No one voiced the words that we were all thinking. Vengeful goddesses weren’t in the habit of letting people evacuate an area before destroying the object of their wrath. I could only hope that she first went after the drug lords and gangs that had been terrorizing the tribes for decades before moving onto innocents who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But how rational were rampaging goddesses?
By the look of utter devastation on Rich’s face, I could tell that his thoughts had followed my own but had taken an even darker direction. I let Trevor pull me close to him and wrap his arms around me. Instead of pushing him aside and marching forward on my mission, I clung tightly to him. He rubbed my back, knowing that there were no words he could say to make this situation any better. The bottom line was that we were now responsible for what was sure to be a slaughter. Nausea swirled in my stomach at the thought.
“We can’t change what we’ve done,” he murmured to me. “But we don’t have the time to indulge in worry or what-ifs. We have to take responsibility for our actions and save as many as we can. The regret and self-hate can come later, after we salvage what we can.”
“Fuck,” I said. “There’s no coming back from this.”
Trevor cleared his throat. “We fucked it up, we fix it. We’re not going to sit here with our thumbs up our asses and cry about it while we wait for someone else to step in.”
Mike laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Right, let’s try not to spark another genocide while we clean up this mess.”
I pushed away from Trevor and picked up the spear from where it had fallen when the goddess had seized me with her magic. “At least we got what we came for.”
Now it was time to face my grandmother and tell her that not only was I bringing one of our most valuable artifacts back to Seaside with me, but also that I had enraged a goddess that had been sleeping peacefully for centuries.
Chapter 31
I stepped out of the vault, eager to speak with my grandmother. I frowned when the hallway in front of us was completely empty. “That’s weird,” I said worriedly. “I would think that she would wait right outside to see if we made it out.” “Yeah,” Mike murmured from behind me.
I only became more worried as we walked through the sanctuary to find it completely empty. Everyone here had abandoned their home. Where had they gone? Had the goddess taken them? Or harmed them?
“We need to find them,” I announced. “My grandmother may be unpleasant sometimes, but there were also dozens of innocents here as well.”
“We need to get out into the open air so we can use the sat phone,” Rich said as we returned to our room after giving up the search.
“Pack it up,” Trevor said. “We’ll leave tonight, there’s no point in waiting.”
“It’ll take us longer to walk through unfamiliar territory at night,” I warned as I shoved my things back in my bag.
“I’d rather be out there than stuck in this tomb,” Quinn grumbled.
“Agreed,” Davis called out from across the room.
Trevor turned his attention to me. “Didn’t you say there were easier paths to take?”
I nodded and bit my lip. “But the more well-used paths will take us through the Kogi villages, and they won’t be happy to see you there.”
“We’ll have to take the risk,” Rich said gently. “We can’t afford to delay things when there’s so much riding on this mission.”
“Fine,” I agreed reluctantly. “But remember what I said about respect. And don’t touch anything while we’re close to the villages, I don’t want you eating their crops. And if they challenge you, I want you to back down.”
“We can do that,” Davis said amiably as he swung his bag over his shoulders. “Let’s get out of here as fast as possible.” He glanced at me. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I murmured as I picked up my own bag. While I hadn’t been enthusiastic about coming here, I was still concerned about where everyone may have gone. My grandmother had sounded like she had a lot of hopes pinned on me, it seemed unlikely that she would willingly abandon her last chance of an heir on a whim.
Worry churned through me as we made our way out to the mountain. I didn’t think the goddess would have harmed anyone here because they had been her most loyal supporters.
They had probably been her only supporters. What was this goddess up to?
Rich managed to reach Caleb and relay our findings and concerns. Caleb promised to pass our information on and seemed confident about us handling a second goddess. We promised to get our asses home to Seaside as fast as possible and signed off so we could get moving.
We traveled slowly over the challenging terrain, but going down the mountain was much easier than climbing up it had been. I was grateful for all of our extra shifter senses, because if we were human, we’d never be able to make it through this terrain in the darkness. By the time the sun’s early rays were peeking out from behind the horizon, we had almost made it to one of the larger Kogi villages.
Absolute silence greeted us as we stepped into the village. There were no lookouts, no early morning risers, no smoke coming from a fire. Nothing to indicate there were any people in the vicinity.
“Uh, I hate to be the first person to say this out loud,” Rich said hesitantly. “But this is worrisome.” None of us answered, but I’m sure we were all thinking the same thing. This wasn’t good.
The quicker trails, along with our desperation, had us making it back to civilization in record time. I let out a breath of relief when we stepped foot into a small town outside of Kogi territory and saw people out on the streets.
I was the most fluent in Spanish, so I approached a group of women to find out what was going on. They spoke animatedly about the events that had occurred while we had been hiking our way through the jungle, and my dread only grew.
The guys watched me with anxious eyes as I returned to them. “The Jaguar Goddess has taken her people with her to reclaim the coastal lands,” I told them reluctantly. “Some welcomed her and the changes she promised to bring, but some didn’t heed her warning to abandon their homes.” I swallowed nervously. “She made several large demonstrations of power and some people died. There are stories of jaguars with glowing eyes roaming the streets in search of anyone brave enough to defy the goddess.” “Shit,” Mike cursed.
Trevor’s eyes tightened. “We can’t just leave to go back to Seaside. We need to fix this.”
“We can’t take on a goddess by ourselves,” Rich said quietly. “At the very least, we need Anna.”
“I think it would be better if we had about a hundred Annas,” Quinn added. “It seems like a goddess’s power far outweighs that of a fae.”
“We can’t afford to lose this weapon,” Davis pointed out. “If we go up against the goddess unprepared, she’ll simply take the spear from us and we’ll be fucked.”
“Fine,” Trevor ground out. “We retreat for now, regroup and strategize, then we’ll be back.”
I nodded in agreement, but my heart was crying out in pain. Logically, I knew I couldn’t go back in time – what was done was done. We were indirectly responsible for the people in this country being hurt or killed.
“I’ll meet you guys back in Seaside,” I said sadly.
Trevor frowned. “You’re a part of this team, and we stick together.”
“I can’t just leave Colombia with so much unfinished business,” I explained. “I’m going to the coast. I have to see that my grandmother and the others are safe.” “And the goddess?” Mike asked pointedly.
I shrugged. “I’m not going in to fight or attack her. I’m going to check on the safety of my people.”
“I know you,” Davis said. “You won’t be able to walk away if there are people hurt or suffering under her rule.”
“Would you?” I asked without hesitation.
“Reconnaissance only,” Trevor growled. “No one makes a move until we know what we’re up against and coordinate with the rest of
the pack.”
“And this?” Quinn asked as he hefted the spear that had sent us down this path.
“It should stay here,” I said decisively. “Far away from where the goddess is – I don’t want her to take it back. She may not realize that we took it from her sanctuary just yet. She was distracted when she left.”
“Quinn and Rich will stay here,” Trevor told us decisively. “Keep out of sight, and if anything goes wrong, take the spear back to Seaside. The rest of us can catch up later.”
There were a couple heartbeats of quiet where no one spoke. If something went wrong, then there was a good chance none of us would be returning to Seaside. I let out a breath that I hadn’t realized I was holding when the guys all slowly agreed to the new plan. I hated to drag them along into a mess that I’d created, but I needed their help. “Let’s get started,” I said cheerfully. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get back to Seaside.”
We found a hotel that didn’t ask us any questions and just handed over the room key in return for cash. We left our packs and the spear with Rich and Quinn while Davis, Mike, Trevor, and I set off in search of my grandmother. I was pinning all of my hopes on her ability to give us some insight as to what was going on, but my gut told me that she was no longer an ally.
It wasn’t a struggle to figure out the general location of the goddess and her followers, but it was a struggle to find transportation into the territory that she had carved out. After the violence and mass exodus of most of the residents, no one was eager to risk stepping foot back in the small coastal town that she had claimed as the new capital of her empire. We had to use a large amount of cash to buy an old car with a questionable life span to drive into the area we wanted to search.
When the four of us arrived at our destination, I eagerly climbed out of the car to stretch out my body. The four of us being crammed into a small car for several hours wasn’t fun. I watched Trevor crack his back, and Davis stretch out his arms as Mike paced around us. “This is the town,” Mike said. “Now what?”
“Now, I shift and find my grandmother,” I told him firmly. “I know her scent and I’ll be able to track her to wherever she’s staying.”
“And you want us to wait in the car?” Davis asked in disbelief.
“Nah,” I teased him. “I’m not that cruel. I’m going to ask you to do some reconnaissance around town to figure out exactly what we’re up against.”
Trevor nodded. “We’ll gather intel on the number of followers the goddess has and what their defenses look like.”
“As long as you promise not to engage her,” Mike cautioned me.
“I won’t,” I agreed.
“And you won’t approach your grandmother if the goddess is anywhere near her?” Davis pushed.
I raised my chin. “I’ll wait until she’s alone.” “Good girl,” Davis said with a grin.
“You like having your balls attached to the rest of your body, right?” I asked sweetly.
Mike snorted. “You should know better,” he said with a shake of his head at Davis.
Trevor grunted and then looked at me. “You have one hour, and then we meet back here.”
“Three,” I said assertively. “The town isn’t that small, and I may have to stake out the location to wait for a good time to approach her.”
Trevor and I stared at each other, neither one of us willing to back down.
“Two?” Mike offered. “We check back here and then decide if we keep hunting or make a new plan.”
“Fine,” Trevor said with a growl. “But if you’re not back in two hours then we’re coming after you,” he warned me.
I nodded at him solemnly. I might put my own life at risk, but I wasn’t willing to get them killed from my own stupidity. I’d make it back here to keep them from getting into trouble. “Two hours,” I agreed.
I gave them all fist bumps and then started walking down the hill to the town. “You’re not going to change?” Mike called after me.
“Not yet,” I said as I turned to walk backwards so I could face him. “I’m going to try the easy way first.”
I heard grumbling that definitely came from Trevor, but I ignored him and continued on my way. The clock had started ticking on my two hours, and I had a lot of ground to cover.
Chapter 32
“Samantha,” my grandmother called to me from inside of the villa I was currently lurking outside of. “Come in here and speak with me.”
I located the ‘priestesses’ of the Jaguar Goddess fairly quickly as almost everyone I had come across was able to point me in the right direction. I hadn’t been sure of what I would be walking into, so I had changed into my jaguar form to prowl through the dark night and spy on the villa that my grandmother had taken as her own.
I padded up to the house cautiously, but only saw my grandmother on the stone patio where she waited for me. “Come inside,” she told me with an elegant inclination of her head.
I walked through the doorway, cautiously taking in all the scents in the room and using my magical senses to feel for anyone else in the area. “I knew you were coming tonight,” my grandmother told me. “I asked the others for space.”
I shook my head. The powers that my grandmother had constantly surprised me. I shifted back to my human form and stood before her. “You helped the goddess murder innocent people?”
Hába Nábia turned up her nose at me. “Hardly. The goddess gave everyone here their ancestral knowledge back, and they made their own decisions.”
I just stared at her, and she pointed to a silk robe that had been laid over the chair nearest to me. Because I needed a moment to gather my thoughts anyway, I used it to cover my nudity. “Ancestral knowledge?”
“Who we were as a people a thousand years ago,” she explained. “Our rights and our duties to the goddess. They were given the choice to follow her or leave her territory. Some of them chose to defy her.”
“You mean they chose not to abandon their homes, jobs, and family?” I asked sarcastically. “How dare they?”
“The world is changing, Búndzi,” she said patiently. “The goddess has gone to wake some of her other brethren, and they will all claim their own territories.”
My eyes widened. “Brethren?”
She nodded solemnly. “There’s a god of war in the Middle East, she’s gone to enlist his help. The others may still be sleeping.”
“And the Morrigan?” I asked cautiously. I really hoped these gods weren’t going to align with her to destroy our world further.
“Our goddess says the Morrigan does not belong in our world,” Hába Nábia said stiffly.
“We won’t have peace until she is banished back to where she came from.”
I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or worried. “The Jaguar Goddess wants peace, and she starts by killing?”
“Sometimes a sacrifice is needed for the greater good,” my grandmother told me.
“Not like this,” I muttered. “And what about the goddess’s sanctuary in the mountains?”
“It will remain hidden from the world,” Hába Nábia said sternly.
I shrugged. “Can you promise that she won’t hurt any other innocent people?”
My grandmother spread her hands wide. “That’s not her intention, as I’ve already explained to you. She wants a quiet corner of the world where she can live in peace, surrounded by her people.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “And she’ll help rid the world of the Morrigan and the other dark fae?”
“She will,” my grandmother said in exasperation.
I stared at the older woman who was almost a stranger to me. I doubted that the goddess had been honest about her intentions. But could we wait for her to rid the world of the Morrigan and the others who wanted to destroy the world? After the Morrigan was gone we could find a way to fix what had gone wrong here, but would that be too late?
“You should go,” Hába Nábia cautioned me. “Your heart is not pure with the love of your
goddess and I don’t know how she will react to your presence here.”
“What happened to me being your heir?” I asked sarcastically.
My grandmother gave me a warm smile. “You’ve already far exceeded my expectations for you already. I had thought it would take years of training before my visions came to pass, but you brought the goddess back to us much sooner than I could have ever hoped.”
“That’s why you agreed to let us in the vault?” I asked with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “What else have your visions shown you?”
“Our goddess will be returning here soon,” Hába Nábia said as she shooed me to the edge of the patio. “Return to your men and leave this place. Ximena has told her the truth of your loyalties in a misguided attempt to curry favor with the goddess. Your unique heritage has already served its purpose, and the goddess may see you as a threat.”
But, of course, Ximena would have found a way to screw me over again. I scowled and dropped the robe I had borrowed before shifting back to my panther form. My two-hour time limit was just about up anyway, and I didn’t want to have to round up the guys if they decided to search the town for me.
As I loped through the empty streets and back to where I hoped Trevor and the others waited safely for me, I tried to stay focused. It would be easy to lose myself in despair and hopelessness at the events I caused to occur, but I was a fighter. I steeled myself with determination. I’d been in a lot of fights where I wasn’t sure I’d come away as the winner, but I’d never sat one out before. And this time, I wasn’t fighting alone.
My ears perked when there was a surge of power in the direction of where I was supposed to meet the guys, and fear ran through me. I broke out into a sprint as I headed in that direction and pushed myself to go even faster than I thought possible. My muscles burned, and my breath came fast as I got in sight of my guys.
Finding Buried Secrets: A Seaside Wolf Pack Novel Page 23
