Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
THREE MONTHS LATER
RAMONA
T he buzz of the tattoo gun had me taking a nervous swallow, but I kept my arm outstretched and steady. The lights of the shop were brighter than I thought they’d be.
“Ready, baby?” Río dipped the cordless tattoo gun in a small pot of ink that I knew was enhanced for the non-human customers. His hair was up in a messy bun, and I used his calm smirk to ground me. The idea had been mine, to have him do this now that he worked for Vera. When I’d formally introduced them, letting Río meet the one who’d given my Wolf the external validation she’d never had before, they’d actually hit it off well. And once I not-so-subtly mentioned his previous apprenticeship and evident skill, she agreed to take him on.
Now, my mate scooted a bit closer to me and the arm I had laid out, facing up. Before he descended, Río pecked a quick kiss to my lips and got to the first line on his stencil.
While he’d sketched and workshopped the design with Vera, I’d purposely avoided the details. Wanting to put my faith in him completely. I entrusted him with my heart and body, so this wasn’t really a hardship.
The first vibrating scrape of the needle had my back releasing a bit of the stiff apprehensive tension. The leather of the reclining seat was comfortable, and I focused on Río’s face as he worked. There was no furrow between his brows, just a smooth and relaxed expression where his black eyes were sharp behind his contact lenses.
“You ready for everything, baby?” His low voice above the buzzing was meditative, and I hummed for a moment as I thought through the question.
It was still hard for Río to not be constantly looking over his shoulder, even though it’d been months now since the pack had driven his sisters and what was left of their employees off of Antler Pointe territory. And true to their agreement, there business ventures had been abandoned, as had their interest in the region.
But, from what Río told me, as expansive as his father’s reach was, it wasn’t unreasonable that he still felt on guard about it. Hopefully, Catalina would keep her word. I could only assume that Xiomara had survived—surely if her wounds had been fatal, we would all be dead by now at the hands of his father’s vengeance.
The nightmares still happened, but they were more intermittent and less violent. The nights I’d wake up with him tossing or mumbling frantically in his sleep, I would just cuddle his head into my chest and hold him through it.
He never remembered them, but it would still take a few hours for him to bounce back to his usual self. Working for Vera, though, along with band practice, seemed to help a lot. So, when he asked me last month how I felt about doing some traveling, to share in his favorite places and explore any that I wanted to experience, I wasn’t exactly surprised , but it was still unlocking a new part of us, too.
“Ready like logistically or emotionally?”
He smirked, knowing full well which one was more difficult for me. He lifted the needle, wiped at my skin with a paper towel, then continued drawing over my scar. “Both.”
“Well, we don’t need to bring anything tonight. And pretty much all my shit’s packed and ready for when we leave. But. I’ll miss everyone.” The last part stuck in my throat a little bit, but I focused my mind on the adventures we were about to have.
Río got to a particularly sensitive patch of my skin, and he paused, gaze flicking my way as he sensed my rise in discomfort. I nodded for him to continue. “We can always not go, Princess.”
And chicken out of the opportunity for dedicated time with my mate? Unlikely. Since he’d been working hard at the tattoo shop, I’d taken up managing Sylvie’s socials, website, and basically become her personal assistant for all things related to her books. When her last one moved on to another job, I’d hesitantly thrown my hat in the ring.
We sat on two folding lawn chairs, overlooking the lake and the small ripples on the surface. I was finally putting that new swimsuit to good use, now, and we baked under the warm rays of the sun.“Um. Well, I know I didn’t finish. But I could put my marketing classes to good use. At least, until you find someone new.”
My sister turned, beaming at me excitedly. It was such a luminous expression that I could almost forget how she’d crouched over bodies, pulling out hearts. “Uh, first. You’re a lifesaver. Second, you’re hired! And third, the job is yours for as long as you want it.”
I opened my mouth to fight back on her automatic agreement to the idea, reminding myself what Vera and I had talked about the last time I’d seen her. Among other things, accepting the positive view of others instead of immediately trying to dismiss them was something that was especially hard for me to fully take in. “Sweet,” I forced myself to swallow my protests and concessions. “Thank you.”
She waved away my thanks as the babies’s squeals caught our attention. Behind us, Dahlia and Ollie splashed in the little inflatable pool as my mate and brother engaged in their imaginary play. After that night, when we finally had the space to assess casualties—two pack members and all but a handful of Serafim soldiers—we discovered that Orion’s left leg had been broken in two places, in addition to the scrapes and bite marks that littered his skin. Mom had been miraculously uninjured and uncharacteristically concerned about my brother’s recovery, turning into a damn hovering hen that refused to go home for another week.
But he was long out of the woods, focused on his family, pack, and career shift that was much more calming.
I turned back to Sylvie. “By the way, right before shit got scary there for a second, what kind of spell were you casting?”
She continued to watch our family play, grinning at my brother when he and Río looked over and waved. “Protection. Did you notice all the ones by the porch couldn’t use their guns or shift? My magic was still a bit drained from—when I went off on your mate,” she sent me a guilty look. “But there was enough bloodshed to push the odds in our favor. Once the bodies started to drop, it was easier to draw from the death around us.” She shrugged like that was no big deal.
I was also realizing that she probably hadn’t been joking about the blood sacrifices.“Uh. Cool.”
“No, I’m excited to go. To spend that time with you.”
Río smirked and kept his eyes on my arm. We discussed more of our travel plans and itinerary. At first, we’d planned on traveling via his motorcycle, but we’d ultimately decided against it. This was the first trip he’d taken that wasn’t a result of running from his family, and we wanted to treat these next two months as a honeymoon of sorts. Hard to pack all we’d need for that long in a few saddlebags.
So, in the truck it was.
Río finished with my left arm before requiring me to take a break for the lunch he’d packed for the longer session. That also hadn’t changed, my mate’s concern for whether I’d been fed or not. After I inhaled the leftover tacos we’d made for double date night at our apartment, we sat again so that he could complete my other arm. Time slipped by with my mate’s careful hands on me, and when Vera walked past, she watched him for a while, smelling of approval as she nodded.
“And that’s it, baby.” Río took a last swipe of the paper towel at my arms and straightened. “You ready to look?” His wide grin gave me the courage to exhale, stretch my neck, and look down.
And, okay, yeah, I started crying. Big, fat tears that I had to blink past to take in the fine linework details of Río’s art that now lived on my skin.
“So,” he pointed, “it’s lavender, sage, and rosemary. For healing, protection, and love.” I nodded and swept my gaze over the tactfully placed sprigs and flowers that incorporated the lines of my scars instead of truly covering. Turning them into something beautiful. The designs were slightly different on each arm, but the pair of them together was a garden I would take with me always. The resting monarch butterfly on my right arm sent me into another round of tears that dripped down my chin.
Río rolled his stool closer to me and took off his black gloves. He swiped through the rivers on my face with his warm thumbs. “Do you like it?”
I connected our brows and held onto his wrists. “I love it. And I love you. Thank you, baby.”
He kissed me, firm and sweet.
And then, that evening, I stood with plush grass between my toes. The gentle lapping of the lake sounded against the peaceful hush that’d taken over the gathering on my brother’s land. After pack meetings where we healed from the bloodshed that fertilized the ground we now met on, this moment felt simultaneously impossible and inevitable.
“Delaney Warner, former member of Howl’s Fury. Your insight into the downfall of your old pack has been essential in protecting this one. You have proven to be kind, loyal, and brave, and we have unanimously voted to make you pack.” My brother looked Delaney in his wide, brown eyes, and his voice was laced with Leader authority. “Do you vow to respect and honor this land and pack to the best of your ability in this life and after?”
“I-I do.” My friend was crying, but his voice only trembled slightly.
Orion nodded at Delaney before turning to me.
The wind rustled his pale curls, and his green eyes shined. I am so proud of you, they said. “Ramona Wells. My sister. You are fierce, you are caring, and you have fought to defend this very land at risk to your life. We have all watched you grow and see your Wolf. That is why we have voted to make you pack.” Through my own watery vision, I flicked a glance to Vera, standing with the other elders behind my brother. She smirked. “Do you vow to respect and honor this land and pack to the best of your ability in this life and after?” I love you.
“Yes. I do.” My brother smiled. Properly, with eye crinkles and everything, and I couldn’t help my tear-choked chuckle. Sylvie and my niece and nephew grinned from their place with the other pack members as they all faced us. My pack.
And then O moved to the last of us. “And you. Río Bernal, mate of my sister. Despite the bonds of blood, you stood with us against a great threat.” I took in Río’s form, standing tall with his arms relaxed at his sides. The braid I wove for him at home hung straight down his back, and his facial piercings sparkled under the sharp rays from the setting sun.
Healing from the altercation with his family, not to mention all the years he faced at the mercy of their abuse and then on the run afterward, was a slow and steady pace. But this time, he was not alone. My mate faced my brother and this group that’d tentatively taken him in. Bit by bit, meeting by meeting, Río was able to settle into this group of people. From being uncharacteristically shy and never once leaving my side to letting Harrison pull him into playing pranks and getting roped into tag with the pups.
O continued with no hint of the wariness he’d once held toward my mate, “You’ve killed for us and have proven yourself a shifter more than worthy. That is why we have voted to make you pack. Do you vow to respect and honor this land and pack to the best of your ability in this life and after?”
I braced myself for my mate to make a joke or some nonchalant statement to cut the seriousness of my brother’s words and stare. But, instead, when I looked at Río beside me, he was no better than Delaney. Two tracks of tears wound down his face and around his wide grin. He met my gaze, and I didn’t even need his scent of joy, relief, and love to know what he was feeling.
Only until I returned his expression, beaming at him while the heat of the sunset warmed my bare arms, did Río respond. “Yup. I do.”
And, as was customary, the pack recited their own vow to us in unison, “We see you, we welcome you, and we vow to respect and honor you as pack. In this life and after.”
So, how could I not start crying, too? With my face wet and my heart fluttering, I smushed into my mate’s chest. Well, until I was passed to Delaney, then my brother, Sylvie, Vera, and the rest of the people that were now an extension of my foundation.
Pack . Number Sixteen.
We grilled, ate, and played, watching the lines of orange and yellow deepen across the sky, like scars of the sun. And when the moon rose in its stead, I watched as all those that could shift turned into their other forms. Most were Wolves in a variety of colors and sizes, though there were others as well. Río’s Jaguar and an Ocelot named Stacy ran along with the Wolves while us non-shifters walked and laughed among them.
It was one of the runs where the pups were in attendance, and the merriment, the freedom , was sweet and cool like a spoonful of sorbet on my tongue. We tread the grounds of my brother’s land and answered the call that we all felt. To be together with nature pulsing around us. Grounding and breathing life with every step and rolling breath.
RíO
“All right, all I’m saying is, it’s not a bad idea,” I went back and forth with Tyler about new lyric ideas with my arm slung over Ramona’s bare shoulders. Her mark was a dark brown arc of my teeth, set just at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. The lights in the pool turned it an even brighter turquoise than it appeared in the daytime, and our friends’ chatter illuminated our last night with them before we set off.
After taking a bullet that’d been meant for my mate, Tyler had healed slowly but completely. Serafim weaponry was made for supernatural beings and humans alike, but where my mate would’ve likely not survived Cata’s shot, with Delaney’s blood, Tyler’s body had been able to fully recover within two weeks.
My mate’s best friend was seated at Tyler’s feet now, looking in fucking heaven as Ty absently petted his head. The issues they’d been having the past few weeks were hopefully resolved, now. “I don’t tell you which riffs to use, do I? Leave the lyrics to me.”
I took a sip of my beer. “Ain’t this supposed to be a democracy?”
He rolled his eyes, “I get in the middle of shifter bullshit, save your mate, and agree to housesit for two months . I think I’ve acquiesced to enough of your requests.”
“Hey, I thanked you for all that!” Ramona piped up, and the look he sent her was noticeably softer than his no-nonsense expression with me.
“Be that as it may. You won’t be here anyway. Just be glad we’re taking a break on performances until you get back. We could easily replace you.” I just laughed that off, not concerned in the least that he was speaking the truth. He gave side-eyes and sneers, but my friend cared far more than he wanted to admit. I fully expected him to incorporate my suggestion into our next song and act like it’d been his idea all along.
I leaned back into the pool lounge, pulling Ramona with me. She craned her head, caressing her scalp against the curve of my throat and kissing the healed scar of my mating mark. It sent a shiver of delight through my body and soul while I ran my hands across her flat stomach and tickled the piercing in her navel.
The gathering tonight was small, just the band and Delaney, but that’s what made it perfect, too. The sun was behind the trees, the sky giving way to the black and stars.
“We’re leaving a list of what all needs to be taken care of on the counter, but it’s basically her plants and collecting the mail.” My mate and I had fully adjusted to living together, now, and with that, the space looked more and more like ours. Though the witch house was no more, Ramona still gardened at her brother’s home every day she could manage it, and the indoor garden of potted plants now lined the windows of our apartment. She took meticulous care of them and had already gone through every detail of their maintenance with Delaney who agreed to watch over them.
Tyler and his new pet also agreed to get our new house ready in the meantime. Signing off on the shit I’d already set to be delivered and making sure it was all clean for when we got back.
I’d been thinking for a while about how I could surprise my princess who was now talking happily back and forth with Jess who was propped on the edge of the pool. And every time I dropped her off and picked her up from Vera’s, her head always did a little turn when we passed a small cottage a few doors down. It was a brick house with two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms. But the yard held a beautiful oak tree and more than enough space in the back for her to start her own garden.
When it had popped up for sale, I’d jumped on the opportunity, happily digging into my nest egg now that I’d found somewhere to stay. If someone had asked me at seventeen, when I set off on my bike with no destination besides away , I would’ve never fathomed having the most wonderful female as my mate or being a member of a fucking Wolf pack. I glanced around at my friends, Now, the band stuff I would’ve totally believed.
I turned Ramona’s head, taking control of the pause in her conversation, and planted a kiss on her lips. She molded hers to mine, and the caramel and sweet cream scent of our love swelled between us. It was a full, golden thing that I’d never truly thought I deserved until now that I had the space to feel safe. The itch to move was still there, but now I had a mate to explore with, new cities a vacation instead of a place to start over yet again.
The hours passed, where we ate and laughed, and when Ramona got up to use the restroom before we packed up to go home, I tracked her ass in that skimpy black swimsuit like I had no other choice. The way her hips swayed and her hair bounced around her shoulders, there really was no alternative. And those legs?
I adjusted myself as I stood and quickly gathered our shit. When she returned, we said our goodbyes, and I rushed us both to put our gear on and ride off on my bike.
The vibration from my Ducati and my mate’s body against my back had me fighting the urge to pull over and have her on the side of the road. But no, instead, I got us safely back to the apartment and hoisted her over my shoulder, which unsurprisingly forced an indignant shout from her.
She grumbled to herself but didn’t fight to get down as I ran us up the stairs, nodding at one of our wide-eyed neighbors on the way. Really, they should’ve been used to our shit by now, anyway.
Once we were safely inside, I deposited Ramona right in front of the large window. Two large houseplants bracketed our legs and came all the way up to our hips as I caged my mate in. Her back and my hands smudged the glass, but the sight of the sleeping city behind her made up for it.
“God, I fuckin’ love you, Princess,” I let some of my Jaguar slip to the forefront, voice twisting into a half-snarl. Eager to finally get a taste of her, I dragged my half-shifted tongue up her cheek. Sweet and sour, grapefruit and sugar.
She pulled me even closer to her, fingers rested on the waistband of my swim trunks. “Te amo mucho, mi Río,” she whispered before giving me a long lick of her own. She ended it with a flick against the piercing through my brow, and really, I couldn’t be blamed for what I did next.
My claws tore easily through her clothes. The t-shirt and shorts and the bikini top and bottoms underneath. And before she could even fully draw a breath to start giving me shit for it, I crouched and sucked one of her nipples into my mouth. So, instead of cursing me out for ruining her new swimsuit, Ramona held my head to her chest, toes squirming against the floor while she moaned my name.
My cock was completely hard, all the blood rushing from my head and only leaving behind the desire to please my mate. To get her to screech and come and then fill her until we both found ecstasy together.
I swept my tongue to the other nipple, biting with my sharp teeth and flickering until the air was thick with her release inching closer and closer.
My knees cracked against the floorboards, but I was past caring. Just needed to taste, to bury my face between her beautiful and strong legs. And Ramona was right there with me, resting her thigh on my shoulder so that I could eat to my heart’s content. Ignoring my cock, I took my mate the rest of the way, groaning and purring while she whimpered a string of nonsense. I flicked and swirled my tongue through her orgasm, feeling the pulse of her clit against my tastebuds until she squirmed with oversensitivity.
When I stood, I took Ramona into my arms like how I had in the tree. It wasn’t the Antler Pointe Forest, but we were high up enough to give me the same sort of thrill as I braced her against the glass. And when her honey eyes met mine, my princess, mi alma gemela y mi cielo, I knew once again that she was everything I’d been searching for. All those years of facing the terrors of the world alone were worth it. Working a stupid closing shift on a dead night on a random day in May had absolutely been fucking worth it because of her. And I was the luckiest motherfucker in the world to have her for the rest of my life and after.
RAMONA
I’d been licking myself off of Río’s lips, but when he thrust into me, my body went limp. His claws and fangs held me at my hips and throat while the both of us were stripped of everything but each other. Where the golden thread shined brightest.
These months with Río had been the focusing of the blurry picture of my life. My tattooed arms clung to him as the slick sounds of our joining filled the apartment and our harmonizing chants filled my ears. His were half-shifted, black and furry and round, and I caressed the outer shell before holding my palm over his heart. It hammered as quickly as he fucked into me, as my breaths escaped my parted lips.
I pinched his pierced nipple between my fingers, and he somehow fucked even harder. If I weren’t drunk with lust and the hazy midpoint between releases, I would’ve worried about the window cracking under the force of it. That with both of our strength, the glass shattering and us plummeting to the street below was probably far more likely than it would’ve been for two humans.
What did it say about me that I didn’t care? That if I fell, I would be more than happy to fall with him.
The trembling and nearly panicked feeling of pleasure almost broken made me cry out and curl into him, my mate. I sank my blunt teeth into his neck, reopening his mark, claiming him again. And again and again, for the rest of my life and after, I would claim him.
He did the same, razor-sharp fangs splitting my skin like butter, and I could see nothing but the kaleidoscope colors of our matehood. Of our love that was spice and warmth and sweet and sour. Decadently spiced chocolate and brightly tart berries.
Río and I groaned into each other while I came just before he did, and my Wolf grumbled in pleasure at our mate filling us. Something I would never, ever get tired of.
He pulled back to kiss at my mark while I licked at the blood welling from his. “Mm, Ramona?”
Our chests pressed against each other, and my back was still plastered to the window that was now warm against my skin. “Yeah?” I pecked his ears that were cuter than they had any right to be. When I’d asked once why he didn’t have to take all of his piercings out each time he shifted like he did his contacts, he’d just smirked, “You think your sister’s the first faerie I’ve ever met? They’re vindictive things, but they make good shit.”
Río pulled back so that he could meet my gaze. His yellow and black eyes took in nothing else but me, and never would I have imagined being so grateful to be seen. “You want me to get the plug for you?” I scowled as heat suffused my cheeks, and I shifted, legs still around his waist and body still swallowing his cock.
He grinned, flashing his fangs at me, “Let’s get it. I’ll carry you.” And he peeled me away from the window with a kiss at my temple. I buried my face in his loose hair as he lead me to bed.