I resisted the urge to shudder. Even Tate stiffened.
“It truly is,” Natasha agreed. “Paolo’s pack has been there for decades. He’s part of the council in his pack.”
Paolo grinned, his fingers dragging across the back of Natasha’s neck. “But Russia has many beautiful things in it as well.”
Natasha smiled, her lips tightly pressed together. Her eyes moved to Nikolai and they exchanged an unreadable look.
With a laugh, Nikolai set his fork down. “Paolo transferred packs from … where was it? An American pack originally, right?”
Paolo’s fingers stilled for a second against Natasha before moving again. “Unfortunately my pack was one of the ones that was lost. Our numbers dwindled, and I left for Europe. I was fortunate that the Alpha of my pack took me in.”
Smiling, Nikolai rested his elbow on the table and leaned in towards me. “Did you know, little wolf, that almost every American pack comes from a pack in Europe or Asia? The packs here got too large or fractured due to disagreements and new packs formed in the Americas.”
Paolo’s smile disappeared.
I forced myself to stay calm, waiting for whatever was about to happen.
“Paolo is part of the Nortosce pack in Italy,” Nikolai went on, still grinning as he talked to me. “You’re a clever girl, sweetheart. Can you guess what pack originated from the Nortosce pack?”
My mouth went dry, and Paolo paled.
Natasha removed his hand and laid it on the table as conversations stopped around us, plunging the room into an arctic silence.
Nikolai’s smile twisted into a grimace. “Ironic that Paolo requested to see you after learning my daughter was here, isn’t it, love?”
Natasha shrugged and drank from her wine glass. “Not at all if he were sent here by his Alpha to watch Skye.”
“I-I-I wasn’t,” Paolo interjected, stumbling to get the words out. “Bellezza, you must know how I feel for you.”
“I know how your dick feels,” she remarked with a snort. “And believe me, it’s not overly impressive.”
“So not only is he here to spy on my daughter, but he can’t even please my wife,” Nikolai mused, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.
“I am not a spy!” Paolo’s voice cracked as he looked wildly around.
Natasha rolled her eyes. “For God’s sake, Paolo, you called your Alpha while I was in the bathroom. Do you truly think me that stupid?”
Paolo’s wide eyes jumped around as he tried to come up with an excuse that could get him out of this. Finally, he turned to Natasha.
“Tasha, you know how I feel about you in my heart,” he said desperately, grabbing her hand. “In my soul.”
She calmly extracted her hand from his grasp. “And you know how my pack feels about traitors.”
Paolo shoved his chair back from the table.
“Don’t be an idiot,” Nikolai snapped, the first hints of his fury slipping through his calm façade. “Tell us what we wish to know and it will be quick. There’s no getting away.”
Tate’s hand crept onto my thigh until I grabbed it in my own, lacing our fingers together and squeezing.
Paolo’s chest heaved as he struggled to breathe, looking like a wild rabbit caught by a pack of starving wolves.
“The real reason for your visit,” Nikolai demanded.
Paolo swallowed, his eyes darting to me as his shoulders drooped. “My Alpha sent me. He was approached by his cousin, Damien Valois. They wanted to know if Skye Markham was here.”
My breath caught and Tate’s fingers strangled mine in an iron-clad grip.
“I was to find out when she was leaving,” he went on, voice wobbling as he continued speaking. “Norwood wanted to intercept her in transport. To make the Blackwater Alpha agree to their terms.”
Air whooshed out of me as rage ignited. My wolf snarled to the surface at his admission.
They wanted to use me to hurt Remy.
No fucking way.
Nikolai studied him for a long minute before turning to Andres. “How fast can we be in Nortosce?”
Andres’s eyes glittered at the thought of impending violence. “We have allies in Northern Italy and Greece that will assist us. We can be there within hours, Alpha.”
“Very well.” Nikolai drummed a finger on the table. “Tell our allies to go to Nortosce and depose the Alpha of his pack and his head. Spare the innocent.”
Andres looked down the table, nodding at two men. Moments later they stood up and stalked out of the room without another word.
Nikolai watched them go before looking at his beta. “How many do we have ready?”
“Two hundred now. We can have a thousand in America by the end of the week, possibly more if the Italian and Greek packs can handle Nortosce quickly.” Andres leaned back in his chair.
“Skye,” Nikolai said, dragging his gaze to me. “Would your mate object to my bringing an army to aid his pack in getting rid of the Norwood threat?”
Holy shit.
He was talking about a thousand shifters. He wanted to bring an army from here to Blackwater to help us.
“No,” I managed to get out. “I’ll let him know.”
“Very well.” Nikolai gave me a nod and an encouraging smile before looking over at Natasha. “I believe you wanted the honors, darling?”
“It’s the least I can do after the night I spent with Paolo,” she replied, smiling back at him.
Her hand moved so fast that I could barely track it with my eyes. One second it was on the table, the next it was plunging a knife into Paolo’s eye so deep it sank into his skull to the hilt.
Tate sucked in a sharp breath beside me as I went still. My heart was racing as I gaped at what had just happened.
Paolo’s lifeless head slammed into the half eaten salad before him, spraying lettuce, salad dressing, and blood onto the white linen of the tablecloth.
25
Skye
I lost my appetite after Paolo’s body was cleared away like a dirty dish by the servers. Catching Tate’s eye, we stood as one.
“Excuse us,” I said, not bothering to ask if we could be excused from the dinner regardless of Nikolai’s council watching us closely.
His lips thinned but he nodded, waving a hand in dismissal.
I kept my back ramrod straight as we left the room, ignoring how the men once again stood and bowed their heads as we walked by.
“Holy fuck,” Tate breathed as we made it to the staircase.
I took a minute to get it together, holding on tightly to the banister as I gulped in huge breaths.
“Did that actually just happen?” The question fell off my lips before I could stop myself.
Tate could only nod back, her eyes huge.
“I need to call Remy,” I muttered, shaking off the last of my shock and practically running up the stairs with Tate on my heels. She followed me into my bedroom as I pulled my phone from where I had tucked it into the extremely useful pocket of my leggings.
Shit. It was barely early evening here, so it was hours before dawn in Blackwater.
“Call him,” Tate told me firmly.
My eyes met hers.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she went on, heading for the bathroom. “But, Skye, call him. He needs to know what just happened.”