Chapter 66

“In the pit, he was harder edged after that. Now he’s as happy as he was before his grandfather died. After what he’s been through, it’s about time he got his happy, and you’re responsible for that.”

Just then a figure jumped out in front of the limousine and Donal was looking at a gun barrel pointing at his face through the window. Grigory threw himself on top of Donal. The gunman fired and Donal looked up and out the back window. The Enforcers jumped out of the Navigator behind them and tackled the shooter to the ground.

Timur and Roman used zip ties as handcuffs while Grigory called Alexei.

“Who was that?” Donal asked, his entire body shaking.

“Alpha Mate, it’s Ernesto Apuso.” Timur got up off his knees and approached Donal.

“I’m glad you brought both of us today,” Timur said while Roman sat on Apuso’s legs.

“Alexei is calling Armand, who has to call Ferone. Alexei doesn’t trust human justice and thinks Ferone would deal with him more efficiently. He’ll call us back.” Grigory pushed End on his phone.

“The bullet only cracked the windshield.” Donal looked at it, swallowing hard at the sight of where the bullet almost came through and would have hit him.

“Bulletproof glass,” Boris commented.

“Boris, do you have duct tape in the glove compartment?” Grigory asked.

“Don’t I always? I keep telling you it’s useful.”

“Give the roll to Timur.” Grigory called Timur. “Have Roman hold him down and duct tape his ankles and knees together. Throw him in the Navigator. We await Alpha Davidoff’s call.”

By now Donal knew that they only called Alexei Alpha when it was shifter business.

Grigory’s phone rang. “Yes, Alpha. Right away.”

Grigory faced Donal. “We’re to drop Apuso off at the Italian Pastry Shop in Little Italy in the back of the store. Ferone’s men will take it from there. Boris and I are to take you home, and Timur and Roman are to take the Navigator and make the delivery.”

“Won’t Detective Sergeant Murphy be upset that Ernesto is going to Don Ferone?” Donal wondered.

“Not this time. All Murphy could get him for was making threats. It would be hard to get attempted murder to stick. Then we’d have to worry about him when he got out of prison. Don Ferone is really the injured party here because he promised Armand that he would have no trouble after paying for you, so it’s up to him to deal. Now let’s go home.”

“Do we know what Don Ferone has planned for Ernesto?”

“No, and we’re not going out of our way to find out,” Grigory said with finality.

* * * *

Even with all the fuss, they were home by five. A very anxious Alexei met Donal at the door.

“Let me check and make sure you’re okay.” Alexei stopped Donal in the hallway and ran his hand over Donal’s body, looking him over intently to see if there was anything he missed.

“I’m fine, Grigory made sure I didn’t even get out of the limo. The bulletproof glass did its job and everything turned out well for everyone but Ernesto Apuso.” Donal chuckled. They walked toward the stairs.

Alexei grimaced. “I almost lost you. I’m glad you had the common sense to take both Timur and Roman with you. When we get back, I’m bringing three additional Enforcers so you can have two at your disposal at all times.”

“It’s not necessary. I don’t have any other enemies.” Donal smiled. “I’m not that important.”

“You may not have enemies, but I do and then there is the matter of your stepfather and your mother, and what Arthur McConnell does when he finds out he’s facing ruin.”

“Okay, maybe I need the security for a while. But, when I start going to school, I only want Grigory. Sean has Rene, and Ian only has to bring Roland. I shouldn’t need any more security than they do,” Donal grumbled.

“We’ll see. You won’t start until September at the earliest. That all depends on how well you do on those tests, and you don’t have much time to study.” Alexei became upset. “You won’t be angry at me if you had to wait until next year to start, will you?”

“Of course not, it’s up to me to get the right test scores and for that, after we come back from Colorado, I’m going full tilt on studying. Since Kane has to teach school, could I get a math tutor besides the voice coach and the piano teacher?”

“What about the social studies and science?”

“You can help me with the science and as far as the social studies, all I really have to do is read the books.”

“If you think you can make it in this year, by all means take the tests. Remember, you can always take them again if you don’t do well,” Alexei said practically. “You’ll have a very long life to do it all.”

“As long as you don’t issue any challenges,” Donal mumbled

Alexei smiled. “Don’t you know yet that wolves have very sensitive hearing?”

Donal blushed.