The sun filtered into the bedroom through partially open blue shades, and Giuliana figured she wouldn’t be sleeping anymore. The unfortunate thing about her job as Enforcer was, she was used to being up at the crack of dawn to work. Even on days she really wanted to sleep in, she didn’t seem to get much further than nine a.m. no matter what she did. She peered at the clock beside Pasquale’s bed. Well, at least it seemed she’d made it closer to ten.
She could be thankful for that.
Giuliana reached out for her mate and found the other side of the bed empty. She supposed he wasn’t exactly one to sleep the day away. Too bad. She was really looking forward to “good morning” sex. It would have been nice.
She stretched, joints popping as they realigned. A dull ache in her shoulder made her smile. Her healing abilities notwithstanding, a mating bite was going to hurt until it healed all the way. She placed her fingers over it, sensing the heat of Pasquale’s claim slipping up from it.
She wasn’t no longer a single wolf. That was … sort of crazy to even think of. But it was what it was. She sat up slowly, her legs still a bit weak from Pasquale’s attentions the night before. She’d have to make sure to be careful when she stood up.
After a moment, she sent out her senses to see who may be around. The wolves she’d begun to recognize as Pasquale’s unofficial Enforcers were hovering around in the front yard, and someone was in the house.
Fabiana.
The scent didn’t bother her like it had before. Knowing Fabiana had been a victim as much as Giuliana made her want to get to know her mate’s sister. Giuliana got into the shower and dressed, hoping the wolf wouldn’t leave. When she was finished, she put on a pair of leggings and willowy peasant top. It felt good to be back in her regular clothing. Without a mission, she didn’t have to be so militant.
Giuliana followed her nose to find where Fabiana was in the house.
When she found her, Fabiana was standing in front of an easel with paint all over her fingers in a wide-open room full of bright windows. But that’s not what made Giuliana freeze. No. It was the scarred wolf with reddish-black fur taking up most of the picture standing next to an unfinished woman with blazing red hair.
“Why are you painting her?”
Fabiana gasped and spun around, tripping over the drop cloth. Giuliana snapped forward, keeping the painting and its creator from falling to the floor.
Fabiana sucked in a steadying breath. “Thank you.”
Giuliana heard her, but up close, the painting had her mesmerized. The fur of the wolf almost looked real, as if it could leap of the canvas in an instant. Giuliana lifted hesitant hands toward it.
“Don’t. It isn’t dry.”
Caught, Giuliana lowered her hands and stepped away from Fabiana. “I’m sorry. She …”
Fabiana frowned. “You know her.”
Maybe. “I don’t know. I saw a wolf in Scorched Earth when we went to get Kalinda, but things got crazy and I didn’t get to find it.”
Her eyes were once more drawn to the woman with bright-red hair Even unfinished, she was almost afraid to look away. She knew the gentle swell of that cheek. The way her dark-green eyes snapped with fire. Her hair, odd for their people—
Their people?
“You know her.”
Fabiana seemed to speak without questions. By studying people and situations, generally spoke in statements. She cocked her head to the side and locked her gaze on Giuliana.
“I don’t know. It’s … a memory.”
“That’s a first. Most of the time when I paint, I get told I’m crazy. Or my father would destroy them.”
“Your father was a dick.”
Fabiana snorted, and the sound seemed to surprise her. She peered back and forth in the room like someone would punish her for it.
“No one will ever touch you again,” Giuliana swore.
Fabiana tucked a thick patch of dark hair behind her ear with a small smile. “You sound like Paz.”
“Well, we are mates. Doesn’t make the statement any less true.”
Fabiana searched Giuliana’s eyes. “You mean it. Okay. Hold on.”
Giuliana waited, wondering what the hell the woman was doing. Fabiana was like a flame flickering in the wind that could go out any minute. After some shuffling and muttered curses, Fabiana came back into the room with several canvases tucked under her arm.
“What do you think of these?”
Giuliana let her set them up but only looked at Fabiana. She was nervous, wringing her fingers in front of her lap.
She’s afraid I’ll be like everyone else.
Giuliana understood that, probably better than anyone. They were two children raised under an Alpha’s thumb. Giuliana, for the first time, could be thankful Arturo had never wanted to physically hurt her unless he wanted to dole out punishment for her escape acts. Though he never actually did it. Fabiana had faced her father wrath so much her spirit had broken.
If Giuliana did the same thing, Fabiana would shut down. Giuliana didn’t even know if Fabiana had shown these to her brother.
“You’re not crazy, Fabiana.”
“Look at them first, and then tell me that.”
So Giuliana did what she asked, starting from the first one. It was a painting of a murky world, in shades of black and grays. Even the grass seemed to be shards of broken black glass. But in the center were three women, billowing out of the darkness. The one in the center held a light in her hands and looked like she was attempting to crush it. The woman on her left had her hands stretched toward the light, anger and fear on her face. But the third woman reached out to the viewer, her hand poised to rip through the canvas.
Giuliana felt chills race down her back just seeing it.
She couldn’t tell the age or dress of the women; she felt impressions more than anything. They were wrapped in the darkness itself. But the only one she seemed to hate instantly was the one in the center.
What the hell?
Giuliana didn’t make her thoughts known aloud. Instead, she looked to the next painting. This one had wolves and people racing toward a great—
“That’s in Scorched Earth!”
Giuliana had just been there. Fabiana hadn’t drawn all the faces, but Giuliana recognized the golden orb hovering in the back and the lone Fae standing in the center of the circle. No one but the ones who’d gone and Dominic knew what happened in Scorched Earth. Fabiana shouldn’t have been able to draw it from this bird’s eye view.
“It’s real?”
Giuliana ignored Fabiana’s question and looked to the next one. This one had a broken Fae, bloodied and with a fire-laced sword screaming at the woman who’d been in the center of the first painting. In one arm he had a woman in light tucked to his side.
Kieran?
No, Fabiana was not crazy, not by any stretch of the imagination.
“Have you shown these to Pasquale?”
Fabiana shook her head. “I see these in dreams, and I can’t get them out of my head until I paint them. This last one, the wolf, has been showing up since you came to the house.”
The wolf—the one Giuliana had seen in the woods for only a flash. Next to the bright-red woman she could just barely remember.
She dropped to her knees.
“Giuliana?”
“You’re not crazy, Fabiana. Never let anyone tell you this. Your brother needs to see this.”
“No! He’ll destroy them.”
Fear permeated the air. Fabiana grabbed her paintings and hugged them to her chest. She was so broken, so tortured because of the hell of her father.
“Fabiana, I will never lie to you. What you painted, two of them I recognize, and I may know a person from another.”
Fabiana looked up at her with a fragile hope in her eyes. “He won’t take them?”
“Pasquale is not your father. But if he tried, I’d kick his ass for you.”
“You’re nothing like my father said you were.”
Giuliana rolled her eyes. “We’ve established your father was an ass. But what did he say?”
“That you were cruel, just like your uncle. He said you only cared about having life the way you wanted and you should have been put down.”
Giuliana growled. Of course, she’d wanted her own life and to be free of the bullshit she was forced to endure to stay safe. She hadn’t wanted to be wrapped in gossamer and steel, protected from so much as a hangnail. She’d wanted to be free to be who she was and live life her way.
But to a man like Primo—because she refused to call that bastard a wolf—she probably was someone he wanted killed.
“Your father had an issue with women who spoke their mind. He didn’t like anyone who could challenge him.”
Fabiana watched Giuliana for a moment. “My father thought women were only good for breeding.” She tilted her chin toward the windows. “Most of the wolves in our pack were males, did you notice?”
“I did, but that is to be expected. Not all have found mates and won’t risk having long-term relationships if they know they could meet their intended one day.”
Fabiana shook her head. “It’s more than that.” She closed her eyes. “The women of Bianchi either bred with him and his chosen wolves when asked, or they were put to death.”
Giuliana sucked in a breath. “An Alpha has to breed with a mate. He can’t just have children outside of that. Otherwise, one could have an army of Alpha-powered males who’d tear the pack apart for control.”
Fabiana’s gaze was dark, a direct challenge. “Yes.”
What the hell had been wrong with Primo? What he’d tried to do was impossible, and the wolves had to know it. Children between mated pairs was easy enough, but unmated pairs tended to be unable to see a pregnancy through to birth. It was a quirk of their species, perhaps, but it was a known fact.
“Why did he do it?”
“So they would fear him. Wolves would fight to be one of the chosen few because they had a chance to mate. Then they had a chance for the women important to them not be taken by others. Without that protection …”
In short, Primo found ways to destroy both the women and men under him until they followed blindly in order to protect themselves.
I’d gut him if he were still alive. Feed him his balls like Hannibal.
Red, you’re getting right bloodthirsty, but I’d help you.
“You’re talking to your wolf.”
“Yes. We’re deciding how we would have killed your father if he were still alive.”
That elicited a surprised laugh from Fabiana. “How can you be so strong?”
Giuliana stepped up to Fabiana, crowding her space. The younger woman bowed, fear leaking from her. Fabiana tucked her chin, not daring to look Giuliana in the face.
“Look at me,” Giuliana ordered.
“I-I can’t. You’re an Alpha mate.”
“And you are the daughter of an Alpha. You are not weak. I don’t care who stands before you, you look them in the fucking eye. Right here, Fabiana. Right now, claim who you are.”
The woman forced her shoulders back. It was slow, painfully slow, but she lifted her head in degrees. Her fists were clenched at her side, but she raised her face. When Fabiana’s gaze met Giuliana’s, neither woman said a thing. They looked at each other, two daughters of Alpha blood. Two women who’d been controlled by those around them.
Sisters in the sense of sharing experiences others would not understand.
She is fragile and can shatter like glass, but I am unbreakable.
So I will give her some of my strength.
“I swear to you, I will never let you be hurt again. When you’re ready, I will teach you how to defend yourself, I’ll help you find your voice. And I’ve got an idea of how to start.”
“O-okay.”
Giuliana went to get her phone, dialing even as she rushed back to Fabiana. The dark-haired woman was still standing where she left her when someone answered the call.
“Giuliana? What’s wrong?”
“Can you get to Pasquale’s house?”
Fabiana lifted a brow, but Giuliana shook her head. She wasn’t going to tell her who she’d called just yet.
“Is everything okay?”
“I have a woman here who needs some girl time. One who’s been … hurt.”
“I’m on my way.”
Giuliana hung up the phone, smiling at Fabiana’s nervous expression. Giuliana had a feeling. She knew just who could help get Fabiana facing power and still be comfortable because she’d be among women. There was one person she knew who’d faced the world and never let it change who she was, no matter what it threw at her.
Fabiana and Giuliana waited for a few minutes before Giuliana sensed the wolves outside coming to alert. She was out the door, calming the wolves to settle back down when Kalinda stepped out of her car. Her hair was in her signature bun, and she wore jeans that looked like they were poured on, with a t-shirt that had a pretty black woman on the front with an afro and multi-colored pick in her hair. Black girl magic was written underneath.
“Whose ass am I kicking?”
Giuliana laughed. “How are you feeling, Ales?”
Kalinda rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. I wasn’t hurt, not that you can convince my mate of that.” They headed inside the house as Kalinda continued. “I told him I’d press my heel into very sensitive places if he didn’t let me out of the house.”
Giuliana laughed and cut her eyes to Fabiana. Fabiana had tucked her paintings away and stood, wide-eyed, as she listened to Kalinda.
“He needs those places to keep you happy, Kalinda.”
“So? He won’t be able to enjoy me if he doesn’t get out of my face.”
“You talk to a male like that?”
Kalinda took in Fabiana. For a moment, something flashed in her gaze before she looked to Giuliana, who shook her head.
No, Fabiana wasn’t who they thought she was.
Kalinda closed her eyes, lifting her hands toward Fabiana, and the woman shrunk back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“Don’t run, Fabiana. You’re stronger than that. And she won’t hurt you. Remember what I said.”
Fabiana stilled, but Giuliana could see her pulse jumping in her throat. Kalinda, it seemed, had finished her surface read of Fabiana and opened her eyes.
Zoey would have been better to coddle Fabiana, but that wasn’t what she needed. She needed strength, acceptance, but she also had to learn how to deal with her fear. Kalinda had the ability, at least marginally, to use her empathic and manipulation gifts to read a person’s emotions.
When Kalinda dropped her hands, she shook her head. “Gods, I want to break him.”
Fabiana squeaked.
“That’s the same reaction I had,” Giuliana agreed.
Kalinda reached for Fabiana, leaving her hand hanging in the air when Fabiana didn’t immediately shake it. “Let’s start with my name. I’m Kalinda Thorton, mate to Capo Romano, head of the Trinity Council, and Ales.”
Unsure, Fabiana took her hand. “I’m Fabiana Bianchi, unmated, and … I don’t really know who I am.”
“That’s okay. Today, you’re going to ride with the girls, and we’re going to start to help you answer that.”
Fabiana looked back and forth between Kalinda and Giuliana. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. Silva has been itching to get out. Romano has extended his oppressive shit to her too. She’d like a change. Too bad Zoey is not up for a night out. But we’ll see her when we get back.”
“Zoey …” Fabiana let her voice trail off, shaking her head.
“Doesn’t hold any grudges,” Giuliana finished.
“That was for us to do, and we’re standing here, aren’t we?”
Take our hands, Fabiana. Don’t break.
Giuliana willed the young woman, but she knew Fabiana would have to make her own decision. They couldn’t force her one way or the other.
After what seemed like forever, Fabiana nodded. “Okay. I’d like that.”
“First line of business: clothes. We’re going to get you dressed,” Giuliana said.
Fabiana looked down at herself. “I look fine.”
“Clothes are armor, woman. Let’s head to my place and go from there.”
They pulled Fabiana from the house, and Giuliana whispered to the wolves at the door that Fabiana would be with her. She also sent a thought to her mate so he’d be aware.
Thank you, was all he sent back.
But his words were full of so much … so much emotion it took her breath away.