"Why don't you make me-"
"Boys!" responded the woman. "You will both leave; you're acting crazy, and I'm sure the last thing in the world poor Ashli needs is pair of feral puppies lapping at her feet."
"But-"
"Go!" she commanded. "I will call you if she needs anything. You, too, Belch and K'ak!"
Had she really called someone cock? What a very strange name.
That other deep voice boomed right through the door. "You heard Emma, off with you, now. Don't make me ask again."
Grumbles and snarls seeped into her room.
"Oh, thank gods," said the woman, "I thought they'd never leave. What's gotten into them, anyway?"
"Hell if I know," said the deep voice. "But Ashli seems to be a magnet for every eligible bachelor within a ten-mile radius. Luckily, we're out in the desert, otherwise we'd be overrun."
"Something's not right," she said. "I can feel it."
That's exactly how Ashli felt. Add to that, her heart, her soul, her everything. She could barely breathe. How could life be so cruel? She'd finally found a reason to believe in life again, only to have it snatched away. Why had she been so stupid and reckless to fall in love with Máax? Why?
She couldn't go through this again. After her parents died, it was years of hell, simply to get to a place where she could function like a normal human being. Not that she'd ever truly recovered from the loss. But then Máax had given her this tiny glimpse of who she once was, and of a life filled with love. But as quickly as it had come to her, it was gone. She couldn't face that pain again.
There was a soft knock on the door. "Ashli?"
"Go away!"
Ugh! If only she could make things move faster. She just wanted to get the hell away from that place. But after the incident at the hotel with Máax, she'd realized she didn't have ID, credit cards, or money. She'd taken a cab back to this house and borrowed money from one of the guards. Then she asked Sentin to track down her accountant so she could have access to her funds. (And so she could thank him or her for whatever miracle they'd performed with her money over the last twenty years.) Sentin was only too eager to help, of course. In any case, her new life wasn't to be delivered until early evening. The moment it arrived, she'd be out of there.
The door opened. "Hi, Ashli. I know you don't want visitors, but I'm Emma."
How many people slash nonpeople lived there? It was impossible to keep up! "Are you a god, a vampire, or other?" Ashli poked her head out from underneath the pillow to take a peek.
The woman smiled and made a little wave. "Howdy." She had long red hair and bright turquoise eyes. She appeared to be in her midtwenties. "I'm an other … mostly human, though. Oh! I've also taken a trip to the other side, not the dead side, but the god side, thus our matching eyes. And we're both mated to gods; mine is the big guy with the blue-black hair, Votan. But he goes by Guy now."
Ashli had to admit that she was intrigued, but her heavy thoughts didn't make her feel social at the moment. "Not to be rude, but what do you want with me?"
"Well," Emma said, "I'd like to think of us as sisters. And sisters help one and other."
Ugh! Why is everyone trying to be so nice and helpful! "I don't need help. I just need to be alone," Ashli grumbled.
"Ah. I see you're stubborn just like me." Emma grabbed her hand and squeezed. "But you and I are practically family, Ashli. And I am not leaving until you tell me what happened."
"If I tell you, then will you leave?"
"Yes," Emma replied frankly.
"Okay. Fine. He used me, Emma. Used me. He's getting locked away forever, and he doesn't care enough about me, his mate-whatever that really means-to fight. He didn't even have the decency to say good-bye. He just left me there at the hotel. I had to call a cab to get back here."
Emma wrinkled her nose. "Ouch. Are you sure? I mean, I don't know Máax well, but everyone who talks about him says he's the most loyal and noble of the bunch. Not that I would speak badly about Guy, my fiancé, but he's pretty damned sneaky."
"I'm leaving tonight," Ashli mumbled. "If you see Máax, please tell him … "
She was about to say "he's an asshole," but that somehow seemed so juvenile. He'd told her he loved her, used her for one night, and then disappeared. Letting him know how badly he'd hurt her would serve no purpose. "Never mind."
"I wish you'd reconsider," Emma said. "Even if things don't work out with him, you have people here who want to get to know you. You're one of us now."
Like those crazy men hovering outside her door? "No. I want to be alone. Try to forget this ever happened."
"I understand, but if you change your mind, I'll be here for you." Emma was about to leave but stopped. "I know it's difficult to trust a complete stranger, let alone befriend one, but I would have given anything to have someone help me navigate this strange, strange world. It would have made my life a whole hell of a lot easier, including accepting the whole immortality thing."
Immortal. Immortal. Immortaaaal. Nope. Still not real.
"I guess what I'm saying is," Emma added, "once things shake out with Máax, good or bad, I'll be right here for you."
"I appreciate it, but I'm not coming back. I just want to forget all of this. Máax, the gods, everything. I just want to move on."
Yes. She was going to run away and hide. So what?
Emma smiled. "The Universe has a way of turning things around. You just have to have faith."
Faith. Faith. Faaaaith. Nope. Not feelin' it.
"Good luck to you, Ashli."
Luck. Not feeling that, either. "Thank you, Emma."
That evening, Ashli didn't look back as the black town car took her away from that bizarre place. She wasn't sure where she was heading. She didn't want to return to her new home; she had no real family or friends, but it felt good to be completely alone again.
Just the way I like it. Less complicated, no one else to worry about, and- Ashli felt those invisible strings pulling her back to Máax. No! You're not doing this!
Okay, she would go as far away as she could and hope that might do the trick. But what if it didn't? What if the bond between them never disappeared? She wouldn't be able to live like this. Ashli held back the tears. Oh, please, please, please, Universe. Help me get out of this.
Her mind quickly latched on to thoughts of Máax. How when they'd first met, she'd been suffering from horrible dreams of death and how much she missed her family. But then, there'd been those other dreams, too. The steamy ones of the faceless man who made love to her on the beach, who touched her body as if worshipping a priceless treasure. Now she knew that the man was Máax. He'd been right when he'd told her their connection was something created by the Universe. She felt it now. She supposed she always had, though she simply didn't understand it. That's why losing him felt like her soul was being ripped in two.
I can't take this. I can't.
Now near the Phoenix airport, the car pulled up to a stoplight, and Ashli glanced over at the telephone pole covered with thick layers of multicolored flyers. Her eyes gravitated to a big bold M.
Ohmygods. That's it. The answer to her prayers fell right on her lap.
"Excuse me, sir?" she said to the driver. "Can you take me to East Camelback Road?"
Máax paced back and forth across the floor of his cell, wondering why Ashli hadn't come to see him. It had been well over a day since he'd left her and turned himself in.
Perhaps she feels too nervous? He could not blame her. While he could not tell Ashli what was to come, nor did he want to give her false hope, he would do everything possible to change his fate. And hers. He loved her. More than anything. And now he understood that loving her meant not just saving her, but saving himself, too. They were meant to be together. And while this was no revelation, he hadn't really thought things through before. Perhaps it was a tribute to his age-after seventy thousand years, one does become quite jaded-but being with her the other night made him see that he needed to follow his own advice and fight. He'd told her once that complacency was the devil, and he'd been right.
But why hasn't she come? He'd left her a note on the pillow that morning, telling her what he planned to do and that a car would be waiting for her. He'd received confirmation from one of the guards that she'd indeed arrived safely at Kinich's.