Claiming Valeria Page 4

  As always, Merry’s shift took longer than the others. When she finished, she lay on the rug, panting. Trina and Marco were used to it, but Valeria always held her breath until she completed the change. By age seven, a fada should be able to move easily from one form to the other. Was it because she was an earth shifter—or was there something wrong with her?

  But then she was up and joining the other two in chanting, “We get to go to a sleepover. We get to go to a sleepover.”

  “Thank you, Mama Ria.” Merry grabbed Valeria around the waist. “I love you.”

  Valeria bent down to cup her sharp little face. Goddess, she adored this child. Losing her now would be like losing a piece of her heart. She rubbed her nose against Merry’s. “I love you, too, querida. So much.”

  She straightened up and spoke over the din the other two were making. “All right, you three, what did you do with your clothes?”

  * * *

  After spending himself in Beatriz, Rui released her legs with a murmured thanks.

  She drew her fingers down his chest. “Anytime, querido.”

  Rui glanced over his shoulder at the other four. The uneasiness pressed at the back of his skull. Something was wrong at the base. He knew it with every inch of the warrior he’d once been. He dropped a light kiss on Beatriz’s lips and reached for his clothes.

  “I’m going back to Rock Run.”

  She pushed herself off the wall. “Take me, too.”

  All he wanted was out of there, to cleanse himself of Beatriz’s cloying scent. But not even he was such a pig as to fuck a woman and leave her stranded.

  “Get dressed, then.”

  Five minutes later they were on his motorcycle, threading their way through Baltimore. From there, they roared up I-95. By the time they arrived at Rock Run, he was more or less sober. He’d only had a few glasses of wine, and the short swim required to enter the base through one of its underwater entrances did the rest.

  As they exited the creek, Rui shook off the excess water. His shirt and shorts were still wet, but as a water fada he barely noticed it. He told Beatriz goodbye and headed inside, but she followed him down the hall.

  “Come to my apartment?” She gave his bicep a suggestive squeeze.

  He gently but firmly disengaged himself. “Not tonight.”

  “Tomorrow, then.”

  He lifted a shoulder. “We’ll see.”

  She reached up to kiss him, and at that moment Valeria came around the corner hand-in-hand with Merry.

  Rui froze.

  But Valeria just nodded to the two of them, her face expressionless. “Boa noite.”

  “Boa noite,” he returned. She was dressed simply, in brown leggings and a pink camisole. His gaze moved over her hungrily, taking in her classic Portuguese features and glossy dark curls, the tanned cleavage exposed by her camisole.

  Merry grinned up at him. “Hello, Tio Rui. I’m going to the creche for a sleepover.”

  He dragged his gaze from Valeria to smile down at the little girl. “That sounds like fun.”

  Valeria’s nostrils flared, scenting the sex on him and Beatriz even after the short swim. For a moment she faltered, her dark eyes wounded.

  He swallowed and glanced away, even as he told himself he had nothing to be ashamed of. The two of them weren’t lovers, and hadn’t been for more than two years.

  Valeria’s expression went blank again. With a short nod, she continued past him and Beatriz. Against his volition, he turned to gaze after her. Her bottom swished enticingly in the clinging leggings. His whole body went taut with longing.

  He swallowed again, then snapped his head around and strode blindly down the hall in the opposite direction.

  Beatriz kept pace with him. Somehow her fingers were entwined around his bicep again. When he glanced down, there was a catlike smile on her mouth.

  He jerked his arm from her grip and wished her goodnight.

  She halted him with a hand on his chest. “Are you sure you won’t come tonight, querido?” She swiped her tongue over her full red lips. “I can make you forget…”

  For an instant he was tempted. At least it would ease his aching cock. But he was coming to see that no one but Valeria could ease his aching heart.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he set her away from him, “but no.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  After leaving Beatriz, Rui turned toward his own apartment, but he hadn’t walked ten yards when he heard the hum of voices. Too many for that time of night. Heading toward the sound, he was surprised to find most of the clan’s adults gathered in the large cavern that served as the dining hall.

  “Please,” his cousin Luis was saying from the front of the room. “Calm down and listen to me.”

  Rui’s uneasiness ratcheted up to full-blown alarm. Why was the clan meeting at this time of night—and where was Dion?

  Rui’s nearest neighbor nudged him. “Where the hell have you been?” A large hulk of a man, Rodolfo had been the first Rock Run warrior to be taken as Cleia’s lover. Like Rui and the others, he’d returned home drained, but most of his strength had since returned. And even at less than full strength, the big, square-faced man was one of the clan’s top warriors.

  “Never mind where I was,” Rui told him. “What’s going on? Where’s Dion?”

  “The sun fae have him. The S.O.B.s teleported into his quarters to rescue Cleia and captured him, too.”

  “Dion?” Rui frowned, not sure he’d understood. Maybe he wasn’t as sober as he thought he was. “They have the alpha?”

  Rodolfo nodded grimly. “That’s not all. The sun fae had an earth fada with them—the new alpha.”

  “Adric?”

  “Sim. I saw him myself.”

  “Hell.” Rui dragged a hand over his face. It was bad enough the sun fae had Dion, but for the Baltimore alpha to know the base’s location—that was a disaster. And even a fae couldn’t teleport somewhere he or she had never been—unless the fae had somehow received coordinates or a clear description of the location. The concealing spell should’ve prevented that sort of thing. What had gone wrong?

  Luis was speaking again. “We’ve heard nothing from the sun fae yet, but I’m sure Queen Cleia will contact us—or allow Dion to. You all got to know her these last two weeks. She’s a good woman. You know that. We would’ve scented the falseness on her.”

  Some of the clan nodded. Rui wasn’t one of them. As far as he could tell, the sun fae woman didn’t let much stand between her and her pleasure. He’d made sure to avoid her while she’d been at Rock Run. It was easy enough; Dion had kept her blindfolded to prevent her from accessing her magic. He’d walked right by Cleia several times without her knowing.

  But damn. Even wine-soaked as he was, he’d thought Dion had lost his mind. The queen was the most powerful fae in a clan of rich, powerful fae. His old friend had been playing with fire—and now he’d be lucky if he wasn’t consumed by the flames.

  Rui glanced across the room. Valeria had slipped into a seat a few tables away and was scowling at him. He didn’t need to see her lips move to know what she was thinking: Do something.

  He looked away. What the hell did she think he could do? He’d spent the past year somewhere between buzzed and full-out drunk. The last time he’d trained as a warrior had been two years ago. He was overweight and out of shape. The lowliest cadet could probably take him now.

  But as Luis continued to speak, the clan grew increasingly agitated. The loss of their alpha had sent shock waves through the hierarchy. Worse, no one knew how long he’d be gone. Already, some of the dominants were eying Luis, knowing that not only wasn’t he at full strength, his son Xavier was ill with the wasting disease that had taken several other children, causing Luis’s attention to be divided.

  Those lower in the dominance chain weren’t looking to challenge, but their distress was palpable. Someone near Rui muttered that without Dion, the clan was lost. Another worried that they would become trapped in endless dominance
challenges and vicious infighting like the Baltimore earth clan.

  “Listen to me.” Luis raised a hand for quiet. “I know you’re upset, but Lord Dion would expect us to stay calm.” Nods of agreement. “And as for the queen, this morning she tried to heal my Xavier. She said that it was just a temporary fix, but you all saw him at dinner. He’s eating again. He even shifted to otter and tried to slip away from his mama at bedtime.”

  A chuckle swept through the crowd, relieving some of the tension. They all knew that was a good sign; shifting took energy. If the boy could shift, he had energy to spare.

  “For that alone, I would die for the queen. So I’m going to trust she had a good reason for taking Dion with her.”

  “But what about the earth shifters?” It was Tiago, Dion’s youngest brother. “They’re probably preparing to attack right now. We have to do something, not remain in the base like sitting ducks, praying everything will be all right. You might trust the queen not to help Adric—but I don’t.”

  Rui lifted a brow. There was something about Tiago’s voice, as if he knew something he’s wasn’t telling. And it was odd, the comment about Cleia.

  Tiago had been the queen’s last Rock Run lover, although she’d sent him home as soon as she’d discovered how young he was—barely twenty-one. For the past couple of months the kid had moped around the base like a lovesick fool, his face so long even Rui had noticed. After her capture, Tiago had been one of the queen’s staunchest defenders, even clashing with his much older and dominant brother about her treatment. He was the last person Rui would’ve expected to argue against trusting Cleia.

  “Tiago’s right,” Teresa called. The only female tenente, she was a tall, wiry blonde known for her level head. “We should be preparing our defenses, not sitting here arguing. Everyone knows the Baltimore shifters want our land.”

  More people nodded. But others jumped to their feet, saying they shouldn’t just defend, but attack. And then people were shouting and snarling at one another in a way Dion would never have allowed.

  Luis shouted for calm, but the dominants ignored him. Ordinarily his cousin wouldn’t have stood for that—he hadn’t become second by being a pushover—but he was pale, tired, his mouth bracketed by strained lines. Rui had the impression he was holding himself upright by sheer willpower.

  Hell. Rui couldn’t stand by and watch the clan be pulled into a war. Nor could he let Luis be forced into a dominance challenge—not while he was weak from whatever Cleia had done to him and on top of that, worried sick about his son.

  He let out a low growl and strode forward. “Enough,” he said in a soft but carrying voice as he took his place beside his cousin.

  A few people glanced his way, but the shouting continued. He snarled, a vicious rasp that had every head in the hall snapping around. This time the silence was instantaneous. “That’s better,” he said in those same soft, dangerous tones. “Now sit the fuck down and listen.”

  “You heard him,” Luis said. His tone was harsh, but Rui heard his relief.

  One of the tenentes called out, “Why should we listen to do Mar? How do we know he wasn’t the one who gave the fae our location? Everyone else has been back for hours.”

  Several people muttered agreement. Rui growled low in his throat. The man who’d spoken was Davi, the youngest tenente and ambitious as hell. A hush fell as Rui stared at Davi until the younger man dropped his gaze and muttered, “Desculpe-me.”

  Rui nodded curtly. Putting his hands on his hips, he scanned the crowd, meeting the most dominant men and women’s gazes in turn until they recalled he’d once been Dion’s second—and their superior.

  “I may not have been much of a warrior in the past two years,” he said, “but I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone question my loyalty. I’ve been a member of Rock Run since Dion’s father first led us here from the old country. I’ve spilled blood for the clan—over and over. Hell, I’d slit my own throat before I gave away the base’s location—or betrayed my alpha. Does anyone here doubt that? Davi?”

  People averted their eyes, shaking their heads. Davi swallowed. “No, senhor.”

  Isa, one of the clan’s elders, spoke into the silence. “Rui’s right. We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for him and Dion and the other warriors who fought so hard to keep us safe—and made sure there was food in our bellies.”

  Several others murmured agreement.

  “Obrigado, senhora.” Rui inclined his head to Isa. “But what I did in the past isn’t important, except that it means I’ve earned your trust. What’s important is that we need to stop arguing and start planning. Shouting at each other plays right into the earth shifters’ hands. They’ve wanted our land for years, since the old alpha Dionísio’s time. The only reason they haven’t tried anything recently is that they’ve been too busy fighting among themselves.”

  “That’s true,” another elder stated.

  “Now that they have a new alpha,” Rui continued, “you can be damn sure they’ll be looking at our territory again. They know we’re weak without Dion. Hell, if I were them, I’d strike as soon as I could. They could be at our door by morning. The question is: are we going to be ready for them or are we going to be arguing among ourselves?”

  Mouths firmed, murmured, “We’ll be ready.”

  “He’s right,” Rodolfo’s deep voice boomed from the back. “Just a month ago, I saw Adric and two other earth shifters on our land. They looked as if they were measuring it for size.”

  “Over my dead body,” shouted a tenente. The dominants among the clan growled agreement, Davi the loudest.

  “And that wasn’t the only time,” Davi added. “Adric came back another time, left his scent mark right across the creek, not a half mile from the base.”

  “Good,” Rui said. “As for the sun fae, Luis is right. We all know Cleia has a thing for fada males. She probably took Dion back to Rising Sun to use him in her bed.” His lip curled. “She won’t hurt him—at least, not yet. If we attack first, the sun fae might simply kill him—or teleport him to the other side of the world. But I swear to you on the god Dionysus’s staff, we’ll get the alpha back.”

  “I’m with you, Rui,” a tenente called out.

  “Me too,” rumbled Rodolfo.

  Rui glanced at Luis. It was his cousin’s call. He was second, a position he’d won fairly, working hard for Dion and the clan while Rui had been wallowing in his own filth.

  Luis nodded. “Rui is Dion’s second. We all know my position was only temporary.”

  Rui’s throat constricted. He didn’t deserve such trust. “Obrigado,” he managed to say.

  Luis grinned and pulled him into a bear hug. “Welcome back, cuz.”

  Rui squeezed him back. “Idiota,” he muttered in a voice that only Luis could hear. “Plant your ass on a chair before you topple over.”

  His cousin scowled but obeyed.

  Rui took a deep breath and looked out at the sea of faces waiting for him to direct them. Deus, he wished he hadn’t drunk that wine tonight. The haze was gone, but his brain felt like warmed-over flan. For a moment his mind went blank, then his ten years as Dion’s second kicked in. The animal rose up to help steady him. He hadn’t listened much to the animal recently; the alcohol had drowned out its voice.

  “For tonight,” he said, “we’ll send a couple of men to Rising Sun, see what they can find out. Meanwhile, the rest of you, prepare for a battle—standard procedure. The earth shifters would love this base and the territory we control. It’s our job to make sure the cost is too great for them.”

  Luis came back to his feet. “You heard him. The tenentes and the top warrior cohort meet here with me and Rui. The rest of you either go to your assigned duties or your quarters.”

  Dismissed, the clan rose. The group of tenentes and warriors gathered around Rui. He looked around at the men and women awaiting instructions and felt that lump in his throat again.

  He swallowed hard. “Luis and I will go over your as
signments. But first, we need two volunteers to infiltrate the Rising Sun compound and find if that’s where they took Dion—and if so, exactly where they’re keeping him.”

  * * *

  The way back to Valeria’s apartment took her past the creche. She couldn’t resist a peek at the children. Merry was sitting in the circle with the rest, her thin face rapt as she listened to a story. Valeria had done her best to put some fat in those cheeks, but although the little girl was no longer painfully gaunt, she had a restless energy that kept her string-bean slim.

  The story ended with a ritual “…and they lived happily ever after.”

  Merry saw Valeria and dashed over for a hug. “Mama! What are you doing here?”

  Valeria swung her up into her arms. “I just came to make sure you’re being a good girl.”

  “Mama,” Merry replied in wounded tones.

  “Are you?” Valeria tapped her nose.

  Merry sighed, a teenager trapped in a seven-year-old body. “Yes, Mama Ria.”

  “That’s my girl.” Valeria gave her a kiss and set her back down. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

  “Okay.” Merry skipped off, calling to her friend Trina.

  Valeria hung around another few minutes to help the creche workers with the kids’ bedtime snack before heading back to her apartment, where she found Petros Okeanos outside her door, wearing only a pair of faded jeans and a smile, a bottle of wine in his hand. It was obvious what he was here for.

  The two of them had been flirting for weeks. Sabela couldn’t understand what was holding Valeria back.

  Valeria wasn’t sure herself. The man was hot and a little wild, with curly dark hair and a hard, muscled body. Even better, he was just passing through, a Mediterranean sea fada on a visit from Greece. Sex with him would be just for fun. No one’s heart would be left cracked and bleeding when he headed back across the Atlantic.

  So what was stopping her?

  “Hello, glika,” he said in a thick Greek accent and indicated the bottle in his hand. “I brought you some wine.”