Mated to the Alpha Queen

Chapter 4

I was in fact wrong. The situation did get worse, in fact it got irritatingly worse.

The prime minister had arranged a meeting, a meeting he was an hour late for which is besides the point.

Out of all the many places he could have chosen for this meeting, he chose a restaurant in the heart of Palermo.

A dirty, tiny, lowlife restaurant.

The restaurant is cramped, barely wide enough for two tables to sit side by side.

The air is thick with the mingle smell of fried fish and grease. It makes me want to vomit.

And with my heightened sense of smell, every odour is intense.

A single ceiling fan spins lazily, doing absolutely nothing to char away the heat.

“Oh, Miss Stone, ya sure know how to lay out a tantalizing offer!” The prime minister bellows as his hands fly up in laughter.

His loud gesture pulls me out of my frustrated haze.

I give him a tight smile trying my best to not rip his throat out of his neck with my claws.

He was as disgusting as the inside of this restaurant.

Was there any crime this bastard hadn’t committed?

Murder? r**e? Money laundering? Drug smuggling?

Now I know it may look like I’m reading a page out of my book but I’m not the one who pledge to serve the people and provide peace and security.

I was an open menace to society, but people like him put on the face of a sheep to carry out wolf-like activities.

Disgusting humans.

They deserve all the terrible things happening to them.

If not for how much I benefited from their being alive, I would have wiped out all of Italy by now.

“Oh, prime minister, please don’t flatter me.” I fake a giggle.

Somebody should shoot me now.

His hand gently rests on mine, but the intention behind them was far from gentle.

“Please, call me Duris..” he grins.

If his hands touch me one more time I swear to all the stars in the sky that I would–

“So, back to business. Ya said ya wanted to expand yar business into Naples right?”

He grubs down the food like a greedy dog.

“It’s gonna cost ya, Naples is a dirty place to do business, especially construction. And if ya need government support, approval and watch, ya’d have to pay heavily.”

I watch as a piece of his food fell out of his mouth and into mine.

My recline into my tiny seat and grimace.

I need to conclude this meeting fast, and leave this disgusting place so I can make preparations for Lunaris.

“Yes, I’m well aware of the cost and what I need to do…” I cross my arm, my patience running thin.

“What I need to know is how my control over local appointments would be.”

Duris stops eating then.

He slowly drops his spoon and stares at me.

“And what would the very beautiful Caroline Stone need the authority to control the local police force for in a construction business?”

The playful tone he had in his voice is gone and replaced with suspicion and mild sarcasm.

If I was being honest, I didn’t need to expand my business anywhere, in fact I already had enough territory moving underground to build my own state.

What I needed now was little control over the local authorities in the area.

If I had 10 to 30 police men and officials who worked for me in Naples, shipment of weaponry and other illicit goods wouldn't be such a hassle.

I needed to work in daylight too.

And with what happened last night, I needed to work fast.

From the corner of my eye I can see someone coming over with the cup of coffee I had asked for.

Is that a paper cup??

As he takes his last step toward me he misses his footing and the cup rattles before it falls.

I see the liquid on my white hand made Kiton suit before I feel the heat of it on my skin.

“Eissh…” I hiss at the sting.

The restaurant owner stood over me, his eyes wide and the tray tilted slightly toward me.

“Oh, Santa Maria!” He tries to reach for my suit but I dodge his hand.

“Don’t.” I say as my arm grip the edge of the dusty table.

His apologies came out in a rush of Sicilian, breathless and cracked. But I ignore it all.

I lift up my head to curse out the inept fool.

I see brown eyes and I freeze.

My chest tighten before my mind can catch up.

It’s sharp, like something invincible hooks into me and pulls hard.

Kilos slams forward, she’s furious and restless.

A low growl vibrates in the throat before I can stop it.

What the f**k is this? I asked Kilos.

Him…I want him.

I look up again and those brown eyes still pull me in.

It was at that moment I remembered him. He was the inept imbecile that bumped into me at the club just last night.

My heart stops immediately.

I feel it then. The pull, the need, the hunger.

I push up from my tiny chair and it clatters to the ground.

The prime minister gasps.

“Ayii, how would ya pay for her suit now! It’s Kiton, worth more than all the stores here in Palermo.”

But none of us pay him mind.

This inept fool keeps staring at me and me at him.

Then he finally speaks. “Your eyes,” he says in awe, “they are very beautiful…”

I don’t respond, in fact I run out of the restaurant, hearing him call out to me.

I don’t breathe or look back until I get to another block.

Kilos on the other hand wasn’t any help. She wouldn’t stop wailing and screaming the one word I prayed to the moon goddess I’d never hear.

Mate!