Read These Exclusive Bonus Chapters from A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya

A Crashed Wedding

Chapter 1

Carolina

Carolina’s eyes were sealed shut, but she was wide awake. How could she not be with her papá’s perpetual grumbling?

“It’s hideous,” he complained.

The constant rocking of the carriage had lulled Carolina to sleep at some point during their hours-long journey. They had spent the night at an overcrowded inn––their final stop before they reached their destination––and departed so early that morning that the sun hadn’t even risen yet.

For weeks, Carolina and her entire family had been on the road. The excursion had been slow and tedious with so many families to keep in line within the expansive caravan, but the mind-numbing days spent sitting in stuffy carriages would all be worth it soon.

Papá continued with his grievances. “There isn’t a single tree in sight. No orchards or animals. There’s nothing but buildings and flat land.”

At the front of the procession, in a sleek black coach, Lalo and Fernanda led the charge toward the city they had fled eight months prior.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Mamá said, her voice calm and pacifying. “There’s a certain sort of beauty to it.”

Papá harrumphed. “Why did we have to travel all this way to celebrate their union when we live in a place filled with natural splendor? Every Fuentes wedding since the founding of Del Oro has taken place in our home.”

“Things change, mi amor. And this isn’t just a Fuentes wedding. This is a Villalobos one, as well.”

“They’re too young to be married.”

Mamá giggled. “We were younger. Or are you getting so old and set in your ways that you forgot?”

“I’m not too old to kiss you into oblivion.”

At the sound of Papá nuzzling into Mamá’s neck, and Mamá tittering and telling him to stop or he’ll wake the babe in her arms, Carolina knew she’d pretended to be asleep long enough.

“That’s it.” She opened her eyes and sat up. “No fooling around while I’m stuck in here with you. I knew I should have stayed in Nena’s carriage. You two are incorrigible.”

If Nena hadn’t worn such wide skirts, there would have been room for Carolina. But Carolina’s cousin did look stunning, so she couldn’t blame her . . . too harshly.

At the sound of her voice, Carolina’s baby sister, now six months old and all dimpled legs, chubby cheeks, and dark curls, started to stir. Carolina smiled and confiscated little Esperanza from their mother’s arms. Carolina loved her brothers fiercely, of course, but Esperanza did something to her spirit that she couldn’t quite explain.

Perhaps it was because she was the cutest human to ever be born. Perhaps it was the way she beamed up at her big sister. Or perhaps it was because Esperanza had brought life back to their family after they’d endured so much death. Esperanza was the warm sun that came after a torrential rain. She was the balm for all their wounds. This wedding would be the final healing elixir. It was the start of a new era. A time without monsters forever lurking nearby.

Still, it felt strange to go outside when the moon was out. To not have to search into every shadow, every darkened corner for the vampiros that had once terrorized their nights. But they had to. To live was to stick one’s nose up at death. And Carolina reveled in being a nuisance.

“Come look,” Mamá said, scooting over so Carolina could take her spot near the carriage window.

With little Esperanza snug in her arms, Carolina stood, then plopped onto the bench beside Mamá. Her jaw dropped when she peered out at the expanse. During their travels, they’d stopped in smaller cities filled with people. But this––this was something beyond her wildest imagination.

The cobbled roads were congested with carriages and carts. People walked briskly about, their garments finely tailored to their bodies and parasols shielding them from the unrelenting heat. And the buildings! They stretched on as far as she could see. Some were small and painted in the colors of the earth, like in Del Oro. But many of them were massive and ornate, soaring as high as the hawks could fly.

It was a wonder more vampiros hadn’t made it to the cities, with so many people about. Though it was a grueling trip, and with all the peace officers and army officials milling around, it made sense to stay in the more secluded landscapes.

But Lalo had done it.

She warmed at the thought of the boy she adored. At the thought of his lips on hers, of his declarations of affection strung together so beautifully they rivaled Pío Parra’s sonnets. The man might have lost his cravings for blood, but he certainly still craved her. However, something had been a bit off with him when she found him last night in his room at the inn.

His embrace had been rigid. His kisses, short pecks. Even when he was a vampire, he hadn’t been so cold.

“Is something wrong?” she’d asked.

“I suppose I am overwhelmed at the thought of what comes tomorrow.”

A pit formed in her stomach. “The wedding?”

He shook his head. “No. Though, it did take quite the effort, didn’t it?”

She didn’t reply. She wanted to know what vexed him.

He sighed. “I haven’t been back to Los Campos since . . .” He raised a shoulder. “I suppose I am feeling all sorts of conflicting emotions at the moment.”

“I can only imagine.”

His gaze met hers, and for the first time in many months, she had no clue what was going on inside his mind. They’d been inseparable since he came back from the Land of the Dead. They’d been perfect. But returning to his home had created some sort of barrier between them.

She reached for his hand. “I am here for you. No matter what. Whatever discomfort you face, we face together. There’s nothing the people of Los Campos can say or do that will change that.”

He patted her hand. Patted! Like she was a pup.

“Do you mind if we say our good-nights early?” he asked. “It will be a long day tomorrow, and I’m sure you wish to be with your family. I should find Fernanda too, since our families aren’t supposed to be mingling until after the vows are said tomorrow. Traditions might be archaic, but we’ve broken them enough at this point.”

“Of course.” Carolina stood and walked to the door. She stopped and faced the boy who looked so forlorn it hurt her soul. “I love you, Lalo.”

He smiled sadly at her. “I love you more than I ever thought possible, Lina.”

She’d left him in his room and had been wondering why his words felt like a goodbye ever since.

Carolina leaned closer to the window. Seeing all these poised and posh men and women sauntering through stalls and cafés brought a strange sensation bubbling inside her chest. No one had called her poised or posh a single day in her life. If anything, she was the opposite. But she could picture Lalo and Fernanda here, against the backdrop of society, so clearly. She could see Fernanda dragging her brother around from place to place. Could imagine young women covering their blushes with their fans as he swept past them in his perfectly pressed suit. Los Campos was their home. Was where their life had been built before that terrible night.

Fernanda was set on returning to the capital and making it her home once more. She craved outings and extravagant balls and society. And Nena, too.

Did Lalo miss it as well? Perhaps not the social aspect but what the city could offer.

Over the last few months, she’d often found him sitting on a worn leather chair within his growing library. But that was the thing: His library could only grow so big. It took ages to ship new goods from the cities. What if he longed for what Los Campos could give him? What if he was so miserable last night because he understood this fact and knew it would break her?

With the vampiros gone, life had only gotten busier and larger in Del Oro. Her papá had expanded the livestock fences and planted acres of citrus orchards. Carolina had been there, right by his side, helping with the planning and execution. Lalo had found a way to keep himself busy too. He’d struck a deal with the solicitors of his father’s boot company to purchase leather directly from the Fuenteses. He’d even bought the old Alicante estate and had plans to build a boot factory in the back. Someday soon, she’d live in that lofty home with him.

But was that enough? Was Del Oro enough? Lalo had once come to her pueblo in hopes of saving himself and his sister. He’d done that. And now the sister he adored, even if he found her insufferable at times, was going to move away. He’d have only the Fuenteses and the few books he could procure at a time. And Carolina.

Was she enough when there was a huge city full of his favorite things?

Her mamá had said something, but she’d been too busy with her wretched thoughts to hear. “Pardon?” she asked.

Mamá offered a warm smile. “I said we are here.”

Carolina hadn’t realized the carriage was slowing. She pressed her nose to the glass and had to tilt her neck back just to take in the entirety of the spiraling cathedral.

“My gods,” she whispered.

“Mija,” Papá chided. “Don’t take our makers’ names in vain.”

“I’m not,” she snapped. “Look.” She jerked her chin toward a massive stained-glass window depicting several of the more popular gods. Her stomach twisted when her eyes landed on Tecuani, the guardian of the Land of the Dead. She wanted nothing to do with the god until she was no longer one of the living.

The carriage came to a full stop. Finally at a standstill, she realized the buzzing sensation fizzling through her bones wasn’t from the wheels bumping over the cobbled roads but from deep within her. She’d been sitting far too long, letting her mind drift far too wide; she needed to get out and move. And maybe see the boy that made her stomach flip every time he offered a shy smile, before the wedding began.

“Here,” Carolina said, and she all but shoved her baby sister into her mamá’s arms. She grabbed the door handle and dashed out.

And so did Lalo.

His skin had darkened with the sun over the past few months. His gangly limbs had coiled with muscles from all the labor her papá had thrust upon him. But he still had his silly mustache. Still preferred pressed suits and shiny boots. His gaze didn’t find her right away, like hers found him. Instead, he regarded the buildings and bustling roads beyond.

This illustrious city had raised him. It had turned him into the petulant boy she had met on a quiet night within the woods. Lalo was as handsome and opulent as the cathedral he stood beside. As put-together as the buildings and streets spanning for miles on end. As refined as the yards lined with wrought iron.

She nibbled at her nailbed. What if coming back made him remember all that he’d left behind? What if he looked at her and her noisy family and began to believe he didn’t belong after all? He had better not feel that way. Her fingers balled into a fist, and she glowered at him.

As if sensing her mood shift, his focus turned in her direction. His eyebrows flew up. “Lina?”

Carolina wrenched her hand to her side.

The door to Lalo’s carriage burst open again and Fernanda’s head popped into view. “Can I come out now?” she asked. Rouge accentuated her freckled cheeks, and coal rimmed her light eyes. A crown of flowers adorned her head. She was stunning. Perfect. Poised. She looked like she belonged here as much as Lalo did.

At the exact wrong time, the door to Nena’s carriage swung ajar. Carolina gasped. Without a second thought, she dashed toward the carriage. She ran as fast as her layered skirts would let her, cursing under her breath the entire way. She made it to the door just as Nena’s heeled slipper brushed against the metal rung.

“Oh no you don’t.” Carolina smacked her palm onto Nena’s face and shoved her back inside.

“Hey!” Nena yelled as she crashed against her cousin’s legs and arms, her billowing dress tangling around her.

“Sorry,” Carolina panted. “But Fernanda is out there. It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”

Nena rolled her eyes and pushed her curls out of her face. “I don’t believe in bad luck.” She grinned and batted her lashes. “But all this is rather fun.”

“Fun for who?” one of Nena’s brothers grumbled.

Nena glared up at him. “Fun for me. And that is all that matters.” She raised her chin. “Because today is my wedding day.”

“And Fernanda’s,” Nena’s mother added.

“Well, of course.”

Carolina peered over her shoulder. Lalo had already retrieved his sister and was escorting her toward the cemetery situated around the back of the church, where their parents were buried. Carolina longed for him. She wished she could be with him, holding him, consoling him, at that moment, but she needed to stay with Nena and make certain all her family sat where they should within the cathedral. Plus, she figured Lalo would prefer to have this time with Fernanda.

“The coast is clear,” Carolina said. She reached into the carriage and took Nena’s hand. “Time to get my cousin ready for the altar.”

 

Chapter 2

Lalo

Lalo and Fernanda walked arm in arm into the cemetery. Fernanda wanted to be married in this church, this place––even though the parishioners had once laughed at Lalo when he told them his parents were killed by a monster––because this was where their mother and father had been laid to rest.

“Thank you,” Fernanda said, squeezing his hand.

“For?”

“I know you didn’t want to come back,” she said. “You’ve been growing moodier by the moment on our journey here. Which made for an exasperating trip. But Father used to tithe here often, and Mother always said it was the prettiest of all the cathedrals. I haven’t felt their presence once since they died. Maybe their souls have been waiting for us here all along.”

Lalo’s chest ached. Their father wouldn’t get to physically walk Fernanda down the aisle. Their mother wouldn’t get to pin up her hair as she’d done most of Fernanda’s life. But he knew they’d be watching from el Cielo. All of them. His family and the Fuenteses too. What a sight that would be.

“Mother and Father are watching,” he said. “I’m sure of it. And the ceremony will be perfect.”

Fernanda smiled. “It will be. That’s why I invited every last one of our old acquaintances.”

Lalo stopped. “You did what?”

“Come now, Lalo. Don’t you want to show them how right you were?”

“How would I do that? We ended the vampiros. There isn’t any physical evidence they ever existed.”

Fernanda chewed on her lip. “I hadn’t taken that into account. Oh well, at least they’ll see me and my beautiful bride. As a bonus, seeing you with Carolina might just shock them all into oblivion.”

Lalo’s lips flattened. “Because they couldn’t imagine someone like her with someone like me?”

“Exactly.”

His shoulders slumped. Fernanda wasn’t wrong. He would be shocked someone as fun and funny and beautiful as Carolina chose him too. He was shocked.

A creeping thought had been slithering through his mind since the moment Fernanda and Nena announced they would be married in Los Campos. What if coming here and seeing him amongst his peers, amongst people who thought he was too ridged and strange, made Carolina realize he wasn’t the man she wanted? What if he embarrassed her?

He shuddered at the thought.

Right before he and his sister entered their ancestorial mausoleum, Lalo swore he saw someone in the corner of his vision. A figure cloaked in black. He started to turn his head in the mysterious person’s direction, but Fernanda gasped.

Lalo’s focus snapped toward their parents’ joined headstone. He recoiled. Someone had drawn a redheaded woman with bloodied fangs and clawed hands on the monument.

A thousand memories flooded his mind. The night he watched his parents die. The horror of having to tell Fernanda. Holding her in his arms as she wailed. He remembered running to the police, being laughed at and mocked. He went to this very church to beg for help, for understanding about the monster that had slayed his mother and father, only for the priests to tell him he needed to pray for his own soul, for who would imagine such vile things.

He’d thought he’d gotten past the shame he had felt over the humiliations he’d endured. But here it was again, the chalky image a mockery of his traumas. What would Carolina think if she saw this? Would she finally see him for the weakling he truly was?

She’d frowned at him when he saw her minutes ago. Was she looking at him amongst the towering buildings and finally seeing what everyone else saw––an awkward young man fumbling through life?

He took out his handkerchief, licked it, and got to work cleaning the markings off. He couldn’t fix his past, but he could fix this. Fernanda knelt on the opposite side of him and wiped at the headstone with the bottom of her wedding dress.

He gaped. “Don’t . . .”

“It’s just a dress. A beautiful one. But just a dress.” She scrubbed harder.

He watched his sister in awe. “You’ve grown up quite a bit since we left this city,” he said.

“And you have always been too grown.” She flicked her gaze in his direction and smiled warmly. “But I’ve seen the boyish side of you come out here and there in these past eight months. You’ve been giddy.”

Lalo scoffed.

“I adore that for you,” Fernanda said. “It’s wonderful seeing you turn into the kind of man you were always meant to be.”

“What sort of man am I?”

“You are a man who is loved. And that’s exactly what you deserve.”

Hot tears burned in his eyes. He was loved. Fiercely. By Carolina. By the Fuenteses and his sister. By Del Oro itself. He prayed that would never change. He prayed Carolina would only see him as the man she fell for. Not what the people of Los Campos saw him as.

From within the towers standing high above their heads, the church bells rang. Fernanda’s eyes alighted with tears of her own. She pressed her palm to the gravestone.

“Mother. Father. I’m so very happy. I hope you can see that.”

Lalo’s mind slipped back to the Land of the Dead––to the promise of peace and joy that came when one entered el Cielo. His parents weren’t resting in their graves. Knowing Carolina’s grandfather, he had probably taken them under his wing and forced them to join the rest of the Fuenteses within the stars.

“They see you,” he said. “I’m sure of it.” He stood and offered his arm to his sister. “Time to walk you down the aisle.”

 

Chapter 3

Carolina

Nena and Carolina stood before the altar, facing the parishioners fidgeting in the pews. Nena was devastatingly beautiful. The delicate lace of her mantle haloed her black curls. Her irritation made her skin glow.

She huffed at Carolina’s side. “Of course Fernanda would be late to her own wedding.”

“You can still back out,” Carolina teased. “We’ll steal one of the horses and gallop off into the countryside.”

Nena rolled her eyes. “Not on your life.”

“Then hush,” Carolina said. “Your bride is nothing if not dramatic. She’s probably building suspense.”

Nena’s frown turned into a beaming grin. “Gods, I love her for that.”

A flash of red hair at the very back caught Carolina’s attention. She narrowed her eyes and stood on tiptoes to get a better view, but her uncle’s sombrero was in the way. Carolina’s pulse spiked. She had seen hair that exact color. Right before the woman who grew it was swallowed by boiling quicksand. Maricela. Carolina shook her head. Maricela was dead. All vampiros were.

Nonetheless, Carolina’s fingers brushed against the dagger hidden within her skirts. Vampiros might be gone, but she kept a weapon on her at all times, just in case some other monster decided to show its face.

The doors to the back of the cathedral opened and hushed gasps reverberated throughout the crowded pews. In swept Fernanda, with Lalo by her side. Nena began to sob, and Fernanda quickly joined her. Carolina was far too busy staring at Lalo and his shy grin to shed any tears. He was so damn charming.

The Fuentes family and dozens of Fernanda’s friends and acquaintances stood and watched as the handsome siblings made their way to the altar. Lalo’s eyes locked on Carolina’s and her stomach erupted with butterflies. Gods, she adored him. If she could, she’d marry him right now too, but he wanted to wait until all his affairs were in order, and she would only say her vows inside the Fuentes hacienda.

Someone giggled in the audience. Lalo’s attention flicked to people who were strangers to Carolina sitting in the pews. He offered polite nods to them before his gaze fell to the floor, his brows pinched into a tight line.

He didn’t look back up or meet her gaze once during the entire ceremony. Not when the girls said their vows. Not when the room filled with joyful cheers. Not when he offered her his arm, and it was their turn to exit down the aisle.

And it hurt like a knife to the heart.

This was so unlike him.

These last several months together had been pure bliss. Yet now that they were amongst his peers, he couldn’t even spare her a smile.

I should stomp on his toes.

Lalo tripped over his own feet. “You should what?”

Carolina blinked. “Did I say that out loud?”

“You did.”

“Well . . . good.” She plastered a false smile on her face as they continued down the aisle. Through her teeth, she whispered, “You’re lucky I only thought about stomping on your toes and didn’t turn my thoughts into action.”

“Why would you . . . ?”

The moment they stepped into the foyer, she let go of his arm and thundered off.

 

Chapter 4

Lalo

Lalo was supposed to go straight to the banquet hall across the street to greet guests, but Carolina was clearly angry with him, and he needed to know why. Perhaps she had noticed his mood shifting as they entered Los Campos. Oh, what was he thinking. Of course she did. Carolina Victoria Fuentes noticed everything. It was one of his favorite things about her.

And now she wasn’t anywhere in sight. He ran around like the buffoon he was. He searched the cemetery, the cantinas down the street. There was no trace of her.

Defeated, he forced himself to return to his sister’s reception. He could hardly shoulder one of the women in his life being upset with him for his failures; he wouldn’t be able to shoulder two. He entered the hall, now filled with guests. Most were part of the Fuentes menagerie. But a large portion were people from his past. His father’s solicitors. His mother’s social club. Fernanda’s friends––or people who pretended to be.

His slumped posture lifted ever so slightly at the sight of the beautiful banquet hall. Carolina had sent letters with very specific instructions to the florist he’d recommended in Los Campos. The flowers had turned out even more perfectly than he could’ve imagined. Stunning arrangements of star lilies, wild poppies, and orange blossoms were set on every lace-draped table and framed the archways. The food, which was being served at the other end of the room, smelled divine. And the mariachi he had hired from a small pueblo to the south had come dressed in their finest charro suits. He and Carolina had made one hell of a team organizing this wedding. They made one hell of a team in just about everything. And she was missing this because he was too afraid to tell her he was terrified of losing her.

He had to find her. He had to talk to her.

Fernanda would have to excuse him for not being present for a bit longer.

He spun on his heels and jolted. The blood in his cheeks turned stone cold, and his knees weakened.

A woman with wild red hair bolted straight for him. She shrieked and snarled and hissed. Lalo couldn’t think. He couldn’t understand what he was seeing. Blood coated her face and neck. And her fangs. She had fangs!

He stumbled back.

How could this be? How could this be happening?

Maricela was dead. She was gone.

His heart slammed against his ribs. She was only paces away, her claws stretching toward him, ready to slash into his flesh, yet he couldn’t move.

Why couldn’t he move? Why was he such a coward?

A flash of dark hair and a flurry of skirts filled his vision.

Carolina tackled the monster with red hair to the tile floor. The rest of the Fuentes family unsheathed their hidden weapons and raced to join her. Their movement, their need to protect the people they cared for, snapped Lalo into action. He shoved himself forward, ready to help the girl who had changed him forever.

 

Chapter 5

Carolina

Carolina pulled out her dagger and tipped it against the neck of the woman. She knew at once what this was. There was no resurrected monster in their midst. Just a human one.

She sensed her family surround her. Sensed Lalo shaking by her side.

Seeing his usual resilience rattled nearly broke her. He’d already endured so many terrors and these bastards were trying to inflict even more on him.

She dug the blade deeper into the person’s neck. Not enough to pierce the skin but enough to terrorize them.

“Please don’t hurt me!” begged the person writhing beneath her. One of the fangs they sported tumbled out of their mouth and clinked onto the floor.

Carolina’s brows furrowed. She tore the wig off the person’s head and saw that it was a young man.

“Who are you?” she snarled. “Why would you do such a vile thing?”

“I . . . I . . .”

“He’s one of my old classmates,” Lalo said softly.

This only enraged her more. “You thought coming to this wedding and mocking the Villaloboses would be funny?! Do you know how quickly I could have killed you? How quickly everyone in my family could have killed you?!”

The boy shook his head. “It was only a prank.”

“A prank!” Carolina saw red. She could only imagine what Lalo must have endured by these people. These “civilized” city folk. “If you had suffered half of what the man behind me withstood you wouldn’t be so arrogant. No. You’d most likely be dead. Sucked dry by the very thing you’re pretending––”

A gentle hand on her shoulder quenched the rest of the words storming to be let loose.

“That’s enough, Lina,” Lalo whispered.

Horror filled her. Had she embarrassed him? Had she just proven her worst fear? That she was too wild and crass for someone so dignified.

She scrambled up but kept her boot on the boy’s stomach. Carolina wasn’t sure what she was going to do about him just yet. She and Lalo may have differences to work through, but that wouldn’t make her abandon her need for justice.

Lalo didn’t meet her gaze.

Her mouth went dry, and her cheeks burned from the sting of his shame.

What else was she supposed to do in that moment? Was she supposed to let some worm in a red wig terrorize Lalo?

“You must be so embarrassed of me.”

Carolina blinked in confusion. The words hadn’t come from her. They’d come from Lalo.

She gaped. “Me? Embarrassed of you?”

“Yes. Look at what happened. I . . . I’m a joke to everyone.” Head bowed, he turned from her and pushed through the crowd.

He must feel so humiliated. Her poor Lalo must be mortified.

She kicked the cruel young man before giving chase. Lalo was moving fast, but not faster than her. She grabbed his arm and forced him to face her. She felt the eyes of her family on her, but she didn’t care. There was no way she wasn’t going to speak to Lalo right then and there.

“You are the bravest person I’ve ever known. You are the most brilliant and caring and handsome man I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

Lalo’s gaze snapped up and his mouth opened ever so slightly. “You aren’t ashamed of me?” he whispered.

She shook her head. “Never.”

“But . . . I’m a mockery in my own city.”

“Because these people are arrogant simpletons.” She glared at the prankster slowly rising to his feet, surrounded by her scowling family. “What sort of grown man disguises himself as a monster and crashes a wedding? The only person who should be ashamed is him.”

“I suppose you have a point.”

“Is that why you have been acting so cold? You were afraid I’d be ashamed of you?”

The notch in Lalo’s throat bobbed. He winced and shrugged. An answer if she’d ever seen one.

She barked a laugh. “And here I was thinking you were ashamed of me.”

He brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “That’s impossible.”

How foolish she’d been. Lalo cherished her. He’d clawed his way back from the Land of the Dead to be with her. She cherished him just as much.

That didn’t mean they weren’t still figuring each other out, still learning each other’s insecurities. They might always be in this state of discovery. Her parents seemed to find new things about each other all the time. And they could do such a thing, they could be honest and open with each other, because they were secure in their connection. That was what Carolina wanted as well, but that meant she had to be vulnerable. Which was a terrifying act indeed.

“I was so worried that you’d come to this city and remember how you used to be and what life had been like before and you’d see me differently,” she admitted.

“I do.”

She grimaced.

Lalo stepped closer to her as members of her family passed by, lugging the prankster out of the banquet hall.

“I see you even more clearly now, Lina. I see you for the beautiful, fierce, resplendent human you are.”

“Resplendent?” one of her brothers grumbled. He winced when Nena elbowed him in the side.

Lalo cupped Carolina’s cheeks and kissed her. Some of her brothers and cousins complained in revulsion, but others whistled and cheered. Carolina didn’t pay attention to any of them. Because Lalo kissed her so passionately that her toes curled.

But then someone cleared their throat and the bubble was burst.

Fernanda stood with her arms crossed.

“Are you finished stealing our spotlight?” she complained.

Carolina and Lalo broke apart.

The prankster tore free from her relatives’ grip and spun to face the room. “You are the strangest people to ever grace this city. No wonder Lalo fits in so well.” He spit on the ground. “Uncivilized swine. The lot of you. Especially you.” He thrust his finger in Carolina’s direction. “You are the worst sort of––”

Lalo moved like lightning. He swung his arm out, hitting the boy square in the nose. The boy staggered, falling back into Carolina’s brothers’ arms. Blood trickled down his face as they not-so-gently escorted him out.

Everyone stood there, mouths agape, staring at Lalo as if he’d grown two heads.

“A devious young woman once taught me how to punch. Turns out I’m quite the pupil.” He winked at Caolina before adjusting his cuffs. His skin paled, and he blinked hard at the spot of blood tarnishing his recently purchased coat. His disappointment was so evident, Carolina snorted.

This was the boy she adored so much. This uptight, cautious, avid book reader, who would normally flinch at the idea of hurting a fly, but when it came to his family was mighty indeed.

Carolina took his arm. “If anyone else would like to terrorize the Villalobos family, let this stand as a warning: Lalo has one hell of a right hook!”

Those who had gathered to watch the scene unfold cheered in praise, even the guests from Los Campos.

“Can we get back to celebrating us now?” Fernanda asked.

With a nod from Carolina, the mariachi began to play a lively song. Guests took to dancing at once, chattering and laughing merrily.

“What say you, Lalo?” Carolina asked. “Would you like to go and clean off your coat?”

Lalo’s little mustache quirked up with his smile. “It can wait.”

“Can it now?”

“Yes. Because I want to dance with my girl.”

Carolina giggled as he swept her in a lavish circle before pulling her into his embrace. He kissed her again as if no one existed but them.

Breathless, Carolina said, “Why, Lalo, you have turned into a fiend.”

“I’ve turned into someone who is deeply loved. And that changes a person.”

She beamed up at him, thinking of all the ways Lalo had made her own life infinitely better. “It truly does.”

Read A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya