Tales Of The Sazi 05 - Moon's Fury (16 page)

"You've got a smudge." She didn't move to stop him as he reached forward and wiped his index finger along the edge of her mouth, removing the nearly invisible bit that was outside the edges of her lips. Her eyes followed the hand as he brought it back to his own mouth and lightly sucked off the flavored coloring. Yep…cherry, and definitely worth a longer taste. He leaned toward her, and he could hear her heartbeat speed up until it was thudding hard enough he should be able to see her shirt move. Her scent grew, became unmistakable—the same as when she'd been pouring water earlier, and her nostrils flared, catching his increasing musk. He'd just lifted his hand to slide it behind her neck when the screen door slammed, making them both jump.

"¡Dios
Mio!
What in the world are you doing standing out here staring at the trees, Carita? And who's your friend?”

Cara let out a small yip and flushed guiltily. She blinked several times and swallowed hard. "The

…trees, yeah. That is, Adam's never seen—" He smiled encouragingly and stepped slightly in front her, walking toward the woman on the porch with his hand out.

"Hi, I'm Adam Mueller. I'm—”

Cara quickly moved in front of him, now in more control. "He's a cop friend of Will Kerchee's, here visiting from Minnesota. He had lunch at the restaurant with us." She turned her head toward him and raised her brows with a warning look. "Adam, this is my sister, Rosa Ruiz.”

Ah, that's right. I'm supposed to follow her lead.

He took more time to look Cara's sister over. The resemblance was obvious, but there were differences, too. Rosa's face was a bit broader, more round, and her body shorter, without the long waist Cara had. She still had a good figure for a woman with multiple children, but there was a little excess weight around her belly. "A pleasure to meet you, Rosa. I was just telling Cara how much I like pecans." He gestured upward. "These are really beautiful trees. I'd love to have nuts in my yard just fall for the taking.”

Rosa let out a little snort, but there was pride in her eyes. "Yeah, you say that now. But wait until they're beating the crap out of your shingles and you have to dig them out of the gutters and rake 'em up every other day so they don't kill the grass.”

This time, Cara let out the snort and he got a sense how similar their movements were and how warm a relationship they shared by the teasing tone. "Like you've picked up a rake or climbed a ladder since Gloria and Raul got old enough for chores.”

Rosa fought not to smile. Her eyes twinkled merrily even though her voice was stern. "Kids need to learn responsibility. Besides, they get to eat the pies
and
keep the money they earn from selling the nuts in town. In wet years, they make a better salary than
we
do. They've got it pretty good and don't you believe otherwise.”

The door slammed again and an excited boy rushed toward them. "Tia Cara! Tia Cara! You're here!”

Cara scooped up the boy of about six or seven as he leaped toward her, and spun him around in a bear hug before easily supporting his weight with his legs and arms surrounding her so he was face to face. He had darker skin than either Cara or Rosa, large brown eyes, and straight black hair that was neatly trimmed. His natural scent was a combination of pecans with a peppery hint of sage. He was already bordering on handsome and when puberty set in— yeah, his parents were going to have a handful with this one. He knew how to blink those long lashes and work a grin to get women to absolutely melt. Cara obliged with a soft smile and a burst of cookie spice scent that nearly made Adam laugh.

"Hey,
mijo!
You been being good? I hear you won a ribbon for a report about weather. You going to be a scientist when you grow up?”

Rosa reached forward to ruffle his hair. "Yep. He's a good boy—and a smart one. Well, y'all catch up and hurry inside so Adam can meet everyone. I've got beers and a pitcher of margaritas ready.”

Raul nodded his head vigorously as his mother stepped back onto the porch and disappeared inside the house. His voice held the same light southern twang. "Yep. I'm gonna study icebergs at the north pole.”

Adam pursed his lips. "That's pretty ambitious. It gets awfully cold up there, don'tcha know.”

The boy turned his head, as if noticing him for the first time. His nostrils flared and Adam realized he was already catching a scent. Pretty young to be getting symptoms, but not unheard of. His answer was well worded and serious. It made him sound much older. "Sure, but wolves can stand the cold better than humans. And it's important. Know what? The ice packs are
melting.
If people don't study them now, we might not get a chance later.”

Adam nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, finding the boy's knowledge on the subject engaging for someone his age. Maybe he should see if Kevin would be interested in corresponding with the boy. After all, he just got back from the Pole himself. "So do you think the greenhouse effect is causing it?”

Raul's thoughtful expression showed that he not only knew what the term meant, but also had an opinion about it. He shrugged, nearly losing his grip on Cara's shoulders. "Dunno. The shows on TV say so, but people in books Teacher gave me think it's a natural cycle. I think the only thing they know is
nobody
knows.”

Cara smiled and bounced him once to get his attention. "This is Adam, by the way, Raul. He's a friend of Will's. You remember—the Ranger who comes to the restaurant?”

His mouth opened into an O and his eyes got wide. Suddenly, he turned back into a normal little boy with the attention span of a gnat, as though a switch had been thrown. "You're a Texas Ranger?

Know what? That's the other thing I want to be when I get big, after I get done with the icebergs, and before I buy a ranch and raise cows. You talk funny for a Ranger.”

Adam shook his head and laughed as the boy's train of thought derailed. "Nope. I'm not a Ranger. I'm a policeman in Minnesota. Have you ever heard of Minneapolis? Do you know where that is?”

He nodded. "Sure. We have a map on the wall at school. That's the state with lots of lakes and that big mall. Teacher said there are lots of bugs there, 'cause of the water, but we have different bugs here that like the heat. Bugs are really cool. I want to study them, too. Know what? Mama took me to the mall in San Antonio last week to buy Gloria's Quince dress. I like the mall 'cause they have an arcade.”

Cara chuckled and Adam nodded, uncrossed his arms, and leaned back against the tree trunk.

"Yep. We have the Mall of the Americas—the largest one in the world. It's probably a little bigger than the one you went to here. But I'll bet your sister's dress is as pretty as anything we have there.”

Raul nodded his head vigorously. He squirmed to get away so Cara lowered the boy back to the ground. "Ooo, yeah! Know what? It's pink with this
biiig
skirt, like on the Cinderella video! And she even has a crown, but that looks more like Belle's or maybe Snow White's. She keeps it in a box in her closet." He tugged on Cara's hand, trying to drag her toward the door. "C'mon! I'll show you.”

But she pulled her hand out of his with a laugh. "How about you run inside and tell Gloria we're coming.
¡Vamos!
We'll be right in." She winked and he grinned again before turning and racing into the house, yelling his sister's name.

"Cute kid," he said with a nod toward the house. "And your sister seems nice. She's full human?”

Cara nodded and stared at the house. "Yeah. I'm the only one in our family who turned. Both Rosa and my brother Jorge are human, but their kids will probably turn because Paco—that's short for Pasquale—and Sharon do. That seems to be how it is here—it skips a generation. Does that happen in your pack, too?”

"Mostly. Sometimes we'll get two alphas who'll have another Sazi, but it's hit or miss. A lot of our families are enrolled in the breeding program just so they can have kids at all." Cara nodded, seeming to understand what he meant, but didn't offer any comment. Did they even have a breeding program here?

That was something he probably needed to find out. The program back home was a big deal, and couples were on a long waiting list for available Sazi babies, because only full humans or alpha females could carry a shifter baby to term. The moon magic often caused miscarriages, and there weren't nearly enough suitable women to go around who were willing to be surrogates. If the pack here could have children as powerful as Raul, it might help him decide which families to bring down. He paused and had to raise his hand to his brow to block the sun that had lowered enough to be right in his eyes. But the sky had turned an amazing color—filled with oranges and reds down low, with purples and blues higher up. "Wow, is that a sunset!”

She turned her head and watched the sky with him. "Yeah. We get ones like this a lot. You ought to see what it looks like right after a storm. I've got pictures of the windmill on my place with sunsets that are unreal. Sometimes I frame and sell 'em in a little shop in town.”

That perked his ears. "You like photography? I've just started—”

Rosa's voice called out of the closed screen door. "Hey, you two! Get your fuzzy butts in here. Paco's about to turn on the game and these tamales aren't going to wrap themselves!”

Adam flicked his eyes to his watch. It
was
time for the game! He'd nearly forgotten—again. That was becoming a trend that both worried and interested him. "Yeah, I would like to watch that, unless you planned to have a pack meeting.”

She shook her head and moved a bit, waiting for him to step away from the tree. "No, let's keep this casual tonight. The whole pack isn't here. It's one thing to tell Rosa and Paco—people would expect that, but telling just a few would tick the rest off." Her eyes moved to his shoulder and she twirled her finger in a circle with a frown. "Spin around for a second.”

Adam furrowed his brow but obeyed and felt the light slap of her palm between his shoulder blades, brushing downward. He turned his head and looked down to where Cara had stomped on something on the ground. "What's up?”

"No big deal. You just had a scorpion on your back. I got it.”

He felt his jaw drop as she lifted her foot to reveal a small, thoroughly squashed yellowish brown insect with a long tail and stinger. His skin abruptly crawled as he scanned the rest of his clothes. It suddenly felt as though there were a hundred more of them under his shirt. "A
scorpion
is no big deal?”

"Nah. You get used to them. They're bark scorpions— live in the trees. They're not aggressive and the sting isn't much worse than a honeybee's. Spray on a little window cleaner and it fixes it right up as fast as we heal. We've got bunches of biting things down here that bother me more than scorpions. Fire ants are a pain in the butt.”

She started to walk up the few steps to the porch and he found himself following, shaking his head, thinking about the implications. "We've definitely got a lot to talk about before my people move down." He said the words quietly, so nobody inside heard.

With her hand on the screen door handle she replied in a near-whisper. "True, so let's try not to stay all night, huh? I've got a really busy day tomorrow, so we need to get as much as we can discussed and leave time for me to get a decent night's sleep.”

Oh, that was just too good an opening to pass up! Yeah, she might get annoyed, but he didn't think so based on what he'd seen so far. As she pulled back the door to step inside, Adam leaned next to her ear, chuckled lightly, and whispered. "You just let me know what time you want to go to bed. I'm yours to command tonight.”

He was rather pleased to smell that embarrassment wasn't the
only
emotion to rise from her when she instantly blushed.

12

"So? Tell us about him!" Rosa's words came out in a low whisper as the four women leaned over the kitchen table, shredding cooked beef roast with a fork and surrounding it with corn meal before wrapping the works in wafer-thin corn husks.

Her niece Gloria was standing at the counter, showing them samples of party favors, being careful not to get anything too close to the food. Cara had already seen the dress and
wow,
Raul had been right—she looked like a princess. She didn't even complain much that the dress was pink. White was hard to find in the stores unless specially made, and pink would make Papi, a native Salvadorean, happy. It was hard to believe she was nearly fifteen. Sometime during this past school year, both her body and mind had transformed into an adult's. It seemed only yesterday she was parked in front of the television, watching
Sesame Street.
But now her long dark hair, hazel eyes, and knockout figure were probably turning enough boys' heads that Cara hoped Rosa had already talked to her about sex. Like her mother, Gloria kept her voice quiet, but there was no mistaking the hint of girlish awe.

"Omigawd, Tia Cara! Adam is
totally
hot!
Please
tell me you're going to bring him to my party! Can you just imagine the look on Mary Rode's face if I danced with someone
that
fine at my Quinceanera?”

Gloria was now holding out a picture of a white and pale pink balloon arch and waiting for compliments, so Cara obliged, while being very careful not to answer the question about Adam. He would probably be around for the ceremony, and if he became the alpha, he would definitely need to become one of Gloria's
padrinos,
but whether she would
bring
him to the party …well, who knew? She put a bunch of enthusiasm in her voice, so hopefully nobody would notice she ignored the question.

"Pretty! Y'all have done a
terrific
job planning this!”

Of course, seeing all the favors, from invitations to decorations, reminded her she needed to run to San Antonio and pick up her own contribution to the event—the
medalla de oro.
The solid gold religious necklace that would set her back nearly a full paycheck. She was just happy she'd put aside a little out of the last few checks so she could afford it.

Rosa raised her eyebrows and her voice held a hint of disapproval. "You just keep your mind on boys your own age,
mija,
and don't you worry about what Mary Rode thinks. What would Antonio say if he heard you lusting after a man twice your age? You'd end up walking into your own party alone! You just leave Mr. Mueller to Tia Cara.”