Page 32 of Bite Marks

She was probably considering her options. She was wondering who would kill her first. When he pounced, the two men were only a few feet away from her.

They never saw him coming. He leapt out of the shadows and snapped at their ankles before he used his paws to swipe at their faces. He clawed at them, and they screamed with pain.

They dropped the bags with their loot, and they lurched away from him. But they weren’t fast enough.

He wouldn’t kill them. The bite marks of a wolf would raise too many suspicions. And the Don wouldn’t be happy. But what he could do was scare the piss out of these mooks.

They scrambled away from him, and he kept advancing, snapping, and growling. He didn’t let up until they almost fell down the stairs.

It was only when they were out of the gallery completely that he turned back to Vanessa.

He had to shift. He had to make sure she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. That he wasn’t some animal looking for dinner. The shift back to his human form happened quickly. Soon he stood on two legs. The fear disappeared. And the lines of his face were human. Not wolf-like.

Nunzio walked out of the shadows and up to Vanessa. She was standing, her arms wrapped around herself. She shivered slightly. Probably from shock.

And she had spotted him. His own breathing had slowed, though adrenaline still coursed through him. She was seeing him as he really was. She knew his secret. The thing that would scare her away.

He knew it would. No one in their right mind would stay after seeing him like that.

“Nunzio?” Her voice was soft. She took another step forward. As she stepped into the light, the expression on her face was more apparent.

Her eyes were wide, and her lips parted. She was white as a sheet.

She was terrified of him. Just like he had known she would be. And he wasn’t going to stay and wait for her to reject him. He turned and ran from her. He bounded down the stairs to the first floor of the building.

He couldn’t stand to let her see him like that. A shifter. An animal.

Before he knew it, he was in his car and had turned the key in the ignition without thinking. He saw her standing there when he was screeching out of the parking lot.

On the second story of the gallery, she looked down at him from the window.

SIXTEEN

VANESSA

He still hasn’t called!Vanessa sighed and chewed her lip as she looked out the window of the gallery. Her finger slid along the gold chain of her medallion.

It had been five days, fivewholedays, since the burglary, but Nunzio still hadn’t called or texted. Nothing.Nothing!

What if he never comes back? What if I don’t get to see him again?She should have been more worried about not getting the painting, but she couldn’t help it. After everything that happened, the painting seemed less and less important.

“Still thinking about the other night?” Maria asked.

Vanessa assumed that since Nunzio hadn’t told her about being a shifter, he’d likely not want anyone else to know. She only mentioned that Nunzio had gotten there just in time to handle the men, leaving out all the snarling, chomping, and raised hackles. “It all happened so fast, and now Nunzio isn’t even returning my calls.”

“You don’t think he’d pull his Monet from the gallery, do you?” Maria asked.

Vanessa ran a hand through her red locks to soothe her growing tensions. Even though her mind raced with not getting to see him again, if he pulled the Monet, she would be well and truly fucked. She’d stopped chasing leads on the other Monets ever since he swooped in. There wouldn’t be time to get another one now unless some other incredibly handsome, strong, powerful, Italian man showed up.

She glanced at Maria and gave her a soft smile, hoping to reassure the Spaniard. “No. I should hope not.”

Maria grimaced, clearly not reassured in the least. “I mean, if it’s a safety concern, you can tell him we hire extra security during event dates.”

Vanessa scoffed. “If he’d ever pick up his damn phone.” The worry that pooled in her chest like a leaky faucet nudged a little closer to the fire of annoyance.How dare he not talk to me? We have a deal! We have to keep appearances up if he doesn’t want people to think we’re not together.The fire grew till it singed her lungs.

As if the fire spread over to Maria, she puffed up her chest. “You should go to him. If he’s trying to shut you out, you have to go break in.”

“You think I should go to Sinsations?”

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