They talked like old-time friends, but their mate bond was growing deeper. However, after his aunt's warning visit, he must make a move before his past ruins what he had with his wife.
"Wifey, I'm leaving early tonight. Something urgent needed to be checked over the cargoes." Vincencio quickly made a reason as he put on his coat in a hurry.
"Oh, okay, be careful and return before midnight," Skylar said commandingly while she fixed his collar.
"Like Cinderella?" He teasingly wondered.
"Yes, like Cinderella. Got a problem with that?" She smirked daringly, making Vincencio chuckle.
"No, not at all." He said before capturing her lips adoringly.
"Take care," Skylar said in between their kisses before pulling away.
"Bye, love you." He said before kissing her temple and left in a hurry.
Vincencio left the house earlier than his usual leave for his night shift. But instead of going straight to his night business, he went to the Rose Net Café to meet someone. It was a certain person from his past made him cautious around his wife, and to clear things out before thing go in a worse direction.
"I heard you're here." Vincencio coldly said as he sat across from his ex-mate, Shana Banks. The only woman who betrayed his love for power and rejected him for his brother.
"Intend to." Shana teased, but Vincencio felt nothing.
"We're done, Shana." He bluntly rejected her.
"I know, but I'm here to…" She said, but she was immediately cut off. She could sense something had shifted in Vincencio. But there was no saying that she couldn't tease him anymore.
"No. I'm not going back with you. I'm married and happy." He said firmly and quickly, making her smirk.
"I know, and I also know that she is markless." She smirked daringly, making sure that Vincencio was triggered, and it worked. He growled protectively.
"Shana, don't even think about hurting her because I will." He spat with venom while keeping his wolf in check.
"Oh please, being markless doesn't change things when mateless rogues or nomads locked their sight on her. I'm just saying." She teasingly fueled before adding her real intention. "And besides, I'm not here..."
Vincencio didn't let her finish and shouted.
"WELL YOU SHOULD!" He shouted in warning, alarming some customers in the cafe look in their direction. But Vincenico didn't care and went on. "Skylar is not a woman you should mess with. And if I'm not the one who'll do it. Oh, trust me, she will."
She sighed amusingly over Vincencio's overly dramatic protectiveness, which didn't stop her from pressing more. She wanted to see the changes happen to her ex-mate.
"She's just a human, what do you think she'll do to a werewolf?" She scoffed, playing it cool.
"Human or night creatures should be afraid of her because once she was wronged or crossed with, you'll be facing death." With a taunting smirk, he proudly warned.
Shana knew. She sensed it before.
"So caring." She teased.
"I'm not, just stating the fact because whatever I do, she's watching and catches up pretty quickly." He said coldly and was ready to leave. "Don't bother me and return to the pack. You're mate might be missing you."
"Fuck, Vince. I'm kidding." Shana stopped him as she cut the tease and went serious. "I'm not here for you. I'm over you for Pete's sake."
"What are you talking about?" With a frown, Vincencio firmly asked.
"Sit down and calm yourself." Shana sighed before continuing her real purpose in the city. "You heard me, I'm not here for you or to ruin your marriage. I'm happy with my mate. Your brother."
"Then why do you say those things? to test me and see if I'm done with you?" He growled, but confusion was visible in his tone.
"No," Shana answered before sipping her coffee.
"Then why?!" he demanded impatiently.
"Because it's fun?" She chuckled, making him glare, and she continued, "Well, your brother and I made a bet if either you're being overly dramatic about me reappearing in your life or you'll be crying and pretend nothing hurts you."
"What the fuck." He mumbled in disbelief.
"I know, and I won for a hundred bucks." Shana chuckled, but Vincencio glared at her.
"Don't be mad. I had my reason breaking your heart back then. I just knew you weren't for me. I knew the moon made a mistake in partnering us. But seeing how much you're looking forward to it, I can't bring myself to hurt you. Each time that I tried to break the mate bond, you shine, thinking about our future. Honestly, it was sweet, but I won't be good for you. Then I became a villain, hurting you indirectly by spreading those rumors, and it was working on you." Shana began sharing her truth with Vincenico, who was caught speechless and listening attentively. "I might hate to see you hurt, but I have to, and your brother was mad at how foolishly I acted, but he understood where I was coming from and started helping, which later mate bond blooms drastically as soon as our mate bond fully vanished."
"Because of me, you can't break up with me?" He mumbled softly, making Shana smile.
"You're very emotionally sensitive back then, Vincencio, and honestly, we're surprised that you decided to come here and be a lone wolf." She said with pure honesty. "Your brother and I came to look for you, to explain our side..."
"And I avoided you." He finished for her, and she nodded. "And now that you're here and clarified it, what now?"
"I'm not here to ask for forgiveness. Letting you know my truth is enough." She genuinely smiled before turning serious. "But, that's not the real purpose why I am here."
"Then spill it." He demanded, making her chuckle.
"Then there goes the lone alpha." Shana teased, but Vincencio glared at her, making her serious again. "Okay, the reason we're here is about the vampire nomad that kept watching the pack lately. He's not doing anything bad to the pack, but we've grown wary about his intentions."
"That's strange. It was not a ferral then." He concluded, and she nodded, confirming it.
"He smelled like anyone from the city, and since we, your brother and I, were once here, we're the ones who were sent to check things out and reached for the rest of our pack working here." She added, but she left something while studying how deeply Vincencio thinks. "What are you thinking, Lone Alpha?"
"Don't call me that." He deadpanned, and she amusingly chuckled.
"Well, accept it because you're acting one right now." She winked, making him growl in annoyance.
"Whatever," he rolled his eyes dismissively.
"Okay, back on the topic, as we're checking things around here, we learned that some of our people encountered the same eerie nomad before they went missing for a few weeks and mysteriously showed up either barely surviving their injuries or died on the spot." Shana seriously stated the issue at hand.
"That's an issue." He said while his mind drifted, thinking about something. "Does it connect to my wife's vengeance?"
"It's getting big, Vincencio, because when we asked some packs around the city, they were also dealing with the same issue lately." She agreed since some packs were also dealing with the same case.
"That's indeed serious." He sighed, worrying about the possibility that his wife might be entangled with that nomad, and he didn't like any of it.
"So, I'm asking if you ever encountered such incidents, let me know as soon as possible." Shana seriously hoped that Vincencio would give them a hand in this matter.
"Let me see what I can do." He said coldly before adding, "I'll let you know if I stumble with something."
"Okay," Shana said and watched Vincencio leave the cafe.
But somebody was watching them across the street. Vincencio sighed because he knew who it was. He was pretty much familiar with his wife's men's scents and decided to ignore them.
"She'll learn about this." He mumbled as he walked to his car and drove to his night work.
***
Night Hound has been occupied with his usual routine around the port, but somehow, the air was filled with darkness, and the eeriness were starting to be suffocating.
"Hm, this is bad." He mumbled and, without wasting any moment, he shifted into his werewolf form to check his port's perimeter.
He was running in the shadows, checking everything like a hawk, but something caught his attention. It was not Rose Slayer but a snooping nomad. He didn't disturb the nomad's snooping until it stole something, a FRSil medication.
"Everyone is looking for it." He sighed before adding, "I have to inform the Cross and Aspire family about this one."
'She's coming.'
"Are you sure? She won't be too early to come here." He wondered while his wolf form began sniffing the air that was coming to his port's perimeter.
'Unless her target is that nomad.'
"Dammit. Can she not entangle with them?" He groaned but worried about his wife.
'You can't stop our mate since it runs in her veins.'
"ARGH! FUCK IT!" He growled and quickly ran into the shadows to make sure his wife wouldn't stumble upon any nasty nomads around the city.
However, he could not control what was destined for his wife, and Rose Slayer already parked her motorbike, pretending to be relaxing with the great sea night view on the sideroad when the nomad vampire and thief stopped beside her, panting.
Then Night Hound's wolf form listened to their conversation.
"Having a rough night?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Neh, just taking a break after a long drive."
"Uh-huh...I-I'd b-better be g-going."
"He finally sensed something on her." Night Hound noticed the quivering in the vampire's tone.
'She's too good to be a vampire.'
"I know, and it's amusing." He felt proud, but something kept changing in the air. "Can it be?"
'Possible. She's close - very close...'
"Take some time and breathe. Enjoy the night."
"Ahm, I'm good. So, polite pass."
"You know it's not good to steal something that doesn't belong to you."
"W-what a-are you talking about?"
"The thing that you kept under your jacket and the MG's security alarm indicates something has been stolen from them."
"Alarm? Do we even put any alarm for stolen goods?" he wondered about what Rose Slayer was talking about.
'Nope, except around your office and the red cargoes, which we don't have at the moment.'
"Then what is she talking about?" He wondered and curiously continued his eavesdropping.
"Alarm? I don't hear any alarm."
"Because I am that alarm."
"NO-"
The vampire nomad suddenly couldn't move or say anything until its body slowly showed blood across its body. The stolen box fell on the ground, and the vampire nomad's body was split in half before falling, dead.
"Fuck, I didn't see that coming." He mumbled in surprise because it was a painless death, and it was his first time witnessing Rose Slayer kill anyone instantly.
'That's hot.'
"Oh, it died easily. Seriously, his blade is lethal. It should be banned, but I love it."
Rose Slayer was about to leave the fresh corpse on the ground, but she decided to put it on the side and burn it. She dusted her hands before leaving the area like nothing had happened.
"She won't be famous if she couldn't kill like that." He amusingly commented before running back to his port after making sure the nomad completely vanished.
'True, but where do you think she'll bring her storm tonight?'
"You felt it too?" He wondered.
'Yeah, she's mad over something. I wish I knew who made her feel this way.'
"I hope it's not because of that." He hoped, recalling what he saw earlier after talking to Shana.
'You mean Shana?'
"Yeah, I saw her men watching me earlier." He admitted, making his wolf chuckle.
'If she's involved and she's the person you hadn't mentioned before, then you're dead.'
"Not helping." He groaned when Rose Slayer's storm was nearing the port's perimeter, and at the same time, Shana's wolf came. "Fuck. This is not good."
'HAHAHA! Good luck on taming the bloody beast.'
"It's so great to have a wolf like you." He growled and shifted back into his human form, meeting Shana at the back door.
"Whoa, pissed off?" Shana teased, but Night Hound ignored her and went straight to his office, trying to calm his adrenaline echoing in his ears.