Page 43 of Broken Wolf Heart (Mafia Pack #3)

LEXI

T he warehouse is chilly, thanks to its concrete walls.

Or maybe it’s an internal shudder at the memory of all the nightmares I’ve witnessed here.

Last time I stood in here, Alvaro’s blood was still wet on the floor.

Before that, it was Trucker’s and, from what I’m told, Ramsey’s.

This isn’t exactly the place I would have chosen for a magical ritual that will hopefully stabilize our wolves, but it’s the perfect place for bloodshed.

And apparently, that’s the main ingredient necessary, so I guess it fits after all.

Thankfully, we don’t use the tiny room in the back where we’ve kept prisoners. Instead, we remain in the larger space where there aren’t already blood stains on the concrete floor and where light filters in through the high, albeit dirt-coated, windows.

It’s the least magical feeling ambience I can imagine. But it’s remote and undisturbed enough that, if this doesn’t work and one of our wolves loses it, hopefully they can contain us.

Grey’s been notably silent since we left the house. There’s worry lining his brow. I know he thinks he’s risking me by doing this, but maybe that’s what I appreciate about it. He’s letting me protect him just as much as he’s protecting me.

Finally, after everything, he’s making me feel like his equal partner. Like he considers me capable of fighting alongside him instead of hiding in the background while he fights for me.

It’s all I’ve ever wanted.

I hope to hell this works.

Mia, Dutch, Razor, and Crow stand in a wide circle around us.

The hex blade rests on a worn metal table between Grey and me.

Apparently, it was stashed in a gym bag in the janitor’s closet this entire time.

The same bag Grey once showed me and told me to run away with if anything ever happened to him.

I guess a hex blade would have gotten me through the wards—and anything else that stood in my way.

I just hope it’s strong enough to get through to my wolf.

And to kill that dark creature inside him that keeps taking him over.

Outside, the wind whines through broken siding, but in here, it’s calm.

Calm. And terrifying.

I take a steadying breath and look up at Grey. He stares down at the blade between us as if it’s a snake ready to strike.

“We don’t have a witch to guide us,” I say, voice shakier than I mean for it to be. “How do we know what to do?”

He meets my gaze, eyes dark but clear. “We didn’t have one last time either. We just need each other and the blade.”

My chest tightens as Mia adds, “And blood.”

He nods. “That too.”

I glance around the circle—Mia watching with open worry, Razor nodding once when I meet his gaze, Dutch and Crow still and unreadable. These people have followed Grey through thick and thin. And now they do the same for me.

Grey picks up the blade. Even in the dim light, it gleams. Some of my worry must show on my face because he sets it down again .

“We don’t have to do this,” he says. “If you’re not sure?—”

“I’m sure,” I interrupt, stepping forward.

Because I am. Terrified, yes. But sure.

We’re out of time. And this—this is the only thing that’s ever made sense. Him. Me. Together. If we’re going to stop Vincenzo, it’s not going to be through sheer force. It has to be through balance. Through unity. Through power shared. Through love and trust freely given.

Grey draws the blade across his palm first, no hesitation. Blood wells and spills over his hand.

Then he hands me the hex blade.

It’s heavier than I expect. The jewels encrusted in the hilt sparkle, even in the dimness. There’s a buzz beneath my skin as I hold it.

Magic.

The blade is sharp despite its age and disuse.

My hand doesn’t shake when I draw it across my own skin.

Grey holds his hand out for mine. We press our bleeding palms together.

I feel it immediately.

A tug. A pull.

Not pain. Not even magic.

Just connection , pure and deep. It’s so much bigger than what I felt that night we claimed one another in the woods.

Colors and scents and emotions whirl inside me, burrowing into the deepest places.

Hidden parts of me that I only ever felt awaken the day I found my wolf.

And now, those places belong to Grey just as much as they belong to me.

My wolf rises, opening, letting that connection pour into her. She surges with it—an energy all its own. And I know she’s found strength from it already.

Grey gasps, and I watch the way his veins suddenly glow bright blue as magic flares to life inside him.

The air shifts .

Grey groans, and a second later, darkness pours from his mouth, rising above us like an angry cloud.

It blots out the light from the windows, darkening the room until we’re standing inside a roiling storm.

Suddenly, the sound of the wind against the building isn’t coming from outside but from within the cyclone above our heads.

I have no idea whether to be relieved it’s out of him or worried that it’s become something sentient and separate—something capable of hurting us.

“Uh, not to interrupt, but what the fuck,” Dutch calls.

“Stay where you are,” Mia tells him. “It’s not finished yet.”

“This is some serious Wizard of Oz shit,” Razor says.

My wolf surges to the surface—but not violently. Not wild. She rises like a tide. Strong. Steady. Awake.

Part of me.

Grey’s eyes flare silver. His power floods toward me—but it doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t burn. It settles .

This is what it was always meant to be.

“Do you feel it?” he says, nearly shouting to be heard above the wind.

I nod, the magic already nudging me to speak aloud what’s woken inside me. We never needed a witch after all.

“We should say it out loud,” I whisper, breath catching.

Grey nods, his voice low and reverent. “I pledge my wolf’s strength to you, Lexi Giovanni. Not just as your mate but as your equal. Your co-alpha. A bonded pair; a balance. Shared strength, wolf to mated wolf. As it was always meant to be for our kind.”

The words hit deep, anchoring something inside me I didn’t know was still floating.

“I pledge my wolf’s strength to you, Grey Diavolo. As your equal. Your mate. Your co-alpha. A bonded pair; a balance. My strength freely shared, wolf to mated wolf.” The darkness seethes at that, but I finish the words that are building inside me. “What we’ve joined, nothing can ever break apart.”

And then, just like that, the full weight of our bond clicks into place—not just emotional but physical .

I feel Grey’s wolf in a way I’ve never felt before.

His strength. His steadiness. His unwavering love.

And beneath it, his fear. His pain. His desire to protect me. His commitment to never hurt me.

And I let it all in.

Just as clearly as I can feel Grey and his wolf, I see my own wolf standing on the other side of a door, shut and locked between us. She watches me in my mind’s eye. Waiting. She doesn’t ask me to open the door, but I know instinctively that is the choice I have to make.

To fully let her in.

To allow her to become part of me.

To embrace both halves of my soul and no longer define myself as either human or wolf. From this moment forward, I’m both, always.

Shoving aside the fear, I reach over and yank the door wide open.

Because she’s mine. And I’m not just Grey’s; I’m hers. And our wolves belong to one another just as fiercely as they belong to each of us.

My wolf crosses the threshold, and something inside me bursts wide open. Power, love, unity, flashes of white, of magic, of futures—all of it fills my mind, and I gasp, blinking against the sheer enormity of it all.

Around us, the air audibly hums with a power too big to contain inside us any longer. Suddenly, the darkness is met with a white cloud so pure and blinding, I have to shield my eyes from its brightness. The dark cloud screams and writhes before sizzling out of existence.

A heartbeat later, the air clears, and any trace of magic or sentience winks out .

Mia lets out a sharp exhale. Razor mutters a string of curses that are aimed at “The Wicked Witch of the Hex Blade” and other nonsensical accusations.

When I look down at my palm, the wound has already sealed shut.

Only a small scar remains to prove I didn’t just hallucinate the entire thing.

I exhale, feeling both drained and energized.

Grey looks back at me, the same stunned expression on his face.

We stand there for a long moment, just holding each other’s gaze.

Then Grey steps forward, sliding an arm around my waist, pressing his forehead to mine. “You okay?” he whispers.

I nod. “I don’t feel broken anymore,” I manage, my voice thick with emotion. “I feel… grounded. And strong.”

Grey lets out a shaky laugh. “Good. Because we’re about to face hell.”

“Is that thing… is it gone?” I ask, but I already know the answer because I can feel it—the pure, absolute presence of Grey and his wolf through the bond between us.

The power that radiates from them both leaves me breathless, and for the first time in my life, I realize what a true predator Grey really is. No wonder my human ass ran from him that first night he shifted and hunted me.

His eyes gleam with mischief, and I realize he’s probably already sensed my train of thought. The bond is that powerful now.

It’s going to take some serious getting used to.

“I’d never hurt you, princess,” he says, teeth flashing in a tease of sorts. “But I’d hunt you down anytime you want to be chased.”

Despite everything, my cheeks heat, and my core aches. I am instantly turned on. Is this what a full mate bond feels like? Because I could really go for a quickie right now, maybe a little hide and seek first?—

Mia clears her throat. “Not to ruin the moment, but we should get moving. Everyone’s already waiting at the restaurant.”

Her words are the splash of cold water I need to remind me where my focus should be.

Grey merely winks and sends something down the bond that feels a lot like we’ll get to that later.

He releases my waist only to thread his fingers through mine.

His touch grounds me, and I follow the contact all the way through to the invisible tether between us.

It’s a wealth of information too. His quiet determination to win today, to protect his pack, whom he loves beyond words.

And his completely depthless love for me.

The emotion he feels…it’s overwhelming in the best way.

While Crow returns the hex blade to the closet, Dutch claps a hand on Grey’s shoulder. “You look different.”

Grey smirks. “Feel different.”

I meet Mia’s gaze. She doesn’t say anything. Just nods.

We leave the warehouse together.

United.