Wolf or Love

Approximately three minutes later the two cars were parking on the side of the road. She hadn’t even had a chance to switch off the engine before the door was quickly yanked open and she was practically snatched from her seat. The second Gio had her in his arms with her limbs all curled around him, the constricting sensation in his chest began to ebb slightly. She was safe. She was there. She was okay.

When Richard had burst into his office and told him about Lucy’s call, Gio was pretty sure his heart had stopped for a moment. Fear for Danica’s

safety had instantly blasted through him, galvanising him into action at the same time completely fucking up his thought processes. His wolf had howled inside his head, fought for supremacy with such strength that Gio had been wincing in pain. Had the other males of his pack not been there to keep him calm, he might have shifted right there in the car as he drove like a man possessed. Gio buried his face in the crook of her neck and swam in her exotic scent…and that was when he smelt the scent of the other male. Danica gasped as Gio pulled back and she saw his eyes flash wolf.

“Gio -”

“I can smell him on you.” Gio trailed his finger over her neck. “He had his hand here.” His gaze landed on the tiny wound on her forehead and a long chilling growl spilt from his throat. “He hurt you.”

She framed his face with her hands, capturing his gaze. “No, I got that teensy little cut when I headbutted him and broke his nose. I’m fine.”

“What the hell happened?” asked Duda as he hurried to their side with the enforcers on his heels. Ignoring them in favor of keeping her mate calm, she lightly dabbed a kiss on Gio’s lips then one on each cheek and another on his lips. “I’m

okay.” With each soft kiss the tension ruling his body began to lessen, but only ever so slightly. He was nowhere near calm and it wouldn’t take much

for him to leap to an irrational state. “Can we talk about this on the way home?” She tried to sound a little vulnerable and shaken in the hope that it

might shift him from needing revenge to needing to comfort her. Richard not at all aware of her plan, suddenly approached and said, “Lucy’s just told me they said something about Kevin. That true?”

Fan fricking tastic. Just like that, Gio’s body stiffened and his arms fell to his sides, making her slide down his body. He stepped away, panting and growling. “My uncle?”

Danica shot Richard an annoyed glare. Looking nervous, he took Lucy by the arm and led her to Danica’s car, a good thing since she didn’t want

to mention the informant in front of anyone other than Gio, Duda and the enforcers. It wasn’t that she suspected Lucy or Richard, but she wasn’t sure she could trust them not to panic or to keep quiet about it. She returned her focus to Gio. “It was just a pathetic attempt at making you agree to unite the packs.”

“So he set that up. He ordered them to hurt you.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t sense them following you,” said Duda.

Anger flashed across her face and Gio tensed. “What? Tell me.”

She sighed. “Apparently…someone from our pack told Kevin where I’d be.” She winced as his face turned purple. Then he was then striding purposely toward his car. No prizes for guessing where he was going. She dashed after him and then leapt onto his back, locking her arms around his neck and her legs around his middle. “Gio, no, listen to me. You can’t go after him, it’s what he wants.” He continued onwards as if she wasn’t even there, completely undeterred by her weight – though it was fair to say she didn’t weigh that much. Deserting her plan to placate him, she took on

another approach. She kicked her legs madly and bit his ear. “Gio, don’t do this! For God’s sake, will you just listen!”

Gio halted abruptly and shifted her so that she was once again wrapped around his front. He held her gaze as he growled, “Don’t, Danica.

Don’t ask me to ignore this. You’re my mate and he sent two wolves after you. It doesn’t matter that you kicked their asses, he wanted you beaten –

maybe even worse. To add to that, he has one of my own wolves betraying me, betraying you.”

“I know, I know it’s bad but -”

“You’ve always known who and what I am. You’ve always known what I’m capable of. Don’t ask me to ignore what he did to you, don’t ask meNôvelDrama.Org content rights.

to be something I’m not.”

“That’s not what I’m doing. I know you want to shred the bastard into tiny pieces , you’re not alone there. All I’m asking you to do is put a pin in it. Just delay it for a while. You have to see that it’s a trap.”

“A trap?” asked Hudson.

“No shifter would dare harm another shifter’s mate unless he was hoping to die a long, painful death. He will have known that Gio would react ten times worse and most likely go wild. He’s probably getting desperate now – the twelve weeks are almost up. If he could get you to go against council protocol and attack within the next seven days…” She didn’t need to say more, knowing he would see her point.

“Makes sense,” said Chris after a minute. The other males nodded. Other than Gio.

Danica dabbed another kiss on Gio’s lips. “He thinks he’s got you all figured out. But he hasn’t. You might be the wolf shifter version of the Black

Mamba snake and have homicidal urges from time to time, but you’re also smart. Smart enough to know that if you go to him now and react like he

wants, you’re giving him power over you. Smart enough to know that the important thing now is to figure out who his informant is before they feed

him more information.”

Andrew stepped forward. “She’s right, Gio. I say we let Kevin sweat. He’ll know he’s not going to get away with it. Leave him to sit and wonder

what you’ll do and when you’re going to do it.”

Gio snickered. “And what if he goes after her again? Huh? What if I put a fucking pin in it and then he sends more wolves after her in the meantime? He’d most likely send an even larger number the next time just to be sure she got the beating he ordered.”

Growling, Danica gripped his head and turned it sharply so that she could stare into his eyes. “You listen to me, psycho boy. You might be happy to give your uncle the satisfaction of falling into his trap but I’m not. Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re all going to calm down and drive back to

Lilas and you’re not going to give me any shit about it or so help me God I’ll beat you so bad you’ll have to put toothpaste in your ass to brush your teeth!”

There was a moment of quiet before some of the guys chuckled and others just smiled.

“I think she’s having caffeine withdrawal,” said Duda. Gio sighed in frustration. Why did she have to be right? All he wanted was revenge. Was that really that bad? He didn’t think so. Nor did his wolf.

But, as Danica had pointed out, that was what his uncle was counting on. Well, if Gio was going to do something totally out of character and delay his

revenge, then there was going to have to be a few changes round here. He pinned his little mate with a look. “No more telling me to stay behind. If you

leave pack territory, I’m right there with you.”

Not liking his tone but recognising how hard it was for him to back down, Danica nodded. “Got it.”

“And if he comes after you again don’t expect me to play the waiting game any longer.”

“Sure thing, Wright. Now let’s go home.” Apparently not willing to part with her just yet, he ordered Chris to drive her car home while he pulled Danica on his lap in the backseat of the car. He didn’t say a word during the entire journey, not even to contribute to the ‘We hate Kevin’ chat that

Duda, Andrew and Donny began. She could tell that the guys were eager to discuss who the informant might be, but they knew their Alpha well enough to know that he needed time to calm the hell down before having any discussion.

Knowing how much he liked it, Danica snuggled into his arms and melted against his chest, but not even that or her feather-light kisses to his neck or her soft petting to his chest was able to ease the tension from his body. His rigid body barely moved other than to run his hand gently through her hair. When they arrived home he did what he always did when things didn’t go his way – brooded. And Danica did what she always when did he brooded – left him to get on with it alone. After stashing Gio’s gifts in the bedroom and hanging up her new

clothes, she took the groceries she’d bought to the kitchen and helped Michey with getting started on dinner – chicken nuggets. It wasn’t exactly a surprise when Gio didn’t appear for dinner. When he sulked, he did it good.

Lindy was the last to take a seat at the table and her grim expression had Danica smiling. “I bet you wish Kevin’s wolves had given me a good beating.”

Lindy harrumphed. “There’s no such luck.” After swallowing a mouthful, she whispered – loudly and very much for Danica’s benefit – to Richard, “Does this taste funny to you?” How he managed to keep his expression neutral, Danica wasn’t sure.

“I’ve got no complaints,” he replied before shovelling a chunk of chicken nuggets in his mouth.