Bound by Vengeance (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles 5)

“If you act scared, you’ll make them suspicious,” he said like I was a child.

I glared at him. His words only worsened my fear and made me tense even more. Growl set down his coffee again and watched me like he was trying to figure something out. My own eyes darted between him and his dogs.

Growl stalked toward me, his arm coming my way. I flinched away, expecting a punch. He looked frustrated.

He froze with his arm in midair and the lack of understanding on his face grew even more.

“What are you doing?” he rumbled, slowly lowering his muscled arm. There were more scratches on his upper arm I noticed now. I was pretty sure they couldn’t all come from me. A red dot began spreading on his bandages slowly, and I grimaced. Growl lowered his gaze to his injured forearm and blew out a breath. “You are a lot of trouble,” he said merely. He raised his eyes to mine. I couldn’t read his expression.

“Maybe you should go see a doctor,” I said instead of the nasty comeback I had in mind. So far Growl had been more civil than I’d thought possible and I couldn’t risk provoking him into a change of mood.

“I don’t need doctors. I stitched the wound up myself. I’ve done it before. But you cut me pretty deep and I shouldn’t move the arm so much.”

I’d thought I’d barely left a mark on him with the knife from his reaction yesterday, but he was probably too careful to show the extent of his injury during a fight. Though calling the short struggle between us a fight was laughable.

“Why did you shy back?” he asked. I’d hoped he’d forgotten about my reaction to his approach.

I shrugged and turned my attention back to the dogs watching us. They still hadn’t moved from their spots at the end of the kitchen, except that the black one had sat down. “I thought you were going to hit me,” I said eventually.

Silence followed, until I couldn’t stand it anymore and lifted my gaze to find Growl staring at me with blatant confusion.

“Oh come on,” I muttered, growing angry, despite my best intentions not to provoke him, but his shock was ridiculous. “Don’t act like that’s impossible. I saw you yesterday. I saw you kill a man with your bare hands by twisting his neck.”

“Where were you? I didn’t see you anywhere.”

“In the cupboard.”

Growl nodded. “He was the enemy.”

“And I’m not?”

For some reason he seemed closer than before, and his scent finally registered with me. Not of sweat and blood and death like last night but fresh and musky. It seemed too normal for someone like him.

“No. Enemies need eliminating because they mean danger, and often death. You don’t.”

“I tried to kill you last night,” I said indignantly.

He didn’t say anything, and that was worse than an insult.

I crossed my arms. I was starting to tire of this conversation, of the situation, of everything. I closed my eyes but the moment I did, images from last night came back up and I quickly opened them again.

I really wished Growl would stop watching me with that intent expression. He looked like an explorer who’d discovered a new species. “What’s going to happen now?” I asked quietly.

“I have work to do and you’ll stay here and watch TV.”

I laughed. Had he misunderstood me on purpose? “That’s not what I meant. Will you keep me locked up here until I die or you grow tired of me?”

“I haven’t given it much thought yet. I didn’t know Falcone would give you to me or I would have made plans,” he said.

Plans for my captivity, how considerate. “So what now?” Everything seemed so meaningless. My life had never been free. There had been rules and expectations, but now I had no choices at all.

“I will go to work and you will stay here.”

I gave up. Either he couldn’t or he didn’t want to understand me. “Will you take them with you?” I nodded toward the dogs.

Growl shook his head. “They will stay here with you.”

“Are you sure they won’t tear me apart?”

Growl turned to his dogs. “Coco, Bandit.”

They didn’t hesitate. Within seconds they were by Growl’s side and looked up at him in something that I could only describe as adoration. “They are well-trained,” he explained. “You can come closer.”

I nodded, but didn’t move from my spot against the kitchen counter. The way they were panting I got a good look at the size of their teeth.

He frowned. “You’ll have to get used to them. You’ll spend a lot of time with them in the future, and I won’t always be around to help you.”

The idea of him being helpful to me was ludicrous. I certainly wasn’t eager for his presence.

“If you want to touch them, you should always give them the chance to smell you first. At least, until they know you better. They are distrustful dogs. Most people haven’t given them much reason to be trustful.” He held his hand in front of Coco’s, then Bandit’s nose before he patted their heads. “If they move back, let them. Don’t try to pet them if they don’t want you to.”