Wolves of the Pacific

by greenpeach20

In 1902, Renesmee Cullen grew tired of the tedious life of moving around with her family and decided to make the journey west as a mail order bride. Yet a chance encounter with a reddish brown wolf would change her life forever.

83. Chapter 83

Chapter 83

As promised, the following morning Nathan and Scarlet started house hunting. Scarlet loved virtually every house they passed on streets atop the tall hills, loving the vast array of colors that were available, though granted not all the houses she saw were available to buy. But finally, at the top of one of the hills, they happened upon a bright blue house, blue as the bright sky, with white shutters and a white door that turned out to be for sale. Scarlet near barged in and looked around the little house and looked right and Nathan and proclaimed the house was theirs. Thankfully, the person selling the house popped in and Nathan made the man an offer right then and there. Even managed to pay the man in case with all the money he'd saved up over the time of their trip and the original owner promised to have his things and family moved out before the end of the day. With that all settled and paperwork signed, Nathan and Scarlet walked away from the house to go furniture shopping, all their things still on their backs, Scarlet having a bit of a spring in her step.

"I declare, daddy, that might be the best house I'd ever seen," Scarlet said.

"Better than the house back home?"

"In spades," Scarlet grinned. "I suppose the lack of balcony is a shame for the master suit you'll use, but my window has a view of the beach."

"And that's what counts right?" Nathan said and they laughed. "I'm wondering," Nathan said, "maybe we can make this a little get away location for us. We'll have to go back eventually, but maybe when the fancy strikes us, we can take a boat back here and spend a few weeks in Brazil. Bring some of the family even."

"I think that sounds lovely," Scarlet grinned. "Oh, grandma would love it here! Aunt Natalie too! She might make herself fat eating exotic fruit."

"Lord knows she needs to," Nathan chuckled. "Although, Jae says she put on a little weight after having Nesia. I'm relieved about that at least."

"How much?" Scarlet asked.

"Kyle says about 5 pounds," Nathan said.

"Better than nothing," Scarlet said. "Has Aunt Natalie always been skinny like that?"

"Oh yeah," Nathan said. "She'd be skin and bones if we let her be. Jae's been good about making sure she eats though."

"Yeah, we need to bring her here," Scarlet said. "She'd love the sunshine and the beach."

"Someday," Nathan smiled. "Let's try to keep the furniture good and cheap, alright? I'm a little low on cash after buying that house. I'll have to get a job while we're here."

"Hm," Scarlet said. "Should I get a job too?"

"Couldn't hurt," Nathan said. "Just let me help you look for something. I don't mind you having a job so long as there's nothing questionable about it."

"Don't worry, daddy, I'm sure it'll be fine," Scarlet said with a smile. "Let's get settled into our new house and then we'll look for work. Maybe we could work at a restaurant together again!"

"That's certainly an option," Nathan smiled. "It would give us a chance to get better with Portuguese."

"I preferred Spanish," Scarlet said.

"Yeah, I did too, but they don't speak Spanish here, so we have to adjust."

Scarlet grumbled a little but otherwise said nothing more. They managed to make it to a little shop where they could buy some small second hand furniture that was sturdy and tasteful, yet inexpensive, and were given confirmation it would all be delivered tomorrow. They wound up returning up the hill to the house and helped the previous owner with a few things so they could get settled. Nathan took the master bedroom with a bathroom attached and Scarlet took the second bedroom that looked out towards the beach that was far away yet still beautiful. They'd not had a place like this since Phoenix and she'd actually forgotten how nice it was to have a proper home. When their furniture arrived the following day, it really would be just like home. But until then, they ate dinner together on the floor and Nathan changed to a wolf that night so Scarlet could somewhat talk to the pack and show off the house as best she good, feeling really proud.

You bought a house? As in you're staying there? Jacob asked, suddenly a little less enthusiastic.

We'll come back, don't worry. Scarlet and I only thought it would be nice to keep this place so we could visit whenever we want. You and mom would love it here. You should definitely come to visit,Nathan said.

You're right, Natalie would love it,Jae interrupted. She's already really jealous that you and Scarlet got to do this. Although I should warn you she's a little sore with you that you haven't sent her more souvenirs.

You know what, I'll send her something right away. It'll just take a while to get there,Nathan laughed.

"Daddy, did you tell them about the beach?" Scarlet asked and Nathan nodded for her.

Scarlet seems to love it there, Jacob said.

She really does,Nathan smiled. I really am glad her and I could do this. We really bonded over all this.

Thick as thieves figuratively and literally,Kevin said.

So dad, what did mom say when you told her I imprinted? Nathan asked.

She said 'one more to go',Jacob answered and everyone in the pack laughed.

Is mom really so desperate to get Kyle married off?Nathan asked.

She just wants all of you to be happy, Jacob defended. She also wants you and Scarlet home, but seeing as….Ada María was? Now that she's in the picture, she knows it'll be a little longer. Try not to be too long, though.

Don't worry, dad, I'll be home before you know it and with my imprint to boot,Nathan said confidently.

Nathan remained a wolf long enough to get fully and completely caught up with everyone. Kevin was still eagerly awaiting Amber's and her family's final notice that they were approved as American citizens. They were all keeping their fingers crossed that this would be the year all this would finally be resolved. Kyle's plans for the hospital were progressing nicely. He had managed to save up the money to buy a patch of land from Forks and now he and Carlisle were working together to get a hospital built. With Kyle working on a hospital, Renesmee had the idea that she wanted to get a school opened on the tribe and hire teachers and everything. With William's full support as well as Jacob's, Renesmee and her family went right to work on building a school, but on the tribal grounds already in Jacob's name. Renesmee even began to contemplate retiring as the Healer and passing the torch to Kyle officially so she could focus on the school. Of course, that part would have to wait. Kyle wasn't in a position to be the healer for the tribe all by himself. Embry was still staying with Kevin since he still worked several construction jobs for the city of Seattle giving Travis full run of Embry's house. He kept it orderly, though. They'd received the postcards from Aidetzi and Marcus saying they'd gotten to Hawaii and they adored it but that they really missed everyone and promised to be home as soon as possible. By the time Nathan changed back, Scarlet had fallen asleep on the floor of their new living room, so he changed back and got her upstairs to her room.

It really was a cute little house. Very small, but it was all they needed. The front door opened up to a living room/dining room space with an island countertop the only thing parting the room. They had a little patio out back, but there wasn't much room for more and a two person sun chair. The kitchen had a big window over the sink that looked out onto the neighborhood and the stairs were directly to the right of the front door. There were four steps going up, a flat section that made the stairs veer to the left and ten steps that went the rest of the way up to the second floor where there was Scarlet's room directly across from the stairs, the guest bathroom to that room's right and then the master bedroom on the other side with a window breaking up the upstairs hallway between their rooms. Since they didn't have any furniture, Nathan placed Scarlet down on the tile of the room and placed a little pillow of her clothes and a blanket over her and let her sleep then returned to his room. He didn't sleep, though. He started thinking about Ada María. He was so tempted to run to the bar and see her, but he needed to stick with his plan. She needed to come to him.

Their furniture arrived the following day as promised and they were assisted with getting everything set up and situated. With Nathan and Scarlet helping, they had the few bits of furniture moved in and set up in less than 2 hours. Scarlet put her toy wooden armadillo on her brand new dresser and put her clothes away, feeling a sense of comfort in putting all her things away. She was surprised to realize she'd missed feeling like she was home. It was sparsely furnished, especially considering their home in Washington, but it was home all the same. To celebrate, Nathan and Scarlet walked down to the beach together, Nathan's guitar on his back, and he played for her while she made a sand castle just like when she was little.

About the same time that afternoon, Ada María looked at herself in her mirror, correcting her lipstick and getting her hair up in a bun so it would be ready for dancing that night. She'd been hot and bothered since Nathan left and she was still rather angry at him. She'd never had someone just walk out on her like that and she wasn't about to reward it with prancing down to the beach. The man in her room, Officer Heraldo Acosta, got himself dressed and while she worked and walked up behind her and kissed her shoulder.

"As always, Miss Escada, you were lovely," Officer Acosta said.

"Of course I was," she answered.

"You seem in a sour mood," Officer Acosta chuckled. "Is something the matter?"

"No, not at all," she lied. Then she looked at him through the mirror with her seductive smile. "I trust you will be so kind as to disregard the little…mess you found outside the bar?"

"What mess?" Officer Acosta affirmed jokingly with a chuckle, referring to the dead body that had been placed in the dumpster just the night before and had brought to attention of a neighboring business.

"That's what I like to hear," Ada María grinned. "So how's your wife?"

"She's alright," Officer Acosta said. "Poor thing's being kept up all night by Victor. He's teething."

"Oh dear," Ada María feigned interest. "I do hope he will be okay."

"He'll be fine," Officer Acosta said. "I'll rub wine on his gums sometimes and that seems to calm him a bit. Elena doesn't much care for me doing that, though," he chuckled.

"Perhaps you should listen to dear Mrs. Acosta. Wouldn't want your children becoming dependent on alcohol would you?"

"You sound like my wife," Officer Acosta chuckled. "I don't come to you to sound like my wife, Miss Escada. That's what Elena is for."

"My apologies, Officer," Ada María giggled as Officer Acosta kissed her neck again.

"I had best return to work," he said. "You needn't distress, Miss Escada. I'm sure that dead body we found will be nothing to worry about." He winked at her and left her dressing room and Ada María looked at herself in the mirror smiling proudly, but it didn't last. There was no thrill.

She'd slept with the Officer numerous times. They'd had a rather comfortable arrangement going on 5 years now. She provided sexual favors and he kept his mouth shut about the periodic mysterious disappearances of local people. She never hunted more than once a month anyway. A blip on the map for a man in his line of work. It wasn't a hard deal to strike up. He didn't know why these people died. She wasn't entirely sure she knew how he'd figured it out, but he had. So she made a deal with him and he'd been silent ever since. He was an attractive man, so it wasn't such a chore. However, after her encounter with Nathan, her tryst with the officer didn't hold anything close to the thrill from before. She'd participated of course and even enjoyed herself, but he just fell short of Nathan. Frankly, that annoyed her. Men were all the same to her. Until Nathan. She slammed her closed lipstick onto her vanity in frustration and took a deep breath. She'd not give the man the satisfaction. If he wanted to see her again, he'd get his ass to her bar and he'd like it. She didn't 'go' to anyone. They came to her.

Yet every day when she went on her usual walks on the beach, she would always notice Nathan and Scarlet. Nathan often played the guitar while Scarlet either laid on the beach soaking up the sun or played in the water or made sand castles. For a reason Ada María couldn't explain, watching Nathan smile at Scarlet while she played tugged at her heartstrings. One day when she walked by the beach, she saw that Scarlet was playing soccer with a few kids on the beach while Nathan played, a similar state that she'd found him in before. She'd stubbornly walked past, but soon she found herself rounding back, finding Nathan and Scarlet just as she'd left them. She took a deep, irritated breath, adjusted her silks on her body so they were nice and tight and just revealing enough and walked over to Nathan. He didn't stop playing, but she could tell he was smiling.

"Morning, Ada," Nathan said. "It's a pleasure seeing you again."

"Yes, well, I was passing by and I happened to see you, so I thought I'd say hello," she answered.

"Sit down with me; we'll talk," Nathan turned to look at her continuing to play. Ada María smiled begrudgingly and sat down beside him. "So I bought a house the other day."

"Did you?"

"Yeah," Nathan said. "A little blue house up a hill. Scarlet's room has a view of the beach."

"Isn't she lucky?" Ada María said. "I take it it's been a while since either of you had a real home?"

"It has been," Nathan said.

"I'd thought you weren't staying long," Ada María said.

"There's been a change of plans," Nathan smiled. "We decided we like it so much here that we'd stay a while."

"Well, it is Salvador," Ada María grinned. "It's easy to love it here."

"So how long have you lived here?"

"Fifty years," Ada María said. "I traveled with my parents for a while, but I tired of it really quick and went off on my own when I was five. My mother and father are nomads and so was I until I arrived here. Much like you, I loved it so much here that I decided I'd stay."

"Do you see your parents often?"

"Whenever they pass through," Ada María said. "Father prefers Brazil, but mother likes to make a circle around Northern South America. It ensures they go through Brazil, the Amazon and Peru."

"Scarlet and I got to see the rainforest," Nathan smiled. "We loved it. I'd never seen so much exotic sites. Scarlet wanted to keep one of those colorful frogs but we were lucky to learn from an unfortunate bird that they're poisonous."

"Ah, yes," Ada María said. "Poison Dart Frogs. Amazonian tribes will rub their arrows against the frog's skin to make their arrowheads poisonous. You can keep them as pets if you want, but you need to adopt them when they're small and before they start eating the ants that make their skin poisonous."

"Really?" Nathan asked. "I didn't know that."

"I have a few," Ada María admitted. "I have two that are red and black with different patterns and another that's bright yellow with a black belly. I call them Terpsichore, Erato and Euterpe."

"Are you planning to adopt anymore and have all nine muses?" Nathan asked and Ada María, perhaps for the first time since they'd met, smiled genuinely.

"You know of the nine Greek muses?"

"Of course I do," Nathan smiled. "Greek and Roman history and mythology were another favorite topic of mine. Did you pick them because they were more closely relevant to your love of dance and music or because they were your favorite of the muses' names?"

"A little of both," Ada María said. "I used to hate Greek history, mostly because father insisted I learn. But when I started reading the mythologies for myself without him breathing down my neck, I started to enjoy it more."

"I take it your dad's very much the aristocrat even to this day?"

Ada María laughed humorlessly, "Yes, he is. The Count Rafael Escada has never quite let go of his title even if it lost all meaning when he died. It's only lost more as the years went on."

"You know," Nathan said. "My brother Kevin, he's the oldest of us, became a lawyer and owns a law practice with a colleague from school. He was a Baronet."

"A Baronet?" Ada María laughed condescendingly. "How quaint."

"Well now, your grace, not everyone can be a Countess," Nathan chuckled. "They were from Austria."

"Father used to have family in Austria," Ada María said. "Or modern day Austria I should say. But then, he had family in France and Spain too. If I recall, his betrothed was a distant cousin."

"Sounds about right," Nathan said. "So how did your parents meet? Just out of curiosity."

"In a sugarcane field," Ada María said. "My mother loves sugarcane, half breed or not, and she was stealing some when father happened upon her. He was about to attack her, but he noticed she wasn't quite human and just started talking to her about himself while my poor mother just sat there terrified to even move."

"How did they fall in love?" Nathan chuckled.

"They bumped into each other enough times that father managed to woo mother with his exceptional charm. That's father's side of the story. According to mother, they bumped into each other enough times that mom discovered father wasn't so bad and, when he let her have a word in, he was pleasant enough to converse with. He wooed her eventually, but father was in love before mother was. He'd never admit that, though."

"He certainly doesn't sound like he would," Nathan chuckled.

"And what of your parents? You said your mother is white and your father a Native American?"

"Yeah," Nathan said. "My mom was on her way to marry as a mail order bride and dad happened upon her while hunting as a wolf. He fell in love with my mom instantly and kidnapped her a few days later and brought her back to the tribe."

"Well, that sounds wickedly erotic," Ada María grinned.

"I'm afraid like your parents, my dad loved my mom before she loved him," Nathan said. "At least openly. After dad had kidnapped her, her husband, the guy she was married to before I mean, had soldiers sent out to look for her and apparently even joined them. Searched all of Washington for her. They finally found my mom and she went with them under the understanding that they wouldn't hurt my dad or anyone in the tribe. One of those soldiers, Sgt. Lovejoy I think his name was, went back on the agreement and returned to arrest my dad, so dad hung him from what we now call The Hanging Tree," Nathan said. "After hanging him, the pack, of wolves I mean, hid Sgt. Lovejoy's remains and my dad went after mom to bring her back. My grandpa made arrangements for my mom and her first husband to get a divorce and mom returned to the tribe with my dad."

"That's awfully romantic," Ada María said. She glanced at Scarlet who was still playing soccer with the other kids. "You said you were widowed?"

"Yeah," Nathan said. "Her name was Tomoeh. She died of cancer. She made me promise to take Scarlet traveling when she died, hence why we're here."

"How did you two meet?"

"Her tribe attacked ours and our dads reached an agreement that we'd marry to settle the disagreement. I got lucky. I loved her a lot," Nathan said, thinking on her fondly. He was relieved to find it didn't hurt as bad anymore. He glanced at Ada María and smiled a little more. "We had Scarlet shortly after we married. We were planning to have more, but by the time we'd decided it was time for a second child, she'd gotten sick and couldn't get pregnant."

"My condolences," Ada María said genuinely. "Do you miss her?"

"All the time," Nathan said. "I can't say how we married was under the best circumstances, but if I had to marry to settle a dispute, I'm glad I could marry her. Tomoeh was a wonderful wife and mother."

"She must have been," Ada María said, suddenly frowning when she realized she felt something. Jealousy. She pushed it to the back of her mind and straightened her back. "I take it this trip has helped you and your daughter a lot?"

"It's been the best," Nathan said. "It gave Scarlet and I a chance to bond and heal from Tomoeh's death. You see that bracelet she's wearing?" Ada María saw the handcrafted seashell bracelet on Scarlet's wrist and nodded. "That was Tomoeh's. In my tribe, we make bracelets for the wife to be as a request for marriage. Tomoeh gave it to Scarlet as a way for her to join us on our journey. We've also hung little red trees everywhere we've gone."

"Red trees?"

"Yeah," Nathan said. "They're little ornaments Scarlet and I make and we'll place them in spots that overlook a good view of the places we've been. We put one in that lighthouse on the beach."

"That's really sweet," Ada María said.

"Have you ever been married?" Nathan asked.

Ada María scoffed, "Christ no."

Nathan chuckled, "I wasn't expecting quite that reaction."

"And why not? I recall you saying yourself you'd had plans of traveling much sooner were it not for your marriage. You only reinforce my opinion that marriage is simply an inconvenience to one's independence, especially a woman's. Some women might enjoy being barefoot and pregnant stuck at home waiting for their husband to come home, but I assure you such an inconvenience will not do for me."

"I don't doubt it," Nathan chuckled again. "I knew the moment I saw you that you weren't like any other woman. Truthfully, that's what I like about you."

"Aren't you charming," Ada María said, meaning to be condescending but the comment coming out as flattered. She listened to him continue to play, mesmerized as she watched his fingers pluck the strings in a fast pace song. "I admit I love a man that knows how to play guitar."

"Why do you think I started learning?" Nathan joked and earned a laugh from Ada María. "I'm joking, but it is nice to know you like me playing."

Scarlet, as she had last time, watched Nathan and Ada María the whole time. She saw them laugh together and talk while Nathan played. She'd intended to join them, but she held off for a while. She didn't want to scare the woman away again. Eventually, though, she saw the two exchange a glance and noticed the glint in Ada María's eye and didn't particularly care for it. So she excused herself from the game and ran to her father and Ada María.

"Good afternoon, Miss Escada," Scarlet said respectfully.

"Ada María is just fine, dear," Ada María smiled. "Pardon my sudden departure when first we met, but I did have to return to the bar."

"It's fine," Scarlet said and sat in front of the two of them. "So you own that bar right?"

"Yes, I do," Ada María answered. "O Salão de Dança is its name."

"Yes, that's what daddy told me," Scarlet said. "So did he tell you he bought a house?"

"Yes, indeed he did," Ada María said. "I hear you got the room with the lovely view."

"Yes, indeed I did," Scarlet said.

"So your father tells me that you and he got to sleep in the ruins everywhere you went. Including the Inca ruins. How did you enjoy that?"

"Like living in history," Scarlet said. "You're Inca, no?"

"My mother is," Ada María said. "My father is Portuguese. He was a count when he was alive."

"I'm sure daddy's mentioned that grandpa is a chief apparent."

"Indeed, he has," Ada María answered. "Of the Quileute tribe, correct?" Scarlet nodded. "I fear my grandfather was not but a soldier, though I'm told he remembered his human years fondly when he lived among the Inca. He was changed just before the Inca empire fell to Pizarro."

"he became viceroy of the region did he not?" Scarlet asked.

"I believe so," Ada María nodded. "It is a shame that such a great empire fell in such a way."

"So was your mom born while the Inca were still an empire?"

"Oh, no, long after," Ada María said. "Mother isn't positive when she was born but it was at least 250 years after the fall of the Inca empire. It was a while before my grandfather started having half breed children. Of my aunts, my mother is the youngest, but my uncle Nahuel is the youngest of all his children."

"And how many aunts do you have?" Scarlet asked.

"Three. My aunt Atzi is the eldest, my aunt Citclali, my mother Yaretzi is the youngest and then my uncle Nahuel. His mother wasn't Inca, though. She belonged to a Brazilian tribe."

"So your grandpa collected half breeds like coins did he?" Scarlet said and Nathan stopped playing, a little stunned by Scarlet's rude comment.

"In a manner of speaking," Ada María said without a hint of offense. "He loved my aunts and mother, but there was always that fascination with having half breeds I suppose. That's what I'm told anyway. I'm afraid I never knew my grandfather. He was executed by the Volturi coven for said fascination." Ada María looked at Nathan. "Nathan, why did you stop playing?"

"No reason," Nathan said and looked at Scarlet a moment before returning to playing.

"Now where we were?" Ada María asked. Scarlet didn't answer. She wasn't comfortable talking with Ada María. She felt like she was being challenged and she didn't care for it. "Ah, yes, we were talking about our grandparents. So Nathan tells me your grandfather met your grandmother when she was a mail order bride."

"That's the long and short of it," Scarlet said. "My grandma has done the tribe a lot of good. She's the first woman to be a healer in our tribe and her parents have brought so many good things to us. My uncle Kyle is building a hospital and now they're going to build a school."

"Quite the overachievers aren't they?" Ada María said. "Though I'm told your father is much fonder of history and travel."

"Dad's the black sheep of the bunch," Scarlet said and Ada María grinned wickedly. Scarlet hated that smile.

"I prefer the black sheep," Ada María said and then she looked at Nathan. "Nathan," she said and Nathan looked at her. "I'm eager to see this little house of yours. How about I buy you and your daughter an early dinner and some wine and I host you a nice house warming party?"

"I can never turn down free food and booze," Nathan smiled. "When do you have to get back to the bar?"

"Six," she said, "but we close early tonight. It is Sunday tomorrow after all."

"I guess we'd better get going then," Nathan said and stopped playing so they could leave the beach together.

Scarlet walked to Nathan's left while Ada María walked to his right and the two talked on and on about the bar. Scarlet listened intently as they did, contributing little to the conversation. Ada María bought Nathan and Scarlet some food and two bottles of wine, teasing Nathan that she'd seen him go through a whole bottle by himself and winking. With the food and wine, they walked the remaining way up the large hill until they finally reached the bright blue house and Ada María seemed to have much the same reaction to it as Scarlet had. Nathan let them all inside and Ada María did a small spin before putting all the food on the kitchen island and smiled.

"You got lucky with this place," Ada María said. "It's absolutely precious."

"We certainly thought so," Nathan smiled at then looked at Scarlet. "Did you want some wine, Scarlet?"

"No, I'm fine," Scarlet said, smiling for Nathan's sake but losing it the moment he wasn't looking at her anymore. Ada María searched through the cabinets but was surprised to find no plates or glasses.

"Well," she said, "I hope you don't mind eating with your hands."

"Sorry," Nathan smiled, "I hadn't gotten around to getting that sort of thing. I'll go buy some." Scarlet glanced at Nathan apprehensively but said nothing as he walked out of the house to buy plates and silverware. Of course, there was no way of knowing how long that would take.

"I guess it's just you and me," Ada María said and opened one bottle of wine. "Are you sure you don't want any?"

"I'm sure," Scarlet said and meandered towards the island and sat at the bar stool. The two exchanged a look and Ada María sighed.

"I take it you don't like me very much," Ada María said.

"Not particularly, no," Scarlet admitted bluntly. "But if daddy likes you, I'm willing to give you a chance."

Ada María released a huff of a laugh and gave Scarlet a strange look, "You've nothing to worry about on that front, dear. My relationship with your father is purely platonic."

"Do you sleep with all your friends then?" Scarlet asked and Ada María just grinned.

"Not all of them," she replied. "You and your father seem to have a rather open communication with each other."

"It's him and me against the world," Scarlet said in an effort to make a point. "After mom died, it was just me and him. We've been through a lot together in our travels. We've seen places, met new people, and grown together. By that logic, surely you can understand why I'm rather apprehensive of someone like you."

"'Someone like me'?" Ada María giggled. "And what exactly does that mean, dear? If you think I'm here to replace your mother or some nonsense like that, you're gravely mistaken."

"I never implied that, but since we're on the subject, let it be stated for the record you're not half the woman my mom was as far as I'm concerned." Ada María's smile hardened just a bit. Scarlet was surprised she apparently touched a nerve, but she must have. Ada María didn't answer right away, but when she did, she leaned on the countertop and stared at Scarlet with intimidating eyes. The subtle glint of red in her eyes made Scarlet really uncomfortable.

"I think we need to get one thing very clear," Ada María said. "You're picking a fight with me and I'm not sure why. I find your father very attractive, but it's not gone further than that. If you think you have to 'test' me or whatever you're doing, I assure you it's not needed. You'd best save your efforts for a woman that's interested in being a permanent part of your father's life. Me? I'm just some lady he met at a bar and screwing around with. As soon as I'm bored with him, I'll move on and you'll never have to deal with me again. I think so long as we have that understanding between us, we'll get along just fine. So? Truce?"

There would be no truce. Not as far as Scarlet was concerned. If Scarlet had been willing to give Ada María a chance, Ada María kissed that goodbye when she dared to call her relationship with Scarlet's father platonic and even go so far as to imply she'd eventually get 'bored' with him. Scarlet felt her blood boil.

"You don't deserve my dad," Scarlet muttered, never breaking eye contact with Ada María, who gave her that grin that Scarlet despised.

"I take that as a no," Ada María answered and took a sip of the wine straight from the bottle. "That's a shame, too. I think your father was really hoping we'd get along."

"Why bother? You aren't planning to stick around," Scarlet said bitterly. "I'll just come out and say daddy really likes you. Quite frankly, you should be damned grateful for the honor. But you mark my words, Ada," Scarlet straightened up and glared at her, "if you ever do anything to hurt my daddy, you'll have me to deal with. Regardless of your relationship with daddy, you have to get through me."

"No I don't, kid," Ada María said. All the same, Scarlet knew she'd had the right effect. She wasn't smirking anymore. Rather Ada María was glaring at Scarlet with the same intensity. "Since I'm not wanted, I think I'll just leave. Let your father know he's always welcome to see me at the bar."

"If you want to see my daddy, bitch, then you come to him," Scarlet said pointedly. Finally, Ada María smirked at Scarlet again and shrugged.

"Then it was nice meeting your father. It's a shame too. He was a really good fuck," Ada María winked and walked out of the house without another word. Ada María started walking down the hill and saw Nathan coming back with a paper bag of a few plates and silverware. No more than what Nathan and Scarlet would need and he was surprised to see her when they crossed paths.

"Ada? Why're you leaving? Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine," Ada María said. "I don't think your daughter appreciated me being there, so I left."

"Why? What happened?" Nathan asked.

"Oh, nothing," Ada María said. "I think she just thinks there's more to our relationship than there is. She's under the impression we're courting. I attempted to reassure her that our relationship was just platonic, but she didn't seem to accept that answer. She was becoming upset with me, so I left."

"She…" Nathan began but groaned and pinched his nose. He wasn't sure what upset him: the fact that Scarlet clearly didn't like her or the fact that Ada María told Scarlet there was nothing between them. "I'm sorry, she's just…..after her mother died, we got really close and she's just looking out for me."

"You don't need to apologize," Ada María smiled and approached Nathan so she was standing right before him. "I can understand how she would get the wrong impression. It would probably be best her and I not cross paths under the circumstances. Just remember you can always find me at the bar." Ada María went on her toes and gave Nathan a kiss before stepping away.

He wanted to go after her, but more pressingly he needed to speak with Scarlet. Nathan made the remainder of the trip up the hill and let himself into the house. Scarlet was sitting at the counter on the barstool and fiddling with the unopened wine bottle and he could tell she wasn't happy. She didn't even look at him when he stepped inside. Remaining calm, Nathan went to the counter and put the paper bag of plates and silverware on the counter.

"So what happened?" Nathan asked in a reassuring voice to make sure Scarlet didn't think he was mad.

Scarlet looked at Nathan, "Didn't she tell you?"

"I wanted your side of the story," Nathan said.

"She started it," Scarlet said.

"Okay," Nathan said. "How?"

"She assumed I didn't like her and I said I didn't but I was willing to give her a chance."

"Alright," Nathan said, urging her on.

"From there, she said I didn't have to worry because your relationship was just friends and eventually she said she'd just get bored with you and once she did, I wouldn't have to worry about seeing her again. I called her a whore in so many terms if you want to know the truth and I told her she should feel lucky that you like her. Frankly, she shouldn't be telling your 13 year old daughter that you were a 'good fuck'."

"Hold on, she said what to you?" Nathan said, now losing his patience.

"She said if you wanted to see her, you could always find her at the bar and said it was a shame we couldn't have a truce because you were a good fuck," Scarlet said.

Now Nathan was mad. "The plates and silverware are in the bag, so help yourself." Nathan started walking to the door.

"Where are you going?" Scarlet asked.

"To have a talk with her," Nathan said and slammed the door behind him when he left. Ada María was further down the hill already but Nathan ran to catch up to her and when he did, he grabbed her by the arm and stopped her in her tracks.

"What the hell are you-"

"Did you call me a good fuck in front of my daughter?" Nathan said.

"Unhand me," Ada María ordered.

"Answer me," Nathan said in just as demanding a tone.

"I told your daughter what our relationship is and since she wasn't willing to be cordial with me, I left. I was blunt about what's going on between us, so if you're offended with my honesty, then I'm sorry. Don't act like I'm the villain here. Your daughter saw fit to interrogate me and imply that I needed to impress her."

"Ada, if that was all you had to say, then you shouldn't have said anything at all," Nathan said.

"You relay that bit of news to your daughter, Mr. Black," Ada María spat back. "Now unhand me."

Nathan did, but he kept an intense gaze on her. For some reason that was enough to keep her still. "You will never speak to my daughter that way again. Do you understand me?"

"Your daughter will never speak to me that way again," Ada María answered back. "And for the record," she continued, "I don't answer to a stranger, nor do I answer to anyone. So you will watch your tone with me." Ada María turned her back to leave he looked over her shoulder. "I suggest you refrain from coming to the bar for tonight. Though when you learn your place, you're welcome to come back."

"And what is my place?" Nathan asked pointedly.

"A lover," Ada María said. "One, for the record, that's been placed rather low on the totem pole."

Ada María ended the conversation and continued on her way. Nathan stood in the street staring after her for a while. Were she anyone else, anyone at all, he'd be all to happy never to speak to her again just for the way she spoke to Scarlet. But something in him cried out to her. Longed for her. Already loved her. He turned to walk back up the hill and return home feeling like there was a led weight on his shoulders. Scarlet was still sitting on the barstool when he returned and she was poking at the food. When she looked at Nathan, the look on his face told her everything she needed to know. She dropped her fork and went to Nathan to give him a hug and he readily accepted it, needing a comforting embrace.

Much to her own surprise, Ada María walked away from the conversation with Nathan feeling sick to her stomach. She'd never been spoken to that way and she'd certainly never had a man stand up to her either. She began to think that perhaps it would be best to avoid the man. He clearly did things to her that she wasn't too keen on and she wasn't in the market to fight for a man. She'd never had to and she certainly wasn't going to start now. Scarlet wasn't willing to go easy on Ada María. She and Nathan stayed in the house and played a card game together and she made sure that it seemed as though that ugliness with Ada María didn't happen. She didn't like that Nathan was clearly upset that his daughter and imprint weren't instantly friends, but she wasn't going to stand for Ada María being so disrespectful, least of all to Nathan. She'd meant what she said: If Ada María wanted Nathan, she'd have to get through Scarlet first.

That Monday, Nathan and Scarlet went out together to look for work. They found it at a restaurant near the beach that served fresh fish. Nathan showed he knew how to butcher fish and was well skilled at it and Scarlet spoke better English than the other servers and would be well suited to serving tourist customers but would more frequently be in the back cooking just like Nathan. It was a job that took up most of their day. They started early and would be off by midafternoon at which point they would walk along the beach for a while or just go home. Nathan didn't turn to a wolf for quite a while. He didn't really want to talk to anyone about what happened with Ada María. The longer they didn't see one another, the more he found he was getting depressed. He kept it between his toes, though, and always put on a brave face. A few weeks went by of them not speaking to each other, but Nathan didn't go to the bar. When it came to be July, Ada María always finished her dances looking onto the audience hoping to see Nathan, but she never did. And she was growing irritable.

"Miss Escada," A waitress walked over to Ada María while she left the stage.

"What?" she asked.

"We have a man asking for you," the waitress said and, barely getting the words out, Ada María stormed past her into the din, but she didn't see Nathan. She did, however, see Officer Acosta who waved at her with a smile. After taking a deep breath, Ada María put on her best smile and walked over to him.

"Now, Officer, what can I do for you? I'm not in trouble I hope," Ada María said. She'd not hunted since their last meeting, so it couldn't be a dead body found.

"Not at all, Miss Escada," Officer Acosta said. "You haven't done anything I should be concerned about I hope."

"Why, no," Ada María smiled. "Seeing as you're not here to arrest me, what can I do for you?"

"I'm on a break at the moment and I thought perhaps you might entertain me for a bit," he answered.

Ada María grinned, "Well, Officer, I would love to offer a bit of entertainment to you." She turned away and motioned with her finger for him to follow her. Before going to the back, she stopped the waitress that had informed her of the man asking for her. "Be aware, I will not be summoned."

"I'm sorry, Miss Escada," the waitress answered nervously.

"If anyone comes in here asking for me, you tell them that if they want to speak, they come to me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Miss Escada," the waitress answered again and Ada María continued to the back while the waitress hurried to get away from her. Ada María and Officer Acosta got to her dressing room and she returned to smiling seductively.

"So what is your pleasure, Officer?" Ada María asked.

"Sometime quick," Officer Acosta said. "You were dancing when I got here and it was an awfully long dance. Though I'm not complaining. It's a pleasure to watch you dance. Of course, I'm left with a short window of time to do my business and leave."

"Poor thing," Ada María said and took a hold of Officer Acosta and tossed him onto her couch before unzipping his pants and pleasuring him. Thirty minutes later, Ada María was fixing her hair while Officer Acosta got himself dressed.

"As always, Ada María, thank you for the pleasure of your company," Officer Acosta said. Ada María didn't say anything and since she wasn't speaking, he shrugged and walked out of her dressing room without another word. When he was gone, Ada María got herself cleaned up, feeling a fury bubbling in her.

She'd not taken a lover since speaking with Nathan last and now that she finally had, she'd felt unfulfilled and frustrated. After she was as she wanted to be, she returned out front and danced a few more dances and entertained a few more patrons until it was closing time at 2 in the morning. When all her employees were gone and she'd locked up the bar, Ada María decided she'd take a moonlit walk on the beach to cool her head. She found a spot on the beach to place her clothes and skinny dipped in the ocean water. It did plenty to cool her skin, but little to cool her head or her raging fury. After several minutes of swimming naked and getting nothing out of it that she wanted, Ada María left the water and tossed on her silks. She kept her toes in the water, though, staring out onto the ocean and taking deep breaths as the wind blew through her hair. While she stared out onto the ocean, she heard a guitar start to play. She looked in the direction she heard the sound and saw someone in the distance. She realized it was Nathan. She stared in his direction for the entirety of a song debating if she should go talk to him. He either seemed to be ignoring her or didn't know she was there. Eventually, Ada María started walking over to Nathan rather slowly. The sound of the water beating on the shore managed to drown out what little sound came from her feet walking through the water and the hard winds made it difficult to smell her coming, but eventually Nathan noticed she was approaching and stopped playing when he saw her.

"No, don't stop," Ada María said with a smile. "I like listening to you play." Nathan hesitated but eventually started to play again.

"How's the bar?"

"Same as always," Ada María said. "Might I sit?"

"Go ahead," Nathan said and Ada María sat beside him in the sand.

"So what are you doing out at this hour?"

"I needed some fresh air," Nathan said.

"Where's your daughter?"

"Scarlet's back home," Nathan said. "She was asleep when I checked on her." They were silent a moment while Nathan played. Ada María knew what the man expected and, frankly, she wasn't willing to give it.

"Has anything interesting happened since last we met?"

"Scarlet and I are working at the restaurant on the coast now," Nathan said and then he smiled. "If any of the customers stiff her for a tip, she'll just pickpocket them."

"And you allow her to do that?" Ada María giggled.

"Allow it? Hell, I'm the one who taught her how to do it," Nathan said. "Pickpocketing's how we made our way through most of this trip."

"You mean to tell me you made enough money to buy a house just through pick pocketing?"

"No," Nathan said. "I made the bulk of the money I had with us from an insurance scam."

"I beg pardon?"

"An insurance scam. There was a woman in Phoenix we'd met named Mercedes and her brother Tulio. Mercedes tried to steal my money but I caught her and told her if she wanted the money I took from her back she had to teach me and my daughter Spanish. Of course, we found a woman to work for, Tía Rosa and her son, and they taught us Spanish. When I tried to terminate the agreement with Mercedes, her brother Tulio came up with the idea that Mercedes and I should pretend to be married and apply for life insurance. Long story short, I found a cadaver that resembled me enough and kept it in the apartment Scarlet and I shared while we stayed with Rosa. Mercedes and Tulio tried to kill me by lighting the apartment on fire, but luckily Scarlet and I weren't in the house. I posed as my brother and claimed the body as being me and I collected the money and Scarlet and I left town."

Ada María burst into a jubilant laugh and fell over from it. Nathan started laughing a little too despite the situation and had to stop playing. Eventually, Ada María sat up again and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh good lord," she managed through her laughter while she rubbed her eyes. "That's beautiful."

"Scarlet and I certainly got a good laugh out of it," Nathan smiled. "After that, we lived on a ranch in El Paso to fine tune our Spanish and the lady of the Hacienda took a shine to me for some reason, but I wasn't interested in her. The day before I was planning to leave, she told the managers to not pay me claiming I'd been caught sleeping on the job. So in the dead of night, I broke into her house and stole all their money and jewelry, including my withheld pay for that week."

Ada María laughed again, "Certainly a career criminal aren't you."

"In case you want another good laugh, before Scarlet and I ran away with the jewels and money, I wrote a fake love letter to Mrs. Carmichael, the lady of the hacienda, proclaiming my love and describing our illicit affair in detail and put it on her husband's desk."

"Oh, you naughty boy," Ada María grinned. "Well, if it's worth anything, she certainly missed out."

"That's very sweet of you to say," Nathan said, though he'd lost his smile now. Ada María noticed and lost her smile too. She would not apologize.

"Did you get into any other trouble since El Paso?"

"No," Nathan said and started playing again. "We tried to find El Dorado but we never found it."

"The closest you'd find to El Dorado would be the Inca Empire and I'm sorry to say our riches fell with the invasion of the conquistas."

"Are you implying the Inca Empire was made of gold?" Nathan asked, unable to help a smile.

"Oh, no, but we did have gold and silver and jade. They were just taken back to Spain."

"Ah," Nathan said. "Well, I guess then we found El Dorado but it wasn't what we were expecting. We checked Colombia first."

"Part of our empire was in Colombia," Ada María said. "But since Cusco was the capital of our empire, that would be the place to check for a city of gold."

"The El Dorado myth started from a gold statue of the Muisca chief," Nathan said. Ada María just shrugged. There was another moment of silence between them while Nathan played the guitar. Were it not for the undeniable tension, it would be a rather relaxing and romantic moment.

"I haven't seen you at the bar," Ada María finally said.

"I've not had a reason to go," Nathan said. He knew it was a low blow, but he needed to make his boundaries clear. Ada María took offense by the comment.

"No reason to go? I beg to differ," she snapped.

"I just wasn't open to the place I was offered," Nathan said blandly.

"What place?"

"I believe you had labeled it as a lover that's low on your totem pole."

Ada María leered a moment and then sighed, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that to you. That was rude."

"I'm more concerned with how you spoke to Scarlet," Nathan said.

"She was just as rude to me," Ada María said.

"I've already talked to her about it," Nathan said.

"Have you?" Ada María said skeptically. "Look, Nathan, I don't really care what your daughter thinks about me. All I wanted was some fun. It's not my fault your daughter got the wrong idea." Nathan didn't say anything and that annoyed Ada María more than anything. "Honestly, I've never heard of a man being such a daughter's boy."

"Well, that's how it is," Nathan said sharply. "Take it or leave it."

"I'll leave it, thank you," Ada María said and stood from the sand and started walking away. She half expected Nathan to say something, but he didn't. He just kept playing. After several paces, she realized she wasn't moving anymore. She was just stewing on the beach, not even the water at her feet and sand in her toes calming her down. She turned around and walked right back to him and, without knowing what else to do, kicked him.

"What the hell!" Nathan yelled and Ada María placed her hands on her hips.

"You listen here, boy," Ada María said sternly as she would to a child, "I will not apologize for being blunt."

"At the moment, you should worry about apologizing for fucking kicking me," Nathan barked and rubbed his hip where she'd struck.

"I'll not apologize for that either," she replied. "You've inconvenienced me enough."

"Inconvenienced you!" Nathan yelled. "What have I done to inconvenience you?"

"You….after….I don't have to explain myself to you!"

"Alright," Nathan sighed and picked back his guitar and stood. "I'm tired of arguing with you. Sorry to have inconvenienced you. However I did."

"Don't you walk away from me," Ada María snapped when he was about to leave. "I'm not done talking to you."

"I'm done talking to you," he said as he walked away, but Ada María rushed ahead and stood before him, blocking his way.

"I said I'm not done talking to you," Ada María said.

"Fine," Nathan said before tossing his guitar onto his back and crossing him arms. "What?"

Ada María opened her mouth to speak but immediately realized she didn't know what to say. She knew what she should say, but she stubbornly refused. Instead she started to sway a little and bit her lip trying to think. Nathan watched her all the while. He remained stern but he was starting to lose his resolve a little. He'd really missed her. Their little whirlwind romance, or perhaps the correct term was a one night stand, had been everything Nathan hadn't known he'd needed. An imprint had never appealed to him and this was exactly the reason why. No matter what, she had gotten under his skin and she was frequently on his mind no matter what he was doing.

Since Ada María wasn't talking, rather fidgeting, Nathan tried to walk away, but she placed her hand on his chest and forced him to stand back where he'd been before. Ada María looked into his eyes then, perhaps for the first time since they'd met. She'd looked at him, she'd admired him, yet she'd never truly looked into his eyes and something there made her heart melt. Her hand remained on his chest where she'd placed it and she was approaching him the last few inches that separated them. Ada María decided then that it wasn't worth it to be stubborn and looked at Nathan sincerely. That look in her eyes crumbled what remaining resistance Nathan had left, but he forced himself to remain still.

"I'm sorry," Ada María finally said. "I should not have spoken to your daughter that way. Regardless of a misunderstanding or miscommunication, she was only looking out for you and I should not have spoken to her so crudely." Nathan finally smiled at her after that. His smile made her heart flutter and her stomach twist into knots. She'd never felt this way about anyone before and when he took her hand that she'd placed on his chest, she felt herself blush a little.

"Thank you, Ada," Nathan said. "That meant a lot to me."

Nathan started to bring his head to her as though he'd kiss her, but Ada María grew impatient and beat him, grabbing a hold of his neck with her free hand and pulling herself up to press her lips to his. When their lips touched, she finally felt the spark, the warm feeling that she'd been missing. She finally felt the jolt to her core, the desperate need that she'd not experienced since they'd had sex in her dressing room. Nathan laced his fingers through hers and his other arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her up so she was at his level, her feet dangling above the ground. Ada María wrapped her arm around his neck and pressed her tongue against his lips so he'd part them. When he did and their tongues met, Ada María whimpered and pressed her lips impossibly harder against his as though they'd fuse together. She wrapped her legs around his hips and started rubbing up against him, savoring the feel of his growing erection and damning the fabric of his pants for daring to keep them apart. Nathan pulled his lips from hers but Ada María kissed along his jaw to her ear and then down to his neck where she kissed and licked and sucked eagerly.

"How about we go back to my house?" Nathan asked breathlessly. Ada María only nodded as she sucked his skin. She could not be interrupted. Seeing as Ada María wasn't willing to let go of him, Nathan carried her, running back to the house and quietly letting himself in so they wouldn't disturb Scarlet. He brought them to his room and closed the door. "Ada," Nathan said, "I need to put down my guitar."

Ada María, in response, tightened her thighs around his hips so she could remain upright and pulled off Nathan's guitar and gently placed it to the side for him. All this with only the strength of her thighs keeping her upright. That strength crushed him a little and he placed his hands on her hips once she'd removed the guitar, but she didn't need his help for balance. When the guitar was discarded, she wrapped her arms back around his neck and kissed him again, picking up right where they'd left off on the beach. Nathan's mind went foggy and he felt as though his legs might give out, so he walked them to his bed and laid Ada María down, hovering above him. Realizing something, Ada María begrudgingly paused their kisses and looked up at Nathan.

"Nathan, I don't have my sponge," Ada María said.

"Your what?" Nathan asked.

"My sponge," Ada María said. "I don't have it in, so you need to pull out."

"Oh," Nathan said. "Alright," he shrugged and returned to kissing her.

Ada María giggled when their lips touched again and they removed their clothes as they kissed. Strangely, the last time they'd been together, Nathan hadn't had the chance to really admire her body. When they were both naked, Nathan kissed Ada's neck to her ear and then down to her collarbone, kissing from shoulder to shoulder and then placed kisses along her skin down to her breasts until he took her nipple into his mouth. Ada María took in a sharp breath and ran her fingers through his hair encouraging him further.

"Nathan," Ada María sighed his name and he moaned onto her skin, loving to hear his name spoken by her with pleasure.

He reached down a free hand and slipped two fingers inside her, curling his fingers the way he remembered her saying she liked with his thump rubbing her sensitive clitoris and she moaned and sighed with pleasure. While he pleasured her, he started kissing along her chest to her other breast and took that nipple in his mouth as he had with the other. Ada María's breath and heart rate began to accelerate and she took her fingers from Nathan's head and grabbed a hold of the light blanket on the bed. Soon, Nathan started to kiss down her belly until he was at her core and able to replace his thumb with his tongue. Then after a few minutes of his fingers thrusting and his tongue licking and nipping at her sensitive flesh until he felt her inner walls crush around his fingers and heard Ada María cry his name.

"Not so loud, Ada," Nathan whispered and kissed her all over until he was hovering above her again and slipped inside her.

She was quieter, yet she couldn't hold back the small cry that escaped her when Nathan slipped inside her. He stilled a moment to savor the feel of her before beginning to move in a gentle motion, Though Nathan, knowing Ada María wanted it rougher, soon picked up the pace and treated her roughly the way she wanted. She did her best to quiet her cries, going so far as to bite at Nathan's skin. The sting of her teeth did nothing to slow him and the taste of his blood on her lips while he moved inside her was enough to make her eyes roll into the back of her head. She was careful not to suck too hard, but she licked at his injured skin and was almost disappointed when it healed near instantly.

To Nathan's surprise, the bite Ada María put to his shoulder made him shudder and hold her tighter, making him move faster. When his skin had healed, Ada María stuck to licking and sucking his skin, refraining from biting again despite desperately wanting to. Nathan continued, holding her close, until he brought Ada María to her climax with a pleasured screech she muffled by sucking on his skin. When she came down from her climax, she forced Nathan onto his back so she could ride him until she felt him getting closer to his release. She knew when it was coming when she felt his muscle's bunch and his stomach and when his hands gripped her impossibly tighter. Just before he reached his climax, Ada María hopped off him and sucked his erection the last bit he needed before he came undone, the flavor of him mixing with her own, making her moan appreciatively. When he was spent, Nathan grabbed Ada María by the arm and pulled her up on the bed so she was laying right beside him and wrapped his arms around her. She held him in return when their romantic setting dawned on her.

"I've never cuddled with anyone before," she admitted after they'd lain together a moment.

Nathan smiled against Ada María's neck. "There's a first for everything."

Nathan kissed her neck a few times and tightened a hug around her so she was flush against his chest before pulling the covers over them and dozing off. Ada María remained awake initially with her hand placed over Nathan's. She felt so strange and yet oddly fulfilled and comfortable in Nathan's arms. Truly the man was one of a kind. She played through each of their encounters in her head, looking back on the first time they'd met. When she'd spotted him entering the bar, she'd known she had to have him. She'd not have let him leave until he'd fucked her and did he ever. However, she remembered that when they were finished and he'd left her suddenly after ensuring she didn't bite him, she remembered missing him right away. A sensation she'd never felt before. She'd had countless lovers in her lifetime; more than she could even feasibly count, but none had ever lasted in her mind. On numerous occasions she didn't even learn their names. Nathan was different, though. She had to admit he'd been different from the beginning. In the short time she'd known him, he'd given her the best sex of her life, insisted on speaking with and getting to know her, fought with her over his daughter, and made up with her on the beach only to return to his home and make love to her. She felt mixed and rustled yet she couldn't seem to manage to complain about it anymore. As she laid in his arms and was finally starting to doze off, Ada María smiled and decided that she'd enjoy this ride and see where it took her.

The next morning, Ada María woke alone in bed and she looked around until she noticed a note on the nightstand from Nathan letting her know that he and Scarlet had left to go to work but he'd see her again soon and that he'd think of her while he was at work. For some reason, that gave her a warm feeling and she realized she already missed him too despite being surrounded by his scent and his sheets. She laid in his bed for a while longer, basking in it and realized it aroused her. She reached her hand between her legs and touched herself intimately and kept the covers close to her as she did so, hoping that Nathan would know. She'd gladly tell him regardless. Once she'd brought herself to orgasm, she tumbled gently in the sheets trying to ensure her scent was engrained in the fabric until Nathan happened upon them again. Yet not everyone was in a good mood that morning. Scarlet had been downstairs eating her breakfast when Nathan came down ready to leave for the restaurant and when she saw the distant, stupid smirk on his face, she knew. She didn't say anything at first and they just walked to work together without a word.

"Are you alright?" Nathan asked when they'd left the restaurant for the day. "You've been so quiet all day."

Scarlet didn't answer right away. For a moment she stared at the sand as they walked, but eventually said, "You were in a good mood this morning."

"Yeah," Nathan said. "I'd come out here last night to get some fresh air and Ada María happened upon me while I was playing. We argued but then we reconciled."

"I could tell," Scarlet muttered.

Nathan took a deep breath and walked around Scarlet and then went on one knee so he was at her level. "Are you upset with me?"

"A little if you want the truth," Scarlet admitted. "I understand she's your imprint, but she needs to learn some boundaries."

"I agree," Nathan said reassuringly. "And I will speak with her about that in more detail. But please empathize that I'm in a sense between a rock and a hard place. I love you, Scarlet, but you were unfortunate enough to inherit my hard head and stubborn streak."

Scarlet finally smiled, "I don't think that's a bad thing at all."

"You're right," Nathan smiled, "but Ada is shaping up to be just as much hard headed and stubborn as you or I. I'll expect the same of her, but I really want you to try to get along with her, okay?"

"I'll get along with her just fine so long as she treats me and you with respect," Scarlet said. "Particularly you."

"And she will," Nathan said. "We'll make this work, I promise. All I ask is you both try to reach a truce."

"I'll do my part, daddy, but I expect her to do the same," Scarlet said sternly. "It's got to go both ways."

"I know it does," Nathan said. "I know, and I'll make sure she understands that. So how about tonight you and I go to the bar and we'll all sit down and get to know one another?"

Scarlet didn't particularly care for the idea and said, "I'd rather not."

"Scarlet, please," Nathan said. Scarlet stared at him a moment, but eventually she sighed and nodded. Nathan smiled and stood up and gave her a hug, picking her up as though she were a ten year old again. "Thanks Scarlet."

"I've given her two chances already," Scarlet said. "This is the last I'm giving."

"I'll make sure this last time will be all the more she needs," Nathan said and gave Scarlet a kiss on the cheek before placing her back down on the sand. Later that night, they went to the bar and sat at a table waiting for Ada María to finish a dance she was leading. She'd noticed them and Scarlet could tell she looked slightly disappointed to see her. Good, Scarlet thought. When the dance was done, a bottle of wine was brought to their table by a waitress stating it was on the house and moments later, Ada María stepped out in a red and black tight fitting dress that flowed at her hips and black silk going from the bodice up her neck and down to shorts sleeves on her arms. A rather conservative look for her. "Evening, Ada," Nathan smiled.

"Evening," Ada María replied. "You haven't waited long for me I hope."

"Not at all," Nathan said. "I hope you don't mind that I brought Scarlet."

"Not at all," Ada María said with a gentle smile, but Scarlet caught that hint of irritation in her eyes and Scarlet grinned.

"Daddy mentioned you two had a chance to talk," Scarlet said. "I'm sorry for the last time we spoke. I'd not meant to offend you."

"Quite the contrary," Ada María answered. "I should apologize to you for the manner in which I spoke to you. That was crude and unacceptable. I hope you'll accept my sincerest apologies."

"I accept your apology," Scarlet answered if only for the sake of making peace. Nathan was happy to see them getting along and that was good enough for her for now. "Won't you sit with us?"

"Actually, it's a little loud out here. I have a room to the corner we usually reserve for V.I.P. guests. I thought perhaps we might sit in there and have some privacy. Your father told me some interesting things about your trip and I'd love to hear more." Nathan accepted and took the wine from the table and they both followed Ada María to the private room with a long couch and a small table. He put the bottle on the little table and they all sat down together, Scarlet to Nathan's right and Ada María to his left. "So, pray tell. You father says he committed Insurance Fraud. Please tell me that story was true."

"It was," Scarlet answered. "I assume he told you about us robbing a hacienda too?"

"Oh yes, he did," Ada María giggled and looked up at Nathan and then back at Scarlet. "Your father's quite the trouble maker isn't he?"

"Only when people deserve it," Scarlet said. "I assume he's told you he can become a wolf too?"

"He's shown me," Ada María said. "And let me say, Nathan, if ever I'm sad, I may insist you become a wolf so I might pet you to make myself feel better. Do you do that?" she posted the question to Scarlet.

"I haven't changed, no," Scarlet said. "It's not unlikely that I will though."

"Well, that's exciting. Is such a thing a coming of age rite in your tribe?"

"No," Nathan said. "It's something only descendants of Chief Taha Aki are able to do."

"Oh?" Ada María grinned. "Sounds like there's a story there."

"Indeed," Nathan smiled. "Chief Taha Aki took the chiefdom, but there was a member of the tribe, Utlapa, who wanted to be chief. So he attempted to murder Taha Aki. Our tribe used to have the power to remove their souls from their bodies, so Taha Aki removed his soul but, Utlapa stole Taha Aki's body, slit the throat of his own and returned as Taha Aki while the true chief was forced to wander just as a soul. The true Chief Taha Aki wandered in sorrow and watched as Utlapa took over his life and chiefdom. Desperate, Taha Aki happened upon a wolf and asked to burrow its body so he could warn his people. The wolf agreed and Taha Aki became one with the wolf. He went to the village and tried to warn everyone that he was the true Chief, but Utlapa murdered the elder that was about to tell the people. In his rage, the wolf couldn't contain Taha Aki and he returned to a human form, different in appearance, but everyone knew it was their chief. He'd killed Utlapa and reclaimed the chiefdom and corrected everything from Utlapa's brief reign. Since that day, he learned he could still become a wolf and his children inherited the gift as well. If a child kept their wolf's spirit, they would live an immortal life until they released their wolf."

"That's quite a story," Ada María said with a smile. "I can imagine such power would make the tribe safe from all enemies."

"Especially cold ones," Nathan said. "That's a direct translation, but we mean vampires. We're just as fast if not faster than vampires, and we have the sharp teeth and strength to rip them asunder."

"Really?" Ada María said. "And you know this for a fact?"

"Yes, ma'am, I do," Nathan smiled. "I've killed a handful of vampires myself when home and on patrol."

"My, my, my," Ada María said. "Truly you are a wolf in Black Sheep's clothing."

"I like to think so," Nathan said and Ada María giggled.

"The wolves imprint too," Scarlet said. Something Nathan wasn't ready to broach with Ada María yet.

"Imprint?"

"I'll explain that another time," Nathan hurried. "It's a rather complicated topic. So you said you had a brother, right? Marcelo?"

"Yes, Marcelo," Ada María nodded. "Last I heard, he was still with Laura in Colombia. The fool's smitten with her."

"That's nice for him," Nathan said. "Are they married or just courting?"

"They'll not likely marry," Ada María said. "Father never bugs Marcelo of it though I suspect the same courtesy would not be given to me. The man would expect me married. In a Catholic ceremony no less."

"I didn't realize you were Catholic," Nathan chuckled.

"I am," Ada María said. "I go to church on Easter and Christmas like a good Catholic girl."

"Do you go to confession?" Nathan teased.

"If I had to go to confession, most of my days would be enveloped with Hail Mary prayers and I'd never get anything done. Are you Catholic?"

"Baptized Catholic, yes," Nathan said. "Although I don't think I've been in a church since my baptism."

"I'm sure you have plenty besides your crimes to confess for too don't you?" Ada María teased. "And are you baptized?" she asked Scarlet.

"No," Scarlet said.

"I assume Tomoeh wasn't Catholic?" Ada María asked.

"No," Nathan said. "Religion really never came up between us. It was never relevant."

"As it should be," Ada María smiled. "My father is quite the devote Catholic, especially when it's convenient. My mother converted to Catholicism for him and they had a Catholic ceremony, but that was only after father found out my mother was pregnant with Marcelo. Of course, father will swear up and down Marcelo was merely a honeymoon baby, but mother knew she was pregnant before they married."

"Your father sounds like quite a character," Nathan chuckled.

"Thank you for wording it so kindly," Ada María giggled. "I'm much closer with my mother."

"Is she a lot like you?" Scarlet asked rather pointedly. Nathan looked at her strangely, but Ada María knew what she meant and smiled.

"My mother and I are night and day," she answered. "Mother is very quiet and demur. Father always says she's an example of how all savages should behave."

"Rather harsh words," Scarlet leered.

"He's a harsh man," Ada María said. "Always has been."

"What about your aunts and uncle? Are they mated?" Nathan asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Ada María said. "Uncle Nahuel travels with his Aunt Huilen and my Aunt Atzi and Citclali travel together. They're all nomads. I've not heard any news that any of them have met a mate. What about you? You have two brothers and a twin do you not?"

"Yes," Nathan said. "Kevin's the oldest, then Kyle and then me and Natalie."

"And are they all married?"

"Kevin's engaged, Kyle isn't married or engaged or really seeing anyone, and Natalie's married to a childhood friend of mine, Jae. They have two boys and now a daughter together. JJ, Salem and Nesia."

"And Scarlet is your only child, correct?" Ada María asked.

"Yes, she's my only child," Nathan said. "Her mother and I weren't able to have any more children. I explained what happened, right?"

"Yes, you did," Ada María said, her eyes softening and her hand going to his reassuringly. Seeing that soften Scarlet a little, but not very much.

"I assume you don't have kids?" Scarlet asked, though she couldn't begin to understand how that was possible.

"No, I'm without children," Ada María said. "I've made a rather dedicated point of ensuring that."

"You don't like kids?" Scarlet asked.

"I've never cared to have any, no," Ada María said. "I admit I don't really like kids."

"Shame," Scarlet said. Nathan placed his hand on Scarlet's shoulder, silently asking her to be nicer.

"So what about your brother? Does he have kids?" Nathan asked.

"No," Ada María said. "Laura is a vampire, so she can't have children."

"I see," Nathan said. "When I was younger, I never really pictured having a wife and daughter. I used to fixate on when I'd go traveling one day. Of course, circumstances being what they were, I married Tomoeh and we had Scarlet. I wouldn't change it for the world."

Scarlet smiled while Ada María's smile was a touch awkward. "Things change I suppose," Ada María said.

"So how old are you?" Scarlet asked.

"I'm 68," Ada María said.

"Ten years younger than grandma," Scarlet said. "Right? Grandma's about 78?"

"About there," Nathan said, now a little embarrassed. "Scarlet, don't try to make Ada feel old."

"It's alright, Nathan, it's fine," Ada María reassured. "I'm aware I'm old enough to be a grandmother, though I assure you I'm not so weighed down by my age as a human would be."

"Grandma's a half breed," Scarlet said.

"Yes, I'm aware," Ada María said. "As a matter of fact, it was my Uncle Nahuel that stood up for your mother against the Volturi when she was little." Ada María gave Scarlet a stern glance as if to try and put her in her place, but Scarlet just smiled politely.

"You'll have to forward our thanks to your uncle, then. He must be a very nice man," Scarlet said.

"Indeed he is," Ada María answered. "So Nathan, you said your father is only chief apparent?"

"Yeah, my grandpa is still living," Nathan said. "He's ripe in age, but he's still going strong."

"He must be," Ada María smiled. "Is your father nervous about becoming chief when the time comes?"

"He's basically chief already," Nathan said. "Final decision for most things still fall to my grandpa, but usually my dad will take care of a situation when it arises. With my grandpa William, he was a firm believer in the rule of two when my dad was old enough to help him with things."

"Do you imagine it'll be the same for your father and older brother?"

"Most likely," Nathan said. "It wouldn't surprise me if all four of us ruled the tribe together more or less."

"The more the better," Ada María smiled. She reached over and poured some wine in the glass and took a sip before putting it on the table. "So Scarlet," she said, "your father plays the guitar. Do you play an instrument?"

"I know a few songs on the piano," Scarlet said.

"I assume music is a requirement in your family?" Ada María asked Nathan.

"You could say that," Nathan chuckled. "All my siblings can play the piano. I know a handful of songs, but I've never cared for it like my siblings. I didn't really like an instrument until the guitar. Scarlet took more to the piano than I ever did."

"I still don't like French, though," Scarlet muttered mostly to herself.

"My father speaks French," Ada María smiled. "He never bothered to teach me and I never had an opportunity to learn. Spanish, English and Portuguese have proven to be adequate. Sadly, I only ever get to speak Quechua with my mother and aunts."

"We know a little French between to the two of us," Nathan smiled. "We actually went to France once."

"Did you?" Ada María asked, a little surprised. "You really have been all over, haven't you?"

"Just Paris and Berlin," Nathan said. "We'd gone to meet Kevin's fiancé and her parents. We ended up visiting Versailles Palace a few times and Scarlet made friends with a guard that gave her his helmet. It's on display in her room back home."

"That's certainly exciting," Ada María smiled. "I've never gone past Mexico and I always go there by boat."

"Certainly faster than the route we took," Nathan chuckled. "But then, we took a tourist's route." Just then, there was a knock on the door and Ada María walked over and opened it to one of the waitresses who was holding a traveling cage. She thanked her and closed the door before placing the cage on the table. Inside were two red and black frogs and one yellow and black frogs.

"You keep poisonous frogs?" Scarlet asked.

"They're only poisonous if they're eating a particular species of ant that live in the Amazon. These little guys eat regular ants that I get from the woods." Ada María opened the aquarium and picked up one of the red and black frogs and presented it to Scarlet. "Your father tells me you two learned from an unfortunate bird that these guys are poisonous in the wild."

"Yeah," Scarlet said, staring at the frog apprehensively.

"Normally, their skin secretes a toxin that can kill a human in 3 minutes. They're the most poisonous frog in the world, but if they're raised and kept in captivity away from the insects they usually consume, they're non-toxic." Ada María gently petted the frog's back and sat beside Scarlet and extended her hand. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Might if I hold it first?" Nathan asked, noticing Scarlet's obvious apprehension. Ada María extended her hand and gently moved the frog from her hand to Nathan's. The frog kicked a moment or two until it was comfortable on Nathan's hand and he petted it a moment. "They seem well adjusted to being held."

"They've been picked up and handled all their lives," Ada María said. "I've had these three for 7 years."

"They live that long?"

"Oh, yes," Ada María said. "I had one frog that lived to be 18. She'd died old and happy. All the others I've had don't usually make it past 12 or 13."

"How many have you had?" Scarlet asked, now feeling confident and reaching into the aquarium to pick up the yellow and black frog. After a moment of adjusting, the frog rested in her hand comfortably.

"I've had 10 in total," Ada María said. "All that I've taken were when they were tadpoles. You need to get them before they start eating their natural prey."

"We knew a woman in Las Vegas that keeps Bearded Dragons," Scarlet said, playing with the frog in her hand. "She kept them in a big enclose outside and she'd let me go in and play with them."

"I'm not familiar with that animal," Ada María said.

"It's a lizard that's common in the deserts of central United States and Mexico. They're cute little guys and they can grow up to 20 inches. They're rough to the touch and have little spikes all over their body."

"I'd wanted to keep one, but daddy said since we were traveling a lot, it wouldn't be right," Scarlet said. "When I was younger, daddy had a wolf he'd named Roxanne. He'd found her when she was a pup and they thought her mother might have been killed by a bear or something because she was all alone. She died around the time mom did."

"I adore wolves," Ada María said. "I'd love to have a wolf or a dog, but they're too needy for what I can offer. I'm never home most of the time. My frogs on the other hand are simple to care for."

"Did you tell one of the staff to go to your house and bring the frogs or something?" Scarlet asked.

"My house is only a few blocks away," Ada María said with a smile. "According to my father, my Grandma Esperanza used to keep exotic birds. She adored them but father complained they were too loud."

"Aside from his title, is there anything else your dad tells you about his human life?" Nathan asked.

"What he can remember," Ada María said. "He remembers being tutored in philosophy and mathematics and languages from a young age as well as fencing. He complains endlessly about the estate having to go to a cousin of his after my grandfather died, but seeing as my father had died, that really couldn't be helped. He spoke fondly of my grandmother, but did detest her birds."

"And he was a count right?"

"Yes," Ada María said.

"What made him decide to come to Brazil?" Nathan asked.

"Boredom," Ada María said. "Plain and simple. As I recall, he stowed away in a merchant ship or something, killed two members of the crew and left the boat before anyone knew what happened to the dead crewmen. What of you? What was it you said your mother was?"

"English and Scottish," Nathan said. "My grandma Bella's parents were born in Glasgow, but I think they'd moved to America before my grandma was born. My grandpa Edward was born in Brighton I think it was and he was a farm boy. My cousin Carlisle was born in London and was son to a pastor. After he'd changed, he found my grandpa and knew they were cousins and saved him from dying of illness. They came to America sometime early 19th century."

"English and Scottish," Ada María repeated and smiled. "Doesn't get much whiter than that." Nathan chuckled a little at the comment and then put the frog he held back in the aquarium. Scarlet continued to play with the frog in her hand, but it hopped from her. Ada María caught the frog in her hand, caging the creature with her fingers and then placing the amphibian back in the aquarium. "What tribe was your mother from?" she asked Scarlet.

"The Makka Tribe," Scarlet said.

"I assume it's a neighboring tribe?" Scarlet only nodded. "Her name was Tomoeh?"

"Yeah," Nathan nodded.

"And how long were you married?"

"10 years," Nathan said. "The fall would have been our 14 year anniversary."

"What was she like?" Ada María asked. "If you don't mind my asking."

"I don't mind," Nathan said, although Scarlet was quickly growing dissatisfied with the conversation. "She was spirited to say the least. She grew up with more brothers and sisters than I can recall and she was sweet. She used to humor me whenever I'd babble on and on about all the placed I wanted to travel to. I had this atlas we'd look through together and I burned it with her body at her funeral. She developed a sense of adventure and she had come when we'd all gone to France and Germany. She and my sister had insisted on visiting Versailles so many times."

"I hear it's beautiful," Ada María said.

"It really was, I'll admit. A giant example of being overly self-indulgent, but a beautiful palace nonetheless. She really enjoyed Paris," Nathan smiled at the memory of their trip. "We ate at this little café every night because the chef there was surprisingly aware of and accommodating to my sister's allergies and fussy eating. Good chef, too."

"Fussy eating?" Ada María giggled. "Isn't she a bit old for that?"

"She never grew out of her aversion to meat. She will not eat it. She won't eat eggs, she won't eat honey, she can't eat dairy and neither can I. She's allergic to nuts, she's allergic to shellfish too. Carlisle makes sure she eats a variety of grains and vegetables and fruit, but she never grew out of her aversion to meet."

"With all those allergies, she's only making it worse on herself," Ada María said. "It must drive all of you insane."

"Sometimes," Nathan said. "But Jae has been really good about it. He'll always eat like her so she doesn't feel left out. One time, they went out to dinner with another couple and Jae's brother and sister and he ate nothing but bread and veggies the whole night so Natalie wouldn't feel excluded."

"Clearly the man has the patience of a saint," Ada María said.

Nathan shrugged, "He loves her. He loved her from the beginning honestly."

"And how long have they been married?" Ada María asked.

"Nine or ten years," Nathan said. "I can't remember off the top of my head. In fact, it's been ten," Nathan said more confidently. "Their oldest son JJ is…..nine now. Right?" Nathan asked Scarlet.

"He just turned nine in May," Scarlet answered.

"And when is you brother Kevin getting married? You said he was engaged, right?" Ada María asked.

"Hell if we know," Nathan said. "Right now he's just trying to make them American citizens, though Kevin threatens that the moment they've made it to America, he's dragging her to the nearest synagogue and marrying her that instant."

Ada María looked at Nathan strangely, "I thought you said you were all Catholic."

"We are," Nathan said. "Kevin's fiancé is Jewish."

"And her family is alright with her marrying a Catholic man?"

"More than," Nathan said. "If it weren't for Kevin, Amber, that's his fiancé, wouldn't be alive today. My brother fought in Europe during the Great War and while his company were fighting off the Germans, Kevin found a baby crying and saved her. She was a half breed that had been abandoned when the father ran off and the mother was killed in childbirth."

"I see," Ada María said. "And he didn't take her with him to America?"

"He'd wanted to, but he left Amber with a woman at a synagogue because it was a place he'd remembered seeing her mother attend and because Amber's mother was wearing a Star of David so he knew Amber would be safe there. The couple that ran the synagogue gave Amber to a Jewish couple from Germany behind Kevin's back, but Amber already loved them so he had to let her go. He's visited her in Germany and Paris several times since then. They're living in Paris now since Germany has been divulging into a harsh anti-Semitic mindset and policies. Kevin complains about it constantly, even with Amber and her family safely in France."

"Uncle Kevin's just worried about her," Scarlet said.

"So it will likely be a while before they're brought to America?" Ada María said.

"They're hoping it'll be this year," Nathan said. "Last I spoke to Kevin, the Dymeks were pending approval. Once that's been approved, they'll be able to come to America as citizens."

"That will be a long awaited day, I'm sure," Ada María smiled.

The three of them remained in the back room talking for a few hours. Scarlet watched for most of the exchange while acting as what amounted as a chaperone for a date. It certainly helped that she remained seated between Ada María and Nathan. She'd listen to them talk as she'd play with the frogs a little, careful not to lose them, though Ada María caught them if they tried to jump away. Eventually, Scarlet insisted she was tired and wanted to go home, especially given they had to get up early the next morning to go to the restaurant. Nathan and Ada María shared a brief good night kiss before she led them out of the bar and wished them goodnight. Nathan and Scarlet made the walk back to their house.

"So?" Nathan asked. "That went well, don't you think?"

"She was more pleasant this time," Scarlet agreed. "She keeps this up, I might start to like her a little."

Nathan smiled and hugged Scarlet around her shoulder while they walked, "That's all I wanted."

"Why did you avoid talking to her about imprinting?"

"It's too soon," Nathan said. "Ada isn't used to all this romantic stuff. It'll be a little while before I can even broach the subject. Now's not the time."

"If she loves you, then you shouldn't have to worry," Scarlet mumbled.

"She has to know she loves me first," Nathan said with a smile. "I'll tell her soon. I just need to wait until it's the right time." While Scarlet understood, she didn't care much for it. She was still apprehensive about Ada María and she wasn't even sure what it was that made her so anymore. Regardless, she smiled at her father and hugged him back.

"I just want you to be happy, daddy," Scarlet said.

"I know," Nathan said. "And I am. It may take some time, but we'll work things out. Then we'll go back to Washington. I know you're starting to miss it." Scarlet nodded and leaned against Nathan as they made the remainder of the way up the hill to their house. Despite the late night, they woke up at dawn that morning and it was the start of a new day with Nathan having another renewed spring in his step.