Fear the Heart (Werelock Evolution Book 2) (7 page)

“Pretty much.”

“And you never thought to tell me?” Alex exploded to his feet. “I’m fucking Alpha! Those assholes have been trying to kill me my whole life! You didn’t consider the fact that we’ve been harboring an enemy of the Salvatella pack to be potentially important information for me to have? For all of us to have? Fuck’s sake, that’s twice now, Al!”

“Ah … I’m going to have to categorically agree with Alex on this one,” Remy inserted with a raised forefinger. “This is fucked up, Alcaeus.”

“Hold on,” Alcaeus appealed, hopping down off of his desk in favor of standing at the center of his now tense study. “Calm down and let me finish. At Joaquin’s request, Dad and I swore to keep and protect any and all future offspring of Hector’s as members of our household and human pack.” Alcaeus’ eyes fell upon me then. Five other sets of eyes followed suit.

I fidgeted in my seat as the room went silent. Alessandra tugged Alex’s hand until he sat back down next to her.

“There’s more,” Alcaeus continued. “Joaquin told us that he had once healed Hector using a significant amount of his own blood, as well as some powerful magic, and that as a result he suspected the boy might be a bit different from other humans in terms of resistance to compulsion and mind penetration. He also said he’d probably live longer than the average human.”

“Christ!” Remy swore. “So that’s why Raul …? And Milena …? Fuck, I can’t believe you didn’t tell us this before, Al! What were you thinking?”

“In the first place, Dad and I were sworn to secrecy about where Hector had come from. And in the second, the resistance to mind penetration never came up as an issue until recently with Raul,” Alcaeus defended. “Hector never stepped so much as a toe out of line. We trusted him implicitly, so we never had reason to test Joaquin’s theory. Mateus also consistently appeared to follow orders, so we foolishly trusted him based on Hector’s track record. Shame on us for that one.”

“But why in the world Hector?” Alessandra questioned. “Why would Joaquin bequeath his legendary Alpha blood to some little nobody servant boy? To a random human?”

Ouch.

Alcaeus cleared his throat and gave his sister a meaningful look that caused her hand to fly to her mouth and her head to swivel back to me.

“Fuck, I’m sorry, Milena.” She winced. “I did not intend that the way it sounded.”

I waved a flippant hand and mumbled something or other about it not mattering, my cheeks flaming nonetheless as all eyes sought me again.

“She really didn’t … she didn’t mean it … like that …” Alex fumbled, his concerned black eyes communicating the reassurance and comfort he’d failed with words to convey.

I decided “concerned” was definitely a sexy look on Alex. So sexy I had to avert my eyes before my she-wolf did something crazy.
Like throw herself at him.

“Listen, when Joaquin asked me to be the guardian of Hector and his future bloodline, and made a big deal about me swearing a bunch of wacky oaths to that effect, quite frankly,” Alcaeus confessed, “I largely dismissed it as merely humoring the eccentric dying wish of a grief-stricken, lunatic Alpha. I didn’t much consider or care who Hector was to Joaquin, because to me, Hector was simply an agreeable kid who’d obviously been traumatized by the loss of his parents and needed a good home. Why wouldn’t I oblige? It was the right thing to do. The kid had nothing! He didn’t even have a last name until I made one up for him.”

Nice. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, though I recognized it was yet another reason to be thankful Mateus had never acknowledged me as his child. Otherwise, I could’ve been living my whole life with a fake last name made up by Alcaeus, rather than carrying on my mother’s family surname.
And feeling like a third-generation Reinoso charity case.

Alcaeus grinned at me and further confided, “But mostly, I did it because at nine your grandpop had himself some hilariously huge old man ears on his little head. It was pretty stinkin’ cute. I’ll show you photos,” he promised with a wink.

I fought my twitching lips, not wanting to give in and laugh at Alcaeus’ infectious levity and inappropriately humorous spin on what was by all accounts a horrendously twisted and tragic tale.

“So when I agreed to be the guardian of Hector’s future bloodline,” Alcaeus explained, “I had no cause whatsoever to imagine Joaquin had bequeathed his fabled blood magic to Hector. Because I didn’t know then that Hector’s real last name was Morales, or that Hector was Joaquin’s slain mate Sofia Morales’ youngest brother, and the sole family member, unbeknownst to the Salvatellas at the time, to survive the Morales massacre.”

What?
Hector was the brother of Joaquin’s slain mate, Sofia?

The room fell deathly quiet as the bomb Alcaeus had dropped worked its way into everyone’s cognizance. I snuck a glance at Alex, only to find he was already staring at me. I realized that everyone was looking at me.

Wait a minute.
I
was related to Joaquin’s mate, Sofia?
Me?
The Salvatellas had murdered
my
ancestors?

“Christ, I knew it!” Remy proclaimed. “I knew there was something exceptional and predestined about Milena’s deliverance to us from the start.”

“You’re hardly the only one who knew it,” Alex spurned.

“Oh … dear … God …” Alessandra exhaled. “This is bad. Very bad.”

“Depends on how you look at it,” Alcaeus debated. “I mean, certainly, I never envisioned that wily warlock Joaquin was dragging me into his mastermind scheme to fuck over his greedy, bloodthirsty family members and avenge his murdered mate and her family. If Milena wasn’t so fucking hot and adorable, and if I didn’t feel like such a total badass right now to be shouldering the burden of carrying Joaquin’s blood magic for her, I’d probably feel cheap and used by the ordeal.”

“I’m so sure,” Remy drawled.

“Still”—Alcaeus wagged his brows at me—“I might need Milena to hold me a few times before this whole sordid affair is over.”

Alex took the bait and commenced growling at his brother.

“Alcaeus, quit it,” Alessandra scolded. “This isn’t funny! And you and Remy need to stop antagonizing Alex. Back off of his mate, already.”

“Aw, come on! This is the most fun we’ve had at Alex’s expense his entire life.”

“And it’s so damn easy,” Remy chimed in with a chuckle. “Even our subtlest interest and attention to Milena sets him off.”

“Whatever! I passed a Milena look-alike in the gardens on my way over here,” Alessandra said. “That’s hardly subtle, Remy! How do you think it makes your little brother feel to know that you’re picking up human girls that resemble his mate to fuck?”

Alex?
What about me?

“Can we please attempt to stay on topic?” Kai entreated.

“I think it makes him feel pretty damn good when it’s his dick fucking them,” Remy retorted.

Alessandra’s eyes flew wide. “Alex!” She turned to glare at her astonishingly sheepish-looking baby brother. “You didn’t!”

The unmitigated glee shared between Remy and Alcaeus at seeing Alessandra’s outrage was hard to miss. Had they been standing closer, I suspected they would’ve high-fived at getting their little brother into trouble with his “mommy.”

“Oh, and he flaunted the fact that he’d slept with her to Milena just a few hours ago,” Remy added for good measure. “Just before Milena started her rapid transformation.”

Alex’s eyes cast fire and brimstone at Remy before flitting hopelessly back and forth from me to his sister. He appeared at such an utter loss that for a split millisecond a part of me could’ve almost felt sorry for him if the greater part of me hadn’t felt completely enraged all over again at the reminder of his antics with Amy.

“It was just … practice …” he said stupidly, giving Alessandra his most wounded, pitiful eyes. “Because … because I know humans are more fragile. And I didn’t … I was just worried … about hurting Milena,” he justified. “And Remy and Alcaeus both slept with her too,” he abruptly, shamelessly tattled yet again.

To my horror and revulsion, Alessandra seemed to partially buy into his completely piss-ass rationalization, her features noticeably softening. I decided right then and there I would accidentally-on-purpose telekinetically throw the nearest vase at her head if she made that “aw” face of hers next.

“Well, it was still terribly inappropriate of you, Alex,” she reprimanded, before turning the full force of her glower on Remy. “But it’s Remy’s fault for bringing her here in the first place.”

Inappropriate? I was reminded that this was the same woman who’d insisted it only “proper” I be present in the foyer when Alex was killing the men who’d abducted me—before racing me to my executioner! Did she always take Alex’s side? It sure seemed that way based on the annoyed, yet not so surprised, reactions from Remy, Alcaeus, and Kai.

“Your creepy research-slash-fetish compulsion thing with these human girls needs to stop, Remy,” she proceeded to scold. “It’s become an embarrassment to the whole family. And what the hell’s gotten into you, Alcaeus? I thought you swore off shagging humans decades ago? It’s not like you to compel them for sex. How could you do that to Alex?”

“Oh, my fucking God, Lessa!” Kai detonated, his unexpectedly loud and incendiary response catching me off guard. “Couldn’t you breast-feed Alex in private somewhere for once so that the rest of us don’t have to be sick?”

I was dumbfounded to note that Kai’s flushed expression seemed to reflect a mystifying fusion of rage, disgust, and … hurt?

Alcaeus and Remy exploded into boisterous laughter. Even Kaleb guffawed. My own hand flew up to cover my mouth, while Alex streaked across the room and barreled into Kai, their bodies smashing straight through the closed wooden door Kai had been leaning against to thrash and tumble about in the hallway beyond. I heard Guadalupe yelling at them moments later.

“Eh, seems I’ve suffered a slight case of human fever since Milena showed up,” Alcaeus laughingly offered in response to Alessandra’s inquiry. Meanwhile, it sounded like all hell was breaking loose in the hallway outside of his study. “Thanks for asking, though, Sis. For the record, Allison looks nothing like Milena,” he maintained. “And you know I don’t compel girls for sex. Takes all the fun and challenge out of it,” he said, giving Remy an impish grin.

“Fuck you, I do not compel them all the time!” Remy disputed.

But Alessandra wasn’t paying attention to her other brothers at that point, having raced from the room—presumably to check on her “baby” in the hallway.

Alcaeus rolled weary eyes. “Okay, okay, that’s enough,” he determined, idly waving two fingers in the direction of the broken doorway, and by doing so somehow causing Alex and Alessandra to levitate backward into the room and then drop onto the couch, both of them cussing and struggling to no avail against the strength of his newfound ability. Kai walked back through the door, his clothing torn and his hair mussed.

“Why does Kai get to make a dignified entrance?” Alessandra complained, still wrestling against the invisible restraints holding her to her seat on the couch. “Al, this is bullshit! Stop it at once!”

“You will so fucking pay for this as soon as Milena’s powers are all her own!” Alex threatened.

“Riight,” Alcaeus half chuckled, half yawned, as he stretched his arms behind his back. “So … getting back to Joaquin’s little revenge curse, I feel bound to point out Joaquin may have mentioned something about me being guardian of Hector’s bloodline as long as a
trust
existed.”

“And? What the hell does that mean?” Remy asked.

“I think it means that on a blood level Milena had to have trust in me in order for me to be able to control her shift and hold her powers for her.”

Super. Not only did I have an inner dog weighing in on my love life, but now my blood was capable of its own emotions? Emotions as complicated as trust?

“If memory serves, Joaquin said something or other about some possibly dire repercussions if I or any other member of the Reinoso pack”—Alcaeus looked at Alex then—“were to ever willfully spill or taint the blood of Hector.” He paused to let that message sink in to his literally captive audience. “I suspect there was a good reason Hector made me promise never to turn any of his kin.”

“Aw, fuck me!” Kai once more startled me with his strong reaction, his brown eyes awash with an uncharacteristic level of apprehension that was disconcerting. He had obviously clued into something within Alcaeus’ ambiguous wording that the rest of the room failed to immediately grasp.

Although … Alex seemed to also go curiously ashen …

Gah!
Goddamn verbose, code-talking, secretive, snarky werelocks!

“Thanks to our favorite little brother, I believe we’ve just handed half of the Salvatellas’ long-sought powers back to them on a silver platter. A silver platter hell-bent on his own revenge, at that.”

“Raul,” Remy groaned in resignation.

Raul?

“Raul!” Alessandra gasped.

“Uh-huh,” Alcaeus confirmed, “Raul escaped from Salvador a little over an hour ago. Single-handedly managed to kill four guards, injure over two dozen more, and reduce an entire wing of the estate to rubble. The guards he left injured but alive were instructed to tell us that he wants his sister returned to him unharmed and that he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way until she’s safely recovered.”

CHAPTER FIVE

The room fell silent, save for the sound of quickening heartbeats. The stench of tension bloomed and swirled all around me. Time ceased to exist—much as it had that first night in the foyer when Alex had announced to the hall that Raul was dead.

At first, I felt nothing, my logical mind taking over, banishing my emotions as it sorted and assembled the facts as they had been presented, like a math equation in my head. Raul was a werewolf. He’d been
turned.

I knew this. Since the night of my arrival I’d known it, and yet I’d striven to deny it for as long as possible. Until now, no one had bothered to confirm it—to spell it out for me in plain terms, further corroborating my ability to bask in denial.