Fear the Heart (Werelock Evolution Book 2) (6 page)

I got the disquieting impression she was perhaps trying to make sure I understood that the same was now expected of me with her “forever” emphasis.

“It wasn’t an easy pill for him to swallow. On top of that, his father was dying. And Raul didn’t understand—couldn’t accept his father’s choice to forgo the magic the Reinosos had at their disposal to heal his condition.”

“They could have healed Mateus’ bone cancer?” I asked, aghast.

She shrugged. “We’ll never know. Alcaeus and Kai offered. Mateus declined. You see, most of us human pack members—even those of us who have no desire to ever be changed into a werewolf—have still availed ourselves, at one point or another, of the Reinosos’ healing magic. Several have lived longer lives as a result. Mateus was no exception. He’d cheated death on a number of occasions throughout his life after sustaining near-fatal injuries during missions abroad with Kaleb in America. But I think he was ready to move on.”

So many questions and emotions assailed me at these riveting revelations Guadalupe was dropping so readily. Kaleb had gone on missions to America with Mateus? What sort of missions? Had Mateus actually known he was dying when he’d decided to ruin Raul’s whole life by bringing him here? Had he already made the choice not to be healed? Was he really that much of an asshole that he’d thrust Raul into a frightening and cruel world only to wittingly abandon him less than two years later—knowing full well he’d be on his own with no chance of ever escaping?

I hadn’t thought I could despise Mateus’ memory any more than I already did, but I found myself approaching new heights of bitterness now. My disgust surely reflected in my features, because a cool, comforting hand fell upon mine atop the island, and sorrowful, crystalline green eyes appealed for my reconsideration.

“You may never understand or agree with his reasons, but what Mateus did, he did for you. And Raul.” She looked thoughtful a moment, as if hesitating, before adding, “He just … he was never the same after Kamella died.”

To say I was flabbergasted and appalled at her defensive stance in favor of Mateus’ deplorable, selfish actions would’ve been a gross understatement. How in the world a man as awful as Mateus had ever managed to con allegiance from someone so seemingly awesome and forthright as Guadalupe was well beyond my scope of comprehension.

We didn’t have much time, though, so I bit my tongue and refrained from wasting it arguing with Guadalupe over what a soulless reprobate Raul’s father had been. “Will you tell me more about Raul’s life here? Please?”

“Raul languished for a time,” she divulged, “struggling to find his role—to figure out how to gain the respect and adulation he’d enjoyed in his former life and carve out his own place of importance within the pack. After his father died, he was even more disheartened. But he was crafty, that one”—she grinned, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she cackled softly in remembrance—“and tenacious. He was determined to fight his way up from the bottom of the new food chain to which he’d been relegated.”

A wide grin split my lips and a gleeful giggle bubbled up from my belly.
That was my big brother—forever indomitable!
It made my heart swell to know that he’d endured, that his spirit had not so easily been conquered by the untenable circumstances that had been forced upon him at such a young age.

“He made valuable friends. While most of us humans here tend to stick together, Raul managed to forge closer friendships with the weres and werelocks.” Guadalupe rolled twinkling green eyes. “Most of them were female weres—at least at first. But eventually, he came to be well respected by all for his intelligence and for his unfailing effort to all tasks he was assigned. He was savvy enough to realize he had to work five times as hard and as long to gain any recognition when competing with supernatural beings.”

Her eyes drifted as she paused in contemplation. “It paid off. He got the acknowledgement he’d desperately sought. And he gained their trust.” Morose eyes returned to me, and I felt my smile fading, knowing at least in part where this tale was headed. “They involved him in assignments and gave him access to information not even Mateus had been privy to during his tenure.”

Her brow furrowed. “But it wasn’t enough for him to be the most elevated human pack member. He was still human. And he knew for that innate failing he would always be considered inferior within the realm of his new world.”

She bit her lip, her eyes searching the ceiling. “I think it was when he was twenty-three that he first approached Alex to ask if he would change him,” she all too casually revealed. “Alex refused.”

I swallowed against the pain that lanced my heart.

Raul had wanted to be a werewolf? He’d asked to be turned? To become one of them?

“Then he asked Alex again when he was twenty-four. Alex said no.”

Raul had wanted to be a permanent, central part of this terrible world?
My stomach twisted. My jaw had likely dropped as well. But Guadalupe wasn’t looking at me. Her focus was on transferring the coffee that was ready at last into a sizable silver serving pot.

Time stood still while I waited. It might have taken her one minute, or one hour, to transfer the coffee. Either way, it didn’t much matter. I was lost. Raul had chosen this life over his human one?

I tried not to view it as him choosing them over me—to remember that he had been forced into this world by Mateus. How could I fault him for trying to make the most of the shitty hand he’d been dealt? Yet it hurt.

“Now, I don’t claim to know the sordid details of how Raul and her majesty began their courtship,” Guadalupe resumed, not even attempting to mask her disapproval of the union, and further perplexing me with her disparaging reference to Alessandra. “But when Alex found out, it didn’t go over well.” Her expression suggested it went a lot worse.

“Alex believed Raul was attempting to manipulate Alessandra’s affections in order to get what he wanted, knowing that if she became attached to him, she’d want him to be turned as much as he did.”

“No,” I immediately shook my head. “No, that’s just not true,” I defended. “Raul would never do something like that. He just wouldn’t!”

“’Course he wouldn’t,” Alcaeus spoke up from behind me, causing me to jump and rattle the coffee mugs.
Shit.

Guadalupe didn’t flinch. “No one asked you, you big eavesdropping son of a bitch.”

“Woman, I’ve been eavesdropping on your gossip for fifty years. It’s my favorite pastime. I keep hoping one day I’ll hear you confess your eternal love and undying attraction for me.”

“In your wet dreams, old man,” she retorted, much to Alcaeus’ amusement.

Puzzled by their banter, and still attempting to digest the startling information about Raul, I was relieved to know that I’d not gotten Guadalupe in trouble.

“If you’re done spreading idle pack gossip about Milena’s brother, I’ll just be stealing my favorite vessel back now.” Alcaeus gave my shoulder a squeeze before picking up the tray I’d prepared in one hand and the silver coffee pot in his other. “’Sides, she’ll get way better gossip about Raul out of your daughter, I suspect.”

Guadalupe said nothing, but then let fly what sounded like a snarky comeback in Portuguese under her breath as Alcaeus and I made our exit.

CHAPTER FOUR

While Alcaeus finished catching Alessandra up on the morning’s events, I found myself once more stealing furtive glances at Alex, who was seated next to his sister on the couch in Alcaeus’ study. On several occasions, his eyes were already upon me when I looked over at him, prompting the most ridiculous onslaught of nervous butterflies, which consequently resulted in even more embarrassing schoolgirl reactions from me, as I tried in vain to pretend I hadn’t noticed and wasn’t affected by him in the least.

I was behaving as if I’d regressed to the age of twelve and was experiencing my first crush, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. It was shaping up to be the worst morning of my new unnatural life.

I was sitting in another comfortably worn, oversized, leather armchair, which, Alcaeus had assured me, was the very best seat in the whole house. Kaleb was in a stiff-backed chair next to mine sipping his coffee, but I no longer had any desire to ogle him. He was way less attractive to me now that I knew he’d spent time in America on missions with Mateus—despite the fact I had no fucking clue what that even meant. Besides that, he was quite dull, I’d decided. It figured that the only potentially decent guy in the bunch would prove painfully insipid.

“I don’t understand,” Alessandra interjected. “If Milena’s not related to Joaquin or to any of the Salvatella clan, how did she inherit Joaquin’s Alpha blood magic?”

“Simple, same way Alex inherited all of Dad’s power, and, it would seem, Renata’s power as well,” Alcaeus said from where he sat perched atop his own massive oak desk.

Alessandra’s ponytail tossed from side to side. “You’ve lost me.”

“Look, we’ve all questioned over the years why and how Dad managed to singularly will all of his abilities to Alex, right?” He tipped his head to the side. “In truth, I’ve struggled more with the ‘why,’ myself, often contemplating the state of Dad’s sanity there at the end and wondering whether he secretly hated me my whole life, given his decision to bequeath insurmountable power to the five-year-old hellion he left in my guardianship.”

Alessandra snickered, then patted Alex’s knee. “He’s teasing, you were a perfectly brilliant and wonderful child,” she praised. “You simply had a rambunctious nature that was a bit challenging at times.”

Alcaeus howled with laughter at that, while Remy gasped, his eyes bugging wide at his stepsister from where he was standing beside a grand bookshelf. Kai covered his face with his hands. Even Alex had the grace to roll his eyes at Alessandra’s outlandish sugarcoating of the situation.

“Rambunctious? He burned Alcaeus’ house to the ground, Lessa,” Remy reminded. “Five times!”

“He was hurting inside!” she contended. “My God, he’d lost both of his parents!”

“He was a spoiled brat and a monster,” Remy countered.

“Right here, guys,” Alex injected under his breath with a little waved salute that caused Alcaeus to crack up again.

“He was acting out, Remy,” Alessandra rationalized. “Which was understandable, given all the early trauma he’d been put through.”

“Ugh, stop! Stop!” Remy groaned in disgust, holding his hands up in capitulation. “There’s no talking to you when you get like this—with your head stuck clear up Alex’s ass.”

“Oh, bite me, Pepé! You’re just trying to make him look bad in front of Milena.”

“Like I need to?” Remy puffed. “He does that all on his own.”

Pepé?
Did I even want to know?
Nah.

“You’ve been instigating it! Milena is clearly his mate, and you and Alcaeus both need to stop provoking his anger with your unwelcome attentions toward her. Can’t you see how hard he’s trying?”

“Tell it to the brother who just bit her!” Remy scoffed. “By God, if anything, it’s your perpetual minimizing of Alex’s bad behavior that has exacerbated it all these years.”

“Lay off of her, already!” Alex fired at Remy in defense of his sister.

Or
 
…
surrogate mother, rather, as she was appearing more and more to be.
I estimated they all needed at least a century of family counseling at this point. And I felt certain Kai agreed with me on that, based on the way he was quietly groaning behind his hands from where he stood leaning against the door. I’d been strangely disappointed to note he’d pulled a shirt on while I’d been in the kitchen with Guadalupe.

“As I was saying,” Alcaeus said, attempting to diffuse the mounting discord and steer everyone back to the discussion at hand, “on a good day with Alex, I like to assume Dad did what he did because at the time Alex was still at great risk and required the most protection due to his persecution by the Salvatella pack. Other times, I’m convinced Dad did it as a cruel joke so he could laugh his ass off at me from the afterlife. While we may never know his exact reasons why, I believe we’re imminently closer to understanding the ‘how’ part of the equation.”

“So how?” Alessandra pressed.

“He conjured a spell to bypass the natural order of things. Rigged the system the same way Joaquin did in order to pass his powers to Hector.”

“Hector?”
Alessandra nearly shrieked. “
Our
Hector? Hector Varela? How did Joaquin even know Hector?”

I’d wanted to shriek much the same. And judging from the mystified expressions on the faces of just about everyone else in the room, with the exception of Kai and Alcaeus, I wasn’t alone in my confusion. Joaquin Salvatella had known my grandfather, Hector?

“When Dad and I met up with Joaquin Salvatella in Paraguay at the end of 1868,” Alcaeus recounted, “he was traveling with just one companion. A nine-year-old boy. Hector.”

“What? Why didn’t I know this? You never told me you acquired Hector from Joaquin Salvatella,” Alex said.

“Yeah, Al!” Alessandra echoed Alex’s sentiment. “You and Dad said Hector was the orphaned servant of an old friend you’d met up with in Asunción.”

“Exactly,” Alcaeus said, “and that was the truth.”

“But not the whole truth?” Remy asked.

“No,” Alcaeus admitted. “The whole truth is that Joaquin told us Hector was the orphaned child of one of his longtime, loyal human servants. A servant who had been killed by Joaquin’s former pack in retaliation for confirming the truth to him about what had happened to his mate Sofia and her family.”

My blood ran cold. The Salvatellas had murdered Hector’s family too?
My
great-grandparents?

“And as Joaquin was planning on getting himself killed in short order in the War of the Triple Alliance, his dying request to us was that Dad and I take the boy with us back to Brazil and keep him under our protection as a servant in our household for the rest of his life, in order to shield him from any potential future harm or retribution at the hands of the Salvatella pack.”

“Holy shit!” Alessandra exclaimed. “Are you kidding me? You mean to tell us that for all that time, the mythical, magically disappearing Alpha blood of Joaquin that the whole supernatural world was busy scheming and killing each other over was right under our noses? Inside of quiet little Hector?”