Turquoise Guardian

by Jenna Kernan

  She slid under the covers and across to the middle of the gigantic bed. Carter eased down beside her, already regretting his decision.

  Amber rolled to her side and snuggled up against him, cuddling his biceps so that his muscle rested against the soft pillow of her breasts. He exhaled through his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, thankful for the relentless air-conditioning that cooled his fevered skin. But not the longing. That burned too hot. She was different than all women since—and not just because she was his first. She was also his only, at least in his heart. There had been others since she’d left him. He’d tried and failed to move on. But he never could. Now he understood why. None of them were Amber.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “Just until you fall asleep. Okay?” After that he would need some alone time and a shower.

  “’Kay,” she breathed on a sigh.

  Her grip eased and her mouth parted.

  Carter laced his fingers together across his stomach and concentrated on his breathing. Amber rolled to her back. He saw his chance and took it, easing off the mattress.

  He stood at her bedside, thinking of all the days and nights they had missed and wanting a second chance. They were different people now. His feelings for her were strong but tangled like fishing line on a low branch. He didn’t know how to untie the knots. She had wanted him to have faith in her. Instead he had diminished all her concerns. He hadn’t taken them, or her, seriously. What an ass he had been. But was he willing to open himself up to that kind of hurt again?

  She’d left him once. She could do it again, and just like last time he wouldn’t understand, couldn’t understand. If she loved him, she would have stayed.

  He returned to his room. He would protect her. But he wasn’t going to give her his heart—not again.

  * * *

  CARTER DID NOT sleep well and was on his second cup of coffee when Detective Jack Bear Den was admitted to their suite the following morning.

  Jack wore his usual work attire: boots, jeans, shirt and a blazer. He removed his white cowboy hat, and the brothers exchanged a hug. When they parted, Jack handed over the document Carter had requested.

  “Signed by her parents. Just as you suspected.”

  Carter glanced over the copy of the notarized document that Amber had not signed. Joy mingled with dismay to find exactly what Amber had told him. He should have known this without the proof. Should have believed in her.

  “What a jerk,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, he is,” agreed Jack, clearly thinking of Amber’s father, Manny. Somehow what Carter had done felt worse.

  Amber would no more give up her heritage than he would. Carter’s head hung in shame. She’d been protecting her parents at her expense.

  Carter looked at her father’s signature and knew that Manny Kitcheyan had done this out of malice. To punish his daughter for thwarting him.

  Jack pointed to the paper. “She was supposed to sign it because she was over fifteen. Don’t know how that slipped by because her birthday is right on the form.”

  Carter said a silent prayer. “Does that mean she can overturn it?”

  “She can, and she doesn’t need to mention what her father did, though why she wouldn’t, I do not know.”

  “How?” asked Carter.

  Jack reached in his breast pocket and retrieved a folded page. Then he read the pertinent section aloud.

  “‘Relinquishment of a Minor Child: In the case of a minor child under the age of eighteen years, the relinquishment statement must be signed by the guardian or both parents. If an enrolled member over eighteen years of age relinquishes membership...’ Hold on, not that part.” Jack scanned. “Here. ‘However, if the enrolled member was under eighteen years of age at the time of relinquishment, said person may reapply for enrollment upon reaching the age of eighteen.’” Jack lifted his gaze in triumph. “She’s in if she wants in.”

  Carter hugged him. Jack thumped his back and then drew away to hand over the two pages.

  Jack’s smile wavered, and his jaw ticking revealed that he had something more.

  He turned to Carter and motioned with his head for him to follow. Carter excused them and trailed Jack to the living area.

  Jack paused just inside the doorway and faced Carter. He toyed with the turquoise ring on his middle finger, twisting it from side to side. “First, Dylan and Ray checked in. They saw our shaman. He says he sent you because he wanted you and Amber to have a chance to reconcile. Said it was your destinies.”

  Carter’s brow furrowed. “What about the timing?”

  Jack shrugged. “He’s saying coincidence.”

  Carter made a face. “You buy that?”

  Jack shook his head. “Million to one. Listen, Tinnin told me to tell you that the US Marshals are taking custody of you and Amber around nine.”

  Carter glanced at the clock on the DVD player. It was just past seven in the morning.

  The brothers exchanged a long, silent look. Carter’s breathing picked up with his heart rate. Jack’s face was paler than he’d ever seen it.

  “Best guess?” asked Carter.

  Jack shook his head and swallowed. “When they catch him and they will, we will know better. If he’s working alone, you’ll be released.”

  “If he’s not working alone?” Carter knew the drill, but still he wanted Jack to say it. To know in his heart that his world was really tipping.

  “If those guys were sent here, as hit men on an assignment, it gets more complicated. They have to be sure that you are not at risk. If there is reason to think your lives are in danger, they’ll offer you witness protection.”

  The words hit him like a blunt cleaver, making him wince. “I’d be gone for good.”

  Jack nodded. “If you take it. You can demand to be returned to the tribe, or I can take you out right now.”

  “What about Amber?”

  “Once she’s reinstated, she could do the same.” Jack reached into his back pocket and handed over more documents. “Here’s all she needs. A petition to reinstate.”

  “How long does this take?”

  “Council meets every week.” Jack twisted the ring all the way around his finger. “But you’ll be in custody then. You still going with her?”

  Carter said nothing, but Jack’s expression told him that his brother knew his mind. His mournful look broke Carter’s control. He rested a hand on Jack’s shoulder. They no longer had the time he had expected. The years and years. With Amber’s life in jeopardy and his, too, as her protector, Carter recognized that he might not always be here for Jack. He’d turned Jack down flat when he had first made his appeal. But what if Carter wasn’t here to help him? Jack could go to Tommy or Kurt, he supposed, but it had been hard for Jack to ask him and they were twins. To ask his kid brothers would be even tougher. Carter felt in his heart that if he didn’t do this, Jack would never get his answers. Never know the truth.

  Carter switched to Apache. “You remember what you asked me? About the sibling test?”

  A while back, Jack had wondered if Carter would be willing to take a DNA test that would show if they shared both parents. It was a way around asking Mom flat out if Jack had a different father.

  “I remember.”

  “I’ll take the test.”

  Jack nodded.

  “Bring it soon.”

  Jack glanced back at the FBI agent who now stood in the doorway watching them, perhaps curious that they spoke in the language of their birth. Then he turned back to Carter.

  “I did ask Mom about...you know.”

  Carter’s eyes widened.

  “What’d she say?”

  “She said that she had never been with a man other than her husband.”

  Carter wanted to feel reassured, but Ja
ck’s gray eyes dared him to ignore what was staring him in the face. Jack’s blood type, his skin tone, his wavy hair and the sheer size of him all told a different tale. In their youth, Carter had fought anyone who said Jack wasn’t his brother. But in his heart the doubt grew.

  “That means Mom is either a liar or I’m crazy,” said Jack.

  “Yeah. You believe her?” asked Carter.

  “If I did, I wouldn’t have asked you to take the sibling test.”

  Carter heard the shower turn on and glanced toward Amber’s room. Had her sleep been as fitful as his?

  He faced his brother and asked him if he’d ever heard of a group called BEAR. Jack had not but promised to check into it.

  Jack tugged on his hat and then aimed a finger at the agent who was tall but not a male mountain like Jack. “You take care of my brother.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  When Amber emerged from her bedroom in Kay’s nightie and the hotel’s plush terry-cloth robe, she found Carter at the door holding out a ceramic mug brimming with dark black coffee. She smiled in gratitude.

  She tried to ignore the V of bronze male flesh revealed by his gaping cotton shirt when he extended his arm. Their fingers brushed in the exchange. Her reaction to his touch was harder to ignore. Her stomach twitched, and her eyes flashed to his. His brow quirked, and her face went hot. Carter cleared his throat.

  “You slipped out last night,” she said, cradling the cup.

  “I said I would.”

  She smiled and inhaled the aroma of coffee.

  “Jack stopped in. He said the marshals will be here soon.”

  She sipped the coffee. “Did he ask you to go with him?”

  Carter rubbed his neck, and she had her answer.

  “I’m not your responsibility anymore, you know?”

  “I do know that.” He didn’t sound happy about it. “I need to see you through this, Amber.”

  “For old times’ sake?”

  He held her gaze as he gave his head a slow shake. “For now. Protecting you, I just have to. Not because you’re a child or you aren’t capable, but these are bad people, Amber. Really bad. Don’t ask me to go.”

  She shook her head. “I won’t. But I don’t want you hurt because of me.”

  “I’m staying, Amber. Maybe we can figure this out together.”

  Did he mean what was happening or what was happening between them? Her heart accelerated as hope crept in. She took another sip of coffee. Carter twisted his fist into the palm of his opposite hand. It was a gesture she was becoming familiar with.

  “I don’t know how long they’ll keep me. But I do know that, except for your time in the marines, you’ve lived in Turquoise Canyon your entire life. Your family is here. Your friends. Medicine society and your job. Everything you know. I don’t want you to lose them because of me.”

  “I can understand that. But it won’t be forever. Just until they catch these guys.”

  She wasn’t sure. If these men who were after her were a part of a larger organization, WOLF or BEAR, then even if the FBI caught them, she might be in danger of retaliation. Certainly the authorities would keep her until the trial. That could be a long time.

  She hung her head and let her hair fall over her face. What was she doing to him? She should tell him to go. But she couldn’t.

  Oh, no, she thought, not again. She was not going to fall in love with him again.

  He brushed her hair back and lifted her chin with an index finger.

  “You’re lucky, Carter, to have people to come home to.”

  He cast her a sad smile that twisted her heart.

  “I couldn’t imagine a home where a parent would act like yours.”

  Her face and neck went hot. “It’s shameful.”

  Carter locked his jaw, biting down until his jaw muscles pulsed. He was so angry at her father, her charming father who had glossed over all his failings and convinced Carter that Amber was just overreacting. She’d been more generous than he would have been, working nearly a decade to pay off her father’s debts. She’d dropped out of school and even lost the chance to attend college.

  “He should be in jail,” said Carter.

  She glanced at him. “Could you have sent your father to prison?”

  He gave a tight shake of his head. They understood each other again. It felt strange. He tamped down the hope building inside him. She needed his protection. Had asked for nothing more. He’d made mistakes in the past, ones she found unforgivable and that he had not even known he had made. He didn’t want to disappoint her again. But more than that, he didn’t want her to leave him.

  Agent Decker appeared in the doorway. “US Marshals are ten minutes out. Ms. Kitcheyan, get dressed, please.”

  Amber nodded.

  Carter stroked her cheek. “We’ll talk later.”

  She hoped so. Amber headed to her bathroom to change. A few minutes later she emerged, wearing her sister’s clothes. Kay had packed her skinny blue jeans and a gauzy white cotton blouse and a long gold-tone chain with clear crystals set every six inches or so. Kay’s favorite, she knew. Her feet were clad in a stylish pair of walking shoes. She left off the denim jacket for now. Kay had remembered some bathroom items, but the only cosmetics were a pink lip gloss and citrus body spray. Amber used both. She tucked the lip gloss in a tight front pocket. Kay had included a dark blue wristlet with a gold clasp that Amber recognized had once belonged to Ellie. Amber fingered the pretty necklace and then touched the jeweled snap on the bag. Something from both of them. Amber smiled as her heart ached.

  She told herself that she was not going to cry again. But when would she see her sisters again?

  There was a knock at her door. She looped her hand through the wristlet, which was empty except for the body spray. Then she shouldered the small duffel.

  “Coming.”

  She stepped from the room to find Carter waiting. He had braided his hair in one thick rope down his back. His shirt was a white oxford that was open at the collar to reveal a medicine bundle he had not been wearing earlier. Had Jack brought that in the bag he had given Carter yesterday?

  His jeans included a brown leather belt with a turquoise buckle she knew Jack had been wearing yesterday. On his feet were hiking boots that looked well-worn. In his hand he held his overnight bag.

  She pointed to the buckle. “Jack’s?”

  He nodded.

  She lifted the necklace and then her wrist to show the bag. “Kay and Ellie.”

  “They’re worried,” he said.

  With good reason, she thought.

  He offered his arm, and she took it, glad for the warm reassurance of his body. He leaned down and sniffed.

  “You smell good enough to eat.”

  “Uh-oh, and you’re starving.”

  He chuckled. “Usually.”

  “You weren’t wearing that medicine bundle before.”

  He glanced down at her. “You are very observant. My mother sent it. Thought I should wear it.”

  She knew that the contents of each man’s medicine bundle was a private thing, and so she asked no more.

  “I wish I had some sage and sweetgrass to burn. A prayer wouldn’t hurt either.”

  Carter squeezed her hand, and they followed the agents out. They were escorted down in the service elevator and met the US marshals. There were two agents, one male and one female, Agent Pedro Mora Wells and his partner, Agent Eveline Landers. He was short, dark and already had a five-o’clock shadow. She was broad at the hips and shoulders and wore her hair in dangerous-looking, short bleached spikes. Her eyes were hidden behind oversize mirrored sunglasses.

  The FBI walked them out through the laundry facility and into a white van that looked like the kind that hotels use as courtesy shuttles
. Inside Amber found two rows of seats behind the front bucket seats. Carter helped her inside and then sat next to her in the center of the row. The marshals closed them in and then took their places in front, with Mora driving and Landers opposite. And they were off.

  They drove through Darabee past the big box stores, fast-food chains, and occasional strip malls with restaurants and some shopping. Then they came to a familiar wooded stretch and passed the turnoff to their reservation. Carter’s head swiveled as they passed an SUV she suspected Jack drove for work.

  Amber sat back in the seat and gazed through windows catching glimpses of the azure waters of Antelope Lake, the last in the string of four bodies of water created by the damming of the Salt River. Two dams lay upstream from her reservation, including the largest, Alchesay, which held back Goodwin Lake and produced more electricity than the other three combined. Next came Skeleton Cliff Dam, Red Rock Dam and finally Mesa Salado which she could not see from the road. But she did see an Arizona State Police SUV sitting at the turnoff to Mesa Salado Dam.

  They descended the mountain in a series of switchbacks for the next forty minutes. She watched the Douglas fir trees give way to pinyon pine. The appearance of agave signaled that they had returned to the lower elevations of arid rolling rock formations and the saguaro cacti. Here the road widened, becoming two lanes on each side.

  The state police SUV pulled into the passing lane beside them, and Amber wondered briefly if it was the same one from up by Mesa Salado. An escort? She turned to look at them and noticed the passenger’s window was open. Next she saw the passenger’s face. That face—the face of the man leaving Harvey Ibsen’s place.

  She pointed as her words came out as a stammer. “The... That’s him!”

  “What?” said Carter, peering in the direction she pointed. The SUV now ran parallel to them, mimicking their speed. A rifle emerged from the passenger-side window.

  “Gun!” shouted Carter.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Carter placed a broad hand on Amber’s back and forced her forward as shots ripped through the vehicle’s side panel. Marshal Mora slumped behind the wheel. Carter held Amber down with one hand and wrapped his other around his knees. The van veered, and the tires bogged as the front and back windshield shattered at once.