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Blaze, the President of the MC, was leaning on his Harley outside the bar as they approached, speaking with a woman in torn black jeans and a leather jacket who was standing beside him.

The gentle chill breeze of impending winter carried his words to them as he maintained eye contact with Marco while finishing up his orders to the woman.

The weight of the leather bracelet hidden by his shirt cuff was a reassuring presence as they stopped in front of the powerful witch.

The magic it contained wasn’t something you could buy.

Emilio had saved the life of the witch who’d given it to him, and he’d never been more grateful that he’d been the assassin the witch chose that day, especially now that he’d be dealing with witches so often.

He wasn’t sure exactly how it worked, but it somehow boosted the shifter magic in him so he could sense any nearby magical workings that meant him harm before they were cast, giving him enough warning to use his shifter speed to get clear.

It had saved him on more than one occasion.

“Marco. Good to see you,” Blaze said, standing up from his perch on his bike to clasp Marco’s hand.

“Blaze,” Marco replied with a nod.

Emilio kept his face carefully neutral as the two men tested each other’s strength.

A human was no match for a shifter when it came down to muscle.

The faint scent of smoke and Marco’s smirk as he withdrew his hand said Blaze had resorted to using a touch of his fire magic to break the stand-off between them.

Alpha posturing didn’t particularly interest Emilio unless it created a threat he needed to destroy.

The leather of his bracelet hadn’t so much as tremored during Blaze’s little display, so he wasn’t worried.

He also knew the two of them met regularly, along with Kyan—the head of the vampire Cruor Coven—as part of keeping New Trinity City running smoothly between the three crime families.

So he assumed this power play between them was nothing new.

He was more interested in getting his Alpha off the street.

There were too many buildings overlooking their position where a sniper could be hiding.

“I believe you’ve met my cousin Emilio already?” Marco said .

Emilio resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Blaze’s eyes tracked appreciatively down his body and back up again.

“I have. Rocco seemed very enamoured of him. I can see why.”

Marco snarled. “He’s not one of your fucking biker groupies.”

“I’m painfully aware of that. Marriage isn’t something we usually go for. He’ll be one-of-a-kind here. The only reason I agreed was to fix your cousin’s fuck-up.”

The insult to Luca was enough to have Emilio fully turning his attention toward the MC President.

He enjoyed keeping to the shadows, but he was done being spoken about as if he wasn’t there.

Tucking his sunglasses in his breast pocket, he stepped in closer, squaring off with the larger man and letting a touch of his wolf’s deadly energy show through as he held his stare.

“You will keep a civil tongue about my family or I will remove it,” Emilio said, his words soft and calm.

His bracelet vibrated in warning as Blaze’s eyes flashed with the red of his fire magic.

“Emilio, stand down,” Marco snapped.

Emilio stepped back to his place slightly behind his Alpha but stayed poised on the balls of his feet as he pushed his wolf back, resisting the urge to shift.

“This is my territory. I’m the Alpha here. If he can’t control himself and defer to me the way he would you, this isn’t going to work. He’s not just marrying Rocco, he’s marrying into the MC, my MC,” Blaze said, once again talking about Emilio as if he wasn’t there.

“Respect is earned,” Marco replied.

“I have no interest in leading the MC. I won’t challenge you,” Emilio said, feigning boredom so he could keep watching their surroundings .

Blaze scoffed, but let his magic dissipate. “You’d lose if you did.”

Emilio just smiled. It was cute Blaze thought he’d play fair.

If he ever decided to take Blaze out, the man would never see him coming.

Death was beautiful, and Emilio loved it in all its forms. He wasn’t a posturing wolf who needed to rip someone’s throat out in front of an audience, and it made no sense to attack one of the most powerful witches in the city that way.

Especially a fire witch who could burn him to ashes.

There was as much joy in poison slipped into an unsuspecting drink or suffocation as someone slept.

But he would never do anything to make Marco’s life more difficult.

Blaze was safe from him so long as he didn’t threaten his family.

“Emilio won’t undermine your authority in front of your people,” Marco said, the look he shot Emilio making it clear it was an order from his Alpha.

“He’d better not, or he’s not going to like the consequences. I told Rocco to behave, but I’ll let him off the leash if I have to. He knows it’s his job to keep his husband under control.”

Emilio cocked his head slightly, curious despite himself. His fiancé clearly had a reputation, but he’d been too busy with his father’s funeral and other arrangements to look into Rocco’s background. He hadn’t thought it was relevant when he’d just been planning to kill him.

“Good luck with that. Shall we get this over with? I have other business to attend to,” Marco growled, clearly pissed off at the tone being taken, but not willing to put the tentative truce at risk.

Blaze jerked his head toward the bar. “After you. He’s in the back room, along with our lawyer.”

Emilio slipped past his Alpha as they headed to the door, not willing to put Marco at risk entering an unknown space he hadn’t had a chance to clear. Marco huffed under his breath, but let him get away with it.

The place was tidier than he expected of the rough MC.

The woman who’d been speaking to Blaze earlier was now polishing glasses behind the bar, her eyes tracking his progress as he stepped into the dimly lit space and scanned over the few patrons sitting scattered around this early in the afternoon.

A subtle inhale confirmed what he’d thought.

None of them were drinking alcohol. These were guards for their Prez, who brushed past him and headed toward a solid steel door to the left of the bar.

Emilio let Marco take the lead now he had the lay of the room, refusing to let his Alpha expose his back to the witches who were doing a piss-poor job of pretending they weren’t watching their every move.

The door Blaze opened led to a narrow corridor that was more reminiscent of what he’d expected.

Stains of past spilt alcohol marred the wooden floor, and the walls were rough with age, but the subtle scent of disinfectant showed the bar owner was dedicated to keeping her space clean.

Emilio noted the solid lock that could be drawn in place as he shut the door behind them.

He was tempted to lock it now so the guards outside couldn’t rush them, but he resisted the urge.

Blaze rapped three times on a wooden door ahead before pushing it open. It must’ve had a magical barrier because there were no new sounds or scents wafting to him from inside the room as he moved closer, flanking Marco.

He had just enough time to take in a large desk and two men standing drinking whiskey as he stepped across the threshold before his mate’s scent slammed into him.

It was all he could do not to rock back on his heels as his cock hardened so fast he felt dizzy.

Pure stubborn instinct kept him moving forward with Marco as he said a silent thank you to his past self, who’d put compression shorts on under his slacks this morning for just this reason.

He couldn’t risk his fiancé or Blaze figuring out just how vulnerable he was.

In an attempt to reduce the effects of Rocco’s scent, he sucked in a quiet breath through his mouth.

All it did was mean he could now taste the tantalising man on his tongue as well.

How did the scent of a crisp winter morning even have a taste, let alone leave his mouth watering?

He was so distracted he didn’t even notice Rocco striding closer until Marco stepped in front of him, blocking his way.

“It’s fine, Marco. I can handle him,” Emilio murmured.

Marco turned to face him and froze, taking in his dilated pupils and the unmistakable scent of arousal.

Emilio sighed and met the surprised question in his cousin’s eyes, shaking his head subtly.

They were not discussing this here. He probably should’ve given his Alpha a heads-up on the whole mate thing earlier.

Marco raised an eyebrow that said they’d be discussing this later and stepped aside in a way he undoubtedly wouldn’t have if he hadn’t realised Rocco was his fated mate. Dammit.

His fiancé acted as if the rest of the people in the room weren’t even there, resuming his strides forward until he was crowding right into Emilio’s space.

The witch wore black jeans and a T-shirt that pulled tight across his muscled chest, doing nothing to hide the hard buds of his nipples.

A fact Emilio was all too aware of because they were right there in front of his face.

Were all the Elemental Mayhem MC men giants?

They were human, for fuck’s sake. They should be normal sized.