Mated to the Chaos - Georgette St. Clair Page 0,16

sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’ll call Dominic. I suppose it’s time we—”

“No, we can’t share it with everyone.” Fabiana wasn’t sure why she knew, but there was a warning flaring inside her. Everyone couldn’t see this, wouldn’t understand. They would use her, take her and see what she could show them. She felt it in her bones.

“Cucciola, be calm. It will be okay.”

“No!” She wouldn’t be taken. They would never make her bow and strip her of everything she was. She couldn’t take it.

“Shhh, sis. It’s okay. We can just call Carlo, okay? He and Nanshe need to see this. Remember? I told you about Nanshe.”

“You won’t tell? They won’t take me?”

Fabiana’s plaintive wail made Giuliana flinch, but she didn’t look away. “No, sister. No one will ever take you again. I swear it. Pas, just get Carlo on the phone and don’t leave this room.”

Pasquale didn’t argue, gripping his phone from his pocket to do as he was told. It helped to be able to hear who he was talking to as she used her heightened hearing to listen to his conversation as he stood across the room. She didn’t want to seem like she didn’t believe her brother, but she needed it right then.

Carlo was nearly too big in her salon. He stared at the painting of him, his eyes intent on the halo of Chaos above his head. But he didn’t tell Fabiana she was crazy. Based on the other paintings he’d seen tonight, this was serious. Giuliana and Pasquale standing beside the smaller woman in a show of protection screamed the gravity of the situation.

He also couldn’t deny she hadn’t been part of the conversations and he knew neither Giuliana nor Pasquale would have broken that confidentiality. He had to believe it. Fuck, Nanshe was standing beside him, a hesitant smile on her lips as she looked over the paintings. She kept sneaking looks at Fabiana, but kept her knowledge sealed behind a soft gaze.

“That’s me.”

Giuliana snorted. “I thought we had settled that already.”

“With Chaos,” he growled.

“Watch your tone with my mate, Carlo.”

“Then she should know not to play with me and Chaos.”

Pasquale tensed. “She could stab you with a knife made of Chaos and I’d still tell you the same thing. Watch. Your. Tone.”

Cold Alpha call unfurled in the room. It wasn’t directed yet, but it was a warning of what was coming.

Carlo’s gaze slid to the puffed-up wolf, and he smiled with deadly intent. “I’ll back off your mate, but don’t ever give me an order, pup. Be aware of your status.”

For a moment, uncertainty passed Pasquale’s gaze before he nodded his head. Yeah, it wasn’t always a nice thing to remind the wolves they were also Mafia, but the Family relied on the hierarchy working. Carlo had been a Made Man far longer than Pasquale, and he was also second in command to a stronger Alpha. He’d never give Pasquale orders, per se. Pasquale was an Alpha in his own right, and the wolf inside Carlo wanted to acknowledge that. They weren’t in the same pack, but Familywise, he could deny him to a point.

“I apologize to your mate. You can understand how this could make me … unsettled,” Carlo added, removing the sting of the powerful reminder. He wasn’t an asshole.

“That remains to be seen.”

Yep, he wasn’t answering that.

He looked to the picture once more, and it rolled over him. “Tell me again what your vision was.”

Fabiana sighed and repeated what she’d told him about his power over Chaos and the ability to transform into a were-form.

“That’s not something I can do. Doing a shift on just one body part is one thing, but this form? I’ve shifted recently, and nothing near this happened. This is almost a hybrid shift of the entire body and not the normal form of a wolf. I mean, this looks like those werewolves in the movies humans watch.”

“But the visions are of the future, and while it may not be happening now, it doesn’t mean it won’t. Besides, it seems like Chaos is important,” Giuliana added.

“Then it won’t happen. It looks like it has something to do with Chaos within me.”

Nanshe cleared her throat. “Your mate is attached to Chaos.”

“A mate that I haven’t, and will not be, claiming. I will protect you for now, and then you will go back home.

Pasquale and Giuliana looked at one another and burst out laughing.

He growled at them. “What the hell is your problem?”

“Oh, we