Claiming Valeria (12 page)

“No,” Valeria whispered. Her fingers clenched on Rui’s.

“You remember?” The man’s eyes crinkled in pleased surprise.
He took a step forward, arms out. “I’ve missed you, Christmas girl.”

“Stay away from her.” Valeria snatched Merry up.

The little girl looked from her to Jace before burying her head
in Valeria’s neck.

The earth shifter’s grin faded. “You heard her,” he said, bringing
his arms back to his sides. “I’m her uncle. She’s my sister’s daughter.”

“If that’s true,” Valeria replied, “what was your sister’s name?”

“Takira. Takira Jones.”

Valeria gulped. “No,” she said, but her voice held no conviction.

So the man had it right. Rui’s heart sank. Merry didn’t remember
much about her mother, who’d apparently died when she was around four, but she’d
been old enough to know her mother’s name.

“And I’m Jace Jones,” he continued. “Takira mated with a man
who was half night fae, half human. His name was Silver. No last name—or at least
none that he shared with me. I suppose my sister knew all his names.” The fae guarded
their true-names closely, since in the right hands, they could be used to control
them.

“You’re lying,” Valeria returned. “Merry doesn’t have any family.
Just me.”

“The hell I am.” Jace’s eyes flashed. “Merry is Takira’s daughter.
M-E-R-R-Y because she was born on Christmas.”

Oh, lord
, thought Rui.
What a fucking mess
.

“If that’s true,” Valeria said, “where were you two years ago
when she almost died? She and her father were being chased by night fae. She had
nightmares about it for months afterward. If we hadn’t hidden her, they would’ve—”
She stopped and pressed her lips together.

“You think I don’t have nightmares, too?” Jace’s hands clenched.
“I was looking for her. We all were. Takira was kidnapped and—” He looked at Merry
and shook his head. “After she died, her mate took Merry and ran. It took me over
a year to find them. By then he was dead too, and Merry was missing. I—I was told
she was dead, too.”

“The fucking night fae swore to it,” Adric inserted with a scowl.
“We would’ve kept looking but the trail ended at the house she and her father had
been staying in. The house burned down, and it appeared Merry had died in the fire.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Jace was looking at Rui. “You’re the
one who killed Silver. Why else would you have been in the house that night?”

Rui glanced at Merry, praying she wouldn’t understand what Jace
was saying, and then gave a short nod.

“What about my sister?” Jace was in Rui’s face, uncaring of his
alpha, who laid a restraining hand on his arm. “Did you kill Takira, too?”

“No. I swear I had nothing to do with that.”

Jace inhaled suspiciously, but it was clear he detected the truth
in Rui’s statement.

“Jace,” Adric said. “Back off.”

He scowled but obeyed.

“I’m sorry about your sister,” Valeria told him, “but Merry’s
mine now. She calls me Mama. I couldn’t love her any more if she were my own child.”

It was Adric who answered. “She’s an earth shifter. She belongs
with her own kind. You can’t officially adopt her without my permission.”

“Then give it to me. She’s my daughter.”

Merry lifted her head to glare at Adric. “Mama already ’dopted
me,” she said fiercely.

“It’s not that simple.” It was the earth shifter woman. “Tell
them, Ric. Tell them why Merry needs to be with us.”

He hesitated and then leveled a stare at Rui and Valeria. “As
far as we’re concerned, the less outsiders know about our crystals, the better.
But Marjani’s right, you need to know. First, though, I want you two to swear this
won’t go any further. Not even your alpha can know.”

“I swear,” Valeria said quickly.

Rui cut her a glance. Damn it, he didn’t like being told to hide
what they learned from Dion, especially when the two of them had just reached
an understanding.

But Valeria was biting her lower lip. “Please?” she whispered
to him.

He exhaled and turned back to Adric. “All right. As long as whatever
you tell us won’t hurt Rock Run, you have my word that we won’t speak of it to anyone
else. But you need to know that Merry’s one of us now, by Lord Dion’s own word.
And Valeria’s her mother. Nothing you tell us can change that.”

“Listen to what I have to say first,” Adric replied. “You know
that we all wear a crystal, some type of quartz.” He lifted his from beneath his
shirt. It glowed in the dim light, a milky gray shot with swirls of orange and brown.

“But what you may not know,” he continued, “is that we don’t
have them from the time we’re born. At first, we share the energy that emanates
from our parents’ crystals. Merry, of course, had only one parent’s quartz to draw
on, but that wasn’t a problem as long as her mom was alive. But when Takira died,
she lost even that. Tell me something—when you found her, was she too thin, half-starved?”

It was Valeria who replied. “Yes,” she said in a small voice.
“But they were on the run. They were barely surviving. Her dad was afraid to leave
her with anyone so he could work. He didn’t have money for food.”

“That was part of it. But without a crystal, she’s never going
to grow like she should. Look at how thin she is.” Adric shrugged. “Even we can’t
really explain it. We just know that we need a quartz. Does she have trouble shifting?”

Valeria gulped. But she didn’t have to say anything; the earth
alpha was shaking his head.

“I’m sorry, Miss da Costa—”

“But she’s better now,” Valeria protested. “She may be skinny,
but you should have seen her two years ago. Don’t forget, she’s only half earth
fada. Maybe that makes a difference.”

Adric’s face softened, and Rui had the surprising thought that
he might like the man—or at least respect him—under different circumstances.

“I can see you’re a good mother,” Adric said. “You may even be
giving her some of what she needs. But you can’t give her everything. I’m afraid
we have to—”

“Then give her a quartz,” Valeria cried. “I’ll make sure she
wears it. Only please don’t take her away from me.”

Adric exchanged a look with Marjani and she stepped forward.
“We’re sorry,” she said gently, “but it doesn’t work like that. Merry will find
her own quartz when the time comes, but until then she should be with Jace. As her
closest living relative, she can draw the energy she needs from him.”

“No,” Valeria choked out. Tears were streaming down her face
now. “No. Please. There must be something else we can do. Look at her. She’s fine.
She’s not hurting or hungry or sick.
She’s not
.”

Merry took one look at her mother and started crying as well.
“Mama, please,” she sobbed, clinging to Valeria. “Don’t make me go with them. I
want to stay with you and Tio Rui.”

“Enough.” Adric jerked his head at Jace. “Take her.”

“Like hell.” Rui put himself between Valeria and Merry and the
earth shifters. “She’s managed to survive for three years since her mother died.
Don’t tell me you have to take her this very minute.”

Adric ignored Rui to finger his quartz. There was a flash of
orange-gold and Merry’s cries stopped mid-sob.

“Merry?” Valeria’s voice was high-pitched, panicky. Rui turned
to see the little girl hanging limply in her arms, her eyes closed as Valeria frantically
patted her face. She shot Adric a furious look. “What did you do, you bastard?”

Rui’s knife practically leapt into his hand. He released the
blade, the snick loud in the suddenly quiet clearing. “I swear on my
avó
’s
grave, if you hurt her, I’ll cut your fucking heart out and feed it to the sharks.”

“She’s fine.” Adric let go of the quartz. “I just put her to
sleep for a few minutes. Give her to Jace.”

“The hell we will. Why was she in hiding, anyway? If you earth
shifters are so good for her, why didn’t her dad come to you after her mom died?
Instead he was living in a dump with barely enough food to keep the two of them
alive.”

Adric’s lips tightened. “I’d like to know the answer to that
myself. But I promise she’ll be safe with Jace. He lost his only sister. He won’t
let anyone hurt her daughter.”

While he was speaking, his lieutenants had formed a semicircle
around the three of them with Jace and Adric at the center and the wolf and Marjani
at the left and right, respectively.

Jace touched his quartz. “I’d die before I let anyone hurt her,”
he gritted out.

“No.” Valeria crouched behind Rui, her back against the tree,
Merry in her arms. “Don’t let them take her,” she begged, fierce and pleading at
the same time.

“I won’t,” he promised without taking his eyes off the four earth
shifters. “They’ll have to go through me first.”

“I know,” was the quiet reply. “Thank you.”

He felt a rush of shame, that she would even think to thank him
for doing what any mate would do—protect her and her daughter.
Deus
, he had
a lot to make up to her—if he just survived the next few minutes.

“Christ.” Adric shoved a hand through his spiked-up hair. “She’s
an earth shifter mixed with a human and a fae—a night fae, at that. Why the fuck
do you want her so bad?”

Valeria just growled. When Rui glanced back, her eyes were a
feral aqua-blue.

“Ric, think.” Marjani’s hands were fisted at her sides. “The
laws of hospitality—if the queen finds out, she has the right to bind you.”

Uncertainty flickered across the earth alpha’s face. To be bound
against your will was a fada’s nightmare; even a few days of being unable to move
freely could drive your animal insane. Then he glanced at Jace. Something passed
between the two of them and his expression hardened.

Rui braced himself. Time seemed to slow. Cold descended on him,
familiar, instinctive. He hadn’t trained as a warrior in two years. He was out of
shape and still recovering from whatever Cleia had done to him. But some things
were bred in the bone.

And he’d fight to the death to keep Merry out of these bastards’
hands.

“Fuck their laws.” A blade appeared in Adric’s hand. “The girl
is ours.”

As the four earth shifters closed in on them, Valeria
looked frantically around for help. Even though they were deep in the cherry grove,
twenty-five yards from the nearest path, it didn’t seem possible to be this close
to a large crowd without anyone being aware of what was happening.

But the drumming had become louder. It sounded like several drummers
now, pounding out a hard, syncopated rhythm that ricocheted back and forth across
the meadow. The noise from the crowd had increased, too, as more and more people
arrived for the midsummer festival.

Her heart sank as she realized that even if she called for help,
not even a fada was likely to hear. They were on their own.

Rui glanced at her. For an instant, the mate bond flared to life.
She
felt
his protectiveness, his determination to defend her and Merry no
matter what. His
need
.

She sucked in a breath, shocked at all he’d been hiding from
her.

Then he turned back to the earth shifters and the only thing
radiating from him was a cold so intense she gave an involuntary shiver. The mate
bond clamped shut as if he’d stomped on it. The cold was replaced by an emptiness
that was even worse, a void in her chest where she’d been holding Rui for two years.
Even when the bond had shriveled, there’d been
something
there.

Now there was nothing.

She shoved that aside to focus on the four earth shifters closing
in on them. Rui dropped into a fighting crouch. A chill sweat broke out on her skin
as she looked from him to them. Four against one were terrible odds. At full strength,
Rui might have a chance, but…

Her animal squirmed beneath her skin, tense and agitated. Desperate
to defend her mate.

But both parts of her understood that Merry was more important.
Joining the fight would play into the earth shifters’ hands. All they’d have to
do was snatch Merry and run—and Valeria would never see her again.

The wolf paced nearer, his shaggy body looming over Valeria like
something out of a nightmare. Her claws sliced out of her fingertips. He was trying
to intimidate her—and doing a good job of it—but she refused to go easy. He pressed
too close, his amber eyes intent on Merry.

Valeria swiped out. He snarled and jumped back, four red lines
marring his snout.
Good
.

Rui took advantage of the distraction to lunge at the wolf. Metal
flashed. The big animal twisted, avoiding the worst of the blow, but the knife slashed
his shoulder. The scent of fresh blood filled the clearing as the wolf snarled angrily,
his left foreleg raised and dangling uselessly.

But the other three saw their chance. Adric and Marjani came
at Rui from either side, while Jace darted forward and tried to grab his niece.
Valeria swiped at his arm, but he would’ve had Merry if Rui hadn’t shaken the other
two off, striking out viciously with his knife and catching Marjani on the upper
arm.

As she backed away, Rui spun around and slammed a foot into Jace,
knocking him away from Valeria and Merry.

Adric glanced at Marjani, who had a hand to her arm. Blood welled
from beneath her fingers. “You’re hurt,” he said in a guttural voice.

“It’ll heal. Just get Merry. We’ve got to get out of here—
now
,
before someone comes.”

Adric’s head snapped back around. He glared at Rui, his bronze
eyes shimmering dangerously. “That’s my sister you cut.”

“I’m only defending what’s mine,” Rui replied in an equally hard
voice.

“The woman’s yours, then? I’ve heard different. And the girl’s
ours
—not yours.”

“You heard wrong. Valeria’s mine. My woman. My
mate
.”

Valeria blinked.
Now
Rui was claiming her?

“And Merry’s her daughter now,” he continued. “Which makes them
both mine. You’ll have to go through me to get them.”

Valeria caught her breath. Rui had claimed her before witnesses—and
Merry, too—even though the witnesses were earth fada. Still, she knew—and Rui knew.
It didn’t mean she was his—the woman had the option of rejecting the claim—but the
ball was in her court now.

If the two of them lived through the next ten minutes.

Adric smiled. “If that’s the way you want it—” He lunged forward,
his knife aimed at Rui’s belly.

Rui twisted to evade it, one foot coming up to kick Adric’s wrist.
The knife spun out of the earth’s shifter’s grip, landing on the grass near Valeria.
Keeping hold of Merry, she scrambled forward, snatching it up just as he dove for
it and pitching it deep into the trees.

Adric came back to his feet in one smooth roll. “You
shouldn’t have done that,” he said in a soft voice that made the hairs on
Valeria’s nape stand on end.

“Adric,” said Marjani.

He jerked his head in acknowledgment and touched his crystal.
Bronze glowed at the center. Valeria stared at it, mesmerized.

“Give Merry to me,” he commanded. “You know it’s for the best.”

Valeria found herself nodding. Then she caught her breath.

No, damn it. Merry belongs with me.

She tried to wrench her gaze from the crystal’s glowing bronze
heart. But she couldn’t.

She growled lowly but she couldn’t look away. She couldn’t even
shut her eyes. Her animal was entranced by the light like a silly, thrill-seeking
deer.

Rui was fighting Jace now. The earth shifter didn’t have a knife,
but he was getting in some good blows, darting in close to punch Rui in the face
or the stomach, then dancing away from his blade. She could see the fight out of
the corner of her eye, but she felt oddly detached, as if she were watching
from behind a glass wall.

The bronze glow was so much more interesting, drawing her closer,
closer…

“Valeria,” said Adric. “I’m going to take Merry now. Give her
to me, love.”

Valeria felt her hands releasing Merry even as her mind screamed,
No, no, no…

Rui roared and slammed into Adric. “Get away from her, you S.O.B.”

Adric lurched to one side, releasing the crystal. With a start,
Valeria came back to herself. Letting out a sob, she dragged Merry back against
her. “I’m sorry, baby,” she whispered, pressing her lips to the unconscious girl’s
cheek. “So sorry.”

Meanwhile, Jace had circled to Rui’s left. While Rui’s attention
was on Adric, he aimed a hard kick at Rui’s rib cage. There was the dull sound of
bones breaking.

Valeria sucked in a breath, but Rui merely grunted and continued
to fight. But he was beginning to tire. His shirt gaped open, and she was horrified
to see a bloody gash low on his abdomen. She hadn’t realized Adric’s knife had found
its mark.

Adric caught his balance and growled at Jace. “Let’s finish this.”

It was just the two of them now. The injured wolf sat nearby,
panting rapidly. Marjani had ripped a strip off her tunic and bound it around his
bleeding shoulder, then pressed another strip to her own wound. She crouched next
to the wolf, watching the fight.

Adric and Jace closed in on Rui, their faces expressionless,
hitting him slowly, methodically. He was bleeding from several places now—his forehead,
his nose, the slice in his abdomen.

Fear snaked through Valeria’s stomach. A knife wound like that
could kill. She had to help. She struggled onto her knees, Merry still in her arms,
and looked desperately around for a weapon.

Adric’s booted foot lashed into Rui’s thigh. Then Jace cut in
with a hard right to his jaw. Rui grunted again and stumbled backward. As he came
upright, Adric slammed his fist into his solar plexus. The breath left Rui’s lungs
in a whoosh. His mouth opened soundlessly as he tried to bring the air back in but
was unable to. He wavered a moment and then fell to his knees.

“
Rui
.” Valeria let out a sob, desperate to go to him but
knowing the earth shifters would take Merry.

He shot her a despairing look. “
Desculpe
,” he whispered.
“I—” His chest heaved and he shook his head, unable to speak.

She swallowed sickly. “It’s okay,
querido
. You did your
best.”

Adric reached for Merry. “Give me the girl.”

“
No
.” She scuttled backward, Merry clutched to her chest.

Adric eyed them. Considering. He was playing with his quartz
again, but this time she knew better than to look at it.

Jace took a step closer. Valeria’s claws sliced out and she knew
when she looked up her eyes were glowing with her animal’s feral green-blue.

No
. She wrenched her animal back under her control.

There was no way she could fight off two fada males. Her only
chance was to reason with them.

“Wait.” Still holding Merry, she came to her feet and took a
deep breath. “Look,” she told Jace, “I’m sorry about your sister—truly, I am. But
do you think she’d want you to take Merry away from the woman who’s raised her the
last two years? Merry’s mine now. She thinks of me as her mama. I love her—and she
loves me. And Rui’s the closest thing she has to a father. How—how can you do this
to her?” Her voice broke and Merry whimpered.

Jace just stared at her, breathing hard. On the grass at her
feet, Rui inhaled slowly, raggedly. With an obvious effort, he pushed himself back
to standing, placing himself between her and the earth shifters.

Adric’s lip curled. “Get her,” he told Jace.

And then, at last Valeria heard the sound of men’s voices nearby.
Rock Run men, calling to each other in Portuguese.

“
Socorro!
”
she screamed. “Help us! Over here!”

“Get her,” Adric snapped again.

Jace tried to shove past Rui, but Rui’s hand whipped out, grabbing
his arm. “No.”

He hung on long enough for Valeria to dart around the tree and
run toward the voices. Footsteps pounded after her. She put on a burst of speed.

Two men were running toward her. Luis and Rodolfo. “Here,” she
called with her last bit of breath. “This way.” She stumbled to a stop, lungs heaving,
and fell to her knees, body curved protectively around Merry.

Hot breath touched her neck. “This isn’t over,” growled Adric.
And then he was gone, heading back to the clearing.

Luis and Rodolfo reached her. “What’s going on?” Luis demanded.

She looked up at them and dragged in a breath. “Help…Rui.” She
pointed toward the clearing. “That way. Careful. Four of them.”

The men nodded and took off.

She rose to her feet and followed more slowly. Merry’s eyes fluttered
open. “Mama? What happened?”

At the querulous tone, tears pricked Valeria’s eyes. “Nothing,
baby.” She pressed shaky lips to her daughter’s soft cheek. “Don’t worry. Everything’s
all right now.”

* * *

Rui had never taken a direct hit to the solar plexus
before, but he’d heard they hurt like a sonofabitch.

That was a lie. They hurt even worse.

Don’t give up
, his brain screamed. But as the pain spread
through his abdomen, he couldn’t breathe, or even move.

Dark spots danced before his eyes. He dropped to his knees and
doubled over. Behind him Valeria moaned. Despair filled him as he realized she’d
never be able to fight off the two earth shifters.

After that everything was a blur. Somehow Valeria managed to
get away with Merry. He was able to get back onto his feet long enough to stop Jace
from following them, but Adric raced off after them and his heart sank. When Adric
returned a few minutes later. Rui braced himself to die, but the earth alpha ignored
him to sling the hurt wolf over his shoulders in a fireman’s lift and lope off,
the other two at his heels.

The next thing he knew Luis and Rodolfo were standing before
him. Rui licked his lips. “Valeria? And Merry?”

“They’re fine,” his cousin replied. “The earth shifters took
off when they heard us coming.”

Rui closed his eyes.

“What the hell happened? Damn it, Rui, don’t you know better
than to get in a fight at a fae celebration?” Luis’s voice echoed oddly in his brain,
as if he were calling down a long tunnel.

“Wasn’t…my choice.”

“I hope that’s true, because if the sun fae find out—” Luis broke
off and cursed as he saw the blood welling around the hand Rui had pressed to his
stomach. “Rui? Hell, did one of those bastards knife you?”

The dark spots multiplied, joined into one giant inky blot. Rui
sank to his knees and slid into unconsciousness.

When he came to, Valeria had his head in her lap and was stroking
the hair back from his temple. He was content to lie quietly even as the part of
him that had been a warrior for more than eight decades took inventory. Besides
the soreness in the region of his solar plexus, his lower abdomen was throbbing
from the knife wound and his head was pounding. Add in various assorted aches and
pains and it meant he hurt like hell—but he’d live.

Then he remembered and his lungs seized. “Merry?” He tried to
push himself up to sitting.

“She’s fine, thanks to you.” Valeria pressed his shoulders to
keep him down. “Just lie still. Rodolfo is getting a healer.”

He turned his head, unable to relax until he saw the little girl,
sitting a couple of feet away and sleepily rubbing her eyes.

“Mama?”

“It’s all right,
querida
,” Valeria murmured. “I’m right
here.”

“You’re not going to give me back to Uncle Jace, are you?”

“Oh, no, baby.” Valeria held out hand to her. Merry crept forward
and catlike, butted her head against Valeria’s side, marking her with her scent
and taking her scent on herself in return.

Valeria bent forward to rub noses with her. “Nobody’s going to
take you. You’re my daughter now. Okay?”

Merry nodded solemnly. “
Sim
, Mama.”

“And
my
princess,” Rui added.

Merry rewarded him with a big grin followed by a soft, careful
kiss on his cheek.