The Bloodgate Warrior (6 page)

Actually, my shoulder throbbed like a bitch. I clamped my left hand over the aching muscle on my right shoulder and swallowed down a moan. I could feel the imprints of his teeth through my T-shirt.

His teeth.

My heart thundered in my ears. I scrambled to my feet and whirled around, scanning the water, the tunnel. Head bowed, José knelt at the altar, his shoulders shaking. Natalie stared at me as though she couldn’t decide whether to slap me for being an idiot or hug me. Then slap me.

“Where is he?”

“José’s right there. Thank God he was here to help me drag you up out of the water.” She glared at me. “See? You did need us both to drag your ass to safety!”

“No.
Him.
The man I’ve been dreaming about. He was here!”

“Honey, there’s no one here. No one but us.”

My throat ached from holding back my scream of rage and frustration. He’d done it again. Touched me, made love to me beyond my wildest dreams, and then disappeared. No one believed me. Again.

Was he here or not? Had I gone through all of this to search out his grave only to dream the whole fucking thing?

I did what you wanted! I found the gate and used my blood. Why aren’t you here?

I traced my fingers over the mark in my shoulder. I wished I could see it. What did it look like? A love bite? I bet it was bruised and raw.

Natalie’s fingers closed over mine. Lost in the memory of his passion, it took me a moment to realize that she brushed my wet hair back and tugged the neck of my shirt aside. Her sharp inhale warned me that it must look pretty bad.

“When did you get a tattoo?”

“What?” I craned my neck, trying to see my shoulder. Blue-green sparkled in my skin, glowing in the candlelight. Feathered wings fanned out on my shoulder, one disappearing up my neck, the other down my arm beneath my shirt. In the shifting light, the feathers seemed to move, as though they pulsed with life.
Or magic.

Fingers shaking, I traced the delicate sweep of wings. Instead of the tattoo, I felt the ring his teeth had left behind, a half-moon on the front of my shoulder, right above my collarbone. The other half-moon curved above on the ridge of muscle. Faint traces of red rubies glittered in the feathers.

José came closer, stretching out his hand, where he gripped another quetzal feather like a holy relic. He offered it to me until I finally took it. “You carry his mark, lady, and his
nahual
follows you, watching over you.” Then he stunned me by falling to his knees. He seized my hand and pressed my knuckles to his cheek. “Técun Úman lives again. He comes to save us all!”

Embarrassed, I tugged my hand away and begged him to get up. Natalie didn’t act like she even knew who I was anymore. Hell, I didn’t know who I was. Not with this magical tattoo emblazed on my shoulder, a quetzal following me around, and a dream warrior who was supposedly a Mayan god.

I tucked the feather behind my ear and marched back toward our waiting car, though I couldn’t stop glancing about eagerly, hoping to catch sight of him.

Where the hell are you?
Disgusted with myself, I got into the rear seat of the car and slammed the door.
I hope your magic will help you drive, because I’m not sticking around any longer.

* * *

I’m the biggest idiot ever born.

I stared at myself in the mirror, completely decked out like I was going on the hottest date of my life. My best—and shortest—black dress, my highest, sexiest red patent-leather heels, my hair pulled up on top of my head with tendrils framing my face.

And that freaking tattoo plastered over my right shoulder.

At least the glittering red matched my shoes.

I hung the shawl back up in the closet, refusing to cover it up. This was proof that I wasn’t crazy. I couldn’t help tracing my fingers over the mark again. The indentations from his teeth had faded, much to my regret, but I still remembered. His big body flexing against me, his hands gripping me so fiercely, his teeth digging into my shoulder. Claiming me.

Shuddering, I pushed the image away. I didn’t have time for daydreams right now. If he were here, somewhere…

Maybe I won’t have to settle for a dream tonight.

Which was exactly why I’d chosen to go commando beneath my dress.

Natalie took one look at my shoulder and averted her gaze. When she didn’t hurry away like I was a leper, I breathed a little easier.

“What, you thought I’d abandon you because of some strange magical shit going down? Have a little faith in your best friend.”

Guilty as charged. I tried to make it up to her. “I know you’d never walk out on me, Nat. I’m scared. I just figured you were scared too.”

Sitting down at our table, she blew out her breath. “Yeah, scared is the understatement of the year. I never doubted you, not really, but I just thought there had to be a logical explanation for what was happening. When the last person in the world who’d ever willingly get a tattoo suddenly sprouts a big bird on her shoulder, I have to start wondering if maybe something otherworldly really is happening. Everything happened in your dreams, so I really didn’t think it was real.”

I couldn’t be mad, because I’d tried to explain it away the same way.
It’s all in your head. You’re just stressed. You nearly died.

“So tell me again what he said.”

“When he’s called forth, it’s always during a time of great danger. He’s the ultimate warrior, called to stand against the darkness threatening our world.”

“Like Alvarado.”

“Exactly.”

“Except he lost that battle.”

I didn’t want to think about him dying and suffering, locked away for hundreds of years. “Something must have gone wrong, because he hasn’t been able to come back.”

“You mean that it wasn’t part of the master plan for him to die then?”

“Luisa felt terrible guilt for failing in her quest to stop Alvarado. I don’t think Técun was supposed to die then.” Rubbing my temples, I tried to think things through. “But I don’t know if the gate was locked because of his death and defeat, or if it was part of Luisa’s curse. She managed to tie her bloodline to him, which is how I supposedly opened the gate.”

“But you didn’t even know what a gate was.”

“I still don’t. Not really.”

“So if he came through… Where is he?”

Now it was my turn to blow out my breath in a loud huff. “The hell if I know. When I fell in the water, I was with him, Nat. I could feel him, touch him. Just like in a dream.” I hadn’t exactly been straight with her about the steamy quality to these dreams. Just thinking about admitting the truth made my cheeks color.

Of course, Natalie noticed my blush immediately and let out a low chuckle. “Ah, now I get it. You’ve been keeping secrets about these dreams, haven’t you, Cass? Is he good?”

My cheeks burned hotter and she leaned forward. “Oh, wow, really good, then.”

“Well, he is a Mayan god.”

She snorted. “No wonder you’ve been so distraught when these dreams end. So again, where is he?”

“I don’t…” My brain shut off. The words were simply gone. I stared at her, eyes wide, my brain completely blank. My skin twitched, burning, like the tattoo was trying to fly out of my skin.

“Cass?”

“I think he’s here.”

She squealed like a teenaged girl. “Where? Oh.”

Her gaze shifted behind me and her face paled. Her hands trembled so badly she knocked over her wineglass, something elegant Natalie would never do.

The gorgeous muscled warrior who’d been in my dreams for months would never cause such a reaction from her. Drooling, yes. Silliness, unfortunately. But never clumsiness from a world-class ballroom dancer. Without even looking back, I jumped up, grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the door.

Something crashed behind us, making me glance back. I wished I hadn’t.

A…thing shambled after us. It was alarmingly fast for something so obviously dead. Stringy hair whipped about its skull. Skin dangled on its bones. I wouldn’t even have been able to tell if it were a man or woman, except for the metal helmet on its head.

Even I knew what a Spanish conquistador looked like.

The other guests screamed and ran for the exit too. Jostled and nearly knocked down, I jerked Natalie aside to let the main stampede pass. We couldn’t run anyway, not in stilettos. José beckoned from a side door that led out to the patio, so I raced toward him.

Pausing to sniff the air, the zombie turned its head as we changed direction. It clicked its jaws—a horrible rattle of death—and lurched after us.

“This way, ladies.” José slammed the door behind us and started to drag a heavy potted urn over to barricade it. I grabbed the other edge, shoved with all my strength, and we managed to shift it over. “That might slow it down.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Natalie retorted. “Was that a motherfucking
zombie
?”

I cringed at her volume. When she got scared, she got loud and she cursed. A lot. She’d taught the paramedics a few choice phrases as they resuscitated me.

The creature slammed against the door, rattling the opaque glass in its frame.

“What should we do, lady?”

I stared at José. He expected
me
to do something about that walking corpse? What could I possibly do but kick off my ridiculous heels and run? Despite my sexy dreams, I hadn’t turned into Lara Croft overnight.

“She should stand aside and allow her warrior to put this unnatural creature to rest.”

That voice. I closed my eyes, fighting the instant swamping need that made my body sit up and beg for big, roughened hands, muscled power and magnificent, arrogant warrior.

“Um, I think he’s here now, Cass.”

I wished I could open my eyes to see the look on Natalie’s face, but I was afraid to look at Técun before I got my fierce reaction under control. The thing on the other side of the door slammed against it again and glass shattered. That made my eyes fly open quick enough.

A big hand closed over my elbow and gently guided me to the side. I didn’t realize my mouth was hanging open until he dipped a finger beneath my chin and closed it for me.

He was the man of my dreams…but not. I’d assumed he’d walk into the hotel dressed like an ancient Mayan warrior, or at least a mighty god king in all his glory. But he looked…normal. At least, as normal as a well-over-six-foot-tall man with the build of a wrestler could pull off.

Dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt that set off his dark skin and sleek black hair, he looked damned good but not like a reincarnated national hero. With a cocky grin, he winked at me and then turned his attention to the zombie trying to crawl through the shattered door.

If I hadn’t been staring at him, I would have missed it. He casually reached out and twisted the thing’s head off like a chicken. One minute, the zombie snapped stained, jagged teeth at his hand, and the next, a loud pop followed by a toss, and a headless corpse lay in the door, still twitching.

“Is that…” I had to wet my lips and clear my throat, because my mouth had gone as dry as the Sahara. “Alvarado?”

Técun shrugged. “It’s doubtful. Alvarado’s freshly risen corpse would give me more challenge than this creature. Be grateful it wasn’t a Lord of Xibalba.”

Three more men joined us, strangers but Guatemalan by their coloring. They stood side by side, alert but polite, reminding me of Secret Service bodyguards. One of them handed Técun a cloth napkin and he calmly wiped his hands, while the other two gathered up the decomposing body. I hoped they burned it.

Natalie let out a laugh that jarred my ears. I stepped closer to her and gripped her hand. “It’s okay. It’s
him
.”

“Did you see him rip that thing’s head off? I’m going to have nightmares about that, Cass, and I guarantee they won’t be as good as the dreams you’ve had.”

My cheeks burned crimson.

He came close enough that I could feel the heat of his body, though I refused to look at him. “Were they very good dreams, Cassie?”

His scent hit my nose and my heart began pounding. He’d warned that my body would recognize him, but I wasn’t prepared for the can of Insta-Lust to detonate in my southern regions. This wasn’t a dream any longer where I could let my wildest fantasies unfold. This was real. This was my life.

I have to protect myself by keeping my head.

Sensing my hesitation, he changed the subject. “Let me introduce my friends. These are the Rojases. Marco, Jorge and Angel.”

That surname sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d heard it until José reminded me. “They own the land protecting Utatlán.”

They were the descendants of the last great kings of this region, maybe even Técun’s descendants in some way. No wonder they were so deferential to him. He wasn’t just their hero, but also their most famous ancestor.

“And
your
name?” Natalie’s voice rang out.

Oh, dear. I knew that tone.

With upmost respect, he replied, “Técun Rojas.”

“Your long-lost family, huh?”

“Yes.”

She smiled triumphantly, and I groaned out loud. “Got the documentation to prove it?”

One of the men stepped forward and handed her several documents. They’d even managed photo identification, all showing him as a Rojas. I wasn’t sure if it was faked or real. Did it really matter? It wasn’t like he’d ever need a passport to travel to America with me…

Tears burned my eyes but I fought them back. Ridiculous to cry for a man that I’d never met in the flesh until tonight. Right after he ripped the head off a zombie. A laugh escaped my lips, and it didn’t sound very stable.

Técun took my hand and linked my arm with his, drawing me into his side. “Please excuse us. Ms. Gonzales and I have several things to discuss.”

Natalie might be small and wiry, but she was as protective as a mother hen. She stepped right up into his space. “You’re not taking my friend anywhere until I know more about you. We don’t have any idea who you really are.”

“I am the man she called forth by the strength of her courage and the magic in her blood. Would you keep her from her destiny?”