Talons

Chapter 71: The Shoe

Rhea’s POV

Grace and I weren’t on the boardwalk for long. Titi was right, from the moment we stepped out of the car men were looking at me like a slab of prime rib, and some were throwing lustful glances at Grace, who I could tell had become uncomfortable with the situation. 

She is used to being stared at in a negative way, so I stopped at the first gift shop I could find and bought a large towel to drape over her, which I can tell she appreciated and needed. 

“I should have considered the implications,” I say as I kneel in front of her, and once again I swear that I can hear her reply in my mind. Sylvia can hear it too, so either we are both going crazy, or our cousin is mind linking us.

I push forward, trying to see if I can get through to her, but there is nothing. I push again, but this time I narrow my thought into two words and Grace’s eyes light up. She heard me; I know she did.

Mavis’s POV

After arguing with Jay for what felt like forever, he finally caved and booked me a flight Home. I had to promise him that I wasn’t going to disappear like Luna Stone, who was supposed to be gone for a week that turned into years. I also reminded him that Robin is due at the end of August; there is no way I will miss my first daughter birth her first child. 

Robin has been having a difficult time being pregnant, and her mate is having a difficult time being strict with her. She has the poor man wrapped around her finger in such a way that I had to step in and tell her that she could not continue sparring midway through her pregnancy. 

She now spends most of her time tormenting the people who can still fight, giving them extra drills and workout assignments, while Chun, my son’s gamma, feels helpless. He is supposed to be the one building the training schedules and rotations, which is then approved by Luke, but Robin has overruled them both, and Lark has been avoiding the situation so deliberately that it's obvious.

After kissing my mate goodbye for the fiftieth time that I’ve counted, I finally board the plane, feeling nervous because I haven’t returned home in over seventeen years. I would love to have brought Jay with me, but the omega situation is still on the mend, and we did not want to risk it. 

Lark is doing an excellent job as alpha, but he is young, and he will make mistakes. So far, he has learned that there are three sides to every story: the first lie, the second lie and the truth. I know he is under a lot of pressure trying to pay down what the werewolf council said would allow my little girl to join our pack, something I can understand because everyone wants her to come home.

That is why I’m going to get her. It isn’t just about school, but her family misses her. Her visits were always brief, and no one realized how much they looked forward to seeing her until she was gone.

My flight was loud and very young, which is why I never visit home during the summer. This is a popular tourist time, and I know that Lissette and Johnathan will be busy, especially since Jovani, our eldest brother, was killed, leaving them to raise his many children. 

That was a terrible time for our family, and with being all the way in the U.S with luna commitments and a brand-new baby of my own, I couldn’t do much in terms of helping. 

Lisette was fated to an alpha of a small pack, who violated Council rules and started the rejection process without permission. Because she was carrying Grace at the time, she did not accept it, and the man committed adultery until she was so weak that she practically crawled into the council chambers, where an emergency rejection hearing was held.

She went into labor immediately, and Grace was born with cerebral palsy. Lisette’s human husband, while saddened by his daughter's condition, loved his family, so it did not put a strain on their relationship.

Years later, Lisette’s rejected mate returned, blaming her for the loss of his business. He had been unable to pay the penalties the council held against him for violating council law, and he was forced to hand over a small restaurant that his pack ran.

The alpha was enraged, and he killed her husband in front of his children. Lissette snapped, attacked him, and won, gaining herself an alpha rank in the process. Sadly, the alpha’s beta had attacked our oldest brother who just so happened to be coming back from work. He was a nurse, not a fighter, so he was killed, but Johnathan avenged him, earning the beta title. 

As the law of our kind dictates, territory can be claimed after combat leading to death, and Lissette was given the alpha’s property. She quit her job at the human bar she worked for and started her own. That was the time I last visited, bringing Raven and Robin with me. It put a huge strain on the pack, but Jay was willing to shoulder it because he knew my family needed my guidance.

I helped them legally adopt Jovani’s children, and we completed all the requirements to make their businesses legal and compliant. Just before I left, Lissette started to feel morning sickness. She had not taken a lover since her husband was killed and after visiting a doctor who was familiar with our kind, she found out that she was carrying her late husband's child, Miracle.

I step off the plane and make a beeline for where the taxis are lined up. Humans have an overwhelming scent of perfumes and lotions, and while I know they are just practicing hygiene, for wolves, being trapped in an enclosed space for an extended period with them can become nauseating. 

It's early evening by the time I get to Lissette's place, and despite the fact that the club is not open yet, I can hear a celebration. It's not coming from the bar or nightclub, but from behind what looks like a boxing gym across the street.

I make my way over to the area and nearly faint when I see my baby girl bent over in front of some heathen.

“Rhea Talons,” I shout, using the authority of a luna, and making my daughter's eyes go wide.

Rhea’s POV

I was in a good mood and when Geo asked me to dance, I accepted. He knows I’m not interested, but it doesn’t stop him from trying, which amuses everyone to no end. He is twenty-two-years-old, extremely handsome, and women usually flock to him, so the fact that I’m not even a tiny bit curious, has made him focus most of his efforts on me. 

Geo is Titi Beautiful's ex-boyfriend’s son. For some reason, the man abandoned his children and my aunt raised them as her own, so no matter what, anything between us is weird. 

I let Sylvia pick our outfit and she went for a white tank with denim cut off shorts. I tied a long sleeve button down around my waist to cover my butt, thinking it would help, but Geo has been staring at my rear from the moment we started dancing.

Before I could stop him, he turned me around roughly and practically bent me over in the middle of the dance floor. I know he is just dancing, but I’m not Raven or Miracle and I have never danced this way.

He eventually notices that I’m uncomfortable with his actions, and lets me go, but before I can stand straight, I hear my full name being shouted by an embarrassingly familiar voice. I try running in the opposite direction of the source and something hits the back of my head with deadly precision. I look to see my mother’s shoe on the ground, and I quickly find Uncle Jonathan, who I believe will save me.

“You’re in trouble Muñeca,” he teases, and I literally start to shake. 

“Mavi,” My aunt calls out, dropping the S in my mother’s name. “Calm down, she was only dancing.”

“Solo bailando?” (Only dancing?) My mother questions. “Anyone want to tell me when the wedding was? Congratulations,” my mother says to Geo, who is frozen in place. “Rhea, you have two seconds to stand in front of me,” my mother says, and I’m terrified. 

I have now gotten more beatings as a teen than I ever did as a child. There is also the fact that no one in my family calls me Rhea, even I have trouble using it, and something about the way my mother is calling me doesn’t sound as inviting as ‘my little scientist’ or ‘baby girl.’ She is livid, and I tell myself that I better take my punishment upfront where there are people who might be able to stop her from killing me.

“Mommy,” I say, trying to sound pathetic, but my mother is tapping her shoeless foot, and not paying attention to my attempts at submission. Geo is still rooted in place, and I’m not really sure why he hasn’t moved. 

“Hola señora,” (Hello miss.) my mother says. “So, is he why you want to quit school?”

“Señorita,” I reply, and my mother scoffs. Calling me señora implies that I’m in a relationship, and I’m not.

I go to explain who Geo is, but my mother removed her remaining shoe like lighting and both Geo and I suffer from hard slaps that neither of us try to block. I start crying, and Geo goes to shield me, but my mother glares at him, making him take a step back.

“I sent you here so that you could find yourself, not so that you could lose the young lady you have always been.” I hear my aunt chuckle, and I frown.

“But I fit in better here,” I say, and my mother grabs her chest as if she’s in pain. I step forward to help her, but she steps away, making me cry harder. “Mommy please. Let me help, where does it hurt?” I try to help my mother again, but she pushes my hands away, saying something about breathing.

“You,” she says to Geo in a weak voice. “Take my bags to my daughter’s room.” He tries to follow directions, but I swat his hands away, lifting the bags myself. 

“Mommy, what pain?” I ask. I start walking toward my room, and my mother is silent as she follows, making me worry.