Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (213 page)

The soft sound of his breathing was deep and regular within seconds. I buried my face in my hands and let the tears fall. Daniel was willing to deny himself the joy of being Claire’s true Twin Soul, just to preserve my love for her, which must be so insignificant, compared to what she could have with him. As grateful as I was to Daniel, I doubted his offer would help in the end. I had no idea how to stop the bond. I realized in that moment, though, that if Claire asked it of me, I would make the same offer to her. Her happiness was the most important thing.

The truth was hard to face. If at all possible, I would take Daniel’s offer and do everything in my power to keep Claire’s heart from reaching Daniel’s. Talon quietly padded over to me and placed his head in my lap. I had forgotten he was even there.

Silently he tried to reassure me. “Have faith in your love, Uriah. Do not give up yet.”

I realized that I must have been projecting every thought and feeling to him during my conversation with Daniel, because he understood my anguish perfectly. “I have to give her up,” I said, “if I can’t stop the bond from forming. I don’t want to do it, though. I want to keep her for myself regardless of the bond. I don’t want to do the right thing. I don’t deserve her, do I?”

“You will make the right choice. I am sure of that. Don’t let anything else cloud your mind, Uriah. Trust in yourself,” Talon said. “You have been taught well.”

“I just can’t see things working out anymore,” I admitted.

“You will survive this. You are much more than you know.”

“Uriah,” Cole said, running back to the picnic table, “is everything okay?” His gaze went to Daniel immediately, his fingers checking for a pulse. Reassured, he looked at Talon. My animal friend told me the wolves and coyotes were keeping the creature at bay, but it was getting harder for them to keep track of him.

“Daniel’s fine,” I said. Thanks to Claire, apparently. “Better than before. I think his fever finally broke. He’ll be okay until we get to Sophia. We’re fine with everything else too, for now. But we better keep moving.”

“Is something else wrong?” Cole asked. I couldn’t help but sniff again and brush at my eyes. I was sure they were red and puffy. Turning away from Cole, I stared at the ground.

“Everything’s fine. Did you find those herbs?” I asked, not really caring. Daniel would be fine, I was sure of it now.

“No, I didn’t. It’s too late in the year, I guess,” Cole said. I could feel his eyes watching me, trying to decipher what had happened while he was gone. “Do you want me to take Daniel?”

“No,” I said quickly. I wanted to protect him. I felt even more responsible for him than before. “I don’t think he’ll be squirming around too much anymore. I’ll be fine with him.”

“All right,” Cole said, his expression quizzical.

“Just get him back on the bike.”

“Sure,” Cole said.

Reaching for Daniel, we gently pushed him upright. His eyes opened a little. “Oh, you’re back,” he said to Cole before letting his eyes fall closed again. “Uriah said you would be.”

Cole looked at me with a sharp expression. “He was awake?”

I shrugged. Just get him on the bike so we can leave, I pleaded silently.

“You didn’t think that was worth mentioning, Uriah?” Cole said.

“It was just for a few seconds. Let’s just go, okay?”

Cole’s gaze flitted between me and Daniel. His expression relaxed. Whatever he was assuming, it was probably wrong, but once again, I felt no need to correct him. Cole gathered the unconscious Daniel into his arms and I climbed back on the bike. The rope was still necessary, but Daniel was at least holding himself up a little more this time. Four more hours. Talon bounded away and I instantly missed his calming presence.

T
he disturbing experience
woke me from my strange half sleep. I had no idea how I had reached my dream man, the one I knew to be Daniel, but somehow I found myself at his side watching him suffer. The pull to go to him was unbearable.

I didn’t know who this person was, but I didn’t want to have him in my mind. Uriah was the one I loved and would always love, no matter what Quaile tried to tell me. I told myself that over and over again. But I still found myself walking over to him. His body burned with fever. I spotted the bandages on his leg and remembered seeing the animal attack him in a previous dream. It was shocking to realize that the dreams were in some way linear, progressing. But to what end? I had been desperately hoping that these dreams were just a bad effect from whatever my dad had drugged me with. The possibility that it was more than that terrified me.

Kneeling beside him, I reached out to touch his forehead, pulling back at the surprising heat. He muttered words I couldn’t understand. His face clenched in pain as he writhed back and forth. My soul yearned to help him. His pain enveloped me, begging me to free him from his prison. Tears ran down my cheeks as I watched him.

Quietly, I told him it would be all right, and I prayed I wasn’t lying. The thought of him dying was enough to bring uncontrollable tears to break free. I was so confused by these emotions. I didn’t love Daniel. He should have meant nothing to me. Feeling like my own emotions were beyond my control, I struggled to understand what was happening. I couldn’t control these feelings, and I was frightened of their source.

He was in so much pain, though. He needed me. Uriah would have wanted me to help him. Sitting next to him, I whispered that everything was going to be fine.

“Daniel,” I whispered without meaning to say the name aloud. My fingers brushed against his burning skin.

His eyes opened, bright and clear. Daniel’s fever left him instantly. At first he stared at me, his eyes full of gratitude and love. Suddenly his voice took on a throaty tone, fearful, but I didn’t know why. “Claire?” he asked.

My soul leapt when he said my name, but my heart reared against the implications. I ran from him, back into the darkness. My soul was begging me to go back, but I shook my head violently. I searched the darkness for Uriah. Perhaps he was here, too. I needed him. I didn’t know how much longer I would be able to resist the feelings that had surrounded me when I’d touched Daniel’s fevered skin.

The rush of longing and the desire for completeness were so overwhelming. I could no longer deny who Daniel was. My entire being had confirmed that he was my Twin Soul. Even admitting that, I wanted Uriah. I was desperate for his return. I couldn’t withstand Daniel’s pull without him by my side.

Sure that I was alone, I fell to my knees and curled my arms around my shaking body. “Uriah, where are you?” I pleaded. “Come back to me, please. I can’t hold on without you.” Tears my physical body couldn’t actually feel, flowed freely. I tried to push the fear away. I needed to be strong. With every tear that fell I could feel my will slipping away.

Trying, once again to use my memories of Uriah to keep my heart together, I pulled the passion of our kiss the night he proposed to me. It was the last time he had kissed me so profoundly. I opened my eyes and filled the empty darkness of this place with my mind. The memory surrounded me. The sultry breeze I had felt that night pulsed against my skin and made my hair dance in it. I looked to where Uriah should have been.

Sandy blonde hair and blue eyes stared back at me. Gasping in surprise, I scrambled away from the image. Daniel’s expression wrinkled in confusion. My eyes darted around me. Everything was the same as it had been that day. The window of the jeweler’s store was dark beside us. I was standing on the sidewalk in Santa Fe, but Uriah wasn’t here. Daniel stood in his place, reaching his hand out to me.

My head shook as I pressed my eyes closed against the tears. Slowly, I opened them again, trying to capture the vision of the man I loved. Only Daniel stared back at me. Tears spilled down my cheeks as I turned and ran. I could hear Daniel calling after me, but I just kept running. Not even my memories were safe anymore.

Stumbling through the brush, I screamed Uriah’s name. The silent desert echoed my own voice back to me. Slowly my feet lost their rhythm and I sunk to my knees. “Uriah, where are you?” I cried. “Where are you? I need you.” Over and over I called out to him, but he never came. I fell sobbing into the burning sand and cried as the grains bit into my skin. Was this ever going to end?

“
W
e’re almost
to Santa Fe,” Cole’s voice crackled over the headset. “How’s Daniel doing?”

“Still out of it,” I replied.

“We’re going to have to take the back roads, then. People are going to think it’s a little weird if we ride through town with Daniel tied to your back.”

“Yeah, probably. The animals will be able to keep track of us better that way, anyway. The creature is getting more risky. I think he knows we’re getting close. The wolves ran it off an hour ago,” I said.

The Matwau had come back just as quickly, unfortunately. The wolves hadn’t been able to do any damage to the creature, either. It may have only been testing their response, but the lead wolf thought he had been trying to get around the sentries and couldn’t. I could feel its presence. It was patiently biding its time, staying on the edges of our circle of protectors.

“Do you think it knows where we’re going?” Cole asked.

“Yeah, I think it does. I think it can feel Claire, just like it seems to be able to feel Daniel. He’ll attack before we reach San Juan,” I said with surety.

“Great,” Cole muttered.

Cole took the lead, guiding us through streets with less traffic as we tried to avoid rousing the residents’ interest. I barely paid attention to our surroundings, my mind too filled with Claire. This whole trip, I had been pushing for us to move more quickly, but now that we were less than an hour away, the truth of the situation began to weigh heavily on me.

I felt sure now that I would lose Claire, and I was trying my best to handle the emotions that brought up. There was still a small grain of hope, but after Daniel’s offer I had to finally tell myself that I would give her up if she wanted me to. If there was some way to stay with her, I would of course leap at it, but if not, I could at least give her a chance to find true happiness.

“Uriah,” Cole said when we were back on the empty highway, “do you have a plan?”

“For the creature?” I asked, knowing he was speaking of Claire.

“For Daniel and Claire,” Cole said. “I’ll help you if you need it.”

“Thanks, Cole, but I don’t know if there’s anything to do. Once they’re in the same room with each other, I’m afraid it will already be too late.” I had wracked my brain the whole trip, replaying every conversation I’d had with Quaile, every story my mother had told me, but there was nothing there to help me. Claire’s strand of hair was still safely hidden in my pocket. Thankful I hadn’t needed it, I intended to keep it there. At least I would have something of her to carry with me.

“If you did keep their souls from bonding, what would Daniel think?” Cole wondered. “When he’s right there with her, would he agree to go along with any plan you might come up with?”

He already has
, I said to myself. I wondered about Daniel’s experience with Claire in his dreams. The feelings he described seemed too intense to have been imagined. Was it really only a dream? Were Claire and Daniel already connected in some way?

Daniel’s chivalrous offer to turn away from Claire made me reconsider my selfish desire many times. I tried to bury the impulses, but they kept creeping back into my mind, forcing me to face what was really important, Claire’s life, not my happiness. “Daniel has already agreed to help me,” I said, trying to keep any feeling from my voice.

“Really?” Cole considered my words. “Why would he do that?”

I knew the real reason for Daniel’s decision, but I couldn’t bring myself to explain it to Cole. “He doesn’t want to come between me and Claire. It’s as simple as that,” I said.

“As simple as that, huh?”

“Yeah, so drop it, okay?” I knew Cole didn’t deserve the harsh words, but it was taking what little control I had left just to keep myself from dissolving into a pool of fear and hopelessness. Cole must have heard the desperation in my voice, because he didn’t press the subject.

Talon was still out of sight, but his thoughts drifted in to mine. “You are stronger than you think, Uriah. Stay focused on your task.”

I nodded to myself. His words were firm and commanding. “I will.”

However, even Talon’s order could not hold off the fear that slapped me when the little sign announcing San Juan Pueblo came into view. The Matwau wouldn’t wait much longer.

“He’s coming,” Talon warned. “Prepare yourself!”

“Cole, get into town,” I yelled. There was nothing he could do to help, and with Daniel strapped to me, I was practically useless as well. “Can you hold him off?” I asked Talon.

“Yes. Leave now!”

Putting all my trust in Talon, I raced toward Claire. Cole was well ahead of me, now, flying over the pocked dirt roads. I tried to keep pace with him, but I was afraid that with Daniel behind me, one bad move would throw us from the bike. The cluster of buildings marking our home rose before me. I swerved back and forth, darting between angry pedestrians.

No doubt I would have a lot to explain when things calmed down. The battle had started behind me. The eager coyotes were the first to engage the Matwau. Two of their voices faded from my mind immediately. The wolves arrived then. Talon was hanging back, protecting our retreat.

I could feel the frustration in the animals’ minds as they were slowly pushed back. The angry yelp of a wolf streaked through my mind as he fell behind, his leg too injured to continue. Talon’s thoughts were getting more nervous. He was anxious to join the fight, but wouldn’t leave us unprotected.

Turning the last corner, my street came into view. Anger blossomed in my mind from a dozen voices. The Matwau had broken away from the wolves and coyotes. Talon roared audibly. Even as far away as we were now, I could still hear his anger as if he was next to me. “He’s coming straight for you! He knows exactly where you are,” Talon warned, sprinting towards us.

“Cole, where are you?” I asked. If the Matwau could keep pace with us on the interstate, he would have no trouble catching up with us, now.

“I’m almost to your mom’s. Where are you?” Cole asked.

“I just turned onto my street. The creature got away from the wolves. Talon is trying to chase him down, but keep your eyes open,” I said.

“Who’s Talon?” Cole asked.

“The mountain lion, he’s chasing the creature, but I don’t think he’ll catch up in time.”

“I’m at the house, now,” Cole said. “I don’t see anything yet. Hurry up.”

I steered around the well-known potholes as I raced for my house. The back tire of my bike tore at the earth, spraying gravel and dirt out behind me as I throttled the engine harder. I couldn’t stop. Claire was waiting.

My vision blurred in and out as I tried to remain focused on the danger around me. The Matwau’s bulky grey form broke into view. No matter how hard I pushed the bike’s engine the Matwau kept pace, its long wolf stride running parallel to the bike.

I could see the house, my house, where Claire waited, dying. I could just make out Quaile now, standing outside the door, her face twisted with worry. Time was running out. The Matwau had almost reached me. Gripping the brakes, I pulled too hard, too fast, sending the bike over in a cloud of dust in my race to reach the house before the Matwau did. The bike slid across the hard earth, but whatever wounds the dirt and gravel inflicted, I couldn’t feel them. Blood pounded in my head.

Cole was back outside by the time I regained my senses. His hands flashed across the rope bindings, releasing me in mere seconds. I crawled out of the bonds as soon as they were loose enough. Cole caught Daniel as the kid slid down weakly. Standing to help Cole, my back was to the road.

“Uriah!” Cole’s eyes were wide. Terror paralyzed him midway through lifting Daniel.

Free of the bike, I immediately jumped to my feet. I was sure I was moving as fast as I could, but the world seemed to have lost its momentum. The trees slid past my view slowly and the breeze seemed frozen in place. Emerging from the dust cloud, the Matwau fixed me in its sights.

Facing the Matwau, I watched as its haggard face was fired with ecstasy. He was his human self once again, but he was no longer the man from the Vital Records office or the man that had faced us before attacking Daniel. A maniacal cackle split the air.

“I have won!” he screamed. “Give me the boy.”

“You haven’t won anything, yet,” I spat. I stepped toward him. I balled my fists, ready for the inevitable fight. I prepared myself for the agonizing fire touching him would bring. All I had to do was keep my punches short. I couldn’t let him gain a secure hold on me.

“Matwau.”

The hissing voice startled me. I wanted to look back and confirm its source, but I was afraid of taking my eyes off my enemy.

“You do not belong here. Leave now,” Quaile said. Her voice was hard and commanding. She did know about the creature, I realized. She even knew its name. I would definitely have a serious conversation with her if any of us survived this.

The Matwau cringed in her presence. “You do not command me, woman. I will have my quarry.”

“I will not allow it,” Quaile said. Her voice was steel. “Daniel is under my protection.”

The Matwau bared his teeth, growling ferociously. He rushed forward, his eyes locked on his prey. Quaile stepped right in his path. Stunned, I pushed my limbs to move, fearing she would be torn apart. My jaw dropped when the man reached the elderly woman and was flung backward. “Quaile,” I started, but her weathered hand rose, bidding me to stay back.

Heaving for breath, the man shook violently as he tried to right himself. A vicious anger laced his features. “No!” he yelled. His body trembled with the effort.

“You have lost Daniel, Matwau. Leave now,” Quaile demanded. The power in her voice seemed to seep into the very atmosphere, binding the man by her words. The Matwau screamed in fury, his hands balled up and slashed through the air defiantly. An instant later, his snarl turned up, a conniving smile directed at me.

“Then I will take Uriah in his place,” he said pointing to me.

“You would not dare. You will fight eventually, but not now when you are so weak and where I can aid him in your destruction. I would love to help rid the world of you, but I have more important business to attend to. The girl is barely hanging on. Be gone, before I change my mind and set the boy’s powers lose on you,” Quaile said.

My head was swimming. What was she talking about? When I left two days ago she said she didn’t know the true meaning of her visions, that she had done all she could to help. Now she spoke with this creature as if they had known each other all their lives, and of me as if she knew my purpose and future. Even if not as a friend, she definitely knew the creature. She had hid her knowledge of this enemy from me deliberately. I was beginning to suspect she had hid other important details as well.

“Be gone, Matwau,” Quaile hissed, stepping toward the cringing man.

“I will not leave without killing one of them!”

Fury at everyone and everything that had brought me to this point boiled under my skin. The creature was stronger, faster, more experienced than I. But I would not be stopped. I would reach Claire. If I was certain of anything, and there was precious little I was certain about at the moment, I was certain of this. The Matwau would not stop me from reaching Claire’s side.

Quaile speaking again kept me from leaping forward.

“Killing either one of them will ruin everything. I will do everything in my power to stop you, Matwau.” Quaile looked resolute, but for a moment the Matwau looked as confused as I did. Quaile was protecting me because of whatever meaning there was in her vision, but what would Daniel dying have to do with anything? Something in her words sparked my mind to come alive. The only way Daniel could matter was because he was connected with Claire.

Quaile demanded once again that the Matwau leave. Rage roared out of the Matwau, splitting his body and reshaping it in an instant. The huge wolf form snarled, wanting to ravage the woman in front of him. Another low rumble joined his, snapping the Matwau’s massive head to the side. Talon’s paws threw up rocks and dirt as he skidded into the gravel driveway.

The Matwau had reached its tipping point.

With a cry of deep frustration, he turned and launched himself at me. Quaile screamed for me to attack and my body responded before I could even think to move. Power built in my muscles, strengthening them beyond what was humanly possible. Propelling myself right into the creature’s path, I locked my arms around it. Fire raced through my body from the contact as I flung it into the ground. The snapping of bones echoed in my ears, but didn’t stop the Matwau’s attack.

Claws and teeth raked the air as he tried to tear my flesh. Pure reflex snapped my body back and forth to cut off his attacks. My thoughts focused completely on Claire, I pushed harder than ever. I was so close to saving her. I had gone clear across the desert to find Daniel and bring him back to her. I couldn’t stop now. Smashing my fist into the creature’s side, I saw its ribcage collapse. Fury screamed out of the Matwau’s shattered body, but it didn’t give up.

Broken bones meshed back together as he shivered in my grip. He was trying to change again, but I refused to let him heal his wounds and prolong the fight. I had to get to Claire. Nothing was as important as saving her life. Heaving the beast into my arms I threw him as far away from me as I could. His body slammed into the ground, a blast of sand spraying into the air far enough away that it was barely noticeable to anyone but me.

Releasing an infuriated howl that said he knew he was outmatched, the Matwau pulled himself up and raced away from the ranch with ground eating strides. I didn’t even wait to see where he was going. Claire was the only thought in my mind. She was dying and I had to save her. Daniel. I spun around to find him.

Quaile caught my eyes, but turned away when I looked at her. Disgust welled up in me for her lies, but I had no time for her. “Cole, let’s get him inside.” Cole snapped out of the pose he had frozen in at the sight of the Matwau and together we rushed an unconscious Daniel into the house. I stumbled in, hardly aware of anything but Claire.