Chapter Twelve

Monday had been horrible—even worse than she expected.

Dawn’s students were cranky and difficult all day, and the Open House with their parents had been long and boring, although, she tried really hard to be enthusiastic about meeting with all of them. She felt a little guilty, because usually she really enjoyed school-related events. But today she couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the next time she would see Mateo. Occasionally she would be reminded of the little nagging fact they made love over and over again throughout the entire weekend without even thinking about or discussing any sort of protection.

When they were together, it was like a sexual frenzy stole away all their common sense. A shit-eating grin claimed her lips for about the hundredth time today…every time she thought about Mateo Two Moons. Once again, she forgot all about the little issue of birth control, and all she could think of was how long it had been since she had seen Mateo and how eager she was to get lost in that uncontrollable frenzy again.

Making everything even more unbearable was that Chloe had taken the entire day off from school without even telling her. She stopped by the principal’s office to ask if anyone knew why Chloe wasn’t here, and was told by the secretary she left a message on the answering machine saying said she had to deal with a personal issue. Dawn’s repeated calls and texts to her cell had been useless.

At first, her feelings were a little hurt Chloe wasn’t answering her calls, because even though they hadn’t known one another all that long, it seemed like they were already pretty good friends. By the time she got home late Monday night, however, she was more than a little worried about her friend and what sort of personal issue caused her to disappear on such an important day at their school.

The first Open House of the school year was kind of a big deal, and she knew Chloe had been looking forward to it. Something major must have happened to cause her to miss it. Could her father’s condition have worsened? Chloe mentioned he was too sick to go camping or hiking anymore, but Dawn didn’t know how serious his illness was. All she could hope for now, though, was she would hear from her soon and everything would be okay.

But Chloe’s call wasn’t the only one she was anxiously waiting for. She quickly got ready for bed, so she could wait for Mateo’s call. No sooner had she changed into her pink polka dot pjs, washed her face, brushed her teeth, and climbed into bed, when her cell began to play the enchanting guitar chords of a Joseph Red Feather song. She spent part of her lunch hour today setting her ringtone for calls from Mateo to play his favorite musician. Now, she would always know when he was the one calling, and the song she had chosen was a beautiful love ballad called In My Perfect World. It was just perfect.

“Hello, I missed you so much today,” Dawn said in a rush. His deep soft laughter on the other end of the receiver made her heart feel like it was bursting open with happiness.

“I missed you more. How was the Open House?”

“Exhausting. I thought it would never end. How was your day? Where are you? Want to come over for a little while?”

He chuckled and sighed loudly. “My day was missing you, and there is nothing I would love more than to come over, but unfortunately, I’m in Tucson for a couple of days.”

“Tucson?” she moaned. That was so far away. Her previously happy heart dropped down to the pit of her stomach. “On business, I’m guessing?” She hated the idea of him being out of town. She hated him being anywhere other than with her.

“Yes. It’s business,” he replied. “But I would like to see you tomorrow night if you aren’t busy?”

Tomorrow night? Oh, hell yes. But that was twenty-four long hours away. “I would like that,” she replied trying not to sound too anxious and crazy. “How about if I cook dinner for you?”

“Can you cook?” he asked in a teasing tone.

She giggled. “Cooking is only one of my many talents, Mr. Two Moons.”

“Well said, my love.” Mateo cleared his throat, and added, “I am already aware of some of your other talents, so I am definitely down for dinner.”

Another giggle escaped from her. Oh, how she loved it when called her, ‘my love’. She wished she could gaze into his eyes right now, because she knew they were twinkling like ebony diamonds as he smiled suggestively at their conversation. “Anything I should not make? Like are you allergic to any certain food?”

“I’m easy,” he said with another chuckle. “But then, you already knew that,” he added.

Dawn laughed, but refrained from commenting on his remark. She had been rather easy herself lately where he was concerned. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night. I can’t wait.”

“Me either,” he agreed. “Oh, and Dawn?”

“Yes?”

“I love you,” he said tenderly.

“I love you,” Dawn said in an equally soft tone. A feeling of complete and utter bliss spread through her entire body, and lasted long after he was no longer on the other end of the phone. She physically felt the extent of his love for her, even now, when he wasn’t here with her, and she knew it was only going to grow. Love at first sight was just the beginning for the two of them. Forever echoed through her mind again.

****

Mateo put his new cell phone down on the console in the center of his truck seats. He had gotten the phone the same night he bought this truck. All these things were necessary if he wanted to fit into Dawn’s world, even if it was for only a short time. He even rented a place so he could have somewhere of his own to take her when they weren’t at her apartment.

The luxurious fully furnished condo was not far from where she lived. It was an expensive rental, but his family didn’t have to worry about money. Drago’s clan had an endless supply of gold in the big cave up on the Superstitions. The Clan Society handled all gold transactions, and they learned long ago there were always ways to secretly launder the precious metal in exchange for a hefty fee.

A weighted sigh escaped from Mateo as he slumped down in the seat. He hated lying to Dawn about everything, regardless of how necessary it was for the safety of all who were involved. But then, wasn’t his entire existence here in her world a deception? It started when he lied about his job on the Tribal Council to cover up why she would never see him in the daytime.

Now, he was pretending to be in another town so he could hide something else from her, which seemed ludicrous when the whole idea behind this sham was to spend time with her before he took her to the mountain for all eternity. Still, concealing the truth about where he really was seemed easy compared to the secret he had to keep from her now.

Something devastating transpired last night—something he never would have expected to happen in a million years. But there was no way to undo it, and it was a horrible tragedy that complicated everything.

He kept telling himself he should just go to her apartment tonight, suck the blood from her neck, wrist, and thigh until she passed out, and make her his mate forever. This would be the easy solution. Even though he knew this was exactly what he should do before anything else occurred to jeopardize the welfare of his entire clan and the secrets they had hidden in the gold-laden cave, he was still not ready to give up the life he envisioned and just started living here in Dawn’s world.

He tried to swallow, but his mouth was bitter and dry. His thirst for human blood was unusually desperate tonight. Although he did not need to feed on blood from real ones often since he had been born a half-breed vampire, when the urge did overcome him, it was powerful and consuming.

He couldn’t stop remembering how sweet and satisfying Dawn’s blood had tasted on the nights when he had drunk from her neck and wrist. He was afraid to even think about how succulent the blood from her thigh would taste when he was ready to go that far.

The urge to drink more of her blood had become so strong on the drive back from the lake last night he had been afraid to go into her apartment when they returned, even though he wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night lying beside her in bed like he had done the previous night.

The memory of watching her sleep in his arms that first night after they made love brought a poignant smile to his lips and caused his arms to ache with the yearning to hold her close again.

Mateo also knew there was another reason he was craving human blood so strongly. There was a fresh young blood source in the village on the mountain. She had come too close to the hidden village of the Blood Clan, as had many gold seekers in the past. Mateo’s father sensed her nearness as soon as the sun dropped low enough in the sky for him to awaken and leave the caves.

Antonio couldn’t believe a real one was so nearby just when they needed extra blood to use in the special rituals they were conducting for the impending birth of Rafael and Lydia’s child, and he wasted no time in bringing the welcome intruder back to the village.

Mateo had also been aware of a human presence when he exited the cave where he spent the daylight hours since he had turned a quarter of a century over seventy-five years ago. He knew his father had gone out to hunt for the real one, but he had been so anxious to get to Dawn he hadn’t waited around for Antonio to return. He didn’t learn who the new blood source was until he came back up to the village after dropping Dawn off at her apartment last night.

As he ran his tongue over his brittle feeling lips again he tried to focus on something—anything—other than drinking blood. He gritted his teeth tightly together and headed back to the village at the top of the Superstitions where he knew he could quench his evil cravings without harming someone else.

As much as he wanted to resist these demonic urges right now, he knew it would be useless. When the vampire part of him thirsted for blood, the human part would never win.