Page 6 of Passion & Betrayal

“After we have mated, you will not get to tell her what to do. That will be my place.”

“But until then, she’s my responsibility,” Matteo said.

I watched the two men glare at each other.

“Do you want to dance?” I asked Cian.

He glanced down at me and then nodded. “Yes, let’s dance.”

He tugged me through the crowd and onto the dance floor. I felt a flutter in my tummy when he pulled me close to him. There was a minute of silence before he spoke up. I knew it would happen, but I still wasn’t ready for it.

“Who touched you, Mate?”

I stared up at him and swallowed. “I have something to tell you.”

Before he could answer, they were called up to the stage with the bride and groom. I welcomed the interruption, although I knew it wouldn’t last. The rest of the night was so busy we didn’t have a chance to talk. I was glad for the reprieve because I knew Cian was not going to take it well.

****

Doom

The sun had barely started to rise when my cell phone rang on my bedside table. I ignore it for a moment, knowing my irritation at not sleeping may have me snapping at whoever is on the other end of the line.

The ringing ceases but starts up a moment later, and I know I will have to answer. As president of an outlaw biker club, I can’t exactly pick and choose the calls I take.

“What?”

“It’s Matteo Russo. We have a problem.”

The moment his words hit my ears, I jump from the bed, already on high alert.

“Is something wrong with Isabel?”

Fear for my mate’s safety is already putting me on edge. I want to kick my own ass for not bringing her home with me last night. Her father be damned.

“She is safe and healthy,” he says.

I release a breath I didn’t realize I was holding until this moment. I don’t think I have ever felt fear like that in my entire life.

“But,” he continues, and I know I am not going to be happy with his next words. “Sypher showed up last night.”

“What did that motherfucker want?” I ask, a harsh anger coating my words. “I wasn’t aware that the Espositos did business with the Broken Skulls MC.”

My tone goes accusatory with my final words. I hear Matteo curse in the background before speaking to me once more.

“We don’t.” He stops speaking, and I hear him take another deep breath. “I didn’t want to be the one to tell you this, but I think you deserve a heads up, Cian.”

“Just spit it out.”

“Your Isabel is his mate as well.”

Is that what Isabel was talking about last night? I don’t hear the rest of the words he speaks, hurling my cell phone at the wall and watching the pieces fall to the carpet. My panther doesn’t give me the opportunity to think things through, the volatile creature pushing to the forefront and ripping out of me.

My clothes are shredded, and I don’t even feel the slight twinges that usually come with the shift from human to animal. My panther roars, shaking the windows in my room before charging at the closed door.

It only takes a single try to take it off its hinges before my animal is prowling through the clubhouse. People give me a wide berth, knowing this can’t lead to anything good. It’s how I got my road name. When my panther takes over, someone is doomed.

Once I make my way outside, my panther lowers its head before sprinting away. My paws hit the soil, deep in the forest, carrying me toward my mate. It seems to take forever before I reach the Esposito compound, but once I do, Matteo is waiting outside.

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