Page 22 of Wild Wolf

“No more insane than getting myself locked up in Darkmore with the intention of breaking out,” I replied with a shrug of a shoulder.

He grunted his agreement, not seeming to know what to say to that.

“You’re a force of fucking nature, Rosalie Oscura. I think back on every moment with you and wonder at which point I might have saved myself from the madness of you. But I can’t find one. From the second I brought you into the prison, snarling and smiling with equal finesse, I think you held me captive. So I might as well admit that I’m lost to you at this point. My fate is in your hands. And if that fate requires this oath from me then fine. You can have it. I won’t make you run from him a second time. I’ll be by your side to see this through, come death or dawn.”

He took my hand, sealing the promise with a clap of magic and I offered him a smile utterly free of bullshit for once.

“A morte e ritorno,” I purred and his lips lifted a little, telling me he had picked up on the meaning of my famiglia’s motto.

“A morte e ritorno,” Cain echoed then Sin yelled it and Ethan barked a laugh before repeating it too.

I turned towards the path which led down to the ocean. Jerome had given us intel on a harbour in a town a few miles south of here where we’d be able to secure a boat before heading out to sea to track down this cursed island.

My boots skidded in the gravel as Hastings stepped in front of me, raising his chin and expelling a harsh breath.

“I will do what it takes to live up to your goals, Rosalie,” he said, offering me his hand and I blinked at him in surprise.

I hadn’t really expected any kind of promise from him – he was a beta at best, really more delta – mid level pack kinda dude, points for physical strength but deductions for not having the bite to go with that brawn. I didn’t need promises from him because I had just assumed he’d follow our lead, and even if he didn’t, I had no concerns over him being able to stop me from doing what I needed to if it came down to it.

“I knew I could rely on you anyway, ragazzo del coro,” I told him, patting him on the arm and refusing to take his hand. I wouldn’t prise a star vow from Hastings. If he needed to run to survive this mess then he was free to do so.

I started walking down the hill, leading the way but whirling back around as a shout of alarm cut through the air. Magic built in my fingertips, adrenaline spiking through me but I only found Cain and Sin wrestling in the dirt.

“Hold still and take it, baby. You’ll like it once I’m done,” Sin panted while Cain punched him so hard in the ribs that I heard bone crack.

I strode back over to them, barking an order for Sin to get off of Cain while he knelt over him, using air to pin him down.

I grabbed Sin’s shoulder as I made it to them, but he leapt up without making me haul him off of Cain.

“There,” Sin announced triumphantly, and I backed up as Cain shoved to his feet, swiping a hand over his mouth.

“Did you kiss him?” Ethan accused and Sin roared a laugh.

“Nah – Cainy boy only wants our Rosa’s tongue in his mouth. I just got him on board with the incognito plan seeing as he wasn’t playing ball. Can’t have him exposing all of us with his recognisable face,” Sin said.

“What the fuck have you done to me?” Cain demanded and a bark of surprised laughter escaped me as he dropped his hand, revealing the pencil-thin douchebag moustache Sin had scrawled over his upper lip with a pen. It had little flicks at the end and everything. Fuck knew how he’d drawn it so neatly while Cain had been thrashing about.

“You look…debonair,” Sin announced, chuckling to himself as he casually healed his cracked ribs.

Cain bared his fangs and the effect was so comical with the little moustache curling up over them that I laughed louder.

“It’s fool-proof,” I agreed, taking the baseball cap from Hastings’s head and placing it on Cain’s instead, pulling the peak down to shadow his murderous eyes.

“Show me,” Cain snarled.

“There.” Ethan pointed towards the window of the little cabin which was casting a decent reflection in the moonlight.

Cain strode over to it to inspect his new look, a feral snarl spilling from him as he tried to wipe the moustache off.

“I wouldn’t bother with that, kitten. This here is a perma-pen. No wishy washy is gonna get that sucker off for at least a week,” Sin said.

“You fucking hypocrite,” Cain growled at him. “You haven’t made any attempt to disguise yourself either.”

“That’s because I can do this,” Sin replied, shifting before us and becoming an extremely pale, bulky dude with long white hair that trailed down to his ass and a scar through his eyebrow. “I shrank my cock too – because that’s the most recognisable part of me after all,” Sin added in a sultry voice which was nothing like his usual rough tone.

“What possible reason might you have to get your cock out during this?” Cain hissed, taking the lead down the path and I let him because I wasn’t sure I could stop myself from laughing if I had to keep looking at that moustache the whole way into town.

“That, my dear, dastardly, deprived dandelion, is precisely why you’re so uptight. I can think of eighty-six different scenarios in which the exposure of my dick would be integral to this little mission of ours without even trying. What if there is a cock-sized hole in the bottom of our boat that needs plugging? What if I have to slap a dog but both of my hands are otherwise occupied? What if I’m tapped out and need a quick power fuck with my wild girl in the bushes – which, incidentally, I think I will need to do seven times before we make it to this boaty village place. What if-”

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