Page 48 of Licence To Howl
He ignored the dirty water that splashed into his eyes when his front paw landed in the centre of a muddy puddle and strained himself to catch up. Faster. Further. He was less than three metres behind the motorbike’s tail-light. One jump and he might manage to grab the rider and haul him off. But adrenaline only takes you so far and Devereau had already fought hard this night. He’d pushed past the pain of his earlier injuries but it didn’t take long for the searing jabs of agony to attack his hind legs. When the road beneath his paws changed from smooth tarmac to uneven cobbles and he lost traction, he knew deep down that he wouldn’t catch up. He still tried – he wasn’t a quitter – but the motorbike pulled away spluttering fumes in its wake. Devereau gritted his teeth, biting back the pain, and limped after it. Alas, it did no good. In less than twenty seconds the bike had rounded another corner and disappeared.
Under normal circumstances, Devereau was gallingly aware that he could have caught up to the bastard. He had it in him. Usually. He blinked away involuntary tears of pain. The after-effects of his six fights in the Colosseum were simply too much. He snarled to himself and felt his hind legs give away. He’d pushed his body too hard. It appeared that even a werewolf could only take so much.
Chapter Nineteen
‘It’sfortunate you called me, Scarlett,’ Moretti said, peering at Devereau. ‘He’s in a bad way.’ He clicked his tongue. ‘What did you think you were doing, man? You can’t push your body to such extremes so much in a short space of time. Not without giving yourself a break in between. No wolf can do that.’ He paused. ‘Well,Ican but I’m special.’
Devereau grunted. ‘It was an emergency.’
‘Mmm. I take it the murders you discovered are related to the dire situation you mentioned earlier?’
Scarlett tipped her head. ‘Yes. Things have taken a turn for the unexpected.’
‘In a good way? Should we be pleased that these people are dead? Does it mean your concerns are over?’
Her mouth tightened. ‘Unfortunately not.’
Moretti sighed. ‘You English. You always like to complicate matters.’ He handed Devereau a plate piled high with meat. ‘Here. Eat this. It will help you recover.’ He sniffed. ‘Although what you really need is rest and lots of it.’
Devereau nodded his thanks and began to eat. It was only when the first mouthful hit his stomach that he realised how truly ravenous he was. He blotted out Scarlett and Moretti’s voice and turned his whole attention to devouring the food. He barely noticed when there was a polite knock at the door and Arsenio, the kid he’d beaten in the first fight, appeared and murmured something to Moretti.
He finished the entire plate in less than five minutes. The meaty sustenance was already working wonders and he was beginning to feel strength surge into his limbs. The fact that Vissier had managed to escape was still galling but he supposed that at least he now knew what the limits of his endurance were. And that he had limits. Devereau might be a supe but he wasn’t invincible. Far from it.
‘You had me worried there for a moment,’ Scarlett murmured. ‘Don’t do that again.’
Devereau’s eyes darted to hers. She smiled at him lightly and he felt his heart flip. The night’s physical exertions might have sapped his strength but he knew that Scarlett had the ability to do the same to his emotions with little more than an uplift of the corners of her mouth.
‘Where did Tatton go?’ Devereau asked, in a bid to appear slightly less pathetic and on top of matters.
‘One of Moretti’s crew took him home after they brought you here to Piazza Armerina,’ Scarlett said. ‘There didn’t seem much point in keeping him around and he certainly had no desire to stick around. I think he prefers to stay out of bloody massacres if he can.’
Fair enough. Devereau would prefer to stay out of them too.
Moretti gestured to Arsenio, sending him away, before folding his arms. ‘I hate to add fuel to the fire,’ the Italian alpha said, ‘but you have another problem now.’
Both Scarlett and Devereau looked at him.
‘The police are searching for you. Apparently you made quite the ruckus when you left that apartment. You also left the door open. One of the neighbours looked out their window and saw you leaving. They got suspicious enough to investigate and came across the bodies. You two,’ he wagged his fingers, ‘are now the number one suspects in the gruesome murder of five people.’
Devereau cursed under his breath. That was all they needed.
Scarlett appeared less concerned. ‘Three hundred people saw us at the Colosseum. That’s got to be more than enough of an alibi for the police.’
‘Eventually,’ Moretti agreed. ‘But that doesn’t mean they won’t haul you in for questioning for several hours first. You’ll be expected to explain why you were at the crime scene in the middle of the night.’ He looked at them both. ‘I doubt you’ll want to tell them the reasons why.’
Scarlett raised her eyebrows questioningly at Devereau. He shook his head. Sarah Greensmith had made it very clear that he was in Rome without appropriate jurisdiction. There was no explanation that he could offer up to the Italian authorities that they would accept.
‘You’re foreigners,’ Moretti reminded them. ‘And supe foreigners at that. You might spend days in a police cell before you’re cleared.’
Devereau growled. ‘We don’t have that kind of time to spare.’ He rubbed the back of his neck. Spy or not, this was not the sort of situation he’d expected to find himself in.
‘My offer of friendship before was genuine,’ Moretti said. ‘What can clan Lupo do to help you?’
Devereau considered the Italian’s words and stood up, his bones cracking. His whole body felt stiff and unyielding, pain seeping in through every pore despite the meal he’d just eaten. ‘Some clothes would be good,’ he admitted. ‘Preferably not a gladiatorial costume this time.’ Moretti smiled faintly while Devereau looked at Scarlett. ‘Vissier is Mr Motorcycle. Where do you think he was before he showed up at Solentino’s place?’ he asked her. ‘He only escaped a bullet in his skull because he wasn’t there.’ He had a theory but he wanted to hear her confirm it.
She raised her shoulders in a shrug. ‘Vissier followed us first to the hotel and then to the Colosseum. He left halfway through the fights. If he didn’t head straight to Solentino at that point then I reckon he went to Hotel Condotti to nosey around your room while you were obviously otherwise occupied. Solentino was probably dotting his Is and crossing his Ts and doing what he could to check that you would be trustworthy even if you did do as he requested and chop off my head.’
Moretti’s eyes widened slightly. ‘Goodness,’ he murmured. ‘How dramatic. What exactly have you gotten yourselves entangled in?’
