ugly-looking welts and deep puncture wounds. “I’m also partially imprinted on Mila, which makes me her mate.”
The wolverine took a lurching step forward that had the cat rumbling a dark sound. “Imprinted?”
“Yeah,” Dominic bit out. “And since you’re the reason she has a goddamn bounty on her head, I have a big fucking problem with you.”
Alex’s head drew back slightly. “Say that again.”
“Your uncles didn’t tell you?”
“My uncles?”
“They’ve been tracking you.”
The wolverine shook his head. “I haven’t seen them. I came home and . . . shit, there’s a bounty on her head? You’re sure of that?”
“Yes. You might want to see to that,” said Dominic, gesturing to the guy’s bleeding arm. As the wolverine disappeared into the kitchen, Dominic petted and nuzzled the little cat. She was stiff in his arms, her sides heaving as she drew in deep, angry breaths. Her green eyes blazed with fury as they locked on Alex when he returned to the room, tracking his every movement, coiled to pounce again.
A small dish towel wrapped around his wounded arm, Alex snatched the bag of beef jerky from the floor. “Imprinted on Mila, huh? We’ll get back to that in a minute. First, tell me about the bounty.”
“After you left to go roaming, someone who was convinced that you’re Mila’s roommate came to the apartment building and demanded to see you. She wouldn’t tell them where you were, which they weren’t pleased about. They said you’d pissed off their boss, and that Mila would regret not cooperating. Their boss must have put the hit out on Mila, thinking it would flush you out.”
His brow creased, Alex shook his head. “John Norton was looking for me, that’s true. I wired him the money I owed him shortly after I left, so he has no reason to have an issue with me or try to flush me out. He wouldn’t give a shit as long as he had his money.”
“Then why would he have placed a bounty on her head?”
“I can’t see why he would have. It makes no sense.” Sinking into the armchair, Alex tore open the bag of beef jerky with his teeth. “It’s also not his style. He’s the kind of guy who does his own dirty work. For him, it’s about maintaining that badass ‘I’m-not-to-be-fucked-with’ image. Who told you it was him?”
“No one. We can’t be sure who it is. We concluded that the person behind the hit was most likely the same person who’s looking for you.” Settling on the sofa, Dominic petted the cat as he told her brother all about the website, the attempts on Mila’s life, and how none of her attackers had had any info on who’d put out the hit.
“Motherfucker.” Alex munched on a piece of jerky, his eyes narrowed in thought. “It doesn’t fit. It’s just not how Norton rolls. And like I said, he has his money, which was all he wanted.”
“Well, who could it be then? Mila doesn’t have enemies.”
“No, she doesn’t. But Vinnie does. Maybe one of them put a price on his niece’s head to get at him.”
That idea had crossed Dominic’s mind.
“I need to speak with my parents.” Alex whipped out his phone. “I’m gonna find all kinds of texts and voice mails when I switch this on, aren’t I?” Sure enough, the cell phone repeatedly beeped as his thumbs tapped the screen. “And this is why I don’t like cell phones.”
After making a quick call to James, asking him to come to Mila’s apartment, Alex hung up and zeroed in on Dominic. “Now, on to the topic of you imprinting on Mila . . . I’d sure as fuck like to know how that happened. When I last spoke to her, she was planning on moving to Russia.”
“She just wanted space from Joel, which is understandable.”
“So she told you about him.” Alex shoved another piece of jerky into his mouth. “How does he feel about the imprinting?”
“He doesn’t like or approve of me, but he’s glad that she’s happy, and he seems to accept that I’m her choice.”
Dominic froze as he heard the snick of the front door locks. Then Valentina—who’d clearly broken into the apartment in much the same way her son had—was storming into the living room with her mate in tow.
Alex jumped to his feet as he faced off with his mother. They argued in Russian while James glared at his son, nodding along to whatever Valentina said.
“Can you understand what they’re saying, James?” Dominic asked.