Page 104 of Scars of the Sun

Río rolled his stool closer to me and took off his black gloves. He swiped through the rivers on my face with his warm thumbs. “Do you like it?”

I connected our brows and held onto his wrists. “I love it. And I love you. Thank you, baby.”

He kissed me, firm and sweet.

And then, that evening, I stood with plush grass between my toes. The gentle lapping of the lake sounded against the peaceful hush that’d taken over the gathering on my brother’s land. After pack meetings where we healed from the bloodshed that fertilized the ground we now met on, this moment felt simultaneously impossible and inevitable.

“Delaney Warner, former member of Howl’s Fury. Your insight into the downfall of your old pack has been essential in protecting this one. You have proven to be kind, loyal, and brave, and we have unanimously voted to make you pack.” My brother looked Delaney in his wide, brown eyes, and his voice was laced with Leader authority. “Do you vow to respect and honor this land and pack to the best of your ability in this life and after?”

“I-I do.” My friend was crying, but his voice only trembled slightly.

Orion nodded at Delaney before turning to me.

The wind rustled his pale curls, and his green eyes shined.I am so proud of you,they said. “Ramona Wells. My sister. You are fierce, you are caring, and you have fought to defend this very land at risk to your life. We have all watched you grow and see your Wolf. That is why we have voted to make you pack.” Through my own watery vision, I flicked a glance to Vera, standing with the other elders behind my brother. She smirked. “Do you vow to respect and honor this land and pack to the best of your ability in this life and after?”I love you.

“Yes. I do.” My brother smiled. Properly, with eye crinkles and everything, and I couldn’t help my tear-choked chuckle. Sylvie and my niece and nephew grinned from their place with the other pack members as they all faced us. My pack.

And then O moved to the last of us. “And you. Río Bernal, mate of my sister. Despite the bonds of blood, you stood with us against a great threat.” I took in Río’s form, standing tall with his arms relaxed at his sides. The braid I wove for him at home hungstraight down his back, and his facial piercings sparkled under the sharp rays from the setting sun.

Healing from the altercation with his family, not to mention all the years he faced at the mercy of their abuse and then on the run afterward, was a slow and steady pace. But this time, he was not alone. My mate faced my brother and this group that’d tentatively taken him in. Bit by bit, meeting by meeting, Río was able to settle into this group of people. From being uncharacteristically shy and never once leaving my side to letting Harrison pull him into playing pranks and getting roped into tag with the pups.

O continued with no hint of the wariness he’d once held toward my mate, “You’ve killed for us and have proven yourself a shifter more than worthy. That is why we have voted to make you pack. Do you vow to respect and honor this land and pack to the best of your ability in this life and after?”

I braced myself for my mate to make a joke or some nonchalant statement to cut the seriousness of my brother’s words and stare. But, instead, when I looked at Río beside me, he was no better than Delaney. Two tracks of tears wound down his face and around his wide grin. He met my gaze, and I didn’t even need his scent of joy, relief, and love to know what he was feeling.

Only until I returned his expression, beaming at him while the heat of the sunset warmed my bare arms, did Río respond. “Yup. I do.”

And, as was customary, the pack recited their own vow to us in unison, “We see you, we welcome you, and we vow to respect and honor you as pack. In this life and after.”

So, how could I not start crying, too? With my face wet and my heart fluttering, I smushed into my mate’s chest. Well, until I was passed to Delaney, then my brother, Sylvie, Vera, and the rest of the people that were now an extension of my foundation.

Pack. Number Sixteen.

We grilled, ate, and played, watching the lines of orange and yellow deepen across the sky, like scars of the sun. And when the moon rose in its stead, I watched as all those that could shift turned into their other forms. Most were Wolves in a variety of colors and sizes, though there were others as well. Río’s Jaguar and an Ocelot named Stacy ran along with the Wolves while us non-shifters walked and laughed among them.

It was one of the runs where the pups were in attendance, and the merriment, thefreedom, was sweet and cool like a spoonful of sorbet on my tongue. We tread the grounds of my brother’s land and answered the call that we all felt. To be together with nature pulsing around us. Grounding and breathing life with every step and rolling breath.

RÍO

“All right, all I’m saying is, it’s not a bad idea,” I went back and forth with Tyler about new lyric ideas with my arm slung over Ramona’s bare shoulders. Her mark was a dark brown arc of my teeth, set just at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. The lights in the pool turned it an even brighter turquoise than it appeared in the daytime, and our friends’ chatter illuminated our last night with them before we set off.

After taking a bullet that’d been meant for my mate, Tyler had healed slowly but completely. Serafim weaponry was made for supernatural beings and humans alike, but where my mate would’ve likely not survived Cata’s shot, with Delaney’s blood, Tyler’s body had been able to fully recover within two weeks.

My mate’s best friend was seated at Tyler’s feet now, looking in fucking heaven as Ty absently petted his head. The issues they’d been having the past few weeks were hopefully resolved, now. “I don’t tell you which riffs to use, do I? Leave the lyrics to me.”

I took a sip of my beer. “Ain’t this supposed to be a democracy?”

He rolled his eyes, “I get in the middle of shifter bullshit, save your mate,andagree to housesit fortwo months. I think I’ve acquiesced to enough of your requests.”

“Hey, I thanked you for all that!” Ramona piped up, and the look he sent her was noticeably softer than his no-nonsense expression with me.

“Be that as it may. You won’t be here anyway. Just be glad we’re taking a break on performances until you get back. We could easily replace you.” I just laughed that off, not concerned in the least that he was speaking the truth. He gave side-eyes and sneers, but my friend cared far more than he wanted to admit. I fully expected him to incorporate my suggestion into our next song and act like it’d been his idea all along.

I leaned back into the pool lounge, pulling Ramona with me. She craned her head, caressing her scalp against the curve of my throat and kissing the healed scar of my mating mark. It sent a shiver of delight through my body and soul while I ran my hands across her flat stomach and tickled the piercing in her navel.

The gathering tonight was small, just the band and Delaney, but that’s what made it perfect, too. The sun was behind the trees, the sky giving way to the black and stars.

“We’re leaving a list of what all needs to be taken care of on the counter, but it’s basically her plants and collecting the mail.” My mate and I had fully adjusted to living together, now, and with that, the space looked more and more like ours. Though the witch house was no more, Ramona still gardenedat her brother’s home every day she could manage it, and the indoor garden of potted plants now lined the windows of our apartment. She took meticulous care of them and had already gone through every detail of their maintenance with Delaney who agreed to watch over them.

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