A Rebel Without Claws (Southern Charm #1)

26. ~Ronan~

Chapter 26

~Ronan~

We were ready, all of us. Including myself. I leaned against the tree in our sparring area behind the paint barn, watching Ty grapple with Zack. My uncle Shane had excused us all at noon every day for the past two and a half weeks before this final fight.

We’d gone over the footage online of every single fight the Iron Claws had been in. We painstakingly practiced every maneuver to outfight them in both defensive and offensive modes. It was important to know your opponent, not just to outfight them but to outsmart them.

Now that we knew they played dirty at any cost—trash talk being a minor offense, using claws illegally and getting away with it being a major one—we were ready for tonight. On top of sparring, we’d trained in the gym down the road from the body shop—increasing our cardio endurance and strengthening with weight lifting .

There was nothing else we could’ve done to prepare for tonight. I felt confident and strong, and yet there was still this niggling doubt circling my mind. I wasn’t sure why or what it was. My relationship with Celine was perfect. Since I’d been training so hard, she’d come to my house at least every other night and stayed with me, winding me down with her luxurious body and calming me to sleep with her serene presence.

“Just never let him get a hold of your wrist like this.” Ty was showing Zack another maneuver he’d noticed Carter using. Zack was up against him tomorrow night. His match was first.

Uncle Shane sauntered through the back open door.

“Hey, Ronan!” he called. “You mind having a visitor?”

Assuming he meant Celine, I said, “Of course not.”

He nodded, then headed past me toward the guys, someone following him out of the shadows of the barn. I stood and walked toward the open door, expecting her to walk into the sunlight. But it wasn’t Celine. It was her father, Mateo.

I stopped in my tracks, a little shocked to see him. What the hell was he doing here?

He glanced over at Ty and Zack, who’d stopped sparring, “Y’all training for that wolf fight club thing?”

“First rule is you don’t talk about wolf fight club,” said Zack seriously.

Bowie chuckled from where he was sitting in the grass with a half-empty water bottle in his hand.

“We can talk over here,” I told him, leading him back into the barn.

Uncle Shane had walked over to talk to the guys, something about a new bike job coming in next week .

“Is Celine okay?” I asked since that was the only reason I could imagine why he’d come to see me.

“She’s great,” he said, following me back into the paint barn. “I just wanted to chat a minute.”

I stopped and turned, crossing my arms to face him, waiting for whatever the fuck this was.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m here.”

“Yes,” I stated emphatically and possibly a little too aggressively.

He laughed, and I realized it was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh. He was much more relaxed than in our past meetings. Of course, the first time, it was his wolf shifting on the other side of his daughter’s bedroom door before he burst through it, and the second time was our first official meeting where I got the don’t-hurt-my-daughter lecture.

“I hope you don’t mind, but Celine told us you’ve been on your own most of your life.”

I didn’t comment because what the fuck was I supposed to say? Yes, I’ve been all alone in this world for most of my life. That wasn’t an admission I planned to give him. I was only willing to be that vulnerable with one person. Celine.

“It’s come to my attention from my daughter that you haven’t shifted in a long time.”

Okay, not what I was expecting. And that was an understatement. I’d shifted a handful of times when I was twelve, but then he vanished altogether until recently. And even now, he was still quiet, not ready to come out.

When I still didn’t comment, he went on.

“I’m not sure if Celine told you, but I once had that issue.”

“She mentioned it. ”

“Not the same as yours,” he clarified, “but I know what it’s like to feel the frustration of not shifting. Of course, I’m not sure if Celine told you or not, but my wolf speaks to me.”

“She told me.”

“Thought she did. For those months, it had been difficult for me, feeling a little out of control.”

“I don’t have that problem,” I stated easily and truthfully. Mostly. “I haven’t shifted since I was twelve, so he’s never really been a part of me. I’ve taken care of myself all by myself.”

He went quiet, assessing me with dark, shrewd eyes. “I see that.”

This conversation was beginning to irk me. What was this all about? “I know it may seem strange to you, being an alpha, but I don’t need my wolf.”

His eyes rolled bright gold, his beast likely saying some shitty words about me. Whatever. Bring it on, Alpha.

“Well, that’s all a load of bullshit,” said Mateo.

I huffed out a laugh at his frankness.

“Every werewolf needs his wolf. And you saying you don’t need yours is a lie too. Because he sure as hell realized before you did who your mate was, didn’t he?” He paused, arching a superior brow. “My daughter?”

Well . . . fuck.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Yes.”

Heaving a sigh, I dropped my arms, propping them low on my hips.

“Look, I’m not saying my wolf hasn’t recently been, I don’t know, lingering at the surface. I know he helped me see Celine was my mate. But it wasn’t the wolf who realized she was the love of my life. And she is,” I told him. “I figured that out all on my own. ”

His expression shifted to shock, possibly because I was being so honest. But I’d never been a liar. Ever. So I’d better come completely clean.

“But I don’t need him the way most werewolves need theirs. If he decides to never come out and take over my skin, then I’m fine with that. I’ve been doing just fine all on my own my whole life.”

Mateo didn’t say anything for a moment before finally adding, “You may believe that’s true, but we all need others. A mate. A family.”

He glanced out the open barn door where I could hear the guys sparring again.

“I was a loner too once, thinking that was enough, but I discovered quickly that wasn’t true—the minute I met Celine’s mother and discovered who she was to me.” He turned back to me. “She showed me there was more to life than trying to survive all on your own.”

I had no idea what he was saying or why he was really here until he said, “I’m just here to let you know that you have Celine. You know that. But you have us too. Our family takes care of our own. So don’t think you have to survive this world all alone anymore.”

He gestured toward the open barn door.

“It looks like you’ve got some good friends, and I know Shane is very happy to have you here. But we’re here too. If you’re Celine’s family, and that’s what it means to be her mate, then you’re ours too.”

I truly had no words. No one had ever welcomed me so openly, so personally. I’d thought Celine’s dad was this overbearing, overprotective prick. She’d told me he cherished family, and I thought I understood that. But I truly hadn’t until this moment .

I’d also never experienced the wave of intimate emotion that rocked me at the thought that I had more than Celine to depend on. I had an entire family unit who saw me as their own.

Staring down at my feet, I simply nodded, still so unsure what to say to that, a little afraid he might suddenly take it back or something.

“That’s all I came to say. I’ll let you get back to training.” He clapped me on the shoulder as he walked past me. “See you at the fight tomorrow night.”

That had my head jerking up as I turned. “You’re coming?”

He laughed. “The whole family is coming. So you better win,” he added lightly, then he continued out the other barn door.

Dumbfounded, I walked to the open door where Uncle Shane chatted with Bowie in the shade of the tree as they watched Ty and Zack going at it.

Something stirred and awakened, rising with a sudden realization. I had thought it a simple act of fate that I was drawn to this place in the Deep South where I’d rekindled my bond with my uncle—my blood.

Then I’d also forged true friendships with the men out there in the yard. I’d also delved deep into my psyche with the help of Dr. Theriot to discover the root cause of my deeper anxieties, the trauma I’d been holding on to like a boy in a raft, clinging to an anchor that was slowly sinking him.

Finally, I’d met Celine—my person, my true love, my mean- ing for being. For there was no future for me without her in it. And now, her father—a man I truly expected to hate me for life—welcomed me into his family as his own .

It wasn’t simply fate or the divine Creator. It was someone else. A strange, cool wind rushed through me, a floral scent wafting past.

“Thanks, Mom,” I whispered, then I went back out into the yard.

We had a fight to win.