The Bloodgate Warrior

  The Bloodgate Warrior

  By Joely Sue Burkhart

  As the Mayan hero Técun lay dying, a sorceress cast a spell tying her bloodline to him, so that one day he could return and avenge their people…

  Following a near-death experience, Cassandra Gonzales is haunted by erotic dreams of a mysterious man. As the dreams intensify, she is compelled to travel to Guatemala in search of him. There she learns that her blood has opened a gate—and she is the only one who can bring the great warrior back from the afterlife.

  Once faced with Técun in the flesh, Cassie fears the need he stirs within her. She aches to submit to the pleasure he promises, but first she must learn to trust in him, and in her own desires. Their time for sensual exploration is brief—Técun’s killer has escaped, intent on sacrificing Cassie and wreaking havoc on the world. Now, only Cassie’s complete and willing surrender to Técun will give him the power to defeat the demon once and for all…

  46,000 words

  Dear Reader,

  August has a special feel for me. Not only is it my birthday month (and I’m firmly in the camp of celebrating a birthday month—one day just isn’t enough) but since I’m in North America, August is also the last hurrah of summer. It’s the time before my daughter goes back to school and lazy weekends at the beach start drawing to a close. In my professional life, August is also the one month of the year I try to take a break from the crazy travel schedule.

  So with all those things combined, you know what that means, right? I become self-indulgent and get in as much reading as possible. That’s why I’m thrilled we’re kicking off the month of August with the first book in the fun and flirty new contemporary romance trilogy, Aisle Bound. Planning for Love by Christi Barth releases the first of August, and I hope you love it as much as I do. It’s got all of the elements I adore in a contemporary romance: humor, passion, likable characters and, best of all, a happy ending. Christi is a wonderful, fresh new voice in contemporary romance. This book was so much fun to edit, and if you love contemporary romance, please check it out!

  Not only do we have Planning for Love releasing in August, we also have quite the lineup of debut, new-to-Carina and returning authors in a variety of genres. This month, I’m excited to introduce debut authors Bronwyn Stuart, Ruth Diaz and Jacqueline M. Battisti, each writing three very different genres, but each bringing us three amazing stories. Bronwyn presents us with a passionate historical romance, Scandal’s Mistress, while Jacqueline blazes onto the writing scene with her first romantic urban fantasy, The Guardian of Bastet. Ruth’s book, The Superheroes Union: Dynama, is exactly what you might imagine it to be from that title: a fast-paced superhero female/female romance.

  Also offering up urban-fantasy fare this month in the GLBT category are authors Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane, with their co-authored male/male urban fantasy The Druid Stone. And if the male/male genre is what you enjoy, make sure you also check out L.B. Gregg’s August re-release of Men of Smithfield: Mark and Tony, a spicy contemporary male/male romance with a lighter edge.

  If you’re a fan of romantic suspense, we have two to help you indulge your cravings. Tina Beckett offers up In His Sights, while fans of Adrienne Giordano’s Private Protectors series will be pleased to see her back with another action-packed installment in Relentless Pursuit. If you’ve never read Adrienne’s books, Relentless Pursuit is an excellent place to get attached to her sexy heroes and strong-willed heroines. Or, if you want to start with something shorter, check out Adrienne’s novella, Negotiating Point in the Editor’s Choice Volume I collection.

  New Carina Press author Kaily Hart kicks off her paranormal romance series Fabric of Fate with Rise of Hope. Will fate alone determine their future or can they carve out their own destiny?

  Rounding out our August releases are three returning Carina Press authors. Joely Sue Burkhart’s The Bloodgate Warrior is an erotic fantasy romance sure to knock your socks off! Robert Appleton returns with another science-fiction offering in Cyber Sparks. And bestselling author Rebecca York brings us the sequel to Dark Magic with the novella Shattered Magic.

  I think you’ll find something in this month’s collection to help you indulge. And, hey, since it’s my birthday month, celebrate with me by indulging in more than one. I won’t tell!

  We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to generalinquiries@carinapress.com. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.

  Happy reading!

  ~Angela James

  Executive Editor, Carina Press

  www.carinapress.com

  www.twitter.com/carinapress

  www.facebook.com/carinapress

  Dedication

  For my beloved sister.

  Acknowledgements

  A special thank-you to my tireless beta readers, Sherri Meyer, Shannon Collins, and Stephanie Christine, and especially Diane for meeting me “Dark & Early” each day.

  As always, fantastic insights from Alissa Davis made this book all the better.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Entry added August 2012 to the Guzmán-Gonzales family journal

  by Cassandra Luisa Gonzales.

  When I finally broke down last week and told Nana about the dream I’ve been having since the accident, she didn’t say a word. All she did was hand me this journal. I’ve read it a hundred times and most of it still doesn’t make sense. It can’t. I’d rather be crazy than believe that the gorgeous stranger starring in my increasingly dirty dreams is some reincarnated Mayan hero.

  What started as a passionate romp in my sleep with a hunky stranger has become something much more terrifying. Don’t get me wrong—they’re wonderful, erotic dreams. I’ve never found so much pleasure and passion in any man’s arms before. But each dream is stronger and more detailed than the last. He claims the magic is mine, that each time I dream him I’m binding him more fully to my world.

  To me.

  He’s not real.

  So I kept telling myself. Until this morning when I woke up with a few token bruises and scuff marks from his enthusiastic lovemaking. Either I really am losing my mind and have started to hurt myself in my sleep—including bite marks on my neck—or Nana’s journal isn’t a bunch of myths. Myths I started to dream before I ever read them in these ancient pages so painstakingly copied generation after generation.

  Now I find myself continuing the family tradition by adding pages to this journal, both to keep my sanity and as a warning. This is what happens when you lose your grip on reality. When you begin to fall in love with a man you’ve only known in dreams. When you become so desperate for the truth that you’re willing to leave behind everything to find him.

  There’s only one way to find out if I’m as crazy as I fear, or if there’s a kernel of truth to these legends. I’ve decided to go to Guatemala and find out. I’m going to find Nana’s family. I’m going to talk to some of the people who were raised on the legends in her journal.

  Even more importantly, I’m going to walk the ground where Técun Úman, the legend himself, supposedly lived and breathed.

  And died.

  Then maybe he
’ll leave me the fuck alone.

  Oh, don’t worry about me too much. I’m taking my best friend Natalie along for the ride. She’s ordered me to enjoy this desperate crusade as a vacation. Even if she has to commit me to an insane asylum before we fly home, we’ll start out by having a good time.

  Lake Atitlán, Guatemala

  August 2012

  I heard a quetzal calling outside my window again last night.

  A few months ago—before I nearly drowned—I’d never even heard of the strange bird. Now it seemed to roost outside my window every damned night.

  Glaring up at the invisible watcher hidden in the tree limbs, I muttered beneath my breath, “I thought quetzals were extinct.”

  “Some say they are, because the bird we know today surely isn’t the magnificent bird of legend,” our guide said in an agreeable voice.

  I don’t think anything would rattle José’s calm, leathery exterior. Until last week, I’d had no idea that I had quite so many relatives in Guatemala, yet they’d welcomed me with open arms.

  “We still revere them,” José continued. “They are as important to the Maya as our ancient pyramids and stories about the old days.”

  My best friend Natalie peered up into the shadowed growth like Sherlock Holmes. “I think that one has a red breast.”

  She was determined to prove this mumbo-jumbo shit was all in my head. I couldn’t fault her for trying. In fact, I wished she could. I didn’t want some strange holy bird howling outside my window every night. Although that was a small price to pay if it meant I was going to have another sweaty, luscious night with my dream warrior.

  Despite the sauna-like air filling my lungs and frizzing my hair, I shivered.

  “Oh, very lucky, then,” José replied. “Let me tell you our legend of how the quetzal came to bear its red breast. When the great Técun Úman went to fight Pedro de Alvarado not far from here, his quetzal nahual, or spirit guide, went with him. Some say Técun even transformed into the mighty bird during the battle, his massive wings buffeting the Spaniards and shielding his people from their terrible weapons.”

  José paused his tale as we reached the end of a long avenue of overgrown trees. Ahead, a sprawling house stretched across the countryside, beautiful despite the jungle trying to overtake it. Perched on the knees of a verdant volcano, the house commanded an incredible view of Lake Atitlán below.

  Cradled between three massive volcanoes, Lake Atitlán claimed to be the most beautiful—and possibly the deepest—lake in the world. I couldn’t bear to look at it.

  Water closing over my head. Cold. So cold. Blood on the water.

  Shuddering at the memory, I shielded my eyes and scanned the house again. Rows of coffee fields curved up the side of the volcano. Birds sang in the trees, but I didn’t hear the annoying call of the quetzal that kept me up all night. With the huge bushes and towering trees in all directions, I could almost picture what Eden had been like. I’d never known such an incredible, lush green before coming to Guatemala.

  “Are you sure this is it?”

  “Of course I’m sure.” He smiled at me fondly. “The house is still deeded to Carla Guzmán Gonzales, your grandmother and my great aunt.”

  Nana had set my feet on this adventure by giving me the journal.

  No, drowning started this little nightmare.

  “It’s probably not livable,” Natalie warned me. But she couldn’t hide the quiver of excitement. “No electricity. I bet you have to use an outhouse.”

  “No one has lived here for at least thirty years, but we keep an eye on things,” José said. “The workers are here nearly every day in the fields, and I come once a month to check the house. With some work, it would be a beautiful palacio.”

  Staring at the house where my grandmother had been born, I couldn’t deny a stirring deep in my heart. I imagined the veranda cleared of debris, the trees hacked back to manageable growth so I could sit out here, drinking coffee as the sun rose over the lake. “Do the coffee fields belong to the house?”

  “Yes, but you would not have any worry in that regard. The fields have been managed by the Guzmáns for as long as I can remember. They do a very good job, and the money has protected the land and the home all these years.”

  “I had no idea Nana owned a coffee plantation.”

  So much of my family history had been a mystery until Nana passed the journal to me. Then I’d learned way more than I’d ever imagined. Why had she waited so long to tell me? Because she didn’t believe it herself? Or maybe after my mother’s death, she’d been afraid that maybe the journal’s claims were all too real. Thank God Natalie was with me to keep my feet grounded and help me differentiate between reality and what could only be fantasy.

  We poked around inside the house a bit but once I heard something rustling in the pile of leaves that had blown inside, we quickly left. Natalie was right—the house wasn’t exactly livable. Not without a lot of work. As I set up the details of the cleanup with José, she stared down at the lake. I could almost hear her thoughts, because she was no doubt thinking the same thing.

  A vacation house in Guatemala was exactly what I needed, even though I hadn’t known this place existed until a few weeks ago.

  “How long have I been bugging you to take a vacation?” Natalie turned to me, grinning, but the concern in her eyes cut me to the quick. “You need this, Cass.”

  I nodded and some of the shadows eased from her eyes. “It just seems like a fairy tale.”

  “You deserve a fairy tale.” She tried to laugh, but we both knew how close I’d come to dying. She’d been the one to give me mouth-to-mouth until the paramedics arrived. We’d always been as close as sisters, but now I owed her my life, too. “Besides, whoever heard of a timeshare salesperson who never actually goes on vacation herself?”

  Grateful that she returned to our long-standing banter instead of driving me to tears, I gave her a friendly shove. “The top salespeople never go on vacation, silly. We’re too busy making money selling other people their dream vacations.”

  “Well, you’ve never sold a view like this.” She swept her hand toward the glistening lake and the hazy volcanoes in the distance. “This is pretty dreamy, Cass.”

  I could only nod in agreement.

  “Hey, you never finished your story, José. Why does the quetzal have a red breast?”

  Thanks to Nana, I knew this part of the legend.

  “Believing the horse Alvarado rode to be a part of a terrible man-beast, Técun Úman beheaded the creature. Unharmed, Alvarado took the opportunity to stab the great warrior in the heart with his spear. As Técun lay dying, his quetzal flew down to lie weeping on his breast until he drew his last breath. Ever since, the quetzal’s breast has been stained with Técun’s blood as a reminder.”

  “A reminder of what? The Spaniards’ cruelty?”

  José turned to me with a peculiar look on his face, careful and reverent. Of course. He’d heard Nana’s legends too. “That someday, he will return.”

  Uneasy, I jerked my gaze back to the lake. I didn’t know if I could ever see so much water and not remember. The sound of crashing metal on metal. Thick smoke on the air, the stench of gasoline. The screams. Our small pontoon had been broadsided by a party boat, more of a yacht than Lake Taneycomo could really support.

  Bone-chilling cold water had closed over my head while fireworks exploded behind my eyes. Blood on the water. My blood. I had died in that cold darkness.

  I thought near-death experiences were supposed to be tunnels of light and a blessed feeling of peace, but I’d seen an obsidian pyramid. A man had pulled me out of the water and lifted me to the sun blazing at the top. I remembered the feel of his big hands on my back, the heat of his body bringing my cold, dead limbs back to life, his mouth on mine as he gave me his breath. Long blue-green feathers had hung in my face along with his hair, as shiny and black as the pyramid.

  Most of all, I remembered him whispering in my ear. “You’re well named, C
assandra, for you can bring light to my people. Help me return. Only you can bring me through the gate.”

  Even now, that distinctive growling voice made my bones want to dissolve my body into a pile of goo. Help me return.

  * * *

  Sitting in the courtyard beside a tinkling fountain at our hotel, Palacio de Doña Leonor, I could well imagine what my grandmother’s house would look like with a little care. The soft adobe walls gleamed with all the colors of the setting sun. Simple yet elegant furnishings paired with dark wood trim and authentic antiques provided a warm welcome.

  I sipped my wine, waiting on Natalie to look up from the ancient book she held on her lap. With utmost care she turned the delicate pages, her eyes wider by the moment. At my instruction, she’d started at the back of the book with my brand-new entries, although I had her skip the more embarrassing ones about how sultry my dreams had been.

  Now she was getting to the really good part. I could tell because she was turning the pages faster and faster, her mouth moving slightly as she scanned the words. The older entries were difficult to read, both because of the language and the faded ink, although they weren’t originals. Someone had painstakingly copied them and newer pages had been inserted to translate the original entries into English.

  “This can’t possibly be real,” she finally said. Her gaze darted up to my face but leaped back to the page so she could keep reading. “If it were real, it’d be in Mayan hieroglyphs or something. Right?” She unfolded a stiff page and saw the pictures, dots and bars. “Oh, wow.”

  “The family legend passed down from mother to daughter is that Luisa did at first write what happened in her native language. Her daughter, Leonor, translated it into Spanish and wrote it in her diary. Nana made the notes in English after she came to America.”

  Natalie opened her mouth to continue arguing, so I leaped ahead with what I’d learned. “I thought the same thing. There’s no way for us to know what those old pages really say. So I took it to a friend who’s teaching at Drury. She put me in touch with another professor who was extremely anxious to keep the diary for further study. He dated the paper and ink to at least early 1800s, if not older. The originals probably disintegrated a long time ago in the jungle. I wouldn’t leave it with him but he did admit that at first glance, the translation was accurate.”