Four

Rina gulped as she stared at him.

"What do you mean 'what I want?' " she asked him.

"Do you want an increase in allowance, a new expensive jewelry, why are you acting strange?"

Rina felt anger. What did he mean, did he think her sister would only act good when she needed something.

She had been blaming her sister, what if her mate also played a role in this.

"Hmm, so what do you want?" Rafaele asked again. He was so close to her that his breath skimmed her lip.

"I don't want anything from you. Maybe I just had a change of heart" she retorted.

"a change of heart, hmm"

"Yes, a change of heart. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Yes I do actually."

"and what is your problem?"

"That my mother would trust you again only for you to break her heart." he said straightforwardly.

Rina looked into his eyes, exactly what had happened between he and Rita.

He stepped back, "You can leave with the book, return it when you are done."

"Okay" Rina replied and fled the room.

Rafaele sat down on the sofa, something was wrong but he had no idea what was wrong.

Rina on the other hand went up to the room and locked herself in.

Maybe if she avoided Rafaele for the rest of her stay. It would be better, she thought to herself.

Rafaele went back to the office.

"Hey, you took quite a long time, I hope everything was okay?" Jax asked him.

"Well I found Rita in my study."

"Okay and?" Jax questioned.

"She was in there reading a book."

"so?"

"Jax, she was reading a book. Since when did she like reading books, history books for that matter."

"Look Rafaele, I just think you are over reacting about this. Maybe she has decided to live a better life, shouldn't you be happy for her?"

"I still think something is suspicious Jax"

"Relax man and stop overthinking things." Jax told him.

Later in the day....

Rina was relaxing in the room where she had been hiding out all day since her confrontation with Rafaele, she heard a knock on the door.

"who is there?" she called out.

"It's me." she heard Rafaele's mom reply.

She quickly stood up and went to the door to open it.

"Hey dear, I am about to start dinner and I was wondering if you wanted to join me in the kitchen" she asked nervously.

Rina didn't want to do anything that would further arouse Rafaele's suspicions. But as she looked at Luna Rosa's hopeful face, she couldn't bring herself to say no.

"ok mother, lets go." she agreed.

Her face lit up with a smile after Rina's reply.

Rita would have to deal with the problem when she came back, Rina decided.

She helped Luna Rosa with the meal, she was so engrossed with the cooking that she didn't notice when Luna Rosa left everything to her and sat down to watch her.

Luna Rosa was amazed that this was Rita. Ever since Rita had come here, she had never shown interest in joining the family or the pack.

She had several arguments with Rita with her son constantly being a meditator between them.

She eventually had to stop arguing with Rita and turn a blind eye to her deeds after seeing how much it affected her son.

She just hoped Rita had changed for good this time.

"Hmm, that smells amazingly. What's cooking mother?" Jax asked as he and Rafaele walked into the kitchen.

"Well why not you ask the chef?" Luna Rosa asked, as she gestured towards Rina who was cooking.

"Wow! The cooking spirit is still in you?" Rafaele asked in a sarcastic tone.

Rina turned around to glare at him.

"Mother asked me to help her in the kitchen and so I am here." Rina argued.

"Hmmm, well let's eat the food, I hope it's edible" Rafaele teased.

"well it would be edible to people who have good taste" Rina fired back at him.

"It's okay, you two. Rafaele stop teasing your mate. Rita dear, ignore him."

"of course mother." Rina replied in a overly sweet tone while Rafaele rolled his eyes.

They sat down to dinner.

"This is really delicious Rita, you have to cook everyday for us." Jax complimented the food.

"Thanks Jax, mother started the dish, I just finished it." Rina replied, giving credits to Luna Rosa.

"nonsense, she did everything, I only kept her company. Accept your compliments dear and stop deflecting it."

"Where is Rain?" Rafaele asked.

"In his room, he opted to eat in his room." Luna Rosa answered.

"and why did you oblige him? You keep spoiling him" Rafaele accused his mother.

"Rafaele, it's not really a big deal if he wants to eat in his room or not." luna Rosa defended herself.

"It is a big deal. We are supposed to eat together as a family. And it's not just about the eating, you keep pampering him, he doesn't want to come out to hunt, you are okay with it. He doesn't want to do any work in the pack, you are also fine with it."

"But Rafaele, the poor boy has been through a lot, he lost his father for goddess sake." Luna Rosa pointed out.

"He was four when dad died, four years old, he doesn't even remember dad. That is not an excuse." Rafaele replied.

"I will talk to Rain, just stop arguing with your mom, there is only so much she can do." Jax told Rafaele, trying to calm him down.

Rafaele stood up from the table,

"Where are you going?" Luna Rosa asked.

"I lost my appetite." Rafaele replied and stormed off.

They finished the rest of the meal in silence.

Rina attempted to wash the dishes but Jax shooed her away, telling her to go rest that she had done enough.

"Maybe take a plate to your grumpy mate, he is probably hungry" he suggested with a wink.