"It's complicated," Max said. "He may be unconscious for a while. Can we get him in your truck?"
Still kneeling, Sofia looked up at her and said quietly in Spanish, "Are they shifters?"
"Heis," Max said firmly. "For her, I invoke the right of sanctuary."
"Nacio will hate this."
"I will deal with Nacio myself."
Sofia shook her head and sighed a little. "Help me carry him. You can stay with me tonight."
Gio was heavy, but with their shifter strength, the two women managed between them. Elina walked along quietly, clutching Max's coat around her.
For Max, the entire situation had become absolutely surreal. She had never expected to return to her clan lands in her lifetime. Now she sat in the back of Sofia's small truck, cushioning Gio's head in her lap. And then they were in a small, prettily painted adobe and stone house. She was so dazed by the strangeness of the situation that it took her a little while to realize that she had never been inside this house before. This was not her family's hacienda.
"Our guest can sleep with my daughters tonight," Sofia said. "You and this one—what's his name?"
"Gio," Max said. "Is this where you live?"
"I no longer live in the family estate," Sofia said shortly. "I haven't for a long while. Things are very different than they were when you were here." She shook her head as if shaking off the past. "The two of you can have the master bedroom. I'll put clean sheets on the bed."
"He's not ..." Max began, but Sofia, moving with the quick energy that Max remembered so well, was already gone before Max could explain that she and Gio weren't technicallytogether.
She looked around at the painted blue and yellow walls, the artwork and flowers everywhere. There were toys and children's paintings, evidence of the nieces she had never met in person.
"I hope you haven't made a mistake bringing us here," she murmured to Gio, kneeling to check his vitals. "But I'm not sorry you did."
Sofia reappeared. "I've made up the bed for you both. I'll sleep on the couch tonight."
She helped carry Gio to the bedroom. It was a large, nice room on the second floor of the house. Big windows looked over what was probably a stunning view of the valley by daylight. Max knew that Sofia's husband had died years ago, and the bedroom was very feminine—but not in a soft way, more of a brilliantly colored, vivid way, in keeping with Sofia's vivacious personality. There were bookshelves crowded with romance novels, Kahlo and O'Keefe prints on the walls, and flowers in vases and pots everywhere.
"You don't have to give me your bedroom," Max protested, finally waking a little from her stupor. "I can take the couch."
"Don't be ridiculous. You're a guest." Sofia hugged her again. "You can wear some of my night things if you want; they're in the chest at the foot of the bed. The kitchen's down the stairs and to the left if you get hungry. I'll be up early to see the children off to school, but if you sleep in, feel free to help yourself to anything that you like. There's a first-aid kit in the bathroom if you need one for your friend."
Sofia hadn't even asked what she was running away from. Max had to blink away tears. "Thank you," she said. It felt inadequate.
Sofia snorted quietly. "I can't run interference for you forever. The alpha and the councilwillwant to know who was at the arena, and I'm going to have to tell them."
"That's all right," Max said softly. "I think I've always known I couldn't stay away forever. It would have come to this eventually anyway."
After Sofia left, she changed into one of her sister's soft, warm nightgowns. It was chilly in the bedroom, reminding her that they were now in the southern hemisphere, where it would be fall or early winter.
Max didn't like the idea of undressing Gio—well, okay, shelovedthe idea of undressing Gio, but not while he was unconscious. Instead she took off his boots and covered him with blankets, then crawled into bed on the other side.
"I guess we're sleeping together after all," she murmured, reaching out to touch him gently. "Just like you wanted."
But not at all as they'd planned.
Howhad he known to bring her here? He shouldn't have had any idea about this place, let alone known enough about it to transport them directly to the place where the worst day of her life had occurred.
He is our mate,whispered her jaguar, as if it was an answer.
Maybe it was.
GIO
Gio woke aching,hungry, and very disoriented.
