by Camryn Rhys
* * *
Aria closed the bathroom door and leaned against it. She let her gaze fall on Francis. He’d taken a seat in one of the chairs across from the bed.
“Is everything okay?”
“On top of Reyna’s absence, I know you’ve felt slighted by Rain’s return and my assigning him as head enforcer.” Francis took a slow breath. “I love you like my own daughter, Aria. You know I do. You’ve lived with Reyna and I since we lost your parents, Rain’s parents, and my wife in that tragic accident and I can’t imagine that big house at home without at least one of you in it.”
Aria’s chest tightened. He was talking like he was releasing her from the position of enforcer or sending her somewhere. “I—” What was there to say? She loved him too. He’d been her father and her alpha for a decade. Their closeness was why she’d assumed when Reyna left to be with Allan, that she’d automatically become his second-in-command. But a day after Reyna told her father she was staying in Somewhere, Rainier had appeared, immediately filling the void she left.
“I knew it would be difficult when Reyna went so suddenly. And I know my bond with Marco happened without speaking to you first and—”
“Aria.” Francis raised his hand to quiet her outpour. “I trust you as much as I trust Reyna. You were raised to embrace your wolf and the magick that surrounds us. Neither one of you would ever choose to bond with a man who wasn’t Fated for you. It’s in your blood.”
Relief poured through Aria’s body. She’d been worried he would be angry, or worse—disappointed.
“Thanks to Marco’s mother, we have a lead to follow and the alphas will be discussing plans for sending out a group of enforcers. I wanted to speak with you ahead of time so you knew where my heart was. You would be the obvious choice for me to send.”
Air whooshed from her lungs. Leave? She should’ve been excited, but a clammy, sick feeling curled in her belly instead.
“I would like to send Rain in your place. And I would like you to bring Marco back to New Orleans to stay with us. He needs time to learn what it means to be a wolf and who better than his mate to teach him.”
The nausea passed and relief once again unlocked her stalled-out heart.
Francis smiled. “I can tell that scenario appeals to you. I had hoped you would feel that way, but I wanted to be sure. I am willing to send you, if that is what you wish. You are a strong and capable enforcer for the pack, Aria. I value you and your ability, never doubt that.”
Her head was shaking before the words spilled out. “Send Rain.”
Francis nodded. “Have you spoken with Marco about returning with us?”
“Only just.”
The door opened behind Aria and Marco stepped out, a towel wrapped tightly around his waist. The whole nudity-isn’t-a-big-deal would take some getting used to —that and the fact that privacy didn’t really exist. Sure some pairs chose to live in their own homes, separate from extended family, but most members of the New Orleans pack lived in a large renovated hotel. If your mother’s cousin’s brother and his wife weren’t down the hall, they were usually only one floor up or down. She’d lived there her whole life until her parents had died. After that, Francis had moved her in with him, along with Rainier and the rest was history. The enormous St. Charles house had been their home ever since.
Mostly, wolves preferred to live together. At least hers did. And it was safer for everyone. Aria couldn’t imagine living alone how Marco had for all these years. The isolation would’ve driven her mad.
“I want to be with Aria. If that means moving to New Orleans, then so be it.”
“Good. I look forward to getting to know you, son.” Francis stood. “I’ll let you two get dressed. The summit is meeting in half an hour and there are things both of you will want to be present to hear before we dismiss to leave.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m going to go speak with Rain. He doesn’t know any of this yet.” Francis opened his arms. “I’m sorry I withdrew when Reyna left. Just when you needed me more than ever. My sweet Aria.”
She stepped into his arms and nuzzled against his shirt a few seconds longer, soaking up the fatherly affection she hadn’t realized she’d desperately needed. The pack-to-alpha bond between them vibrated with life and she breathed deeply, peace enveloping her completely for the first time since they’d left Somewhere, Texas.
Now her focus could shift to where it truly belonged.
Marco.
Chapter Thirteen
She and Marco slipped quietly into the conference room and walked to the far wall where Rain and a couple of other enforcers stood listening.
“What’s going on?” Aria asked, slipping into an opening between the corner wall and Rain.
Rain shook his head. “His mother is recounting what she remembers, for the full summit.”
“She was stolen when she was just a kid. Before puberty,” the female standing on the other side of Rain whispered, a trace of a Boston accent filtering through—the Cavanaugh enforcer. “And there were others.”
Aria’s eyebrows rose. Grabbing the girls young made sense. A wolf before puberty was unbonded to their pack alpha. And a familial bond, unlike the infinite alpha or mate bond, could only reach about a mile.
Mary began speaking again and Marco tensed. His heart rate quickened.
The details his mother was sharing were enough to make even the most steeled enforcer feel ill. Aria was no exception. She thanked the gods this monster hadn’t stolen girls from their pack.
“One of the women slipped us a key one night and told us to run. She gave us the name of a church and a priest who would help us. We were so terrified, but anything was better than staying. Anything. Even death.”
“You told us that you and Lupe were both pregnant by this same man?” Another alpha spoke. His voice cracked, emotions bleeding into the room—anger, pain, fear.
“Yes, and Gabriella. All three of us were. But there were others who weren’t pregnant, at least they weren’t aware of a pregnancy yet. Seven of us ran together.” Mary took a deep breath. “Because we were pregnant, the priest helped us get into America. He helped all the others leave the continent.”
“And all seven of you were wolves,” the Cavanaugh alpha said.
Mary nodded. “Yes. The seven of us and our mothers belonged exclusively to him. But there were so many…so many we left behind.” She blinked and wiped her eyes again. “We had to hide. To never go back to a pack. He has eyes everywhere.”
Air rushed from Aria’s lungs. All pregnant by the same man. That meant Elise and Marco were half siblings. And that there could be more out there. A lot more.
“That’s why you were so afraid of Teresa when she met you in the market.” The Vegas alpha’s statement hung in the air for a moment before Mary confirmed it with a quick nod.
“We couldn’t trust wolves. Wolves kidnapped us.”
The room fell silent. The tension was palpable and Aria fidgeted uncomfortably next to Marco and Rain.
The Cavanaugh alpha stood from his seat at the table. “The alphas have met through the night to determine the best course of action, given this new information. We’ve called you here to announce our plans.”
He turned to Elise, who stood along the far wall with her mate. “Elise Blanchard and Marco DiSanti, you are the first wolves we’ve encountered that do not belong to a pack. What this man did to your mothers is unconscionable and against everything being a wolf signifies. You have my word and the word of every other alpha in this room. Justice will be served.”
Aria’s stomach clenched.
The Cavanaugh alpha looked straight at her. “New Orleans has put a claim on Marco and he will be bonded to the Dubois pack upon returning to their territory. His sister Elise has already bonded to the pack family in Somewhere, Texas. For Mary—”
The Vegas alpha stood and waved down the Boston alpha, quieting his declaration. Cavanaugh always played the part of the king, given that his pack w
as the oldest and richest in America, but he wasn’t a king. Moonbound wolves recognized no king. It was good Francis had spoken to them before the meeting, instead of Marco getting blindsided with it.
“Mary has agreed to bond to our pack so we can protect her if the need arises, but she will be allowed to remain autonomous with her human family with pack interaction only on full moons,” Rivera said, before dropping back into his seat.
“Very well,” Cavanaugh said. “The alphas have discussed these matters in light of Mary’s information. A plan has been formulated.”
* * *
Marco’s mother backed away from the table, taking Teresa’s offered hand. The big man with a Boston accent kept talking about some plan to go to Guadalajara, and started naming families. Each one stood until there were ten.
“In order to determine the extent of the mistreatment of wolves, and the breeding of unbonded wolves, we must discover the identity of this man and put a stop to his activities, if they continue.” The man continued to speak, but Marco found himself drawn away from Aria’s side.
His mother walked with Teresa out the side door of the conference room and he noticed Elise follow her, also leaving her mate. Marco did the same.
“Mary!” Elise called, once they were in the hall. Marco closed the door behind him and froze in place as his mother turned to face Elise. “Please. Tell me what you know of my mother.”
Tears melted his mother’s face and she gripped Teresa’s hand for support. “I don’t know anything other than what I said in that room,” she said. “I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more.”
“You don’t know how she got to New Orleans? Or anything about the church where I was found?”
Mary shook her head. “I came here after we escaped, and it was important that none of us saw each other. I wish I could help you.”
Elise looked around the hallway with deflated eyes, and they locked on to Marco. She seemed to need something from him, although he wasn’t sure what it was. He could no longer tell one wolf’s energy from another, unless Aria was near. He would have to work on understanding the different bonds.
But he reached for Elise’s hand. “You have a family now,” he said.
Her own eyes teared, and she swallowed hard. “Jared keeps telling me that. I just wish I could have known my mother.” She took his hand, squeezing it. “You’re so lucky you grew up with your mother.”
Marco tipped his head and tried to smile at her, but he wasn’t there yet. Elise was probably a great person, and perhaps after getting to know her better, he wouldn’t want to plant her six feet under for saying that. Or maybe that was just what siblings always felt about each other.
He wouldn’t know.
“Marco grew up without a mother, too.” Mary’s gaze gleamed as she looked at him. “In many ways.”
But instead of the vehement anger that he expected, Marco grimaced almost on her behalf. “Could I have a moment alone with her?” he whispered, trying to keep his calm in front of the strangers whom he’d discovered were his family.
Teresa took Elise in much the same way she’d taken Mary, and they were soon out of sight. Marco rubbed his hand across his face.
“You could have told me,” he said. “But now I think I get why you didn’t.”
Mary reached for him. “It will never stop hurting, Marco.”
He glanced at her hand and held himself back for a long moment. Listening to his mother talk about her ordeals, and what life had been like for her before they came to Nevada… He wished he’d known these things when he was learning about his wolf. He wished he’d had someone like Carl to guide him, and someone like Teresa to mother him.
But he hadn’t. He’d had Mary. He finally reached for her hand. Relief etched across her face like a waking sunset.
“How do you know it never stops?” he found himself asking.
“It’s been my whole life, and it’s never really stopped.” She squeezed his hand. “I hope you can at least understand why I never told you.”
“Will you be safe enough? With Carl to protect you?”
Her dark eyes took on a sad slant. “It was never really me that I was worried for.” She reached for his face and touched the side of his cheek with a light fingertip. “Adrian wants you. He wants Elise. And if there are others, he will want them.”
“Then why not send me to Carl when I was a boy?”
Mary shrugged. “I didn’t know them. Adrian told us that all the packs would shun us, and that we would never be welcome because we didn’t have a family, other than him.”
Marco rolled his head from side to side. “He was a piece of work.”
A bright light twinkled in Mary’s eye. “You are nothing like him, my son.” She pointed back toward the conference room. “You should go back and be with your new mate. With your new family.”
Marco’s brows drew together. “You will always be my mother.”
A lance of pain creased her features and Mary’s tears flowed again. “I’m glad you found me, Marco. I see now that I was wrong to keep you from a pack. You have come alive.”
“That’s all Aria,” he said. “She is hard to read and she’s headstrong, and she never—ever—listens to me, and she makes every part of me alive.”
“She sounds like someone I know.” Mary squeezed his hand. “You be well, my son. I will always love you.”
Marco nodded and watched her walk down the hall to join Teresa. She was small and moved more slowly than she used to, but she still had the same resilient heart. Part of him was even glad she would get to stay with her human family.
He had long ago learned not to begrudge life her caprice. The things that seemed to bring heartache one day might bring a blessing the next. He may have grown up with a hard mother and with some kind of psychopath for a father, but it had brought him to Aria and he wouldn’t wish that away for all the white picket fences in the whole world.
Marco slipped back into the conference room just as a group of people were walking forward to stand at the front of the room. Rain went along, and the redhead from Boston, along with several he didn’t recognize. He found Aria quickly and slipped along the wall next to her. He grabbed her hand.
“You’re smiling like the wolf in the hen house,” she said with a laugh. Marco leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, pausing for a moment to nuzzle the soft flesh of her neck.
“I saw you standing there. I couldn’t help it.”
Aria raised one eyebrow. “Did you speak to your mother?”
“All work and no play,” he said, nipping the flesh below her ear.
“Well, if you did speak to her, I declare a miracle.” Aria pushed him away from her neck. “They’ve selected the group to go to Mexico.”
“I see we’re not in it.” Marco nodded at the formidable group at the front of the room.
“Francis thinks it’s best if you come back to New Orleans with me.”
“For once, I agree with Francis.” Marco went back to kissing the flesh of her neck. There was a round of applause, and he smiled into her skin. “Yes, I agree, I am pretty good at neck-biting.”
“I’m serious, Marco.” Aria came to stand in front of him as the crowd milled around them. “I know we haven’t talked about it much, but…”
“I’m ready,” he said, meeting her eyes. “I’m ready to be part of a pack.”
“Just like that?” One of her brows rounded. “Seems fishy.”
Marco pulled her into his body. “It’s really just a ruse to get you into bed.” He kissed down her throat, then up again, and he could feel her laugh beneath his lips.
“That’s a ruse I can get behind.”
Epilogue
Three months later
New Orleans, Louisiana
Light glinted off every stainless steel surface in the kitchen as Marco flicked the switch and uncovered Aria’s eyes. Her long, dark hair made a trail behind her as she spun in a circle.
“Oh, baby,” she cooed. “You reall
y cleaned this place up.”
Marco slipped his arms around her waist. “I did, didn’t I?”
She leaned back against his chest. “I have to say, when Francis brought me here before Christmas, I didn’t think it was salvageable.”
“Needed some major gutting,” he said. “Katrina did a number on this place.”
“Last major damage in Holy Cross. I think Francis was just as excited about restoring this old Creole church as he was about giving you a place to cook.”
He shrugged. “It fits the character. Although my mother would probably accuse me of blasphemy with my fine dining restaurant in a gutted-out narthex.”
“It’s very New Orleans.” She turned in his arms and met his eyes. “That’s the first time you’ve mentioned your mother since we got back from Vegas.”
Marco was about to wiggle out of her grip, but he could tell by the narrowing of her eyes, she meant to make him answer the hidden question. Why suddenly talk about your mother? He smelled the chocolate soufflé, almost ready by his watch, and thought again about escaping her, but her arms were too tight around him.
“She’s very religious, that’s all.” He kissed her forehead. “Come on, Aria. I need your opinion on the soufflé.”
“Marco.” She caught his hand as he tried to walk away. “Why bring up your mother?”
“Babe. There’s a fine line between under-baked and over-baked, here. I want you to taste the soufflé when it’s perfect.”
Aria released him. “Fine, take the damn thing out of the oven.” She pointed at him “But you’re gonna tell me why you brought up your mother.”
A short sniff of a laugh escaped his nose. Aria was so aware of every moment of his life these days, with the moon approaching, and with the restaurant opening. He loved that she cared enough to pay attention, but the no-private-thought-or-feeling thing was still new to him, even after three months.