Melt - Rique and Miranda (Complete)

1 - Bruja and Wolf

Rique

A snarl wells from my gut, trembling and hissing in sheer desperation. I bite it back with even more intensity. I can't frighten mi madre more than she already is. "Mamá, por favor, come visit. I'll bring you, sí? You can see the campus, relax a little."

"No. No, mi hijo. I c-can't," Mamá says with sorrow and fear dripping from her words. Mi padre isn't home. She wouldn't ever call me if he were nearby, but she's still scared shitless of the worthless pendejo.

The snarl falls from my lips. My wolf and I cringe as Mamá sucks in an audible breath, instinctively scared of the sound of an angry, powerful male. Kicking myself for the slip, I try to smooth it over, "I'll be back soon, Mamá. Then I can take you to get your hair done. Maybe a new dress?"

"Sí, Rique. Maybe. That would be nice. Te quiero."

"Te - ¡chale!" I curse as Mamá hangs up. My fingers tighten on my cheap cell. I have to force myself to not crack the plastic. I can't afford another one right now. I send home most of what I earn slinging beers to spoiled, ungrateful college brats home to Mamá. Otherwise, she would have nothing. I keep hoping she leaves, comes to Caluna, and escapes from mi padre. It hasn't happened. It probably never will.

I gently slide my cell under the dark, polished surface of the bar top with exaggeratedly slow movements. Taking a breath, I try to calm myself down. I can't slaughter my father, my uncles, my brother, not even to save mi mamá. My wolf, the feral culero, paces and snarls and foams at the mouth. He'll kill them all or die trying. We would die. That's the problem; it's a losing battle.

I came to Caluna University for my alphason. With my alphason. We had to get the fuck out of LoboGris. After Maria, my mate, killed herself to escape being mated to me, I stopped caring about anything other than mamá and Carmichael. Maybe, with college degrees, we'll be able to turn shit around for the pack.

It's fucking doubtful, though. Carmichael, my best friend, closer than a brother, is growing colder and more viscous every fucking day. He doesn't seem to want to graduate. I understand; what job would he do? We're two broken fuckers in a broken pack. Part of me wants to just... fucking give up.

My phone alarm chimes and I groan, rubbing my hands over my face, girding myself for my shift. The sports bar stinks of pizza, beer, and unwashed humans at the best of times. Saturday nights are the worst. It'll be three crowded, packed nights in a row by the time I leave. I go back to the Alpha-Ups House and feel like I can still smell this place hours later. It fucking clings to my pores.

My wolf shudders in violence and then he lies down, falling into his typical depression. Swallowing the growls lurking in the back of my throat, I grab two cold beer cans and slide them down the bar to the waiting customers wandering over from the dining area.

Watching the red ropes fall makes my wolf want to kill someone. Stemming the rage and disappointment, I serve and clean and snap out orders and questions for the next hour.

"I.D." I bark at the next customer. The kid looks like he sleeps in a tanning bed and forgot to work on his back muscles for at least a year. The no-neck grunt stumbles over himself while I stare emotionlessly for a beat. "You got I.D., kid?"

"Uh, y-yeah-"

"He's only twenty," a smoky voice interrupts the kid. My wolf picks up his head, alert as the human male's face turns bright red. The male turns to glare at the female in anger. "Bitch!" he hisses.

"Begone, Derek," the female says in a bored tone. "You're boring. Boohoo."

I hold the grunt's eyes instead of turning to look at the female. He looks ashamed and afraid, sort of like Mamá. Part of me wants to choke the bitch for being such a cunt, another part of me... well, shit... I'm afraid to see this female's face, to be disappointed after her voice just woke my dick up for the first time in a long while.