Page 23 of Silent Snowfall

But that didn’t mean he’d forgotten our ways. I pitted the souls we’d set loose in the woods, those who my brother and his wife hunted for sport.

Giuseppe started his own vehicle and sped off after the perp.

Meanwhile, I strolled across the street, right onto Uliva’s front porch. A red mesh bag slumped on the bristled welcome mat. Stooping, I discovered they were coins—chocolate and cheap—and the note was addressed to Rosetta.

I tore it open.

No one wrote to my girl.

Unfortunately, there was no name. But that didn’t stop the jealousy from nearly blinding me. Whoever the stranger was, he was familiar with Rose. He wrote about a past Christmas, when she decorated chocolate cookies with gold frosting for Saint Nicholas Day. At the end of the note, he begged to meet her tomorrow at the café in town.

And tell no one.

Well, Rose wasn’t getting the message, and she sure as hell wasn’t meeting some punk.

***

Ghosting down the hall, my breathing calmed. I just needed to see her, to assure myself that she was safe. I knew she was. Rose was in my town. And I had guys watching the house around the clock.

That still didn’t change the fact that her stalker hadn’t showed to the meeting he’d written about to Rose with the piss poor bag of chocolate. Something must have spooked him. I would have been proud of that, the silent show of force that he didn’t belong here.

If he hadn’t managed to leave another note on her front porch again tonight.

The guys watching the house alerted me, and since I was already on my way to stage the elves, I thought I would make it in time to intercept him.

I hadn’t.

And I hadn’t sent the men watching the house off in chase, loath to leave Uliva’s house unprotected even though it took me five minutes to get there. By the time I arrived, the fucking stalker was long gone.

Now I had my men scouring the town, but there was no trace of the stalker’s non-descript car. He was probably staying in Trenton, which meant he knew the reputation of the Cove and was trying to be smart by sleeping in a big city.

It didn’t matter.

We would catch him. And when we did? I would show him what happened when he messed with someone I cared about.

Fingers wrapped around the knob, I silently opened the door.

Rose was safely tucked in bed, sound asleep.

I crossed my arms over my chest, gazing at Rose’s slumbering form. She looked peaceful. The weight of the world was laid aside, and she simply rested. While I longed to know what that was like, I didn’t envy her. She’d earned it.

A deep breath filled my lungs. Slowly, my muscles began to relax.

Nothing was going to happen to her or her family. But that knowledge didn’t work fast enough to quell the adrenaline racing through me.

I wanted to go to her.

The insane idea whispered through my mind. If I simply crossed the threshold, if I lifted the covers and slid in beside her, I could share her peace.

But she hadn’t asked me to.

Rosetta would think I was only after sex. And while that would be a really, really fun bonus, that wasn’t what I wanted. I needed her presence. I craved her peace. Hell, if I could just lay on the floor, fingers grazing her blanket, it would be enough.

Loki was on his perch on the nightstand, a brand-new toy wrapped under his impish butt. She’d opened the other toys he’d left. They were safely tucked in the top drawer of her dresser with the kraken dildo. I got hard just thinking of her using them.

We watched over her, together. The minutes ticked by, and my heart rate hadn’t been this calm in ages.

Just when I was about to go and take up the mantle of work, resume the role of the Killer King, Rosetta whimpered.