Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
RAMONA
I finished getting ready in the loft while Río stepped into the bathroom to take a shower and put in his contacts. He’d grouched about my not allowing him to hop in with me when I’d taken one earlier, but we’d be fucking late , knowing what usually happened when we shared the small shower stall.
I smoothed a hand over my dress and twisted in front of the mirror. Delaney and I had gone shopping earlier today while Río was at work, and the short halter dress had caught my eye. The color was a pretty coral that felt summery, and the loose skirt might’ve been considered scandalously short if I’d been shapelier. But Río had commented on my legs enough that I wanted to highlight them. The neckline dipped into a lower V, but I didn’t have much in the way of cleavage. Would Río like it? When we’d met up downtown for our little day out, Delaney had sputtered as soon as he caught scent of me and squeaked a noise that completely mismatched with his size. Then, he’d crashed me into a bear hug, swaying and chanting about how happy he was for me.
When I’d continued to come back to the dress as we walked around the shop, Delaney had talked it up so much, I decided to try it on. With my arms behind my back, I’d exited the curtained stall to his enthusiastic applause that made me blush.
The chunky, black leather sandals felt more like me and waited by the door downstairs. I gave my hair, held back in a low ponytail with two curls framing my face, one last once over and grabbed the black denim jacket before heading down. The shower had been off for a while, so I figured Río was about done. It was late enough for the sky to be those final shades of magenta before darkness took over. How Sylvie convinced my brother to make this formal meeting a double date, I probably didn’t want to know.
Just as I hit the base of the stairs, the bathroom door opened, releasing a thin cloud of steam left over from Río’s shower.
I wanted to melt into the floor. We’d dressed separately, and he was giving himself one last glance in the mirror before stepping out to face me. He stopped too, and it really was the first time we’d gotten dressed up to go anywhere. Most of our time was in casual clothing or naked, so it took a second for my mind to make sense of what had me almost foaming at the fucking mouth.
Río was in the nicest pair of black jeans I’d seen from him—most of his usual wear was ripped or thoroughly worn in from skating—and the leather belt at his waist was smart and simple. His white t-shirt looked soft and was thick enough to obscure the collection of tattoos underneath. The black denim jacket looked like the masculine pair to mine, and as he straightened his collar, I homed in on the collection of chunky, silver rings on nearly every finger. His hair was half up, and the jewelry in his ears and on his face sparkled.
“Come here,” he commanded, voice low and huskier than usual. My feet followed his order without me thinking about it, and when we were less than a few inches apart, he started both hands at my wrists and moved them up to my shoulders and neck in a gently possessive gesture. The warmth of his skin was a significant contrast with the cool metal that made me shiver. And when he turned me around, manipulating me to his liking, I could barely breathe. Río traced his touch along the bumps of my spine that were exposed before crowding my back and wrapping his arms around me. His nose traced the curve of my throat, and he kissed my mating mark.
“I love you, and if I wasn’t trying to make a good impression, I’d bend you over right now.”
“Well, you’ve already pissed my brother off twice. So.”
His chuckle was raspy, taking on that feline hiss that my body was trained to crave. “You’re right.” So fast that my mind spun, Río grabbed the base of my ponytail and pushed us around to the back of the couch. Where we’d fucked for the first time.
I’d been so nervous then, but now, when he guided my chest to rest on the tops of the cushions, I was already moaning loudly at the kisses he dotted along my spine. He pulled down my panties, and I kicked them off as quickly as I could manage.
He swiped his finger through where I was already slick and caressed my clit just lightly enough to leave me screeching out and pressing back onto him for more. After all our pre- and post-mating fucking, he knew what rhythms brought me to the top the quickest, and he wasted no time teasing me there. His other hand was palming and firmly holding my left ass cheek, probably watching with satisfaction what he was doing to me. If his grunts and groans were any indication.
A few final swirls made ecstasy flash behind my eyes, making my body quake and liquify at the same time. Río growled a string of approving words, a mix of English and Spanish, and when I finally came back down enough to register what was happening, his bare cock was pressing into me.
Río took my hips in both hands, his claws out and poking into my flesh how I loved, and I almost choked when he plunged in a long, deep stroke. “Fuck, Princess. You’re a fuckin’ dream.” His hips met my bare skin, and the fact that we were both fully clothed, too impatient to undress even though we were at home, made this even hotter.
With every slow retraction of his hips, I pushed back on him, wanting him to move , but he was stronger than me and refused to let my urgency set the pace.
I mewled an embarrassing noise, impatient to have him ruin me, but Río kept on, going slow and ending each thrust with a deep, bone-rattling circle of his hips. “You know better than that, baby.”
Over my shoulder, with tears in the corners of my eyes, I glared up at him. “Fuck me. We’re—” I gasped as he snapped his hips again.
“You said it didn’t matter if we were late. You wanted my cock tearing you apart so bad that you smelled like sex the second you stepped down here. So, take what I give you.” The last sentence was more growl than words, and he increased how hard he took me, but never the pace.
My lower back arched, and the new angle nearly had my eyes crossing. Was I drooling? He was such an ass, but he knew both of our bodies like we’d been doing this for years. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes of him fucking into me, but the tormenting pressure of him inside my body caused another release that was thunderous with how long it’d built. I had to force my fingers to uncurl from the couch, or the fabric would’ve become shredded with how my muscles tightened.
“You feel so good baby,” my face heated, but Río’s loud groan in response was fuel that kept me babbling and moaning. “Fuck me so good, my mate, fuck .”
Río let loose a loud, scratchy growl and kept on for a few more pulses until he stilled, grinding his hips into mine while he came with a deep rumble that I felt all the way into the floorboards. Our breaths synced as we settled from the aftershocks, and my mate draped himself along my back again, giving sweet kisses to the base of my neck. He pulled me tighter onto him, emphasizing his claim.
I fucking loved it.
“See? You should listen to me more often.”
“I should see how you like it being ordered around,” I spat weakly. The reality was, Río taking charge was exciting and always resulted in this exact outcome. He didn’t have to be a bastard about it, though.
“Oh, I already do,” he smiled into my shoulder and planted one more kiss before he straightened the both of us. With a bracing touch on my hip, Río pulled out, and I couldn’t hide the non-human hum of deep satisfaction at the sensation of his cum starting to drip down my thighs. Me from three months ago would think it was disgusting.
Me now seriously contemplated swiping my fingers through it and popping them in my mouth. Oh, god.
He walked back toward the bathroom, leaving me swaying in post-orgasm bliss until he steadied me once more and swiped a washcloth between my legs. Río bent on one knee, holding my panties out and guiding me to step into them. He pulled them up my legs, eyeing the brown skin all the way, and settled them back on my hips. His lips pressed into the curve of the hipbone before he smoothed my dress back down.
Río looked up at me, black eyes glittering like the night sky, and his smile wasn’t cocky. It was full and loving in a way that left no question of how he felt about me. I cupped his cheek, slipping my fingertips into his smooth hair. He kissed the inside of my wrist, eyes on me, before he finally stood.
“All right. Now we’re late.”
RíO
Mating my princess before we left the loft should’ve helped ease my anxiety for tonight, but, as I climbed out of my truck, my palms were fucking sweating. The restaurant Ramona and her sister-in-law chose resembled a house, and the large porch in the front had been converted to a seating area illuminated with small lamps on each table. I took a drawing inhale, scenting that the Leader and his mate were already here. Shit.
I rounded the front of the truck to open the door for Ramona, but she beat me to it, scowling as if daring me to say something about it. Normally, I would’ve, but any snark I usually had in abundance had retreated behind the wall of anxiety I fucking felt. This was bullshit. I had reduced Leaders to their knees with packs twice the size of his. I’d threatened rival crime family leaders with words and the razor tips of my claws without a second thought.
None of them were my new brother-in-law. Who, from what I could tell, already hated me.
I retrieved the bouquet of flowers I’d bought on my way home from work this afternoon, the pink counterpart to the red roses I’d bought Ramona. She’d let out a bemused chuckle when I presented them to her, but she promptly trimmed the stems and set them in a cup of water on the coffee table with a little smile.
Grabbing Ramona’s hand, largely for comfort, we walked toward the restaurant and wordlessly followed the scent of her family. My new family.
To put it lightly, I didn’t have the best experience with these sorts of things, so maybe that was contributing to my expectation for this to blow up in my face. Just as we rounded a corner, I saw our destination. Or my demise, depending on how you looked at it. Which, based on how her brother was staring at me, unamused and utterly unimpressed, I was thinking it was that second one.
Ramona squeezed my hand and went a step further by bringing the back of it to her lips for a quick kiss. When she let our hands fall back between us, I tightened mine in thanks as we came to a stop.
Both the witch and Leader stood, but she was the one to step around the table and bring my mate into a hug like she hadn’t seen her in months. It’d actually only been a day, but my princess hugged back and blushed as the witch marveled her outfit. Ramona had put her jacket on before we exited the car, but she was slowly unfurling, and I was honored—and more than a little emotional—to see it.
While they embraced, I stuck my hand out to the Leader who was dressed in a simple dark gray t-shirt and blue jeans. His curly white hair looked freshly cut, and he eyed my outstretched hand with a frown.
Feeling like a fucking idiot, I let it fall, but Ramona nudged me with her elbow and stretched up to whisper in my ear like they wouldn’t be able to hear. “O doesn’t like shaking hands,” and understanding dawned on me. She’d already told me that, too. When I’d low-key paced the apartment and demanded the basics of how to win her brother over.
So, he gave me a tight nod, but I immediately noticed the rosy blush that started on his cheeks. It was easier to see on his pale skin, but it was just like how my mate would blush for me.
Feeling a fraction more relaxed, I extended the paper-wrapped bouquet of roses and lilies to the witch. “For you,” I said, and the big smile she gave in response was almost infectious.
“Wow, these are beautiful! Thanks!”
I didn’t miss the very canine harrumph the Leader gave as we took our seats. Or his narrow-eyed glance at me. “Oh hush, baby.” Sylvie, I tried to remember to use her name, gave the Leader a kiss on his cheek that only made them redder. She set the flowers on the wide patio ledge beside her and grinned conspiratorially to Ramona, “Now you’ll know what it feels like to have a possessive mate.”
“As if she isn’t the same way.” I slammed my lips shut and prayed that my smartass mouth hadn’t gotten me in trouble. You’d have thought with all the punishments, the tendency would’ve been eradicated long ago. In every other situation, I liked to think that it was part of my whole charm.
The witch—Sylvie—snorted and nodded. “Looks like we got two protective Wolves. S’not so bad if you ask me.” The Leader narrowed his eyes at me again, as if I was the one talking about him, and put an arm around Sylvie’s chair.
He finally spoke after our server deposited glasses of water and took our drink orders. “So, why did this happen so fast?”
My eyes widened, but Ramona just settled into my side while leaning toward him. “No one else can have a mate besides you? Doesn’t seem fair.”
He rolled his eyes as if he expected these sorts of retorts from my princess. “You just met, so I’m trying to understand how this happened.”
“I don’t think you want the details, O,” she said, and I winced.
Sylvie heaved a big sigh and massaged her temple. “If you two would stop this back and forth, I’d like to actually get to know him.”
I sent her a grateful smirk and cleared my throat. “Sure. Shoot.”
Before she could ask whatever question was in her mind, her mate cut in. “What’s your name again?” Though he wasn’t meeting my gaze, and I knew now from Ramona’s debrief that it was to be expected, there was an underlying meaning to his question that sent alarm bells off in my head.
“Uh, Río.”
“Last name,” he demanded a touch more gruffly, and I was getting more suspicious.
“Bernal,” I drew out the last syllable, trying to gauge why he was reacting this way about something he surely already knew. Though it wasn’t a lie , it was only one of the surnames I’d been born with. He couldn’t possibly know that, though. Right?
His responding grunt made me feel even more uncertain, but when Sylvie started asking me about working at Vinny’s, I tried my best to focus in on her cheery demeanor. It made me feel a little better to know that she’d worked there for a time a few years back, that she and the Leader had met there, just as me and Ramona had.
Our drinks and appetizers came, and by the time we finished the charcuterie board filled with intricately plated meats and cheeses, the conversation had thawed a bit. My new brother-in-law kept sending me looks, but I truly didn’t know what the fuck his problem was. Aside from his initial, curt question regarding the timeline of our relationship, I didn’t get the sense that he necessarily had an issue with the idea of his sister being mated. It was me that was the problem, but what else was new?
I’d gone with a steak for my meal, as had Ramona. The two of them ordered two different pasta dishes that smelled pretty good, but at the first bite of my filet, I was happy with what I’d ordered. Our chatter died down a little while we ate, but apparently, we were all pretty speedy eaters because it wasn’t ten minutes later that we were pushing our plates away. Only Sylvie had any food left, but I supposed that made sense.
We ordered another round of drinks, with which our server brought the check. I snatched it before the Leader could, and I counted it as a win, triumphantly slapping my card down.
At least, until he leaned back and opened his mouth. “I’m going to have to be frank,” was this what it felt like to watch the flash of headlights before a car hit you head-on? “What’s your relation to the Serafim Group?”
The beer I’d been setting back on the table slipped from my hand. My heart dropped just before racing like it had the night I’d left that life. Racing off into the night on my bike, I’d been convinced my father would catch me, send Mara or Catalina for my head.
Ramona caught the glass before it could topple over and make even more of a mess of all of this, but I couldn’t bring myself to thank her or take my eyes off of her brother’s. I couldn’t tell whether I wanted to bolt or be sick.
The Leader sniffed, tasting the air and, no doubt, the fear that was clouding all of my thoughts. How did he know about my family? But that was quickly answered. I felt so stupid, thinking that Xo had just been passing through or following me on her own personal mission. Why else would she be here if it weren’t for business? After all, I’d been sent to territories to make deals with Pack Leaders more than a few times in my old life as an enforcer. And with the decisions I’d made in that role, I knew that whatever contact he’d had with my family had been unpleasant.
No wonder why he hated me.
I clenched my eyes shut, wanting this all to be a night terror that I’d wake up from with Ramona’s arms around me, her licking my face and saying she loved me. Instead, I’d seen the confusion in her honey eyes. I felt the prickles of her growing suspicion in my chest like it was my own, and I fucking hated it. No matter how far I ran, I should’ve known that my father would always catch up to me.
After a tense silence, I gritted out the response, “My father and sisters run the organization.” There was no sense in lying, now.
“And they come to town, just as you start spending time with my sister. You take her as a mate after your siblings sent me to return to my pack with the dismembered head of one of our own. A son of an elder. Sitting here with you now, I can’t deny the scent of family you all hold.” He spoke low enough to keep the conversation private but direct so that I couldn’t escape.
Despairingly, I opened my eyes and looked to my mate. Her brow was furrowed, looking at me like she didn’t know who the fuck I was, and that just about broke my heart. I should’ve known I wouldn’t be able to have such a precious thing in my life. But, selfishly, I’d wanted her.
I swallowed and forced back the tears that were starting to collect in my eyes. “It’s the reason why I left. I didn’t want that life anymore. You may not believe me, but I love your sister more than anything, and my family has nothing to do with us.”
I turned my head again, taking in the sight of my princess since it was looking like it was the final time. She looked so beautiful. Had I told her tonight how much I loved the curls that draped so cutely on the sides of her face? Or how bright she looked in that dress? What about the fact that with her, I felt… good. Like I wasn’t the worthless one in a family of Shifters.
My princess raised her hand, and my old instincts had me bracing for her to hit me. It’s what you deserve, after all .
Instead, a soft caress met my cheek, and I was helpless in keeping a tear from falling. I clenched my jaw, fighting the memories that flashed through my mind, and the adrenaline that was still pumping into my blood. But I wasn’t going to attack or run. Even if this was over, I wouldn’t do that to Ramona. Not after the last time I’d fled from her.
“These are the people that hurt you?” She whispered, and I cracked my eyes open again—when had they closed?—to find her meeting my gaze head on, searching.
When I’d been dragged to the Serafim compound, I’d tried to keep a brave face when I thought it was a great idea to enact a hunger strike. My father who, cruelly, looked so much like me, had stood in the room, arms crossed, while his soldiers took turns beating me.
I’d been ten. And left to heal in my room alone, without food for two days.
When, at fifteen, I refused to rough up a mother for lapsing on her loan from us too many months in a row. Secretly paying her balance out of my own account, Cata had ratted me out, as she was the main keeper of the family’s finances. Pai ended up ordering the young Fox that’d reminded me of Mamá to be killed anyway. In front of me and right before he ordered Xiomara to shift and break my legs, along with the general beating that’d been meant for the Fox. But something about the combination of shock, head blows, and cracking my skull on the concrete floor in one of our warehouses had been too much for my shifter healing. When I’d woken to Mara sneaking into my room and setting my legs and smuggling me painkillers, the world was blurry.
I swallowed, snapping back to the here and now. “Yeah.” I fucking hated how much my voice shook. Though the power being a Serafim enforcer brought was intoxicating, I wasn’t cut out for that life. Not like my sisters who’d been snatched up by our father since birth. Our mother had started out as a fling and ended up meaning nothing more than a prized breeding source for my father’s little army of Shifters. Even though I’d been born a disappointment, he’d decided after my tenth birthday that I at least had some use and trained me to be a killer.
Ramona nodded decisively and leaned forward. I’d have fully accepted her ripping out my throat, would have preferred it to her denying me, but, instead, she held my face and kissed my nose. Then my lips, followed by a little lick along the side of my face.
I grasped her elbows, forced myself to exhale. In my ear, she whispered, “I believe you, my Río. Te amo.” Over her shoulder, she glared at her brother, lips pulling back in a snarl—on my behalf. “You apologize to my mate right now, or I’ll never fucking forgive you.” The bright venom was gone from her usual barbs, and a cold conviction stood in its place.
Her brother appeared less prepared to rip my life apart at the seams, but it wasn’t looking like he was ready to fully back down, either. “Because I hurt his feelings? I have a pack and my family to protect. And in case matehood has made you forget, Mona, that includes you.”
His green eyes flashed, and though I wasn’t Wolf, I sensed the layer of Leader authority now lacing his words. Ramona stiffened around me, body called to obey, but she continued to snarl. “You don’t know what they did to him, so shut the fuck up. Do you trust me?”
He grunted but nodded without hesitation.
“Well, I trust him. I love him, and unless you forgot, you can be born to a shitty parent without having to answer for their wrongdoings.”
The Leader blinked and glanced in my direction once again. The tension between all of us was so thick, a knife through it would probably leave thick trails of blood. A low, raspy rumble started, and it took me a while to realize that it was my mate. Growling and coiled to defend me.
Finally, her brother came to some sort of conclusion. “I will not apologize for being suspicious,” Ramona’s quiet growls grew louder but not so much to draw notice from the tables nearest us. “But I will for upsetting you, Mona. And for provoking any unpleasant memories for you. Jaguar.”
“He has a name, you stubborn asshole,” she hissed, and I would’ve swelled with pride at having such a fiery mate if I weren’t already a combination of keyed up and fucking crashing.
The Leader glared, almost as viciously as my mate could. “Río. And you will give us all the information you can to help us deal with your family.” Without so much as a goodbye, he stood, signaling the end of this train wreck of a double date.
The rest of us were slow to our feet, me most of all, but Ramona’s steady hand around my bicep gave me support. I couldn’t believe she still wanted me, now knowing full well how my family was. Naively, I’d hoped she would never discover the full scope of how terrible they could be and how I had been. I wished every day that I could forget, myself.
We followed the Leader silently to the parking lot, and it did cross my mind that perhaps he’d just try to kill me. However, when we came across their car first, he and Sylvie stopped to face us.
She looked me up and down, and Ramona started her low growling again. I pulled her into my chest and kissed the top of her head. “I can’t speak for my mate, but I believe you. Don’t make a fool out of me or my sister.” With that, she slid into the passenger seat. Orion closed the door for her. “Tomorrow, you will come to the witch house to discuss all of this with me. If you don’t, you’ll no longer be given the benefit of the doubt.”
I managed to nod. There was no love lost between me and the Serafim family, anyway. It’d been nothing to drop my father’s name as soon as I’d left that night.
We watched them both go, and it was with Ramona’s lead that we eventually made it back to the truck. She deposited me at the passenger door and told me to sit while she drove us back home. I didn’t even have the energy to refuse, so I handed her the keys.
The rest of the night passed in a fog. One that kept me from the clarity that would’ve made me embarrassed at Ramona’s careful encouraging me up to the loft and undressing me as if I were a child. I stood stiffly beside the bed, waiting in a haze as she quickly built another nest. And when she pulled me into her arms, whispering about how good and loved I was by her, underneath the exhaustion, I was eternally thankful that she’d deemed me enough to keep. I fell asleep with my mate’s head on my chest, her kisses over my heart taping it back together.