Mating Call

by Martha Bourke

  She walked to the section on Mayan writings and research. Dimitri had done an amazing job of putting together whatever he thought they might need. Some of the books and papers were incredibly old. She found the section on Divination and began to pull books one at a time. Maybe Richard could help SE control his visions. That was a thought. In the meantime, she was going to read up on the topic. Her old friend Selena had taught her quite a bit about the art over the years. Although her friend never had actual visions, her wealth of knowledge was endless.

  She spread the books out on the table. Hmm. One of them had an interesting symbol from the Maya Zodiac on the cover. It was a kite shape with slightly curved edges. The inside was a deep blue-black with bright twinkles of stars. Seers Throughout the Ages. Well, it was as good a place to start as any. She sat down, opened the book, and began to read.

  Soaring Eagle ran through the trees, starting up the hillside as his boots slipped on the ice and snow of the Blue Hills parkland. The goddamn frankenshifters would pick the day the Mexican Indian had duty to take off into fifty feet of snow. Fuckers. Alright. This sucked ass. He phased into Eagle mid-run and started to follow the shifter and two hellions by air. Richard quickly followed suit. He phased into Owl and landed in a tree up ahead of the enemy. SE found a higher branch above him and they waited.

  He watched with his eagle eyes as the shifter soldier stopped to look behind him. For a moment the moon shone down on his face. Jesus, he was so young. But no mercy would be shown to him this night. The hellions were considered innocents and were sent back to the Goddess. The shifter soldiers chose to serve. SE followed Richard as he dropped from the tree, phasing on the way down. Soaring Eagle fell on top of a mutant, drawing his knife and taking off its head. He turned just in time to see the shifter pull his pistol.

  “Richard, duck!” he yelled.

  His partner decapitated the other hellion and then rolled to the ground. He pulled his Beretta, shot twice, and dropped the enemy.

  “You alright?”

  Richard stood up and brushed the snow off his jeans. “Yeah. Grab that douche’s vial and let’s get the hell outta here.”

  SE walked over to the Toltec shifter and rolled him over. He broke the chain from around his neck and held it up against the darkness. A shining miniature dove glowed within the glass prison. It had once been the nagual of an avian shifter like them. He quietly blessed it in the words of his people, pulled the top, and set it free. “Let’s go.”

  SE materialized just inside the door to his room. He was covered in the blood of the enemy, but he didn’t even take off his coat. Ana was curled up asleep in the chair, research papers piled on her lap. He walked to the window and looked up at the moon. There was a soft touch on his arm.

  “What is it?”

  He turned around and brought his mate to him. “It’s nothing.”

  She looked up and those wide, intelligent green eyes gazed into his. “Wanna try that again?”

  “It’s just…we rescued a nagual tonight.”

  She touched the side of his face.

  “It was a dove.” He bit his lip. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

  “Gabriela’s nagual.”

  He gasped. “You remembered. I—”

  She put her fingertips to his lips. “It’s okay to miss her sometimes, my male.”

  He shook his head. “It isn’t that, really. Its meaning just made me think. How long is this going to go on? How much longer are we going to slaughter our own kind? Violate everything that’s sacred about life?”

  Ana looked up at her male. The pain in his eyes cut through her. His culture held life and their connection to nature as sacred and, although they were fighting for good, she knew he violated his deepest beliefs with every life he took. She gently brought him to her by the back of the neck and kissed him, her lips searching. The warrior in her understood it even more than the female did. He needed this. He needed the connection of their souls as much as their bodies. The affirmation of life. The possibility of hope.

  She slid his leather jacket off and let it fall to the floor.

  “Come here,” she whispered.

  Evy opened her eyes, then threw her arm over them to keep out the bright sunlight. Wait. Sunlight? There were no windows in her hospital room. She felt around her. A real bed. She sat up and looked at the glorious room around her. She’d never seen such opulence. Well, maybe in a history book.

  There was a knock at the door.

  “Come in,” she called.

  Troy poked his head in. “Hey, you’re up.”

  She looked around the room again. “How did I get here? And where’s here?”

  “You’re upstairs in the Order’s main mansion. The compound is below ground. You’re healing well, so Helen figured it was a much more comfortable place to finish recuperatin’. When I brought you up you were still pretty out of it.”

  “You can come in, you know. I don’t bite.” Although…

  “Actually, I can’t. I just wondered if you wanted some breakfast.”

  Her stomach seemed to answer him with its own voice. She flushed. “That would be great.”

  “Pancakes, eggs? Mary’s Belgian waffles are the shit. I mean, uh, they’re really good.”

  “Well, I guess if they’re the shit, I’d better try them.” She grinned.

  He smiled and her whole body felt warm and tingly.

  “Okay. I’ll have some brought up. If you get tired of TV, there’s lotsa books here, too. A whole library. My room’s right next door if you need me.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’ll check on you later. See ya.”

  He closed the door.

  “Yeah,” she said. “See ya.”

  “Yo, Dies! Be careful, bro. You want some help with that?”

  Diesel leaned on one crutch and scored the outline of the soon to be ex-wall. “No, the gimpy male does not want help. Where the hell ya been, anyway?”

  “I had a couple things to do in the computer lab. I just need to run upstairs for a sec and then I’m all yours.”

  “All mine? Really? Do you promise?”

  “I’ll be right back, smartass.”

  X gleamed up to the mansion’s kitchen.

  “Oh! X, you scared me to death.”

  “Sorry, Mary. That was rude. I just wanted to bring up Evy’s breakfast.”

  “I just sent it up with Richard.”

  Holy shit!

  X gleamed to the top of the stairs and hung a right. Richard was just about to knock on Evy’s door.

  “Yo, Richard. Why don’t you let me do that?”

  “I got it, X.”

  X lowered his voice. “Troy and I figured the less faces she saw here the better. For when she’s well enough to go home, dig? She’s seen me around the surgical room.”

  “Yeah, that makes some sense. Good call.” He passed the tray to him and headed off down the hall.

  Xavier exhaled and knocked on the door.

  “Hey, little lady.”

  “Oh, hi.” She looked past him, at the door.

  “Oh, ah, Troy had to go out. I’m X. Xavier. I hope it’s okay that I brought this up.”

  “Of course. I never even had a chance to thank you. You know, for saving my life and all.”

  “That was all Helen, little lady.”

  “Just the same.”

  He pointed to the cell phone next to the bed. “You need anything at all, just dial one. I preprogrammed my cell number. Oh, and be careful. Mary’s waffles are deadly. You can get addicted. We don’t want to be rolling you outta here.”

  She smiled. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” He walked through the door and closed it behind him. He shook his head. Man, when this was all over he was gonna murder that little shit. Straight up.

  Evy sighed. It went on like that all day. Helen came by to check on her regularly and even helped her take a shower. She at least felt somewhat human again. And X made sure she wanted for nothing.
Except she did. She wanted Troy. At six, she finally heard his voice.

  “Evy, it’s me. Can I come in?”

  She sat up, smoothed her hair, and smiled. “Yeah.”

  Troy opened the door and started to come in the room. Then he stopped.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “What? Oh, nothing. I didn’t realize how late it was. Dinner starts in a few minutes. Have you eaten?”

  “Yeah, a while ago. Troy, wait. Where are you going?”

  But the door was already closed. He said he was going to dinner, but she heard him next door in his room. She was right. He was avoiding her on purpose. But why?

  CHAPTER SIX

  Viktor walked into the pool room and poured himself a glass of Imperia. At least his little brother didn’t skimp on the vodka.

  Dimitri walked in. “Isn’t it a little early for that?”

  “It’ll be noon in ten minutes. I’m playing Pax. Care to join us?”

  “Sure. Why not.”

  Pax walked in the room along with the young one. What was his name?

  The kid gave a nod. “Hey, whassup, my brothers? We ready to play a little Boston Shorty?”

  His little brother barked a laugh. “Ready when you are, James.”

  James! That was it.

  Pax grinned and stepped back from the pool table. “Okay. Let’s see what you got.”

  Dimitri hit the second ball, artfully missing the nose on the rack and spreading the balls out nicely.

  He clapped Dimitri’s back. “Ha! Well done, Dimka.”

  “Thanks.”

  He made two more shots before Pax took his turn. He leaned down and rested his hold hand on the rail.

  Victor took a sip of his drink. “So, how long have you two boys been together?”

  Pax dropped his shoulder and his cue hit four different balls. “What?”

  “Aren’t you two males, you know, a couple?”

  As soon as the ginger’s face flushed, he knew he’d stepped in it. “Aw, come on. Did I hurt your feelings, princess?”

  Pax held onto his cue so hard he broke it in half. The male looked him square in the eye. “I’m his camzah, dickwad.”

  He put up his hands. “Oh, sorry. My bad.”

  They finished the rest of the game mostly in silence. As Pax and James made excuses and left, he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Making friends all around, eh, Viktor? Way to go.”

  “Oh, come on. You can’t tell me you don’t get vibes from those two.”

  “Actually, I don’t. But even if I did, I wouldn’t bring it up.”

  “Oh, BFD. So I thought they were a couple. It was an easy mistake.”

  “You know somethin’? You’re a real prick sometimes, Viktor.”

  “Yeah, well, we can’t all be perfect like you.”

  Dimitri put up his cue and walked away before he followed his inclination to shove it up his brother’s ass.

  After twenty-four hours of being waited on hand and foot by her new pal, X, Evy’d had enough. She was wearing what she figured were Helen’s sweats, which she had to roll up, even though the doctor couldn’t have been taller than five foot four. But her hair was clean and well…what the hell. She waited until she heard Troy and, with nothing but socks on her feet, padded next door and knocked.

  “It’s open.”

  She poked her head in. “Hi.”

  He turned around so fast, she barely saw the motion.

  “Evy. Wha-what are you doing out of bed?”

  “I got stabbed, I’m not paralyzed. I need to get up more. Helen even said so. Besides, you’re the only one I know here and I hardly see you.”

  He walked over and carefully picked her up. Heat hit her body hard at the contact. She could feel his huge biceps through his long-sleeved T-shirt, holding her like she weighed next to nothing. He didn’t wear any cologne, but God he smelled good.

  “I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean runnin’ around the house. Bed rest means you’re in bed.”

  Somehow it didn’t seem so bad when he said it. As he carried her back to her room, she put her arms around his neck. When he laid her down on the bed, she didn’t let go. His eyes shined brilliant aqua and what Seth had told her about New Breed eyes came flooding back. They were glowing for her. She knew it.

  He took hold of her arms and moved them to her lap. “Evy, come on. It can’t be like that between us.”

  “Why?’

  “You know why. You’re a human and I’m…not. Not anymore.”

  “I know you’ve been following me.”

  No answer. Just those eyes. They bored into her and for a moment she imagined what they would look like in the dark, shining for her as their naked bodies intertwined. Nothing left to separate them. Nothing to hold him back from taking her.

  And then she just felt stupid. Hello? He’d just turned her down. Flat. Maybe not in so many words, but…

  “You did, didn’t you? You followed me in secret. Why? Was I just some kind of fucked up fantasy to you?”

  “No. Never.”

  “Then tell me why, Troy.”

  He threw up his hands. “I dunno. I just wanted to keep you safe.”

  “I don’t buy it. That’s a load of crap. You wanna know what I think? I think as long as you didn’t get too close you kept you safe. As long as you kept your distance, I could stay perfect.” She sat up. Her voice was too loud, but she didn’t give a shit. “And now that I’m here and I’m real, you don’t want me. Sorry your little head trip is ruined.”

  He grabbed the bottom of his sweatshirt and pulled it off.

  “Wh-what the hell are you doing?”

  “Look at me, Ev. Take a good look.”

  Evy looked at his gorgeous torso. The arms, the pecs, the abs. Then she covered her mouth. He was covered in scars. She’d seen all this stuff before at the center, but never on someone she’d cared about.

  He pointed to one of his arms. “That’s right. These here are where the old man used to put out his cigarettes. That was one of his favorites, as I’m sure you can see.”

  “Tr—”

  “Let’s see. What else we got. Oh, yeah, this scar up here is where the motherfucker stabbed me.”

  He turned around. “And the back. Can’t forget about that. Well I guess that one’s pretty self-explanatory.”

  Evy stared at the iron-shaped burn on the lower right side of his back. Hot tears fell down her cheeks.

  “So if the New Breed stuff isn’t enough,” he hit his bare chest with his hand, “then you should probably know I’m damaged goods.”

  He started to put his sweatshirt back on.

  “Troy, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have gone off like that.”

  He walked over to the bed and leaned in so close she could feel his breath.

  “You can’t imagine how bad I want you, Ev,” he said quietly.

  She watched him as he turned and left the room. She was breathing hard, her brain telling her to say something, but she couldn’t.

  He hadn’t been avoiding her because he didn’t want her. He’d been staying away because he did.

  Oh, God.

  Reyn stood with Richard and SE next to the long table in the drawing room. He ran a hand through the long front of his dark hair. His head throbbed. “Well, he went against a direct order. He’s going to have to be disciplined, but I don’t begin to know where to start. This is kind of out of the ordinary.”

  X shook his head. “Look, I’m his camzah. I feel like at least half of this is my fault. I purposely sent the brother over the edge hoping the protective instinct would kick in. You can’t expect him to stop and make a phone call, dig?”

  “I feel you,” SE said.

  Richard nodded. “I mean, are we really going to pull him off duty? Who is that really hurting? We need all the manpower we can get right now.”

  Reyn started to speak then stopped. What the…

  “Yo, you okay, boss?” X asked.

  His breath caught
in his chest. “I don’t know. I thought I felt this odd wave of energy. Did you boys pick up on that?”

  Richard leaned against the table. “You mean, like New Breed energy?”

  He shook his head. “No. This was different. The vibration was more like…never mind. Any thoughts on your last vision, SE? Sorry to bring up a sore subject.”

  “It’s fine. It’s just frustrating. I mean, why would I have a vision about a human? Ana and I’ve been over it a hundred times and it just doesn’t make any sense.”

  Richard shrugged. “Well, they do get caught in the crossfire from time to time.”

  “I guess that’s true.”

  X cracked his knuckles. “If we’re done, my brothers, I’d like to go share the good news with Troy.”

  Reyn clapped his shoulder. “We’re good.”

  “See you at next meal, my brothers.” Reyn left the room and walked down the hall to his office in the study. The k’ul he’d just felt was fleeting, but there was no doubt in his mind. It was real. The only time he ever felt that particular pattern of energy was when Akina was present. And that wasn’t the only thing that seemed off. The k’ul he’d just sensed was stronger than a New Breed’s, but less powerful than that of the Goddess. What the hell kind of being would register on the grid that way and why was he the only one picking up on it? He walked to the window and looked out at the white washed winter landscape. Holy hell. What next?

  X walked out of the room at a clip and by the time he reached the back stairs he was almost at a dead run. He pushed the door open, turned in to the gym, and found Troy working out.

  “Dude, you will not believe what I just heard.”

  Troy lifted the barbell and put it back on the rack. “Jesus, X. You look almost white.”