He glanced to his wounded shoulder. "I've been tagged. I won't be able to leave now. Wherever I go, they'll follow and drag me back."
Her heart ached at the sad resignation in his voice. It was as if he accepted the fact he was going to die here, and that she had no intention of allowing to happen. If she was nothing else in her life, she was loyal to a fault. "It's not right to leave you here alone to face them."
"I'll live."
"You keep saying that. But-"
"I'm immortal, Kateri," he said, cutting her off. "You're not. Your duty is to save the world and my only duty now is to save you. I have to get you back to the human realm so that you can fulfill your sacred role. It's that simple."
She shook her head at the ludicrousness of those statements. And nothing was ever simple. Rubik's Cube had taught her that when she was four years old and had arrogantly boasted that it couldn't be that hard.
Yeah, that had learned her.
"You know, Ren, twelve hours ago, I'd have called you nuts for talking about sacred roles and all of this." She gestured at the bleak, twisted buildings surrounding them. "Luckily, I'm a little more open-minded now. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but ... At least I'm not wasting time with denial anymore. I accept the fact that the weirdness in my life has just shot up the epic scale of redonkulous."
After all, what more could happen?
Death and dismemberment notwithstanding.
Yeah, okay, maybe she shouldn't test the bad-luck fairy since the bitch was already gunning for her. But dang ...
Didn't they deserve a break tonight? And not one on their bones.
All of a sudden, one corner of his mouth quirked up as if he was amused by her comments. "We have to get off the street and find a safe place to hide until I recharge my powers enough to get you out of here."
"Okay. But I still don't understand why it has to be me to do whatever it is I'm supposed to do. How did this chore fall to my bloodline anyway? What did we do to be so cursed?"
"It's not a curse. Your ancestor stood strong before the gods when no one else would."
There was an answer she hadn't expected. "What do you mean?"
Ren grimaced as if his wound pained him, then rolled his injured shoulder. He led her back to the dark street. Keeping to the shadows, they headed in the direction that, given the moon's position, she assumed would be east. "Before recorded time, there was a god who came to this realm and-"
"What god?" she asked, cutting him off. While her people believed in an overall divine being, and other paranormal entities, they didn't think of the Great Spirit as a god in the traditional sense of the term. It was extremely hard to explain their beliefs to others who came at it with preconceived notions.
And the way he used the word "gods" ...
It didn't make sense to her.
"Ahau Kin was, for lack of a better term, the Mayan god of their underworld and of time," Ren explained. "It's why he's usually shown at the center of their calendars."
She scowled as she remembered seeing the image all over the Yucatan last summer. "The guy who looks like a jaguar or has a jaguar face?"
He nodded.
Fernando would be so pleased that she recalled that. But her happiness died instantly as she remembered her friend's death, and grief went through her all over again.
Clearing her throat, she waited for Ren to continue.
He didn't. Rather he seemed to be lost in either thought or memories.
After a few minutes, she prompted him. "You were saying?"
Ren ground his teeth as his thoughts went back to his youth-to a time and place he hated with every part of his being.
Even now, he could see himself running through the bright summer forest of his island home, chasing after the buck he'd been hunting. The beast had been elusive and it'd led him to a clearing where a woman bathed alone in a pond that was at the base of a whispering waterfall.
Never had he seen a more beautiful maiden. Her long black hair had fanned around features that were perfection incarnate. Her dark, tawny skin had been so flawless that his mouth had watered for a taste. And even though he was invading her privacy, he'd been unable to tear his gaze away from her.
Completely naked, she was floating on her back, her eyes serenely closed while her breasts jutted out from the water. Her hands had moved through the water in a mesmerizing dance that was in synch with the pleasant, gentle tune she was humming.
His prey forgotten, he'd moved closer, taking care to be as silent as possible.
All of a sudden, as if she'd sensed his presence, she opened her eyes and pinned him with a harsh glare. Narrowing her gaze, she rose out of the water to show him her entire naked body as she walked toward the land where he stood, gawking.
Ashamed and embarrassed that he'd spied on her, he'd felt his face heat up. Turning away, he tightened his grip on his bow and started to run.
"Wait!"
Her unexpected command had literally frozen him in place. Before he could think better of it, he stopped moving. With his back to her, he'd heard her leave the pond and make her way over to him.
A few seconds later, her hand had brushed across his shoulders, smoothing his braid. And when she'd moved it to trace the line of his jaw, his entire body turned molten. She sucked her breath in sharply as she fingered his biceps. "Aren't you a handsome one? You know, if you're going to spy on a woman during her bath, the least you could do is kiss her first."
Stunned, Ren hadn't known how to respond to that. He wasn't used to women coming on to him. All the women in his town knew who and what he was, and they either avoided him or mocked him for it.
None of them had ever tried to seduce him.
Licking her lips, she'd fisted her hand in his hair and pulled his head down for her kiss.
His senses had reeled from it, and when her tongue brushed against his ...
He'd been blinded by pleasure.
Windseer had pulled back to give him a salacious grin. Then, taking his hand into hers, she'd led it to her breast so that her hardened nipple teased his palm. "You act as if you've never seen a naked woman before."
The softness of her skin had amazed him. Her body was so different from his. Supple. Sweet.
Succulent.
And he'd been long past the age most men lost their virginity ... another truth that shamed him and left him open to attacks from others whose vicious cruelty rammed home why no woman would have him. Ever. Until that moment, he'd never been kissed.
She'd nipped at his chin with her teeth. "Are you not going to speak to me?"