I had better things to do than let my cousin gloat, though. Namely, figuring out how the fuck I was going to get my mate back to the Gallo compound without either of us getting offed by a pissed-off mafiosa.