Midnight Unbound(6)

“All right. I’ll do as you ask. But not if it means I need to live like a prisoner at your place in Matera with nothing for me to do except worry about my child. I want to go home to the vineyard, so I can at least work and keep my hands and mind busy while you and the Order do whatever it is you need to do.”

To her shock, Scythe gave an agreeing nod. “That is the plan, actually. It will be best if things appear as normal as possible. We want this male to be tempted to make another move. We want to lure him in as quickly as possible.”

“Encourage him to attack again?” She found it difficult to keep the nervous edge from her voice.

“You couldn’t be safer,” Trygg interjected, the grim male nodding in Scythe’s direction. “My brother has the ability to sense imminent danger, so he’ll be waiting for your assailant the whole time. He’s also got the lethal skills to take the bastard out in a hundred different ways.”

Chiara swallowed, loath to imagine just how deadly a massive Gen One Breed and former Hunter like Scythe could be—despite that he was missing one hand.

Bella stepped forward and offered her a reassuring touch. “Ensuring that you and Pietro are safe is the most important thing, sorella.”

“Yes,” Ettore agreed. “And that means we can’t simply hide you both away and hope that whoever attacked you decides to give up. We need to know who he is, and what he wants. We need to be sure we cut this threat off at the root.”

“And we will,” said the third member of the Order’s Rome team, their dark-haired commander, Lazaro Archer. “While you are under Scythe’s watch, my team will be working on leads in the background. If things go well, this could all be over in the next few days.”

Chiara glanced at the Breed elder. “And if it doesn’t go well?”

Lazaro gave her a grim look. “Follow Scythe’s instructions and I have no doubt that you and your son will both be fine. Leave the rest to the Order.”

So, she was essentially going to be putting herself under the yoke of an overbearing, clearly dangerous male she hardly knew and setting herself up as bait for her stalker as well. Could this situation possibly get any worse?

The answer was yes, because no matter how uncomfortable she was with the plan that had just been described to her, it would be unbearable if it meant putting Pietro at risk along with her.

As much as she bristled against the idea of being separated from her son, she knew what Scythe said was true. It would be foolish—even selfish—to insist on keeping Pietro with her.

She exhaled a shaky breath. “I will do this, but you need to let me explain this to Pietro myself. He's not going to understand it all, but he needs to hear it from me that I’m only leaving for a little while, and because I have no other choice.”

Already, her heart gave a squeeze as she pictured his big, dark eyes filled with confusion.

“You can tell him now,” Scythe said, waving her on with his left hand. “We’ll be leaving in five minutes.”

Her mouth swung open as she stared at him, incredulous. “So soon? I’ll need more time than that to say goodbye to my child.”

“Ten minutes, then. No more.”

He said it with an unyielding tone that set her teeth on edge. Was he so eager to have her under his heel that he intended to start pushing her around before they’d even left the room?

Maybe the old Chiara would have fallen in line without a squeak of resistance. The naive Chiara who had allowed herself to be swept into Sal’s lies and deceit, never seeing her mate for what he truly was until she found herself bonded to him by blood. The sheltered Chiara whose lack of a backbone had nearly cost her son his life six weeks ago when Vito Massioni came to kill them all.

The old Chiara was dead now. A stronger woman had emerged from that ordeal. And the second they were alone, she was going to explain that to Scythe.

She set her glass down on the bar with a clink and shuffled past Scythe, ignoring the heat that shot through her as her breasts brushed his chest.

Jesus, could he take up any more space?

He followed her into the hallway, his long strides easily keeping pace with her as she walked to the room where Bella and Ettore had taken Pietro when Scythe arrived a short while ago.

Through the glass in the corridor, she watched her son flip through the pages of a picture book he held in his little lap. Although he was Breed, like his father, and would one day grow up to be as formidable as any of his kind, right now Pietro was simply a little boy. Her precious, cherished child.

The thought of leaving him raked at her and she pivoted a hard look at Scythe at her back. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready to go.”