Page 19 of Married into the Mob
“What if you hadn’t stolen me away?” Odell asked.
“Stolen is a harsh word.” My ego was bruised, and my wolf was bored with all the back and forth.
“So he lured you there and expected you to take Odell.” Uncle Arnie’s statement had me thinking if that was a possibility.
“He wanted to reignite what was started and stamped out years before when his father was Alpha,” my uncle continued.
“But he couldn’t have known Odell was my—” I didn’t finish his sentence.
“No way. That’s not possible,” my dad agreed.
“Yeah, that’s not a thing.” Arnie nodded and collected the dishes.
Odell rubbed his brow and didn’t ask about our private shorthand. “So how do we get rid of that creep?”
Dad gasped. “We’re not going to off him.” One side of his mouth twisted up. “Though maybe…”
“Not in his skin and not unless he threatens us,” my uncle added.
“Hey!” My mate’s voice echoed around the space. “Pretty sure I don’t want him skinned, though what he’s done to my family is defined as threatening.”
“True, but there’s one thing we can do to stop him sniffing around you.” I grinned, pleased to have a solution.
“What’s that?”
I grinned. “Marry me.”
EIGHT
ODELL
Being underground must have affected my hearing because I thought he said my troubles would disappear if I married him.
“Say that again.”
“Marry me.”
“Look, mate.” Color flared in his cheeks, and he grinned. Not the reaction I was expecting. “Isn’t that what you called me? Mate? Or your dad did?”
So much had happened, I couldn’t remember who said what, though everything out of Draven’s mouth was imprinted in my memory.
“No, let me think about it.” I rubbed my head. “Nope. Just a minute. No, no, and more nos than I can count.”
Hunter put a hand on my arm, and I shrugged it off. Weirdly, he’d just spouted words that alarmed me, and yet I yearned for a loving touch. He could hug me, say pretty words—not the M word, though—and yet it would not come from love. From what, though? The need to control me? My brain was a mess of tangled thoughts and confusion.
“Let me explain.” But a huge mobile phone rang. It was big and bulky and reminded me of the pics Aunt Louisa showed me of mobile phones in the 80s.
Hunter rattled off a series of instructions that made little sense, though I understood he was telling the person on the other end how to find us.
Great. Now I had to deal not with three mafia members but the whole mob, kids included. And another marriage proposal.
I braced myself for the onslaught of panic room guests. But if there was a lot of commotion, I could slip out, though how likely was it I’d find my way up to street level? Shit, I should have done a Hansel and Gretel and dropped something so I could find my way back. Not that I’d had anything. Paper in my messenger bag, perhaps.
But on thinking of escaping, I couldn’t leave my aunt and uncle in the midst of a mafia reunion.They’d be here soon, and last night while Aunt Louisa and I had sobbed together, I’d had visions of pushing Uncle over a cliff, but that was wrong. I didn’t want any harm to come to him, and I regretted thinking that. I did need answers, though.
Hunter checked the monitors and said his brother and family had arrived before scanning his retina and fingerprint.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding.” An omega with a baby on his hip and holding a little girl’s hand walked in and smiled at me.A stale aroma drifted in from the air outside the panic room. While I didn’t want to be locked underground, the air inside the dungeon was better.
