âYou look like a bag lady who dresses out of the trash, novia. If thatâs what Colton has you looking like, you ainât gonna last long here. Itâs not a good look.
âCome, we have to fix this before I can sit and look at you for any length of time. Youâre offending my eyesâ¦
âWhat did he do to you? You look like you've been working out on our man, huh? Maybe practicing getting marked, huh? Saying goodbye to your poppies and letting his seeds blow up your wind tunnel, eh?â
Itâs a dirty, raspy laugh following a dirty remark, and I flush with embarrassment at her brazen statement as I catch her meaning.
Knowing I probably look a little chaotic, I can almost taste Carmenâs seething rage winding my way.
âNo. I havenât let poppy seeds blow or, umm⦠er, I⦠no,â I retort, face flaming, mumbling, babbling, as excruciating shyness almost kills me.
My face reddens and Iâm unable to look her in the eye. I can feel Carmenâs eyes boring down on me, waiting for my answer with vicious suspicion.
I can feel her poised body getting ready for my takedown if she thinks Colton has touched me sexually. âWeâve done nothing⦠nothing.â
How can I tell them I turned, ripped him half to shreds, and then called him weak? I donât think that would go down well with his crew.
âHmm, disappointing. Well, I can help with that.â She gestures again for me to follow, and when I hesitate, eyes roaming the enraged Carmen sitting near the doorway, she catches my sleeve and yanks me.
Carmen is poised with a reply to what Meadow said, but I can see sheâs holding it in and simmering, despite the knives sheâs throwing with her eyes.
Iâm not sure what the story is between Meadow and Carmen, but I donât get happy, loving packmate vibes from either of them.
âColton will be a while, and my room is not far. We look around the same size if you slightly roll up the legs. Iâm sure I have something that makes you look less⦠vagabunda.â
âYouâll help her with nothing. Sheâs not and will never be his mate. You know who he chose and that he rejected her, so stop playing games, Meadow, and leave her be.
âThe trash look suits her because itâs what she is.â Carmen couldnât hold it for much longer, and that flash of rage has Meadow spinning her way, almost taking me with her.
âGreen is not a good color on you, puta! I donât think you are in any position to make demands, considering whose bed I caught you in.
âYou should thank your stars that Iâve not excised my right to punish such a betraying putilla as you. Donât make me reconsider it!â
Thereâs a shocked silence, and Carmenâs eyes dart around the rest of them, apparent shame written across her face as all the others avert and avoid her.
They all know, of course they do, and the silent, tense moment tells me theyâre mad at her for betraying Colton as much as he is.
In the eyes of wolf law, she committed a sin that is incomparable to his.
He was bonded, and he kissed his destined mate. She had sex while promised to another to wound him.
She was linked to Colton, and she punished him by defiling their union after he had already rejected the mate the Fates gave him.
It is how this works, and our laws on commitment and betrayal are clear. It doesnât matter how double standard it is.
Packs are weird in that they can fight all day long, get aggressive with one another, nip, and tease, but if you wound one of them, they will turn on you even if you were one of their own.
They have a special bond with their alpha, and I can see Carmen is in the doghouse. None of them like her right now.
âYou have less than half an hour before Colton most likely shows. You know Juan likes to keep things short,â Mateo points out.
Meadow claps her hands happily. âPlenty of time. Come, we have some girl stuff to do. Carmen isnât welcome. She can sit over there and think about what sheâs done.â
Meadow tosses her hair back, that long sleek hair shining as it flies over her shoulder sassily, while throwing her a pointed look and leading the way, yanking me with her once more.
Cesar and Jesús, still standing in the entranceway, move out of the way, and I catch the slight up-and-down appraisals as they size me up in passing.
The twinsâ eyes follow me, and although itâs not outright hostility, I can tell none of the males, except for maybe Mateo, are sure they want me here.
Iâm an outsider to them, an intruder to their pack, and not worthy of being bonded to their alpha.
As soon as we get to the hallway, Meadow slides her arm in mine and hauls me close, a little aggressively for my liking.
She leans in so her perfume and natural wolf scent mingle and hit me with a heady concoction.
âI know weâre supposed to follow Juan in his hatred of all the orphans he threw behind the mountain, but I lost family in that war, and it could well have been me.
âSome of us were lucky enough to see some come back. I donât believe for a second that only our strongest bloodlines came home. You can trust me, amiga. Iâm not like most of the pack.
âI have a mind of my own,â she whispers in hushed silence and throws me a soft look that, despite feeling her crazy vibes, rings true.
She has an underlying kindness, and I can feel it when weâre this close.
âColtonâs a good boy, but heâs also Juanâs son. He knows his place in the pack, and if he defies his father and breaks that kind of respect for our laws, heâll never have the respect when his time comes to lead.
âI know what he wants and why he canât have it. But it doesnât mean I donât want to have a little fun and make him suffer.â
She smiles, winks, and gives an almost mischievous laugh, and I frown in confusion, unsure if I should question her or not.
If she is close to Colton, I have no idea what she means about having fun and making him suffer.
She leads the way and pulls me up a stair and then down a left hall before we come to a shiny wooden door with her name staring back at us from a polished and engraved gold plate.
The scent up here is mainly female, and I assume they keep the sexes on different floors, although Cesarâs scent lingers around the door, and I guess because theyâre mated, he gets to stay in here, too.
Being mated is marriage, and once youâre marked, no one has the authority to stop you from being together in every way, every second of every hour.
âIâm the queen of hair and makeup, and you, mi amiga, need a little Santo makeover because, like it or not, youâre now our pack and our problem.
âAs long as you live, so does Cole, and itâs our job to keep it that way. That means you need to fit in and look the part⦠not like this.â
She gives me an up-down eye flicker of disapproval and an exaggerated expression of âyuck.â
She scans her palm, pushes open the door, and leads the way inside, flicking on a light switch and grinning when it comes on.
âThey finally replaced mine, thankfully. That was some show you put on in the hallway and some mess you made. Impressive! I think you smashed every glass bottle I owned.â
She wiggles away from me to a dresser and starts rifling through the contents, throwing me a devilish smile.
I relax a little, nerves winding down and anxiety untangling my internal organs, easing into the aura that surrounds her.
Thereâs something infectious and alluring that pulls you in and makes you feel like you can open up to her, and I stand awkwardly by the door, watching her.
âIâm sorry. I honestly donât know what happened or how I did it. Colton thinks Iâ¦â I revert into excuses ingrained from years of being a reject.
âI know what he thinks. Colton tells me everything, and I mean ~everything~! I know he thinks you have an absorption gift, and Iâm guessing his lack of presence this afternoon was when he came to you to test his theory.
âHow did that go? Or is what Iâm looking at the result of getting down and dirty and distracted?â
She has the filthiest way of laughing that implies sexual innuendos and the crudest mindset, turning any sentence into a much more loaded one with just a chuckle, and I blush again.
âWe havenât had sex. We havenât done anything since the first time he kissed me. He pushed me to turn and figured I can do what he says effectively.â
I donât know how much information I should give away, as I donât know her, but I can find nothing in my mind to tell me that Colton doesnât trust her.
Sheâs his second-in-command, and Iâm sure that comes with the highest kind of bond.
âNo, he wonât, not if he ainât gonna mark you. Colton may be many things, but heâs very straight in upholding a moral code.
âHe can be spoiled, a little self-absorbed, and the center of his universe, but he has a code, and heâs the kinda guy who would drop everything to have your back if you needed him.
âHeâs not like his father, but he cowers a little in his shadow. Heâs young still. I hope he grows out of it soon and becomes the man thatâs hidden inside the boy.â
I nod at that because I know itâs true, even I can see and admit it, and jump when she spins back at me, holding up seethrough lace scraps. I canât even tell what they are.
âBlack or red, chica? A good feeling starts with sexy lingerie, and Iâve never yet worn either, so you can have one.â
My eyes bulge out of my skull a little, and my mouth runs dry.
âUmm.â I clear my throat, shifting from one foot to the other, and try to stop gawking at what sheâs holding. It doesnât look like thereâs enough on any of what sheâs holding to cover even a tiny part of me.
There is no belief that itâs a complete set of lingerie or that she buys the right size to cover her assets.
âLet me guess. Youâre a tighty-whities and sports bra kinda girl? Do you even own a push-up bra or a thong?â
I catch the jest in her tone as she mocks me and rolls her eyes, and I shake my head, eyes wide and utterly shell-shocked that we are even discussing my underwear habits.
I mean, we only just met, and apart from the fact I thought all Santos hated my kind, here she is trying to gift me her underwear.
âAy, Dios mÃo!â she mutters to herself, with a hint of disappointment. âColton seems more like a black lace kind. The boy has hidden kinks, for sure. So, weâll go with that.
âIt has a little push to give your sisters some lift.â She wiggles her breast with one hand to demonstrate and tosses the black scrap toward the four-poster bed.
âI really donât needâ¦,â I stammer out, embarrassed to the core, but she shushes me mid-refusal of uplifting man traps with a finger jab, and I fall silent, too intimidated to continue arguing.
âOkay⦠so now we need something sexy but casual. Not trying too hard, but has to make him think about banging you whenever he sees you.â
She wanders to a closet and yanks it open, enjoying this makeover a little too much and getting into it.