“But you hate seeing her suffering,” Caitlin broke in, hoping he would hear the pity and compassion she felt. Growing up, she’d been very close to her paternal grandmother, who seemed to understand why her granddaughter spent so much time reading and dreaming about the world beyond Jerome, who never gave her pitying looks when it became clear that Caitlin had no defined magical ability — one she would admit to, anyway. Grandma Ellen was still very much alive and well, still making her beloved pottery and selling it in the local shops, and Caitlin didn’t want to contemplate what it would feel like when she finally lost her. More than once she’d been tempted to confide in her grandmother, tell her about her unwanted gift, but Caitlin had always worried that Grandma Ellen would find that a secret too big to keep, and so she’d held her tongue.
Alex shifted in his seat, turning his full attention back toward her, and she had to force herself not to look away. Something in those dark eyes seemed warmer now, approving. Despite the somber tone of their conversation, a thrill went through her. Had anyone else ever looked at her like that? She wasn’t sure. Admiring stares, sure, especially after she’d gotten through her awkward phase in junior high and her freshman year of high school, when she started to grow into her height and had begun to fill out a little. But now, in this moment, it seemed as if Alex was looking at her, not her hair or her eyes or her chest, or any one of the things she was used to having guys look at.
“Yes,” he said after a long pause. “That’s exactly it. And my abuela — she’s a strong person. She doesn’t complain. She doesn’t want people to see that she’s in pain. And…she worries.”
“Worries?”
“It’s one thing if a prima just…dies.” He swallowed, then appeared to gather himself so he could push on. “A clan can deal with that. It’s bad, but…it’s what happens, you know? There’s always someone waiting in the wings, ready to take over.”
Caitlin wondered how he felt about knowing his mother was next in line, that once she took over as leader of the de la Paz family, she wouldn’t exactly belong to him anymore. Yes, she’d always be his mother, but she’d also have to be there for the clan as a whole. And sometimes that could be difficult. Looking at him now, though, at the worry in those fine dark eyes, the tense set of his jaw, she knew she couldn’t ask him that question. Not yet, anyway.
“But this?” he went on. He reached for his wine glass and took another one of those healthy swallows. Another couple like that, and he would end up draining the glass entirely. She couldn’t blame him, now that she knew what he’d been going through with his grandmother. “When a clan’s prima is weak, the clan is weak. We’ve seen that same problem in California.”
“That’s where Maya thinks Matías and his gang have come from,” Caitlin said quietly. She hadn’t had the opportunity to relay that information to Alex prior to this, and she watched as his eyes widened briefly before he nodded in understanding.
“That makes sense. Símon Santiago isn’t the best caretaker of that clan, and things have gotten out of hand. My grandmother’s strength was always enough of a deterrent to keep them away in the past, but now?”
“Now they’re moving in.” Despite the mild, gentle evening air on her skin, the feeling that this lovely patio and the shimmering pool beyond it seemed to exist in a world far from the evil of the magic she’d sensed earlier in the day, something deep within her went cold. How many of those rogue warlocks were there? Did they have any witches working with them? Caitlin hadn’t seen any, but that didn’t mean much. They could have been off someplace else…maybe at the shabby apartment with the ugly couch she’d glimpsed so briefly in that vision before it was torn away.
“It sure looks that way.” Alex picked up his neglected tortilla and took a bite, and she forced herself to do the same thing, even though her appetite seemed to have deserted her for the moment. “Which is why it’s so important that we find out where they are. It could be a lot more than just saving your friends — it could mean rooting out a cell of these bastards before it has a chance to take hold.”
Great. As if she wasn’t already feeling enough pressure. She set down her half-eaten tortilla. “I’m doing the best I can, Alex. I know right now that isn’t much, but — ”
At once he shook his head. “Shit, Caitlin, that’s not what I meant. I’m not trying to pressure you. I know you can’t force this kind of stuff. It’s just — ” He seemed to grit his teeth, then reached over and picked up the wine bottle, poured a good measure into his glass and another into hers, even though she hadn’t drunk nearly as much as he had. “I just hate the idea that these guys are over here in my clan’s territory, laughing at us because our prima isn’t strong enough to sense their presence and send them straight back to whatever hole they crawled out of.”