Mating Call

by Martha Bourke

  “Yeah, but it’s not coming up. It’s a repeat. Damn. I’m gonna grab my book.”

  His mate started to get up, then froze.

  “Ev? What is it?”

  She turned and bolted from the room without even answering him. What the..? He took off after her. His long powerful legs allowed him to catch up to her easily. He followed her as she ran down the hall staircase, toward the drawing room. But she didn’t stop there. Where the hell was she going? “Ev!”

  Reyn sat on the bed leaning against the headboard. Akina dozed with her head in his lap. He instantly regretted the long hello they’d had. She looked so exhausted. That bunch of dicks in the Otherworld so had it coming.

  His mate turned her face and looked up at him. “I fell asleep? I’m sorry.”

  “You’re exhausted, Kina. You need to rest.”

  She stretched her strong, graceful arms up around his neck. “I missed you so much.”

  He leaned down and gently rubbed his lips along hers. “I know.”

  All of a sudden, she sat up. “I believe we have company coming.”

  “Shit. You get dressed and I’ll get the bed.”

  She slipped into her white gown while he threw the duvet over the bed. He pulled on his jeans and t-shirt just as there was a knock at the door. He opened it and barely had time to register that it was Evy before she was flying past him.

  The Seer stopped in front of the Goddess and began to kneel.

  “No, my sister. You kneel before no one.” She took Evy’s hand and guided her into an embrace. “I am so glad that you are well. I was so afraid for you last night. Did I hurt you?”

  “No, my Goddess. I’m alright.”

  “You must never go there again, Evelyn. Promise me.”

  Evy nodded. “I promise.”

  Akina looked past Reyn at Troy who was still standing in the doorway. “Come, Troy. Let me see the two of you together at last.”

  She placed her hands on their foreheads and closed her eyes for a moment. “Troy, you bore the scars of a warrior so young in life. So brave. So very brave. I knew you were perfect for my Evelyn. Keep her safe.”

  “Always, my Goddess.”

  “Evelyn. Your gift is the most powerful I can bestow. But it is also the most difficult to bear. You have learned to use it well, even without my help.” She smiled. “I have great faith in you both.”

  Troy looked back at Reyn. “We’ll, um, just let you two have some privacy. It’s late.”

  “Do me a favor and keep her presence here to yourselves for now.” He closed the door after them and sat down beside his mate. “Pretty amazing, huh?”

  She smiled, but it faded quickly. “Yes, they have an incredibly strong connection. Somehow I sense they will play a far greater role in this war than they realize.”

  He wiped away a tear as it fell down her face. “They’re strong, Kina. You wouldn’t have chosen them otherwise.”

  She nodded. “No matter what manner of being you are, it is always difficult to send the ones you love into battle.”

  X was working at his desk. Well, maybe working wasn’t quite the right word. Cyber stalking was probably closer to the truth. He looked at Rose’s image on the screen and finally admitted to himself that his photographic memory wasn’t the problem. He knew what it was now. He was being led to her. Man, he was starting to understand how his boy Troy felt, which was So. Not. Good. He opened up a new tab in the browser and Harvard’s Extension School came up. Slowly, he scrolled down to a course called Japan in Asia and the World taught by Professor R. Sato and checked availability. He circled the enroll button with his mouse. Hell, even if he did sign up it didn’t mean he had to go, right? He could always bail.

  Xavier took a deep breath and hit enroll.

  Then he clicked back to Rose’s picture. He would never interfere with her life. He just needed to be close to her somehow. He reached out to touch the screen when a knock at the door shocked him back to reality. He hit the screen saver. “Come in.”

  Ana walked into X’s room carrying her laptop. “Hey. I’m sorry. I know it’s late.”

  “No worries. You alright, sis?”

  “I’m not sure. I need to show you something.”

  She walked over to his desk and set her laptop next to his.

  X stroked his goatee thoughtfully as he watched the scene in Victrixa’s office play through a couple times. “That’s some serious shit, dig?”

  “So it’s not a blip on the tape?”

  He shook his head. “I mean, I can test it to be sure, but my first instinct is that the recording is sound.”

  “That’s what I thought. There’s no way she could be doing that without some major magic, right? But how? How could she be using that kind of power when she can’t even gleam?”

  “You’ve seen her working spells, sis.”

  “Yeah, but nothing like this.”

  X leaned back in his chair. “I’m just putting this out there as a possibility, but what if you’re focusing too much on Victrixa as the source of power?”

  “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “What if someone or something else is working the magic on that tape?”

  She slapped her hand to her forehead. “Oh, my God. You could be right. I can’t believe I missed that.”

  “It’s almost three in the morning, dig?”

  “Yeah, good point. I just felt SE get back. Thanks, X.”

  “You got it, sis.”

  She closed her eyes and exhaled. As she walked upstairs, her head was teeming with thoughts. They all knew Toltec was gleaming naguals from shifter civilians. In her mind, the only explanation was that an aj k’o’ol was somehow involved. Nothing else would be able to strip the naguals of their power and use it. She got closer to the answer every day, but somehow just kept dancing around it. Holy crap. There is just way too much dancing around this place.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Pax put his breakfast dishes in the sink and headed upstairs. He’d already tried calling and texting James. No dice. He figured it was time to stop by his room. He knocked on the door and waited. He was just about to give it one more for good measure when it opened and James tried to push right past him, in leather pants no less. “Whoa, hold up. Where’re you off to?”

  “Out.”

  “Care to expand on that?”

  James made no eye contact. “No. Care to move out of the way?”

  “Excuse me? I am your camzah. You don’t speak to me that like that, ever. ”

  “Don’t worry. You won’t be by the end of the week.”

  His breath caught in his throat. “What?”

  “I’m going to talk to Reyn about ending my training. I think I’m ready to do what I need to.”

  Jesus. Who was this male? Between the change in appearance and the attitude he was almost unrecognizable. “Look, we can find you another mentor. Someone you’re more…comfortable with. I don’t think you should drop it completely.”

  The brother crossed his arms. “Yeah, well, frankly, your opinion doesn’t hold much water these days. Now do you mind? I got a lot of shit to take care of.”

  When he didn’t move James gleamed out.

  Pax leaned back against the door jam. What the hell just happened?

  Reyn watched Akina as she looked at the trimmers and bit her bottom lip. Man that was hot.

  “But what if I cut you?”

  He smiled. “You won’t.”

  “What if I shave too much?”

  “The trimmers are already set to a certain length, see? Just don’t cut my sideburns off.”

  Her face became steadfast. “I’m going to do that front first.”

  He barked a laugh. “Go for it. Just make sure you keep your end of the bargain.”

  He turned the trimmers on and she took a step back. She carefully took them from his hand and he waited patiently while she took off most of his hair. She started out slowly, but once she seemed to realize he wasn’t going to lose an ea
r, she relaxed more.

  “Finished.”

  He stood up from the toilet and looked at himself in the mirror. It’d been ages since his hair had been this short. It was long enough to tell how dark it was and that was about it.

  She looked at him expectantly. “What do you think? Isn’t it beautiful?”

  “You’re beautiful.”

  She flushed. “Reyn.”

  “I need a shower. There’s hair everywhere. Care to join me?”

  “Absolutely.” She sighed and looked down. “Then I’ll have to do something about my robes.”

  Reyn started the water and pulled his T-shirt off her long, gorgeous six foot frame. “Later.”

  Seth drove the van into the driveway of his old apartment building. He wished he had a better plan, but at the moment he didn’t have shit for time. He needed to get his ass back to home base before he was missed. Well, it would keep her off the street.

  “Where are we?”

  “Allston. It’s my old apartment. The rent is still paid up.”

  “Can’t I just go with you?”

  Not this again. “We’ve been over that. I work for a drug lord and he only wants males.”

  He took her by the arm and they walked into the building. He sure as hell never thought he’d see this shit hole again. ‘Course for a while there, he didn’t think he was going to see anything again. He unlocked the door and they went inside.

  She glanced around and poked her head into the little kitchen. “Oh, it’s not so bad.”

  He looked across the living room. The window had been fixed. Bonus. “So, here’s the thing. It’ll keep you safe. You’re gonna have Toltec and my boss to deal with if you go out. So, stay off the street. You’re going to crave naguals like crack, but you wait until I come by. You don’t need any food and you can get water from the tap. You hear me, Grace? You do not leave. If you do, you’re as good as dead.”

  “Okay, yeah. I’ll wait.”

  He headed for the door. “I won’t be gone more than a couple of days.”

  He was pretty sure she’d said something as he was closing the door, but he didn’t have time. Just when he started to get things rolling again, he got sidetracked. He couldn’t let that happen. He’d do the best he could to help her, but he wasn’t about to change his plans for a set of blond hair and blue eyes. No. Way.

  X heard his phone go off and checked his texts. It was Dimitri. So, Viktor had gone AWOL. Goddamn. Well, it didn’t surprise him. The male looked like he was about ten seconds from bolting every time he saw him. He opened his laptop and went about the business of tracking him by his cell’s GPS. All of the Order’s cells were traceable. If the male was smart, he would have smashed the thing and thrown it away. But a signal did pop up. Hmm. “What are you doing in Manhattan?”

  He dialed Dimitri. “Yo, D. Our Russian friend is in Times Square. Or at least his phone is. You want me to come with and handle the tech?”

  “I’d appreciate it. I’ll give Troy a heads-up and meet you in the foyer in ten.”

  “You got it.”

  Moments later X was meeting Dimitri and Troy on the main level.

  “Let’s head out,” Dimitri said. “The warmer the trail is the better. A friend of mine owns a bar off forty-seventh. It should be closed this early. Follow my lead.”

  The three of them gleamed out and within seconds they were in a restroom in the pub.

  X paused and cast out his shifter senses. “All clear.”

  Dimitri nodded. “Let’s go.”

  They stopped at the front door.

  “This is when I wish we had James,” he mumbled as he hotwired the alarm so they could get back in. “He’d make this alarm look like pre-school.”

  Keeping an eye on his phone, he followed the signal onto Broadway and dashed across, zigzagging through the crowd. He stopped in front of a trash can.

  Troy leaned down into the trash. He pulled out the discarded cell and wiped it on his jeans. “He threw it away, but didn’t give it last rites. Maybe he wanted you to find this, D.”

  Dimitri ran his hand through his hair. “Damn. Looks like we’re back to square one.”

  X clapped the male’s shoulder as they walked back to the pub. “We’ll find him, D. This was a bad bet. Now we rock the hardcore shit.”

  Troy grinned. “That’s right. My man X hasn’t even gotten started.”

  X pushed the front door of the pub a little too forcefully. “Legit.”

  Richard was just putting Maya down for her nap when there was a knock at the door. SE. He quietly closed off the bedroom.

  “Hey, partner.” But his tone changed almost immediately when he looked at his best friend’s face. “What is it?”

  SE passed him. “It’s Ana.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “I don’t know. You’re gonna think I’m crazy. I think I’m crazy. It’s just… You know how the hummingbird nagual likes to follow Ana everywhere?”

  “Sure.”

  “Why isn’t it moving on? I mean, it’s a spirit now. It belongs in the Otherworld and yet, it chooses to stay here with her.”

  “Wait, you’re saying it’s actually choosing to stay? I just assumed it was stuck here somehow, and hoped the Goddess could bring it back with her when she came.”

  SE shook his head. “I thought so too, at first. But there’s more. The nagual can only understand Mayan and Ana is the only one here who speaks it. So, like a dumbass I just figured that’s why it only communicates with her. But it’s not. I tried to call it over and it didn’t so much as turn its head.”

  Richard exhaled. “Any thoughts?”

  “I don’t know. Nothing concrete.”

  Richard looked into the brother’s eyes. He was holding something back, but he didn’t press him. “I’ll run it by Adriana. See if she has any ideas. In the meantime, try not to worry.”

  The brother turned and looked out the window. “Somehow I made it out of permaphase. It was a goddamn miracle. But for whatever reason, I managed to get a second chance. She’s my whole world, Richard. I can’t lose her.”

  SE had been so many things to him. Mentor, partner, friend. There was no way he was letting him lose another mate–especially Ana. He put his hand on the male’s shoulder. “You won’t, SE. I swear by the Goddess.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  As the members of the order sat at the grand drawing room table before dinner, Diesel seemed to be regaling everyone with a story about a tiger. Reyn rolled his eyes. Christ only knew.

  He looked down at his mate. “Ready?”

  Akina nodded. “Yes.”

  “Okay. Remember, they’re going to be a bit freaked out.”

  Her aquamarine eyes widened. “A bit what?”

  “Ah, surprised. So you’ll have to be a little patient.”

  She smiled. ”Of course.”

  Reyn walked through the door leading Akina by the hand. Everyone was talking and laughing. Maya appeared to have just done something very cute. Diesel was the first to look over. Reyn couldn’t hear him through all the noise, but he read his lips perfectly as he said what the fuck? Now that shit was priceless.

  Everyone else must have heard him because they all turned and looked as they approached the table. Half of them were in dead shock, while the other half looked like they were about to bow.

  Akina put up her hand. “No, please. I am your guest tonight.”

  “Everyone, this is Akina, minus the Goddess part. She’s going to be with us for a bit.”

  Silence.

  Akina looked up at him and then back at everyone else. “Oh, Adriana. Is that Ana Maya? She’s exquisite. May I hold her?”

  She dropped Reyn’s hand and made a beeline for the offspring. That was the end of that.

  Ten minutes later, Akina had charmed the whole room. It wasn’t her kindness or beauty, Reyn realized as he watched her smile and laugh with the others. It was her humility. It had put them almost instantly at ease.

  “Wh
en exactly are we eating?” Diesel asked.

  Helen grinned. “That’s my male.”

  Reyn smiled. “In a few minutes. I asked Geoffrey and Mary to hold off a bit.”

  Ana kicked him under the table. “Wait, was that a smile, Reyn? I would’ve recognized you.”

  Troy grinned. “Seriously. Did she get you to cut your hair? We can finally see those blue peepers of yours. I’d date ya myself.”

  Evy laughed. “Sorry, you’re taken, my male. It does look fantastic, Reyn.”

  Akina gave him a triumphant smile.

  “Has anyone seen James?” Adriana asked.

  Pax fidgeted with his napkin. “Nope.”

  After dinner, they all sat by the fire in the drawing room. Reyn cleared his throat. “One thing that I wanted to let you know is that Akina has been here on and off over the last few months.”

  Akina smiled. “I believe what Reyn is trying to say is that according to your tradition as shapeshifters, we are mated.” Everyone stared at her and she blushed. “Was that not right to say?”

  “No, it’s fine, my Goddess. I think we’re all just a bit shocked,” Ana said.

  Reyn put his arm around his mate’s shoulders and glanced around at his brothers as if daring them to make a smartass comment.

  “So, how long will you be with us, my Goddess?” Richard asked.

  “Not long. I will return to the Otherworld as soon as my journey is safe.”

  Soaring Eagle’s brows went up. “Safe, my Goddess? Are you in danger?”

  “Each time I come here to your realm, I must first pass through the realm of the other gods.”

  “You don’t mean the gods that—” Dimitri suddenly turned white and stopped speaking.

  Adriana handed a sleepy Maya to her mate. “What more can they do to you? Pardon me for asking, my Goddess. I mean no disrespect.”

  “It is quite alright, Adriana. I do not know the answer to your question. I…” She fell silent and trembled slightly under Reyn’s arm.