by Chant, Zoe
Don’t be dumb, she told herself. It’s just a sandwich.
“Delicious,” she told Santos, and if her voice came out a little gruff, well, she was a little gruff sometimes.
“I’m glad,” he said. “Let me know if you want another one.”
She was halfway through the first one already and was starting to think that another one sounded pretty good.
“Where did you learn how to cook?” she asked, wondering if he’d had a similar situation to hers and Alaric’s, or if he’d had a real teacher. Probably a real teacher, because even with sandwiches, she could tell he was better at it than either she or Alaric was. “Did Lachlan teach you?”
He laughed. “No, no. My mom taught me. She insisted that I be able to make myself real actual meals before I moved out.”
“Oh.” She pictured an older woman with Santos’ dark eyes, bossing him around the kitchen. It was a nice image.
“I think she was afraid that I’d starve or subsist entirely on Kraft dinners if she didn’t do something about it, and at that point in my life, she was probably right.” He grinned. “I was a complete brat about it at the time, whining about being forced to slave in the kitchen making dinner for the family, but I’m grateful now.”
“You should be,” Athena said, taking another bite. “This is really good.”
“My mom’s a good cook,” he said, still smiling.
Athena wondered what it would have been like to have a mom cooking meals for them all those years, teaching her and Alaric how to do it so they could have real actual meals when they moved out. It seemed...nice.
She looked down at Olivia, who was chewing on the table leg. That’s about the caliber of meal I’m going to be able to teach you how to cook, she thought ruefully. Table leg with salt. Burned grilled cheese. Spaghetti with sauce from a jar.
“Are you from Oak Ridge?” she asked, distracting herself from the thoughts of her terrible cooking. “Originally?”
“Sure am,” he said comfortably. “Born and raised. My parents moved here before I was born, looking for a shifter town where they wouldn’t have to hide.”
“But it’s not only shifters who live here,” she pointed out.
“Not entirely. Mostly, I’d say. And the humans are all in the know—they’re married to shifters, or they have shifter relatives. Shifter kids.”
Wait. “You marry humans?”
“Some of us,” he said, frowning a little. “It’s not as out there as all that. As long as the human knows what’s what, and is okay with being married to a weird supernatural being...”
The human’s feelings about it hadn’t really been what Athena was thinking about, although she could see how that would be another problem. “But isn’t it—why would you want to be partnered with someone who couldn’t fly, who didn’t have shifter instincts, who was just so much of a—” She almost said inferior, but then stopped herself, because she was pretty damn sure that Santos wouldn’t enjoy that. “Different kind of being,” she finished, a little weakly.
“I don’t think we’re that different, really,” he said slowly. “As people, I mean. Obviously a human can’t shift into a different form, but I think our internal beasts aren’t that far away from a lot of humans’ deeper instincts. And humans can be just as fierce as we are, when they’re provoked. No claws, but lots of other ways to show it.”
Athena wasn’t sure how to feel about this weird idea. “One of our major beliefs, back home, is that we can’t live alongside humans,” she said. “Not if we want to fully be ourselves. Not without endangering the humans, because they can’t defend themselves like we can.”
There was a long pause. “Well,” Santos said finally, “I don’t agree with that. I’ve seen plenty of evidence to the contrary, for my entire life here.”
Athena wanted to argue, but it was hard to argue with someone who’d actually been living the opposite side of the argument for their entire life.
“Also, there are a few different couples in Oak Ridge who are true mates, one human, one shifter,” Santos added. “Which I think speaks pretty strongly to the fact that shifters and humans can live together just fine.”
Athena stared at him. “There’s what now?”
“Human-shifter mated couples,” Santos repeated. “Including—uh, well, I don’t know if he’d want to tell you this himself or not, but maybe it’s better if you’re prepared before you meet her—”
“Tell me what?”
“Ronan’s mate, Katie, is a human woman,” he said.
Ronan was mated to a human?
Her first thought was that it couldn’t be true—they’d just fallen in love really quickly, maybe, and had been confused into thinking that that meant they were mates.
But Ronan wasn’t like that. He’d never been impulsive, or foolish. He thought things through and he acted with purpose, and he’d never claim to be mated to someone unless he absolutely knew that it was true.
“That just doesn’t make sense,” she said blankly.
“If it helps, I think they were both pretty surprised when it happened, too,” Santos said.
Olivia was reaching up for her, wanting to come up and see what the grown-ups were doing. Athena picked her up and settled her in her lap, mind still reeling.
“This whole town is crazy,” she finally said. “It makes no sense at all. I don’t understand how it can exist.”
“Well, maybe you can stick around for a while,” Santos suggested with a little smile. “Figure it out.”
“I wish. I’m going to have to get back in a day or two, or Jeremiah’s going to start wondering where I’ve gone.” The idea of the long trek back to Leosville, and then the drive back home, and then trying to figure out how to convince Jeremiah—well, of anything—it was exhausting.
Especially if she didn’t have Ronan with her. And the fact that he had a human mate had suddenly made the possibility much, much less likely.
Athena looked down at Olivia’s wild red curls, feeling heavy and tired and confused. What was she going to do?
But she was distracted from contemplating the failure of her mission, because footsteps were suddenly sounding on the stairs up from the store.
Chapter 10: Santos
Santos knew who was at the door immediately. Only one person had a key to the store and would have just wandered up to knock without calling first.
He wasn’t proud of the fact that he briefly considered just pretending not to be home at all.
“Santos?” echoed through the door after the knock. “Are you there?”
He looked at Athena. “It’s my mother,” he said.
Her eyes widened in surprise and—worry? More than worry, almost fear.
“I can tell her to go away,” he said quickly. “She likes to drop by sometimes, but if I say I’m really busy, she’ll leave.”
“Um.” Athena swallowed. “No, that’s—that’s all right. You can invite her in.”
“Are you sure?” She didn’t look sure.
She lifted her chin. “Yes,” she said. “Please.”
“Well—all right.” He went to the door and opened it. “Mama, I have a guest,” he said quickly, before she could come right in and start chattering about whatever her latest news was. “Guests.”
His mother blinked. “Guests?” she said. “You never have guests! Who is it?”
“Well, come on in and meet her,” Santos said, stepping aside to let her in.
“Her?” Rita said, with sudden suspicion, but then she was inside, and Athena was standing up from the table, Olivia on one hip, and coming forward uncertainly.
“Hello, Mrs. Ramirez,” she said, and reached out her hand, slowly, as if she wasn’t quite sure if that was right. Santos supposed the red dragons might not shake hands, if they were so convinced that shifters really weren’t like humans at all.
“Well—well, hello!” Santos’ mother came forward, taking Athena’s hand in both of hers. “How lovely to meet you! Please call me Rita, dear.”
/> Santos could feel his neck muscles relaxing a little. Dear was a good sign.
He’d realized, in the moment that his mother had said, “Her?” that there was a possibility that she might disapprove of Santos hosting a single woman in his apartment. Possibly even if he assured her that nothing was going on. Rita could be old fashioned in a lot of ways—mostly good, but occasionally he ran up against something he was surprised that she didn’t approve of.
“Hello, Rita,” Athena was saying, still awkward. Santos came over to stand next to her, give her some moral support—and was surprised to see the rigid tension in her body. She was almost shaking. Why?
“My name is Athena,” she continued. “It’s nice to meet you.”
She really did sound like she was reciting from a script. What was it like where she came from?
“And who’s this?” Rita smiled big at Olivia, who was staring with her usual wide-eyed fascination.
“This is my daughter Olivia,” Athena said.
“Hi, there. Hello.” Rita waved at Olivia, who considered her for a long minute, and then smiled.
“Oh, what a little angel.” Rita beamed. “My goodness, she’s beautiful.” Then she frowned. “Athena...what brings you and this little girl to Oak Ridge? How do you know my son?”
“I—well—”
“Athena’s in town to visit relatives, but it turned out they didn’t have room,” Santos intervened quickly, which was sort of true; he was pretty sure that Ronan and Katie didn’t have room for an extra adult and baby in their tiny cabin. That his parents leased to them.
He was going to have to come clean about this pretty quickly, probably. But for now—with Athena all tight and scared-looking—he just wanted it to go as smoothly as possible.
“So I offered my spare room while she’s here,” he continued.
“Santos, do you not realize that your parents own vacation cabins?” Rita asked, mock-offended. Or maybe even a little bit truly offended. “Why didn’t you offer her one of those, instead of just a single room?”
“Oh no, ma’am,” Athena said quickly. “I’m happy—I’m happy staying here. Olivia and I are used to a smaller space. I like keeping her close.”
“Well, of course you do.” Rita was immediately distracted again. Santos had never realized what a useful parent-tool a baby would be. “My goodness. How old is she?”
“She’s nine months.” Olivia was squirming, wanting to get down again, so Athena set her down and let her crawl off. Rita watched with a light in her eyes that Santos was familiar with: Why don’t I have grandchildren yet?
Olivia crawled over to the front door, investigated it, realized that it wasn’t going to reveal the magical portal to outside, and swung back around to check out Rita’s shoes. Then she grabbed her pant leg, leaning upward.
Rita looked at Athena. “May I?”
Athena nodded, and Rita immediately swung Olivia up into her arms. “What a big girl,” she said. “And her hair! Oh, you must be so happy she got your hair, it’s gorgeous.”
“Thank you,” Athena said quietly.
While Rita was distracted tickling Olivia’s chin and making her giggle, Santos put a hand on Athena’s shoulder. The muscle was so tight under his hand, it felt like stone. She jumped and looked at him.
He tried to communicate with his eyebrows. Are you okay? Then he looked over at the door. I can get her to leave.
She swallowed, and shook her head.
“Are you busy with your relatives while you’re here, or will you have time to come to dinner with us?” Rita asked, and they both jumped and looked back at her. “Luis and I would be so delighted if you and Olivia would come over with Santos. Tonight or tomorrow, or whenever would work.”
“Oh, I—let me, let me check with them,” Athena said, stumbling a little. “I’m not sure.”
“Well, you just let us know. I’ll leave you be for now. Santos, you make sure these ladies are comfortable, you hear me?”
“Will do, Mama. See you later.” He went over to kiss her cheek goodbye, and she handed him Olivia.
Startled, he clasped her little body close, settling her on his hip after a moment of hesitation. While Athena had been in the shower, earlier, he hadn’t had to pick Olivia up—she’d wanted to crawl around right until she’d needed the diaper change.
Now, though, she seemed happy to snuggle right up to his chest, one of her little arms going around his bicep, the other resting gently on his sternum as she laid her head on his shoulder.
“Oh,” Rita said softly. “How lovely. She really likes you, honey. Do try to make it for dinner.”
“We’ll do our best,” Santos managed, as Rita backed slowly out the door, giving Olivia one last wave before disappearing down the stairs.
Santos closed the door behind her, and waited for a few minutes before saying anything—his mother had shifter hearing, too, after all.
When he’d heard the back door to the shop close, the key in the lock, he turned back to Athena and said, “Are you okay?”
She’d been staring at the closed door, and startled, looking up at him with those clear green eyes. “I—” she said, and stopped.
“You don’t have to answer,” Santos amended, even though he badly wanted to know what was wrong. “You just seemed—it seemed like something was wrong.”
She let out her breath. “There aren’t a lot of women in our clan.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Santos said, and he was, for her sake, although it seemed as though women had a rough time with the red dragons.
“There’s me, and there’s Jeremiah’s daughter, and she and I don’t always get along so well, and there’s Sarah, who’s older, but just—she doesn’t like people very much.”
“That’s it?” Santos asked, a little disbelieving.
“Well, and Olivia, now.”
“That’s not very many,” was all he could think to say that wouldn’t sound very tactless. Did they all run away because it’s so terrible? Is your life terrible?
“No,” Athena said on a sigh, “it isn’t. There were more, obviously—Ronan’s mother and mine were sisters, but they both died in the same big fight when we were little.”
“In a fight?” Santos asked. He’d known that the red dragons were warlike, but—
Athena nodded. “Against a rival clan. We won, and pretty much wiped them out, but they liked to attack women and children when they could, and they lured the men away and then attacked everyone who was left behind. Alaric and me and Ronan and Shiloh only lived because our mothers defended us until our fathers could get back.”
“Wow. That’s—brutal.”
Athena nodded. “That’s how it is sometimes.”
Not here. But it would feel disrespectful to Athena’s mother, somehow, to point that out now, so Santos stayed silent.
“So anyway, I haven’t—there’s not a lot of—moms. At home.”
“Oh,” Santos said, almost soundlessly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
She shook her head, almost violently. “Don’t apologize. I wanted to meet her. To really see a—mom. Who taught you how to cook. And everything. It was—nice. How she was with Olivia.” The emotion in her voice was obvious and painful, and it made Santos want to take her in his arms and hug her tight.
“She loves babies,” Santos said tentatively. “In her ideal world, I’d be married and having my fifth kid right now. Seeing a baby in my home was the closest she’s gotten so far, I guess.”
Athena laughed a little. “Well, I’m sorry that—that I’m going to have to take her away again.”
It was lighthearted, but the words hit Santos like an ice pick to the chest. No!
That wasn’t his right. He couldn’t demand that Athena stay here with her daughter, instead of going home. Even if her home was so harsh, it was hers.
But feeling the little baby head against his shoulder, Olivia’s body getting heavier in his arms as her eyes drifted closed—he wanted to hold her while
she napped, watch her explore more when she woke up, go buy her baby food and some toys, build her a crib. Make her laugh, hold her when she cried—
Stop. What was he thinking? He’d never had his mother’s baby fever before. Babies were cute, but he hadn’t felt the call to have his own.
This baby, though—
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want,” he managed. “And come back, if you want. If your home is—too dangerous. Or anything.”
“Well...thank you.” Athena looked uncertain. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, now. I don’t think—I thought I could convince Ronan that he was wrong, that he needed to come back, but if he really does have a human mate...that’s not going to go over well, back home. And he must know that. So now I’m not sure.”
“Please keep yourself safe, whatever you do,” Santos said. At the moment, that was all he really cared about.
Probably he should be trying to strategize, finding out information from Athena that Malachi or Flynn or Elizabeth could use in their next tactical move, something that could win this conflict for Oak Ridge once and for all. Weaknesses to exploit.
But he didn’t want to exploit any weaknesses if Athena might come to harm from it. He didn’t want to get her in trouble with Jeremiah, or send her back and then find himself fighting her clan.
“Why do you care?” she asked abruptly.
“Why do I care whether you keep yourself safe?”
She nodded, her mouth set in an unhappy line.
Somehow, everything Santos tried to do to make sure Athena was happy and comfortable ended up having the complete opposite effect. He was really going to have to figure out how to change that.
For now, though, all he had was the truth. “Because I think you’re brave, and smart, and you care so much about your people. Because you came here all alone with your baby, on foot in the middle of the night, to try to save them from themselves. You’re—beautiful, and strong, and you love your family. And I’m so afraid that something’s going to happen to you, back there with those dangerous men, and I want to protect you from that.”
Athena’s eyes had gone wide with the first few words, and as he kept going, her lips parted, her face transforming with surprise.
