Page 6 of Married into the Mob
He neither jumped, nor shivered at my presence. He didn’t even jerk his head in my direction. Instead, he side-eyed me and accompanied it with a smirk while gripping my mate’s hands. It didn’t escape me that his fingers were pressing into the human’s flesh, the pressure resulting in the skin blanching. My mate winced, but he had more to worry about than an owie.
I’d not seen Draven in forever, and while he’d always been an ass, I wouldn’t have recognized him if I passed him on the street. He’d been a scrawny kid who whined when he didn’t get his way, but he’d grown taller almost overnight when he discovered his wolf. His family met their beast earlier than most shifters, I recalled, and their wolves had a reputation for being cruel.
But the Draven that stood beside my mate was even more vicious than I remembered. This alpha was a huge hulking guy with a menacing expression. He and I had never gotten along, and that wasn’t about to change.
His father, the Alpha of the Silverback pack, was the instigator of the last shifter war when many shifters perished, including my father and grandfather. But the remnants of thepack had reformed into the Nightfall Pack, vowing never to start another war, while others were banished and had scattered across the country.
His father, the former Alpha, was dead, and if I’d given Draven a moment’s thought in the years since, I’d have assumed he was far away and wouldn’t return.
Draven. Ugh, even his name irked me. His appearance mirrored his name: dark, forbidding, calculating.
I tried to catch the omega’s eye, to let him know I’d protect him, but he was intent on getting out of Draven’s grip.
I fixed my gaze on Stefan. What was the human doing here? Did he have a connection to Draven and that was why I’d been dragged down here?
Shit. I’d been so damned cocky swaggering to City Hall thinking I could outsmart the zoning officer. But had I walked into a trap? Fur appeared on my inner arms as adrenaline spiked in my veins. Damn, the bodyguards would have been useful about now!
As a wolf shifter, few things scared me other than a gun pressed against my temple. Even then, I could maneuver myself out of a tricky situation by giving my wolf his fur or using my shifter strength. And not only could I do that, I had done it. With my brothers, I’d faced down shifters and humans intent on harming us, and other than a few scars, I’d survived.
But Draven and the wolf that glowed in his eyes sent cold shivers raking over my body as though someone were gouging it with a knife. If the alpha he’d become and his beast were anything like his father and his wolf, I could be in trouble.
“This has nothing to do with you, Hunter.” Draven’s gravelly voice had the hair on the back of my neck standing up on end.
In the past my arrogance had been my downfall and that mirrored what was happening now.
The celebrant hesitated, opening his mouth, and snapped it shut when Draven snarled at him. Power radiated from the shifter, a combination of his hostility and his beast’s ferociousness. But there was no mistaking the conceit, the domineering manner and the menace fanning out from the wolf shifter.
I had to stop the wedding—I had paused it—and getting it canceled would take all of my human ingenuity.
“A marriage should be between two people who adore one another, but your partner doesn’t seem in the mood for love.”
I should have positioned myself between Draven and the human, but my nemesis wasn’t letting go of his… prey. I glowered at Draven. “His reaction suggests you’re manipulating him.”
His nostrils flared. “Get out of my business. You know nothing.” He spat out the last word. “Odell is mine.”
The celebrant’s hands trembled as he interrupted. “There are people waiting.”
He jerked his head at the other couples who had come to cement their commitment to one another. More than one person had their mouth shaped in a huge O, while a couple said “To heck with this. We don’t need a piece of paper.” Others were shuffling their feet and some whispered to their partner. Witnessing an omega being forced to wed an arrogant alpha wasn’t on their wedding-day bingo card.
My wolf was fierce, he’d slashed throats, severing jugular veins, but there were humans present here and I couldn’t shift. Not that Draven would consider humans. He’d attempt to kill me, then slaughter any humans who hadn’t fled. If I was alive but bloodied and bruised, I’d fight him until my last breath. And not only because the human was my mate.
If I died, he’d force the celebrant to pronounce him and his reluctant partner,my mate, my one and only, husband and husband.
Why a shifter was going through with a marriage, I couldn’t comprehend. Why not just mark the guy? From my perspective, I was grateful he hadn’t. At least I assumed he hadn’t, I didn’t sense a mating connection between them.
Not mated.My beast backed me up.
“Please continue.” Draven made a mistake and turned his back on me. He understood I’d never shift here, but I hit Flint’s number and turned the phone onto speaker.
“Hunter! Where are you? Still at City Hall?”
Draven flung around at the sound of my brother. “Him!” There was a slight tremor to that gravelly voice, suggesting my older brother had undermined his confidence.
“Flint Durand? It’s been so long. But the Silverbacks are back.” Draven cackled, and the blood in my veins turned to ice. “Of course baby brother Hunter has to hide behind you.”
Flint would recognize Draven’s voice. It was one he’d never forget because it was almost identical to his alpha’s father’s.
I caught my brother’s quick intake of breath. “I knew you’d show yourself eventually. Under that fur beats a heart of bitterness.”My eldest brother kept his tone even, not betraying whatever he was feeling.
