A nice, easy explanation that would give him an excuse for running through half a box of condoms with her. It didn’t explain the fact that his cousin — his friend — felt like a threat.
«Settle down, Alec. I didn’t ask if I could see her naked.»
Maybe he could break the pan over his cousin’s head. «Back off. It’s been a weird fucking week.»
«Don’t doubt it in the least.» Gus smiled, a rare expression that made him look ten years younger. «It’s good to see you.»
Alec’s aggression faded a little. «Good to see you too. When you’re not jabbing at me just to see if I’ll snap.»
«Is that what you think that was?» He laughed. «Everyone down in Louisiana goes too easy on you.»
«They probably do.» Alec leaned against the counter and took in the industrial kitchen, with its large, heavy pots that would make it easy to cook for dozens. «I never realized just how serious Luciano took this ranching business. I always thought he was a city boy, playing at being a cowboy.»
«Luke? Hell, no. It’s a solid operation. He’s got one Crabbet that’s fetching a stud fee you wouldn’t believe.»
He’d long since written Luciano off as a spineless mama’s boy, but the kid had showed some pluck in the last year. He’d stood up to his family and the whole damn Conclave by marrying Michelle and taking another man’s child under his protection. That their marriage was one of convenience and polite distance was well known. That Luciano had feelings for the woman who had made it gently clear she could never return them was more of a secret.
And a tragedy. It was hard not to respect a man who’d stomp on his own heart to do the right thing. «Sometimes I almost miss ranch life. I haven’t been back to Texas in…ten years, maybe.»
«Me neither.» Gus picked up the pan again. This time, he managed to fit a piece of glass in the bottom and lock a lever mechanism in place. «You’d think the damn state would be big enough for us to go and still avoid our family, wouldn’t you?»
«My father’s probably got spies posted on every road in, waiting for his chance to ambush me on his turf.»
«Good reason to stay away, if you ask me.»
«Agreed. You could come down and visit me, you know. New Orleans is…»
«Interesting?» Gus supplied with a raised eyebrow. «I’ve got some time off coming. Maybe I’ll do that.»
«And maybe I’ll put you to work, helping me save the world.» Alec glanced at his watch, then toward the door. «I suppose if I go and check on them, I’ll get kicked back out.»
«If you’re lucky.» A large bowl clattered on the countertop. «Your woman’s safe. Michelle will help her.»
«My woman.» He said it without meaning to, and Christ, it felt too good. «Better not call her that where she can hear.»
«Why not?» The question was more matter-of-fact than probing. «Hasn’t she figured it out yet?»
A good fucking question, and one he wasn’t feeling a pressing need to discuss with her. «She’s not a wolf.»
«Does she know wolves, though? And, more to the point, does she know you?»
«She’s getting there.» Alec crossed his arms over his chest and gave his cousin a look. «If no one scares her off.»
Gus cracked an egg with a chuckle. «If you haven’t terrified her with your scowling, she’s not going anywhere. Trust me on that.»
«You’re awful amused. Truth be told, I thought you’d be a little more pissy about me taking up with a Mendoza.»
The second egg disintegrated in Gus’s hand, and he turned a shocked stare to Alec. «Tell me that’s not Diego Mendoza’s daughter.»
Oh, shit. «You thought she was a random Mendoza tied up in a shapeshifter mess?»
«Hell, all Michelle mentioned was some sort of magic spell gone wrong. I didn’t put two and two together.» Gus rinsed his hand with a grimace. «You don’t do things by half, do you?»
Alec watched his cousin pick eggshells out of the bowl. «Didn’t plan to do it at all. It’s complicated.»
«Guess so.» Gus dropped the shells in the sink and cursed again. «Couldn’t think of a more dangerous place to stick your dick? There’s a garbage disposal right here. I’ll give you two a minute alone.»
Gus wasn’t stupid, which meant he couldn’t have been surprised when Alec drove a fist into his jaw.
Carmen waited for Alec in the front room of the guesthouse. When he returned, one eye was swollen and bruised. There were red blotches on his cheeks and jaw, and split skin on his knuckles that had barely healed over.
She took a deep breath and asked the last question she wanted to hear the answer to. «What happened?»
Alec frowned. «What happened when?»
«What happened to your face?»
«Oh.» He poked at his bruised cheek and made a rude noise. «Gus is faster than he used to be — or I’m slowing down. I used to whup him nine times out of ten when we were kids.»
Don’t be paranoid, Carmen. «Do you two beat each other up a lot?»
Alec’s amusement faded, and he reached out and looped an arm around her. «A fair bit. Sometimes the only way to deal is to blow off steam.»
«Okay.» The temptation to lean into his embrace was great. «Michelle thinks she’s figured out a way to fix the spell.»
«Yeah?» He gave her a little tug and guided her toward the cozy living room and its worn but comfortable furniture. «What’d she say?»
«That she has to do something to the magic. Turn it around on itself and make it into something else.»
Alec dropped onto the couch and pulled her down, tucked close against his side. «You’re nervous about something. You wanna talk or is it easier to just let it be?»
«I don’t think I have that option.» She had to stand, to get a little space so she could order her words. «When Michelle and Mahalia do whatever it is they’re going to do, that’s it. The end of the spell. No more potential for me to become a wolf. In fact, it can’t happen. And I’m good with that…I think.»
«You think?» His expression remained inscrutable. «Something’s still holding you back?»
«I thought it was you.» She’d make them both crazy if she tried to talk while she paced the floor, so she perched on the edge of the coffee table. «I mean, the first thing that occurred to me was that you might want it. But then I started wondering why I thought so.»
He stayed very, very still. «I’m a controlling bastard to be sure, Carmen, but not that much of one.»
Her heart skipped. She was fucking it up, making it sound like she was placing blame when she was only trying to explain. «The night my father left my mother, I heard them arguing. She told him there was no way he was going to take her kids, and he said he only wanted Julio, of course.»
The line of his jaw tightened, and his fingers curled around the back of the couch, like it was the only thing keeping him from reaching for her. «No offense, sweetheart, but your father’s kind of an ass.»
So calm, but she could feel the rage brewing beneath that façade. «That’s not the bad part, Alec.» Her throat ached, and her eyes burned with tears. «I ignored the seriousness and danger of this spell because my father is responsible for it, and surely my own father wouldn’t do something that could kill me, no matter how little he cared. And then I realized what it meant.»
His eyes said he knew too, but he just nodded. «And?»
«It means I spent twenty years thinking I was nothing to him, but it’s worse. I’m less than nothing.» The tears spilled over, but she couldn’t stop them. «My own father thinks I’m better off dead than the way I am.»