Broken Wings (14 page)

“
But if it wasn’t for her,”
Billy said, “you wouldn’t have died.”

“
My life was short.”
Tajan’s eyes were still on Maggie and his whole face had broken
into a smile. “But it was worth a million lifetimes.” His smile
faded as he turned back to Billy. “It was my destiny to protect
her. It was also my destiny to die with her.”

Billy stared at Maggie. Her
resemblance to Rio was uncanny. Every curl of her fiery hair. Every
curve defining her face. Every sparkle in her jade-green eyes. He’d
never seen anything like it—a resemblance so striking—and he
couldn’t get over it.

“
I have to go,” Tajan said
to Billy. “But before I do, there’s something I want to show
you.”

Without any warning at all,
Tajan stepped inside Billy’s body. Billy gasped at the jolt.
Somehow, he thought he now knew what it felt like to be struck by
lightning. Billy’s body jerked when Tajan stepped back
out.

“
I have to go now,” he said
again. “But don’t worry, Maggie’s going to keep you company for a
while. Who knows, maybe she can help you.”

Tajan faded away.

“
Where’d he go?” Billy
asked in an almost whisper.

Maggie stepped up and
motioned for him to sit with her. They dropped down onto the ledge
and dangled their feet over the edge of the cliff. There was a
distinct silence between them for the longest time and then finally
Billy mustered up the courage to look her.

The resemblance was uncanny.
It was so weird. He reached up and traced his fingertips along the
edge of her hair with a hesitant touch.

Maggie shivered.

Billy yanked his hand back.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. But you look so much like
her.”

“
It’s okay.” She looked at
him. “I haven’t been touched in such a long time.” Tears glistened
the corners of her eyes.

“
What?” His mind whirled at
her declaration. “You and Tajan can’t touch each other?”

“
No.” She shook her head.
“Heaven isn’t so heavenly when you can’t feel the touch of the one
you love.”

“
I’m sorry.” The words fell
from his mouth, but he meant them.

“
He showed you, didn’t he?”
Maggie asked, changing the subject. “How much he loves me,” she
added, and it was no question.

“
Yeah.” Billy shrugged. “In
a way I envy you two.”

“
Why?”

“
Because you have each
other. You may not be able to touch, but you’re always going to
love each other…apparently.”

“
Well...that’s true.” She
nodded. “but…there is someone out there for you, too.”

“
Yeah, sure.” His skeptical
laughter filled the air.

“
It’s true.” Maggie grinned
and nudged him. “And between you and me...she’s coming very
soon.”

Billy might have inquired
about her statement, if the reason he was there hadn’t slammed into
the forefront of his mind. It consumed his thoughts, pushing
everything else aside. “Is the treasure real?”

“
Oh, it’s real all right,”
Maggie said. “All you have to do is find it.”

“
But how?” he asked. “We
don’t even know where to look.”

“
Well, I can’t really help
you with that,” she said. “I don’t exactly recall where we buried
it.”

A sense of defeat dropped
over Billy. “Well, I guess that settles it,” he said with a shrug.
“We can’t figure out how to read your map.”

“
Now that is something I
can help you with.” She smiled. “You must be careful though.” Her
tone grew serious. “There are people out there who are after the
same thing you are. And above all else, you must protect Rio
because Tajan is not able to do that right now.”

She hopped up off the ground
and Billy did the same. He pulled the map out of his pocket and
handed it to her. She folded the edges several times, creased it
down the middle and then handed it back to Billy.

“
Will this help?” he asked,
slipping the map from her.

“
Compare it, as is, to an
early map of the area and you’ll know where to look,” she said with
a comforting pat on the back of his hand. Her expression turned
somber. “There will come a time when Rio’s identity will be
questioned,” said. “Never doubt for a moment that she isn’t who she
says.”

Billy didn’t give Maggie’s
counsel about Rio much consideration. He was too wrapped up in the
map and the way she’d folded it.

“
I have to go now.” She
backed away in slow, easy steps. “But leave Rio alone for the
night. Tajan is with her.” She began to fade away, leaving him with
one last consideration, “Remember…you must protect Rio.”

And then she was
gone.

* * *

The sun had long since
disappeared behind the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and Rio was
wandering aimlessly through the forest. Somewhere, in the deepest
corners of her mind, she knew she was asleep, high upon a
mountaintop and curled up by a warm fire.

It was a notion she couldn’t
quite grasp, but yet she knew it. Maybe that why it hadn’t fazed
her that it was dark and she was alone in the woods. She continued
on, somehow knowing which way to go, yet having no clue where she
was going—until she arrived at Vista Point. That was a place she
recognized, having recently been there with Billy. She climbed up
on a boulder and drew her knees up under her chin.

Not long after, she heard a
noise in the nearby bushes. It didn’t bother her. She felt no fear.
Just curiosity. “Is someone there?”

Tajan emerged from the
shadows.

“
It’s you!” Hope and
anticipation pushed the sigh up her throat.

Tajan strolled toward her
and scaled the rock easily. Sitting beside her, his arm swept
against hers. The heat of his skin breezed through her, igniting a
flame that had been smoldering for decades.

He looked at her and smiled.
He brushed her hair back from her face and traced his fingertips
along her cheek. “My dear sweet love.” His dark-eyed gaze stoked
the desire burning deep inside her. “I have missed you so,” he said
in perfect English. Their closeness was like a drug filling her
with euphoria.

What the hell? Rio slid off
the rock and started to run. This was so not right. She’d lost her
mind.

He was there, all around
her, and in an instant he’d swept her effortlessly into his arms.
She wanted to run. Flee. But her heart jolted and her pulse pounded
from the feel of his bare-chested skin. He drew her like a powerful
magnet and she was helpless to escape the attraction.

The sweet smell from the
other day—when Billy had left her here alone—invaded the space
around her and overwhelmed her senses.

She felt like she was
overdosing on some euphoria drug. She slid her arms around him,
wanting another dose.

He brushed his lips over her
cheek. Her body tingled from the contact and her heart danced with
excitement. Rio wanted every inch of him.

But he was not
hers.

Tajan’s lips were well on
their way to meeting up with hers when she pulled away. “We
shouldn’t be doing this.” She should put some distance between
them, but it was hard to push him away. “Maggie…” She closed her
eyes, feeling utterly miserable. “You belong to her.”

He pulled her to him and
locked his hands against her spine. “You haven’t quite figured it
out yet, have you?” His gaze traveled over her face and searched
her eyes. He leaned in to kiss her, and the the heat of his lips
seared emotions and passions back into her heart that she’d long
since forgotten. Feelings from another lifetime that lingered to
this day.

Rio shook her head, as if
that’d cast out the weird sensations. “What the hell is going on?”
she asked, barely above a whisper.

Looking at her, he said,
“You remember now.”

A burst of wild grief shot
through her. Rio felt her head grow dizzy and her knees give.
Sinking to the ground, Tajan scooped her into his arms and carried
her through the darkness. She buried her face against the side of
his neck.

An odd feeling, like she’d
found something she didn’t know she lost, gained momentum as they
came to a lodge in the middle of a thicket.

Inside, Rio made a feeble
attempt at pulling herself together. “How could I have forgotten
you?” she asked, aching with an inner pain.

Tajan stepped forward and
clasped her body tightly to his. “You weren’t supposed to
remember,” he said. “At least that was the plan when you were given
a new life in the form of Rio. All traces of Maggie were supposed
to have been stripped away.”

Realizing what that
inevitably meant, she put all her effort into freeing herself from
his embrace and took a couple of steps back. “So...” She hesitated,
finding it hard to speak the truth. “You know the whole story
then...don’t you?”

“
Yes,” he said without
judgment. “But you have to change your plans.”

“
To what?”

“
You have to help Billy.
He’s family.”

“
Look—” Fear chased her
guilt up her throat. “I’m having a little trouble considering
someone who turns out to be my twenty-millionth great-grandson from
a former life…as being family.”

“
Rio...” Tajan said softly,
“Audrey Tajan is your mother.”

“
No she’s not.” Rio shook
her head. “That’s just a cover.”

“
Cover or not...” He
caressed her cheek with his thumb. “It’s true.”

She swallowed hard, lifted
her head and met his gaze head on. “I remember my mother... and she
definitely wasn’t Audrey Tajan.”

“
Audrey was your father’s
first wife, and your natural mother.” Tajan began to wonder if Rio
really needed to hear that she’d been abandoned by not just one but
two mothers. “Abby is only your adoptive mother.” He wanted nothing
more than to be able to protect her, even from this. “Maybe that’s
why she’s always hated you so.”

Rio closed her eyes. “Oh,
God!” She let out a sound that was half sob-half moan. “My
great-great-granddaughter from a previous life turns out to be my
mother.” She opened her eyes, looking at him with fear and
disbelief evident in her gaze. “Do you realize how much therapy I’m
going to need over this?”

Tajan took her hand and gave
her a sad, lonely smile. “You have to forget your original purpose
and find a way to help Billy,” he said. “If you can do that, then
in the end your original purpose will be served.”

“
But we don’t know where
the treasure’s buried.”

“
Billy has the necessary
information now.” Tajan paused, holding her gaze for a moment and
then leaned over and kissed her—madly, decadently,
passionately.

The next thing she knew,
they were tucked away inside a cozy pallet made of bearskin. His
lips were pressed against hers and he was caressing her mouth more
than kissing it. The heat of his naked body against her bare skin
burned hot and seared deep inside into the core of her
soul.

Their reunion had been a
long time coming, and neither of them wanted it to end quickly.
They took things slow and very sensual, becoming reacquainted, they
welcomed each other home. When their passions exploded in a
downpour of fiery sensations, their bodies melded together as if
they were two pieces of a whole.

Rio nestled against Tajan,
savoring the feeling of satisfaction he’d left her with. In his
arms, fully contented, she fell asleep.

At daybreak, the morning sun
broke the horizon and filtered into the lodge through the cracks
and crevices, waking Rio. Waking up in Tajan’s arms gave her about
a moments worth of pleasure—until she realized what that
meant.

“
I don’t want to go back,”
she said, savoring the warmth of his body against her bare skin. “I
want to stay here with you.”

“
You have to go back.” With
an almost hypnotic touch, he caressed her hair. “This time, you
will live a long, healthy and very happy life.”

“
I can’t do that now.”
Dissention rose in her voice. “Not after last night.”

“
I know this is hard for
you to accept or understand,” he said, “but your destiny is with
your partner.” Tajan propped himself up on one arm and trailed his
fingers along her cheek. He smiled at her and she wanted nothing
more than to get lost in him again. “Close your eyes,” he
whispered.

She did as he asked. His
fingers blazed a delightfully sensuous trail over her face. She
touched his arm, enjoying the feel of his chiseled bicep. His lips
breezed across her cheek. “Don’t look at it like its forever,” he
whispered.

Rio’s hand fell against her own body.
That’s when she realized Tajan was gone. She was left with nothing
but a memory.

She leapt to her feet at the same time
her eyes sprang open. Surveying the area, and herself, she found
she was fully clothed and back atop Hot Springs
Mountain.

Billy and the others rushed to her
side. “Rio…you okay?” Anxiety fueled his questioning
voice.