Elijah’s features hardened. His eyes went pure cat. “No. And she’s not going to know unless I see fit to share. You don’t give a woman all the shit you’re in all at once if you intend to keep her, and I intend to keep Siena. We keep her safe and we take apart the underworld and build it back in a way we can control. At least our part of it. I’ll take over Siena’s territory at least long enough for the council to agree. We’ll have to find Paolo and kill him. In the meantime, we have to discredit him with Tonio’s soldiers.”

“And Robert Gaton?”

“He tried to kill her. I’ll hunt him to the ends of the earth, and when I find him, I’ll tear out his fucking heart,” Elijah snapped.

Alonzo nodded slowly. “Wanna be there for that.”

Elijah sat back in his chair. “You in all the way?”

Alonzo got to his feet and moved around the desk to Elijah’s side. He reached for the outstretched hand. The ring indicating the head of the Lospostos family. The ring indicating Elijah was a leopard. A shifter. A king. And Alonzo swore his fidelity. Meaning it.

16

“MY man can really cook,” Siena said, inhaling the amazing aromas filling the kitchen. She leaned over the counter, half coming off the barstool to closer inspect what he was doing. “That not only looks wonderful, but it smells that way as well.”

Elijah looked up from where he was expertly rolling the dough for tortillas, flashing a grin that took her breath away. His hair was messy and he looked handsome, relaxed. Happy.

“Siena.”

He said her name, and her heart melted and the butterflies in her stomach took off when it did a slow roll. Even her sex reacted to that soft, velvety reprimand.

“Did you doubt it?”

She leaned her chin into her hand, elbow propped on the counter, totally fascinated with this side of Elijah. She loved watching him. She knew she was devouring him with her stare, but she didn’t care. Didn’t care that he could see how she felt right on her face. She knew he could because he looked happy. Not just happy, relaxed and happy.

“You keep looking at me and we won’t be having dinner. We’ll be eating, baby, but not this delicious food. Something else delicious. Both of us.”

“That sounds just fine for dessert, Elijah,” she replied, using her most demure voice. “I think this food needs to be eaten, as you spent such time and effort preparing it for us, and our baby even knows all about it. So we’ll wait on the other and have a long, leisurely dessert.”