Family Secrets

Juan Part 3

Juan

"Fuck," I rasp, voice hoarse. I look at my muddy, bloodied hands and turn to the water, careful to clean around and underneath my nails, hissing when I find areas that haven't healed yet. I've always healed fast, even for a Weildon—Mama says that's the benefit males born of Healers inherit—but apparently some of those rocks went deeper than I thought.

I wash my face next before finally staggering to my feet and trying to clean off the dirt and mud crusting my new clothes before resignedly sighing. Yeah, that's not coming clean with just a brush off.

Embarrassment sizzles through my body, spinning together with dread. I really, really messed up. That went far worse than I even feared it would. The only thing I could have done worse was kill Jason or kidnap Poppy. I'll be lucky to have a job to return to tomorrow—and that's if Poppy doesn't take out a magic no-contact order against me before then. I wouldn't blame her. Mierde that was...

"Guess I better head home," I whisper, but when my feet start moving, it's in the direction of Poppy and Jason's house. I know that, have no delusions that it's anything else, but I can't seem to stop myself.

I halt just within the tree line, relieved to see the flood of UV lighting up the area around their house. If they're smart, and I think they both are, the lights in their house are also UV.

My eyes are drawn to her as if pulled by the sheer gravity of her, the star I'm meant to orbit for my entire life. She's laughing at something Jason said, and he's looking at her like I would be—like she's the most beautiful, intelligent, fascinating creature Wayden has ever created.

Envy, want, loyalty, the desire to protect, they all swirl through me, mix, and expand to include not only Poppy and her unborn child, but the sire of that child. Jason. Jason is mine too. It's not in a Mate way, not in the way Diego looks at David, but more how Eliseo and I have always looked at David.

"Jason's pack now," I realize. He feels like he belongs with me, a brother, a friend, but something different, something more delicate. It might be because he's human and so fragile. Still, I can't find it in me to hate him, to wish any harm upon him, and I would absolutely die to protect him.

I watch them, listening with a neediness that shames me for any sound of my—Jason's—Mate's voice. It helps soothe the anxious, stalking animal within me. See, I tell myself, she's right there. She's safe. Jason is taking care of her and our young.

Yes, 'our' young feels appropriate now that I've claimed Jason too.

I can't shake the unease from my inner animal, though. I don't like how close the woods are and how far up the darkness creeps. Those lights need to be bigger, brighter. This place needs my scent embedded, a warning to all creatures that would venture this close. These humans are mine, and I am a Weildon, an enforcer of Wayden's will. Death will be the wage for any sins committed against those that are mine.

***

Poppy

I lean into Jason, "Do you feel like something's watching us?"

He leans back, only part of his mouth moving, "No worries, my love. Juan's been down there for the past half hour. No, I see that look. Before you freak out, he's not plotting anything. I think he feels the need to," he rotates his hand, searching for the word, "keep vigil as it were. There's no maliciousness, no anger. There's just a fierce protectiveness that's radiating from him."

My eyes search the tree line, looking for any indication that we're not alone, but I see nothing.

"Is he still there?" I whisper.