Page 37 of Anaki

“¡Dios Mio! Mierda! What is wrong with you! He has thrown everything at you! Is your pussy broken! Ay!” Abuela lay back on the sofa, my son’s ears covered by Tajah, who held back a smile.

“I’m going to die without seeing my daughters with their soul mates. I’ve given you everything on a silver platter, and none of you will accept it. Are you trying to bring dishonor to me? Why? Why was I cursed with ungrateful granddaughters?” she wailed. “I danced naked for nothing.”

“Abuela!” I screamed. “You stop this nonsense right now! I have stayed quiet and gone along with all this!” I waved my arms around the cabin. “I have done quite well not freaking out about this supernatural shit, leaving our home, being here and now you are upset I am not flirting with a supposed dragon? What is wrong with you? I have a son! I have a debilitating illness! I have a family to look after! Our future—”

“Bullshit!” Abuela stood up and marched toward me, the other chancla in hand. She shoved it close to my face. “Anaki is perfect for you! In every way, he is your match.”

I gritted my teeth. “Why would he want someone as broken as me? With the past I have? The doubt, the pain, the suffering. When he is so perfect?”

The room fell silent. Darkness threatened to swallow it whole. Not even my son's quiet footsteps could be heard as I felt him hug my side. He knew his biological dad was a wicked man. I never told him the extent because he didn’t need to know. He knew he was safe from him, that he was gone, and I had no intention of giving him a fatherly figure because I worried about his safety and mine.

“I like Anaki,” he whispered into my leg. “He’s a good man.”

I let out a shuddering breath. “It isn’t so simple, mijo.” I rubbed my hand into his soft hair. He was too young to understand.

“If I may,” Tajah interrupted. “While I am not your sister’s biggest fan, right now, I like you very much. You are much stronger than I expected, and I know some of Anaki’s past. You feel you are broken; most of the Iron Fang members are broken, too. Terrible pasts, heartbreaking, worth dying, they’re so terrible.”

Beretta squeezed Tajah’s hand in comfort.

“Anaki’s pain is deep, I sense it. He’s as scared as you are, but unlike you, he will fight and give what he feels for you a chance.”

Tears stung my eyes. He shouldn’t. I wasn’t worth it.

“Elena,” Abuela whispered. I shook my head, not wanting to listen. “I know you don’t want to hear me out. I hope you will. All those years tellingyou that you have a soul mate; you have one. Anaki is your soul mate. Your fated mate.”

I shook my head again. “You’re crazy.”

“Do you feel a pull toward him?” Beretta asked. “Can’t stay away, need him, he consumes your thoughts?”

I stared at her. That was lust. That is all it was.

“Why would we lie? This club full of misfits is real, yet you won’t believe this? When he touches you, what do you feel?”

“Stop,” I whispered. “This is insane.”

Abuela smirked. “You don’t have to believe it now. But be nicer to the boy. He’s trying hard. And watching him pine over you is damn near painful.”

My mouth dropped.

Beretta slapped her arms down on the chair she sat in. We all winced in surprise. “That’s it. Let’s go.”

“Go, go where?” I asked incredulously.

“Go get dressed, dolled up. We are heading out. You get to go watch Anaki at work. Let’s get the bond at work here. We haven’t been here to see the tension, but just those few minutes of witnessing it, I bet it’s stifling.”

Abuela nodded. “It is. Makes me hot and bothered.” She pulled on her blouse several times to get the air circulating. “If it wasn’t about my granddaughter getting laid, I might get a little turned on.”

I groaned and rolled my head back. This wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be happening. “I need to watch after Luis. We were going to play Uno, right, mijo?”

Luis shook his head. “No, you go ahead. I see you all the time. Some time apart would be nice.”

Shot to the heart.

Tajah played with her hair. “Ah, what comes out of the mouth of babes.I suggest you get ready. Put on something sexy. You won’t be able to get on the main floor with him, on account your sister will be there, but I’m sure he will smell you from afar. Dragon noses are powerful, and I’m sure he knows your scent.”

“M-my scent? He can smell me from far away?”

Beretta stepped toward me, her yellow eyes flashed. “Yes, your scent and your arousal. Tajah and I smelled it when you were both in the kitchen, and when Anaki bent over to pick up his bag. What were you thinking when you were staring at his ass?”