“We have orders,” Ryse tells Luca. “Your protection is—”
“I don’t need protection,” Luca growls. He looks between the two of them before adding, “Maintain a perimeter outside the house. Don’t allow yourselves to be seen after you leave.”
While Ryder inches closer to the door, Ryse squares his shoulders to face Luca in a silent challenge.
I want to speak up, to tell Luca it doesn’t matter. I’ll gladly accept a smear campaign to prevent a bloodbath in my room. The subtle shake of Ryder’s head from the other side of the room encourages me to keep my mouth shut.
Seconds drag by, and I worry that I’m about to be trapped in my room with a couple of angry wolf shifters. Then something happens.
I don’t know what, since neither of them actually speaks, but Ryse backs down.
“Fine.” Ryse tosses an angry glare in my direction. “But we won’t be far.”
Luca steps to the side, blocking me from his friend’s view. “Now, Ryse.”
Ryder quickly ducks out of the room. Ryse is a little more hesitant, but he eventually follows his brother. I don’t breathe until I hear their footsteps on the stairs.
“What was that?” I watch Luca as he rubs a hand over his jaw. “I mean, I get it. Sort of. I would cut a bitch if Vi got hurt, but your friends seem a little . . . overprotective.”
Luca redirects his glare—on me. “I don’t need their protection.”
“I didn’t say you did.” I throw my hands up in surrender. “They seem to think otherwise.”
“They’re just . . . following orders,” Luca mutters. “They’re good at what they do, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. But Ryse . . .”
“I don’t think he likes me,” I say quietly.
Luca’s features soften. “It’s not that he dislikes you. He just . . . doesn’t understand.”
“We have that in common.” I offer Luca a faint smile. Seeing his confusion, I add, “I know you feel some sort of obligation to help me, because of a past . . .” I trail off when I register the abrupt change in his expression.
It’s not exactly anger—not like before. Irritation, possibly. Frustration, definitely.
“You’re the smartest girl I know, but you sure do think some dumb things,” he grumbles.
“What?” I balk.
“Nothing.” He shakes his head. “I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat.”
My head spins from the sudden change in his demeanor. From murderous to hungry in under a minute. Who wouldn’t be dizzy from that?
“I don’t . . . um . . .”
“How about a pizza?” He sounds exhausted. Maybe bored.
I’ve never been more confused. I stare at him, unable to speak.
In my silence, he closes the distance between us and gently curls his fingers around my wrist. With a surprisingly gentle tug, he leads me out of the room.
I guess I’m having pizza again tonight. Hopefully, this one won’t end up with bird poop all over it.
Chapter 17
Luca drives. I call in the order along the way, and we park in the rear lot when we get there. Though I’m certain we’re both thinking about it, neither of us mentions the rainy night Luca, in wolf form, rescued me from the mountain lions.
The dining room is packed with nearly every table taken when we enter the restaurant. It doesn’t matter how busy they are. Dom is waiting, as he usually does, at the counter with the pizza and a smile.
His gaze drifts to my side as I approach with Luca, and his smile fades.
“Friend of yours?” Luca mutters.
“Yes,” I hiss under my breath. “Be nice.”
Luca grunts as he steps up to the counter. It’s not a convincing sound, so I cut him off before he can say anything to make an awkward situation worse.
“Evening, Dom. I’m back for another one.” I smile brightly at my friend while simultaneously elbowing Luca to the side.
Dom flashes me a fleeting smile, but his gaze hangs on Luca. And vice-versa. The two regard each other like a couple of territorial grizzlies that just stumbled into the same cave. I may as well not even be here.
I lay a twenty on the counter with a groan. Dom doesn’t seem to notice, so I add, “That should cover it, right?”
Dom finally notices the money and gives me a lopsided grin. “Yeah. Sorry, Savannah.”
Before he can take the cash, Luca nudges me aside. He whips out his credit card, replaces it with the twenty, and slips the cash into my pocket in one smooth move. “I got it,” he tells me quietly, his steely gaze not once wavering from Dom.
I glance between the two, dumbfounded by what is going on between them. In public. With witnesses. None of the customers in the dining area seem to notice the tension, but the employees do—and they’re all family of Dom’s. The cook postpones his pizza-tossing while the waitress hovers near the soda machine with empty glasses. A shadow moves near the back of the kitchen, and I wonder if Dom’s dad is in his office.
By the time Dom hands over the receipt with Luca’s card, I’m so eager to get out of there that I nearly forget the pizza. Luca picks it up with a parting sneer directed at Dom, and he follows me to the door without a word.
The tension follows us into the parking lot. Speed walking to the Range Rover doesn’t put it behind us—not when Luca is in no particular hurry to leave.
He unlocks the vehicle, opens the back door, and slides the pizza onto the seat. I watch him, waiting for an explanation that never comes. When he shuts the door and proceeds to casually lean against it, I snap.
“Care to explain?”
He nods toward the rear entrance to the building, and says, “You’ll see in a minute.”
“Why don’t you tell me now?”
Luca spares me a glance. “When did the Bianchi’s take over the restaurant?” I gape at him, and he shrugs before shifting his focus back to the door. “I’m curious when they expanded. It’s not a big deal.”
Before I can begin to make sense of his words, and puzzling behavior, the rear door bangs open. Luca straightens as Dom, his uncle, and his father, Dom Senior, walk toward us. Gone are the smiles I am accustomed to seeing on their faces. They don’t even look at me. All three of them glower at Luca.
“This is Bianchi territory,” Senior says when they stop a few paces away.
“I’m aware of that.” Luca folds his arms across his chest before adding, “Now.”
“Then you know not to return,” Senior adds. “We do not cross onto Caspan land, and we expect the same courtesy.”
Understanding sets in, and I glance at Dom in surprise. He’s already watching me and offers me a timid smile when our gazes connect.
It doesn’t help. My pulse hammers faster and harder.
He’s a shifter. They’re all shifters. I’m surrounded by them. In the parking lot of my favorite pizza joint, of all places.
Luca shrugs casually, like being outnumbered three-to-one doesn’t faze him. “I’m just here to get a pizza. It came highly recommended by my . . . friend.” He glances at me with a lopsided smile.
A shockingly terrifying noise comes from Dom.