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“I didn’t think you could die.”
“There’s death and there’s a strange realm in between. I went there sometimes. Years, decades, maybe a century would pass. But eventually, someone always wandered near my tomb and died.”
“Why did you call me?” Gina asked.
“Why not?” The Nahual shrugged. “Your parents gave up their lives for you. Both of them without the slightest hesitation. I was curious. Then, when you came at last, you released me, and I knew I had been right to call. Once I inhabited this body, I understood how I could get everything that I wanted.”
He tapped Jase’s finger against Jase’s temple. “There’s all sorts of great information in here. Took me a while to understand—the phones, the satellites, computers, the technology—but now I see … I’ll have no trouble gaining the trust of thousands, turning them into my army, then taking over the world.”
“What are you going to do with the world?”
“Whatever I want.”
Gina rubbed her forehead. “Fine. Whatever.” She couldn’t be bothered with saving the world right now. Let Edward deal with it if he ever showed up. Right now she had to save Teo and the others. That was the only reason she’d come out here.
“You said you’d spare them if I came with you.”
“Them,” the Nahual agreed. “Not him.”
Gina didn’t like the sound of that, but then she hadn’t liked the sound of much in years.
“Which him are you talking about?”
The grin was back, less like Jase than ever before. “You choose.”
Gina was starting to get a very bad feeling. “No. Uh-uh.”
The Nahual ignored her protests as if she hadn’t even made them. “Willing sacrifice gives me strength.”
“Got that.”
“I want to rule the world.”
“Heard you the first time.”
“With you.”
“Huh?” Gina gasped.
“He’s me; I’m him.” The Nahual rubbed his bare chest. “He wants you. I want the world. If I make you like me, I’ll be your maker. You’ll never leave me. Him. Us.”
“No, thanks.”
“Come to me freely and your lover lives.”
Gina shot a glance at Teo. “No, Gina,” he said. “Don’t.”
She yanked her gaze back to the Nahual. “Where does the choice come in?”
He tilted his head, the movement more like a dog than a human, and she saw again those beloved eyes in a vicious lupine face. Would she ever be able to look at that without feeling ill?
Maybe. If her own eyes were set in an equally furry face.
“You become like me,” the Nahual explained, “and lover boy lives. Best buddy…” He stroked his own chest again. Ick. “And I become one forever. No going back. To separate us would kill him.”
“What if I choose best buddy? You gonna let Jase go?”
The Nahual shrugged. “Sure. There’s another body right here, and I’m certain he’ll be happy to accommodate me to save you.”
