Carmen swallowed another sip of sangria. It was the last glass from a very large pitcher and she’d done more than her share to empty it. “That has nothing to do with it.”

He gave her the side eye. “Nothing?”

She laughed. “Well, it’s not the main thing. It’s a definite bonus, that’s for sure.” His mother’s expression turned serious. “Oh, her books, Alex, they are so good. All that angst and romance and the terrible things that her characters overcome for love.” She sighed and clutched a hand to her heart.

He kicked his feet up onto the coffee table. “Yeah, I read the first one. It was pretty good. Really good, actually. I like my books with a little less kissing, but I can see the appeal.” The kissing he liked was with the author, not on the pages.

Carmen stared at him, her eyes wide and glimmering gold, more from the alcohol she’d consumed than anything else. “You read one?”

“Don’t act so shocked. I read. Not sure about Diego, but—”

“Oh, let your brother be.”

“You know he’s living with a girl he just met. A much younger girl. I’m surprised that doesn’t concern you more.”

She sighed. It was a long, practiced sound that he’d heard many times before. “Will you take him back in when she kicks him out?”

Alex stared at the porch ceiling. “I don’t want to. I want my own life.” With Roxy. “I’m a grown man who needs his space and his privacy.”

She nodded. “Especially with your new chica.” Another soft exhale came out of her. “I don’t know where we went wrong with him. I thought after the Marines…” She tapped her painted nails on the wine glass, sending a crystalline ringing into the air. “I wish that boy would get his act together.”

He glanced at her. The expression on her face was more appalled than disappointed. “Maybe someday.”

“I’m going to see him tomorrow. Talk some sense into him.”

Alex grunted softly. “Good luck.”

“Pfft. What he needs is a swift kick in the culo. And you.” She pointed at Alex. “Don’t let him move back in here.”

Alex’s brows lifted and he repressed a smile. It wasn’t like his mother to use saucy language. But then, that was probably the sangria talking. “I won’t, but you realize that you’ll be his next stop.”

“No, he knows better. Your father won’t have it.”

“All right, then. We’ll see what happens. But he’ll have to go somewhere.” Alex’s thoughts turned to his father. “What do you think Dad would think of Roxy?”

“He’d like her very much. You know he respects anyone who makes their own way in the world.”

Which was why he wasn’t about to let Diego move back in. “I do know that, but what would he think about her being human?”

Carmen shrugged. “It happens. Your great-aunt Alita was human.”

He sat up. “No, she wasn’t. I saw her shift when I was a kid.”

Carmen’s eyes widened, and she rubbed her nose, a sign that she was holding something back. It was her tell, and everyone in the family knew it. “Oh, no, that’s right. Never mind.”

He stared at his mother. “You rubbed your nose. You’re hiding something. Spill it.”

She frowned. “You’re a bad boy.”

“Yeah, yeah, out with it.”

She grimaced. “Aunt Alita was human, but she loved your uncle Santino so much that she went through an old ritual for him that would allow her to live as one of us, but it’s an awful thing. And it’s why she died so young. It takes a terrible toll on the human body. Don’t even think about it, Alexito. Let Roxy be.”

He nodded and slouched back down in his chair. “Just curious, is all. What happens? How does it work?”

“Alex. Leave it.”

“I wouldn’t put her through that. I just want to know. Aunt Alita did it, so why not tell me?”

Carmen sat quietly for a moment. “It takes a willing human and a powerful witch. It’s old, old magic. And it doesn’t really turn the human into a shifter, it just puts a spell on them that allows them to shift. It’s not the same thing as being born one. But the weight of that spell, that’s what does the damage. Humans aren’t meant to carry that much magic for too long. After a while, it wears them out.”

Aunt Alita had been forty-three when she died. But she’d looked like a woman in her seventies. That much he remembered. He shook his head. “I would never want less time with Roxy. Only more.”

Carmen nodded. “That’s right. Remember that. And don’t let her know that such a thing is even possible. Uncle Santino spent the rest of his life regretting what she’d done and wishing she was still at his side. It’s not worth it. For either of you.”

“I agree.” He glanced toward Roxy’s house. The thought of her as a shifter, running wild beside him was a very intoxicating one. But not at such a cost.

It added to his worries about her. Now that she knew Nocturne Falls was a supernatural haven, she’d probably go into research mode to find out everything she could about the town and the people who lived here and how the real supernatural world compared to her fictional one. What if she stumbled onto information about what his mother had just told him?

He promised himself that he would find time to talk to one of the most powerful witches in town about this as soon as possible. Pandora Williams. She knew Roxy and she’d understand Alex’s concerns. She could spread the word that no one was to give in if Roxy were to request such a thing.