Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
RíO
F our days. Just over half a week, and I was too close to ripping someone’s face to shreds. I pulled my phone from my pocket, simultaneously checking the time and to see if I had any messages. There were two texts from Tyler, asking if I’d be cool changing the time of our next rehearsal, and it’d only been ten minutes since I’d last looked at my phone.
I pulled up the conversation between Ramona and I, and though she’d responded to everything I’d sent, she was off. Four days since we’d last seen each other. Since I’d gotten to hold her in my ams and feel her body writhe with mine. Or see the way she would grumble and huff before I coaxed a small grin out of her.
I’d opened Vinny’s again today, and I luckily didn’t have to close. But there was still another hour before my shift was done, and my skin was crawling with the need to go to my mate. I scrolled through our last conversation, and instead of the short, bantering words, they were perfunctory, one-word responses.
Was she free?
Limón 7
No.
Did she want to skate?
Limón 7
No, sorry.
Was she okay?
Limón 7
Yeah.
“Shit,” I muttered as I finished typing out next week’s shift schedule in the tiny office near the kitchen. I also had a fucking migraine. It was Mara—finding me and trying to wedge her way back in my life. To catch up , she kept saying, but I didn’t believe a word she said. Or her promises not to report back to our sister or father about where I was. I had a splitting headache trying to decide what to do.
Something was wrong with Ramona, but she made me swear not to say anything about the scars on her arms, about what she’d tried to do. And, yeah, at the time, my desire to care for her eclipsed all else. It made me agree to her demands while we lay together in Tyler’s guest room. And, like I’d said that night—who would I even tell?
Did her family not even know? Or care?
I threw my phone on the cluttered desk and hit print with enough force to make the desktop mouse creak in protest. The two college students working today laughed loudly at some stupid shit they’d been talking about, and the sound of it made red flash at the edges of my vision. This was all so fucking stupid. I knew what it was like to be pulled down into the depths of my mind. Even Mara’s small, crazy hand that petted me when the coast was clear wasn’t enough sometimes.
I snatched the paper schedule from the printer and stomped out of the office. I ripped off last week’s and stabbed the new schedule to the cork board. We had a virtual calendar, too, but it was some weird tradition to keep a paper one up for people to look at and start shit when it was slow.
The rest of my shift dragged on in a way that was dangerous for everyone around me. The kids working caught on real fast that now was not the time to whine or even try to pull me into their goofing off. I did an inventory of the walk-in, cleaned the bathrooms, and swept the dining area. Anything to keep my hands busy, and that was even precarious.
When the time finally ticked to six, I tossed my apron in the bin marked for laundry and high-tailed it the fuck out of there. With my work t-shirt on and the smell of pizza still clinging, I climbed onto my bike. I shoved my helmet on, jostling my glasses that I’d fucking forgot I had on in the first place.
“Shit,” I cursed but kept going. There was no way I was going in the opposite direction of checking on Ramona to change and put in my contacts.
She’d never invited me into her brother’s place, but I still remembered the way. The sun blazed down on me, warming my already overheating skin and threatening to get in my eyes. But I pushed on, weaving in and out of traffic and gunning it down the quiet road that led out to the Pack Leader’s land.
Even the smell of it raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Technically, all of the forest was their territory, but as I drove through the trees and sent gravel flying, I sensed the claim of the land. What did it feel like for my princess, being around those that quite literally belonged here, while she didn’t?
I pulled up next to two sensible SUV’s that screamed ‘we have kids’ and killed the engine. My glasses got tangled in my hair and helmet while I fought it off.
From where I was, I could hear voices inside, and a quick stretch of my senses catalogued the two adults, two pups, and the female that was mine.
Did I know what the fuck I was doing? No. What would happen when the time came to get my head out of my ass and move us to the next town? No fucking clue. But I knew for certain that Ramona was mine. The unmistakeable bond rooted in my chest was evidence enough.
I flew up the front steps. The door was unlocked, but I didn’t get but a foot and half into the cabin before a hand grabbed the front of my shirt. Claws cut through the fabric and stabbed my skin while the thick scent of Wolf Leader was its own punch to the face.
Ramona’s brother was just an inch away, fangs drawn and half-shifted face twisted in fury. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he roared.
My own claws extended, and I took hold of the front of his sweatshirt. He was taller than me by an inch or two, but I wasn’t afraid. If anything, he should’ve been.
While his deepened voice was filled with hot anger, mine was ice-cold. I pulled him closer. “Get out of my way.”
To his credit, the Leader didn’t back down. The air around us continued to churn, two shifter males protective of what was theirs. If I were in my right mind, I’d agree that a random shifter barging into my house where my mate and children were would’ve been met with the same treatment. Well, actually, no, they’d already be lying on their stomach with blood pooling beneath them.
But even with my instincts taking the front seat, I knew that Ramona would never forgive me if I killed her brother or hurt him in any way. Fuck, would it make this easier, though.
“ Río ? What the fuck!” A set of hands forced their way between us and pushed. The cold that’d been filling my veins began retreating with her touch and scent filling me up instead. Honey eyes that blazed like the sun above met mine at the same time she smacked a heavy slap on my chest.
I immediately let go of the Wolf and pulled Ramona to me, plastering her body to mine so that I could feel the pressure of her and that she could feel mine.
“What’s wrong, Princess?” I didn’t have time to be embarrassed by the crack in my voice as I ran my face against hers. Her body had been stiff when I’d circled my arms around her, but she couldn’t resist me for long. I cradled her head, and purred when she leaned into my palms.
Her lips were still pinched, probably with irritation at me, but I caught sight of the dark circles beneath her eyes and the frizzy halo of hair that swayed with my breaths. An aroma of staleness surrounded her, like she’d been sitting in the same place for a long time without doing much. I couldn’t fucking take it.
I licked from the height of her cheekbone to the top of her hairline, and the sound of my rough tongue scraping her skin made my purr intensify. Dark, fuzzy despair clung to her, but underneath was the sweet and sour.
She placed her hands on my chest and gently pushed, despite her craning her neck as she continued to accept my grooming. One more swipe of my tongue, and I pulled back, but only enough so that she could look at me. Like hell was I going to let her go.
A v-shaped wrinkle formed between her brows as she took me in. “There’s nothing wrong.”
My arms tightened around her. “I told you that I don’t do that fake shit. Don’t fucking lie to me,” I begged.
A set of growling sounded from behind her, but I wasn’t tearing my eyes away from my mate. And the shift in her expression, like a crack that exposed the slivers of exhaustion and sadness beneath.
She did her best to wipe it away, to erase all emotion from her face, but the vacancy was even more telling. Anger surged back through me like a tornado that’d dropped down, and I set my sights on her brother behind me. “You’ve been here with her all this time and let her go on like this?”
The Wolf was still half-shifted with claws and fangs at the ready, but instead of continuing to go after me, he was staring down at Ramona with a look of frustrated confusion. And that just pissed me off even more. “Huh? I know dogs are stupid, but I expected more from her fucking family.”
That got him going, and when he met my challenging stare over Ramona’s head, I was itching for it. Warring growls erupted from both of us, but before I could drop my hold on Ramona to shift, she shot a hand out to block her brother as he tried to advance. Her bare forearm connected with his chest, and he reached up to pull it away.
When he did, though, his head snapped down to look where his fingers circled around her skin. I saw the moment Ramona realized what was happening, and pure panic flared in her eyes. She must’ve heard her brother and me fighting and rushed out here, completely forgetting to throw on something to cover her arms.
With my hold still on her, I felt Ramona try to pull her arm away from her brother, heard her panting breaths as she struggled while he didn’t let go.
And then he surprised the hell out of me. I’d been prepared to throw her on the back of my bike to avoid any retaliation or beat him in front of his mate and children if he tried to cut her down for it. But the Wolf Leader ran his eyes over the puckered skin that showed where she’d been. That she’d once marched right up to death, begging to be taken away, and instead had been returned against her will.
Her brother lowered his head, despite the warning growls I gave and the choked protests from Ramona, and sniffed along the length of her scar.
The Leader gave a tortured whine as he cradled Ramona’s arm with both hands, claws now gone, and when he finally looked back up at her, his eyes were shimmery with tears.
“Mona?” It was barely above a whisper, but I could hear the sadness and regret in it. The worry. And by her shaking, Ramona could too.
Instead of answering him, she shoved me away with more strength than I’d thought she had, and this time, when she pulled at her arm in her brother’s grasp, he relented. Ramona ran back into the house, moving past the witch that stood in the doorway who must’ve been watching the whole exchange, baby Wolf in her arms with wide, curious eyes.
Ramona’s brother and I watched her go. Her footsteps thundered as she ran further away from us, and we both flinched when the slamming of a door seemed to make the whole house tremble.
The witch went to her mate, reaching out with her free hand, and caressed the side of his face. His eyes were still stuck on the direction Ramona had headed, but his shoulders visibly relaxed as he accepted his mate’s comforting. “It’ll be okay, baby. I’ll go talk to her.”
“Nah, I’m checking on her. You both obviously haven’t cared enough,” I spat and started inside.
A flash and sting on my cheek threw my head to the side and actually made me stumble. I caught myself before I fully crashed into the wooden rocking chair behind me, but it was fucking close. My glasses nearly went flying, and I righted them while collecting myself. I hated how vulnerable the action made me feel.
Another slap stung my skin so badly that I felt like I’d been flayed. “How fucking dare you.”
I managed to glare down at the witch, and I blamed my own surprise at the surge of power I could almost see around her when a fucking freight train in the form of a right hook made my head spin and my body drop.
My glasses were on the floor somewhere, but I didn’t need them to make out the Wolf, witch, and pup looming over me. The Leader’s fists were at his sides, ready to go again.
“I’m going to talk to her, and if you say any more slick shit, I’ll make you beg for my mate to rip out your throat.” Even with the baby on her hip, the intensity of the dense, electric power around her made my retort shrivel and die on my tongue. I’d been around scary people nearly all my life, not to mention murderous females who I had watched do some sick stuff.
The look in her eyes was one I’d seen from my sisters enough times. I didn’t say a word while she marched inside.
The air on the porch began to thin, giving room for breath and rational thought. I managed to gather myself as smoothly as possible to my feet. I couldn’t help but grumble, cleaning my glasses on my shirt to give my hands something to do. My legs kept itching with the need to see to Ramona while my skin was still stinging from the witch’s slap and the Leader’s blow. “How the fuck are you not afraid of her? She could muzzle you in your sleep, easy. Or worse.”
I put my glasses back on, and the Pack Leader’s face became less fuzzy. Instead of protective rage, he’d settled on irritated and blank. He did answer me, though. “I don’t cross her.”
“Ha. I guess that’s one way to stay on a witch’s good side.”
The Leader grunted, eyes roving over me and nostrils flaring. I knew when I was being sized up. Normally, I’d let the silence lie and fill the space to create a sense of discomfort I could use to my advantage. Though I’d had a tough time learning how to do it when I was younger, the tactic got beat into me like everything else.
Now, though, I needed something other than the sound of our breaths and the music playing inside to drown out the voices of Ramona speaking with her sister-in-law. “Look. I’m just here to check on her. I could tell something was wrong.”
He crossed his arms. “I should kill you for trespassing.”
“Well, I’d prefer it if you didn’t. So would your sister.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Don’t be a smartass, don’t be a smartass, don’t be a smartass. “Yeah, one-hundred percent sure. And,” I sighed, opening my pride up for the ego hit, “I’m sorry for barging in.” In my head, I told the Wolf to count himself lucky because apologies from me were few and far between. Even I could see, though, that retracting my claws would get me to my goal faster than keeping them out and swiping.
Though, if this went south, I wasn’t opposed to it.
The Leader grunted again, and it sounded so much like Ramona, my heart skipped a beat. His eerie green eyes were nothing like the gooey warmth of hers, but the warning was said with just that amount of dry venom I’d learned to expect from her. How was it that I was already missing her when she was just a few rooms away? “Don’t let it happen again. The only reason you’re still breathing is because of my sister’s apparent bond to you.”
The voices speaking in hushed tones inside tried to pull my attention, but I forced myself to stay here. To give Ramona a moment before I pulled her back to me. “You didn’t know… about her depression, then.”
The downward tilt of the corners of his lips was the only shift in his expression. “Not that it’d gotten that bad. No confirmation until now.” His words were spoken with a halted rhythm, as if it was painful for him to admit.
I opened my mouth to volley something back, probably something to get me punched again, but a little head peeked around the doorway and gazed up at us both with unafraid curiosity. While I’d never seen the other pup before, I was familiar enough with Ramona’s niece, and she gave me a happy wave before going over to her father.
He scooped her up into his arms and gave her a kiss on the top of her head. Dahlia twisted to reach out an expectant fist, and I jumped up to meet it. She’d done a good job of memorizing the silly handshake I’d taught her at the skate spot, giving the final dap with a delighted giggle.
“Nice one, pipsqueak,” I chuckled.
The Leader’s transparent brow quirked, and when the two of them looked at me, it felt like being held under two sets of laser beams. Dahlia at least looked excited to see me, even if she must’ve heard me brawling with her father. “Daddy, look,” she pointed at my neck, “he’s got a drawing of my flower.” Her speech was high pitched, the words running together, but I was able to follow what she was saying without strain.
Ramona’s brother gave the tattoos on my neck and arms a cursory glance. “I see that, darlin’.”
“Are you done fighting?”
I couldn’t tell whether it was innocent naiveté that left her unshaken by what’d occurred between me and her parents not five minutes earlier, or if she’d already grown accustomed to shifters and witches going at it.
Instead of responding, I looked to the Leader to answer her question. It took him a moment, a few of them, actually, but he drew some sort of conclusion and gave a soft nod to his daughter and then a tighter one to me. “Wait out here. If she wants to talk to you, she will.”
The door closed behind them with a decided click. The lack of a lock turning felt like extra salt in the wound that was still throbbing on my face, and I stood for a few moments before I slumped into the rocker behind me. My Jaguar wanted to rip the fucking door off its hinges and cut down everyone that kept me from my mate, but I breathed through the urge.
There was no way I was leaving without speaking to Ramona, even if I felt nauseous for essentially showing my belly to people I didn’t give a shit about.