Chapter Five

"Fuck." Rome cursed, collapsing back on his seat.

Draken only tore his eyes away from Kade when the door was shut behind him, mellow red eyes glancing at Rome in concern.

"Don't fucking look at me like that." Rome bit out, unbuckling his chest holsters and dropping them on his desk.

Draken didn't stop staring, he had already relayed orders that King Kade shouldn't be tailed.

There was no need asking Rome that, it would only sour his mood further.

"You should call it a night." Draken said quietly, his voice rough and raspy.

"Take a fucking seat, looking up at you is making my neck hurt." Rome bitched.

Draken took a seat, unbothered. "So you're going home." He reminded him.

"Don't fucking tell me what to do." He complained some more, getting to his feet and snagging his holsters off the table.

"I'll report first thing in the morning, goodnight boss." He added in the wake of Rome striding to the door.

"Fine." He grumbled with a sour expression, opening the door with more force than was necessary. 

The reverent murmurs of 'boss' , 'boss' was expected, as well as Rome trying to order the bodyguards to stay and them not listening to him.

Rome might be a walking terror but his men still adored him and wouldn't hesitate to plunge right after him into a sea of lava.

Draken had bigger worries though, he could tell how much Kade's presence had upset Rome.

It was understandable too, he had never had to meet with one before.

He would have to provide a sort of distraction for the boss tonight, hopefully that should help him burn off all that aggression.

He needed Rome in top condition to run the largest syndicate in the Dark Ring.

|~**~|

Rome strode down the dimly light hallways, his aura dark.

Big Tim and Ron walked imposingly behind him, Ron holding his holsters.

He made his way out of the club through the backdoor, his thoughts all over the place.

He should be more worried about the dangerous proposal that had been brought to him tonight but all he could think about was the man that brought the proposal.

Now that he was out in the cold night air, his thought processes worked properly again.

There was no question that it was Kade that had pinned him to the wall earlier, he was the same Alpha.

There was that familiar scent as well.

Now the question was, why the hell had he done that?

Big Tim opened the back door of his car for him, his driver, Jax already waiting.

"Where to, boss?" He asked gruffly revving up the engine.

"Back to the mansion." Rome replied shortly, pushing a button to put up the partition.

He needed to mentally sort a lot of things out but he couldn’t get past a certain pair of icy blue eyes.

He was upset that the Alpha King had managed to get under his skin to unsettle him, and he was also fully aware of it too. It only served to rile Rome up all the more.

He couldn't believe the night he just had, it wasn't even midnight yet. 

Rome worried further about the possibility of Kade frequenting his club, he didn't trust himself not to snap and introduce him to the muzzle of his gun.

The windows on the car were tinted but he didn't know quite well what the exterior looked like.

When people outside the Dark Ring thought about the place, they thought of a cesspool that was endless prostitution rings, seedy bars and the occasional fighting ring.

They weren’t wrong about that but there were neighborhoods like this which could rival the capital of any city.

The car slowed down and he could guess that they were pulling up to the gate.

There were a lot of reasons mob bosses built high fences around their mansion.

Privacy was the first reason and secondly, security.

There were frequent clashes between mob bosses and there was also the average Dark Ring resident to be wary of.

Rome rolled down the partition, watching the car gracefully slide past the imposing gates.

There were guards stationed around the house who wouldn't hesitate to open fire on unauthorized persons trying to access his mansion.

He had a number of them scattered all over the Dark Ring. Rarely making use of them but merely to show his influence. 

This particular mansion had been a recent purchase but it had easily climbed to the top as his favorite.

It was located in a particularly quiet part of Hill Street on the First Avenue, where most of the mob bosses had their bases.

The walls were cut out of black stone, impressive and intimidating in its existence. 

The mansion was also mostly empty, save for the guards and the servants that ran it.

The servant quarters were positioned far behind the mansion itself, so Rome had the entire mansion to himself, just how he preferred it.

He never grew up with a quiet space to call his own so he was big on large and mostly empty houses.

The maids in the mansion were already informed ahead that he would be coming back so they knew well to make themselves scarce from the main mansion.

He strode past the foyer, anger still thrumming under his veins.

He swept into the living room, slowing to a stop when he saw a couple ladies seated nervously, clearly waiting for him.

He had been taking off the rest of his weapons when he caught sight of them and paused briefly before changing directions and heading for them instead.

Draken knew just what he needed.

His sharp eyes took in the two women, they were both blondes, one looked more experienced than the other but they were both visibly wary of him.

He stopped in front of the one who seemed to have more experience, pushing a hand through the waves of her hair to tilt her head back.

"Why did you choose to come?" He asked in a low, velvety voice.

He requested that all of the women brought to him were ones that agreed to come willingly. 

It made things much more interesting. 

She averted her face, red painting her cheeks.

"Because I wanted to." She whispered in a feather soft voice unable to look him in the eye.

The ghost of a smile flitting across his blindingly handsome face, he knew he was something of a fantasy to them. It was fascinating. 

"What's your name?" 

"Layla." She continued in that soft voice.

He pulled the other woman to her feet, pulling her flush against him.

A small strangled sound left her when he did this, grasping him reflexively so that she didn't go over.

"And you?" He asked quietly, moving his hands lower on her slender waist to grab her hip.

He had thought that Layla was the experienced one but the steel behind the second woman's deep brown eyes told a different story.

"For the money." She said honestly.

They were told to answer his questions truthfully and it was best they did because he could very easily see through their lies.

He leaned forward to kiss her harshly, delving his tongue into the silken caverns of her mouth.