Claiming Valeria

by Rebecca Rivard

  “Sim?”

  “Come here.” He set the wine on the floor and held out his hand. His gaze was hot, predatory.

  She faltered, her animal sending up warning signals. She told herself not to be silly and continued forward.

  “Hello, Petros.” She touched her lips to each of his cheeks.

  He turned his head and captured her mouth, pulling her closer so that her whole body was against his. Leaning back against the door, he fingered a lock of hair. “I hear the little ones are sleeping in the creche tonight.”

  She nodded. “I was just saying good night to Merry.”

  “You’re a good mother.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured even as her animal gave another uneasy twitch.

  Water fada often took to the ocean, spending months, even years riding the currents. Fada tradição was to welcome such nomads, so when Petros had first swum up the Chesapeake, Lord Dion had readily assigned him a room in the Rock Run caverns. But most travelers stayed only a couple of weeks, whereas Petros had already been here for over two months.

  Valeria swallowed. Had she read him wrong? Had he been courting her, thinking of her as a possible mate?

  He tugged on the lock of hair. “Invite me in, baby.”

  And she did not like to be called baby.

  She pulled back. “I’m sorry, Petros, but it’s not a good time. This thing with Dion and the earth fada—”

  “So? What can you do? And I offered my help but Luis said there’s nothing I can do either—not tonight.”

  “No, but—” Petros was right; there was nothing Valeria could do right now for either Dion or to defend against the earth shifters, and Merry was in the creche. Sex would calm both her and her animal, which was as upset as the children by the day’s events.

  So why wasn’t she happier to see him?

  He closed a hand around her nape. “I brought wine”—he indicated the bottle at his feet—“an Agiorgitiko that’s been aged in French oak. I had to go to Baltimore to get it.” He stroked the sensitive skin at back of her neck.

  Her eyelids drooped. His fingertips were rough, male, knowing. And it had been so long…so very long. She craved touch—intimate touch. And Deus knew Petros was sexy. For the first time in two years, she’d thought perhaps—

  A fada could mate more than once. But it was almost unheard of if the original mate were still alive. Damn Rui anyway for leaving her in this hellish limbo—mated, but not.

  “Don’t say no,” Petros said against her ear. He turned so that his body was pressing hers into the wall and told her exactly what he wanted to do with her—and the wine.

  To her dismay, her animal shrank back, arguing he didn’t smell right. She’d thought her animal wanted this. They were both going crazy, sleeping alone night after night.

  Petros nipped her earlobe. “So? What d’you say, glika?”

  Valeria moistened her lips. “I—”

  A growl filled the corridor. Valeria went stiff. Over Petros’s shoulder she saw Rui bearing down on them, his eyes changing from green to the dark, feral gold that signaled his animal was in control.

  “She says no, damn you.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Together, Rui and Luis assigned the top warriors where they would do the most good. Two tenentes—Justino and Ed—would infiltrate the sun fae compound and bring back any information they could about Dion, as well as a report on the sun fae’s current defenses, should the clan need to mount a rescue. A third tenente would organize the defense of the base’s main entrances, while three squads of their most seasoned warriors would patrol the perimeter of the Rock Run territory on alert for any sign of the earth shifters.

  With that decided, Rui sent a clearly exhausted Luis back to his mate and child and gave himself and the two remaining tenentes—Rodolfo and Teresa—the task of planning Dion’s rescue. He ordered Rodolfo and Teresa to meet him in his sala in thirty minutes and headed back for a quick shower before they arrived.

  First, though, he stopped at the creche to make sure the children were safe and happy. He nodded to the two guards who’d been assigned to guard the entrance and went inside. The room was relatively quiet due to the fact the children were rapidly downing milk and fresh-baked cookies. His gaze lingered on Merry, seated at a large round table with the others in her age group. Valeria had done a good job with her. She’d filled out some, although she’d probably always be thin. But it was a healthy, wiry slimness, not the near starvation in which he’d found her.

  She caught sight of him and her serious little face lit up. She left her snack to hurtle across the room.

  “Hey there, princesa.” He swung her up into his arms for a kiss.

  He was still a little bemused by her obvious partiality for him. From the day he’d returned from the sun fae, she’d been curious about him. At first, she’d kept her distance. But at dinner each night, when the clan gathered for a communal meal, he noticed her studying him as if he were an interesting puzzle. He’d ignored her, too intent on getting quietly drunk. But he’d wondered if her interest was due to curiosity—or hate.

  Then one evening she stopped beside him and greeted him gravely in perfect Portuguese, having apparently picked some up in the year she’d been at Rock Run. “Boa noite, Senhor Rui.”

  He’d removed his arm from his current woman and returned her greeting, conscious of Valeria waiting tensely behind her daughter. She placed her hands on the little girl’s shoulders, urging her to another table. “Come along. Tia Sabela’s waiting for us.”

  But the next evening, Merry stopped beside him again. He was prepared this time, having taken a seat at a table of all men. “Hello,” she said in that serious little voice.

  “Hello,” he replied. There was a pause which felt awkward to him but didn’t seem to faze her. She waited patiently, her big, almond-shaped eyes seeming to take in everything—that he wasn’t sitting with the woman of the night before, that his wine glass was still full.

  He swallowed and glanced up at Valeria, but her set face made it clear he was on his own. He looked back at Merry. “Uh…how are you, bonitinha?”

  She inclined her head in a gesture that would’ve done a princess proud. “I’m good. What’s that mean—bonitinha?”

  “Pretty girl. If I were speaking of your mother”—his gaze went to Valeria again—“I would say bonita—pretty woman.”

  Merry’s face lit. “Obrigada, Senhor Rui,” she said, and taking her mama’s hand, headed off to their table.

  Rui felt a curious tightness in the back of his throat. He took a gulp of wine, then with a glance at Merry and Valeria, set the glass back down and didn’t touch it until they’d left the dining hall.

  Soon Merry was calling him Tio Rui and giving him daily reports on her friends, her school, her mom. He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Merry to ask point-blank why he’d killed her father. He’d never forgotten her question: Are you a bad man?

  But apparently all she recalled was that he’d saved her from the night fae. He knew he had Valeria to thank for that, and he was more grateful than he could say. But it was a special kind of hell, having the little girl treat him as her hero when he knew he was anything but.

  After the first week, Valeria started allowing Merry to talk to him on her own. Occasionally she took her meals with him instead of her mother.

  Lately she’d been trying to get him and Valeria back together.

  Rui had tried to discourage her—the last thing he needed was a seven-year-old matchmaker—but Merry was a true jaguar: stubborn and independent. And he didn’t want to upset her, because the damnedest thing had happened: she’d wormed her way into his heart. They only saw each other at dinnertime—he was afraid to push for more than that—but her chatty reports had become the highlight of his day.

  Now she pressed a sticky kiss to his cheek and said, “Guess what, Tio Rui? We’re sleeping in the creche tonight. I get to sleep next to Trina.”

  “Sounds like fun.”
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  She put a small hand on his arm and leaned in close. “D’you wanna hear a secret?”

  Setting her on her feet, he crouched down so he was at her level. “Only if it’s one you’re allowed to tell.”

  “Oh yes. This is my secret.”

  He nuzzled her cheek, unable to resist her little-girl scent: sweet, a little sweaty. She must’ve been playing hard before the creche workers corralled the kids for a snack. “Then yes, I’d like to hear it.”

  She put her mouth next to his ear and whispered, “This is my first sleepover.”

  “Ah…that’s nice.” Something made him add, “Are you going to be all right?”

  She moved a shoulder.

  “Are you sure? If you don’t want to stay, I can take you back to your mama.”

  “I’m a big girl now. I can sleep with the other kids.”

  “I know. But even big girls miss their mamas sometimes.”

  She twisted her fingers in the skirt of her nightgown. “The other kids will laugh at me.”

  His heart lurched. Deus, this girl had him, hook, line and sinker. She was the one bright spot in his sorry life. He tucked a wiry black curl behind her ear so he could meet her eyes. “We’ll tell them your mama needs you.”

  The big hazel eyes got larger. “Isn’t that a lie?”

  “It’s not a lie if it’s true. And your mama always needs you, right?”

  She considered that for a few seconds, then gave him a shy smile. “Yes, please.”

  He tapped her on the nose. “Let’s tell the teachers.” He came to his feet and hoisted her onto his hip. She nestled her head trustingly into the side of his neck. He swallowed hard and kissed the top of her head.

  It took only a few moments to take Isa aside and explain what was up. Rui was conscious that even six months ago, Isa would’ve refused to let Merry leave with him. But now she merely nodded and gathered up the little girl’s belongings, giving Merry a conspiratorial wink as she handed Rui the backpack.

  “See you at the next sleepover, querida.”

  Merry stayed on Rui’s hip as he made his way through the labyrinthine halls. The complicated, intertwining paths were typical of a river fada base, part of their defense against an enemy incursion, but he knew the way to Valeria’s quarters as well as his own. How many times had he’d made his way there, late at night when everyone else was asleep? To stand outside her door, eagerly gulping in any small trace of her scent—nutmeg and earth—lingering in the hall…hands balled and craving her with every fiber of his being until he feared he’d go mad.

  Everyone thought he was cold to Valeria, that he’d decided she wasn’t the mate for him after all.

  Everyone was wrong. With each day that passed, he wanted her more.

  Tonight, with the clan in turmoil, he’d have come anyway if only to reassure her and Merry. Now he had the perfect excuse to spend a few extra minutes with her, something his animal had been pushing for. But as he entered the corridor, he saw her and that damn Greek sea fada who’d been sniffing around her for weeks—and he had Valeria pressed against the wall.

  A dark, aggressive heat filled Rui’s head. A growl tore from his throat.

  Merry started. “What’s wrong, Tio?”

  He growled again and she whimpered. He remembered himself enough to set her and the backpack down. “Stay here,” he ordered. Then he was moving down the hall, his vision hazed with red, his animal a roar in his head. He was practically running by the time he reached the other two.

  He set a hand on Okeanos’s shoulder. “She says no,” he said, his voice so close to animal the words were almost unrecognizable.

  Okeanos snarled and shook him off. “Like hell.”

  Rui’s lips peeled back. His switchblade practically jumped into his hand. Okeanos reached for his own knife. They started to circle each another. Rui wasn’t sure what would’ve happened if Valeria hadn’t inserted herself between them.

  “Stop it, both of you,” she hissed. She looked past them and reached out a hand. “Querida? What’s wrong? Why aren’t you at the sleepover?”

  Her distress penetrated Rui’s angry haze. He dragged his gaze from Okeanos to see Merry a few feet away, gazing up at him wide-eyed, her backpack clutched in both hands.

  Deus, what was he doing? He expelled a breath and brought his knife back to his side. “Desculpe-me,” he muttered to Valeria. “I’m sorry,” he added to Okeanos, knowing he spoke only Greek and English.

  Okeanos gazed back, his black eyes cold. A couple of beats passed before he nodded curtly. “Fine. But stay away from Valeria from now on. She’s mine.”

  Valeria hissed but didn’t contradict him. Rui’s hand clenched around the knife handle. When the other man had first turned up at Rock Run, Rui had been in a drunken haze—as usual. It had been weeks before he’d realized Okeanos was courting Valeria. He told himself that was good, that it was time she moved on. Wasn’t that what he’d been trying to force by parading his women before her and the clan? But the reality was like a blow to the gut.

  Still, he was wrong and he knew it. He had no rights where Valeria was concerned; he’d made sure of that.

  He jerked his head in acknowledgment before retracting the blade and returning it to his pocket. Okeanos followed suit as Valeria took the backpack from Merry and lifted her into her arms.

  “I didn’t expect to see you. You’re not sick, are you?”

  Merry burrowed her face into Valeria’s neck and shook her head.

  “She’s fine,” Rui said, “but she decided she’d rather sleep here tonight.”

  “I was afraid you’d be lonely,” Merry said into Valeria’s shoulder.

  “Sim? How’d you know I was missing you?”

  “I just knew.”

  Despite the tension still riding him, Rui’s lips twitched. Even a seven-year-old had the need to save face, it seemed.

  Merry lifted her head to look at her mama. “Tio Rui brought me back. Don’t be mad at him.”

  “Oh, querida. Of course I’m not mad that he brought you back.” Valeria gave him a stiff nod. “Obrigada, Rui. For bringing Merry home.” Her tone made it clear that was all she was grateful for.

  “De nada,” he said and backed away. But some stubborn, primitive instinct wouldn’t let him leave before Okeanos. Instead, he leaned against the wall a few feet away, arms crossed over his chest.

  The other man scowled in his direction, then gave Rui his back. Rui’s jaw tightened at the deliberate insult, but he remained where he was.

  Okeanos stroked a finger down Valeria’s cheek. “Would you like me to come back later, glika?”

  “Not tonight.” She made an apologetic face. “I’m sorry, but she needs me…”

  “All right,” Okeanos said, his tone neutral. But the scent of his irritation filled the hall. The man wasn’t happy at having his plans for tonight thwarted. He wrapped a hand around Valeria’s nape, pressed a hard kiss to her lips and stepped back with a triumphant glance at Rui.

  Rui’s teeth clenched, but he managed to wink at Merry. “Have a good sleep, princesa. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She gave him a sleepy smile. “’Night, Tio Rui.”

  Rui pushed himself off the wall and looked at Valeria. She was clearly pissed off, although he wasn’t sure if it was at him or Okeanos—or both of them. She might be low on the dominance chain, but push her hard enough and she pushed back.

  His gaze went to her full lips, reddened from Okeanos’s kisses, and he had to fist his hands to keep from dragging her into his arms and erasing the memory of the other man’s mouth with his own.

  He gave her a curt nod. “Boa noite.”

  Her thick dark lashes lowered, shielding her thoughts. “Good night.”

  His fingers dug into his palms. Once he’d have known what she was thinking, would’ve felt her emotions through the mate bond—but no longer. The bond had been well and truly broken, leaving a gaping hole in his heart where Valeria had been. He’d been numbing himself
with alcohol and sex for so long that he’d forgotten how much it hurt when he was stone-cold sober.

  Okeanos was standing a few yards away, watching them. She glanced at him, then lowered her voice. “I can handle him.”

  He scowled. “That’s not how it looked to me.”

  “Well, I was, damn you. And if I wasn’t, it’s none of your business.”

  “Sorry, but you looked like you could use some help.”

  “You were wrong.”

  But she didn’t meet his eyes, and he knew that wasn’t entirely true. Still, if that was how she wanted to play it, there was nothing he could do.

  She opened her door. “I have to put Merry to bed.”

  He placed a hand on her arm. “Valeria. I—”

  He didn’t know what he intended. An apology, maybe. Or even to beg her for another chance.

  But her whole body went rigid, and before he could get it out, she jerked from his grip and slipped into her apartment. The last thing he saw was Merry gazing forlornly at him over Valeria’s shoulder.

  For a long moment he stared at the closed door. He lifted his hand to knock on it, to say—what? She didn’t have to spell it out. He’d had his chance and blown it.

  Okeanos was watching from down the hall. Rui gave him his back and walked away.

  * * *

  Damn the man.

  Valeria shut the door with a decided click and blew out a furious breath. The cabrão didn’t want her for himself, but he wasn’t going to let anyone else have her either.

  Well, they’d see about that.

  Merry tilted her head so that she could see Valeria’s face. “Don’t you like Tio Rui, Mama?”

  Her chest tightened. “Oh, querida. I do like him. It’s just that I like Senhor Petros better.” Which was a lie, she realized as soon as the words left her mouth. Nausea welled in her throat, a warning not to continue in that vein or she’d become truly ill.

  “But—” Merry’s small brow puckered.

  Valeria placed a finger on her lips. “No more questions. It’s time you were in bed.”

  Merry frowned but didn’t argue, a sign of how tired she must be. Within a few minutes, she was tucked between the sheets, one arm wrapped around the tattered clown doll that was all she had from her former life. Sitting down on the bed, Valeria placed her hands on either side of her shoulders and rubbed her nose against hers.