Page 14 of Broken Wolf Heart (Mafia Pack #3)

GREY

I nside the guest bedroom, the sounds of guests arriving downstairs are muted, thanks to thick walls and plush carpet.

But the moment I near the top of the stairs, the walls echo with the murmur of voices, boots shuffling on polished marble, the metallic clink of weapons being forfeited into a container at the front door.

The Giovanni pack is assembling.

I descend the stairs, senses sharp, instincts on edge. Every breath carries the thick scent of tension. Outside, cars are arriving one by one. I can feel the presence of Giovanni wolves beating through the walls like a living thing.

If they don’t accept Lexi, my wolf will destroy them all.

Elena is poised at the bottom of the stairs. She looks carved from marble—cold, composed, unreadable. She’s always been like that. Even when I was a kid running through Franco’s estate on forced visits, she ruled the staff like a general.

Now, she holds a phone in one hand, and her other one rests at her side, fingers still and precise. She starts to push past me toward the stairs, but I stop her.

“What’s wrong?” I ask .

Elena lifts her chin, dark eyes unblinking. “Alpha Diavolo is here. He’s requesting to speak with Lexi.”

The words are calm. Flat. Like she's announcing a wine delivery.

I descend the rest of the stairs in two strides. “I’ll take care of it.”

She doesn’t blink. Doesn’t argue. Just studies me for one long beat, like she’s weighing whether this decision could end in bloodshed. And if it does, whether it’ll stain the floors.

Finally, she nods once. “He’s waiting out front. In the black SUV.”

Of course he is.

My father is not one to wait outside, but even with Franco gone, Elena is still formidable as hell.

I step past her. “Lexi doesn’t need to know he’s here.”

“You get one freebie, and this is it,” Elena says, and then she turns on her heel and walks away.

Damn.

At least, I know she’ll be loyal to Lexi.

Dutch appears just before I walk out the front door. “Heard the old man is outside.”

“Did you find out anything about his next move?” I ask in a low voice.

Behind us, the foyer is filling up with Lexi’s new pack, and I don’t exactly want to include them in our conversation, so I keep my voice as quiet as possible and hope they’re too busy talking amongst themselves to pay any attention to us.

Dutch shakes his head and says quietly, “After the vote, he went to the reception hall and tossed out the few wedding guests who dared to show up.”

“I bet he’s thrilled about paying for a party that never happened,” I say wryly.

“Yeah, I’d look for a bill in the mail,” Dutch snorts. “No way he’ll cover it. ”

“Small price to pay,” I murmur, glancing toward the open door and the night beyond. “Anything else?”

“No. Well, sort of, but it’s probably nothing.”

I tense. “I want to know everything.”

“He stopped at the offices across from Altobello’s for a second.”

“Franco’s restaurant? He doesn’t have any businesses over there. What office did he go into?”

“Not sure. You said not to get too close.”

I nod, torn between frustration and relief. I can’t afford for my father to know we’re watching him. “Then what?”

Dutch shrugs. “He drove back to his office and stayed there until Crow texted us to meet up here.”

“And Ramsey?” I ask.

“Couldn’t find a trace of that asshole,” he says darkly. “But we will. Give it time.”

I exhale. “Okay, thanks.”

“Want some backup?” he asks as Razor and Crow appear from somewhere in the house.

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “If we go out together, it’ll look like a confrontation.”

“Then it looks like what it is,” Dutch says pointedly. “Maybe this is it. The moment we take him out.”

I shake my head. “Believe me, I want that, but we can’t move until Lexi’s place is secure. Otherwise, we risk her safety, and I won’t do that now when we’ve worked so hard for this.”

Dutch scowls but backs off.

“So, then what? We keep letting him dictate how this goes?” Razor asks, always pushing for the fight.

“He asked for Lexi, and he’s getting me instead.

He came here to issue some kind of order, and instead, I’m going to tell him to fuck right off.

So, no, he’s not dictating anything,” I say.

Razor looks ready to argue. “But if you go out there with me, the minute he sees us together, he’ll know we’re not with his pack anymore.

That puts us at five against…well, all of them.

Even Lexi’s pack might try to come at us if that happens.

Have you seen how many guards are on this compound? ”

“Shit,” Razor grumbles. “We could take ‘em.”

Crow snorts loud enough that a few others glance our way. Razor notices and sighs. After another beat, they nod reluctantly and let me pass.

“We’ll be here if you need us,” Dutch says.

I hope I don’t. Because once my father knows I’ve formed my own pack, it’ll take more than just my four pack members to stop the chaos that will follow.

Outside, the sky is lit with stars and a sliver of a moon. The darkness isn’t enough to hide a dozen of Franco’s guards standing in a loose formation down by the gate. They watch the black car with tight expressions and weapons at the ready.

Good.

My boots scuff the concrete as I make my way over to where my former alpha is parked.

Through the windshield, I see Rocco, Dutch’s dad, in the driver’s seat, grim as ever.

His hands grip the wheel like he’s trying not to snap it in half.

Alvaro, Razor’s and Crow’s old man, sits shotgun, looking even more deranged.

Seeing them here is a stark reminder that it’s not just my father we’ll fight. Every one of my friends will have to face down their old man when we announce what we’ve become.

I hate that they’ll have to live with something like that, but I’m done trying to keep the peace. This is the last remotely civil conversation I plan to have with this asshole. Next time, it’ll end in bloodshed.

When I get close, the back passenger side window opens. My father sits in the backseat, eyes already locked on me like he knew I’d come instead of her.

I approach slowly, the scent of cut grass and asphalt mixing with the cologne he’s always worn—sharp, synthetic, aggressive. I catch a whiff of blood too. Not fresh, but lingering. Maybe it’s in my memory. Maybe it’s always there when he is.

“Where’s Lexi?” he asks, voice smooth as silk dragged over broken glass.

I plant my feet out of reach and shove my hands into my pockets. “She’s not coming.”

His gaze narrows. He doesn’t raise his voice. Doesn’t need to. Angry power rolls off him in waves. “She and I have a deal.”

“I don’t give a shit about your deal.”

He leans forward slightly, forearms resting on his knees. Moonlight slices across the lower half of his face, shadowing his eyes. He’s always been good at this—using stillness as a threat, using silence to make me feel like the one losing ground.

“She’s your high alpha now,” I say, refusing to be baited by him. “That demands your respect. And at the very least, it means she doesn’t have to come when you call.”

“She can’t even control her fucking wolf,” he says. “And you expect me to believe she killed a high alpha?”

I stare him down, jaw locked tight. My fists itch to shatter his smug face.

He knows.

Or he suspects.

That I took Franco’s life. That Lexi didn’t kill anyone. That she just inherited the perks of my kill like a gift-wrapped curse.

Before I can answer, he frowns. “You smell like her,” he says, voice low, and I freeze as I wait to see exactly what my scent tells him. “You claimed her, even after all this?”

“She’s my fated mate.”

He snorts. My father doesn’t believe in mates for the sake of love—not even fated mates, not unless there’s a benefit in it for him. He believes in leverage. In domination. In obedience.

“That alpha power coming off you in waves—it’s hers. Through the bond. ”

His words land somewhere between a question and a statement. Like he’s trying to process it for himself. I want so badly to tell him the truth in this moment. But I remember my pack members waiting inside. And every one of their fathers is sitting out here, ready to kill them for what we’ve become.

Let him believe whatever keeps him distracted.

“I never would have guessed that bitch had it in her,” my father says to himself. “Smart of you to ally yourself with a high alpha, I’ll give you that. But neither one of you will enjoy it for long.”

I ball my hands into fists inside my pockets.

My wolf strains against my skin. I take a step forward, blood pumping.

“Lexi is my mate now. That means you don’t touch her,” I say, the softness in my tone a direct contradiction to the fury I’m barely leashing.

“You don’t look at her. You don’t think about her.

You don’t say her name unless I give you permission. ”

He raises one brow. “Is that so?”

“You want to keep your tongue in your mouth, yeah, that’s so.”

He blinks like my threat surprises him.

A long pause stretches between us.

Somewhere behind me, a cicada clicks in the trees. One of Franco’s—now Lexi’s—guards shifts his weight. I clock every single movement and breath from the heartbeats in this place. And I map out how I’ll kill every one of them if need be.

My father studies me like he’s trying to decide whether I’m bluffing. He’s looking for the boy he raised to be useful. The obedient son. The weapon he forged in back rooms and midnight meetings. That boy left the city years ago. Whatever was left of him died the moment I met Lexi.

And he knows it.

His expression twists into something colder. Crueler. “You’ve always been too emotional. A weakness inherited from your mother. It’s why you were never going to lead our pack. ”

“No,” I say, voice ice. “It’s why I’ll lead better than you ever did.”

He chuckles—dry, humorless. “She’s playing you if she told you that.”

I lean closer to the open window, eyes narrowed. “You want to talk about playing people? About forcing a wedding, drugging your future daughter-in-law, triggering her wolf without consent? You think I don’t know what you did to her?”

His jaw tightens. “She consented and took that serum willingly. Now, I demand my price in return.”

“You manipulated her just like you’ve done with everyone else,” I say. “That’s not strength. That’s fear. You’re terrified of what she is. Because if she’s stronger than you, if I am—then all the blood you spilled, the games you’ve played—it would all be for nothing.”

His expression stills. Rage burns behind his eyes.

“I built this city,” he says.

“Maybe. But then you bled it dry.”

“She’s not ready for something like this.”

“She’s more ready than you ever were.”

He leans back in the seat slowly, crossing one leg over the other. The utter calm in his expression makes him look like a king in exile. Dethroned but not yet buried.

“I’ll give you one last chance,” he says, staring straight ahead now. “Bring her to me. Let’s do this the old way. A clean transfer of power. She steps down. Gives me the crown. We walk away civil.”

I yank my hands from my pockets. My fingers flex at my sides.

Inside, my wolf stirs. There’s a hunger in it that’s never been there before. A thirst for a messy kill. Not just death and vengeance but carnage. Mayhem. Torture. And for the first time in my life, I can feel true temptation to give in to the darkness my father tried to instill in me .

“Fuck you,” I say quietly but with the conviction of the emotion behind it.

His eyes narrow. “She steps down,” he repeats, “or she gets taken out of the equation.”

My vision goes red.

I step closer, voice razor-sharp but eerily calm. “If you ever— ever —touch my wife, I will peel your flesh from your fucking bones and keep you alive long enough to watch while I burn the pieces.”

Rocco flinches in the front seat. Doesn’t look back. Doesn’t have to.

My father?

He just smiles.

Like he’s been waiting for me to say that.

“There he is,” he whispers, triumphant. “I’ve waited a long time for the monster to reveal himself. Unfortunately, you’re too late.”

I should walk away.

But I don’t.

Not yet.

Because the words he says next lodge in my chest like splinters.

“This pack is mine,” he says quietly. “To rule. To shape. To own. And I will have it in the end. Over her dead body if necessary. And yours.”

I stare at him. Heart pounding. My wolf pressing against the edges of my control, snarling to be let loose. He wants me to break. To lose it. To give him proof that I’m too emotional, too unstable, too much like her to be trusted with power.

Instead, I breathe.

One breath.

Two.

Then I take a step back.

Let the silence stretch .

And I smile.

“You’re right,” I say softly. “You will have this pack.”

His eyes narrow. He waits.

“As a memory,” I finish. “Of what you tried and failed to control. A symbol of what you lost. Once the transfer of power is finished, I’m coming for you, old man. And there’s not a single wolf in this city who can stop me from ripping you apart.”

I don’t give him a chance to respond before I turn on my heel and walk away.

The asphalt scuffs under my boots. The heat of his stare burns on the back of my neck like a brand. The moment I step back through Franco’s front doors, the shadows swallow me whole.

Lexi is inside. Alive. Safe—for now.

But that safety is fragile.

Death is coming.

Just like he said.

But not on his terms.

On mine .