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Chapter Sixteen

Aline

D espite the information overload, the threat looming over my head, and my grandmother threatening to turn herself over to Benicio, I fell asleep almost instantly once Xochil was in bed.

Something about her being near, her scent surrounding me, soothed every worry away and helped me sleep.

The mate bond, her mother had explained.

I woke up to her phone beeping the alarm about half an hour before we were supposed to meet everyone downstairs to leave, and I found myself wrapped around my petite mate.

Mate. Soulmate.

It was still hard to wrap my head around the idea that a goddess had chosen me to be this incredible woman’s soulmate. And yet, I could feel the truth of the words. Ever since I met her, everything I knew about myself had flown out of the window. The biggest thing being how quickly I trusted her and her family. How comfortable I felt letting them in. How good she felt in my arms right now.

I felt like pouting when she stirred and snoozed her phone, because she pulled away from my embrace. I pulled her back against me when the loud siren turned off, making her chuckle.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Five more minutes,” I mumbled, throwing my leg over hers to keep her still.

I was much too comfortable to give up the serenity I was feeling in this moment. I knew the moment we got out of bed, everything that happened last night was going to come crashing down on me, overwhelming me and making me feel out of control.

Surprisingly, Xochil cuddled back against me instead of making us get out of bed, so I buried my face in her hair, inhaling that wonderful smell I was told was unique to her. Her fingers started caressing the leg I had over hers with a barely-there touch, prompting a shiver to run through my body as I felt static bursting from her touch.

I placed my hand over hers to stop her, and she stilled. Her entire body tensed when I didn’t let her hand go, and I could almost hear the thoughts running through her head. She thought I was rejecting her touch.

“You can’t start what you can’t finish,” I whispered in her ear. “There’s zero chance we can get everything I want to do to you done in five minutes.”

“Is that a challenge, mate?” she asked, her breathing becoming heavy and shallow.

“I would never challenge an alpha, Xochil,” I assured her, and felt her tense again. “I’m simply telling you that I need more than five minutes when I finally get to taste you, because I plan to savor every inch of you.”

She let out a small whimper when I pulled her ear into my mouth, biting down on it lightly to give her a tiny bit of pain—a sampling of what I planned to do to her later.

“What if I want to taste you?” she asked.

“Not until I have you,” I answered, making her groan.

“That’s not fair.”

“Sure it is,” I chuckled, placing my hand on her breast, just because it was there and I wanted to feel it. “You got to see me naked, got to taste me, touch me, and do whatever you wanted to me. It’s only fair I get to do the same.”

Xochil whimpered in response when I pinched her nipple, and then sighed when her phone went off again. I sighed, too, and released her from my hold, feeling cold when her body moved away.

I sat up and looked around. I was too overwhelmed last night to really take in much of her place. It was a surprise to learn that her place was set up like an apartment, having thought she simply had a room in her parents’ mansion. There was even a full kitchen here.

I watched Xochil stand and go through a door, my eyes glued to her perky ass in lacy boy shorts peaking under the large shirt she’d worn to bed. She walked back in a few moments later with a few clothes and dropped them at the edge of the bed.

“I’m going to need some clothes, too,” I reminded her.

“Right,” she replied, and then her eyes did something weird. It looked like she was lost in her own thoughts, looking at nothing. She didn’t move for a full minute, and then she looked at me again. “There are clothes outside the apartment. I’ll be back in a moment.”

True to her word, she was back a few moments later with a bag full of clothing.

“How did you know?” I asked.

“I asked Mom,” she shrugged. “I told you this morning that she’d have it covered.”

“But how did you know it was there?”

“I asked Mom,” she repeated.

“How?” It seemed my last question finally struck something in her brain, because she walked over to me and sat down.

“Did Mom explain a mind-link?”

“A what?”

“A mind-link. A werewolf pack is connected. We can communicate with other members of our pack using our minds. It’s almost like telepathy.”

“Everyone can do this?”

“Only with the members of their own pack.”

“So, when you say you asked your mom, you meant you used that mind thingy?”

“Mind-link, yes.”

“And Miguel and Cory?”

“Miguel, yes. Cory is alpha of his own pack, so he can’t communicate with me via mind-link, but he can communicate with his own pack members.”

Something suddenly clicked in my head, and I gasped.

“So last night, when you knew without anyone telling you that it was safe to go into the house…” I trailed off.

“Dad mind-linked me to let me know things were under control. I wouldn’t have put you in danger for any reason,” she told me, her hand pushing back an errant curl on my face. Her eyes suddenly took on that faraway look again, and then she sighed. “We should shower and change, or we won’t be able to grab lunch before we leave.”

“Did someone just do the mind thingy?”

“Mind-link. Yep. Miguel told me the plane was ready, and we have a take-off window in a little over three hours, so we need to hurry. You can shower first,” she told me. “The shower is through the door there.”

I grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt, surprised to see the clothes were my size, and walked into the bathroom. It wasn’t huge, but it had a jet tub in the corner that I was sure my sore muscles would love. I turned on the shower and rinsed as quickly as I could. I was going to need some hair serums soon. My hair was very curly, and it was beginning to take on the look of a drowned rat.

After I exited the shower, I looked through Xochil’s cabinets. I found a couple of products I could use for now, but her hair wasn’t as coarse as mine, likely because she took after her dad more than her mom. Still, it was better than nothing, so I did what I could with my hair and walked back into the bedroom.

I almost dropped the clothes in my hands when I saw Xochil bending over a dresser drawer. She was only in her underwear, and as she straightened and turned toward me, I was disarmed by her beauty and smile. I couldn’t help but let my eyes roam her petite body, and I swallowed hard when I saw her taut stomach with the hints of a six-pack.

“You’re staring,” she told me, making me look back up at her face.

“I remember you staring when you removed my clothing,” I challenged, and she smirked.

“Fair. Stare all you want, mate. It all belongs to you,” she said, walking toward me.

There was no way her hips should be moving that much. It should be illegal for her to be allowed to do that, I thought as she passed by me, and I couldn’t help but turn and catch another glimpse of her delicious ass in her cheeky lacy underwear.

I groaned a little when I heard the shower start running. She’d left the door open a crack, and the temptation to run in there and watch her naked body being washed was almost too much.

I groaned again when I heard her giggle, knowing that she knew exactly what she was doing to me.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to pay her back for this torment, I thought, and felt my orixa nudge me happily.

I stopped on my way to the bed to grab my phone. One day? It felt as if I had already made up my mind to give in to this mate bond. Then, I thought about what I said to her when we woke up. It sure as hell sounded like I was planning on keeping her in my life. It was surreal to think that werewolves and magic were going to be a part of my normal life now, but at the same time, it somehow didn’t feel so daunting when I thought about what I would gain.

Even though I’d only known her a few days, Xochil made me feel so happy. Safe. Complete. She may have come into my life like a fucking hurricane—upending everything I knew and felt—but in her arms, it felt like home.

Besides, why wouldn’t I accept her? She was going to move to Phoenix to be with me. She wanted to help with the restaurant. She was offering me forever with her. What else could I ask for?

After this was all over, I would have to tell her. Tell her I wanted her. Tell her I loved her. Tell her I would let her claim me.

My hand went to my neck automatically. Cory had shown me the claiming mark his mate had left on him. He looked so proud and in love when he showed it to me. Was I really going to let Xochil leave a mark on me? So, everyone could see that she had claimed me? Lust shot through my body as I remembered how good it felt when she had almost bitten me that morning.

Yes. I guess I was willing to let her do that to me.

“Are you okay?” Xochil asked.

I turned around to see her standing at the entrance of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her small frame. My eyes watched a drop fall from her hair to her chest, and I followed it until it was absorbed by the towel. I smiled, I would tell her after we got back from Brazil.

“Yep. I’ll let you get dressed,” I told her, grabbing my phone and walking out of the room.

If I stayed while she changed, there was zero chance we were going to have time to have lunch.

I looked around at the items decorating her apartment to distract myself while she changed. It looked like she’d been all over the world. It had to be nice to be able to do that. I’d only been to Brazil a few times since we left, though that was mostly because we were afraid of people finding me. I finally had a name for the shadow in my life. Benicio. That’s who was responsible for the death of my parents.

“You ready, my love?” Xochil’s sweet voice quelled the rage I was beginning to feel.

My heart raced at being called her love, loving the way it sounded coming from her lips. I turned around, walked to her outstretched hand, and together we went down to a private dining room.

“Good morning. I hope you’re hungry,” Helios called out to us when we walked in. “We’ve got to head out in about twenty minutes, but there’s plenty of time for a good breakfast.”

He was seated at the head of a very long table, while Nat was sitting to his side. Two very attractive men were seated next to her. A man who looked very similar to Miguel was seated across from Nat, at Helios’ other side, and a gorgeous woman with light skin and remarkable, violet eyes was seated beside him with a baby on her lap. The rest of the table looked like a combination of their children, other than a slim-looking man who was also very light-skinned, seated between Miguel and another dark skinned man who looked a little older than the rest.

Xochil took my hand and led me to the two empty seats across from Miguel while I mumbled a shy hello to everyone as their eyes tracked my every move.

“Aline,” Helios called my attention to him when I was seated. “You know my mate, Nat. This is Theo and Sebastian,” he motioned to the men seated next to her. “They’re my gammas and Jacob’s parents.”

I nodded a hello to them. I met Jacob last night; he was a nice guy.

“This is Gonzalo and his mate, Kassie. They are my betas and Miguel’s parents,” Helios continued.

“I did guess that one,” I mumbled, smiling when everyone around me chuckled.

“The rest are our kids, but if we go around the table right now, we won’t get a chance to eat,” Helios chuckled. “They can do that when we’re back.”

I watched Xochil grab the tongs and start serving herself from the bowls of eggs, breakfast sandwiches and other kinds of food. Every time she was finished with a bowl, she would pick my plate up and serve me, though I had to remind her that my stomach wasn’t an endless pit so she would stop, making everyone laugh again.

In the short twenty-minute breakfast, I did get to know the men sitting to the left of Miguel: his brother Adrien, and his mate Elias. Elias was a quiet man, but Adrien was a big entity by himself. He was funny and smart and, I could already see, an incredibly kind and loving man. He liked teasing his brother Miguel about everything, but it was clear how much love they shared. Really, the entire table appeared to be a close family unit.

Once breakfast was finished, we walked toward a fleet of black SUVs waiting for us at the bottom of the steps.

“We’ll be taking about a dozen warriors with us, just so we’re not caught unprepared for anything,” Xochil explained when I saw people coming to meet us.

From our left, I saw Cory and Evie walking toward us, with more people accompanying them.

“Are you coming with us?” I asked him.

He smiled, but shook his head.

“Uncle Helios is going. I’m staying behind to make sure his pack and mine are protected while he’s gone. I’m sending Chris and Evie’s dad with you, though. Chris, you already know, and this is Evie’s dad.” He motioned to a slim gentleman who, if it wasn’t for the hint of pepper hair, I would think was closer to our age than a parent. “Evergreen Roswell is one of our top technology experts. There’s no one better.”

“Except for my daughter,” Evergreen corrected him, a proud look on his face as he looked at Evie.

“He’s been doing research on the people trying to hurt you and your grandmother, so you guys can plan a proper attack,” Cory finished.

“Thank you. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate everyone helping.”

“It’s what we do,” Evergreen answered.

He turned to the pretty woman at his side and kissed her, then began walking toward us.

“Please be very careful,” Cory came forward and gave me a small hug.

Evie did the same, but giggled when she pulled back. I wasn’t sure at what until I felt Xochil take my hand and pull me closer to her.

“Alpha werewolves are so easy to rile up,” Evie giggled, making Xochil grumble something I couldn’t catch under her breath, as her cheeks pinked.

“This will be interesting to watch,” Kassie said from the side with an amused smile. “She’s supposed to interact with a lot of women. It’s going to drive Xochil nuts.”

“It will not, Aunt Kassie,” Xochil countered, pouting. “Not after I’ve marked her, anyways,” I could barely hear her whisper, but everyone else seemed to have heard her just fine, and began laughing.

“Alright, we don’t want to be late,” Helios appeared to take pity on his daughter, and though I was a little confused about what everything meant, I let Xochil lead me to one of the SUVs.

“You’ve got the potions?” Sebastian asked, or was that one Theo?

“Yep,” Nat answered as she climbed into the front passenger seat. Once she was settled, she rolled down the window and addressed two young men keeping to the side of the crowd. “Behave.”

Both of them made a cross over their hearts, and I heard Helios groan. “I just hope they don’t fucking burn anything down.”

I laughed, making him smile as he looked at me through the rearview mirror.

“I love those boys of mine, but they are menaces. They are in a practical jokes phase, and sometimes they go a little over the top.”

Miguel climbed in next to me and buckled up. Once he was settled, he leaned in a little close and sniffed, but then shook his head and answered something his mother had asked him.

After a few more words of farewell, Helios turned the engine over, and we headed out with a few SUVs in front and a few behind us.

“I need my passport.” I reminded everyone.

“We’ll stop quickly for it,” Helios assured me, and I relaxed back into my seat.

“While we’re in Brazil, I would prefer if you remain at one of our sides, or with Chris,” Helios said halfway to Phoenix. “We each have gifts and can protect you better. Don’t get me wrong, every one of my warriors will protect you and your grandmother with their lives, but if we get ambushed or are at a disadvantage, I want you to remain close. Nat is a healer. Miguel has strength, Chris’ body is bulletproof, and Xochil and I can produce lightning.”

“Understood,” I answered.

I was trying not to sound surprised that they were so powerful, but the truth was, none of that mattered to me. I already trusted them to protect me. I would stick with them for that reason alone.

When we reached the city, our SUV veered off the convoy we were traveling in to go toward my house, while the others continued driving toward the airport. We reached my house, and I quickly packed an overnight bag and grabbed my passport and my purse. We arrived at the airport a little while later, and were ushered toward a private hangar. The warriors and Chris were already in the airplane, and it wasn’t long after we settled inside that we were in the air.