Page 58 of Wild Wolf

“It was,” I agreed, the pain in my heart where members of my famiglia should have still resided twisting sharply as I thought back on the carnage of war.

“Did you fight in it?” Sin asked, his eyes on me though I turned my gaze steadily out of the window.

The clash of battle and screams of dying Fae filled my ears for a moment and I swallowed thickly before banishing them again. “I did. Dante and I led our pack into battle in the army of the True Queens. I…killed a lot of Fae that day. Sometimes I swear I can still taste their blood coating my tongue.”

Sin was silent for a long moment but he reached across the seats and took my hand in his.

“My wild girl,” he murmured softly. “I’m glad the moon had you in her protection.”

“Me too,” I agreed.

“We’re here.”

I blinked out of my reverie, the roar of battle, stench of death and endless screams abandoning me and landing me in a warm truck with Sin at my side and a whole ocean of time between now and then.

I smiled tightly, grabbing a baseball cap from the backseat and pulling it low over my face just in case any of the CCTV cameras around here were working and jumped out.

Jerome lived in a fancy penthouse suite on the top floor of the tallest building in the heart of the city. He’d moved into it a few years ago from his hometown of Iperia, spreading his criminal dealings further – though of course he had to bow to the rule of the Oscuras here. I’d often thought he liked it because the view from his windows made the Fae below appear as irrelevant as ants – his ego ripe for stroking at all times.

Sin slung his arm around me, the lighter weight and shorter length of it in this form feeling unfamiliar as he drew me close to him.

We passed a Fae dressed as a doorman - though I figured henchman was more accurate as he leered at us threateningly, but he made no move to slow our access. No doubt Jerome already knew we were here even if Sin was in disguise, my face was obscured by the hat and we were driving a truck he’d never laid eyes on before. That was why I wanted him for this. He was the best.

The elevator slid open as we approached it, a mirrored cube welcoming us inside. The doors closed at our backs the moment we embarked and it began to sail upwards.

Sin shifted beside me, sighing like it was a relief to shuck that skin and rolling his shoulders as he settled back into his own flesh.

“Better?” I questioned.

“Always,” he agreed. “Unless you wanna play out the sugar daddy fantasy-”

“No,” I said firmly, that little crease appearing between his brows saying he still believed he’d catch me out on some hidden fantasy I held over the real him one day. I stepped closer, taking his hand and trailing my fingers along his jaw as I made him look at me. “No, Sin,” I repeated and that frown smoothed out, his mouth closing on mine as he offered me a kiss far sweeter than his usual desire-ridden claiming. There was relief in that kiss, honesty and hope and…love.

“And there was me thinking your tastes were more singular,” Jerome’s soft voice coiled around us and I broke from Sin to step into his apartment, realising the elevator must have stopped while I was distracted by the taste of his kiss.

“How so?” I asked, striding into his pristine bachelor pad like I owned the damn place and earning myself an appraising look.

“Your obsession with the Night boy-”

I breathed a laugh. “I can assure you that Roary is no boy,” I said.

“No Lion anymore either if the rumours I’ve heard hold merit.”

The smile slid from my face to puddle on the floor like acid and I took a step closer to Jerome who held his ground, a cup of coffee held in his hand where he surveyed me from a position near the huge windows which looked out over the city.

“Hello, brother.” Sin strode across the space which divided me and this stronzo as if the floor hadn’t just coated itself in ice and embraced him fiercely. Jerome in turn patted Sin half-heartedly on the back. For someone who had been so desperate to see Sin released from prison, he certainly didn’t appear to be overwhelmed with emotion at his return. “We need to find that Lion.”

Jerome extricated himself from Sin with a smile before stepping away again and moving into his open plan kitchen. The whole thing was black, with dark marble countertops and accessories to match.

“What makes you think I know where it is?” he asked as he placed his empty cup down and set his coffee machine working.

“Because you sit up here all day looking at your little screens, nosing into business which isn’t yours but which will benefit you the best. So just name your price, bastardo because I don’t have time to waste on this.”

Jerome considered me for a long moment then his eyes flicked to Sin.

“I don’t need money,” he said dismissively, as if I hadn’t already known that.

“What then?”

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