by Jane Cousins
As he watched her interact with her people, in an ancient language he had no hope of understanding, he began to notice subtle differences. The way she stood, spine straight, shoulders thrown back, it spoke of a confidence that his kid sister had distinctly been lacking in. There was no sign of her wire frame glasses, and he wondered if she no longer needed them or if something had happened to them.
After a few minutes of exchange, the tribespeople reluctantly began to clamber slowly up the dangling vines. K’in watched their progress for several seconds before issuing a sharp, short whistle, their evacuation of the area immediately sped up.
Holding up her palm to keep her visitors in place, Copper watched her people disappear over the edge of the looming canyon wall, cocking her head she listened to ensure they had completely left the area. Dropping her hand, she grinned, teeth looking very white against the layers of mud.
“Nico!” She laughed as Nico launched himself across the space separating them, grabbing her and spinning her about before handing her over to his brother. “Matias… you stubborn A-hole, I should have known as soon as I said stay away you would race right here.” Copper issued another laugh and then slung an arm around each of her brothers. “And you brought guests with you… or should that be bodyguards?” Copper noted, as Elijah signalled for his team to take up positions around the canyon in a protective ring.
Nico hurriedly made introductions. Copper smiling broadly at Jodie in greeting before transferring her attention to Quinn, eyeing her with curiosity.
Quinn eyed her right back. There was something magnetic about Copper Yanez. The way she moved. The way she seemed to be aware of everything and everyone around her. It wasn’t hard to understand why the locals had identified her as a Goddess and adopted her accordingly. And from the devotion she had witnessed a few minutes ago, Quinn would be willing to bet it was going to be no small task in getting Copper out of here. Hmmm… that’s if she wanted to go.
The girl’s… woman’s body language clearly indicated she was pleased to see her older brothers. But it didn’t scream relief that they were here. Or that she in any way required saving. Heavens, Quinn had a sneaky suspicion that this reunion of the Yanez siblings was not going to go the way either Nico or Matias had planned.
Copper sent Quinn a small half smile, almost as if she read her mind. “Now.” She turned to look at Matias. “We need to get to work on sending you home, before Gap’gn gets word that the Guardian is here. If he gets his hands on the last Shard, then bye bye world.”
Nico gaped in confusion whilst Matias reared back in astonishment. “What? What do you mean I have the Shard? I don’t have the Shard.”
Copper reached up to push back a few damp curls from Matias’s forehead, a gentle finger tracing over the starburst scar on his right temple, leaving behind a slight smear of mud. “Everything happened so fast, that day on the boat. It wasn’t until I landed here still clutching the blade of Cum Hua that I put two and two together and realised what I had done. Gap’gn was not pleased to discover the blade was empty.” Something flashed in the golden brown depths of Copper’s eyes, pain, anger…loathing.
“What did you do, Copper? That day on the Maverick? What did you do to me?” Matias gripped Copper’s upper arms gently but firmly, dislodging some dried mud, a few flakes falling to the ground.
“You were there. You know what I did.” Copper looked at Matias, then Nico in confusion.
“He doesn’t remember.” Nico informed her grimly. “His memory resets every day. His last memories are of being on the Merry Maverick… that last day. Every morning he wakes, and he is back there.”
Copper blinked slowly but she met Matias’s gaze unflinchingly. “I didn’t know that would happen. And even if I did…”
“You’d do it again because the fate of the world was at stake.” Quinn finished for her.
“Yes.” Copper lifted her chin slightly higher. “I knew that day that all three of us would have heavy burdens to bear to keep the Shard from Gap’gn and his Jag-off sluts’ clutches. Thanks to my studies, I’d read the legend of Gap’gn partnering with Cum Hua to take over the world. The moment I held the blade, saw the blood on the deck and Matias’s face after he returned from looking for Mama and Papa, I knew what needed to be done to keep the blade from Gap’gn’s agent.”
Nico clapped a hand on each of his sibling’s shoulders, hugging them both tightly in support.
“So you see why we need to get Matias out of here pronto? Can you just…” Copper snapped her fingers. “…and poof?”
“No.” Nico shook his head. “It’s a lot more complicated than that.
“And we won’t be leaving without you, Copper.” Matias looked militant.
“I can’t leave. If I’m not here to protect them, Gap’gn will go after my people. He’s desperate for more human sacrifices to win back the favour of Cum Hua.”
“You’ve spent ten years protecting the midgets, Copper. Haven’t you done enough?” Nico wanted to know.
Copper chuffed a soft laugh. “Those midgets are just kids, Nico. There aren’t all that many adults left, thanks to Gap’gn and his obsidian altar. So, no, I haven’t done enough yet.”
Quinn ignored the siblings, listening to Nico and Matias try to convince a stalwart Copper to fall in with their plans was exhausting. If they wanted Copper to return with them and save the world, they would need to come at this from a different angle other than a simple cut and run.
After all, Matias couldn’t avoid salt water for the rest of his life. The Jag-offs would eventually track him down again. Now, or in the future.
Hmm, and there was also the issue of Matias’s memory to consider. She’d become complacent in her quest to help him because of the stay awake potion. At least she now knew what the barrier was that had set up shop in Matias’s head. A Shard of sheer power belonging to the Goddess of Life and the Sun. No wonder she’d been almost blinded trying to get a look at the thing. And no wonder all sorts of wild and wacky things had been occurring every time she and Matias touched.
But what if there were a way to cure Matias, kill Gap’gn and release Copper from her Goddess duties? Hadn’t Cara said that the Guardian was fated to kill Gap’gn? Of course Cara had also said the God of the hunt, Ah Tabai, would appear, fall in love and steal K’in… Copper away.
So the question was, what was fact and what was fiction?
“How did you transfer the Shard to Matias?” The siblings were talking at one another all at once. So Quinn repeated her question again, only louder. Thankfully getting their attention.
Copper shrugged, a strangely human movement for someone camouflaged as a tree. “It was the blade, the obsidian blade. I first thought it was a tablet of some kind. Only after reading the inscription did I have an idea that it was the hollow blade created by the God, Cum Hua. And when Gap’gn captured me, he confirmed that it was the blade he’d used to tear into Ixchel.”
“You were held captive by Gap’gn?” Elijah interjected himself into the conversation for the first time. His eyes travelling slowly over Copper’s frame, seeming to zero in on something on her arm. Too quick for Quinn to see, Copper reached over and smeared mud to cover some exposed flesh on her inner arm. “When did he get hold of you?”
“When I first arrived. You do realise it was that one-eyed bitch Kristiah who betrayed us?”
The Yanez brothers nodded grimly.
Quinn issued a frustrated sigh. “I’m only sorry that the flare gun didn’t do more damage.”
Copper frowned. “You’re the one who blinded Kristiah? She said something about a strange blonde appearing out of thin air. How did you do it?”
Quinn nodded. “Long story short, when Matias and I touched he sent me back in time to that horrible day on the Merry Maverick. I met Kristiah in all her hybrid glory.”
Copper’s head tilted to the side slightly. “And you two touch a lot, do you?”
Matias grinned, whilst Quinn flushed. Fighting the urge to re
spond to Copper’s teasing, sure that would only flame expectations higher. “You were telling us about how you gave Matias the Shard?”
“Gave?” Copper’s lips twisted up in a wry smile. “I slipped, Matias reached out to steady me and the tablet… the flat of the blade slammed against his temple. There was this flash of brilliant white light. We slammed apart. Matias back towards the bulkhead and me over the side into the ocean. Except I didn’t hit the water. Next thing I know I’m standing in the shallows, facing a beach. With a Mayan temple off in the distance. A few minutes later I was surrounded by Jag-offs who escorted me to the temple for a tour. I put what happened together thanks to all the questions Kristiah and Gap’gn asked me.”
“You fell overboard?” Matias shook his head. “I must have thought you’d dive down to the air buoys we’d set up earlier. That you’d be safe there. Until I could come get you.”
“I think the blade is the key.” Everyone looked to Quinn for more information. “Think about it. The blade was obviously designed to be used against a Goddess. It was capable of containing the Shard the villager managed to steal. It was what was smuggled to the Spanish priest to take home on the Maria Rosa. If the blade can transfer the power out, it must be able to suck the power back in.”
“Out of me.” Matias looked intrigued by the idea. With the Shard gone, his memory problems should technically cease to exist.
“Or it might just kill you.” Quinn shrugged. “It’s probably not something we should rush into.”
“But not a bad theory. I mean the sucking the power back in, not the killing me part.” Matias elaborated, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Not a theory we can test either way.” Copper glanced up to the thick grey cloud cover overhead for a brief moment. “Gap’gn reclaimed the knife at our first meeting.”
“We could sneak in and grab it.” Nico offered a solution.
Copper shook her head. “He uses it for ceremonial purposes and every time I’ve seen him he’s been wearing it, strapped to his arm or thigh. I don’t think he’s willing to let his one and only connection to the God, Cum Hua, out of his sight again.”
Matias rested his hands on his hips, releasing a soft growl of frustration. “So now what?”
Copper glanced towards the skies again. “Now we head for higher ground. There’s a storm coming.”
Both Nico and Matias protested. It was Elijah who closed the issue down. “We’re in a canyon. See those flood marks way up there?” He pointed towards the nearest rock face. “I’m betting all these ravines flood during a storm, am I right?”
Copper nodded. “Yes. Come on. I have some safe bolt holes nearby where you can rest, eat and sleep. Once the storm clears we can regroup and talk about how to get you all back where you came from.”
“Us.” Nico insisted stubbornly. “You’re coming with us, Copper.”
Copper studied her oldest brother for a moment before abruptly turning and striding away with a graceful, lithe, liquid stride. “We can argue later. Move now. The storms come in vicious and fast here.”
Quinn stepped into line obediently behind Adrian. Mentally gearing herself up for a mediation session between the Yanez siblings that promised to be long, drawn out, and stressful. She recognised that stubborn glint in Copper’s eyes. She had witnessed that look enough when it came to Matias when he was determined to get his own way.
Damn, how was it going to sit with the Yanez brothers when they realised that she supported Copper’s right to make her own choices? Their sister was a woman full grown. One who’d survived and adapted in an extremely hostile, primitive environment. One who didn’t shy away from her responsibilities in regards to continuing to guide and protect the people she no doubt had come to see as hers.
Glancing towards the front of the line, Quinn was intrigued to watch Elijah glide up close to Copper and say something that caused their guide to almost stumble. Hmmm, what was up with that? Maybe the question of whether Copper would be staying wouldn’t be fought just amongst the Yanez siblings.
Merciful Lady, she almost pitied Copper if Elijah decided to butt his nose into her problems. The Head of the Enforcers was implacable when it came to thinking he knew what was best for others. That’s what happened when you spent so long in a leadership position and every man and woman who followed your orders believed you to be part invincible machine, part tactical genius.
Although… Elijah had never faced off against a Goddess before.
Chapter Nineteen
“Did you have to be so obvious about it?” Quinn enquired, sitting on the rocky ledge of their small cavern, gazing down at the dark blue slow moving river.
“Obvious about what exactly?” Matias sat down next to her. Holding out some dried fruit he’d found stashed in one corner of the bolt hole.
Quinn plucked at the collar of her long-sleeve yoga top. Heavens, it wasn’t just hot here, suddenly the air was so oppressive it was almost an effort to force the thickened air in and out of her lungs. “The two of us. Here. Alone. I saw that look you sent Nico.”
“I think you misread that look.” Matias bit into what he thought might be dried papaya. “Nico wants to get Copper alone so he can play the eldest, wiser brother card. That was all you saw.”
“Oh.” Quinn popped a berry into her mouth and then a second one.
“Why? Is there a problem? You and me being alone together?” Matias grinned knowingly, gulping down some fresh water he’d found in a hollowed out gourd.
“No. I suppose I just thought with Jodie here and not in the best of shape, my medical skills would have been better utilised if I bunked with her.” Oh, good save, Quinn was proud of herself.
“I’m pretty sure Jodie doesn’t want to look weak in front of Elijah. And I’m also detecting a small hero worship vibe coming from her regarding Copper. You can’t blame her for wanting to stick with the Enforcers for a planning session.”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Which just leaves the two of us.” Matias bit into another piece of dried fruit, passing the fresh water over to Quinn.
“Thanks.” She tamped down on the urge to flinch as his fingers brushed lightly over hers for a brief moment. Grrr, she needed to lock down her reactions. Be more like Matias, skin to skin contact should be casual, meaningless.
She should be thankful she wasn’t being subjected to heated sexual anomalies, fainting, travelling through time or even being forced to witness any of Matias’s memories. No deep, dark, revealing secrets with every touch. Nor for that matter, any memories featuring him flirting or pursuing other women. Too often a mood killer when it came to her interactions with men. Quinn tipped back the gourd and drank deeply.
In fact, if anything, Matias, right at this moment, was the perfect man for her. He was gorgeous, funny, capable and determined. With his day to day memories intact, the man was actually kind of nice. Okay, he was hell bent on tempting her to stray from her rigid, healthy, perfectly balanced lifestyle.
But to be bone deep honest, she liked the fact that he bothered to try. Remembering how pleased he had looked when she had bitten into that churro dipped in chocolate. How heat had simmered in those rich toffee eyes when she had matched him step for step in that wickedly intimate tango they had danced together.
Yes, if anyone could lead her into temptation, it would be Matias Yanez.
There was only one little problem. She’d spent so many years saying no. Resisting. Shoring up her rigid self-control until it was titanium strength, she really wasn’t sure how you went about letting go. Her relationships in the past had all boiled down to suitable focused men who fit in with her schedule and came and went in her life, barely causing a ripple.
Matias had tsunami devastation written all over him.
But it wasn’t like he would hang around, was it? He’d been very clear a few days ago about not being a guy who wanted anything more than a brief, heated fling.
And if they did manage to fix his memory problems, Matias
had a decade of living… of women, to no doubt catch up on. He’d leave the Southern Sanctuary for sure, no wonder he’d been very clear to spell out his desire for a hot, brief - no getting attached - fling.
Which led her back around to her previous question. How did she go about letting go? Seducing Matias? Because yes, damn it, that’s what she wanted out of these whole seriously weird couple of days. A memory. One that belonged just to her. Of her being unafraid, of taking what… who she wanted with no regard for tomorrow, the next day, or some as yet undefined future when she was crazier than all her relatives combined.
Come on, think. How would Charisse, her cousin the Siren handle this? Useless comparison, she couldn’t sing worth a damn. She couldn’t lay a trap and hogtie him like Darcy. Or place him in a headlock and subdue him like Hadleigh. Damn, damn, she was a psychiatrist, she should know the importance of being true to herself. So how should she, Quinn Bennett, go about seducing a man like Matias?
Grrr, she was over thinking this. Matias had already said he’d be up for a sexual encounter with her. So she just needed to give him a signal. Signal? Bat? Green light? Come hither smile?
“Do you think Copper was mistaken about the storm?” Quinn tugged futilely at the neck of her top once more.
Matias looked out over the river at the tranquil dense jungle on the other side. “May-” A gust of wind slammed into his face, pushing back his curls, causing the vegetation clinging to the sheer rock face around their ledge to dance and jerk. A dark shadow raced across the landscape. Looking up he noted the thick, threatening, almost black clouds coming in fast. “Er… maybe not.”
“What’s that sound?” Quinn stared hard into the dense jungle on the other side of the river. Drums? An army? Whatever, it was getting nearer and louder. Frowning, she realised suddenly that she couldn’t see the other side of the river. A wall of water was falling from the sky, closing in on their position fast. Next the river began to churn as the sheet of rain traversed closer still.