Victrixa took another sip of wine. It probably shouldn’t have surprised her when Ana chose to stay on with Toltec after Maya had escaped before the solstice. After all, it was all she knew. Of course, she had chosen to join another faction of Toltec, as far away from Victrixa as she could get. She wasn’t interested in working behind the scenes. She had chosen to fight out in the field. It was dangerous, but it pleased her that Ana had decided to continue working toward the cause.
These days, the cause varied according to whom you asked, and the discord was weakening Toltec. The rich financiers of the movement like Avery Wells sought power above all else. That was about all Victrixa had in common with them. The fighters in the streets wanted shifter domination over humans. And although she agreed with their philosophy, she wasn’t about to get her hands dirty in that mess.
No, Victrixa had her own goals. She always had. She didn’t really fit in anywhere, and that didn’t bother her in the least. She wanted power, but for herself alone. If shifters were able to take over society, that wouldn’t be a bad thing. She had always felt that shifters were superior to humans. And that faction was no threat to her. But Avery Wells was another matter. He was using shifters only to get what he wanted, and he wanted exactly what Victrixa possessed. He wanted the cenote. Things were going to get ugly; it was just a matter of when.
Victrixa’s stomach complained, and she suddenly realized she was famished. She was heading to the kitchen when she came across Lucas’ body, which was still lying on the living room floor. She realized she had no idea what she would tell Lucas’ driver when he arrived.
Oh, well. She’d think of something.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Cesar looked up helplessly. His mate was hanging in the talons of the great beast. Lyssa was twisting, trying to break free, grabbing the demon’s legs, but it was no use. Cesar’s heart was beating in his throat.
“Lyssa!” Matt yelled. “Stop moving! Hold still!” He sat up and called to Cesar. “You need to be ready to break her fall. Damian, do your thing. Now! I’ll keep an eye on the other two.”
As Damian stood up and closed his eyes, concentrating, Cesar got up into a crouch, ready to move. Looking up again, he watched in amazement as the demon carrying Lyssa shook its head wildly. Beating its great bat wings, it swooped back toward them as Damian continued to command it telepathically. Just as it came within a few feet of Cesar, it let go of Lyssa. She screamed as she went into a freefall.
Cesar pushed off and threw his body forward, catching her just before she hit the ground. For one blissful second, relief took over as he felt his mate safe in his arms. But any relief evaporated when he felt his T-shirt getting wet. Lyssa was barely conscious and bleeding heavily.
“Bella?” He got to his knees. “Matt! Lyssa is hurt!”
“Get her back to the house! I’ll wait with Damian while he deals with the demons!”
Staying low and holding Lyssa to his chest, Cesar ran toward the main house. He went as quickly as he could without jostling his mate, but he had to hold himself back. His panic alone was enough to make him want to run faster than Chicharito on his best day with Manchester United.
“Richard!” he yelled as he reached the kitchen door. “Stay with me, bella.”
Richard opened the door. “What the hell happened?”
“The demons are back.”
“My God!” He quickly led Cesar to the room he shared with Adriana. “Selena,” he called.
Selena and Adriana came in from the porch. Adriana sucked in her breath when she saw Lyssa lying on the bed. “What happened?”
Selena hurried over to the bed to help Richard. He was tearing Lyssa’s T-shirt off. As soon as her wounds were exposed, the room grew quiet.
“No,” Cesar said. He looked from his mate’s ashen face to her wounds. Her shoulders had been torn apart.
“I need my bag and clean towels right away,” Selena said. “We’ve got to stop this bleeding. Move!”
Stunned back into action, Adriana hurried by Matt, who was standing in the doorway. “It’s bad,” she said as she passed him.
Cesar walked over to the far side of the bed and sat carefully on the edge.
Within seconds, Damian ran into the room. “No! Lyssa!” he screamed.
“I gotcha,” Matt said, pulling Damian to him.
“It’s all my fault,” Damian said through his sobs.
Matt looked across the room at Cesar, but Cesar just shook his head. If it was anyone’s fault it was his. Why hadn’t he been faster? How could he have let this happen? She was his mate. He was supposed to protect her. Instead all he could do now was watch helplessly as Selena and Richard took care of her.
Adriana hurried back into the room with Selena’s supplies. “She needs a hospital, Richard. She needs surgery.”
Richard shook his head. “We’d never make it. Not with these roads. The drive alone could kill her.”
Adriana looked at her mate. “What are you saying?”
Selena was laying compresses on Lyssa’s shoulders. “She’s fatally wounded,” she said in a ragged voice. “The best we can do for her now is keep her comfortable.” She pulled a small bottle and a syringe from her medical bag.
Cesar touched Lyssa’s unmoving hand. “There has to be something,” he said. Por Dios!
Selena looked at him. “Cesar, I’m so sorry. Let’s give him a few minutes, everyone.”
When they were alone, Cesar carefully brushed Lyssa’s hair from her face a few strands at a time, then gently kissed her forehead. Lying down beside her as carefully as he could, he put his head down next to his mate’s. Tears ran down his cheeks. Why had this happened? Why had he made it through so much to finally find her, only to have it end this way? How could he ever live without her? He had lost his whole family, and now she was going to be taken from him, too.
Minutes turned into hours, and as the night wore on, Richard, Adriana, and Selena took turns coming in to check on Lyssa. Damian had cried himself to sleep in a chair in the corner and Matt sat quietly out on the porch. Around midnight, Selena came in again. She walked to Lyssa’s side and checked the dressings on her wounds. The bleeding had long since stopped.
“Selena?”
“Yes, Cesar?”
“Would you do something for me?”
“Anything.”
“You know that my father was Kikapu?”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to…braid her hair down the back according to our tradition when…when it’s time, but I don’t know how to braid that way.”
“I’ll take care of it for you, Cesar. I promise.”
***
I was looking at Akil, waiting for an answer, when the feeling hit my chest.
“Maya? What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” There was no way I was about to tell Akil that I could feel my mate’s feelings. He hadn’t mentioned the shifters much, so neither had I. I tried to home in on the feeling. “Something’s wrong,” I said. I have to go back. Now.” Yesterday was more like it. The pain and worry coming from Matt were overwhelming me.
“You’re going to leave?”
I nodded. “I’ll be back. I promise. I just don’t know when.”
Akil stood up. “I’ll take you right now.”
“I can go myself.” I couldn’t show up at the compound with Akil in tow. Hey, everyone, this is my friend, Akil. He’s a god. WTF?
“Are you sure? Maya, gleaming isn’t easy. And it’s a long way to go.”
“I know how far it is. Look, I don’t have time to argue.”
“I’ll wait for you here, however long.”
I nodded, focused on the compound, and disappeared.
***
The second I arrived in the compound’s living room (on my feet this time), I knew that something was terribly wrong. It was still a few minutes before dawn in Mexico, but all the lights were on and I could hear voices.
“Maya?”
“Matt!�
� I ran toward the hallway and jumped into his arms, practically toppling him over. “Oh, I missed you so much.”
“I know. I felt it.” He put me down and took my hand. “Come on.”
“What’s going on?”
“The demons came back. Lyssa’s hurt. It’s bad.”
I gulped. “What? They came back? How bad?”
He stopped outside the door to Adriana and Richard’s room and turned to me. “She’s not going to make it. She’s dying,” he whispered.
“What? What do you mean?” Oh, God, please, no.
He looked down into my eyes. “I know it’s a shock. She needs you, My. You have to be strong for her. And Damian.”
I nodded, took a deep breath, and opened the door. “Cesar,” I whispered as I crossed the room.
“Maya?” He touched Lyssa’s forehead, then got off the bed and walked over to me. “I’m so glad you’re here. She’s been fighting it, but…but I think, maybe…she’s been waiting for you before….” His voice broke and tears ran down his face.
I rubbed his arm. “Let’s go sit with her together.”
He nodded and we walked to the bed where my best friend lay dying. I kneeled down next to her. Her shoulders were heavily bandaged and there was a lot of dried blood everywhere. I stroked her hair back from her forehead. I closed my eyes and said a quiet prayer to Balam, asking him to watch over her.
When I opened my eyes, they practically popped out of my skull. My hand was glowing! I could feel the heat moving through it, and I knew immediately that it was k’ul. Instinctively, I laid one hand on her forehead and the other by her wounded shoulders. I drew in as much energy as I could from the earth and tried to focus it into my hands. When I opened my eyes, I was shocked to see that Lyssa’s whole body was glowing faintly. I could hear voices around me, but I was too busy trying to concentrate to understand what they were saying.
Suddenly, Lyssa took a deep breath. Then she sat up. Our connection was cut so abruptly that I lost my balance and almost fell over. My best friend in the world grabbed my wrist and pulled me back up.
“You are one graceful chick, ya know?”
Damian practically flew across the room. He jumped on the bed and threw his arms around his twin. “Lyssa!”
“Whoa! What the…” She hugged Damian back and threw a major “WTF?” look my way.
I laughed and looked over at my mate who was leaning in the doorway, beaming at me.
“Okay,” Selena said, “we’ve got some checking over to do, so if you’re not female or her mate, out!”
Lyssa shook her head. “Checking over? Me? No one’s checking over anything. I’m fine.”
Grinning from ear to ear, I started to follow Matt, Damian, and Richard out. As I glanced back to shut the door, I watched Lyssa and Cesar together. Even though I was sure everyone else was used to it by now, it was still pretty new to me. Cesar kissed her tenderly, then he turned to me and mouthed, “Gracias.”
I gave him a nod and followed Matt down to our room. “Those two are pretty great, huh?” I said.
“Yeah, they really are. And so are you.” He leaned against me and kissed me gently. Then the kiss deepened and little firecrackers started going off all over my body.
“Are you back?” he asked between kisses.
“For now I am,” I answered.
“I’ll take what I can get, in that case.”
Later, I lay against him, playing with the little hairs on his arm. I suddenly realized that healing had to be my lesser power thingy, like Akil talked about. It felt so natural, it had to be. But it seemed like a weird power for someone who lived with immortals. I was making a mental note to ask Akil about it when Matt’s voice startled me out of my thoughts.
“My, when are you coming back?” he asked. “For good, I mean.”
If I hadn’t been able to feel his need, I would have heard it just as plainly in his voice. He needed me back, and soon. “I’m so sorry, Matt,” I finally said. “This is so unfair to you. But I need you to know that I have no intention of pursuing the whole goddess thing. I just need to know who I am. I have to find out about my past. And Akil knows. I know he does.” I leaned down over him. “Hey, have you been worried that I wouldn’t come back?”
He looked away for a moment and then cleared his throat. “Not wouldn’t exactly. More like couldn’t.”
“Hey, look at me.” I put my hand to his cheek and waited until his eyes met mine. “I would never let that happen. I could have all the power in the world and the Otherworld combined, and it wouldn’t mean anything without you. You know that, right? I’m so sorry to make you worry like this.”
He gave me a little smile. “It’s not that bad. I’ll be fine. As long as I know you’re safe. I really want this for you, My. I want you to get the answers you need.”
“Shh, I know.” But I also knew that, in spite of what he’d told me, it was bad. What he was saying and what I could feel from him didn’t match up. I was more determined than ever to get what I needed from Akil and then get my butt back where it belonged.
An hour or so later we got dressed. I wanted to see Lyssa before I left again. I started toward Adriana’s room, but then I heard Lyssa laughing from the kitchen.
“Hey,” I said as I walked into the kitchen, “you’re out of bed already?”
“Yep! Clean bill of health. Thanks, Dr. Delaney.” She hit me with her biggest Lyssa grin.
I looked at Selena, who was blowing on some tea. “Are you guys sure it’s okay?”
Selena nodded. “Her wounds are completely healed. Don’t worry. We’ll make sure she has a quiet day.”
Cesar whispered something in Lyssa’s ear and she cracked up again.
Selena shook her head. “Well, you know, for Lyssa.”
Lyssa looked down the table at me for a minute and waved me over. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Sure.”
We walked out into the yard, neither of us speaking, then, when we finally did, we both started at once.
“Wait,” she said, “I need to say this.”
“Okay.”
“I’m really sorry about the way I acted when you left—”
“You don’t owe me any apology, Lyss. I—”
“Just let me finish, already. I know Damian said I was worried about you, and I was. But I was also being selfish. The whole mating thing was really freaking me out. And…I think I, you know, resented you for leaving because I was scared.”
“I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t left—”
“What? I wouldn’t have been attacked? You don’t have anything to be sorry about. Look, I know you. You’re giving yourself a hard enough time about leaving Matt. Don’t add yesterday to that pile of crap you carry around with you. You saved me. You saved my life. Give yourself some damn credit already!”
I put my arms around her and gave her a long hug. Surprisingly, she let me do it. Wow, Cesar really was having an effect on her. We walked arm-and-arm back to breakfast. But it went by all too fast, and less than an hour later, Matt and I were out by the bench in the garden getting ready to say good-bye. Again.
“Promise me something,” I said.
“Anything.”
“Promise me if it gets too bad, you’ll let me know.”
“Are you sure? I don’t know, babe. What you’re doing is so important.”
“You’re important. And what I’m doing doesn’t mean anything if I don’t have you to come back to. Please, Matt. I need this.”
“I promise. Now you promise me something.”
I smiled at him. “Anything.”
He cupped my face in his hands. “Promise me you’ll come home to me.”
“I promise you,” I whispered.
“In Lak’ech.” He let his mouth linger near mine before kissing me so deeply I swear I could feel it in my toes.
“Ala K’in.”
As I turned and watched my mate walk away toward the main house, I caught a glimpse of Akil on the roof just b
efore he gleamed.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
My landing back in Italy wasn’t quite as graceful as it should have been. I leaned forward, then backward to catch my balance. Which I did. Sort of. And then my eyes locked on my target.
“Oh. My. God. Were you just spying on me? Do you have any idea how messed up that is?” I stared daggers at Akil, waiting for an explanation.
“I wasn’t spying. I—”
“Then what would you call it?” I demanded.
“I was worried. I just wanted to be sure you were all right.” He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, making little sparks fly.
“Well, as you can see, I’m just fine. And I can live without the cloak and dagger crap.”
He raised his eyebrows. “What?”
“Oh, never mind!”
“I only wanted to be sure you were safe.”
“Okay, fine, I’m safe. You know what? I’m tired of Italy. Let’s go.” I’m tired of Italy? O—kaay.
Akil suggested that we go back to the stream. It seemed like a fine idea to me. If I murdered him there, no one would find the body. Oh, that’s right. Gods didn’t die. Or so I’d been told.
We settled back down on Akil’s rock. I looked across the water and thought about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I thought about Matt and how I’d almost lost Lyssa. That put me back on track in a big way.
“Healing is my other power, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said. “Healing nature, really. Organic things. Plants, animals, humans. Things that are tied to the earth.”
“But not gods.”
“No, not gods.” His voice sounded far away, as though he were lost in his own memories.
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