The Bloodgate Warrior Read online

  “But you didn’t even know what a gate was.”

  “I still don’t. Not really.”

  “So if he came through… Where is he?”

  Now it was my turn to blow out my breath in a loud huff. “The hell if I know. When I fell in the water, I was with him, Nat. I could feel him, touch him. Just like in a dream.” I hadn’t exactly been straight with her about the steamy quality to these dreams. Just thinking about admitting the truth made my cheeks color.

  Of course, Natalie noticed my blush immediately and let out a low chuckle. “Ah, now I get it. You’ve been keeping secrets about these dreams, haven’t you, Cass? Is he good?”

  My cheeks burned hotter and she leaned forward. “Oh, wow, really good, then.”

  “Well, he is a Mayan god.”

  She snorted. “No wonder you’ve been so distraught when these dreams end. So again, where is he?”

  “I don’t…” My brain shut off. The words were simply gone. I stared at her, eyes wide, my brain completely blank. My skin twitched, burning, like the tattoo was trying to fly out of my skin.

  “Cass?”

  “I think he’s here.”

  She squealed like a teenaged girl. “Where? Oh.”

  Her gaze shifted behind me and her face paled. Her hands trembled so badly she knocked over her wineglass, something elegant Natalie would never do.

  The gorgeous muscled warrior who’d been in my dreams for months would never cause such a reaction from her. Drooling, yes. Silliness, unfortunately. But never clumsiness from a world-class ballroom dancer. Without even looking back, I jumped up, grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the door.

  Something crashed behind us, making me glance back. I wished I hadn’t.

  A…thing shambled after us. It was alarmingly fast for something so obviously dead. Stringy hair whipped about its skull. Skin dangled on its bones. I wouldn’t even have been able to tell if it were a man or woman, except for the metal helmet on its head.

  Even I knew what a Spanish conquistador looked like.

  The other guests screamed and ran for the exit too. Jostled and nearly knocked down, I jerked Natalie aside to let the main stampede pass. We couldn’t run anyway, not in stilettos. José beckoned from a side door that led out to the patio, so I raced toward him.

  Pausing to sniff the air, the zombie turned its head as we changed direction. It clicked its jaws—a horrible rattle of death—and lurched after us.

  “This way, ladies.” José slammed the door behind us and started to drag a heavy potted urn over to barricade it. I grabbed the other edge, shoved with all my strength, and we managed to shift it over. “That might slow it down.”

  “What the fuck is going on?” Natalie retorted. “Was that a motherfucking zombie?”

  I cringed at her volume. When she got scared, she got loud and she cursed. A lot. She’d taught the paramedics a few choice phrases as they resuscitated me.

  The creature slammed against the door, rattling the opaque glass in its frame.

  “What should we do, lady?”

  I stared at José. He expected me to do something about that walking corpse? What could I possibly do but kick off my ridiculous heels and run? Despite my sexy dreams, I hadn’t turned into Lara Croft overnight.

  “She should stand aside and allow her warrior to put this unnatural creature to rest.”

  That voice. I closed my eyes, fighting the instant swamping need that made my body sit up and beg for big, roughened hands, muscled power and magnificent, arrogant warrior.

  “Um, I think he’s here now, Cass.”

  I wished I could open my eyes to see the look on Natalie’s face, but I was afraid to look at Técun before I got my fierce reaction under control. The thing on the other side of the door slammed against it again and glass shattered. That made my eyes fly open quick enough.

  A big hand closed over my elbow and gently guided me to the side. I didn’t realize my mouth was hanging open until he dipped a finger beneath my chin and closed it for me.

  He was the man of my dreams…but not. I’d assumed he’d walk into the hotel dressed like an ancient Mayan warrior, or at least a mighty god king in all his glory. But he looked…normal. At least, as normal as a well-over-six-foot-tall man with the build of a wrestler could pull off.

  Dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt that set off his dark skin and sleek black hair, he looked damned good but not like a reincarnated national hero. With a cocky grin, he winked at me and then turned his attention to the zombie trying to crawl through the shattered door.

  If I hadn’t been staring at him, I would have missed it. He casually reached out and twisted the thing’s head off like a chicken. One minute, the zombie snapped stained, jagged teeth at his hand, and the next, a loud pop followed by a toss, and a headless corpse lay in the door, still twitching.

  “Is that…” I had to wet my lips and clear my throat, because my mouth had gone as dry as the Sahara. “Alvarado?”

  Técun shrugged. “It’s doubtful. Alvarado’s freshly risen corpse would give me more challenge than this creature. Be grateful it wasn’t a Lord of Xibalba.”

  Three more men joined us, strangers but Guatemalan by their coloring. They stood side by side, alert but polite, reminding me of Secret Service bodyguards. One of them handed Técun a cloth napkin and he calmly wiped his hands, while the other two gathered up the decomposing body. I hoped they burned it.

  Natalie let out a laugh that jarred my ears. I stepped closer to her and gripped her hand. “It’s okay. It’s him.”

  “Did you see him rip that thing’s head off? I’m going to have nightmares about that, Cass, and I guarantee they won’t be as good as the dreams you’ve had.”

  My cheeks burned crimson.

  He came close enough that I could feel the heat of his body, though I refused to look at him. “Were they very good dreams, Cassie?”

  His scent hit my nose and my heart began pounding. He’d warned that my body would recognize him, but I wasn’t prepared for the can of Insta-Lust to detonate in my southern regions. This wasn’t a dream any longer where I could let my wildest fantasies unfold. This was real. This was my life.

  I have to protect myself by keeping my head.

  Sensing my hesitation, he changed the subject. “Let me introduce my friends. These are the Rojases. Marco, Jorge and Angel.”

  That surname sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d heard it until José reminded me. “They own the land protecting Utatlán.”

  They were the descendants of the last great kings of this region, maybe even Técun’s descendants in some way. No wonder they were so deferential to him. He wasn’t just their hero, but also their most famous ancestor.

  “And your name?” Natalie’s voice rang out.

  Oh, dear. I knew that tone.

  With upmost respect, he replied, “Técun Rojas.”

  “Your long-lost family, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  She smiled triumphantly, and I groaned out loud. “Got the documentation to prove it?”

  One of the men stepped forward and handed her several documents. They’d even managed photo identification, all showing him as a Rojas. I wasn’t sure if it was faked or real. Did it really matter? It wasn’t like he’d ever need a passport to travel to America with me…

  Tears burned my eyes but I fought them back. Ridiculous to cry for a man that I’d never met in the flesh until tonight. Right after he ripped the head off a zombie. A laugh escaped my lips, and it didn’t sound very stable.

  Técun took my hand and linked my arm with his, drawing me into his side. “Please excuse us. Ms. Gonzales and I have several things to discuss.”

  Natalie might be small and wiry, but she was as protective as a mother hen. She stepped right up into his space. “You’re not taking my friend anywhere until I know more about you. We don’t have any idea who you really are.”

  “I am the man she called forth by the strength of her courage and the magic
in her blood. Would you keep her from her destiny?”

  “Yes. If you hurt her, I’ll find a way to make you suffer.”

  “Her suffering would give me pain a hundred thousand times greater. I shall never hurt her.”

  Natalie didn’t look convinced. The best way to defuse her concerns was humor, so I leaned over and whispered into her ear. “You wouldn’t begrudge a friend getting laid tonight, would you?”

  She spluttered, laughing but trying to maintain her fierce demeanor. “Is that what this is, Cass? You’re going to get lucky tonight? Well, by all means, take her away, Mr. Studly.”

  He inclined his head, but we didn’t head straight upstairs, to my relief and disappointment. Instead, he led me over to the garden courtyard. A subtle jerk of his chin sent the rest of the men backing away. One of the Rojases offered Natalie his arm. “May I see you to your room, miss?”

  She shot a sultry wink my direction and took the man’s arm. “Absolutely, Mr. Rojas. I’m feeling a little shaky. You might have to carry me.”

  Everyone disappeared, leaving me alone with the man I’d been dreaming about for months. An awkward silence descended as he seated me in a bench beside the central fountain. He remained standing, close, but not touching me.

  I searched his face, trying to figure out what he wanted, but the shadows let him keep his secrets. He was here. Alive. Walking and talking just like a normal man.

  The Guatemalan national hero who died hundreds of years ago.

  A Mayan god.

  Here. Looking at me like a man ready to savor every naked inch of me. Yet he remained aloof, watching me with those dark eyes.

  I must have made some small sound of disbelief, for he asked, “What is it, Cassie?”

  “I thought we went over my dislike for that name.”

  He tilted his head. “So we did. But then as you were pulled from the dream, you shouted that I was free to use this name. Would you rather I call you something else, Ms. Gonzales?”

  “No.” I blew out a disgusted sigh. Arguing about what he called me was beyond stupid. He could call me baby or sugar or honey bunch for all I cared, as long as he…

  “Although you are very sweet, I don’t particularly care for any of those names for you. But if that’s your wish, I shall endeavor to call you honey bunch.”

  I winced and shook my head. “I forgot you could do that. Honey bunch is the absolute stupidest thing you could call me. Cassie is fine.”

  He finally sat down beside me, still not touching but closely enough I could smell the tropical scent of his hair. “Cassie,” he breathed out softly. “What’s wrong?”

  I started to deny that anything troubled me, but the awkwardness still hung between us. In dreams, I’d wallowed all over this man, but now that he was here, breathing and walking and talking… “I guess I don’t know what to do with you.”

  Now it was his turn to laugh. “That’s not a concern that we share, Cassie. I know exactly what to do with you, when you’re ready. But you’re not ready at this time, and I don’t know why.”

  “I don’t either. Not really. It just feels…”

  “Too real, perhaps?”

  Silently, I nodded. He was here. As thankful as I was not to be crazy, I didn’t know if I could deal with the reality.

  “In dreams, you could do whatever you wished with me, and on the morrow awake and go about your life as though nothing had happened. Now I’m real, here, in the flesh. You’ll have to open your eyes when you awake and see that I’m there beside you. You must then acknowledge what we’ve done. This isn’t a dream, where you were free to be what you want without worry of judgment or misunderstanding.”

  My hands started to tremble, so I clutched them together in my lap. Panic made my palms sweat, my heart race. I’d yearned for him with every fiber of my being, dying a little each time I woke up without him, but now… I don’t know if I’m brave enough to let him really see me like that. So…vulnerable, needy…weak, and why the hell am I thinking like this when I know full well he can—

  “You’re far from weak.” His voice hardened, heavy with a hint of thunder. “No weak woman would have left her life behind to come to a foreign country and track me down. A weak woman wouldn’t have believed in the strength of our dream and risked her friendship and life to find me.” He gripped my chin and pulled my face around, forcing me to look into his eyes. “Even when you surrendered your will to mine in the dream, you did so only after challenging me in every way possible. Please, lady, never regret giving me such a great, incredible gift.”

  The trembling spread up my arms to my shoulders. “What gift?”

  “Do you know why I’m considered a hero to these people? Not because I won the great battle, because I didn’t. I died. My people were obliterated. The once great Maya were destroyed tribe by tribe, city by city, until we’re nothing but crumbling pyramids lost in the jungles. Yet the survivors of those once mighty generations still remember the day that I lost my battle. Not with shame or pity or even anger that I failed, but with pride. Why is that, Cassie?”

  “Because you gave them hope that you would come back again?”

  “They hope, yes, but that’s not why they look to me as their hero. They’ve always had the hope that Kukulkan would return and bring the Maya back to full strength and honor in this land. We gave them the promise of our Return thousands of years ago. Técun was only a man to these people, a man who failed and died at the hands of Alvarado. Why revere him?”

  I didn’t know. I shrugged slightly, trying to figure out what he meant.

  “When I came to the battle and stared down at the valley of El Pinal, I felt the weight of approaching death. I knew my time here was over. We had the greater numbers, but the Spaniards’ weapons were so advanced that they might as well have been magical. More magical than what I could do alone.

  “The time for magic had come to an end. Most of my kind had already retired through the gates, taking many of their people to live in peace in a new world. Some stayed to fight, though, to stand and remember all those who died. All those who suffered and delayed the battle in order to give the rest time to flee through the gates.

  “Don’t you see, Cassie? Técun was a hero not because he won, but because he stood and fought, even knowing he would lose. As you fight me.”

  Startled, I jerked my gaze back to his face.

  “A woman smaller, physically weaker than a warrior honed by battle for countless centuries, yet you fight me with all your will. That is courage, honey bunch.”

  I couldn’t help but snort then. “That’s different. You fought for a cause, for your people. I fight because…” My cheeks burned and I averted my gaze.

  He leaned closer so his breath fluttered against my bare shoulder where his mark glittered in the moonlight. I swore the tattoo moved, wings rustling beneath my flesh. Goose bumps raced down my arms.

  “You want me to defeat you before I lay you down, which makes me getting very lucky indeed.”

  The modern slang Natalie and I had whispered spoken in his distinct accent made me laugh, taking away my lingering embarrassment and doubt. Without my mind in the way of his advances, though, my body went shivery with alarm, damp with arousal and tense with the urge to fight.

  “Shhh.” He smoothed his hand up and down my bare arm, so gentle yet now fully assured of his right to touch me. “Not yet, Cassie. Tell me about the creature. There’s something bothering me about finding it here, just as I came to you. Did it hunt you?”

  I frowned, trying to remember. “No. I don’t think so. It was just there, shambling along. I grabbed Nat and we ran toward the door. That’s when it turned and started to follow me. Now that I think about it… It seemed surprised.”

  He stood and scanned the garden. “So if you were not its original target, there’s only one other thing the demon could have sought. Where was it headed before it came after you?”

  “It came into the dining room and was headed straight for the other door. We
ran for the side door and it came after us instead.”

  “But both doors eventually would have led it… here.” He turned to face me, his dark eyes gleaming in the moonlight. “Have you a favorite place here in the courtyard?”

  Surprised, I started to shake my head, but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered. I’d loved this garden from the first day of our stay. It was beautiful. Why shouldn’t I? “We’ve only been here a few days, but Natalie and I often come out here to sit by the fountain.”

  “Then perhaps there’s magic here, something that drew the creature.”

  Magic. That made me remember one of Leonor’s entries about the fountain. “I think something might have been hidden in the fountain by Luisa’s daughter. She wrote about it in a journal that’s been passed down to my family. What made Alvarado famous in La Noche Triste?”

  Técun gave me a grim, hard smile. “The Salto de Alvarado. He used his spear to leap across one of the causeways in the retreat from Tenochtitlán. If only our brothers had been able to kill him then…” He shook his head. “If that spear is hidden here, we must retrieve it.”

  He reached down to his calf and pulled a slim but wicked-looking knife out of his boot. “Let’s see if I can find the creature’s prize. If her magic is concealing it, you may be the only one who can free it.”

  He drew the knife across the pad of his thumb, and my mind locked up. I’d never seen anyone deliberately cut himself. He made a low sound more a moan than anything I’d ever heard from him before, drawing my eyes up to his face.

  Eyes closed, head tilted back, his body braced in a wide stance, he looked like he was in the throes of some really good head, not bleeding.

  I edged closer, drawn irresistibly as the moon calls the tides. “Are you okay?”

  “I’d forgotten.” His voice vibrated and hummed, low and bass.

  “Forgotten what?”

  He shook himself out of the daze enough to give me the cocky warrior smile that made me want to punch him in the solar plexus and then seize his bottom lip in my teeth. Holding his injured hand out above the fountain, he dripped blood into the water.