Tales Of The Sazi 05 - Moon's Fury (46 page)

Thinking of Will made her smile, and she could feel his irritation in the back of her mind. "Is he still pissed that the whole pack knows his secret?”

"Oh, probably. He was doing okay until your papi asked for his autograph after hearing about it from Paco—not teasing like I did. But for real.”

She shrugged and then whispered, "Well, sure! Papi's always been big on all things American, and
¡Madre de Dios!
how often does a person meet a real living national icon?”

I'm not an icon!
came a terse male voice in her head that sounded very much like an eagle's screech and she smiled.

Adam laughed and lowered his voice, too. "And yet his picture is on every piece of currency in every wallet here.”

Who'd have thought there was a real, physical
model
for the eagle on the dollar bill…and the quarter?

Again Will Kerchee's voice filtered into her mind through the warm pack connection.
Hey, can I
help it if his first engraving looked like crap? I offered to sit around for a few hours so he could
get it right. Who knew the design would stick around this long?

Her alpha's laugh, rich and rolling, shivered her skin.
You're a classic, dude. Just accept that
you're gorgeous.

Will made a rude noise and shut down the mental connection as they both laughed. Then Adam looked at her. "So, have you decided? Should we tell them today?”

Cara looked out over the happy crowd. Everybody was dancing, including Jenny, who had bleached her hair back to blonde so she didn't take away from Gloria's thunder today. Even Eddie was taking a turn with Yolanda now, putting a happy face on his sadness. She was sorry he hadn't felt he could come to her earlier about his lover, but really—what could she have done? She didn't know what the future held for him, but she was going to actively search around to see if there were any potential suitors for him among the other Sazi in the world. It wasn't fair that he couldn't share his life as the rest of them did, with a partner. With someone to love and have forever, like she had now. Should they announce their engagement? She smiled at the man who had proposed to her just this morning. "No, not today. Let Gloria have her day without everyone fawning over us. The pack knows
already.
They'll wait until we're ready to announce it.”

An elderly woman walked in the room and she brightened. "Oh, look! There's
Abuela
Carlotta!" She stood up and pulled on his hand. "I want you to meet her. She's
amazing!”

Cara literally dragged him across the floor to where her grandmother had settled herself, holding both hands on a sturdy black cane in front of her legs and looking stern. She slowly introduced Adam to her, trying to use words that she had already taught him so he could follow along.
Abuela
Carlotta looked him up and down slowly while he smiled at her graciously.
"So this is
the new Alpha of your pack."
She nodded once. "
I
suppose he'll do.”

Cara nudged Adam. She'd taught him an easy, respectful speech of greeting and prayed he remembered it. She pushed the instruction into his mind again.
Simple. Very simple. Just say hello and
it's a pleasure to meet you.
But he'd shut down the connection and she couldn't see his thoughts. He cleared his throat and bowed slightly.
"Buenos tardes, Abuela. Es un gusto conocerle.”

She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding as the older woman raised her brows in surprise, and a small smile twitched the corner of her mouth at his accent. But then Cara's heart rose to her throat as he elbowed her slightly and continued. "And you were right,
mi amor! Que mujer fatal!”

Cara froze with wide eyes and talking stopped at three surrounding tables. The scents were too many to sort— everything from embarrassment to amusement to indignation. Everyone turned to see what was going to happen.

The older woman had shock plain on her face as she stared up at Adam. But then he picked up Cara's limp hand and kissed it lightly and
winked
at her grandmother with a sly smile. The lights and music in the room were nothing compared to the music in her heart when her grandmother laughed, patted his hand and welcomed him into the
familia.

[end]

v1.0

[Scanned & Proofed by slaingod from dt]