"They broke a core rule of our organization. No one touches the partners of a family member. Ever."
I’m still kneeling, more disoriented than ever. This twist throws everything I thought I understood about this family into question. Clearly, there’s a major divide between the way Anzo and Rocco act versus Luca and Mauro.
Still, I’m not jumping to conclusions; these guys are all mafiosos.
"Killing soldiers requires capo permission," I say cautiously, watching them both.
"Not when I act in my imago form," Luca replies with a dark smile.
I’m well aware that even the law offers some leniency to purple alphas when they’re transformed. You can’t fully control yourself then. You act on violent instinct. If I’d been calm, I wouldn’t have wanted to kill Massimo and Franco, just beat them and disarm them. But in a partial shift, even just with the armor, my brain flips into binary mode. Who’s the enemy. Who do I protect. Who needs to die. Everything becomes black and white.
"How much time do you need to regenerate this?" He points toward his forehead, obviously referring to my wound.
"Twenty minutes."
Mauro makes a gesture, some kind of hand signal I don’t understand, and Luca nods, saying,
"Get out of here. We’ll clean this up. Wash the blood off and change. Wait twenty minutes to heal. Only then do you leave, like nothing happened. If anyone asks, you were working in thefar part of the garden. You heard gunshots but didn’t want to get involved."
Then Mauro signs something else, and Luca adds,
"Cameras are off. You can get back inside the house safely. No one will see a thing."
I nod. Sun jumps to his feet and gives Luca this awkward little bow.
"Thank you. Thank you so much."
Luca doesn’t answer. Doesn’t even look at him. Like Sun doesn’t exist.
It strikes me as odd.
Most men, if not all, would probably look at Sun with interest, but Luca doesn’t even seem to register him. It was the same earlier, when we had the first situation with Vito. Completely ignoring. Even Mauro is giving Sun the occasional secretive glance, that distinct look of approval, but Luca is completely immune to Sun’s charm.
Does Luca already have a mate?
Unfortunately, I can’t pick up his pheromones to confirm it, my suppressants block that. But once we put some distance between us and the others, heading toward the building, I lean toward Sun and ask in a low voice,
"Is Luca mated?"
Sun looks startled, his face tight with stress, blood droplets all over. He glances around nervously and answers quickly, like the question is irrelevant.
"I don’t know. Luca’s on suppressants."
But something inside me insists on knowing, this itchy, creeping feeling under my skin.
"Interesting. What would he need suppressants for? He shouldn't use them as acaporegime, he needs his pheromones to have it easier with thesoldati."
Sun shrugs and doesn’t answer. He’s too shaken to talk about anything that isn’t a life-or-death matter.
But I keep pushing. "Are any of his brothers on suppressants?"
"No, no one here’s on suppressants. None of the alphas, only their omega cousin Ennio. You and Luca are the only ones. That’s why I asked you about it before. Some people might take it as a sign you’re hiding something."
This time, I don’t answer.
We slip into the building. Sun walks ahead, glancing around, careful nobody notices I’m with him.
It’s close to evening, so there aren’t many people around. We manage to make it through the hallways and up to the second floor, where his room is.
