“No,” she agreed, “it doesn’t. We’ll still go. And we’ll still claim the Artifact.”
“Damn right we will,” he murmured, smoothing her hair back from her face with a gentle touch.
Teresa had now officially lost everything. Her home. Her best friend. Her grandmother. Even her pet had been taken from her by an evil that still wasn’t finished with her. Her old life was shattered and lay in ruins at her feet.
But looking up into Rune’s gray eyes, she could feel his fierce strength and unswerving loyalty surrounding her, and she knew a new life was being born. Rising up from the ashes, her own personal phoenix was becoming something else. Something formidable. Her spirit lifted to the challenge. Her heart soared as she admitted to the deep and abiding love she felt for this Eternal. This immortal who made her feel more alive than ever before.
Whatever came next, she would be prepared for it.
With Rune at her side, no enemy was strong enough to defeat them.
“You ready?” he asked, one corner of his mouth lifting into a half smile.
“Yeah,” she said, hooking her arms around his neck. “Take me to Spain, Rune.”
Chapter 57
Miguel made it out of the rain forest.
With his skin still buzzing from the electrical charge in the air, he raced down the hilly incline to where they’d left the cars. The van he ignored. If the others survived, they could take it. He jumped into his jeep, fired up the engine and floored it. Spinning the wheels, he did a quick turnaround and headed out of Palenque as fast as he could.
His gaze studied the view in the rearview mirror, but as far as he could tell, no one was following him. And the lightning had stopped. Was Teresa really responsible for that? Damn. The continuous blasts of lightning bolts slamming into the earth had left him partially deaf. His ears were ringing and his heart crashed crazily in his chest.
He wasn’t safe. Miguel knew that. He wouldn’t put it past the big Eternal to come after him, and if he did, then it wouldn’t matter how fast and far Miguel traveled. The man made of fire would find him.
“Fuck!” He punched the steering wheel a couple of times and didn’t feel any better.
The jeep jolted and bounced over impediments in the road, but kept on going. Just like him, Miguel assured himself. There were problems, sure. But he’d keep going. Parnell still needed him. He’d be able to explain. Hell, who would have known that the damn temple was magically protected?
Teresa, that’s who, he told himself with a furious glower. She must have known what was going on. She’d done it deliberately. Her and that fucking old woman. They’d tricked him. Anyone could see that. It wasn’t his fault. Hell, if it was anyone’s fault, it was Parnell’s for not expecting this to happen.
Yeah. That was it. Parnell’s fault.
“But I won’t tell him that,” Miguel murmured. “I won’t blame him, so he won’t blame me. He’ll see I did everything I was supposed to. Not my fault it didn’t work. Fuck it—we can catch up to them. We’ll stop them. We can still get the damn Artifact.”
The Artifact.
Ever since he’d first learned of that magical shard of black silver, Miguel had hungered for it. Who wouldn’t? Immeasurable power locked inside a hunk of metal? The key to controlling whatever the hell you wanted to control? If Miguel could only get his hands on it, he could be a king. He could live as he was meant to live.
Not in a damn desert or rain forest, either. He was thinking penthouse. Acapulco, maybe, to start. But with the Artifact, he could go anywhere, do anything.
It was still within his reach.
He would just make Parnell understand the situation. The farther he got from Palenque, the better he felt. In fact, he could almost convince himself that he’d done Parnell a favor. The lightning had killed off most of Miguel’s men and the others wouldn’t last a day in the rain forest. Something was sure to eat them. Another problem solved.
He drove for hours, finally arriving back at the tavern where he’d left Parnell the day before. In the pit of his belly, nerves were alive and churning, but he didn’t let them show. A real man was nothing if not confident.
Miguel wasn’t looking forward to this confrontation, but he knew he could talk the boss around. This was the kind of stuff he