“See.” Luz snickered under her breath. “A Bororo bruja can do anything. Even tame a raging vampire. Big mojo.”
Prying himself from Naya was a greater feat than he’d anticipated. But the physical contact had managed to calm his temper and sent the magic back to whatever dark place it hid inside of him. Luz studied him, her dark eyes shrewd and missing nothing.
Her gaze didn’t leave Ronan’s as she said to Naya, “You’re in some deep shit, chica.”
Naya tried to pull away, but Ronan kept his hold on her. He brought her back tight against his chest and settled his hand at her hip. “Do you trust her?” Ronan trusted fewer than a handful of people. Inherent power or not, he didn’t trust Naya’s cousin not to collect on the bounty herself.
Naya remained rigid in his embrace. “I trust her. Luz, there’s something going on here and it goes way past what we’ve been entrusted to take care of.”
“You fucking think so?” Luz hopped down from the counter, giving Ronan a wide berth as she headed for the living room. “You heard that, right, Naya? Mis dioses! La musica es muerte.”
“No.” Naya’s word cut through her cousin’s panic. “It’s volatile, but I can control it.”
Luz’s disbelieving laughter echoed off the bare walls. “Control it? Pretty ballsy coming from someone who just took me to task for being cocky. You heard what I heard. There’s no controlling that magia. It’s oscuro. It’ll kill you if you try to control it. I think we both know there’s only one way to get rid of it.”
A ripple of fear trickled through the tether that bound him to Naya and soured the air. “That’s not going to happen, Luz.”
Her eyes went wide with disbelief and Ronan stayed rooted to his spot on the carpet, his arms wrapped around his mate. He tried to put her at ease as best he could and pushed calm emotion through their bond. Calm that he didn’t necessarily feel.
“Fine.” Her jaw took a stubborn set, making Luz look more like Naya’s twin than her cousin. “Sorry, tall, dark, and vampy. No hard feelings, but I don’t have a problem with killing you before the mapinguari takes you.”
Luz drew a citrine dagger from behind her, almost identical to the one Naya carried. She jumped into action and Naya shouted, “No, Luz! He’s my … my mate.”
On the one hand, Ronan’s heart soared with her admission. On the other hand, Luz looked as though her head might launch right off her shoulders.
“Unless you’re thinking about starting a polygamist cult out in the forest somewhere, you’d better rethink that statement. Because if Paul finds out you’re saying crazy shit like that, he’s gonna have your ass.”
“Luz—”
“Don’t even start with me, bloodsucker.” She pointed her dagger at his face. It glowed an angry yellow as though echoing her emotions. “I don’t know what you’ve told her, but you need to quit with the crazy talk. Wait—” Luz looked at Naya, horrified. “You didn’t actually let him sink his fangs into you, did you?”
Naya’s silence sparked Ronan’s ire. Was it so shameful to admit that she’d given him her vein? A string of angry Spanish followed, and Naya volleyed back, breaking away from Ronan’s hold as she rounded on her cousin. Luz brandished the dagger for emphasis, pointing it at his face as she continued to shout. The sun would be up soon. Another night wasted. Another day spent in useless unconsciousness.
Another twenty-four hours living with this damned dark force inside of him, slowly trying to claw its way out.
“That’s enough!”
Having grown up with a sister, he knew that this fight between them wouldn’t end until someone drew blood, and Ronan wasn’t interested in playing referee. The two stopped immediately and turned. Naya looked annoyed while Luz flashed an amused grin.
“Don’t get your fangs twisted, vamp-a-licious. This is familia business. Prendé?”
“Oh, I understand,” Ronan replied. “And since your argument is with my mate, and about our current situation, I think that your business includes me. Prendé?”
* * *
No one outside of the elders ever put Luz in her place. Ronan not only took her snarky comments in stride, but also had managed to shut her up with a few terse words. Impressive.
“It has to feed, Naya.” Just because Ronan had shut her down didn’t mean she wasn’t going to keep running off at the mouth. “And once it’s consumed him, it’ll move on to the next host. We have to banish it. Now. Before it gets any stronger.”