His Lost Mate (A Steamy Paranormal Romance Novel) (31 page)

Lauren stepped away from the guerrilla, sucking in air. Still stunned, she coughed, her throat tight and sore. The jungle spun around her. She grabbed for a tree for balance, shook her head and stared at the strange image of a man aiming a gun at a ghost.

Muan raised his spear and growled like a wild animal. The man stepped backward and started shooting pointblank into Muan. The ancient shaman continued moving toward the man.

The gunman’s eyes widened as he cried out. Muan raised his spear. The man turned to run, stumbled over his own feet, fell forward and disappeared into the black hole of the cenote.

Lauren held her breath. After several moments she heard a distant splash from the bottom of the cenote, then dead silence.

Muan vanished. Then she saw the bearded man struggling to stand. The hatred in his eyes shook her out of her daze. The man slowly raised his gun, his face grimacing, obviously still in pain. She ducked behind a group of mahogany trees and fled into the jungle as gunshots were fired.

* * *

Deven heard the gunshots. He was close.
Move, move
. Then he saw Lauren, she was running away from a man who had his rifle aimed at her.

Snapping his own pistol into a double-handed grip, he took careful aim and shot at the man…and missed.

The man turned toward Deven and fired. Deven heard a thump as the bullet hit the tree next to him.

Deven aimed again and slowly squeezed the trigger twice. The man dropped to the ground.

He ran up to him and kicked the rifle out of his hand. The man remained motionless. One shot had hit him in the thigh and the other was the fatal shot in his chest. After checking his pulse, Deven confirmed the man was dead.

Lauren. She was gone.

She probably hadn’t seen him shooting from the cover of trees. He could hear her crashing through the forest. “Lauren. Lauren!”

“Deven? Thank God.”

“Here, I’m over here.”

Then he saw her and ran to her. Her hair was tangled and full of twigs and leaves. Her clothes were caked with mud. The scratches on her arms and legs made him cringe, but she had never looked more beautiful. He put his gun in its holster then pulled her into his arms. She wept into his chest.

“Are you all right?” His voice cracked with emotion.

She nodded into his shoulder and held him tighter. “I’m fine now.”

“I thought I’d never see you again. I wanted to tell you…that I’m so sorry…about digging up the owl,” she said through sobs. “It doesn’t matter. You’re all right. That’s all that matters.” He stroked her hair and shushed her. Then he stood back, held her face between his hands and tilted her face up. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “It’s all right now.” He lowered his mouth over hers and kissed her slowly, sensually, passionately.

Lauren clung to him. He never wanted to let her go. His love for her stirred a wave of emotion in his chest, bringing tears to his eyes. “I thought I lost you.” He looked into her eyes. “Lauren, I love you.”

Lauren sighed deeply and her voice steadied. “I love you too.”

He kissed her again and didn’t want to stop, then realized he should get her out of the jungle. “We should head back.”

She nodded. “A lot of good the owl did protecting me. I was abducted and nearly thrown into a cenote.”

“Well, it must have some power because you’re alive.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in that supernatural stuff.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I believe it now. Your ghost led me to you.”

“You saw Muan?” she asked through giggles.

He nodded. “I thought he was a Lacandon until he vanished.”

Lauren smiled, then her smile faded and she dropped her head. “The owl is gone. The paramilitary took it out of my backpack.”

He squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry about that now. It doesn’t matter.” He took a step back and studied her. “How did you get away from the two men? Both had weapons.”

“I hit one with a rock and Muan scared the other one. He stumbled and fell into the cenote.”

“The ghost scared him?” he asked.

She nodded.

“The ghost was the intruder I saw the other night at the camp, wasn’t he?”

She smiled and nodded. “That was Muan. Thanks for believing me.”

“I’m grateful for him showing up.” He kissed her again then said, “I should’ve believed you.”

“The Nequam were stealing artifacts from another Mayan ruin.”

“How do you know that?” Deven asked.

“The ruins are about two hundred yards in that direction.” She indicated toward a cluster of tall bamboo plants.

“That explains the mystery pieces of pottery that were found at the border.”

“The guerrillas are antiquity thieves. They’ve been robbing an unknown site and selling them on the black market.”

Deven pulled her into his arms again. “I don’t care about that now. I almost lost you.” His voice was hoarse and full of emotion.

“You are safe now, Cimi,” Muan announced from behind them.

Lauren and Deven spun around. Muan stood a few yards from them, spear in hand. He sighed. “This time, Kayab and I saved you. The power of the owl will always protect you. And my love will always comfort you.”

Before Lauren had a chance to say anything, Muan vanished.

She and Deven stood silent for a moment, then she leaned against him.

“I wonder if he’s gone for good,” she said.

He took her hand. “Come on, let me take you back to camp. You’re probably exhausted and starved.” He reached down to his belt searching for his GPS. “Damn.”

“What’s wrong?”

“My GPS is gone. It was clipped to my belt. It must have fallen off. And I have no idea which direction is the field camp.”

“It’s that way.” Lauren pointed into the dense jungle.

“How do you know?” he asked.

“Intuition.”

“I think it’s this way.” He pointed in a direction ninety degrees from her direction.

Lauren plopped her hands on her hips. “So which way do we go?”

He grinned. “Hmmm. All right, we’ll try your way.”

“Actually, I think that’s the direction where I saw large groups of bats flying from last night. The limestone cliffs of El Zotz are where the bats live.”

He smiled and shook his head. “Always full of surprises.” Deven pulled out his walkie talkie. “I’ll fill Jim in first about—” He spun around toward the direction of thrashing in the forest. “The military must have heard the gunfire. I think we’re about to have company.”

“Deven,” Jim’s voice called.

“Jim, we’re over here. She’s all right!”

Jim and several armed guards came into view.

“Thank God. Miss Lauren, I’m so happy to see you. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Jim.”

Jim eyed her up and down. “You look like you’ve been rolling around in the mud.”

“Pretty much. I spent the night under a tree.”

Jim frowned. “I’m sure there’s a good story that goes with that. You can tell me after we get you to the hotel.” His pleasant tone turned serious when he turned to Deven. “We heard gunfire.”

“I shot one of the guerrillas and Lauren said the other one fell into a cenote over there.”

Jim relayed the information to the military.

“Deven, let’s get your lady to the hotel. Margaret and the boys will be thrilled to see her.”

“How’s Justin? Is he okay?” Lauren asked Jim.

“He’s fine, Miss Lauren. Don’t you worry now.” He turned to Deven. “We can pick up the Jeep at the field camp, but the military has banned us from staying there until they’re sure the area is secure.”

“I understand. Tell the military the source of the missing artifacts is a site about two hundred yards from here.” He pointed in the direction that Lauren had shown him. “The Nequam are the antiquity thieves.”

Jim nodded. “I’ll take care of it. Now take Miss Lauren to the hotel.”

Deven hesitated. “Which way is the field camp? I lost my GPS.”

“That way.” Jim pointed in the same direction that Lauren had indicated.

She grinned at Deven with an expression that said, “I told you so.”

A week later outside the hotel in Flores, Lauren sat alone at a patio table sipping a bottle of
Dos Equis
. The beer cooled her throat and felt warm in her belly. The late afternoon sun glimmered gold on the surface of Lake Peten-Itza and a light breeze fragrant with sweet jasmine stirred the palm and fig trees around the patio.

Margaret was right, the jungle had a life spirit or life force. The earth, the vegetation, even the air was alive and the ancient Mayan history was alive and suspended in time within the ruins.

She hadn’t seen Muan since her rescue and she missed him. Now that she was safe, would Muan appear again?

The memory of her abduction was beginning to feel like a surreal nightmare. She pushed the terrifying experience aside and concentrated on Deven. She was safe now, thanks to Deven and Muan.

Although she had her own room in the hotel, she had stayed in Deven’s room since her rescue. Instead of rushed and guarded, their lovemaking was more relaxed, yet still incendiary and passionate. She wondered if the tension they had first felt in their relationship was a subconscious memory of the stressful times shared as two lovers over a thousand years ago.

She took another swallow from her beer and sighed deeply. Finally she and Deven had made love in a comfortable bed, although hot sex in the jungle and on a cramped cot had its advantages—sensually decadent advantages. She couldn’t stop smiling at the mental images. How lucky to find a man who was adventurous in bed and out.

“Mind if I join you?” Sylvia slid out a chair and sat down.

Lauren was startled out of her daydreaming. “Of course. I didn’t hear you. I was in deep thought.”

“Happy thoughts I assume by your smile.” Sylvia sat stiffly in the chair. “I’m pleased that you’re all right. We were very worried.”

Pleased? She figured Sylvia would’ve preferred that she had never returned. “Well, it’s over, thank God. Have you heard when we’ll be allowed back to El Zotz?”

“Deven and I have a meeting with the authorities this evening. We’re hoping they’ll let us return to the field camp and resume the excavation in a day or two. The military searched the jungle and found no other paramilitary group in the area.”

“Good,” Lauren said.

“I want to talk to you.” Sylvia hesitated then pursed her lips. “I’m used to getting my way. Except this time I went too far.”

“I don’t understand.” Lauren was surprised at Sylvia’s solemn tone.

“You probably know that Deven and I were engaged.”

“Yes, he told me.”

“Things didn’t work out and we broke off the engagement over a year ago. I came down here hoping to reconcile and get back together.”

Lauren sat back and crossed her arms over her chest and didn’t respond.

“In my lame attempt to win him back…” Sylvia sighed deeply. “You didn’t make any documentation errors. I changed the numbers to make it look like you were careless.”

“What?” Lauren spat out. “You set me up?”

Sylvia nodded. “I’m sorry, Lauren.”

Lauren raised her voice. “You almost got me expelled from the program. You have no idea how much this trip meant to me. No idea.”

“Getting you expelled was my initial plan. I saw Deven’s interest in you and I thought if you were gone, I’d have a chance with him. I was wrong.”

The snake in the grass had a conscience? “I can’t believe you’d go to that extreme and jeopardize the project—Deven’s project.” Lauren’s voice shook with anger.

“It was a terrible thing to do and I am very sorry. I’ve already told Deven. He was angry and not surprised.”

“If your plan had worked would you have told him?” Lauren asked.

Sylvia sidestepped the question. Tears welled in Sylvia’s eyes. “It was a stupid thing to do. I was in love with him. But I can tell he’s in love with you. I’ve never seen him so happy since he met you. He was never that happy when we were together.”

“Thanks for that, but you’re still a bitch.”

Sylvia smiled sheepishly.

Lauren’s anger cooled a bit. She felt happy at the thought of Deven loving her, but sad for Sylvia’s revelation.

The screen door from the back of the hotel creaked opened. Deven stepped out onto the terrace. He frowned, probably because he noticed the two women’s serious expressions. “Hello, ladies, everything all right?” Deven asked.

Sylvia rose, blinking her tears away. “I was just leaving. I need to get some paperwork together before our meeting tonight. I’ll meet you out front at seven.”

Deven checked his watch and nodded.

Sylvia walked into the hotel.

“Did she tell you?” Deven asked.

“About messing up my documentation? Yes. I’m glad it wasn’t me. I’m very meticulous about my work.”

Deven nodded. “You’ll make an excellent archaeologist. Most of them are obsessive-compulsive about details.”

“You mean the government isn’t going to arrest me or kick me out of the country for digging at that site?”

“No, I explained the situation and fortunately the officials are grateful for you discovering the source of the black market artifacts. And some of the officials are superstitious and understand your motivation.”

She sighed in relief. “Have a seat. I was enjoying the sunset.”

“Would you like to take a walk by the lake?” Deven held out his hand.

Lauren stood and took his hand. “Okay, but I’m meeting Justin and Kyle for a beer later. Kyle said he owes me a beer for killing that snake.” They strolled down the pebbled path to the lake.

“I think Kyle has a crush on you.”

“If he did, he doesn’t anymore. The other day he said he thought you and I made a nice couple.”

Deven laughed. “I guess it’s a waste of time trying to be discreet about our relationship.”

“I agree.”

Deven intertwined his fingers with hers and pulled her closer. As they reached the lake, Deven sat down on the rock where they had first kissed several weeks ago. He put his arm around her and Lauren leaned into him.

“Margaret’s retiring next year.”

“Good for her. I’m sure you’ll miss her,” Lauren said.

“She’ll continue working as a consultant on our project. She’s also moving to Guatemala to be with Jim.”