Mating Call (11 page)

Troy nodded and carried her from the room. He walked a short way down the hall and entered what Evy assumed was the library. Thousands of books lined the walls.

A Native American New Breed pointed. “Let’s put her over on the sofa. Would you grab that afghan,
Ihkweea?”

A tall, slender female with incredible bright green eyes covered her legs with a blanket. Instantly, she knew that she was mated to the Maya male. But how could she know that? How was that possible? “What’s happening to me?”

Troy sat on the edge of the couch and took her hand. She felt a calm wash over her and looked up at him gratefully. He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“I’m Ana,” the green-eyed female said. “This is my mate, Soaring Eagle. Adriana is Richard’s mate, and Reyn is the leader of the Order.”

“Adriana, you and Richard know other humans who’ve been marked in a similar way, don’t you?” Reyn asked.

Richard nodded. “SE’s son, Cesar is mated to a human female. Her mark is a crescent moon. Her twin brother has a mark of the sun.”

Out of nowhere, a thought came into Evy’s mind. “Yes, his mate’s name is Lyssa. You will see them soon, SE.”

She started to tremble. How the hell did she know that?

“Incredible,” Adriana said. “She’s already reading.”

Evy looked up at her. “I’m already reading what?”

“The future. Maybe even the past. You see, there’s a Seer born only every thousand years. They’re very rare. They often come into being during a time of great strife. They receive their power on their twentieth birthday. Oh, today must be yours, then.”

Evy nodded. “Why was everyone bowing like that?”

Richard rubbed his chin. “They were responding to the energy you were giving off. They recognized it as originating from our Goddess. Adri, if I remember correctly, Seers tend to have a very close relationship to the god or goddess that marks them.”

Evy swallowed hard and summoned some courage. “Close enough to maybe hear the Goddess’s voice?”

“You heard her voice?” Reyn asked a little too quickly.

“I’m not sure. I’ve been hearing a female voice. Not all the time. It was like she was trying to point me in the right direction or something. To lead me to Troy. Wait. We’ll still be mated, won’t we?” She felt her heart rate pick up along with her anxiety.

Adriana patted her leg. “Oh, of course. Listen. You’re more powerful than even a New Breed now. Something tells me you get what you want when you’re the Seer.”

SE grinned. “I have to say, I’m not too upset that you finally came to collect your power.”

Everyone laughed.

“I think maybe some rest before dinner would be a good idea,” Reyn said.

Troy nodded. “Yeah, probably. Let’s get you upstairs, your Highness.”

She gave his leg a smack.

As soon as the others left the study Reyn went into his room. Once inside, he leaned against the back of the door and exhaled. There was no doubt about it now. Something wasn’t right. Akina would never have left all that power with SE for safe keeping or let the Seer be kidnapped if everything was copacetic. She sure as hell would’ve at least given him a heads up. Minimum. He’d been telling himself she was just shouldering too much. He should have listened to his instincts. He massaged the back of his neck.
Damn it.

He straightened, held out his right hand, and commanded the
k’ul
in the room to keep him from being heard.

“
Tz’in,
” he mumbled the ancient Mayan. The air appeared to shimmer slightly. When he was satisfied his voice was concealed, he called to the Goddess.

He waited.

Nothing.

Normally, he would get at least a verbal response. He kicked the small refrigerator with his foot. “
Now
you’re not answering?”

He sat down on the edge of the bed. Who the hell was he kidding? She wasn’t even remotely within earshot and hadn’t been for days. Or maybe she was and someone was keeping her from answering. A low growl rumbled through his chest at the thought. He reluctantly released the
k’ul
with a swipe of his hand. He’d try again later. Jesus, he felt so goddamn helpless.

There was a knock on the door. That would be Adriana and Richard. He didn’t need telepathy to tell him that.

“Come on in.” He went into the sunken sitting area and lit the fireplace. “Anyone up for a beer?”

Adriana curled up in the side chair.
“Please.”

Richard laughed. “Count me in.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, just watching the fire.

Finally Reyn spoke. “Aren’t we missing New Breed .1?”

“She’s having some girl time with Auntie Helen and Mommy’s having some girl time with a microbrew.”

Richard kissed her forehead and sat down on the couch. “Can you two believe this?”

“I…no,” Adriana answered with a grin.

“Leave it to Troy to mate with a human,” Richard said.

Reyn chuckled. “And on top of that she becomes the Seer? What the fuck?”

They all burst out laughing.

There was another knock.

Richard smiled. “There’s the rest of the crew.”

Ana and SE followed Reyn in and sat down on the couch.

“So, how’s the power-free life treating you, SE?” Adriana asked.

The male let his head fall against the back of the couch. “Oh, my God.”

Ana grinned. “Relieved much, my male?”

SE grabbed her legs and pulled her into his lap. “Listen, you.”

As Reyn watched the brother tickle his mate and Ana collapse against him in a fit of giggles, his mind went back to Akina. He’d officially left worried and moved on to all-out panic. It was so unlike her not to answer his call and it had been days. Something was very wrong. In his mind, there were only two possibilities. She’d run into trouble with her old buddies the gods or with the immortal she had mentioned a handful of times. For whatever reason, getting her to talk about that last one was damn near impossible.

Ana sipped her beer. “Do you think Evy will need special instruction with you, Richard?”

“On using her powers? It’s hard to be sure. It’s true that others have needed it, but she’s on a whole new level. She’s no goddess, but she’s not human or a New Breed either. My guess is her powers will teach her, and very quickly.”

Adriana nodded. “I couldn’t believe the power I felt in that room.”

Reyn nodded. “It’s exactly the same
k’ul
I felt yesterday, but it measured about a nine on the Richter scale today.”

“I’ll check in on her. She could probably use some support from someone her own age. What do you think the chances are others felt it?” Ana asked.

Reyn opened another beer. “You mean Toltec? Too good for my liking. The last thing we want to do is alert the other side. Troy’s new mate may be just what we need to turn this thing around.”

Seth followed Batiste up a stairway and down a short hallway.

“This part of the building is my offices. Most of our business is conducted off the premises.”

They walked into a room with no windows. Didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. Head of a medium sized crime organization? You pass on the nice view.

Batiste sat behind his desk and put his feet up. “Take a seat.”

Seth nodded. “Thanks.”

“So, these boys you see out there, they are my runners. They are my guards, they make deliveries, pick up cash, and so on. Your friends will start there. Everyone starts there. But not you. I want you to lead one of my divisions. You will take orders only directly from me or my second. You will have your own runners under you to, let us say, do your dirty work. I have never chosen a division leader in this manner before. But I have a special mission for you. Interested?”

Jesus, he hoped it wasn’t dog catcher of the month. “Yes.”

“Fabulous. You may have noticed that after you found your six or seven boys who are like you, the well dried up.”

“Yeah, I did, actually.”

“That is because I got to them all first. I have an insider who feeds them directly to me.”

Fucking brilliant.

“My insider works in the lab. He tests your kind to find them before they are sent to a den. I pay him and he sends them to me. I want you to take over. See that he is properly paid. Check the quality of the merchandise. I would also like to know if there is any other way he can be of assistance to our organization.”

“I can handle that.”

“Good. And, Seth, I am sure you’ve heard of the Omerta?”

“Sure. That’s like the Mafia’s code of silence.”

“Exactly. No one is to know about my insider except the runners who you will hand pick yourself. Not even other division leaders.”

“No problem, boss.”

An insider in Toltec working for Batiste.
He had a feeling things were about to get real interesting.

Troy sat his mate on the bathroom counter and handed her a mirror. She lifted her hair and looked at her mark, big brown eyes as round as he’d ever seen them.

“It’s incredible, Ev. I’ve never seen another mark like it. You can almost see the stars really shine.”

“It is beautiful.”

He turned around so she could get on his back, took her into the bedroom, and dumped her on the bed. “How do you feel?”

She giggled. “Okay. Just a little whacked. You know, the way you do when you thought you were one person your whole life and all of a sudden find out you’re another.”

Troy sat on the edge of the bed. “I’m sure it’s a lot like what most shifters deal with after they first phase.”

“Yeah. That’s true. I can’t believe you’ve had to do this twice.”

He brushed her hair back. “Not in the same week as being kidnapped, mating, and turning twenty.”

“Good point. I’ll just go back to freaking out now.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just…I mean, what if I’m not what she expects? What if I royally fuck things up?”

“You’ll be fine, Ev. Honest. The Goddess doesn’t make mistakes. If she thought you were special enough to be chosen as the Seer, then you are.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“That’s my female.”

She smiled. “
Female.
I love that. It’s so amazing to me that you’re all here, living in the world right alongside humanity, and you have this incredible culture all your own that no one knows about.”

He grinned. “Looks like there’s a bunch of it we don’t even know about. What d’ya say to having dinner with the fam for the first time?”

She made a face that reminded him of someone eating a lemon.

“Too much to handle all in one day? We can always eat up here.”

She shook her head. “It’s not that. We’re having meatloaf. I hate meatloaf.”

“Did you just have a premonition?”

“I guess. I don’t know. I just sort of knew what we were having.”

Whoa.
He’d bet the mansion that it was barely even a vision. You couldn’t even tell she was havin’ one. And it came to her so automatically. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, the person who makes the meatloaf also makes the waffles.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

With a half hour still before dinner, Ana thought she’d check in on Mommy Dearest. She was definitely spending less time in her old office at Toltec headquarters, but the reason for that was obvious. They could hardly keep the labs in the building the Order had penetrated. Victrixa always had two offices, one at headquarters and one at the laboratory, also known as the “dog pound.” It made sense to assume she had one in the new building by now. What Ana couldn’t put a finger on was why she’d be spending so much more time there. Her psychotic bitch of a mother couldn’t give a flying fuck about the serum, as long as it continued to give her what she wanted.

Hmm.
She was at the main headquarters tonight though.
Aw, shit.
She was practicing
Yaman
again. The first time Ana had seen her try to work the Maya spell to control a
nagual
, it was very clear she was a mere novice. This was just a rerun. No matter how many times or how forcefully Victrixa gave the command, the stolen
nagual
wouldn’t budge. Her mother’s mutilated face became contorted with rage.

“No!” Ana lurched forward and touched her laptop screen. The bitch lifted her fist and crushed the glass vial that held the tiny soul. She helplessly watched her mother strut from the room. She stared at the screen.
Wait.
Something was moving. The little hummingbird
nagual
was freeing itself from the broken glass.
Of course!
It was just spirit.

Ana’s power was rusty. She didn’t use it much. She preferred the mano-a-mano shit out in the field. She focused on the screen for a moment, closed her eyes, and imagined her mother’s office. She pictured the
nagual
and it appeared in her open hand. It was a beautiful iridescent blue and green surrounded by a soft glow of light. “Hi, little
ts’unu’un
. You’re safe now.”

She held up her hand to let it go, but the soul wouldn’t fly. Was it hurt? Could a
nagual
even be injured?

The door to the room opened and SE walked in. “Almost ready for— is that what I think it is?”

“Yeah. I was watching Mommy Dearest practice
Yaman
again. It didn’t go any better than last time. She smashed the vial and this little guy was trying to get out. But now he doesn’t seem to want to go on to the Otherworld. I think maybe he’s hurt.” She looked up at him. “Maybe I shouldn’t have called for it. Do you think I hurt it? I didn’t mean to. I was afraid she’d come back.”

Jesus, she had the biggest heart. He touched the side of her face. “No,
ihkweea
. You’re not capable of that, not even by mistake.”

“But he needs to go home. Can you understand me,
ts’unu’un?
”

The spirit seemed to get all excited, fluttering wildly whenever she used the Mayan word for hummingbird.

SE shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I suppose he’ll go when he’s ready.”

She nodded. “Maybe when the Goddess comes she can take him back if he’s still here.”