Chapter One
Ramon
When his mom let out a string of curse words in Spanish, Ramon tried to hide his grin. His mother was one of the most patient people he’d ever known, but the fledglings were testing even her limits. Big time.
“Carlos, Antonio, Luis! You shift back into your human form this second!” his mother ordered. “And stop showing off in front of your cousins!”
Carlos flapped his wings a few times before the air around his tiny body shimmered. A few moments later, he was standing in the yard beaming, as naked as the day he was born. A couple of the younger girls tittered as Rosa hurriedly grabbed Carlos’s clothes and thrust them at him.
“Get dressed,” she commanded before turning to Gabriel, Ramon’s brother and Carlos’s father, and letting out a stream of rapid-fire Spanish.
Gabriel looked suitably chastised, then shouted at his son to put his clothes back on and stop messing around.
The young girls laughed harder, and the smile tugging at the corners of Ramon’s mouth widened and he let out an amused chuckle.
Gabriel glared at him. “I’ll remember this when Mom is shouting at you for something your kids have done.”
“Mykids!” Ramon spluttered. “You’ll be waiting a long time for that, trust me.”
“Don’t be so sure about that, your mate could be just around the corner.”
“Yeah, and she can stay there, too.”
Ramon and his brother shared a chuckle over the joke just as their mom got back to them, all smiles again.
“Mi hijo,” she said, sidling up to Ramon. “You never come over for dinner anymore.”
Ramon winced. “I’ve been busy with work, Mama, you know that.”
Rosa glared at him. “So busy you can’t come and visit your lonely old mother? What’s the name of your boss? I call him for you—tell him not to work you so hard. You need to spend time with your family.”
Ramon had just taken a sip of his soda and it erupted from his mouth in a spluttering cough. He could only imagine how well Flint would take that. He’d never hear the end of it. And he was under no illusions; she’d call him. No doubt about it. When he chanced a glance at his brother, Gabriel had a satisfied grin on his lips.
“Asshole,” he muttered.
His mother hit him upside the head.
“No swearing in my house,” she chastised before letting out another string of curse words in Spanish.
Ramon rolled his eyes. “Don’t let dad hear you refer to yourself as a lonely old woman, will you? Where is he, anyway?” He twisted round, as if the old man would peel himself from the woodwork, but he hadn’t seen him for the better part of an hour.
“He had to leave. Flock business. And don’t change the subject.”
Ramon sighed. “I’ll come to dinner next week, okay?”
Rosa’s face became so animated anyone watching would have thought she’d won the lottery. Twice.
“Thank you, mi hijo. I make your favorite—tamales.”
“Great.”
“And I invite Louisa.”
Ramon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Didn’t Louisa’s daughter just graduate college?”
“Yes!” Rosa said. “Good thinking. I invite her, too.”
“No, wait, I didn’t—”
