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Chapter Fifteen

Xochil

I was exhausted, but after the way Aline reacted to Miguel shifting, I knew my day was anything but over. We needed to have a longer talk than my idiotic way of addressing what I was. I knew I hadn’t done a good job of explaining from the moment the words left my lips, but after learning she thought I was telling her I was a furry, I realized just how badly I fucked up the most important conversation of my life.

We also needed to get her grandmother to safety. Aline had been calling her every ten minutes, hoping to wake her up, but the woman was either a dead sleeper or already in the hands of Benicio. According to Aline, she usually turned off her cellphone because she didn’t know how to silence the ringer, but it could still mean she was already in danger without anyone there to protect her.

I was desperate to talk to Evie, Zi and Adrien, the tech wizards in my family, and see if they could figure out a way to communicate with her grandmother.

“Cory?” Aline’s voice brought me out of the long list of things to do as I was exiting the SUV.

I wasn’t surprised to see Cory at Guardian Moon, but I was surprised to see him here at this hour. He was walking toward us with Evie at his side. She was holding Annie while Cory was pushing a stroller with the twins.

‘I texted him earlier. I thought it might help Aline come to terms with everything,’ Dad mind-linked to explain.

I could kiss my father, but right now, I was waiting with bated breath to see how she reacted to seeing Cory.

“Hey, Aline. Fancy meeting you here,” Cory waved sheepishly.

“What are y—how do yo—Are you a werewolf, too?” she finally asked.

“I am. I’m Xochil’s cousin, actually,” he answered.

“Evie?” Aline asked his mate next.

“Guilty. I’m also a werewolf, which means our kids are, too,” she answered, motioning to the sleeping pup in her arms.

Aline looked dumbfounded. I could see how her world was shifting on its axis, and I wished I could make it all better for her.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. It’s kind of rule number one for us,” Cory told her, looking a little guilty.

“But, Xochil told me. Is she going to be in trouble?” Aline asked, suddenly looking concerned, and my heart soared at her worry for me.

Cory shook his head and looked at me, a clear question on his face.

“I told her,” I assured him. “But I don’t think she understood what it means.”

“I know you’re a werewolf. I saw Miguel transform,” she huffed.

“Human mates are the exception to the rule. We’re allowed to reveal our true nature to our mates,” Cory explained.

“She called me that earlier. What does it mean?”

“Why don’t we go inside and talk more thoroughly? Cory and I can explain while Evie gets the information she needs to help your grandmother,” Mom suggested as she walked over to my mate. “I’m Natalia, but you can call me Nat. I’m Xochil’s mother.”

“Oh, hello. Geez, you look like you’re her age,” Aline blurted, and then slapped a hand over her mouth.

Mom laughed, and I rolled my eyes. Of course, she looked my age. She hadn’t aged in over seven hundred years. I’d be an old lady one day, and she’ll still look like she’s in her late twenties. Well, at least I think I would be. I didn’t know what my lifespan was going to look like.

I sighed as Mom and Cory led my mate away, though I felt a little bit of hope surging through me when she turned before entering the pack house and shot a small, nervous smile my way.

“Come on. We need to help her grandmother, or getting her to accept you is going to be the last thing she can think about,” Dad told me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

His words made me sober up and nod. Keeping her grandma safe had to be my first priority. I didn’t want my mate to lose the last family she had left.

“So, fill me in,” Evie started the moment we were in the conference room, and I couldn’t help but giggle when she pulled out her laptop from the diaper bag she was carrying. “What? I can multitask, you know?”

“You are Superwoman,” I told her honestly.

The woman was a genius and an amazing mother. I was always in awe of all the work she got done as Luna of Crescent Moon and for Salonen Security Industries, while still being an incredible mother.

“But give me Annie while you work,” I told her, stretching my hands to grab my cute little niece.

Evie chuckled and let me take her pup from her while I explained everything.

“Do you have her address?” Evie asked while I sat down with Annie on my lap.

I nodded, pulling out the phone that had texted the address to Benicio. Evie became silent as she started working on her laptop. In the meantime, I was playing with Annie. She was a cute little pup. She looked just like her mama, though she had Cory’s blue eyes. As she gurgled and cooed, I started thinking about Aline. Would she want pups? I’d never really given it much thought before because I’d never really allowed myself to think about what life with my mate would look like.

‘How’s it going, Mom?’ I reached out to my mother.

‘You really didn’t explain anything to her, did you?’ she replied in her you’re-in-trouble mom voice.

‘She didn’t really give me a chance. I had to beg her not to send me away,’ I responded, feeling a flash of pain as I remembered the way she’d asked me to leave last night.

I had never been one to beg, but thank the goddess I did. If I hadn’t been there when they showed up, she might have gotten hurt.

‘Mija, whatever you’re feeling, stop it. Aline is rubbing her chest as if it hurts,’ Mom chided.

‘She can feel my emotions? But I haven’t completed the mating? And she’s human.’

I knew mates could feel it without it, but only if it was extreme emotions like fear and injuries, and I didn’t think humans could sense that.

But we know she’s not a normal human. We don’t know what she might feel, Erinda reminded me.

‘She’s feeling it, so stop it. It means she cares for you already, ’ Mom told me before she cut off the mind-link.

“Good morning, ma’am,” Evie’s voice brought me out of my small bubble of hope. “We’re trying to get in touch with Mrs. Araujo, but I’m afraid we haven’t been successful.”

Portuguese came out of the speaker, and I raised my eyebrows when Evie answered back.

“I’m afraid she keeps her phone off at night, but this is an emergency. She’s in grave danger. Could you please head over and wake her up? Her granddaughter needs to speak with her, preferably in a home that isn’t her own.”

The woman on the other side said something on the phone, and Evie didn’t waste a moment.

“I’m afraid it’s a matter of life and death. Her granddaughter can explain more once Mrs. Araujo can call her from someplace safe.”

There was a bit of silence, and then the woman spoke again.

“Thank you so much. I’ll make sure her granddaughter is ready for the call,” Evie replied.

The line went dead, and Evie smiled at us.

“I didn’t know you spoke Portuguese,” Dad told her.

“Oh, I don’t. I was using a translator for my side of the conversation, and the computer was translating for me,” she told us, turning the laptop around to show us the translated dialogue of the phone call.

“Fuck, you’re clever,” I chuckled, making her blush.

“I already told Cory that Aline is going to get a phone call in a bit,” she said, shutting down her laptop and putting it back in her bag. “We should go see how it goes so we can figure out what to do after.”

We followed after her, not even bothering to ask where they were. All three of us followed the bond to our mates. Evie knocked when we got to one of the conference rooms, and opened the door after Mom called for us to enter.

“Aline, your grandmother will be calling you in a few minutes,” Evie stated.

“Cory just told me you got in touch with her neighbor. Thank you so much. I don’t know how I can possibly thank you,” Aline replied.

“That’s what family is for,” Evie answered without a second thought.

I was so happy to see her embracing my mate, even if my mate had yet to accept me. Mom took Annie from me. We were all suckers for my cousins’ kids. I looked at Aline’s visible shock at Evie’s words, and I was about to ask her if she was okay when her phone began ringing.

“Avó, are you safe?” Aline asked when she answered on the second ring, putting it on speakerphone.

“I was until I got woken up, baby. What’s going on?” An older woman’s voice floated out of the speaker.

Despite the worry on her face, Aline chuckled for a moment before she got serious.

“They found me, Avó, and they have your address. You need to get somewhere safe until I can bring you back to the US.”

“I’m an old woman, Aline. I’m not moving again.”

“But, Avó—”

“Are you safe?”

“Yes, I am. I need to g—”

“Don’t worry about me, child. That’s my job. I’ll be fine. Are you leaving Arizona?”

My heart sank at the question. She couldn’t leave.

“I can’t, grandma. I have a restaurant to run. My home is here. My life,” she finished a little quieter, her eyes flickering to me.

“Then, there’s only one thing to do,” her grandmother replied.

“What?”

“He’ll leave you alone if he gets me, Aline. I can do this last thing for you.”

“Avó, no!” Aline said, standing up, and then she switched to speaking in Portuguese.

She was arguing and getting more desperate. I could feel her fear blasting down the bond, and I didn’t know how to help her, because I couldn’t understand a fucking word. I was about to ask Dad to tell me what was happening when he stood from his seat and walked over to Aline, asking for the phone.

Aline passed it over with a shaky hand, and I was up and out of my seat the moment I saw the tears in her eyes. I pulled her close, guiding her over to one of the seats, but when I went to pull away, she pulled me closer, burying her face into my chest and letting out a sob.

I rubbed her back soothingly and prayed to the goddess that we could fix whatever was going on.

“Tchau,” (goodbye) I heard Dad say, before he sighed and placed the phone in front of Aline.

“Alright, I’ve convinced her to go to a hotel. Cory, my jet is in Europe at this moment. Can we use yours?”

“Of course,” Cory answered right away, and Aline finally picked up her face from where it was lying on my chest.

“Are we going to go pick up Avó?”

“Afraid not,” Dad answered. “Your grandmother is determined to end this for you. She wants to turn herself in so they give up on having you.”

“No,” Aline whimpered.

“She’s giving us a chance to stop them before she does it. So, let’s get a few hours of rest while the plane gets ready,” Dad told her.

I was going to open my mouth to say the plane would probably be ready by the time we got back into the city, but stopped at the look Dad gave me.

“Set an alarm for nine. We’ll leave at ten. I’ll get some of our people together and have Adrien find out what they can about this Benicio fella.”

“Wher—” Aline started to ask, but knowing what she needed, I interrupted her.

“You can sleep at my place,” I told her, pulling her up from the chair so she wouldn’t get a chance to say no. If she chose to sleep in a different room, I would end up sleeping outside her room. I needed her with me.

“We’ll see you guys in a few hours. It’ll all be okay, Aline. Xochil won’t let anything happen to you,” Cory said, grabbing Annie from Mom and leaving with Evie and his pups.

Aline nodded hesitantly, and everyone dispersed, leaving just the two of us in the conference room.

‘Good luck, Alpha,’ came from Miguel.

‘Can you have someone bring our vehicles back?’

‘Already done,’ he replied.

‘You’re going to be the best beta,’ I told my cousin.

‘Awww, shucks. Don’t make me cry,’ he said, making me chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Aline asked me.

“Miguel,” I told her, and held out my hand.

I was relieved when she took it, and I guided her up to my apartment. Mom and Dad still lived on the alpha floor, but the right side was set up as individual apartments and guest suites. I had a two-bedroom for the time being.

I guided her in and let her look around. The apartment had a collection of souvenirs and mementos from all of my travels. It was an eclectic mix of color and comfortable furniture.

I wanted to give her all the time in the world to look, but we had less than four hours to talk and figure things out before getting into a plane where we wouldn’t have any privacy.

“Your mom explained what a mate means,” Aline surprised me by breaking the silence first.

I wasn’t sure how to answer her. It wasn’t a question, but she was looking at me as if expecting an answer.

“Oh,” was all I could think to say, and she turned away from me.

“She explained how packs work. That you’re going to be the alpha, the one in charge of everyone, and why your family called me Luna a few times now.”

I could only nod, because it didn’t feel like she was done, and she was still not looking at me, so she wouldn’t even see it. She was quiet for a few minutes as she perused one of my shelves full of trinkets, before she finally turned to look at me.

“What I want to know is what do you want with me? What is your plan? What is it that you expect from me?”

“Nothing,” I answered honestly, thrown off by her line of questioning, and she scoffed.

“Really? Because you keep talking about keeping me. You keep talking about forever, and yet, you live here. You have a life here. Two hours from my business. You want forever, and you expect me to believe you’re going to give up everything that being here means to move to Phoenix to be with me?”

“Ask the real question, Aline,” I ordered her, understanding where she was going with this.

“What are you going to do, when you realize I’m not leaving my restaurant to be this Luna everyone expects me to be?” she asked.

My heart sank and broke all at once, and Erinda howled in the back of my head. But I’d already thought about it as I watched her sleeping, and I had already made my decision.

“If you’re willing to accept me, I’m prepared to speak with my father and give up my role as alpha. I will follow you anywhere,” I answered her.

Aline’s eyes opened wide and then narrowed.

“You expect me to believe that you’re going to leave your people—leave the role you were born to fill, your job, your destiny—to own a restaurant with me?”

“You would let me help at the restaurant?” I asked, surprised.

That place was her baby.

Aline stuttered in response, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long for her to continue.

“You’re really going to do this? Leave everything you know for me?” she asked.

“You said Mom explained to you what a mate was?” I asked her, cocking my head to the side. “She explained you were the other half of my soul? The most precious gift to a werewolf? The most sacred?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“So then, why does it surprise you that I would give up everything for you?” I asked her.

“But…” she trailed off for a moment. “You can’t do that,” she finished in a whisper.

I walked over to her and made her look into my eyes.

“Why can’t I?”

“Because…” she answered, swallowing hard and blinking back tears. “Because…” she tried and failed again. “Because you just can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m just one person. You have hundreds of people depending on you.”

“My father has more children, Aline. All this would do is delay his retirement for a few more years.”

It would probably break his heart, but he would understand. He would do the same if Mom asked him to.

“You’d really give up all of this for me?”

“I would give up my life for yours,” I assured her. “All I want in return is your love.”

“You already have that,” she mumbled, and I knew by the way that her eyes widened and she slapped a hand to her mouth, that she hadn’t meant to say it.

Erinda howled jovially in the back of my head, and hope sprouted inside me as I let her words wrap around me. She hadn’t actually said she loved me, but it was as good as a declaration as I could have hoped this early from her. Maybe Mom was right, and I shouldn’t assume I know what she can feel from the mate bond.

“Come on, mate,” I told her, giving her an out for the moment. “Let’s go to sleep. We have a long flight in just a few hours, and then probably a few long days ahead of us.”

“But, I don’t have anything to wear, my passport is back in my house, and I’m in my pajamas,” she told me.

“If I know Mom, that will all be fixed before we leave. Come on. We haven’t slept very much.”

I guided her to my bedroom and tucked her in. As I turned to go to the kitchen to grab my tablet’s charger for her phone and a couple of waters, she pulled on my wrist.

“Are you not staying with me?”

“I’m grabbing you a charger and some water. I’ll be back shortly,” I assured her.

“Oh,” she answered and looked away, clearly embarrassed.