Page 69 of Scars of the Sun
That got me giving big, rolling laughs. Especially because he sounded one-hundred percent serious. “Not sure if I’m much of a match for shifter strength, big bro. But he wouldn’t hurt me.”
He grunted again and slowly dropped his arms. “You’re as strong as any of us. And I’ve been to a few of your old matches. You can knock him out as easily as I could.”
I shook my head, still snickering at the visual of me doing just that.
Orion and I left the guest room to find Sylvie on the floor, reading with Ollie and Dahlia. O nodded at me while I went toward the front door, but I paused when Dahlia darted toward me. She crashed into my leg, giving me a tight hug and a few pats before running back to her parents and brother. The gesture was so fast, I barely had time to pet the top of her frizzy little head, but it was enough to give me the strength to face Río.
The heat instantly wrapped around me as I stepped outside, but for once, I didn’t feel like I was burning up. Instead, the wind that shook the leaves and branches of the forest swept against my arms that were many shades paler than my legs and face. It felt… nice.
Wood creaked, and I turned to Río who was now standing.
One side of his face was both red and purpling with a bruise, and my mind pulled in two very separate directions. On top, most evident of all, was the desire for his sort of comfort that wasa deep, life-giving red. Under that, was irritation at him showing up here and starting a fight with my family.
He wasn’t tender like Sylvie or stoic like Orion. Río’s hair was wild and so were his black eyes, hidden behind his glasses. And he didn’t wait, just grasped my face and slammed his lips to mine.
As fiercely as he held me, the kiss was gentle in comparison, and when his tongue requested entrance, I opened for him without hesitation. Río’s chest rumbled as he claimed my mouth, and… and mine did too as I let him have me.
And then he abruptly broke our contact to snatch my arm up and drag his rough tongue along my scar. It tickled, but not in a way that made me want to giggle. In a way that made my core flip. He looked up at me from under his thick, black lashes and did it again. And again when I whimpered and held his hand more tightly onto me.
Río kissed my arm over and over, leaving no inch of my damaged skin untouched, and he did the same to my other arm. “Tell me what to do for you, Princess. Anything.” The promise was so different from the one my brother gave. In that moment, I knew that they’d both kill for me. But the way Río was looking at me was like… was like he was saying he’d die for me, too. That he’d tear the world apart for me..
“I’m still pissed at you.”
He groaned and passed his tongue over my arm again. “I’m sorry, Princess. For making a scene here.” He looked up again, black eyes wide. I watched his throat bob with his swallow, saw the regret painted on his face.
“Did you apologize?” O hadn’t said whether they’d spoken at all while Sylvie was comforting me, but I’d be damned if they continued on the wrong foot. Lord knew that my mother wasn’t going to approve of any of this, and by extension, my father.Orion and Sylvie were the family that’d taken me in. Seeing me like Río saw me. Ineededfor them all to get along.
He gazed down at me, worriedly, arms still holding me close. “Yes. But I’ll do it again. Over and over if you need. Are we good?”
It was almost funny. Seeing him like this, all uncertain when it was usually me who felt that way. More than that, it was refreshing. I scratched my blunt nails on his chest. “We’re good.”
“Thank fuck,” he kissed me again and licked the side of my face, from jaw to hairline. “I missed you, baby. Please don’t disappear on me like that again,” he mumbled and into my hair, holding and swaying us. His glasses were certainly getting smudged with the oil I’d halfheartedly put in my hair this morning, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop.
The days since my FaceTime with my parents had blended together in a string of isolated haze. I barricaded myself in the room, eating in bed amongst the mounds of blankets and extra pillows I’d found, but even that didn’t provide the comfort it usually did. Number Two had been specifically dedicated to the ritual, but it’d done little for me while I responded to Río with the bare minimum and tried to ignore the worried looks from my brother and sister-in-law. I just couldn’t handle them seeing me like this.
But maybe there was another way. They’d now seen the full extent of everything, but instead of dismissing or raging, they met me with compassion. Just how my Jaguar did, the first one who’d known. He didn’t deserve for me to treat him as I had.
“I’m sorry. I… my parents called me, and it just—” I took a deep breath to calm a sobbing aftershock after it wracked my chest. “It really set me back.”
Río kept rubbing my back and arms, skin passing over my scars just like the rest of me. “I gotcha, Princess. How can I help?”
I separated our heads just enough to see his face. To ponder the question of what I needed from him and find the courage in the expanse of his stare. The scent of love pouring off of him was better than any soft blanket could be. I glanced to my left, where his sleek, black motorcycle was parked crookedly beside Sylvie’s car.
“Can we go for a ride? And… and maybe go back to your place?”
Río’s grin wasn’t teasing or cocky. Just relieved and tender, and I gave him a small one in answer. “You know, Ramona, I love it when you bite at me, but I think I love your smile even more.”
I scowled, and he chuckled, deep and pleased. “Shut up.” I tried and lost the fight to keep my smile from retuning.
He grabbed my hand and walked us down the front steps. He picked up his helmet and started situating it on my head. “Feel okay?” I nodded, and we climbed on the back of his bike. Just like the night I learned his name, Río pulled a hair elastic off his wrist and tied his hair back for the ride. The nape of his neck was shaved, and with a familiarity I felt with no one else, I clamped my left arm around his waist and ran a finger over the prickly hair beneath his bun. Río started the bike, sending pleasant grumbles and vibrations against my thighs, and plucked my hand off his neck. He kissed my palm before settling it atop my other hand.
And then we were off.
The sun had a few hours left to give, burning with summer heat, but on Río’s bike while he rode through the trees and onto the main road that led to town, it only made the wind feel cooler. The two enhanced one another as they whipped past us, and I relished the hot licks of sunshine and soft sighs of breeze on my bare arms. I didn’t dare move them from their place around myJaguar, where I could feel his lungs filling in excited gulps and his heart beat steadily.
I’d never given motorcycles much thought, and my joy might not extend as far as wanting to take the handlebars myself, but riding with Río made me feel free. Like walking with him in the forest when he showed me his other self.
And just like that night, time passed without a care, and when we pulled up to Río’s apartment, the sky had gone from blue to a pretty, light pink. The wispy clouds had taken on a orangish tint, and I watched the skulls on the back of Río’s hands as he parked beside his truck and pressed the ignition button to turn off the bike. He extended the kickstand and guided me to my feet.