Mundahlia (The Mundahlian Era, #1) (22 page)

Did she just call me crazy? “I-I will.” My life had been turned upside down in a matter of hours and I couldn’t keep up. “And—I know.”

The front door opened and the boys stepped in. Immediately, Jett smiled at the sight of me and waltzed over. “Miss me?” he kissed my cheek.

“Mhm,” I smiled. I felt like a hypocrite for mad-dogging Sarah and Max’s public display of affection, then doing the exact same thing. It was something I’d have to get used to. In time.

Ray walked over and stopped a few feet away from me. “Listen,” he said. “I’m sorry for trying to kill you yesterday,” he sounded apologetic. This was not his normal voice, nor his usual use of language. “I was acting in a very rude manor and couldn’t quite control my actions given the sudden stressful situation that arose.” Clearly, this was a forced apology, but by whom? Martin or possible even Jett?

“Oh, it’s fine.”

“Cool,” he went towards the hallway before stopping midway and turning, “Oh yeah. You might want to check your bra, I left you something.” Now he was speaking in his normal
Ray
voice.

“What the hell?” I dug under the shirt and felt a rectangular shape inside of my bra. I reached in and retrieved it. It was another note.

Nice! -Ray wuz here

I could feel Jett peer over my shoulder to read the note. A low animalistic, yet still human-sounding growl arose. I felt the vibration of the rumbling in his throat against my back, and reached for his cheek to soothe it. “It’s okay. I’m yours, remember?”

The growling stopped and I felt a small wet kiss be set on my hand. “Let’s go for a walk,” he said. He helped me off the stool and we exited the cabin, leaving Martin to discuss details with the rest of the family. “Where do you want to walk to?” Jett asked, taking ahold of my hand as we strolled off the porch stairs.

“My cabin?” I said it as if it were a question.

“Rini.” Jett’s voice was low. “No.”

“It’s just to get a couple of clothes and stuff that I need. I also need to tell Celeste and George that I’m okay—they’re probably worried.” My heart froze.
Oh crap!
They were probably worried sick about me. Thinking the worst thing on their mind had happened to me.

“Rini,” he said again, this time assertive.

“Please?”

Jett looked around the forest for a moment, then finally back at me—his gorgeous light brown eyes gazing into mine, and for a moment, I thought I had picked up the skill of persuasion as his expression softened. “I’m sorry—but, no.”

“
Ugh!
Fine! Let’s go to the
stupid
dock then.” I sounded like a child throwing a tantrum, and kicked some dirt.

The sun was shining across the water’s ridges, and a nice breeze danced through the trees, making their leaves sing along. Jett swayed his feet in the water, and I had laid my head on his lap, staring at trees across the lake as the sun’s warmth kissed my skin.

“When you saw me the first time—you know, after you helped me with my box of stuff and cleaned my cut—,” I looked up to him. “—why did you leave all of a sudden?”

Jett moved his eyes from the water, smacking against the dock, to me, “Because I heard Martin calling for me.”

“What for?”

He hesitated, “I wasn’t supposed to talk to you.” He sighed and lowered his head. “I wasn’t supposed to like you either.”

“Why not?” I asked, meeting my eyes with his. Locks of his gorgeous hair fell to his eyes. I reached out and tucked it behind his ear.
Was I not the liking type?

“Martin didn’t want us to date or fall in love with humans because he knew that if anyone found out, that would be the end of us. He gave me strict orders to try to scare you away from venturing deeper into the forest and finding our cabin. We’re dangerous Rini, especially compared to you fragile humans.” There it was again, the awkwardness of having a being that looks human, call you the human.

“So, when I was cleaning the headstone—y-you wanted to kill me?”

“Not kill, just scare. Scare
really
badly.”

I hit him on the arm. “
Jerk.
”

He rubbed the area and laughed. The fragile human couldn’t hurt the Mundahlian after all. “When I saw you doing something to the headstone, I thought you were destroying it. I got angry and approached you. Then, when you left off running, I saw that you were just trying to clean it. I felt bad about what I did, and returned your bucket.”

“Gee thanks,” I said sarcastically. “I wouldn’t have wanted anything to happen to my dollar store bought bucket!”

“Thank you,” he said softly. His hands ventured onto my side.

“For what?”

“For caring about my brother’s headstone when I chose to forget about it.”

“Tell me about him,” I urged. “Del and Mark mentioned him, but they said it’s none of their business to tell.” I shifted my head higher on his lap. I was getting a cramp in my neck.

“
Zuni
, was my little brother. Half-brother that is. His father was a human, named Petros Sarantos. Petros was a deliveryman—delivering goods to us from the humans when he and my mom met. He was a poor man, but rich in love.”

“Delivering?”

“Yeah, it’s part of the pact.”

“What pact?”

Jett curved the line of his mouth into a smirk. “Can you let me finish one story before I go on to another?”

“Sorry, go on!”

“I was young when Zuni came around, so I don’t remember much about Petros. I just remember that he had a wife and some kids back home and came from a small village in Greece, and the only reason he was here was because the company appointed him as the official delivery man since he was a new worker. The heads of the company were too much of cowards to do it themselves—fearing that we’d eat them, so they made all the newbies deliver supplies. He and my mom met at the castle when she lived with the King the first time around. They had an affair, my mom left the castle, and thus Zuni came along. The rest is a blur. What I do remember though, is when the King-”

“
Your
father,” I corrected.

He was quiet for a few seconds before saying, “Yeah,” and continued his story. “My
father
ordered that my mother and I be taken to the castle since we belonged to him. Petros had long gone and broken my mother’s heart by then. He said he just couldn’t raise a monster for a child and that his heart would always belong to his wife and human family and that it was all a mistake that he’d regret for the rest of his life. When my mother refused to return to the castle, and in a bout of rage from a broken-heart, attacked one of the guards, the council was notified of our small clan and sentenced us all. I’m sure the blabber mouths that Del and Mark are told you the rest of how my mom struck a stupid deal with my father that he ended up breaking, right?”

I nodded.

He sighed again. “Anyway, after hopping around different towns and states for a few years after several of the King’s children found us, we relocated here to Austin—Zuni was about fifteen. He was barely getting his abilities. He thought he could break into the castle, kill the King and find out what happened to our mother.” He paused. “It was my fault, I should have been taking better care of him. It was my duty to. But I failed, and he left one night. He didn’t even stand a chance. A friend that still lives in Mundahlia, sent us a letter saying he was killed at the gate and burned into ash. I put that headstone where his scent was. He used to mark his territory when he would roam around here in his animal form.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said. “And I’m sorry,” I rubbed his thigh for comfort. Even though I was semi-grossed out that I had cleaned an area that was sprayed with pee, I didn’t want him to be sad.

“It’s okay. I’m sure Zuni would have liked you. He’d protect anything from harm, even if he didn’t know them too well.”

“I’m sure I would have liked him too. I lost a sibling too you know.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, but she died right after birth. My parents never got over it. That’s when their marriage started going downhill.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Rini. I’m sure you would have been a great big sister.” Jett smiled a bit, but it faded. I could of sworn there was a glimmer in his eyes. “Now about the pact,” He went on, and I listened—looking intently into his eyes, as he told me of a time, long ago. A time when Mundahlians and humans lived as one. How their kind helped construct the egyptian pyramids and were seen as gods and deities. Even how their kind got swept into what we understood to be Roman and Greek mythology. Centaurs and minotaurs, gorgons, fauns and even mermaids—all mundahlians, or hybrids as he referred to their scientific classification. Beings that were created during evolution, when animal cells fused together with human cells and surpassed us all in the stages of evolution at a rapid pace.

The fallout was when the humans created weaponry and forced them back to their land, with the only other option being death—wanting to claim the majority of land for themselves. They agreed to keep the Mundahlians a guarded secret throughout time among the human race, with limited aid and contact that was part of a pact signed by rulers of both sides. In their eyes, it was the humans who were pure. Not the freaks that were the Mundahlians, an outnumbered species at the time that was forced to be banished to a nation of islands hidden in what we know as the Bermuda triangle. No one knows how the land formed, but it was named Mundahlia because only in the light and energy of the moon, does it appear. During the day it is just—invisible. No wonder people report freaky stuff and disappearances going on in the Bermuda Triangle. I knew there had to be a reason.

I’d never put much thought into the drawings on caves or pyramids across the world either, until now. The Anubis—a half-jackal, half-man god—was a pretty freaky looking thing, as well as the half-falcon, half-man thing too. Horus. They did exist back then, we just never really put much thought into it. He also told me that they’d only been in Austin for a little over twenty-five years. On the run each time one of the king’s children found them and tried to take them back. Of course they had to kill them in ways so gruesome I nearly gagged as he explained to me, which only further angered the King.

I laughed. “Wow, you’re old!” After, he’d told me that Mundahlians age in increments of twenty-five years to one human year. Apparently, they don’t get their hybrid abilities and slowed-down aging until they go through their own version of puberty. Until then, they are regular shape-shifters that age like humans, only able to change from animal or human. Jett went through his “puberty” at seventeen, but says it varies from mundahlian to mundahlian. His brother got it at a young age, and Jett’s was delayed a few years. A late bloomer, but once he got it, boy did he bloom!

He smiled a barely there smile, “In human years, I would be one-hundred and sixteen. So yeah.”

“Yeah, let’s just say you’re going on twenty-one,” I said.

“Twenty-one it shall be then, soon, for the next twenty-five years.”

“Wait!” I said, suddenly remembering something. “So when I tried to feed you meat, why the hell did you throw it on me?”

“That meat was old, and if you expected me to eat it, then you had to eat it first.”

“Jerk,” I said again. I fixed myself up, and rested my head on his shoulder. His arm came around my side. “So if by chance,
I
were to be attacked by a Mundahlian, how must a young
fragile
human defend herself?”

“Are you saying you want to become a Mundahlian slayer?” he laughed.

“Just for the bad guys. Besides, Buffy has the vampires pretty much covered.”

“Well, we can
all
be bad to an extent,” he said.

“Oh yeah?” I smiled and wrapped my hands around his neck.

“Yeah.” He smiled flirtatiously.

“Well then, why don’t you show me just how
bad
you can be then?”

…

“Are you ready for this?” Jett said, taking off his clothes and setting them in a nearby bush. He was at edge of the forest a good distance away.

“Yes!” I shouted. Martin was at my side and the rest of the family was sitting on the porch watching the demonstration. Jett and Martin had agreed to teach me how to defend myself from a Mundahlian. The sun was low, almost setting, but there was still plenty of light out.

“All right Rini, now when he charges at you, you have the option of either going left, right or under. The only thing is, Mundahlians are fast and can still get a hold of you either way you go—left or right, so instead, go for sliding under the legs. Once you’re on the other side kick the back of the knees to bring him down. Then we’ll take it from there.” Martin whistled to Jett, and signaled him to change.

I saw him bolt from the edge of the forest. The bones changing shape, the eerie crackling sound, and his face elongating. I wanted to say something, but the only thing I could muster was an awkward, “Oh,” as I watched Jett turn into the towering, hunched Mundahlian I’d seen him shift into before. I stayed frozen—a statue. He looked diabolical, and hungry, as a
beast
should. He looked different from the back that night, but now that he was facing me, he looked terrifying. I couldn’t do it. I took a few steps away and put my head down. Jett stopped a few feet away and gave me a confused expression as he let out a huff. “I’m sorry, let’s try that again,” I said. Jett returned to his position, raised his claw-like thumb up and charged at me again when Martin ordered.

This time I pictured it being real. A matter of life and death. Now or never. When he was within reach, I dodged his grasp and ducked between his legs. I back-kicked his legs in and he tumbled onto the ground with a beast-like groan.

“Great!” Martin cheered. “Now, when they are down you have to watch for their claws, they can swing at you, and slice your skin easily. So once they’re on their back you can either run, or unless you have a weapon, then you can fight. Trust me, no human can defeat a Mundahlian bare-handed.” He walked over to my beast of a boyfriend. “Next move.” Martin clapped his hands and helped Jett up. Jett returned to the far position and waited, stretching his back and arms. “Okay, now this one is a direct attack. When he charges at you, slide to your left and knock away the claw opposite to you, clasp the closest one, and bring it to his back. When his other claw tries to get you, bring it to the back too, and then you could kick in his back for a temporary paralysis, but don’t do that now, because then you’ll hurt your
boyfriend
.” The word sounded weird. I’m going to have to get used to it.

Martin whistled again and here came Jett charging like a train, full-speed. I tried grasping his claw but my hand slipped and I lost my balance. Jett caught me mid-air and forced himself around, landing flat on his back with me on his chest. I looked up at Jett, his light brown eyes were on me. If he was in his human form, he’d be smiling. The manic look on his face, or snout, diminished into that of sympathy and concern. I hugged his abnormally enlarged human-like torso that was covered with soft, warm fur, and dug my head into his chest to show that I was okay. He smelled like a dog and sweat, and I could hear the thumping of his heart
.

Pum-pum-pum.
A soft rhythm that pulsed beneath my hand.

“It’s like hugging a teddy bear,” I joked. “A
smelly
teddy bear,” I added scrunching my face in disgust. A somber sound exited his snout. “Just kidding.” I set a kiss on his chest.

“Yes, a giant, vicious, smelly, and lethal teddy bear,” Martin added lifting me off of Jett’s chest. For a second, I saw a look of sadness flash across his face when I was being taken away. As though he was worried I wasn’t coming back.

“Focus!” Martin snapped his fingers. Jett brushed it off and headed back to the end of the field.

This time around, I smacked away his left claw and wrapped my hands around his right. I swung it around to his back. His left claw came over his shoulder trying to grasp at me, but I reached for his arm and pulled it back. It was almost like handcuffing, that I had learned last year in Criminal Justice class. With a foot on his back, I gently tapped his spine. Jett pretended to yelp and fall to the floor dramatically. For a split second, I believed it, and immediately became overwhelmed with concern. But as I saw the others laugh in amusement, I shook it off. He turned onto his back and sat up. I was laughing with the others, when suddenly I felt his claws wrap around my wrists and bring me down to him. He turned me around so my back was against the dirt and climbed on top of me, growling. The laughing stopped. All that sounded was the bass filled snarl escaping from his snout. He curled his lips and flashed his sharp sets of teeth near my face. He leaned closer—I could smell his breath as it neared. A warm, foul stench brushing by my face. Then, the growling stopped, and his teeth were hidden by his chops. A long flat tongue snaked out and licked my face, leaving a wet trial behind.

“
Eww!
” I said, my hands still under his claws.

His fur retracted, and his bones reshaped. The claws around my wrists were now hands. “Rule number one, never turn your back on your attacker—and
that
, was for calling me smelly.” He let out a full-bodied laugh before planting a kiss on my lips and rolling on his side.

“All right, Beauty and the Beast,” Del said, throwing clothes at Jett. “Let’s eat dinner.”