Ah. Maaskab! He darted over and shoved the pet pack at the Mayan priest, whose entire body was caked in dry blood. His long black hair was dreaded with mud and adorned with human teeth.
“Hey, buddy. Mind helping me out and holding my pets for a minute?” Brutus asked.
“Yaan in jantik a nej peek’ yáax.”
“Cool. Thanks.” Brutus handed over his pack and then turned his attention toward the ring. “All right, ladies. Make some room.”
Brutus jumped in the circle and pulled out his sword, running straight for Fina to guard her back, but he instantly realized he had two major problems. One, he couldn’t stab a pregnant woman carrying his child. Two, these women had no qualms about stabbing him.
Sonofbi—he sidestepped as one of the ladies jabbed straight for his stomach. Then a fist flew toward him, and he ducked and pushed. The woman stumbled out of the circle.
“Hey! That’s cheating,” she griped.
Cheating? He called that saving his ass.
He noticed that she tried to reenter the circle but couldn’t. Was this some sort of supernatural sumo match? If you stepped out of the ring, you forfeited?
Hmmm… He grabbed one of the unarmed women from behind, lifted her, and carried her out.
“You sonofabitch!” she yelled, and like the first woman, she couldn’t reenter.
This was it. The solution!
Brutus began pushing, carrying, and dragging them out of the ring. The few with knives were the toughest.
“I’m going to kill you!” He heard Fina yell, and she dove for one of her sisters who had a knife. The woman stumbled out of the ring and began fighting with one of the infected soldiers. And it’s one of mine. Not good. They were extremely efficient killing machines.
Brutus froze. That woman, no matter how evil at the moment, was still pregnant.
His head whipped back and forth, noting more of the women on the outside of the ring attacking vampires and some of the other male onlookers. Jesus.
He looked back at Fina, who was now in a headlock and turning blue.
He ran over and tried to pull the woman off, but she refused to relinquish her grip.
He could kill the woman, but how could he live with himself?
Brutus pulled again and wrapped his arm around the woman’s neck. He hoped she’d simply pass out.
Just as he felt her stop struggling and drop Fina, there was a sharp pain in his side. He glanced down to find a dagger sticking into him.
Brutus fell to the ground, the pain shooting through him. Suddenly, Fina was on him. Straddling his torso. She jerked the dagger from his side and raised it above his head.
All he could do was stare into her dark empty eyes and pray there was some piece of her still inside, fighting this evil.
“Fina…don’t. Just drop the knife. This isn’t you. You’re not in control.”
She paused for a second.
Suddenly, the fireball that had been spinning for hours on the tarmac shot high into the sky. Everyone stilled, hypnotized by the bright white light.
What is that?
The light began shrinking to almost nothing and then…
Boom! It exploded.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Tula looked over at Zac, who was still handcuffed to the steel table. She sighed with the deepest contentment known to man. Or woman. “Mr. Zac, that was amazing.”
“It was. It truly was. You were also very good.”
She laughed and swatted his bare chest. “Very funny. Just for that, I think I’ll leave you here for a few more hours.”
“As long as you keep having sex with me.”
She had to admit, having her body back felt amazing. She felt her stomach rumble, her heart beating, and the air entering her lungs. She never imagined that such simple things, things she used to take for granted, would feel so…so…wonderful! But hands down, having real actual sex with Zac had been better than she imagined. At first it was a little uncomfortable, due to his deific size, but once they got going, she knew he hadn’t been exaggerating. He was a magnificent lover. And yes, he truly could go and go and go!
“Zac?” She snuggled her cheek into his chiseled bare chest.
“Yes?”
“What happens next?” she asked.
“I don’t actually know. To be honest, I have been so focused on getting you into your body and for us to have this moment, that nothing else really mattered.”
“Do you think Minky will come after you?”
“Who knows? But if she does, then she’d better like watching.”
“What do you think happened?” she asked. “I mean, I got my body back, so…”
Zac turned his head, piercing her with his stunning turquoise eyes. “Tula, if you don’t mind, I would really like to just enjoy this moment.”
He was right. They’d both been through so much, and if she’d learned anything through it all, it was that you had to savor the truly magical moments. You just never knew when the Universe would veer left and turn your life on its head. “Whatever happens next, Zac, I want you to know that I will always love you. In this plane or any plane of existence. In this life or the next. My soul is bound to yours forever.”
Zac blinked at her and smiled. The way his eyes sparkled with the deepest love made her heart weep with joy. “Thank you, Tula. I feel the same. And if it weren’t for you, I never would have become the awesome, generous god that I am. I have you to thank for everything wonderful in my life and for making me whole.”
Those were just about the sweetest words she could ever hope to hear from any man.
“Wow! I need to use the little girls’ room. Isn’t that awesome?” She never thought she’d be so excited to tinkle.
“They probably have a bathroom back there.” He jerked his head toward the back storeroom.
“Okay. Be right back.” She hopped off the table, enjoying the feel of gravity holding her feet to the floor.
“Hurry up. I need you to find the keys so we can get out of here. Gods know what other crazy shit is going to happen today.”
She went through the door leading to the storeroom. “Oh. There’s a bathroom!” She did her business and then washed her hands. “Hey. What if we go and check on my parents? They’ve been really worried about—” Tula walked out of the store’s bathroom only to find an empty table. The handcuffs were simply dangling. “Zac?” She looked around the small boutique and then went out front. There was no sign of him anywhere. And the mall was empty.
A weird energy and loud humming in the air told her something was very wrong.
Emma watched her beautiful husband, Votan, the God of Death and War, with his shiny blue-black mane, climb the large tree extending over the calm waters of Lake Bacalar. It was his and their kids’ favorite thing to do. They’d spent the entire day scaling it and then jumping into the warm bath-like water.
At the moment, the children were inside the villa, eating a late supper with the nanny. The two of them had decided to stay and have a little alone time. After all, it was a beautiful night, and Emma was enjoying all of the memories of her first trip here to the lake. She’d never forget how scared she’d felt getting on the plane in New York City to come all the way down here to Mexico, near the border of Belize, all because a male voice in her head told her to do it. Little had she known that the voice belonged to a deity, the man who would be her forever love. But the moment she laid eyes on him, her heart knew.