“Hmm … let me guess. You come here to arrest me.” The corners of his lips lifted in a half smile.
Mya rolled her eyes. “Why do you say that? Should you be arrested for something?”
David clucked his tongue. “Always the cop.”
She gave him a sour look. “I’m not actually a cop yet.”
“Maybe not, but you sure do like playing detective,” he teased.
Ignoring the jibe, Mya asked, “How much do you know about my past. I mean you must know something … or why else would you believe this witchery stuff?”
“Could be,” he shrugged. “What is it that you want to know?”
“Trent Metzger told me that I am adopted and that my real mother was held prisoner on this reservation and died. What do you know about that?”
“It’s true … you were adopted. I don’t know much about your real mother, but like everyone else … I’ve heard the stories,” he confessed.
“What stories? You have obviously heard the story about me being fathered by a demon?” Mya did not even bother to hide the fact that she thought the idea was ridiculous. More than likely Lucy was raped, but Mya wasn’t swallowing the part about it being a demon.
“You don’t think so?” he frowned.
Mya jumped off the bed and started pacing. “Oh come on David! Witches that can disguise themselves as animals … demons! I don’t get how anyone could believe this stuff.”
“There’s so much that you don’t know Mya,” he sighed heavily. “There’s more to reality than what you could ever dream of.”
“So you are telling me it’s all true?” Mya asked.
David shifted his eyes so that he was not looking directly at her. “As far as I know … yes.”
“Is that why your people here treat me like I have the plague? And those women that were here … they were sure hostile. Who were they anyway?” Mya asked. She was aware that it wasn’t any of her business who those girls were, but she’d been dying to ask him about them.
“One of them will become my mate,” he told her in such a matter of fact tone that it shocked her almost more than his words. “Right now they are competing for that position.”
Mya swallowed the lump that was closing off her throat. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You have girlfriends out there while you were in here with me?”
Dipping his head slightly, he said, “I told you that you would hate yourself if we made love. I was right wasn’t I?”
Mya spun on her heels, ready to flee from him and the pain that was stabbing into her heart, but he sprang from the bed, stopping her with a tight grip around her arm. “Wait!”
“Wait for what?” she glared at him.
“Mya … I’ve been trying to tell you. There are a lot of reasons why we can’t be together. This is just one of them.”
“No problem. I mean … what does it matter to me? I barely know you.” She spit the words at him with a hateful vengeance, while trying to jerk her arm free of his vice-like grip.
“You are lying,” he hissed. “I can see that you’re hurt.”
Mya stopped struggling. “Let go of me please.”
David didn’t seem to hear her. “But you are right about one thing. It shouldn’t matter to you. You have been getting cuddly with the skinwalkers … especially one in particular.”
“Oh … I suppose you mean Trent Metzger.” Mya’s eyes widened with mock innocence. “Well what I do, and who I do it with … is my business,” she added, her scathing eyes never wavering from his.
David let go of her so fast that she nearly fell backward. “Then go have your skinwalker lover,” he said through clenched teeth.
Mya turned to leave, but what he said next had her rooted in place.
“Tell Trent that I said hello … and that I owe him a bullet or something else,” David snarled.
Slowly Mya turned to face him, shocked by the fury that she saw leaping from his silver eyes. “Are you trying to tell me that Trent is the one that shot you?”
“Take it any way you’d like.” His words were icy and abrupt.
For the first time she noticed that without the blankets to cover him, he was completely naked. Even in her anger, she could not ignore his tempting male body. Her eyes traveled to below his waist and she was captivated by his pure male physique. He was so much more than any guy she’d known before. Her gaze lingered just a little too long and she felt her pulse quicken.
She forced herself to look up, and when she did, her eyes clashed with his. She saw the ice in them melting, replaced by pure - unadulterated desire.
“But Trent shot a wolf,” she said in a voice so low that it was almost a whisper.
“Did he? Are you sure?” David’s eyes never left hers.
Backing away from him, Mya shook her head furiously. “You’re crazy! You’re all crazy!” she cried. Mya ran from the room before he could stop her.
Even as she ran, she knew that it was not because she wanted to escape him. She was running to escape her emotions, and the need for him that she could no longer control. Though she was still not ready to admit it, Mya was also trying to escape the truth that had been staring her right in the face the whole time - the truth about what the Sinapu were.
Though the lights were on in the living room, the house was empty. Mya didn’t take the time to look for anyone. She burst out the front door and scrambled to her car. There had been something in his voice and the way he had looked at her that she found terrifying.
Mya turned her car around and flew through the village much faster than what she should have, but it was a long time until dawn and no one was out and about. Dust billowed up behind the car as she sped down the dirt road. She just wanted to get away - away from his dark words and her own unfathomable need to be with him.
Chapter Fourteen
She was expecting to see a rental car parked at her trailer, but there was only Donny’s patrol car. It was a little strange that her parents hadn’t made it in yet, but Mya brushed it off. They probably just took a later flight.
Mya headed straight for the shower, tiptoeing through the living room so she wouldn’t wake Jen. She was too physically and emotionally exhausted to deal with anymore at the moment. A quick shower and a few more hours of sleep, and she’d be ready to unravel it all, but not now. Mya wouldn’t even let herself think about what David had said.
* * *
It was late morning before she managed to pry her eyes open. A sideward glance at her digital alarm clock told her that she was late for work, but she didn’t care. If Donny had been all that worried about it, her phone would have been ringing hours ago.
Mya lay in bed, not wanting to move. If she did, she would have to face all of the things that she’d learned in the last couple of days. It was all so surreal that she felt as if she were living some kind of strange nightmare that kept getting weirder by the moment. Not only had she found that she’d been adopted, but now David was claiming that he’d been the wolf that Trent tried to kill.
He wasn’t saying that it had been some kind of transformation of consciousness, but that he’d actually been a wolf.
It had to be some kind of coincidence that David had been shot around the same time that Trent tried to kill the wolf. What else could it be?
He is the wolf!
The truth pounded through her head, no matter how hard she tried to push it away.
Trent had spoken to the animal as if it could understand what he was saying. But still, these had to be coincidences. If she were to accept that a man could literally become a wolf, wouldn’t she also have to accept that it was at least a possibility that her father was a demon?
Mya tried to banish the thoughts that were twirling around in her head, but it was futile. She would never be able to rest until she found the truth.
Finally something did pierce through her confusion. Everything was completely and utterly silent. Jen had to be awake by now, but she couldn’t hear her friend moving around
like she usually could.
Mya rolled out of bed and opened the door. The kitchen and living room were empty. Barefoot, she padded through the kitchen, checking the counter and fridge for a note, but there wasn’t one. Apparently Jen hadn’t thought it necessary to let Mya know where she was going, not that she could blame her. She’d been gone a lot since Jen had arrived.
Something had changed between them. The two of them didn’t seem to be as close as they once were. For some reason she couldn’t bring herself to confide in Jen like she used to.
Mya opened the fridge and took out a quart of orange juice. It wasn’t much, but a glass of orange juice for breakfast was better than nothing at all. There was a loud pounding on the door and she nearly let the glass slip from her hand.
Before she had a chance to go to the door, Donny stepped inside. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”
Mya was shocked that the door wasn’t locked. In her muddled emotional state the night before, she must have forgotten to lock it before going to bed.
“No one’s called,” she told him, setting the glass of orange juice on the counter.
“I’ve been calling all morning. I was wondering if you’d heard from Joan and Steve yet? But I guess if your phone hasn’t rang … you haven’t.”
“Wait, let me go check,” Mya said, heading back to her bedroom. Digging through her purse, she found her phone, but it wasn’t on. Funny, she didn’t remember turning it off. Her thoughts strayed to David and she wondered if he or one of his friends had turned her phone off while she slept.
Mya held the button down and waited for it to come on. Sure enough, there were seven missed calls from Donny, but none from her mom. She was still viewing her missed calls when she returned to the living room.
“Yours are here, but there’s nothing from my mom.”
“Well they’re flight landed last night. They should have been here by now.” The lines around Donny’s glassy eyes made him look even more fatigued than normal.
Alarmed, Mya started dialing her mother’s number.
“Don’t bother,” Donny sighed. “I’ve been trying all morning. They are not answering.”
“Maybe they had an accident on their way from Flagstaff,” Mya was really worried now.
Donny shook his head. “There have been no reports of accidents on that route, but at least we know they did leave the airport. According to the information I got, they picked up their rental car about 6:00 PM, but that’s the last anyone saw of them.”
Mya felt as if her head would explode. Everyday there seemed to be some new crisis to deal with, and now her mom and Steve were missing.
There was still a killer on the loose!
“We have to find them.” Mya was already on her way to her room to change out of her pajamas.
“I already have officers on the lookout for their rental car,” he told her.
Mya paused. “Hey … have you seen Jen?”
Donny shook his head. “I didn’t see her this morning.”
Thinking back to the night before, Mya realized that she couldn’t even be sure that Jen had been home then. She hadn’t actually seen her friend asleep on the couch. It had been too dark when she came in.
It was strange for Jen to be gone all night, but she could have met someone. Mya quickly dialed Jen’s number. It rang until her voice mail picked up. “Hey give me a call when you get this.”
Mya faced Donny. “I want some answers. I think you know a hell of a lot more than what you’ve been telling me.”
His mobile rang before he could respond to her accusations. He glanced at the caller ID display. “I have to get this.”
“This is Begay.” He spoke into the phone.
There was a long pause before he continued. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
The horror in Donny’s eyes was telling. “I have to go. Someone reported a car abandoned out by Ganado … turns out it was the one your parents rented.”
“I’m going too,” Mya stated.
“No … let me take care of this,” Donny’s face had gone pale.
Mya felt as if the floor was giving way beneath her. “No way … just give me a minute to dress.”
* * *
From where Mya stood, she could see the back of the blue rental car. It had been partially hidden by juniper trees. Several officers were standing around the car so Mya wasn’t able to get a good look. They’d found blood in the front seat, as well as smeared across the trunk.
The police were in the process of prying open the trunk, but Donny wasn’t letting her near the car. To ensure she stayed well away from the scene, two officers stood on each side of her.
It didn’t matter. She no longer felt the need to see what was in the trunk. The scene would be ugly and Mya wanted to remember her parents the way they were when they were alive and well.
Donny was right. If her parents were in that trunk, and she knew in her heart that they were, the image would haunt her for the rest of her life. Mya heard the trunk pop open and quickly turned away so that she would not even get a glimpse.
A moment later Donny was beside her, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion.
Mya’s chest felt like it was filled with a ton of led and she struggled to breathe. She was too numb to feel that sharp - devastating pain that one expects to experience when a loved one is gone. She knew that would come later, but right now it just felt as if the world had come to a standstill.
“Why would they do this? Why would they go after my mom and Steve?” Mya asked in a tight voice.
Donny clasped a hand around her arm and led her away from the group of men standing nearby. “Mya we really don’t know who did this.”
“Yes we do!”
“If it was them … then it’s possible they feared your parents would talk you into leaving the reservation. I don’t know.” Donny shrugged.
Mya closed her eyes, trying to get a grip on the anger that was tearing away at her. She had to remember that it wasn’t just her loss - Donny had also lost a brother. “If everything you have told me is true, then they not only killed my real mother, but now they’ve murdered the only parents I have ever known. I won’t rest until I’ve destroyed them,” Mya forced her words through clenched teeth.
Donny shook his head. “You have to remember Mya … these skinwalkers may look like men, but they are really the vilest creatures in creation. They are demons,” he warned.
“Yeah, but isn’t that what I am too … in a way?” Mya’s eyes burned with a fury that was foreign to her. Never before had she felt such rage.
“Don’t give into them Mya. Maybe that’s what this is all about … maybe they are trying to reach that darkness that has remained dormant in your spirit.”
“Yeah … well maybe that’s what I’ll need in order to fight these monsters.” Mya looked away, the first prickling of tears stinging her eyes.
“We have always been pawns in the fight between angels and demons. Though the opponents in this war are known by different names, don’t be fooled. You cannot win because it is not your battle. You are a pawn … the same as your parents were,” he said, draping an arm around her shoulders.
Donny’s words did nothing to appease the turmoil boiling up inside of her. “I guess we’ll see about that.”
Donny sighed and hugged her tightly. “If you are serous about this, you need to go back to the beginning … go back and remember everything that has been forgotten.”
“How?” Mya’s words were choked off by the sobs that were making their way to the surface of her grief.
“There are ways … but there’s something that you have to remember too. You have to remember what their purpose is for you in the first place … and don’t let it happen.”
Mya knew he was talking about David. The purpose of all of this was to lead him astray so that they could destroy the Sinapu.
But how could she?
How
could she deny what was in her heart. Regardless of everything else, Mya felt something for David that she’d never felt for another person. She felt bonded with him in ways that she could not even begin to explain.
Yes there was the physical attraction. She couldn’t even be around him without feeling a tingling all through her body, but it was so much more than that. It was like he was the man she was meant to be with.
“I know what you are thinking Mya,” Donny frowned. “You are thinking that you can skirt around that one little detail … that part about having to stay away from David Bray. But I promise you this … if you let yourself fall in love with him, not only will you be hurt, but many other people will be too.”
Mya tried to believe that what she was feeling for David was all part of some evil plan, but she just couldn’t. When she was with him, it felt pure and right. David had some strange beliefs, but that didn’t change the feelings that he’d stirred within her.
* * *
From the outer edges of her consciousness, she could hear hissing as the water hit the hot rocks, sending clouds of steam into the air - blanketing her with suffocating heat. She could hear the shaman’s words, but they seemed far away, like a half remembered dream.
Ren was pulling her back in time - coaxing her to relive all that she’d forgotten.
Mya blinked rapidly, trying to bring the world into focus. She was standing in front of a mirror - staring at her reflection, but the Mya that looked back at her was a child.
The child lifted a toothbrush and began brushing her teeth. Though Mya was there, she didn’t seem to be able to control her actions.
“Mya! Aren’t you done brushing your teeth yet? You’ve been in here for ten minutes.” It was her mother’s voice.
Bad Moon Rising - Paranormal Romance Page 15
