“Lyssa, Damian, Nate,” said Adriana, “can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Cesar!” Lyssa yelled after her mate, “get me a freaking chicken gordita before those hogs eat ’em all!”
“Ahorita, bella!” he called back.
“You are so whipped,” Matt said to Cesar.
“What is ‘whipped’?”
Adriana turned to Nate. “We’re going to have to figure out what’s going to be best for your safety since you’ll be here more often. You’ll be tutoring in the morning, working on the technology, and no doubt spending time with Damian.”
“So you want me to continue as their tutor?” he asked.
“We don’t have a problem with it,” she answered, “and neither do your students, so I don’t see any reason to change anything.”
Richard spoke up. “I just don’t know if it’s smart to have you coming and going all the time. Is there any chance we could get you here full time?” he asked.
“Sure. I’ll need to let my flat mate know and pick up some things.”
Adriana smiled. “Great!”
“He can have my old room if he wants,” Lyssa offered. “I don’t need it anymore.”
Nate smiled. “Thanks, Lyssa, that’s very kind of you.”
“No problem. Okay, I see my dinner. I’m outtie.” Lyssa hopped off to meet Cesar for dinner. She pointed to adjacent chairs, slid into the one next to him, and took a bite of her gordita.
“Cómo está?” Cesar asked.
“Mm, está buena.” She pulled off a piece and fed it to him.
“I swear I cannot take all this lovey dovey crap,” Ryan said.
“Does anyone mind if I take him out back?” Matt asked.
“No. He’s been driving my white ass crazy,” Lyssa said.
***
Lyssa and Cesar walked through the gardens and down the field toward the cabin on the left. She was so happy for her twin that she walked most of the way with a huge grin on her face. Once it had come down to their parents’ permission, she knew Damian had it in the bag. He was more mature than most adults. Their parents knew that just as well as she did, so the age thing wasn’t going to bother them. They would be more worried about Damian getting his heart broken. But Nate was really intelligent and responsible and so obviously into Damian…what could go wrong?
As Cesar opened the door, Lyssa zoomed past him and went straight for the bed.
“I am so beat,” she said.
Cesar sat down on the edge of the bed. “You’ve been through a lot.”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me! Hey, what’s that face for?”
“What face?”
“You had a face.”
“I guess I’m a just worried, that’s all.”
“Worried? Why?”
“It’s just…you almost died when the demons came. And now you might have to fight them again?”
“It’s what I’m here to do. I get nervous sometimes, you know, when you do guard duty.” She sat up and crawled into his lap.
“You do?”
“Yeah. Especially during the night shifts.”
“You should tell me that kind of thing, bella.”
“I know. I’m working on it.”
As Cesar tucked one side of his hair behind his ear, she practically melted. She leaned closer to him and ran her hands through it. It was always so soft. Of course, he hadn’t been torturing his hair with highlights for the last two years. She kissed his earlobe.
He grinned and turned so that they were nose to nose. “Mira, little monkey, don’t start something you can’t finish.”
“Who said anything about not finishing?”
That was all it took. Cesar picked her up and moved her to her side of the bed, then settled on top of her, holding his weight off her body with his strong arms. She leaned up and pulled him into a deep kiss. Then she slid out of her T-shirt, and Cesar kissed first one shoulder then the other. But when he looked at her face again, she was fast asleep. He shook his head and smiled to himself, then he covered her with the extra blanket.
Kissing her forehead, he whispered, “Sleep well, bella. Que sueñes con los angelitos.”
Then he headed for the bathroom and turned on the shower.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I held on to Akil for dear life for what seemed like forever, and then, eventually, we got tired, and I jumped from the rock to the grass beside the brook. I stood there, looking into the water as it rippled over the stones in the stream bed.
“I’m so sorry, Akil. I didn’t realize it would bring it all back for you like this.”
“Neither of us ever really made peace with it,” he said quietly. “Maybe we can…now. At last.”
“What do you mean, never made peace with it?”
“As time wore on, you spent more and more time on earth,” he said. “You were always different from the rest of us. Always so interested in the world of the innocents. First, it was just books. You used to read in the bibliotheca for hours on end.”
“The biblio—whatever, that’s the tall round building?”
“Yes.”
I thought back to how I’d been sitting on the floor of the library surrounded by books about the human world when Akina came to get me. I shuddered.
Akil continued. “But it soon moved on from books to exploration. You would read about something and then inevitably you’d want to see it for yourself.”
“Why was that so different from everyone else? I was the only goddess who ever came to earth?”
“Of course not. The librarians would come down to retrieve books. There’s a deep feeling of peace in the Otherworld. But it was never enough for you. At some point, it changed. I’m not sure when exactly. You became interested in the innocents themselves. You made acquaintances from one end of the earth to the other.”
“And that was just allowed?”
He chuckled. “Honestly, I don’t think they knew what to do with you. It had never happened before. At first you would be gone for one earth day. Then a day turned into a week. And then after Akina…”
“After Akina—what?”
“After Akina, you lost yourself even further in this world. Weeks turned into months, even years in earth time. And then…then you met him.”
I suddenly felt uncomfortable. Akil’s tone had changed. I had never heard his voice sound like this before.
“Who, Akil? Who did I meet?”
“Matias Casales, as his soul’s body was called then.”
A splitting pain shot through my head.
~ ~ ~
I was lying on a makeshift bed inside what looked like a natural cave. I looked down at myself and realized I wasn’t wearing anything under the blanket covering me. I could feel that I was in my goddess body. I could sense the power. With a start, I realized that I wasn’t alone. I looked down at the person sleeping soundly beside me. It was Matt! Well, Matt without a shave and longer hair. Holy crap!
This strange Matt opened one eye. “You’re not sleeping,” he murmured. “You never sleep. I honestly don’t know how you survive.” He chuckled. He had Matt’s voice, but he was speaking Spanish with a Castilian accent. He was from Spain! I looked at the pile of clothing tossed carelessly to the floor. There was a soldier’s uniform entangled with my gown.
“Maya?”
The moment he said my name, it all clicked. The memories came flooding back to me.
“Matias?” Hot tears welled up in my eyes.
“Come here,” he said.
I slid into his arms without even thinking about it. It felt so right. He held me the way my mate did. He smelled just like my Matt. And when he kissed my forehead, I knew. This was my Matt. The Wolf was missing of course, and we were in a different time and place. But it was still him.
“What is it?” Matias was asking. “Is it because I leave the island tomorrow?”
I nodded.
“You know I must. If I had a choice, I would stay here with you until the end of ti
me itself. But it’s not possible.”
“Matias?”
“Yes?” I turned so I was facing him. “I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you, too, My.”
As soon as he said his nickname for me, I leaned over and kissed him hard on the mouth. He responded instantly. Every inch of his body felt just like Matt. He kissed me the same, touched me the same. We spent the rest of the night talking and making love.
I must have fallen asleep, because all of a sudden he was dressing.
“You’re going?”
“I have to. I have duty soon.” He sat down on the edge of our little mattress. “I have something I want to give to you. I wanted you to have it before I left.” He took out a small bag and untied the strings, then reached in and pulled out a necklace. My sacred necklace!
“Oh, it’s beautiful! Will you put it on me?” As soon as he’d fastened the clasp, I took his face in my hands and kissed him tenderly.
When we broke apart, he said, “It’s so you won’t forget me.”
“We’ll never be apart. I will always find you. Wherever you are.”
~ ~ ~
I opened my eyes and the bright sunlight slammed into them. Where was I? I could feel grass beneath my feet. Then I felt hands helping me to sit up.
“Are you all right?” It was Akil’s voice.
“What the hell happened?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “You grabbed at your head and then you passed out.”
“I…I had a memory,” I said. It was coming back. “A natural one. I was with Matias!”
“You remember that?”
“Yes. Or at least a little. What do you know, Akil? Spill it! You saw me with Matt at the compound. I know you know I’m with him now. Did you know I had been with him before?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded.
“We both agreed it was best to start at the beginning.”
I remembered something else. “My necklace. Why did you totally freak when you saw it on me in Valladolid?”
He rubbed his thumb and index finger together and little sparks flew every which way. “I was a bit surprised,” he said. “And confused. I didn’t understand how it could just turn up after five hundred years.”
“What happened? Do you know?”
“You had met him when the fleet of Spanish explorers landed on Cozumel.”
Cozumel? “Akina’s island.”
“Yes, Akina’s temple. You took solace there after her death.”
“And Matias? What happened then?”
“His fleet left the island. His captain was determined to explore the Yucatán Peninsula. Matias was killed by the people who lived there.”
I had no memory of this, but my eyes misted over just the same. I stood up and skipped a stone into the brook. As my mind cleared, I realized there was something very wrong.
“Akil, there’s something I don’t understand. If I was immortal, how did I die? Did the Elders find out about Cozumel or Matias, and kill me…like they killed Akina?”
“No. You lived for some time after his death, but you were not the same Maya that I knew before. You were like…an empty shell. I did everything I could to convince you that it was not worth giving up your immortality, but it was no use.”
“Giving up my immortality? It’s something a god can just give up?”
“It is, yes, but it is not something commonly done. You renounced it, never to return to the Otherworld. And, eventually, you faced a human death.”
What was he saying? It was like I had committed goddess suicide! Then I thought of Matt and wondered if I could ever have lived an eternity without him. And I had my answer.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Adriana lay in bed waiting for Richard to get back. Although they’d been together for twenty years, she still didn’t like to sleep without him, even as tired as she was. It wouldn’t have mattered tonight. She’d have waited for him, anyway, even if the terrible insomnia that had been plaguing her lately wasn’t keeping her wide awake. These days, they could go all day without seeing one another. She was starting to find that their late nights together were the part of the day she liked the most. Quiet time with Richard was hard to come by.
She was way past any stages of worry when Richard came in late from night duty. Most likely, she knew, something had come up. Richard always wanted to take care of issues right away rather than putting them off. She rolled over, looked at the clock, and groaned. It was after midnight. He’d been off duty for an hour. She sat up and looked out the screen door to their porch. She could see the moon through the trees. Finally, she heard the door open and close with a quiet snick. Within a minute, she felt her mate slide in beside her and wrap one arm around her waist.
“Still awake?” he asked.
“Mmm.”
He kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry, Adri.”
“You should’ve been back an hour ago. What’s up?”
“I just felt like walking back in.”
“All the way from duty?” she asked. “You walked? Why? It takes forever. You are an avian shifter, you realize.” She smiled at him.
“Just a lot on my mind, I guess.”
“You always have a lot on your mind. What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. I just kind of regret how I handled things with Nate and Damian. It’s…well, I told myself I wouldn’t lose my temper, you know? And what do I do?”
“Hey,” she said. “First of all, they should be thanking their lucky stars they’ve never actually seen you really lose your temper. Second, you were just trying to protect Damian. Right?”
“I know. But I just keep asking myself if I would have reacted that way if—”
“If what? If Nate weren’t gay?”
“Yeah.” As he fell back against his pillow and rubbed his face with his hands, Adriana laid her hand on his chest.
“Okay, hold it right there,” she said sternly. “You’re the least prejudiced person I’ve ever known.”
“Thanks. But you may be slightly biased. Besides, Nate doesn’t know me very well. And he was right, Adri. I did ask him things I would never have asked a shifter.”
“Richard, shifters don’t have sexual histories to ask about. When’s the last time you met one who’d had sex before mating?”
“Well I never asked Lyssa about…”
Adriana laughed. “No, you would’ve had me do that. But you didn’t because we know Cesar so well.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“I know I’m right.” She laughed again. “You’ve had lots of gay friends over the years, and you’ve never treated any of them any differently from anyone else. Nate is incredibly intelligent. I’m sure he appreciates the fact you were protective of Damian. He certainly is.”
“He really is, isn’t he?” Richard smiled. “Huh. You know, it’s funny.”
Adriana put her arms around him and cuddled up to lay her head on his chest. “What’s that?”
“The way we decided not to have kids and then ended up with a house full of them.”
“We sure have. And look at this group we got landed with.”
Richard smiled again. “Life is just so bizarre sometimes.”
“Speaking of the kids, Richard, I’m really worried about Maya. I hope she’s okay.”
He turned to face her. “Matt would know if she wasn’t.”
“I know. But she’s just so young to be taking all this on. And then to find out she isn’t who she thought she was? How many adults do you know who could take that on?”
“She’s strong,” he replied. “I really think she’ll make it through okay.”
“I hope so.”
Moments later, as Adriana felt Richard’s breathing even out, she smiled to herself. After all this time, he actually thought he could fool her. He was just as worried about Maya as she was. He worried about all of them, all the time, like worrying was part of his job. It seemed like ages ago that t
hey had decided they weren’t going to have children of their own. She had been just twenty, the age when a female shifter could first conceive. They’d been worried back then that it wouldn’t be safe. Besides, with all they were doing to stop Toltec, there wasn’t time to even talk about having a family, much less raising one.
As far as Adriana knew, neither of them had ever regretted their decision. Seeing Richard with the kids was something, though. He had really surprised her, even though he didn’t give himself anywhere near enough credit for how good he was, especially with the boys. Cesar and Matt had both lost their fathers young, and she could see how much they looked up to him. Richard had always been a natural leader. It was something that had been obvious from the second they had decided to commit to the cause.
Adriana rolled over, and looked out the porch windows again. Richard had been so amazing back in the early days. She had fallen for him almost the second she saw him. They had met at a graduation party a friend of hers was throwing, and he had asked her to dance. An hour later, they were making out in the yard by the pool. He had taken her home, kissed her good night, and left. She smiled as she remembered that he hadn’t even asked for her number, the jerk. She’d figured she’d never see him again. Two nights later, she had phased. God, she’d been scared.
Panicked, she’d taken off out of her house and run into the woods. When she’d phased for the first time beside a pond near her home, Richard had been right there. Of course, looking back, it was obvious to her that he had figured out what was happening the second he’d kissed her. He’d known that she wasn’t a shifter, at least not yet, but if he was attracted to her, she was going to become one. And soon. He had watched her in his second form, Tunkuruchu, the Owl, waiting to be there with her when she phased. He had explained everything to her, and then shown her how the transformation worked. They had also come to realize very quickly that they were mated.
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