La Luna - His Eternity || Bruno Madrigal Fanfic || Book Three

Roots - Benji's POV (Bonus Chapter)

Benji's POV

"Are you still coming over Benj?" My hand slipped out of Echo's as she pulled away to give me that look I've come to know as part shy and part daring. Everyone else from my party had already headed home, leaving only our two bodies still clinging to the last few minutes of the evening. The sliver of light that touched her skin from the half moon behind the clouds made her look all the more stunning, wildly tempting me.

"Course." I fumbled for her hand, not being able to pull my eyes off of her brown ones and tugged her back to me. "I'll just be a minute, okay?" Kissing the top of her head, attempting to ease myself into this, I thought about how Arthuro and Bruno shared a moment earlier. Arthuro told me he was going to go to Bruno for some advice but I don't know what I was expecting. I should feel good that my best friend sees my padre like someone he can confide in but if I'm being honest I was beating myself up for not having that kind of courage. "How many minutes?" Echo's long nail drew a line up my chest, batting her lashes up at me. Is she trying to make this more difficult for me?

"Uh.. Pronto. I promise." She danced out of my grip and strutted into the fading blue light towards the group house. "You better!" Her gift floated the tiny threat to me in the breeze, making me swallow down the knot that was rising in my throat.

Just myself, my panicked thoughts and the sounds of the jungle were left to comfort me, driving my puma to pace in my mind. "Calma.." The rounded cool wooden pellets waved over my skin beneath my shirt, freezing me in place. "Just tell pá you big scaredy-cat." Clutching the beads of the rosary that poked out from my shirt collar, I let a harsh rumble slip from my chest, beating myself up more. My eyes caught the shadow of Bruno inside our kitchen, fussing over how much food Mateo managed to get in his nest of curls, picking out mysterious bits of crumbs. He'd never judge me, I knew that but I somehow couldn't bring myself to speak the words out loud to him.

"You must be off your game, cub." My heart pounded as I spun myself into a defensive stance, startled by the raspy voice. Deep in the shadows of the jungle a figure cloaked by darkness slowly stood from the shrubs. "I heard your song..", It took a shaky step towards me, "... I wanted to come out but...", another wobbly step reached a pocket of moonlight filtering from the palms, "... there were too many people." The jungle around us chirped and called back to the voice, the energy far too alluring to resist the commanding tone. In the beam of silver that reached the jungle floor a pair of amber eyes glowed behind tanned skin. Fiery rust colored hair fell to one side reaching a sheepish smile, that fought his otherwise kingly features. "Toñito helped.." His muscular arm grabbed his elbow before running his hand through his sleek hair, whipping the long coppery strands to the side. My eyes narrowed at the motion and caught the edge of his face that his curtain of hair hid, showing a covered scar near his ear.

"Maiky?" My eyes watered, not quite believing what I was seeing in front of me. Just like how I remembered our father, ever the same flaming head of hair as Pepa's, that paired with the amber eyes smiling back at me. "Feliz cumpleaños?" Maik's tone sounded like a question, offering his shifted form as a gift with a timid wave from his hand. Even though his voice broke and wavered, straining from the years he hadn't used it, there was still so much power behind it as he spoke. My feet slipped as I ran up the hill to the edge of the jungle where he stood and crushed his strong body to mine. "I can't believe you did this for me." Frozen from the sudden hug, Maik's breath slowly relaxed and a feather light touch squeezed me back. "Well don't get used to it." He shrugged me off of him, tugging at the oversized golden shirt he wore. "I think Toñito swiped these from Félix.. I couldn't remember what clothes I was wearing last time I was like this so yeah..." The baggy outfit barely fit him and definitely belonged to Félix. "Birthday suit for the birthday boy would have been a pretty funny surprise but Antonio forced me into this." He may have pushed me off of him a minute ago but my arms had a mind of their own and grabbed him once more, tightening my grip so he couldn't escape this time. There was a chance I'd never get to see him like this again and I wanted to engrain all of him into my memory. "That's enough of that Benji." An annoyed muffled voice growled into my chest. "One more squeeze." I joked and took in his earthy fragrance. Hidden notes of firewood and soil that reminded me of ground coffee filled my senses, another piece of our father lurking at the surface of Maik.