Alcaeus
The ostentatious homecoming reception and extravagant evening feast held in the renovated banquet hall of the Reinoso pack’s palatial estate in Morumbi was exactly the type of event I’d spent the past ten years avoiding.
The memories of what had happened the last time I’d been inside that dining hall were still too fresh. Too painful.
But as soon as I saw Jussara and Milena rushing toward me, tears in their eyes and arms outstretched, I felt like the world’s greatest coward for avoiding it for so long. If they could move past the horrific events of that fateful day nearly ten years ago in that hall, then surely so could I. And seeing them both standing there in the space that had haunted me was worth the painful reminders of it that had kept me away.
It’d been over a year since Milena and Jussara had last visited me in the States, and it was good to see them again. I was happy to see Milena so happy. Happier still to see how close she’d become with Jussara—who seemed to be doing well, too, near as I could tell. Unlike Milena, who wore her heart on her face, Jussara had always been a tough read. Like her mother.
Aside from my disappointment at my sister Alessandra’s absence, it was a fine affair. Sure, there were moments throughout dinner when seeing Alex sitting there at the head of the table looking so calm, so utterly content in his domesticated bliss made me want to punch his head through the nearest stone wall. But that was likely to remain a normal, knee-jerk impulse where my bratty baby brother was concerned for at least another century, given all the bullshit he’d put me through since becoming my responsibility when he was five.
In truth, I was genuinely happy for him. Not to mention grateful and happy for myself that he was finally settled and no longer a constant cause of worry to me. Settled with a hall-monitor type with a solid moral compass, no less. Evidencing once again that sometimes the fates really did get it right when it came to the whole mating bond business. They’d done us all a solid by pairing Alex with Milena.
“What’s her fixation with Europe?” I asked my stepbrother Remy as we strode through the woods later that evening, following behind a small group of guards and other higher-ranking Betas headed to witness some grand display of Milena’s new abilities that Alex had been bragging about.
“Fixation? Whatever do you mean? I don’t think Jussara cares for Europe any more than she does the States.”
Jussara? “I’m talking about Milena,” I said with impatience. “Milena’s fixation with searching for the Rogue in Europe.”
Why would Remy assume that I was speaking of my ward Jussara? And how the fuck would he know her feelings on Europe or the States, for that matter?
“Oh, right. Of course you are,” Remy said with an anxious chuckle, his face coloring in a way that alarmed every protective instinct I possessed for Lupe’s daughter. “Not sure. But you make a good point. I suppose Milena has been somewhat focused on scouring Europe. Particularly the western countries,” he continued to ramble at a fast clip, further rousing my suspicion and concern about his initial Jussara presumption. “Although, she did just complete a tour of the eastern countries. But then she’s planning to search France yet again.” He laughed harder than necessary at whatever joke he thought he was making. “You know, I was saying to Alex the other day that I think she must simply love the food there, because I can’t imagine there’s a rogue left to be found in all of France at this point.”
I was suddenly gripped by a strong instinct to wrap my hand around Remy’s throat and remind him that Jussara was off-limits, when the object of my concern turned from where she’d been strolling ahead of the group with Milena and Alex, to call back at me.
“Tio, come on!” Jussara’s face was alive with excitement as she dashed over, inserting herself between Remy and me and linking her arm with mine. “I’ve been dying for you to see this. You’re not going to believe how amazing Milena’s abilities are,” she gushed, pulling me ahead and away from Remy. It mollified me to note that she hadn’t even spared him a glance.
I should’ve known better than anyone that Milena was destined for greatness. My father and I had once met the powerful werelock whose legacy of incomparable blood power she’d inherited. Hell, I’d even personally held that blood power for her for a brief period of time during her initial transformation.
Yet nothing could’ve prepared me for how well Milena had managed to develop and expand upon her given abilities in the short years that I’d stayed away from Brazil.
My initial jubilance over her demonstration swiftly waning, I stared, dumbfounded, as the angry sky opened up above me, my eyes unblinking even as electricity lit up the night and drops of water fell to cloud my vision.
“He who controls the weather will control the world.”
This couldn’t be real.
Milena couldn’t possibly have developed some power of empathic hydrokinesis. Or electrokinesis. Or was it called meteorokinesis? Fuck, whatever it was called, it was big.
I forced my eyes from the heavens and glanced around to gauge the rest of the group’s reactions. Kai’s face reflected awe. Alex looked like he was trying to calm an erection.
“Way to go, Miles,” Jussara cheered, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.
“Thank God she’s on our side, right?” Remy muttered next to me, beaming like a proud mother hen.
I nodded slowly in agreement as I felt my own smile fade. “Right.”
Chuckling, Remy leaned closer and confided, “Sometimes I fantasize about instigating a nasty marital row just to witness the supernatural ass-whooping Milena would unleash on Alex now.”
“Second that,” Kai deadpanned without hesitation.
I nodded absently again as I watched the spectacle of thunder and lightning, an unsettling feeling gnawing my gut. Remy was right. I wasn’t sure my brother Alex would be able to best his wife Milena—our pack’s most treasured, well-prophesied, perpetually sweet and adorable vessel—anymore either.
That knowledge shouldn’t have bothered me. Except it meant that Milena’s power and abilities had surpassed all of ours at this point.
And somehow I’d managed to ignore this growing development despite Alex’s incessant bragging and the regular reports on Milena’s progress from both Remy and Jussara.
“Wait till you see her manifest a twister,” Remy said before moving closer to the action, going to stand next to Jussara.
Too close to Jussara.
My frown deepened when Jussara turned and smiled up at Remy.
What. The hell?
Jussara was the closest thing I had to a daughter. Remy knew that she was off-limits. He wouldn’t cross that line. Would he? What’s more, Jussara had always hated Remy. What the fuck had changed between them while I’d been away?
“I believe Alex intends to work her up to a tsunami next,” Kai’s amused voice spoke in my ear, drawing my attention back to Milena’s grand display. When I didn’t react, Kai pressed, “She’s incredible, right? You thought I was exaggerating.”
I forced myself to smile. “Tsunami, huh? So we’re turning our cherished vessel and savior into a WMD? That the plan? Or are we planning to use her to reverse global warming? I’m sure that our ancestors would be proud.” My words came out infused with more bitterness than the teasing tone I’d aimed for.
Kai didn’t miss a beat. “You make a face that reminds me of Antonio when you get jealous.”
I snorted and clapped him on the back, struggling to shake off the foul mood encroaching. “Well, that’s good to hear. Dad was a handsome SOB.”
Who was Kai kidding? He checked in with Milena near constantly. He raved about her accomplishments nonstop. He was her biggest fan and supporter. If anyone was jealous of Alex’s relationship with Milena, it was Kai. I was pretty sure Alex was getting in the way of Kai’s girl-time bonding with Milena.
“Hey, who wouldn’t be jealous of Alex and want to be the one in his shoes right now, eh?” I acknowledged good-naturedly, gesturing to the happy, power-hoarding couple practicing their natural disaster-making skills.
It was close enough to the truth. My baby brother Alex had always seemed to reap more than his fair share of luck in life. Even before Milena had become a supernatural powerhouse to be reckoned with, she had been covet-worthy as a mate. More than easy on the eyes, Milena was also a consummate sweetheart and do-gooder. A quiet, effective leader who led without trying to lead. She’d done more to unite our pack in the past decade than my brothers or I had managed in our lifetimes.
“I wasn’t referring to Alex.”
The full implication of Kai’s words sank in as I watched his retreating form jog over to a grinning Milena.
“Did you see that?” she exclaimed.
“Sure did. You were magnificent!” Kai praised.
“She still can’t teleport,” my sister Alessandra’s voice drawled from behind me, unabashedly rife with the envy Kai had just accused me of harboring.
My chest exploded with laughter at my sister’s most welcome presence in that moment and her characteristically critical assessment of our sister-in-law.
It was true. Despite her tremendous power and skills, Milena couldn’t teleport. And Alessandra had clearly done just that—expertly, too—because I hadn’t heard a sound or felt so much as a ripple of magic at her entry.
“Lessa!” I spun around and engulfed her in a hug, lifting her off her feet and twirling her around. “Just the old bitch I was hoping I’d see today.”
“I am not old.”
Eleven years my junior, Lessa was my only full-blooded sibling, and the only contemporary of my generation besides Kai within our pack. She hated being reminded of her age. The bitch designation, however, was one she relished.
“Put me down, you big cur,” she protested. “You’re going to get me all mussed.”
I knew she was teasing, but I set her down just the same, rounding on her in a hushed voice the moment that I did. “I’ll muss you all I want. What the hell has been going on around here, anyway? Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
“What? Why of all—I did! We all did. You’ve been dick deep in American pussy so long your brain is fried.”
“Did Kai say that? Who told you that? And I prefer the term balls deep.”
She punched me hard in the chest.
“Ouch.” Lessa had never in her life hit like a girl. Not even when she’d been a little girl.
“More like who didn’t tell me that.”
“Eh, whatever.” Fucking pack rumors. “How’s she doing it? How’s Milena controlling weather elements?”
“First of all, it’s they, not she.” Lessa jutted her chin in Alex and Milena’s direction. “Alex likes to give Milena all the credit, but I know he’s helping her. Controlling the end result. Alex has always been the master of physical elements, as you and I well know.”
Huh. She was probably right. I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or worse about this unique power development. “Okay, so how are they doing it?”
“Not here. Let’s walk and talk.” Lessa latched onto my elbow and turned us away from the group.
I hesitated. “I should probably say something to Milena first—”
“There’s no time,” Lessa insisted, and in a blink she’d teleported us and was dragging me along the deserted cobblestone quay along the Seine.
“This is over the top, Lessa. Even for you. And kinda cliché, don’t you think? Paris? Really? What is it—midnight here, too?”
“Shut up and walk.”
“Fine. But start talking so we can get back before Milena notices I bailed. I don’t want to hurt her feelings that I left without even saying anything about her grand thunderstorm show.”
“Oh, for God’s sake. Milena and her fucking feelings! I swear that’s all anyone in this pack cares about anymore. Is it any wonder it’s come to this?”
“I am one hundred percent lost,” I admitted, turning around and jogging backward on the path so that I could face my sister while staying ahead of her brisk walking pace.
“She’s an endless font of emotion, and Alex is her magnifying conduit. That’s how they do it.” She threw her hands in the air as if she was stating something that should be obvious to any idiot.
But not this idiot. “Still not following, sis.”
“Milena’s always been a virtual bottomless spigot of emotions, right? I mean, the girl cries more than any living creature I’ve ever met.” Her hazel eyes caught the moonlight as they rolled. “And Alex … we know Alex inherited his mother Renata’s empathic abilities, and yet he never even realized he had those powers because he only found his emotional awareness after the living spigot came into his life.”
Wow. “So you’re totally having a hard time with Milena being Alpha, huh?”
“Turn!” she ordered at a shout, her long brown hair flying behind her with the force at which she pivoted. Her heeled feet clicked noisily against the stone as she stomped a path away from the water.
I followed behind her, noticing for the first time the prim blouse and calf-length skirt she was wearing once I was staring after her back.
“Hey, why’re you dressed like a schoolteacher?”
She threw the middle finger over her right shoulder and kept stomping.
“All right, look, I’m sorry I stayed away so long. It wasn’t you I was avoiding.”
She groaned and threw up another finger at me.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I jogged after her to keep up with her long, angry strides. “Oh, come on, don’t be like that. I’ve missed you. I said I was sorry. I just needed some time away from—”
She stopped abruptly and spun around to face me, her eyes flashing amber beneath her raised brow. “Do you think I’m Alex? You think I don’t know why you had to stay away? You think I don’t understand? Or that maybe I need Milena to fucking explain it to me?”
It was the wrong time to bust up laughing, but I couldn’t help it. Lessa never made fun of our baby half-brother like this. She had always praised and doted on Alex to a fault, much to my annoyance, as well as our stepbrother Remy’s, who had also shared in the burden of raising Alex. Lessa had consistently defended Alex, always taken his side in every disagreement—even all five times that he’d burned my house to the ground as a kid. Milena’s presence had obviously put a strain on their relationship.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized again, choking up with laughter. The stress of my day had caught up with me. “It’s not you. I swear.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head.
It felt damn good to be in my sister’s presence. Arguably the pack’s best fighter, Lessa could terrify the bravest of men. Smart as a whip, she could rattle the most confident. She was also vain and selfish and sometimes embarrassingly shallow. And there was no one on earth I’d known and loved longer than my little sister.
I realized where she’d taken us. In a few more steps we’d be standing next to the stone archway that read: “Cimetière des Chiens.”
Lessa hadn’t brought me here to talk about Alex or Milena.
“You wanted to talk to me about the Rogue in private?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve found the Rogue.”
I swallowed, curiosity replacing the mirth I’d basked in a moment ago. “I’m listening.”
Her fingers fiddled with the bow-tie neckline of her silk blouse. I still didn’t understand why she was dressed like a schoolteacher.
“There are … complications. I need your help.”
“Why don’t you want Alex or the others to know?”
She squared her shoulders. “The Rogue was always our quarry, Al.” Her hazel eyes, so similar to mine, dared me to disagree. “You and me. Dad said it was our mission.”
I nodded. I decided not to point out that she’d gotten bored with that mission eons ago and hadn’t done much to help me with it since Dad’s passing. She was clearly on a competitive streak with Milena right now.
“Okay. I’ll help you, Lessa.”
“And you’ll keep this between us? You won’t even tell Kai?”
“Yes.” As the word left my mouth, I knew I’d probably live to regret it. But I might’ve been a little competitive myself. And it was kinda fun feeling like Lessa was on my side again after so many years of her going against me for Alex’s sake.
She smiled. “We’re going to need to break a few pack laws.”