Chapter 1

Elena:

“What in the world happened here?” I asked, voicing out my confusion as I reached the case area, frowning at the sight of the number of people who were there.

The place was packed with people and that was not something that was considered normal. But putting in my mind the fact that it was the highway, it was very much expected. The officers couldn’t touch the body until they got all the evidence that could lead to who did it, though I doubted that they would be able to find anything. Therefore, that meant that nobody could move it for a while.

Flashes of cameras filled their area as paparazzi took their shots. Helicopters tried to capture whatever they could about the case, wanting to make it public, and that was not something that we wanted. We have been keeping things concealed and vague for a reason, but this was not going to help.

It was a while past midnight and seeing as there were this many people outside, I knew that things were going to get messy.

I got out of my car and showed the police officer my badge. The man nodded and allowed me to get in. I tied my hair in a ponytail as I approached the area, frowning at the sight of blood, broken glass and the crashed car that was in front of me. This case was different from the others, at least I hoped it was. I was already informed that it was one of the EYE cases that we were dealing with.

Drake, my partner, looked at me. His eyes widened in surprise before he shook his head and walked toward me. He wrapped his arm around me as he pulled me in for a hug before a scent caught my nostrils, making me frown in confusion. It was one that caught my wolf’s attention. One that had her growing fidgety and confused, and that was not normal. Especially considering the fact that she was usually calm and contained.

Ignoring it for a while, I looked at Drake and shook my head in question. The number of people who were around inside the case area confused me. It was supposed to be me, Drake, and three other men who investigated or took pictures, but seeing that there were about five other men, none that I knew, I couldn’t understand what was happening here.

A man, who was looking at the body. Frowned for a second before he looked up at me. His eyes met mine, and sparks coursed through my veins, causing me to freeze.

My wolf voicing out the last word that I needed to hear right now.

Mate.

The man looked down at the body as if it was nothing, and that made my heart ache as I fought my wolf’s threatening whimper. However, I chose to pay no attention to it as I looked at Drake, shaking my head in question. The man being here was theoretically not even allowed; therefore, I couldn’t understand what he or the other men were doing.

“Who’s that?” I asked, shaking my head in question.

“He is your new partner, Elena. El Capo dei Capi. Alvize D’Caprio.” My boss, Mr. Joseph, who had initially called me, said, answering the question. He shook his head at Drake, motioning for him to leave as he stood in front of me, knowing that I was going to make a fuss out of this. He was not going to have me working with a Mafia boss. He did not lose his mind that much, right? The fact that he had called me himself was something that confused me. However, seeing that he was now asking me to work with a Capo, that was the last thing that I expected on a night like this.

“You’re being serious right now?” I asked, frowning as I glared at the man who motioned for me to get inside the car, clearly wanting to talk to me about this in private. Being my boss for the past five years, the two of us rarely ever spoke private. It was either him speaking to Drake and Drake forwarding the message to me, or the two of us actually not even talking or engaging. Therefore, seeing as he seemed more nervous than he normally was, I knew to stay quiet and wait until we were back at the station to speak.

“The term Pakhan would be the right word for it. I am not associated with the Italian family, I am Russian.” The man said, approaching us. His eyes met mine, studying my expression for a second too long before he looked at Joseph. “However, as suggested, I will take things from here.”

“Mr. Alvize, we have already discussed that you will be working with my best…”

“Wait, what is going on?” I asked, shaking my head in question at the two men who looked down at me. ‘Alvize’ looked at me with a raised eyebrow, clearly amused by my reaction.

“How about we take this conversation to the station? The men can finish taking pictures and finding any clues here before clearing out.” Mr. Joseph said, looking at me, silently begging me to stay quiet. Alvize nodded and walked toward his car before motioning for one of the men to follow him.

“Sure, I’ll meet you there.” He said, shrugging his shoulders.

He walked toward a black car, getting inside, and driving off without bothering to wait for a response. I looked at Mr. Joseph with wide and confused eyes before he shook his head at me. The man let me know clearly that he was disappointed in my reaction. He couldn’t expect any less. It was a case that I’ve been working on for months now, and seeing as he was asking me to work with the one person that we were supposed to capture on a normal basis, that was something that confused me.

“Boss?” I asked, trying to understand what was going on. “You can’t be serious about this?”

“You’re lucky that things are going this way.” He said, his tone harsher than I had anticipated. “Therefore, get inside the car. We’ll talk about this at the office…”