Page 25 of His Mate By Vengeance

“And there’s no way someone else would’ve known where Luca was?” Angelo asked.

“The car was in the secure pack garage and the shot was taken from inside the pack complex,” Bella chimed in, her voice grim.

Angelo winced. This was like their worst nightmare. Pack was everything. And to not know who to trust was a disaster. “Fuck.”

“That about sums it up,” Luca agreed. “I won’t be run off our own damn territory.”

“No. But if things get worse, you might need to stay at a safe house,” Marco said.

“If the attacker is pack, then all our safe houses are compromised,” Angelo observed.

Marco rubbed at his temple like the whole conversation was giving him a headache, which wasn’t surprising given he had a psychic connection to every person in the pack and one of them was actively trying to kill his cousin. “For now, Angelo will stay in Luca’s suite with him. Luca, you won’t go anywhere without at least one other from this group with you.”

Luca looked like he was about to complain, but Aria must have jabbed him in the ribs because his mouth snapped closed.

“How do you know I’m safe?” Angelo asked.

There were so many people not in this room, presumably because they couldn’t be sure they weren’t in on it. Some of them were family—at least two uncles and several cousins. Angelo was the only one not related by blood in the room besides Bella, who was her own very special case.

The well-meaning frustration was back in Marco’s gaze as he glared at Angelo. “Because I know you, Angelo. You were halfway across town breaking into a warehouse when the attack happened, and I’ve never been able to even ask you tokill the pack’senemiesin anything but self-defence. Not only did you not have the opportunity, you are simply not capable.”

Angelo winced at the indictment on him. What kind of mafia shifter was he if he couldn’t even kill in cold blood?

“Don’t take that how it wasn’t intended, Angelo. It’s part of what we love about you. You are family in all but name. You prioritised us over your own damn mate, for fuck’s sake,” Marco growled, pulling him into a tight embrace that quieted the anxiety that had been spiking in him.

“Come on, bodyguard. Let’s take our non-killing selves elsewhere and let the criminals get on with their plotting,” Luca said, getting to his feet.

Silas snorted. “Like anything you do on that computer is legal.”

Luca flipped his middle finger at his cousin and headed toward the door. Angelo slipped around him to check the hallway was clear before he left the study. And wasn’t that just a kick in the nuts? He’d never thought he’d have to threat assess his own packmates.

As one of the blood relatives of the Alpha and one of his inner circle, Luca had a suite in the mansion at the centre of the complex. It should’ve made him one of the safest of their pack, but now it meant there were dozens of balconies of their packmates overlooking the grounds that a sniper could take advantage of.

Angelo hadn’t spent much time in the hacker’s suite before, so he took the time to familiarise himself with all the weak points as he checked the rooms. At least the floor-to-ceiling glazing in the modern architecture was bulletproof and everything was locked and alarmed.

“You’re welcome to the spare bedroom. Just stay out of my study and don’t touch my babies,” Luca said as he watched Angelo prowling around his space from the kitchen.

Angelo smirked. Luca was so protective of his tech. Always had been. It wasn’t just super advanced and top-of-the-line. He’d also paid witches to enhance the hardware with magic to his specifications and then keep silent about it on pain of death.

“Do you need to go anywhere today?” Angelo asked.

“Nope. So, if you want to run after your vampire, now’s good.”

Angelo rolled his eyes. “I’mguardingyou. I’m not going to run off just to chase some ass.”

“Is that really all he is to you?” Luca asked, as if the whole thing was morbidly distasteful but still addictively fascinating.

“He’s not anything to me,” Angelo said.

Luca just raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine. He’s infuriating. He’s a drug in my veins I don’t want to be addicted to. He’s manipulative and his power is super creepy, and he’s all about sex all the time. I don’t need that in my life.” Angelo said, ignoring the guilt he felt at the unfair reduction of the vampire to the parts he showed the world.

Angelo had seen beneath that. Seen the hidden pain when Vin said he’d been where a trafficking victim had been. Seen the self-sacrifice when he’d jumped on that flash-bang grenade to save Angelo before he even knew it wouldn’t blow him up. Seen the strength in his vulnerability when he’d confessed what he wanted from Angelo. Vin was alone in the world, just like Angelo had been when his family was killed. Only no one had reached out a hand to him like Marco had to Angelo.

“My cousin’s right. You’re an idiot. You’ve finally found someone who makes youfeelinstead of pretending you’re emotionless and you’re trying to push him away. I can’t blame you for not wanting a mate, but I hope for your sakehe’s as infuriating as you say, or you only have yourself to blame if you’ve run him off. I don’t know that vampires feel the mating drive the same way we do. He may well be able to walk away. You’ll probably never move on now that you know he’s out there, so you’d better find a way to deal with it,” Luca said.

He sounded horrified by the whole concept, pity dripping from his words as if Angelo had been diagnosed with a terminal illness instead of finding the other half of his soul. It was no surprise, given his history.

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