FOUR

~Matteo~

I wasn't lying when I said she was mine, and given how Blaze was itching at the walls of my mind, he, too, agreed. She was a wolf; I could smell it on her, but the way she held herself intrigued me; she was like no wolf I had ever encountered, nor human. She was different, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing yet. 

Stepping closer to her, the need to touch her too strong to ignore, I closed the gap between us, lifting my tattooed knuckles to run down her cheek, coating them in the blood that had dried to her skin. 

"Are you going to be a good girl for me? Or do I have to keep you restrained?" I asked coldly, searching her eyes for a trace of the wolf I felt inside her. 

"Fuck you!" She growled, spitting in my face before turning her head quickly to bite my hand that traced her skin. She was quick, but I was quicker; moving my hand before her teeth had a chance to pierce my skin I dropped it to her throat, gripping it in my large hands I tightened it around her slender throat, cutting off her air. 

"Samuel, get the kit from the car!" I stated through mindlink to my second. My free hand whipped her spit from my face onto my large digits before smearing it over her lips, daring her to try to bite me again. She didn't!

"Yes, Alpha!" He replied instantly; I could hear the excitement in his voice despite his earlier reluctance; he knew what was coming. 

"Restrained and gagged it is! Such a shame, it's a long drive back to the city." I shrugged, tightening my grip and lifting her from her feet so her toes barely grazed the filthy concrete; her eyes remained stubborn even as her thick lashes fluttered closed, only to open up defiantly and stare at me with hatred. 

"Hate me all you want, princess, you will learn to obey! And I suggest you learn quickly!" I laughed, squeezing her throat harder.

"What are you doing!" Blaze growled in the back of my head, furious as we watched the tears spill from his mate's pretty blue eyes as they closed and, this time, did not re-open. She had slowly given in to unconsciousness like I knew she would; after a second, I let her go, allowing her to fall back on the soiled ground.

"What needs to be done? Have you not learned your lesson!" I snapped at my wolf. "Just because she is your mate doesn't mean she won't hurt and betray you! I hissed through the bond between us, feeling him shudder at the cold memories I invoked "She needs to learn her place from the off! Never will I be weak again, not even for a pretty face and decent pair of tits!" I announced, shutting him out with a snarl; he had always been weak where those we loved were concerned. 

Walking to the chair I had been occupying when she arrived, I stripped my suit jacket off and began to roll my sleeves up, waiting for Samuel to return. 

"How long has she been here for?" I asked the host, who was standing by the door, his eyes darting between me and the girl on the floor.

"A few days!" He answered curiously. "My compaioning took her from a party. She is a gypsie; they live off the grid- No one will come looking for her.

"Has she been violated?" I questioned, knowing a little about her kind; I doubted she had been before they took her. The family she belonged to would have expected her to adhere to tradition and stay pure for her husband! I imagine the last thing they would want for their daughter would be the life I would be offering her as a Mafia lord who owned all the brothels in the state and spent all his day around sex and depravity. 

"Well?" I asked, irritated at his stalling, holding his gaze as I turned to look at him, my eyes surveying his reaction; a part of me wanted him to lie to me so I could beat his ass the same way he had abused her over the last hour. A bigger part of me was irritated that I cared! 

"No, Mr Accardo." He sighed, running his hand through his greasy hair, sweat glistening on his forehead, no doubt from the pain in his nose and thigh. My presence was probably not helping, but that was his problem, not mine; if he wanted to deal with the underworld of society like this, he best get used to dealing with those like me. Although I prided myself on being the worst of the worst, there were plenty of others who would put the fear of the 'Gods' into lesser men like him. 

"Very well. I will take the keys to her restraints, and you may leave!" I dismissed him with a flick of my eyes, doing as he was told with a grunt at his aching body as he started to move; putting the keys on top of her unconscious body, he left and slammed the door behind him. Snorting at his dramatic's, I crouched beside my little mate and sucked in a breath, inhaling her sweet scent in a room filled with misery. 

I knew how this mate things went, and maybe I was being selfish, but I refused to give in to the moon goddess's bond. I had been mated before to a she-wolf I loved more than life itself, but she broke my heart. Betraying me repeatedly and leaving me no choice but to kill her! It was her or me! Ultimately, I couldn't justify sacrificing myself for a woman who had thrown our bond and love away. 

"You are very pretty!" I whispered, pushing her hair from her sleeping face. "Pretty enough to tempt even me!" I added, trailing my fingers over her bruised throat, feeling the slightest hint of a weak wolf stirring inside her, I smiled knowing I had been right! 

"You are going to cause me hell, aren't you, Princess!" I smirked slowly. "But that's ok; the devil thrives in the flames!" I uttered, circling her pouty lips with my finger. I had promised myself I would never allow another female to penetrate the walls of my heart, and I meant it. So it mattered not that my wolf claimed she was my second chance mate; it mattered not that I wanted desperately to lift her up and carry her out of here and shield her. The only thing that mattered was ensuring my line continued, my pack thrived, and I was unbeatable to the outside world! 

"So you will tell her to obey! She has two choices: She can bend to my will! Or I can break her and force her too!" I grinned, sensing the presence of her wolf, as her bruises healed before my eyes. I knew she could hear me even if her human counterpart could not. 

"There is a third option!" Blaze grumbled, making me scoff. 

"And what's that?" I asked, already knowing it would involve some sappy shit.

"You can realise she is NOT.." 

"Don't say her name!" I roared at my wolf, who whimpered under the weight of my fury. 

"We shouldn't punish her for her predecessor's crimes!" He tried to reason, and perhaps in some fantasy world, that would work, but this wasn't a movie; our lives were not a book with a happy ending! I was Matteo Accardo, the feared mafia boss, Alpha to the rogues and the unwanted. I was a fighter. Not a forgiver! 

"I preferred it when you were silent!" I grunted, locking my wolf deep down in the lair of my mind just as Samuel walked in with a black duffel bag. Plopping it down on the floor beside us, I eyed the bag with a sinister smile. 

"Are we sedating her?" He asked casually. I nodded to him as he pulled a syringe out.

"Half measure; she is smaller than the usual stock we purchase." I expressed, but the truth was I wanted her to wake up on the journey; I wanted to see the panic on her face when she did. I thrived on that fear, and I felt it would be the perfect way to deliver my message. I grinned, seeing the needle puncture her neck as Samuel knocked her out cold. 

"Shall we begin?" I asked him as I pulled the ropes from the bag he had brought in.