Claiming Valeria

by Rebecca Rivard

  “Come here.”

  She flushed, the color tinting her pale breasts in an interesting way, but obeyed. He drew her back onto his lap where she perched tensely, the fear scent overpowering.

  He growled lowly, but that made her go even stiffer. Damn it anyway.

  He hadn’t had a woman in over a month. At the bar he’d been more than ready, but now all she was arousing in him was his instinct to protect. Not exactly a turn on, especially since what she apparently required protection from was him.

  He tipped her chin up so she was forced to meet his eyes. “Why so afraid, menina? I don’t bite.” Not unless the woman asked nicely.

  “I’m not—”

  He placed a finger on her soft pink lips. “I can scent a lie.”

  Katie gulped and nodded. “S-Sorry. I just want to go, please.”

  A slap sounded across the room. Katie flinched and darted a glance at the tangle of bodies on the rug. The night fae was on the bottom, her pale buttocks marked by someone’s hand. Jorge speared his fingers in her black hair and jerked back her head. The night fae moaned, caught between pleasure and pain, and Katie pressed her hands to her mouth.

  Deus, what had he been thinking, to bring her here? It was like introducing a baby seal into a pool of killer whales. But she’d begged to go to a baccha and this was the closest thing these days.

  Rui opened his arms wide. “You’re not a prisoner here.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered and leapt from his lap.

  “De nada,” he muttered dryly but she was already out of the room. He pulled on a T-shirt and shorts and followed.

  Out of nowhere an intense uneasiness swept over him. He opened the front door and scanned the dusk, all his senses straining to detect anything out of the ordinary. Nothing, save for the young toughs hanging out on the corner. They knew what he was, were careful not to meet his eyes.

  Still uneasy, he shut the door.

  Katie emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed. At the sight of him waiting in the hall, her eyes widened and he scented another spike of fear.

  He blew out a breath. “Calm down, woman. I’m not letting you walk back to the bar alone in this neighborhood—especially not now that it’s getting dark.”

  She swallowed noisily and ducked her head. “Thank you.”

  He slid on a pair of sandals and exited first, sending a hard glance in the direction of the young humans on the corner that ensured they wouldn’t so much as look at Katie, before standing back and waving a hand toward the sidewalk.

  “After you, querida.”

  When he returned fifteen minutes later, the others were still at it. He considered joining them, but he was still on edge. He rubbed his nape, watching as Jorge crawled over Benny and nipped his ear with a rough tenderness.

  Rui’s brow raised. So that’s how it is. He’d known the two of them had been Cleia’s lovers at the same time, but he hadn’t realized that the two of them had become lovers as well.

  Beatriz lifted her head. Seeing he was alone, she rose from the tangle and came across the room to him, all smooth, dusky skin and sensuous curves, her full red lips curved in a bold, almost predatory smile.

  As she reached him, she shook her head in mock-dismay. “Did that silly little human leave you unsatisfied, meu amor?”

  He just looked at her. Undeterred, she interlaced her fingers around the back of his neck and rose on her toes to nibble at his lips, her lush body pressed against his from chest to thighs. Beneath his shorts, his cock sprang to life. Beatriz purred and rubbed her pelvis against him. With a growl, he gripped her bare ass and thrust his tongue into her mouth.

  Beatriz murmured contentedly and opened to him, sucking his tongue deeper and twining a long leg around his thigh.

  Without taking his mouth from hers, he kicked off his shorts and then hitched her higher so that both her legs were wrapped around him and walked with her until her back was against the nearest wall. He kissed her, hard and savage, his erection thrusting against her moist center. She moaned and dug sharp fingernails into his nape.

  Taking her hands, he set them against the wall on either side of her head. “Leave them there.” He set her down to drag off his T-shirt. She disobeyed him to run her palms over his bare torso. Busy fingers pinched his nipples, teased the wiry black curls on his chest.

  He grabbed her jaw and pressed her head against the wall. “I said, leave your hands on the wall.”

  She moistened her full lips and placed her hands back on the wall. “I’m sorry.”

  He kept one hand on her jaw and with the other, fingered a large rose-brown nipple. “This is what you want, sim?” He pinched, a bit too hard. “To be punished a little, hm?”

  “Goddess, yes.” She moaned, her musk saturating the air. “Punish me, Rui. Make me sorry.”

  Taking in her slit eyes, her dazed expression—from drink or drugs or both—his lip curled in disgust. Not at Beatriz—Lord knew, he had no right to sneer at anyone—but at himself. At the lazy, wine-soaked womanizer he’d become.

  “Rui?” She pouted up at him. “Is something wrong?”

  He shook his head. “Not a thing.” Grasping her ass, he hefted her higher and thrust into her. Hard.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Grr…yip…Yeow!

  Valeria glanced at the ball of pups rolling around on the rug: Merry, in her jaguar form, and Trina and Marco, her two best friends, as otters.

  “No claws and teeth,” she reminded them. The three halted long enough to nod, their furry faces the picture of innocence, and then with a mutual growl threw themselves back into the fray.

  Valeria shook her head, but she was smiling as she returned to the snack she was preparing in the kitchenette of her apartment. It was good to see the little ones enjoying themselves. The whole base was in an uproar. Their alpha, Lord Dion, had been kidnapped by the sun fae when they’d teleported into his quarters to rescue their queen, Cleia, whom he’d been holding prisoner. The children didn’t really understand what was happening, but they knew their alpha was missing and the adults tense, making them anxious as well.

  Marco and Trina’s parents, both warriors, had been called to duty, so Valeria had volunteered to take the children overnight. As a fisher, she wasn’t much use right now, but at least this way their parents wouldn’t worry.

  They had to get Dion back. She briefly closed her eyes. Maybe he shouldn’t have gone up against the sun fae, but she knew he’d believed he had no choice.

  She’d never forgotten how kind the alpha had been after word came that Rui had chosen to live with the sun fae queen. Valeria had waited a month, and then asked Dion for an apartment in the wing where her friend Sabela and her family lived.

  The alpha had given her a sympathetic look.

  She dug her fingernails into her palms. Sympathy she could take, but it was humiliating to see the pity lurking in his eyes.

  “You don’t have to move out,” he told her. “No one expects you to.”

  “Thanks, but I’d like to be nearer to my friends.” And she wanted out of Rui’s quarters. He was everywhere: his clothes in the dresser; his spicy male scent; the sturdy wood furniture…even the shaving gear on the bathroom shelf.

  Oh, yeah, she needed to move.

  “Then the apartment is yours.” Dion enfolded Valeria in his arms. Nothing sexual, just an alpha comforting one of his own. His scent enveloped her, calm and reassuring. He smoothed a big hand down her back and something in her loosened. In that moment, she knew she’d been fully accepted into the Rock Run clan.

  She sighed and rested her head on his broad chest. She’d felt so alone ever since Rui had left. Her parents had stayed a couple of weeks—her father had even offered to go to the sun fae and kick Rui’s ass for her—but they’d never intended to stay in America permanently. They’d urged Valeria to return to Portugal with them, but she’d seen how uncomfortable they were around Merry. Earth and water shifters were like oil and water, and on top of that, Merry had night f
ae in her as well. The Rock Run clan was younger, less steeped in tradition than the clans back home. Merry had a better chance of being accepted here.

  And Valeria hadn’t been ready to give up on Rui. Not then.

  So she’d stayed.

  Valeria realized she was staring down at the apple in her hand without moving. She resumed slicing, her stomach a knot of worry. Rock Run was hanging on by the skin of its teeth. The loss of the alpha could be a killing blow.

  A knock sounded on the front door, and Sabela poked her head inside. “Oh, good, you’re here.”

  She sauntered the rest of the way into the apartment with the languid grace of a pampered koi, tall and striking with black hair and a short dress in an eye-popping chartreuse. But that relaxed, colorful exterior was matched by a sharp wit. It was Sabela who bargained with both the fae and the humans to sell Rock Run’s vinho verde, getting the best possible price. More than that, she had a heart as wide as a river.

  Valeria didn’t know what she would’ve done without her these past two years.

  “Any news?” Valeria set a plate of apples and cheese on the rug for the pups before crossing the room to her friend. They kissed each other’s cheeks, European-style.

  “Nothing you don’t already know.” Sabela glanced at the happily munching pups. “I see Merry’s okay.”

  The knot in Valeria’s stomach twisted a little tighter. “Why wouldn’t she be?”

  Sabela drew her into the kitchenette. “The Baltimore earth alpha was here,” she said in a low voice.

  “Lord Adric? In the base?” Valeria’s heart gave a hard thump. “But how?”

  “He came in with the sun fae. He must’ve been the one who tracked Queen Cleia to Rock Run.”

  “But no one said—”

  “Luis wants to keep it quiet for now. People are upset enough about the sun fae.” Luis had become Dion’s second after Rui had been ensnared by Queen Cleia. “But he was here, Valeria. Rodolfo told me.”

  “Madre de Deus,” she breathed. Adric was alpha of Merry’s mother’s clan. He had every right to demand her back. Everyone knew he was determined to rebuild his clan. He’d be eager to claim any child, even a mixed-blood like her Merry.

  Or worse, execute her for being a mongrel. Adric had a reputation for being ruthless, and some fada were as fastidious about their bloodlines as the fae.

  “I know.” Her friend’s dark eyes were somber.

  Sabela had been with Valeria through the worst of it, when not only had she lost Rui to Queen Cleia, she’d suddenly become a mother—of a sad-eyed earth shifter. No one knew better than Sabela how hard it had been, but Valeria had never regretted a moment of it. Merry had become her daughter in every way that counted.

  Agitated, she paced the floor. Merry was hers. No one was going to take her away.

  She threw up her hands. “What was Lord Dion thinking, to capture a fae? He was asking for trouble.”

  Then she instantly felt disloyal, especially after the welcome the alpha had extended her and Merry. But it was true; Dion had been holding the sun fae queen prisoner for the past two weeks, believing she was somehow sucking energy from Rock Run’s men. And not just the men—the women and children too. According to Dion, it was either stop Cleia—or stand by while one by one, the Rock Run fada sickened and even died.

  But no one, not even the people who’d disagreed with Dion’s decision to kidnap the queen, had expected this. The base was concealed by a powerful spell which hid its location from everyone, fae or not. Adric and the sun fae shouldn’t have been able to find it, let alone get in.

  “It was the only way,” Sabela said. “You’ve seen Luis—how weak he is. And now his son, little Xavier, is sick too, with the same wasting disease as the others.”

  “No.” Valeria swallowed sickly. “Not Xavier.” He was barely more than a toddler.

  “Sim. And then there’s Rui—”

  “Don’t,” Valeria interrupted. “Just…don’t.” She didn’t need anyone to tell her what a drunken S.O.B. her “mate” had become after his year with Cleia. She saw it every day. She swallowed over what felt like a jagged rock lodged in her throat.

  “Sorry.” Sabela met her eyes in wordless understanding. “But things have been bad ever since the queen started taking our men as lovers. The alpha didn’t have a choice. He had to do something before she wiped us out.”

  “Adric can’t have scented her. She was in the creche with the other children when the sun fae came for Cleia. And Lord Dion’s quarters are on the other end of the base.”

  “That’s good. As long as he doesn’t know she’s here, she’s safe.”

  “I can’t let him find out about Merry.” Valeria stared at Sabela unseeingly. “I can’t. I should’ve taken her and gone back to Portugal as soon as I realized Rui wasn’t coming back. But no, I had to stay, hoping he’d—”

  “Stop it.” Sabela grabbed her shoulders. “You stayed for Merry, too, remember? And you were right—look how much everyone loves her. She’s safe here at the base. Adric doesn’t know she’s here, and who’s going to tell him? And don’t forget, the earth shifters have never come looking for her. If they wanted her, wouldn’t we have heard something?”

  Valeria glanced at Merry, who was staring at her, eyes big, sensing her distress. She took a deep breath and sent her a smile. Reassured, Merry went back to her snack.

  “That’s true,” she allowed.

  Sabela gave her a quick squeeze and released her. “Look, I’m sorry I scared you, but I thought you should know.”

  “Thank you. And don’t worry, I’ll be all right.”

  “Hey, we’re all on edge tonight. But I had another reason for coming—Luis has called a clan meeting for after dinner. You can leave Merry at the creche—they’re going to hold a sleepover for them so that as many of the adults can come to the meeting as possible. It’ll settle them, too.”

  Valeria nodded. With the alpha gone, the children were upset. The best thing was to distract them with something fun like a sleepover, and they’d be happier in a group with the other young.

  “Now,” continued Sabela, “why don’t you pour us both a glass of wine? There’s still a half hour until dinner.”

  When Valeria returned with the wine—some of Rock Run’s own vinho verde—she was on the couch in a very Sabela-like pose, half-reclined against the cushioned arm, one slim brown leg crossed over the other. Valeria handed her a glass and took a seat at the couch’s other end.

  “Obrigada.” Sabela took a sip and then slanted Valeria a glance. “There’s something you should know before the meeting.”

  Somehow she knew it concerned Rui. Her fingers tightened on the wine glass. “Oh?”

  “You know they called in the fishers when it happened.”

  Valeria nodded. “I was out on the river myself when they sounded the alarm.”

  “Well, Rui didn’t come in with everyone else. No one knows where he is.”

  “So? How is that different from any other day?” She meant to sound indifferent, but it came out bitter. Still, everyone knew Rui made only a token effort at fishing. If he and Dion hadn’t been such old friends, he’d have long since been asked to leave Rock Run.

  “It’s not.” Sabela studied the pale yellow wine, avoiding Valeria’s eyes. “But people are saying that someone must have helped the sun fae. They couldn’t have teleported into Dion’s apartment unless they knew exactly where it was—and that that was where he was holding Cleia.”

  “No.” Valeria’s denial was instinctive. “He wouldn’t. He doesn’t even like Cleia. I didn’t see him talk to her once the whole two weeks she was here.” And she’d been watching, even though she’d pretended to herself that she hadn’t been.

  Sabela’s teeth worried her lower lip. “I don’t believe it myself. But it looks bad. He did spend a year with her, and he’s the only person missing.”

  “No,” she said again. “Not Rui.”

  But she couldn’t help wondering. He’d
always had a hard edge, but his time with the sun fae had honed it knife-sharp. He behaved as if their nascent mate bond had been severed—and perhaps it had, for him—but she still felt the connection. Not all the time, and when she did it was a mere shadow of what it could be. But when she did, the emotions emanating from him were so cynical, so full of self-revulsion that it tore at her heart.

  She hated his drinking, hated how he took woman after woman, some of them right in front of her as if she were less than dirt to him. Sometimes it made her cry, and sometimes she wanted to slap him—hard—until he snapped out of whatever black pit he was wallowing in. Couldn’t he see that he was using alcohol and women as a band-aid? That he could indulge as much as he wanted but it wouldn’t erase the darkness?

  But somewhere underneath was the man who’d been Dion’s second. A strong, proud warrior who’d done everything he could to keep the Rock Run clan going. She refused to believe he’d changed that much.

  “It wasn’t him,” she asserted. “I know it. We’re not mated, but I still feel him.” Sometimes, anyway.

  Sabela set her glass on the coffee table to hug Valeria. “I believe you. The alpha’s like a brother to him. He’ll probably stomp into the meeting and tell everyone they’re out of their fucking minds.”

  Valeria made a sound that was half-laugh, half sob. “That sounds like Rui.”

  She let herself sag against Sabela, their cheeks touching, her animal—sad and lost at losing its mate even after two years—craving a reassuring touch. “Not that I care,” she muttered.

  “Of course not,” her friend said agreeably.

  They sat there for a few moments and then Valeria sat back up. “I’d better get these three ready for dinner.” She came to her feet and clapped her hands at the pups. “Time to eat. Everybody back to their girl or boy.” When they whined without shifting, she added, “Did I mention that if you’re good, there’s a sleepover at the creche tonight?”

  Three enthusiastic yelps split the air. Iridescent sparkles shimmered over their pelts and for a few moments, the pups were nothing but glittering points of light, stars picked out in the air above the rug.