Bad Moon Rising - Paranormal Romance (17 page)

“He will not be able to resist you because you are witched … and will witch him. He will fall in love with you and will not care about anything else, not even his duty to the heart.”

“Well we know the part about falling in love isn’t true,” Mya suddenly felt exhausted. She’d been on an emotional roller coaster for weeks and desperately needed some down time.

To Mya, the thought of David Bray being in love with her was too good to be true. Just thinking about him could set her head spinning, and to be near him was like a narcotic, and she had to admit she was already addicted. That was one mark against their story. He was the one that had enchanted her.

“Well that’s why you need to stay away from him. The other
Sinapu
are afraid that he will fall in love with you, and they will kill you before they let that happen.”

“What is the big deal about this heart? What is it?”

“No one knows what it is except the guardian priests, but it is what keeps us safe … it is what makes us live.”

“So this is all over some ridiculous superstition. My real mother was probably raped and murdered over a superstition.” The lump forming in Mya’s throat made her words weak.

“Ancient beliefs … or superstition … whatever you want to call it. It can be a powerful thing for those that believe. You need to keep that in mind.” Donny stood up and gently placed his hand on her arm. “You must also realize that it is his duty to kill you … if …”

“Who … David?” She cut him off.

Donny nodded.

Now she felt even more wretched. It was one thing to be feared by everyone around you, but something else when the only man you cared about, also wanted you dead.

“No way!” Donny’s voice turned hard. “That’s the last thing you need to do. Stay clear of David Bray and Metzger. Both of these guys are dangerous. In fact, I think it would be a good idea if you returned home early. It would give things a chance to settled down.”

Ignoring what he’d said, Mya blurted out, “Trent said the killers were skinwalkers and that they were killing to keep people from warning me.” Regardless of her personal troubles, they were still working a homicide investigation.

“When we were at the place that Trent said I was born, a wolf crashed through the door. He wouldn’t admit it, but I think he believed it was a skinwalker. He killed it.”

“Who?” Mya asked, bringing her fingers up to rub the sides of her head, hoping to ease the pain that was ripping at her brain at that moment.

She wasn’t surprised when Donny didn’t answer her. Nothing about this place made any sense at all. Maybe Donny was right … maybe she should go home.

But there was a haunting feeling deep in her heart telling her that if she left now, she would never see David Bray again. That was something she wasn’t ready to accept.

* * *

As soon as she opened her eyes, she felt stabbing needles of pain as the light pierced through her skull. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut and the pain began to fade.

Mya pulled the blankets over her head, hoping that she would fall back to sleep. It was too late. Once she was awake, it was nearly impossible to get back to sleep. But she was tired - so tired that her eyes were burning.

If only she could keep her head from chattering then maybe she could doze off again, but that wasn’t going to happen. The events of the night before were plowing through her brain like a freight train.

She’d stayed up until the wee hours of the morning waiting for Donny to return, but she’d finally given in and went to bed when she could no longer keep her eyes open.

Throwing the blankets off, Mya jumped out of bed and went to the living room. Jen was in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

“It’s about time sleepy head,” Jen looked up from the bacon she was frying.

Mya didn’t answer, instead she went to the window to look for Donny’s patrol car. He still wasn’t back. Leaving the window, she grabbed her purse from the coffee table and starting digging through it. “Where’s my phone?”

Mya hung up the phone and glanced up at Jen. Her friend stood by the stove with one hand on her hip, glaring at her. “You can’t be serious! I’ve made breakfast and you’re leaving already?”

“Sorry,” Mya apologized. “It’s a long story but I have to go help this guy. He kind of saved my life last night. The least I can do is bail him out of jail.”

Jen shook her head. “You are taking all of this way too seriously Mya. Look at yourself … you’re fried.”

“I know,” Mya sighed. “I know this hasn’t been a great visit for you, but I promise we’ll make up for lost time … as soon as I can get this all worked out.”

“What worked out? Those murders?”

“Among other things,” Mya said, already back in her room and searching for some clothes. For some reason she didn’t feel like telling her friend what she’d learned about her parents and herself - at least not yet.

Jen’s words stopped Mya in her tracks. She had just reached for her brush, but instead she spun around to face her friend. “What?”

Jen shrugged and said offhandedly. “Oh nothing. I was just talking. It’s just that everything you do lately seems to be about him.”

She wasn’t satisfied with Jen’s answer. “What do you know about this?”

“About what?” Jen’s eyes were wide and innocent.

Mya glared at the other woman. “Don’t play dumb with me Jen. I know you better than that. If you didn’t know what was going on, you would be all over me with questions. Who have you been talking to?”

Jen’s smile was tense. “This place is making you way too paranoid girl. Why don’t you go get your friend and bring him back here? We could all have breakfast together.”

Giving up, Mya quickly ran the brush through her hair before grabbing her purse and heading for the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, “ she told Jen before leaving.

All the way to town Mya dwelled on her conversation with Jen. She couldn’t get over the feeling that Jen knew something.

But how?

Her friend didn’t know anyone on the rez, and as far as Mya knew, Jen hadn’t been anywhere without her, except for the night before when she’d left with Trent.

Maybe Jen was right. This place was starting to make her paranoid.

* * *

It wasn’t visiting day for inmates, but because Mya worked for the police she was able to wiggle a few minutes out of Marsh, one of the officers working corrections. Instead of the usual visiting procedure, she was allowed to meet with Trent in an interview room. She’d told Marsh that her visit concerned the homicides she was working on, which wasn’t really a lie.

Mya stared at Trent from across the little table, amazed that he could still be wearing such a cocky smile under the circumstances.

“Oh don’t be so hard on Donny.” Trent waved away her concern. “Putting me in jail has nothing to do with breaking any kind of law. He wants to keep them from killing me.”

Trent stared at her, his blue eyes twinkling with laughter. “Go see David first … then we’ll talk again. You may not want to get me out.”

After leaving the holding facility, Mya went directly to Donny’s office. Locking someone up for defending himself against an animal attack was probably the craziest thing she’d ever heard of.

Donny was just hanging up the phone when she entered his office. The bags under his eyes made him appear worn and tired. He probably hadn’t slept at all last night.

“What’s this all about?” Mya stood in front of his desk, her hands on her hips.

A tired smile softened the haggard look on his face. “Relax Mya. He’s only here for his own protection. He’ll be out soon enough.”

Donny shook his head. “Not right now. You have other things to worry about. I just got off the phone with your mother. They’re taking the next flight into Flagstaff.”

“So you told them?” Mya asked in a shaky whisper. She had meant to call her mom, but with all the uproar over the wolf, she’d put it off. She wasn’t really sure if she were stalling because of what was going on, or because she didn’t want to confront the truth.

Taking a deep breath, she said, “I’m going for a drive. I don’t know how long I’ll be so if they get here before I get back … I don’t know … entertain them or something. Oh, and you might want to let Jen know they’re going to be here,” she added.

His lips drew downward in a frown. “Where are you going?”

“Just for a ride. I need to think.” Mya felt bad for lying, but she knew there was no way Donny was going to let her go out to the
Sinapu
village. He just might lock her up too, if that’s what it took.

For the third time she got David’s voice mail. This time she didn’t bother leaving a message. He probably wouldn’t call her back anyway. She’d been trying to reach him all morning with no luck. While using Donny’s computer to search for missing persons, Mya had looked up David’s phone number, but there had been no physical address.

She tried Jen’s phone again, and again got her voice mail. Mya wanted to apologize for not coming right back, but her friend wasn’t picking up. Though she was sure Jen would understand, she still felt a little guilty.

Mya turned her attention to the problem at hand. She had no idea how to find the
Sinapu
village, but she suspected that it was near the gas station where she’d run into David. Asking for directions would be useless. Obviously the locals did everything they could to keep people from finding these guardians. In light of what she’d learned from Trent, the isolation of the
Sinapu
made a little more sense.