by A. C. Arthur
“I will not stay here and continue to help that animal,” she told him defiantly.
He stepped fully into the room. “You will do as I say.”
“She will stay here. She will be a curandero just like us,” Sheena said, stepping between Ary and Davi.
“No. I will not!”
Davi reached for her but Sheena blocked him. “She is tired and does not know what she says.”
“She is a grown woman and will speak when she is spoken to. You don’t have to protect me from him,” Ary told her mother.
Davi shook his head. “You have no idea what you say. He will get what he wants without us, and we will be dead.”
Ary didn’t care. She simply did not care what Davi said. There was no way she would stay here and willingly work for Sabar. Of course, she had no real idea where she would go. She had no money of her own, so traveling to the States was out of the question. The humans had a village outside the forest; maybe she could work there.
There was no time to really think that through, however, because Davi grabbed Sheena by the shoulders and tossed her to the side.
“You will not endanger us! You will do as I say!”
He yelled as he reached for Ary, but she stepped to the side out of his way. “Do not run from me!”
As her father yelled once more, Ary stopped in her tracks. She was not her mother and she was not going to run from him. Standing still, she squared her shoulders and looked right into Davi’s almost black eyes.
“You cannot control me,” she told him.
“Then I will put an end to you.”
Ary thought she saw tears sheen his eyes as he said those words, but anger pushed past that thought and she lunged for him. Pushing him back, she began swinging, her flattened palms landing against his face and chest. Because he was substantially taller than her, with a much more powerful body, he only had to slap her once and Ary stumbled backward. There was something in one of his hands as he approached her, but Ary didn’t have the chance to see what it was.
In a blur of motion there was yelling and crashing as her desk was broken; the contents her mother had just picked up from the floor scattered once more. Sheena began to scream and cry, a gut-wrenching sound that hurt Ary’s ears. But her eyes were focused on the two men slamming against the wall in her room.
Nick was there with his hands wrapped around Davi’s neck.
“You sonofabitch. I warned you never to put your hands on her again!” Nick yelled in his face.
“She is my child. You are an outsider,” Davi said in chokes and gasps.
“Let him go,” Ary screamed when it looked like Nick was going to kill Davi right this minute.
“Get your stuff, Aryiola. We’re leaving,” Nick told her, still holding on to Davi.
“I mean it, Nick. Let him go!” she repeated.
“Get your stuff so we can leave!”
Two men telling her what to do. Two men yelling at her as if she had no brain of her own. Ary was so tired of this nonsense.
“Fine! Kill each other. See if I care.”
She left the room and the entire bunch of crazies behind her—but as she approached the front door of their home she was rendered speechless.
Through the door came the shifter named Franco—the one who had been with Sabar. Ary gasped and took a step back. Franco looked crazed. His cat’s eyes were an eerie orange tint and glazed as if a layer of glass was covering them. He walked with a staggered gait and couldn’t seem to talk as his mouth opened and closed and repeated the action.
“Kill…” was the word that finally escaped his throat. Ary knew what she needed to do next. She ran.
But he caught her, moving surprisingly fast given how bad he actually looked.
“Kill…,” he said again.
He’d grabbed her by her legs and they both tumbled to the floor. Ary kicked and kicked, her feet landing in his face, on his shoulders, on the back of his head. She scrambled away from him then tossed a chair in his direction. He stood just in time and caught the chair with one hand, breaking it with the other. He lifted the table and did the same, his strength seemingly endless.
He was coming for her again when gunshots echoed around her. Ary covered her head and ducked, not knowing where the shots were coming from. Through half-closed eyes she watched as bullets riddled Franco’s body. He jerked and jolted but did not fall. He looked like someone was doing target practice with his body as the shots simply kept coming. Finally they stopped, and the bullet-riddled shifter’s body fell face-first to the floor.
Cats came through the front door and from the bedroom until there were at least seven shifters fighting in the living area of what Ary knew as her home.
“Come on, we have to get out of here,” she heard a female voice say as she stared mutely at the scene before her.
It took another shake of her arm and someone screaming her name to snap Ary out of her shock. It was Kalina.
“Let’s go. Rome wants us out of here now!”
With a nod Ary followed behind Kalina. They both hunched down and made their way to the back of the house where they fell through the door, crawling on the wet ground until they were covered by a small thatch of bushes.
“We have to go back and help them,” Ary said.
“No!” Kalina grabbed her by the arm. “Rome said to stay here and wait for them. They’ll take care of it, then we’re leaving.”
“What? No. That’s my home. My mother’s in there. I’m going.”
Ary tried to make a run for it, but Kalina pushed her down by the shoulders and held her to the ground.
“Your parents are in cahoots with Sabar. That rogue that walked through the front door was one of Sabar’s men. He and four others were sent to the Gungi to deliver the message that Sabar has left the forest but will return to kill all shifters who do not follow his orders. You were first on the list. That’s why Nick came looking for you.”
Judging by the edgy look in Kalina’s golden cat eyes, Ary knew she was speaking the truth. “No” was all she finally managed to whisper. “My mother.”
“I’m sorry. It’s too late for her,” Kalina said in a softer voice. She moved off Ary, let her get to a sitting position, and shook her head. “Your mother knew what they were doing, Ary. She knew all along.”
Tears freely fell from Ary’s eyes, without her consent. She hated crying as much as she hated weakness. But at this moment she didn’t know how to conquer either. It was all so overwhelming. Everything that had happened in the last few days was more than she’d ever imagined, more than any one shifter should have to endure.
Her chest felt constricted but the sobs broke free, and when she was cradled Ary let herself go. She welcomed the comfort from someone who seemed to understand. Because in the distance, that house she’d grown up in and learned how to be a curandero in was being destroyed. Everything that her life had been was gone.
Chapter 11
The bed was comfortable. As Ary lay her head down, that was all she’d allow herself to think about.
She was in Nick’s house, where he’d wanted her all along. But she’d had no other choice. The Elders would take her in, but then Nick would sleep on the floor right outside her door. He’d sworn to do just that. Ary was tired of all the attention and didn’t want to upset the tribe or the Gungi any more than she already had.
So she’d agreed to come here.
Her parents were dead. Both of them killed by the Rogue shifters who came for them. It was what Sabar had threatened. Only she still lived. Rome, X, and Nick had made sure no other Rogue had that privilege. Maybe Sabar would never know she was still alive.
She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts and memories from her mind. It wasn’t working.
“I made you some tea.”
Ary didn’t turn over, didn’t even move as she heard Nick’s voice and listened as his footsteps came closer to the bed.
On the small table beside the bed he set a mug with rising steam
and looked down on her. She’d pulled down the netting since a good portion of one wall in this room was a window with adjustable flaps to either keep out the elements or let them in. The majority of the time the Gungi was hot and sticky. Tonight was no different, so the flap was opened wide.
In came the night sounds and a breeze cooled only by the light drizzle now falling. The constant pitter-pat sound was lulling, but unfortunately not enough. And now that he was close by, she knew sleep would take even longer to come.
“Thank you,” she whispered finally.
He squatted so that his face was level with hers. She wanted to turn over, to close her eyes. Anything not to look at him. Why? Because he was so handsome it was painful. Because his eyes pierced deep into her heart and he could surely see how helplessly in love with him she still was.
Nick cleared his throat. “I’m sorry,” he said.
Then his brow furrowed and he had that frustrated look about him. A second later he pushed the netting back so fast and hard it almost ripped.
“What are you apologizing for?” Ary asked when her heart threatened to hammer right out of her chest.
He was close enough she could reach out a hand to touch his cheek, to trace the hard indentation that lined his lips. She could kiss him, if she thought that’s what he wanted. As it was, she kept her hands lodged beneath the pillow that cradled her head.
“For leaving you. I should have stayed.”
And she shouldn’t be so touched by the apology. But she was. “Maybe I should have followed you,” she said, feeling emboldened by his admission.
Nick shook his head. “I could have handled things differently. I should have.”
Because I’m the man. He didn’t say that, but the words sort of lingered between them.
“So what now?” she asked with a sigh. She was too tired to do anything more.
“You come back to the States with me in the morning,” he said simply.
So simply and so matter-of-factly, fatigue was quickly forgotten. His bossiness was getting on her nerves. “My plans are to head to the human village and find work there.”
“Work? What type of work? You don’t even know any of them.”
“I know they’re on the brink of a forest filled with animals and disease they could never really understand. I know that some of those missionaries head out with good intentions and come back dead or fatally ill. I know that I can help them.”
“The same way you were intent on helping the Topètenia,” he said flatly.
“It’s my job,” she defended. “You know what, Delgado, I don’t have to explain anything to you. I don’t care if you understand what I want to do with my life or the type of person I am. That’s your problem, not mine.”
Now he was defensive, staring at her as if she’d had the audacity to strike him. “I don’t have a problem.”
“Oh, that’s right, you are perfect. Raised in the big city, with money and cars and luxury. I’m just the poor little forest cat with no family and nowhere to go.” By then she’d sat up in the center of the bed, her arms at her sides, fists bunched and resting on the mattress.
“I didn’t say that!”
“You didn’t have to. I know what you think of me. I know how you feel about me.”
She was flipping her legs off the other side of the bed, getting tangled in the netting on that side, when he reached for her. He had a habit of doing that, grabbing her around her waist and pulling her to him like she was some frail object. An object that belonged to him.
Ary shook her head and struggled to break free of his hold. “Let me go, you idiot!”
“You don’t know me, Aryiola! You have no idea about the man I’ve become.”
He held tight to her as he now sat on the bed, her back pulled up against his front. She felt him breathing, the up-and-down movement of his chest, and the thumping of his heart. He held her tightly, his lips right next to her ear as he talked. The warmth of his breath sent warm waves washing down her spine.
“I don’t care,” she yelled defiantly. “I didn’t ask you to come here and I don’t want you here! You can just go back to your big house and big money and…”
“And what, Aryiola?” he still whispered into her ear, his arms loosening only slightly around her. “What else do you think I have in the States? Tell me, what type of life you think I’ve led since I left you?”
Ary closed her eyes, hating the sound of his voice, the feeling of complete safety in his arms, and just about everything about Nick Delgado. Except she reluctantly accepted that he was right. She knew about as much about him as he did about her.
“I don’t know what type of life you’ve had. I tried not to think about it,” she answered honestly.
One of his arms shifted until his fingers traced lazy circles over her cheek. “Last night I saw the bruise from when you were with Sabar. Tonight I watched your father strike you. Whether I had stayed in the Gungi all those years ago or not, I’d still be ready to kill for you.”
Ary didn’t know what to say to that, didn’t know if a response was even required. And Nick didn’t give her a chance to decide, either.
“Lie down and sleep tonight. We’ll deal with the rest tomorrow.”
When she didn’t move on her own, he pulled back slightly, straightening his body on the bed then pulling her down with him. His long strong arms enfolded her, keeping her close. Ary wanted to pull away, but a bigger part of her wanted to stay right there. His breathing was slow and steady and after a while matched her own.
As sleep finally reached for her, Ary had a fleeting thought. What if there were a future for her and Nick? What if she did go to the States with him? What if … what if she never got over loving a man who couldn’t love her in return?
* * *
“This is unheard of. A curandero cannot leave the Gungi,” Elder Marras said in an even tone. Only the rise of his thick, bushy eyebrows gave away the fact that he was angry.
“I’m not asking for permission,” Nick said, stepping forward so that Ary was partially behind him.
Rome and Kalina stood a short distance to his right. X, with his legs slightly parted, arms folded over his chest, stood to Nick’s left with a dour look aimed at the six Elders who sat in a straight row before them.
They stood in the center of the santa casa. Sheer white material hung from the ceiling to the floor, covering all four walls around them. A long table sat to one side with stools for each presiding Elder on one side, pots full of lit candles on the other.
The walls of the santa casa were a muddy brown, thick and resilient against the elements of the rain forest. The entire dwelling was meant to serve as a pillar of strength in this village, the one place all Topétenia could come and be heard. Today it felt like a sentencing.
“It is not your place to demand such a thing,” Elder Ragata, the tallest and slimmest of the Elders, said. “We have laws here in the Gungi that you may not be familiar with.”
Nick was about to speak, but Rome put up a hand to stop him. Nick’s lips clapped shut. There was so much he wanted to say to the Elders. They were such hypocrites, spouting unification in one breath then keeping the shadows under a code of ethics that totally segregated them.
“We know of the laws of Ètica and we respect them,” Rome began. “Up to a certain point.”
None of the elders looked happy. Only Elder Alamar, who had just been in the States at a meeting with Rome and his Faction, looked as if he might understand their plight.
“Aryiola has dedicated her life to the Topètenia. She has given everything she has to this tribe. In return, her father betrayed her—and the tribe, for that matter. She has been kidnapped, her parents killed, and she is now virtually homeless.”
“Her home is here,” Elder Marras interrupted.
Rome stood tall, his voice just as firm and authoritative as the Elders. “Her home should be where she chooses. She is an adult Shadow Shifter, not a slave to your whims.”
Elder
Marras jumped from his seated position, his long white robe unfolding like a cloud around him. “You will not speak to us this way! You may lead in the States, but here it is we who decide.”
Alamar stood slowly, his warrior’s body still in shape. Intelligent but weary eyes looked to Marras and the other Elders. Then Alamar stepped out of their line, moving to stand near Rome.
“As we have given the Faction Leaders leave to create a government for our kind in the States, we should also open our minds to changes within our ancient laws here. The Gungi is not what it once was. Violence has marred our serenity lately, and we must put a stop to it before it is too late. The environment and the humans surrounding us are ever changing as well. We must be willing to embrace new ideas and suggestions.”
A part of Nick exhaled at the Elder’s support. The bigger part of him didn’t give a damn what any of these old geezers thought. It was their stupid-ass rules that made it a problem for him to be involved with Ary in the first place. If they thought for a second he was going to walk away from her again because of some bogus laws, they were all smoking some of whatever Sabar was trying to sell.
Ary spoke up: “I won’t stay here another day.” She moved from behind Nick and stood with her shoulders squared, her voice strong. “No matter what you say, I will not stay in the Gungi.”
The sound of her voice had become as familiar to Nick as his own. Sleeping with her wrapped in his arms last night had given his already possessive streak where she was concerned an even bigger boost. His need for her was mighty, her scent reaching out to him, scraping along his nerves each second they were near, and most of the ones they weren’t. If he could, he’d stay buried inside her for hours and hours. But he needed to go home, to get back to his life and his business there. And she needed to go, too. Ary needed to be with him in case Sabar decided to come for her again.
“The tribe will have no curandero if she leaves,” Marras said, still frowning. “What will happen then?”
