you to the barbershop, I doubt she’d have liked seeing you flirt with another female. She believes you’re her mate.”
Dominic’s wolf growled at that. “She wants to believe it. That’s different.” James’s theory had some substance, though. Rosemary had claimed to not know that her father would approach the pack, but she’d proven that she was a very good liar. And she wouldn’t want to incriminate herself, would she? Playing clueless would have been her best defense.
“Any jealous exes we need to consider?” Alex asked Dominic.
It was Mila who answered. “Well . . . there’s Charlene.”
Dominic’s brows drew together. “She’s not an ex. She’s just someone I once had a brief fling with.” He’d also considered her a friend until recently, but nothing more.
“Yeah,” agreed Mila, “but she’s done her best to come between us, hasn’t she?”
Alex cocked his head. “Who is Charlene exactly?”
“A fox shifter who works as a barmaid at the club where I perform on Friday nights.”
Alex flicked his finger from Dominic to Mila as he asked, “So she knows you two are together?”
“Yes. I don’t think she has anything to do with this, though,” said Mila. “For one thing, she’s mated, so even if she does have lingering feelings for Dominic, she’s hardly likely to act on them. She put some effort into convincing me not to get involved with him, sure, but I don’t see why she’d want me dead just on the off chance that it could happen. That’s real freaking extreme. I mean, what difference would it really make to her?”
“That depends on what her motivation is for trying to keep you apart,” said Alex.
“I figure she just has a thing against pallas cats and wants him to be with someone who she thinks is ‘better’ for him,” said Mila.
Dominic rubbed her thigh. “Jesse pointed something out to me that might explain why Charlene is making herself a problem for us. She takes pride in the fact that she’s the woman I had the longest fling with and even allows people to believe I haven’t committed to anyone because I was heartbroken when she ended things between us.” He rolled his eyes. “She knows that’s bullshit. Still, as Jesse suggested, her ego could be hurt because I pursued you relentlessly and wouldn’t let you brush me off, no matter how hard you tried.”
“Foxes are very competitive,” Valentina commented. “They can also be sly and vengeful.”
“It would explain why she’s being a pain in our asses,” said Dominic. “But hurt pride isn’t motivation enough to want Mila dead.”
“People have killed for less,” Alex pointed out. “But I’m leaning toward Pierson or his daughter being responsible for the bounty.”
Valentina nodded, twirling the ring on her finger. “The daughter has not been thinking clearly for some time.”
Dominic rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure Rosemary would even know how to go about something like putting out a hit, though. Plus, I think if she’d seen me flirting with Mila, she’d have been more likely to lash out immediately rather than come up with a calculating plot.”
Alex pursed his lips. “Then her father is our most likely suspect.”
Yeah, Dominic was thinking the same thing. And that meant that the reason his mate had been almost killed three times could very simply be that Dominic was in her life. Fuck if that didn’t twist his stomach.
As they crossed the street to Ingrid’s antique shop later that day, Mila flicked a concerned look at Dominic. As usual, he’d come with her to the barbershop, but he hadn’t been his normal self. Oh, he’d put on a happy face. Joked and talked and laughed as she’d worked. But other times he’d sat there with his shoulders slumped, his mouth turned down, his brows drawn, and his gaze inward.
Whenever she was close, he’d reached out and touched her. Stroked her hair, smoothed his hand up her back, kissed her mouth, gave her hip a little squeeze, traced the bite on her neck with his finger. When he wasn’t touching her, subconsciously seeking comfort, he was unnaturally still—as if forcing himself not to make any anxious movements.
She didn’t need to ask what was weighing on him. It was guilt. He now believed that Pierson was responsible for the hit on her, and so GQ was blaming himself for the danger she was in. Which was quite simply fucking stupid.
Mila wouldn’t be surprised if he later announced that they needed to put some space between them, hoping Pierson would then cancel