Forbidden Power

The Desert Oddity

I stayed on high alert all night. Luckily the humans and single wizard were all sleeping soundly after a hard day of work excavating The Rise of Aten site, so no one knew that I was alert and vigil outside the tents. It was a risk, but I shifted into my beast form so my senses would be further sharpened. It also gave me a chance to rest my mind while Cesar kept watch.

It sounds like she thinks she'll die if she goes home, I told Cesar in the deep night.

It does. She's afraid of him, he agreed.

I wonder why? What do I do? I wondered.

You claim her as your mate and make sure she never goes home again, Cesar stated like a matter of fact.

I can't do that! The humans have rules and stuff. I can't just take another man's wife. There's no telling what will happen to her if she's caught in an affair with me. This is a different culture from America! Besides, she doesn't seem interested in having me for a mate, I admitted, feeling dejected.

She's interested. She's just wary. As she should be. Her instincts should be telling her to run far away from us. After all, she's prey to me, Cesar joked darkly.

Not funny, Cesar. I've never given her any reason to fear me.

Cesar grew quiet then, mulling over the years we've known Layla. He had to agree that she seems to be more comfortable with me the longer we're around each other, not the opposite.

I thought you were going to kiss her a couple of times, Cesar remarked.

I hoped she was going to kiss me first, I agreed, disappointed that it didn't come to fruition. At least I got a kiss on the cheek this evening. That was more affectionate contact than we had ever shared. Layla and I had always been all about business. Strictly professional. She had been promised to her current husband since I've known her. She was safe to work with because she was off limits, and I've always preferred it that way with women. Available women are crude, in my opinion. They are pushy and needy and don't take no for an answer. Layla has never once shown romantic interest in me. Maybe that's why I slowly developed interest in her. I wanted what I safely couldn't have. She doesn't seem so off limits any more. I thought about what it felt like to hold her up in my arms. Her scent, her warmth, her intelligent eyes lighting up when she had moments of realization, the softness of her curves resting against my body...

Stop. You're making me want to go mate her, and you know animal instincts are harder to control than your own, Cesar warned me.

Right. Sorry. I feel like it's safe to lust after her now, I confessed. It's not like Cesar didn't already know what I was thinking anyway.

It's safe for you but not for me.

I switched my thoughts to the inverted pyramid, my puzzle ball, and how this could all possibly tie in together. The last thing I want is to lose control of Cesar and risk hurting Layla. I would certainly lose her forever if that happened. That would be a trauma she would never be able to move past, and the thought of me being the perpetrator of such a heinous act made me shiver in horror.

I would never... Cesar fussed.

Just the thought is horrifying. Don't ever do something like that, I warned him.

Seriously? I might be a beast, but I would never ravage her against her will. The pull to a mate is one of love and devotion, not pain and force. The mate pull makes me put the needs of the one we mark above my own, and that means never laying a claw to hurt her. Testing boundaries and seeing how she responds is not the same as outright taking her against her will, he chastised me. I nodded to myself. I thought of my parents and grandparents. Their love had already been established before I was born, but I could see the self sacrifice as the primary characteristic of their unions.

I also thought of Liz and Ash and how naturally their bond happened. Of course, the couples in my family all have either a vampire beast or a wolf, and those beasts mark know from the time they can first be heard by their host that they will find and mark a mate. Humans don't have any concept of that or beasts or anything similar. Would Layla reject a mate bond with me? Would she hate me for tying her down to a life bond? Would she want me as a mate?

I think she would, but she needs to get free of her husband first.

You're unusually self-assured, Cesar, I commented sarcastically. He just snorted. He knows he's a stud. A stirring in the desert distracted our conversation, and Cesar sat up on high alert, peering miles ahead into the darkness. Something was moving out there that was neither wind nor animal. Silently Cesar took to the sky, keeping his gaze focused on whatever was out there.

I'm not sure how far away it is exactly, but it appears to be a hooded figure from what I can tell. The shape is definitely that of a man wearing some kind of hooded cape. He's doing something in the desert that resembles a dance. If I wasn't guarding Layla, I would fly out there and see what is going on, but I don't dare leave her.

I can't see well enough at this distance, Cesar complained. Suddenly the place where the man was dancing lit up like a bomb had gone off. The burst of light blinded me for a moment, and when my eyes readjusted there was nothing left to look at. The man had vanished. My heart raced. What was that?! I glanced back at the camp. No stirring came from the humans sleeping in their tents. They were completely oblivious to the oddity in the desert.

Do I leave the camp to check it out? What if it's a trap? What if something happens to Layla while I'm gone? Or Marco? I'd never forgive myself.

I ground my teeth, looking between the camp and the place in the desert that I desperately wanted to explore. Finally my curiosity got the best of me. Marco is still a wizard. He can protect Layla. I have to see what is in the desert.

With that decision that Cesar wholeheartedly agreed with, I raced into the desert. As I got nearer to the place of the blinding light, I noticed that the sand was turning darker like the sand itself had been singed. I frowned. How do you singe sand? The sand got increasingly darker shade by shade until I reached the point where I saw the man dancing. Had I not been airborne I would have missed it altogether, but there was no mistaking it. The dark sand had been gathered to form letters. Modern Egyptian Arabic. It was a message:

Find the passage

Find the truth

Long buried

Ill begotten

But not forgotten

I squinted at the letters. The wind was already stirring them around. This message was clearly intended for me and was intended for me in my beast form. The person, no, the wizard already knew I was in my beast form. Only a wizard could create something like this. A sense of foreboding washed over me, and I pivoted and flew back to the camp at top speed. The sand whooshed around me as I landed and whipped open the tent flaps with my heart racing.

She'd better be in here or someone is DEAD.