Books by Linda Conrad

by Conrad, Linda

  He heard the soft intake of breath that telegraphed her true state, but she never flinched while he rubbed salve over her wounds. Though she was frightened and hurting, Teal Benaly was being very brave.

  Back on the shale path, when a shaft of moonlight had suddenly lit up her face, he’d been staggered. He was seldom surprised by anything anymore. But not only was she the dark, faceless woman he had recently dreamed of saving, she was also the sexy Navajo woman with the wide chocolate eyes and full lips that he had been seeing in his dreams off and on for…years.

  It should tell him something that he had never even considered that the two women could be the same person, but his mind had been focused on the Skinwalkers lately. So many hurt innocents. So many deaths.

  But now, how was he going to manage to act as if the two of them were complete strangers? How would that be possible when he knew the softness on the backs of her knees and when he could have described the feel and the scent of her thick ebony hair without ever coming anywhere near her in real life?

  “That doesn’t look much like a medicine-man cure,” she said, pulling him back from the dream. He was inching toward her with a butterfly bandage in his hand.

  “It’s a cure this medicine man uses,” he said quietly. “I think it might work well enough to close that gash under your eye without a suture.”

  He had to keep acting as though nothing was different. As though his whole world hadn’t stopped spinning and gone completely out of balance.

  When the bandage was finally in place, she released a pent-up breath. Lucas knew she had to be aching all over, yet she sat beside him with her shoulders back and her chin raised high.

  He wished to hell he could wrap her up in a cotton cocoon and suspend her from a star while her body healed itself. There was nothing he would be able to do or say, in any language, to make her pain completely disappear.

  “I have a special natural medicine with me that could make that aching kneecap of yours more tolerable,” he told her. “Will you take it?”

  “No,” she said through gritted teeth. “And stop that.”

  “Stop what?”

  “Stop saying things that make it seem like you can hear what I’m thinking. It’s creeping me out.”

  “Sorry.” But he wasn’t. He was plenty creeped out himself by finding the woman he had been dreaming about since they had both been children. Having her feel nervous, too, seemed only fair.

  He’d always been positive that he would live to a ripe old age and never get the chance to meet the woman he had come to crave in his dreams. Yet here she was—sitting beside him in the moonlight.

  “You haven’t been in Dinetah very long, have you?”

  When she reared back and narrowed her eyes at him, he suppressed a grin.

  “That was a guess,” he said with a quiet chuckle. “But if it weren’t true, you would never have been climbing down that path after dark. Most of the local people know it’s dangerous to be in remote areas of the reservation at night.”

  “Dangerous how? I’ve been here six months and I haven’t noticed anything too dangerous—day or night.”

  When he only smiled at her, she began to stutter. “Well…I mean, besides falling on the rocks and nearly rolling off the side of a cliff.”

  He wasn’t about to tell her the truth of the dangers in the night for the lands of Dinetah. She would never believe him anyway. Not yet.

  Instead of answering her question, he asked one of his own. “Did something frighten you up there on the path? You look like a smart woman. Why’d you let go of the ledge?”

  She blinked. And the expression on her face was definitely embarrassment. It was the first time she had shown any real emotion except for fear. Lucas was praying she hadn’t had a run-in with any of the Skinwalkers. How would he explain…

  “It was the bats.” She shrugged a shoulder and turned her face.

  “Bats? What about them?” He had never heard of any Skinwalker witchery that could turn humans into bats. But then, anything was possible these days in Dinetah.

  “They just appeared. Right out of a crack in the rocks. And they flew all around my head, and they were…”

  “Did any of them strike you? Bite you?”

  She shook her head. “No, but…”

  Relieved, he touched her shoulder. “Bats aren’t anything to be afraid of. Bats are mammals, but like the Bird People, they’re part of our world. Bats sleep in caves during the day and go looking for food at dusk. They weren’t trying to hurt you, just heading off for breakfast.”

  “Do you want to explain the ‘Bird People’ comment?”

  Lucas did not intend to answer her question directly. So he tried to deflect her interest with another question of his own.

  “Who are your people, Teal?”

  “I grew up in Denver, but my parents were both Navajo.”

  “Since you are quite obviously Dineh, and Benaly is a common Navajo name, I already assumed you’re a city Navajo. But didn’t your mother ever teach you about your lineage? Who are your clan ancestors?”

  “Oh. You mean like you said you were born of something for somebody? No, my mother isn’t into reservation stuff, she didn’t grow up here. But before he died, my father did try to teach me some of those kinds of things. And my great-aunt, his mother’s sister, used to tell me stories about the Navajo when we came to visit her during summer vacations.”

  “Your father died? I’m sorry for your loss.” He’d felt the punch of her grief the minute she’d uttered the words—even though her voice had remained steady and her face showed no emotion.

  “Thanks, but it happened when I was eleven. That’s a long time ago now.”

  “Uh-huh,” he mumbled under his breath. But he knew that her spirit still felt the pain as if it had happened yesterday.

  “What does knowing the names of my clan have to do with ‘Bird People’ anyway?” she asked, apparently trying to drag the conversation back her way.

  “Everyone and everything that is native to Navajoland belongs to a clan. It’s how we identify ourselves and know our place in the world.” Of course, his place in the Navajo world had always been rather tentative. Not because of his clan, but because of who and what he was.

  But he was not the subject of their conversation.

  When she looked up at him with confusion in her eyes, he continued. “The birds belong to their own clans. They are of the Bird People. Some are for the red-shouldered hawk clan, others for the raven clan—and so on. But they all know where they come from and where they belong.”

  Well, most of them did, he thought grimly. But he refused to mention the unnatural and out-of-balance Navajo medicine men who had learned to turn themselves into animals and birds in order to wreak havoc for greed and power. No, the doomed Skinwalker Raven and his buddies like the freak vultures would not be a great topic of conversation to have with this beautiful city Navajo.

  At least, not tonight.

  “Ya’at’ eeh.” Kody Long’s voice came out of the darkness, surprising Lucas. Why hadn’t he heard his cousin’s thoughts as the FBI agent approached? Things seemed suddenly to be slipping totally out of his control.

  Teal felt Lucas’s body tense beside her as the surprising voice came out of the darkness. She automatically reached for her weapon. But before she got there, Lucas stayed her hand and shook his head.

  “It is Kody Long with the lights,” he told her softly.

  “Ya’at’ eeh,” he called out as an answer. “We’re over here, Cousin.”

  In seconds, a flashlight beam appeared out of the darkness and headed toward them. The two males greeted each other with Navajo grunts and pointed looks. A strange expression passed between them, without the uttering of any spoken words to give away its meaning. It struck Teal as slightly odd, but this Lucas character was already way strange in her opinion.

  Kody directed the beam of light at Lucas, somehow satisfying himself in a moment or two that her savior was truly okay.
But as the light from the flashlight illuminated Lucas’s face, she got her first good look at his eyes—and found herself trying to catch her breath.

  The man was riveting, his eyes magnetic. If he was this spectacular now, what would he be like in broad daylight? Whew. She needed to regain her focus.

  Then Kody turned the light toward her. “Hell. Look at you. What the devil happened?”

  She straightened her shoulders and damned near saluted the other Special Agent. “I took a small tumble down the shale path, that’s all. But nothing’s broken. I’m a little dirty but perfectly fine.”

  Lucas cleared his throat. “Well, perhaps fine may be a slight exaggeration. Special Agent Benaly is cut and badly bruised, but she’s doing a great job of keeping her professional composure. Very impressive.”

  Biting her tongue to stay silent instead of telling her savior to keep his opinions to himself turned out to be extremely difficult for Teal. But she knew Kody would not appreciate her telling his cousin off. It would sound rude. Especially since the man had, in fact, saved her life.

  It hit her finally that not only was it rude, saying such a thing was definitely crass, and not at all like something she would do. What in the world had come over her? She was a professional and a fully-fledged Special Agent. A clumsy fall shouldn’t be messing with her mind this way.

  She stiffened her spine and stood up on shaky legs. “I appreciate you bringing lights, but…” The ground below her started to roll and she was forced to sit back down on the rock next to Lucas. “Oh.”

  Both men turned concerned gazes in her direction.

  “You all right?” Kody asked. “Maybe we should take you to the hospital.”

  Lucas stood and faced his cousin. “She’ll be okay in a few minutes. She wants to stay and finish her assignment. She would also like a moment to talk to you alone. Give me the keys. I’ll go get the lights from your pickup.”

  Kody dug in his pants pocket and threw Lucas the keys. Then he sat down next to Teal.

  “No kidding, you look pale and beat-up,” Kody said when Lucas had moved away into the darkness. “Are you sure we shouldn’t get you to a doctor?”

  She was so angry over Lucas making all those assumptions about her that she could barely speak. “Is he really your cousin?” she asked through gritted teeth.

  “Certainly. And he’s also a good friend. He saved your life, right?”

  “Yes. But…forgive me, but doesn’t he seem a little weird to you?”

  “Weird?” Kody seemed to mull that over for a minute. “Yeah, I guess I know what you’re talking about. Lucas is…well…we call him a ‘sensitive.’ He’s different in that respect from the rest of us. But we all can be a little weird some of the time.”

  “A sensitive? You mean he sees things before they happen?” She waved her arms around like a bird. “Like, whoo whoo whoo, things that go bump in the night?”

  Kody shot her a narrowed-lip frown. “If I were you, Teal, I would be very careful of making fun of things on the reservation that you don’t understand. You’ve been assigned to Dinetah to do a job. And in order to get that job done, you’ll need both to learn the lay of the land and get a better sense of the people on it.

  “If you intend to be closed-minded,” he continued. “Perhaps being transferred elsewhere would be more appropriate.”

  Teal knew what being transferred out before her job was complete would mean to her fledgling career. Demotion.

  “No, no,” she stuttered. “I wasn’t being disrespectful. I am truly grateful that Lucas saved my life. It’s only that he…makes me uncomfortable.”

  “Unfortunately, he’s been doing that same thing to people most of his life. Try to see things through his eyes. It must be a great burden to know what’s going to happen before it happens, and to know for certain when people are lying or telling the truth. I know I wouldn’t want to have that gift—most of the time.”

  Ah, hell. Now she was feeling guilty about the angry thoughts she’d been having about the guy. Sheesh.

  “Okay, I’m sorry. It’s just that…” She let her words trail off because she didn’t know how to explain herself. Being around Lucas was driving her a tiny bit insane.

  She could only hope that he would leave soon. Then she could go back to work and stop wondering about him and the strange and intense sensations he was causing.

  “I can tell you that Lucas is a good guy to have around,” Kody added. “He’s a world-renowned artisan. And luckily for you, he is also a world-class athlete. He…”

  A beam of light interrupted him as it scanned their bodies. Lucas came back into the small clearing where she and Kody were sitting on the rock. He was carrying flashlights and lanterns.

  “I think six or seven lights ought to be enough. We can triangulate them just right in order to get a look at that abandoned truck,” Lucas said. “As we check it out, you’ll have to tell me what you hope to find.”

  He wasn’t leaving yet? Why not?

  For some reason, she’d assumed that when Kody arrived, Lucas would feel free to leave. Maybe he thought she needed him to stay and take care of her until the dizzying effects of the fall wore off. Well, she didn’t.

  And she intended to prove it to him. “Thanks, Lucas. I’ll take the lights from here.” She stood up as carefully as possible without letting either man see how shaky she felt.

  Standing beside her, Lucas stilled and studied her in the flashlight beam for a minute. Then he turned over the flashlights and lanterns—one at a time.

  “I did some routine scouting around the truck area on the way back from Kody’s pickup,” he said quietly. “Nothing’s stirring. If you’d like the opportunity to check out the truck alone, I could stay here and talk about Brotherhood business with Kody for a few minutes.”

  Teal nearly fell at his feet with relief. He really did seem to know what she wanted without her having to say a word.

  “Thanks.” It would take her a good long while to come to terms with what she thought of this man. At which point she would surely find a way to thank him properly for saving her life. In the meantime, she needed space.

  She turned to address the other Special Agent. “Do you mind letting me do my job alone this time, Kody? I’d like to prove I’m capable of handling an assignment without everything dissolving into a disaster. I really don’t need to be saved every five minutes.”

  “Sure,” Kody answered. “Take your time. I’ll be hanging around to drive you back to your car when you’re finished.”

  Lucas watched her disappear into the black of night, heading off through the sand and yellow snakeweed toward the abandoned truck. She would be okay by herself. There didn’t seem to be any Skinwalker activity in the area. And he would be within shouting distance if she needed him.

  “So what’s really going on, Cuz?” Kody asked. “Was this a Skinwalker attack or what?”

  Lucas turned so he could talk to Kody quietly. “Not that I can tell. The Bird People let me know a woman was going to be in trouble. They thought the way she was coming down that shale was obviously all wrong.

  “But she says bats scared her and she fell,” he continued. “Doesn’t seem too unnatural.”

  “No, just klutzy.” Kody was chuckling softly to himself.

  Lucas didn’t care for the image his cousin’s words painted. In his opinion, Teal Benaly was lithe and graceful. But he decided against making a big deal of it. He still wasn’t sure why he had been dreaming of her and where their relationship would go.

  “I haven’t felt any Skinwalker activity in the area since we’ve been here,” he said instead. “I did hear a distant burrowing owl calling a while back. And I can’t figure out where the Bird People have gone. It seems too quiet.”

  “Too quiet is good.” Kody shook his head. “Ever since the last skirmish that nearly took my brother’s life, it’s been easier to think. When it’s quiet, everything seems almost normal.”

  “I haven’t seen Hunter in weeks,” L
ucas remarked as he thought of the last time he’d seen Kody’s brother.

  “He’s on temporary leave from the Tribal Police so he can work with Michael Ayze. They’ve taken up the Brotherhood’s quest to find that map to the ancient parchments—before the Skinwalkers have a chance to steal it back.”

  The map had almost been in the Brotherhood’s hands once. Now, even they didn’t have a clue where it was. It had been stolen and buried by a Skinwalker traitor. The one who had died for his trouble.

  Lucas knew the Brotherhood felt their best hope to rid Dinetah of the scourge of the Skinwalkers would come in the form of those parchments. And having a human bloodhound like Kody’s brother, Hunter Long, helping Michael Ayze locate the map should make their odds even better.

  The Brotherhood was desperate to find a way of slowing down the evil shadow that had been spreading across the reservation for the last few years. They all prayed the map would be the key to unlocking the answers for restoring balance.

  Thoughts of harmony and balance brought Lucas right back to thinking of his dream woman. “Why is Teal really here in Many Caves Canyon tonight?” Lucas asked his cousin. “What does the FBI care about an old abandoned truck?”

  “I did some checking after you called me. I’d thought it was interesting that the Bureau would assign another Navajo agent to the Navajo reservation without a good covert reason. It’s too…expected.”

  Kody smiled into the darkness. “I’m only out here because I can speak the language and know the area. They needed me to help halt the terrorist threat coming in from Mexico. And I asked to be assigned here.”

  Lucas nodded. He knew Kody had deliberately come home a couple of years ago so he could become a secret warrior for the Brotherhood. It was a good thing, too. Kody had done many heroic deeds so far during their war—including saving his new bilagaana wife’s life.

  “Anyway,” Kody went on. “A buddy told me Teal is here to work on a joint FBI and Navajo nonpublic project. Apparently, the Navajo Tribal Council has quietly asked the feds for help in stopping the arson and so-called accidents that’ve been occurring around the Black Mesa mining area.