Page 13 of Her Wolf

“The mafia?” Cora said, her voice at least three octaves higher than usual. Finn let out a rough snort, and Lars cackled like a witch before Cora thumped a fist on the table to quieten them down.

“The mafia?” she said again, when Bailey still hadn’t said anything.

“I said it’s not a big deal.”

“Do they know—?” Cora pointed her fingers between her and Bailey. “Me, us, the cartel?”

“No!” Bailey sat forward in a rush, holding out a hand to her across the table. “Cora, no. Why…I would never—”

“You’ve been branded a turncoat, Bailey,” Lars said, mirth still evident in his voice. “Gonna take a while for the stink to rub off.”

Bailey’s mouth went into a line, and he pointed a fist at Lars before facing Cora again. “I never—”

“Answer the question,” Finn said.

The quietness of his voice made her turn to him. He wore no expression, but his jaw bunched.

“I’m sure they’re aware of you,” Bailey said carefully. “I mean, Javier would sometimes supply them with heroin, and they have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“But are you one of them?” Lars asked with a sigh. “Seriously, just answer the fucking question.”

“No.” Bailey shook his head. “No. I haven’t been in contact with them for like three—maybe four— years.”

“Did you tell them anything about the cartel back then?” Cora asked. As hard as she tried, her voice was still unsteady.

Lars was right—she knew Bailey would never hurt her, but he had been spying on her family. How could she blindly trust him without proving himself to her? Maybe she was going with her heart, instead of her head.

“They’ve never been interested in you.”

“In me?”

“The cartel, I mean. They deal coke. Massive volumes of it. El Calacas was done with coke over a decade ago.”

“Just heroin now,” Finn said.

Cora’s skin broke out in goose bumps. She knew how he felt about the drug—especially since his sister was an addict. But, just like her apparently unlimited supply of lust, selling heroin came with the territory.

God, she felt like such an asshole.

“Okay,” Cora said, very fucking eager to change the subject. “So, they don’t care about us, which is great. You say you can find out if this guy was DEA?”

“Yeah,” Bailey said, nodding. “But if he’s not, then he could be FBI.”

“FBI,” Cora repeated slowly.

“’Cos what you’re doing is kinda illegal?” Lars quipped unhelpfully beside her.

She glared at him, and pointed a trembling finger his way. “Enough,” she said.

Lars’s eyelids drooped, and he gave her a serpentine smile. “Your wish is my command, La Sombra.”

A tingle spread through her at how he caressed those words with his tongue. She tilted her chin up, and forced herself to look at Bailey. “Contact your guy and find out who’s been sniffing around my cartel.”

She looked at Lars. “You, get rid of that lion.” She waved a hand. “Set it free or something.”

Lars cocked his eyebrow at her. “Like…in the grounds?”

“Send it back to Africa!” she snapped. “Or…wherever lions go back to. I don’t want it in a cage.”

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