Bad Moon Rising - Paranormal Romance (6 page)

“How is Nanook doing,” Mya asked.

Nanook was her husky. She’d really wanted to bring the dog with her, but her mother had convinced her that Nanook would be better off at home.

Joan had turned off the water and now it was much easier to hear her. “She seemed really nervous last night and ran off again. I think she’s looking for you,”

Mya’s heart sank. If anything happened to Nanook, she would never be able to forgive herself. She should never have left her. Every time she thought of the dog, she would see Nanook’s sad eyes watching her as she drove away. As far as Nanook was concerned, Mya had abandoned her.

“Mom …” The words were on her tongue, but still she hesitated. Suddenly Mya wasn’t so sure she wanted to know the answer to what she was about to ask.

“Yeah … what is it?”

Finally Mya managed to spit out the question that had been nagging at her all morning. “Have I ever been here before? Did we come here when I was little?”

Her mother was so quiet that Mya couldn’t even hear her breathe. She began to wonder if the call had been dropped. “Mom, are you there?”

“What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Joan’s voice was full of agitation.

“I have been here before … haven’t I?” Mya’s hands began to shake. Deep down, she knew there was something about this conversation that would catapult her life into uncharted territory.

Her mother let out a deep sigh. “Yes, you’ve been there before. It was when you were seven.”

“Why don’t I remember it?” Mya asked. She found it strange that she had no memory of it. She could remember back to the day she started kindergarten; there were even bits and pieces of memory before that, but she could not recall ever being in Arizona.

“This is probably not a conversation that we should have over the phone,” Joan told her.

Mya noticed that her mother seemed to pick her words a little too carefully, and this worried her. Her mom was stalling - trying to pacify Mya without giving away too much information.

“Mom, what’s going on? Why are you acting like it is some kind of big secret?”

“It’s not a secret … it’s just a sensitive subject. That’s all.”

Mya started to ask another question but her mother cut her off. “There’s someone at the door. We’ll have to talk about this later.”

There was no longer any doubt in her mind that the dream had been some kind of flashback - bits and pieces of memory that she’d lost somehow. Mya concluded that whatever happened the last time she was here, must have been traumatic enough that she repressed the memory.

Her mother had been livid with Steve when she’d discovered that he’d arranged for Mya to work in Window Rock over the summer. In the weeks before Mya left home, her mother had been on her constantly - trying to talk her into changing plans. Though her mom had been adamant in her belief that working in Arizona for the summer was a bad idea, she could never give Mya a reason. Now it made a lot more sense. Her mother was afraid of something.

Now Mya was faced with another mystery. Who had sent her the roses? She didn’t even know anyone in Arizona, except for Donny.

Without taking more than a couple bites of her breakfast, Mya scraped it into the trash and washed the dishes.

She planned to question Donny and find out what he knew about her last visit to Arizona, but he probably wouldn’t be home for hours. Mya’s thoughts turned to the
Sinapu
. She couldn’t go out there and talk to the bikers in any official capacity. Donny had basically forbidden her from doing this and she didn’t want to take any chances and get fired, but she really wanted to talk to them, especially David Bray.

Mya realized that she couldn’t question David Bray about the Metzger case, but what she could do was thank him for his help after her accident. If she took a little drive and just happened to come across the village - well it wasn’t as if she didn’t have a legitimate reason to talk with him.

With her mind made up, Mya went to her closet to find something to wear. Today she’d break her routine and dress differently. Instead of jeans and a T-shirt, she put on a pair of cut off shorts and a blue tank top. She liked the way it deepened the blue in her eyes. After running a brush through her long hair, she made the last minute decision to leave it loose instead of binding it in a ponytail. Though the thought was a little vain, today she wanted to look and feel attractive. If she didn’t look dumpy, she’d have far more self-confidence. Mya had a feeling she was going to need all the self-confidence she could get to deal with the mysterious
Sinapu
.

Soon she was in her car and on her way toward Mesa Verde. It wasn’t long before Mya was thinking that she should have left early in the morning, before it started getting hot. Much like the heater, the old car’s air conditioner didn’t work. Mya was stuck relying on an open window to cool the inside of the car.

All she knew was that the
Sinapu
lived near Mesa Verde, but she had no idea where. Donny hadn’t given her any specifics about where the village was located.

Slowing the car, Mya pulled into the parking lot of a gas station-convenience store. With so few gas stations on the highways of the reservation, she was fortunate to have found one.

As soon as Mya opened the door to get out of the car, she was slammed with a wave of dizziness. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the car door to steady herself. It took a few minutes and several gulps of air before the feeling passed.

She wasn’t prone to dizzy spells, but hell … she wasn’t accustomed to the intense Arizona heat either. That had to be what it was.

Once she managed to make it inside the store, she felt tons better. With blinds covering the large windows, the interior of the store was dark and cool. Though they were only running a swamp cooler, the air felt much better than it did outside.

At the back of the store, Mya picked up a bottle of soda and several bottles of water. She had no idea why she hadn’t thought to bring water with her in the first place. Though she hadn’t been in Arizona long, she was aware of how important it was to always have extra water with you when you traveled. On the reservation you could drive for miles and never see anyone, especially if you traveled the isolated dirt roads. The last thing she wanted was to breakdown somewhere without drinking water.

At the checkout, she was forced to wait behind two young boys. The children were in the middle of an argument. They only had a couple of dollars between them and one of the boys wanted to spend it on candy - the other wanted sunflower seeds.

Reaching into her pocket, Mya pulled out a couple of dollars and handed it to them. “Now you can get both.”

“Hey thanks lady.” One of the boys tossed the words over his shoulder.

When the boys were gone, Mya stepped up to the counter. The cashier’s dark eyes studied her with open curiosity. She should have been just as curious about him because he seemed way out of place. With short-cropped black hair, and clothes that would have been more appropriate for church than working at a convenience store in the middle of an Arizona summer, he almost appeared a little overqualified for his job.

The cashier began ringing up her purchases, but apparently his curiosity got the best of him. “You’re not from around here?” He phrased his question as a statement.

“No … I’m just passing through.”

Without saying anything more, he placed her water and soda in a paper bag.

Mya handed him some money before picking up the bag. “I’m looking for the
Sinapu
village that’s supposed to be around here somewhere. Do you know how to get there?”

Mya thought it a little comical how her question caused the cashier to freeze in mid movement. He stood there, gaping at her until she began to feel like some kind of freak in a sideshow attraction.

Finally he pasted a smile across his face. “Maybe you’re looking for the ruins at Mesa Verde … yeah?”

Mya shook her head. “No, I need to find the
Sinapu
.”

Though his smile remained, in his eyes she detected uncertainty, and maybe even a small amount of fear. “It’s not a good idea to go there.”

Now Mya’s curiosity peaked. “Why not?” she asked.

“They don’t like outsiders. Besides … there’s nothing there really.”

“Well there’s someone there I need to see,” Mya explained. “Do you think you could like … I don’t know … point me in the general direction where I could find them?” Mya didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. All of the secrecy she was coming across was really starting to irritate her. Why couldn’t she just get a straight answer for a change?

The guy looked crestfallen and right away Mya regretted losing her cool with him. “I’m sorry,” Mya apologized. “It’s just kind of important that I find this person.”

Mya heard the door open behind her, but she wasn’t really concerned about who was entering, at least not until she saw the look on the cashier’s face. The man was staring at something behind her. Terror mixed with relief gave him sort of a dumbstruck expression.

When Mya turned to see what the cashier was looking at, she felt her heart drop to the floor. He was standing at the door - staring at her, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

David Bray was just as gorgeous as she remembered from the first time she saw him, maybe even more so. He wore black riding boots and blue jeans that were just tight enough that she could make out the thick muscles of his thighs. His tank top complimented the bulging muscles in his arms and shoulders perfectly.

The mirrored sunglasses he was wearing prevented her from seeing his eyes, and it was his eyes that she most wanted to see.

Mya suddenly realized that she had been holding her breath, and now she had to consciously force air into her lungs. When she had decided to search for David Bray, she’d prepared herself to expect the unexpected, but she had in no way been prepared for what she was feeling now.

She was nervous, and even a little afraid, but most of all there was an overwhelming feeling of utter bliss.

A week ago she’d have scoffed at the notion of love at first sight, but since that afternoon that she’d seen David Bray drive by on his bike, she’d been unable to get him out of her mind. Her thoughts of him had grown obsessive since she’d realized that he had been the one to help her after her accident.

Now here he was, only a few feet away, and she had his full attention. Mya’s knees grew weak and she cursed herself inwardly because she was unable to stop them from shaking.

What the hell was wrong with her?

David Bray was just a guy. Sure, he was breathtakingly attractive, but still just a guy. But if he was just another guy, why did she suddenly feel like a schoolgirl who had just stumbled across her favorite teen heartthrob?

While she studied him, she got the distinct impression that he was even more surprised to see her, than she was to see him. She also had the uncanny feeling that if he’d known she was in the store, he wouldn’t have stopped.

But why
?

He’d gone out of his way to help her, but now she was picking up vibes she couldn’t understand. It was as if she were the very last person that he’d expected or wanted to see.

The two of them stood there staring at each other for what seemed an eternity, but couldn’t have been more than a minute. It was the sound of the cashier’s voice that brought her out of that moment of suspended animation.

“This lady says she needs to talk to someone in
Sinapu
.” The store clerk’s voice cracked as he spoke.

Mya still couldn’t take her eyes from him, and though she knew she should say something, she couldn’t make her tongue form any words. Instead, she continued gaping at him like a terrified child.

“Who is it that you are looking for?” he asked in a voice so low that it might as well have been a whisper.

Swallowing hard, Mya tried to think of something to say. She finally decided that the best thing to do was to just come out with it. “I’m here to see you.”

Mya got in the car. She was trying hard to appear casual, but in reality she was terrified. She wasn’t even sure why she was so nervous.

Clearing her throat, Mya took a deep breath. “I wanted to thank you for helping me the other night. If it wasn’t for you … I don’t know how long it would have been before someone showed up.” Mya hated the way her voice cracked when she tried to talk.

Now he smiled, revealing a set of dazzling white teeth. “You knew that was me?”

Mya nodded.

“How did you know where to find me?” he asked. Though his question seemed nonchalant, there was a hint of uneasiness in his voice.

“I asked my step uncle who you were,” she replied.

For a long time he said nothing. Mya couldn’t get over the feeling that beneath his glasses, those silver- gray eyes were boring right into her. In that instant, she was certain that he could see right through her, and that he knew exactly how being near him was affecting her.