Mystical Seduction: full-length sensual paranormal romance (The Protectors) (20 page)

James looked unconvinced. “I don’t understand what’s
happening. And I’m not at all happy that you’re mixed up with this creature,
honey. We know several researchers in the field of parapsychology who might be
able to help you. Are you from outer space?” He directed the last at Horace.

“I don’t know,” Horace said with a shrug.

“They call themselves
the Protectors
. Even they don’t
know what they are doing on earth.”

“Interesting,” Judy said. She got up and quickly returned
with a notebook and pen. “And what about your parents? How did they raise you?
What did you tell you about your powers?”

Not having parents to love and protect him had never really
been a sore spot for him. That is, until he saw the fierce love Judy and James
had for their daughter. Their close relationship dug like salt into a long
ignored childhood wound.

“This isn’t something I like to talk about,” Horace
answered.

“They don’t have parents,” Faith supplied. “They’re all
orphans who had to struggle alone in the world until they found each other.”

“Really?” Judy turned her attention back on Horace. “You had
no one? No one at all?”

He shook his head. It hurt his pride to admit it, but he had
no reason to lie. He’d missed not having what all the other kids had.

“You poor dear.” Judy’s expression softened.

“Now see here,” James protested. “I don’t want you falling
under his spell, too.”

“He needs us,” Judy said. “Look at him. You can see it in
his eyes. He’s lost. Faith is right. He needs us.”

James grunted into his teacup.

“No one knows the cultures of this world better than my
parents. What they haven’t experienced first-hand, they have read and studied
in the reports of others,” Faith said with great pride. “They can help us.”

She started to peel off her sweater to show her parents the
lioness mark that he’d seared into her skin.

“Please…don’t…” Horace didn’t want to give Faith’s parents
another reason to hate him.

“This is important,” she said, and flashed him a quick
smile.

He didn’t know what that smile had been for, and he felt
like a starving beggar scrambling to scoop up crumbs as he drank in how good it
felt to see her smiling at him like that. He got all caught up wondering how he
might get her to smile at him again, and had completely missed that she’d
slipped off her sweater.

The skin around the black outline of the lioness still
looked red and puffy. He vaguely remembered that his own mark that had been seared
into his skin sometime during his two missing years had taken weeks to heal.

“It appeared a few days ago while we…
um
…” She had the
decency to blush. “Well, I was wondering if you’d seen anything like it. We
have no idea what it might mean.”

Judy closed her eyes and shook her head.

“What have you gotten yourself into, Faith?” James demanded.

“What?” Faith asked. “Do you recognize it?”

“The
Sinchi-cuna
,” James said. “Well, it’s something
that looks very much like it.”

“
Sinchi-cuna
?” Horace asked.

Faith furrowed her brows as she shook her head. “It means
‘valiant now’. It’s a phrase that was used in the time of the Incas. The
Sinchi
was a warrior. A champion, of sorts.”

“A
protector
?” he asked, his heart in his throat.

She nodded. And so did her mother. “And the
Sinchi-cuna
was a name they used for the temporary leader of these warriors. Isn’t that not
right, Dad?”

“That’s essentially correct,” James said.

“He’s writing a book on the Incas,” she explained. “I’ve
never heard of there being a mark depicting the
Sinchi-cuna
, though. Is
there one?”

“Well, not really,” James said. “At least, not one that has
been verified. However, we recently stumbled across a remote tribe that
believes themselves to be descendants of the original Incas of Cuzco. Their
holy man showed us a cave high in the mountains. Inside this cave were several
petroglyphs—including one that looked very much like that. He called it the
Sinchi-cuna
.”

“Do you remember the legend of how the Incas were formed?” Judy
asked Faith.

Faith, her cheeks bright from the excitement of the
discovery, nodded vigorously. “Their god, Ticci Viracocha, sent four men and
four women, called The Brethren, through a window into our world. They were to
be lords over the land.”

Judy fixed her gaze on Horace with such intensity it made
him shiver. “These eight men and women knew no father or mother.”

“Just like you, it seems,” James said to Horace stiffly.

“No,” Faith protested. “No, Horace isn’t like them. He
couldn’t be.”

“Why not?” Horace asked. Something about this story sounded
eerily familiar.

“Because they were vicious conquerors. Cruel to everyone
they encountered. They murdered, and those they didn’t kill, they forced from
their lands. As they traveled across South America, four of them came to bad
ends. Karma at work, I suppose. The remaining four fought a bloody battle to
win a fertile piece of land between two rivers. There, they erected the
Yrti-cancha
,
the House of the Sun.”

“There were other petroglyphs in the cave,” James said. “The
holy man had insisted that one in particular represented a man he’d met.”

“And what did that symbol look like?” Faith whispered the
question while she watched Horace’s reaction too attentively.

“It was a sun symbol,” James said, “but the holy man called
it the
Ccapac-tocco
, the chief lord. A king.”

“No.” Horace rose from the sofa. He didn’t want to hear any
more. It had nothing to do with what was happening to him…or to Faith. “No. I’m
not a king.”

“No one said you were,” James said. But the three of them
had already started to look at him differently. “The beliefs of this tribe are
unique. I suppose by being cut off from the outside world for centuries, their
culture and legends diverged from the rest of the Aymaran people. New tales
arose from the old ones.”

“Or perhaps their legends are closer to those handed down by
the original Incas,” Judy pointed out.

“Either way, it’s interesting. I’m hoping Judy and I will
get to spend more time with them next summer.”

“Where?” Horace demanded.

James shook his head. “They don’t welcome visitors. I
promised to not share that knowledge with anyone.”

“Where? Where did you see this?” He tore off his own shirt
to show James the mark on his arm, a mark that could cost him and Faith their
lives. “If you love your daughter, you will tell me. Where did you see this
mark?”

“In Bolivia,” James said as he stared at the mark with a
stricken look. “Last summer.”

“Bolivia?” Stone demanded. “There aren’t lions in Bolivia.
Well, mountain lions, but that’s different.”

“I know it sounds crazy.” Horace slung the small bag he’d
packed over his shoulder and tucked the last-minute plane ticket to La Paz into
his shirt pocket. “It is crazy. I don’t know how to explain it. Those missing
years in my past, I think I was there. I think I was with this lost tribe in
Bolivia. I have to go. I have to find out what’s happening to me.”

Faith planted her hands on her hips and blocked the café
door. “Not without me.”

“Don’t start this again, Faith. Please. I’m doing my best to
keep you safe. Not punish you.” Of course he didn’t want to leave her, but it
would destroy him if she came to any harm on the trip. She could be stubborn
all she wanted. He wasn’t going to lose her.

“You know as well as I do that it’s too dangerous to take
you along.”

“It’ll be even more dangerous for you if you try and leave
me behind.”

“Don’t you threaten me,” he warned and hoped the snarling
look he gave her would convince Faith that he planned to win this argument. She
wasn’t going with him.

End of discussion.

* * * *

His snarling didn’t worry Faith. Well, not too much. Horace
had struck a rather menacing pose when she’d tried to stop him from leaving the
café without her. And the way he’d tried to grab her made her wonder, albeit
briefly, whether he was going to wring her neck.

He didn’t. When he finally caught her, he’d slanted his
mouth over hers and kissed her until Faith didn’t know up from down.

“Seduction isn’t going to change my mind,” she’d told him
somewhat breathlessly. And then stumbled a couple of steps. “You need me. I’m
an anthropologist, remember?”

Horace didn’t look impressed.

She clutched the back of a chair since his kisses had turned
her legs into noodles. Besides, if he came at her, she could use the chair
against him like a lion tamer at the circus. “I can help you. And don’t forget
I have full use of
your
powers. You don’t. It would be dangerous to
leave me alone for long periods of time.” She paused just long enough to make
him scowl again. “You wouldn’t want me to have to find another anchor, would
you?”

And that had settled that.

* * * *

The crisp Bolivian mountain air filled Faith with renewed
energy. Lush green leaves sprinkled with dew brushed her face as she marched
along a slightly overgrown trail that wound through the Andes Mountains. She hadn’t
realized how much she missed going on expeditions. Anticipation hummed through
her veins as she looked forward to meeting for herself this forgotten tribe her
parents had discovered.

Her old traveling gear and hiking outfit hugged her body
like a trusted friend. She wore heavy khaki pants with pockets filled with
useful tools, a lavender tank top with a white long-sleeved cotton shirt, and a
pair of well-worn thigh-high hiking boots. She felt at home in these clothes
and in this place. A smile pulled on her lips as she gazed up at the soaring
emerald green canopy while a light breeze whispered through its branches.

Horace bit off a curse. He’d slipped on the hard-packed
clay, again. And slammed into her back, again.

She’d tried to talk him into buying a pair of boots, but he
said that they’d only raise blisters. Which was right. They’d hurt like hell
until they were broken in. But at least he wouldn’t be sliding all over the
trail.

It had never occurred to Faith that Horace would be uncomfortable
away from the city. She loved getting away from the so-called civilized world.
She didn’t want or need a trendy coffee shop around every corner. By the way
Horace scowled, it looked as if he did.

He might not be willing to admit his feelings. And she hated
the insecurity she felt when she thought about the control he held over her
heart. But Horace needed her. She wished he would come to his senses already
and realize just how much.

Did he still see her as his servant? His possession? It
rankled her to think he could be that blind when it came to their relationship.
But Faith resolved not to let her pride
or his
stop her from helping
him. Whether he chose to acknowledge it or not, they were a team.

Sooner or later, he’d figure that out. She hoped.

They were meant to be together. Even if she had to give up
everything to move to a painfully civilized part of the world and into a tidy
home surrounded by a white picket fence to make him happy—if it
kept
him
happy—she’d be willing to make the sacrifice. She hoped.

“We can take a break in an hour or so,” she said as she
jumped over a large rock. “I packed you a candy bar.”

That brought a smile to his lips.

Yes, Faith thought, it is good thing he brought me. She had
the experience to carry out expeditions like this one. And if she hadn’t been
here to take control of the map, Horace would probably be wandering around in
circles right about now.

“There’s the trail to the village,” she said, pointing
toward the south.

Horace squinted at an overgrown section of the forest
crowded with weeds and vines. “Where?”

In the tropics, vines grew with such speed that Faith
sometimes felt as if their living tendrils were reaching out for her. She
pushed aside the recent growth. The ground below the vines had been packed from
centuries of use. “Here,” she said.

“Doesn’t look like a trail,” he grumbled as he followed her
up the steep incline.

Horace looked so adorably put out that her heart squeezed.
Her lover, her soul mate was at her side as she forged forward, following her
passion. Everything felt right with the world.

She wondered how long it would last.

* * * *

It took a full three days to reach the village Faith’s
parents had marked on the map. Horace had been glad for the company and for
Faith’s unerring sense of direction. He’d been even happier to have her around
at night. To have her under the stars.

Only once did they have to stop in the middle of the day to
cool his swirling powers that now lived within Faith’s body.

But he was worried. This morning she’d awoken with that
strange glow encircling her head, and she’d been suspiciously quiet. Horace
could tell she’d been brooding about something for the past few days.
Apparently, whatever ate at her had finally taken its toll. When Horace asked
her about it, she’d brushed off his concerns and assured him that she felt
fine.

An obvious lie.

By the time they’d stopped for lunch, sparks sizzled in the
air. Still, Faith insisted she could handle his powers, and whatever else was
troubling her. It wasn’t until she’d accidentally set a nearby tree on fire
that she finally admitted defeat.

“
I can’t
,” she whispered while silent tears washed
her face.

Horace gently stripped off her clothes and dipped her in a
nearly mountain stream where a small waterfall had created a natural whirlpool.
The cool swirling water teased their bodies.