Chapter Twenty-Five
Mateo watched his woman from the shade of the dense trees. He hoped someday soon he would be able to endure the sunlight for longer periods at a time. His tolerance to the rays of the sun was still weak, but he was growing stronger all the time and every day he was able to stay out a few minutes longer. To be standing here under nothing more than the shade of the tree branches during the daylight hours—without feeling like he was going to burn to a pile of ash—was more than he imagined would be possible.
The first few times he attempted to venture out into the sunlight, the pain had been excruciating. His skin felt like hot coals were igniting in each of his pores and he could barely last more than a minute or so without retreating into the safety of the cave to recover. But he refused to give up, and the pain gradually lessened. Now, there was only a slight burning sensation in the areas where his clothes didn’t cover his skin, and he didn’t feel that until he was in the direct sunlight for at least fifteen minutes or more.
The clan also believed being awake during the daytime was impossible, but he was sleeping less during the day and growing more tired at night time. Eventually, his sleeping habits should be the same as his mate’s and they could sleep together through the night and be awake together all day—something they were both anxious to have happen as soon as possible. But until that time, a small cave nearby provided Mateo with a dark sanctuary for his daytime slumber while his body was still acclimating to his new schedule.
Once he completed all these miraculous transformations, he would share his accomplishments with other Blood Clan members. But now, every day was still an experiment. He was confident that ultimately his kind would be free to live openly among the real ones without worry of being detected.
It saddened him to think this was always a possibility. For centuries, the clans had dwelled in total seclusion when they could have lived a much fuller life. He understood, though, how hard it was to defy all the ancient superstitions and beliefs.
Overcoming his own tremendous fear of being destroyed when he challenged those antiquated myths was the hardest thing he had ever done. If he had been wrong, he wouldn’t be here to spend eternity with his beautiful mate and their child.
A poignant smile curved Mateo’s lips as he thought about how fortunate they were. His dream of having a real love story with his mate was reality and it was more amazing than he had ever imagined it could be.
Dawn cradled Yuma in her arms as she gazed out toward a beautiful array of wildflowers in vibrant shades of red, yellow, and purple dotting the lush green grasses of the mountain meadow. Yuma meant ‘Son of the Chief’ and since they had come to the San Juan Mountains in the Colorado high country, Mateo was now the chief of his own Blood Clan, so his first-born son had been aptly named.
Secluded in the thick forests of spruce, fir, aspen, and towering lodge pole pines this peaceful new encampment was a secure haven for Mateo’s little family. They had bought a large camper trailer to live in while they were in the process of building a sprawling log house on land they purchased. Dawn and Mateo’s children would be raised in a real home with all the modern conveniences.
Eventually, even Dawn’s family would be able to visit them. Right now, they still believed she was traveling abroad with her wealthy Native American lover. At first, convincing them she abruptly resigned from her teaching job and impulsively left the country had been a hard sell.
Mateo worried they would try to find her, but she called them on a regular basis until her parents, brother, and sister-in-law, finally began to believe her when she told them she was so much in love with her new man she didn’t care about anything other than seeing the world with him at her side. He knew she hated lying to her family, but she understood it was necessary to protect everyone involved.
When he was fully able to present himself as a real one, they would inform Dawn’s family they were back from their worldly travels, and they would also tell them Yuma had been born while they were out of the country. It was all pretty far-fetched and not an ideal plan by any stretch of the imagination. But it was still so much better than her original plan of letting them think she perished in the Superstitions while looking for her missing friend.
Mateo filled with pride as he gazed lovingly at his mate and their newborn son, although there was still a part of him having a hard time letting go of the overwhelming panic he felt as he had delivered Yuma five days earlier.
Every day, as Dawn’s due date had grown nearer, he had been consumed with worry that this child could be afflicted with the unknown virus still attacking newborns in Blood Clans around the globe. A total of eight dhampyres had been stillborn to date.
Thankfully though, a couple of weeks ago, the doctor from Switzerland sent word out he discovered the stillbirths were being caused by a new and extremely rare form of bacterial infection related to something called a Group B Strep Infection—an infection some human women carry in their body without ever being aware of it, because it usually doesn’t cause any symptoms.
In very rare cases, however, infected pregnant women can transmit the virus to their baby during delivery, which can cause stillbirths. For some unknown reason the women among the clans who did have this silent infection were transmitting the deadly strain of this disease to their newborns in recent months. The Swiss doctor felt there might never be an explanation as to why this was happening all of a sudden, but he was confident he perfected an antidote and this serum would soon be ready to use on all the human mates who were still in their childbearing years.
Dawn was due to give birth before the serum was ready and there had been no way of knowing if she carried this lethal infection in her body until she gave birth. It had been an unspoken terror they both lived with every minute of her pregnancy.
She had gone into labor mid-morning, and since Mateo was still learning how to exist for brief periods in the daylight, he had been asleep in the cave. By the time he had awoken late in the afternoon, she was terrified and gripped by contractions coming hard and fast.
When his brother’s mates had been in labor at the encampment on the Superstitions, the women assisted one another. The men had no idea what went on in the birthing hut. But Dawn had only him to help her through her pain-ridden ordeal. He felt completely inadequate and helpless as she endured hours of intense labor before finally giving birth to a perfect—and healthy—male dhampyre in the early morning hours of the following day.
Mateo found it beyond comprehension how she had been able to endure such agonizing pain and even survive, let alone be able to be up and recuperating so quickly. He knew the agony he felt those first few times he went into the sunlight was nothing compared to the pain she suffered to bring their son into the world. She was even more extraordinary than he imagined and his love for her just kept expanding.
His smile widened. Motherhood definitely agreed with his beautiful mate. The sunlight was shining on her long blonde hair and the thick straight tresses resembled pale white satin flowing around her shoulders and past the middle of her back. Her smooth creamy complexion seemed to have acquired a radiant glow throughout her pregnancy and it hadn’t faded even after Yuma’s birth. A happy twinkle lit her hazel eyes with contentment ever since Mateo made her his mate on that fateful night in Arizona…the night he conducted his first of many experiments that would forever change the future of Blood Clans.
Since their custom was to drink the majority of blood from their mate’s thigh until she passed out, he decided to try something less drastic. He had only drunk a small portion of the blood from the artery in Dawn’s thigh—not enough to cause her to lose consciousness.
She had been reluctant at first, but he convinced her to drink a small amount of his blood that first night, too. Hopefully, she would benefit from his vampire strength and stay strong and healthy during her child-bearing years. Although she suffered through a few days of flu-like symptoms similar to the ones she endured when he had first bitten her neck and wrist in the beginning, after the sickness subsided, Dawn felt better than ever and had no problems during the rest of her pregnancy.
More importantly, and much to their relief, she still retained all her own thoughts and human desires. How this would affect her in the future was still very much in the trial stages, but they were prepared for whatever may come. If anything happened, and Mateo felt she was in any danger from illness or anything that afflicted real ones, he would complete the mating process at once to keep her safe. But until that day came or until the time when he would make her immortal, they planned to cherish every minute of this new life they were discovering together.
Today, she was wearing a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt in shades of lavender with a pair of white flip-flops on her feet. Mateo was also wearing jeans, boots, and a green T-shirt. His clan would not wear the outdated garments worn by his grandfather’s clan. Since this property bordered National Forest land, it was inevitable real ones would occasionally stumble across their isolated home. When this happened, their clan would not appear to belong to a different century.
His grandfather gifted them with enough gold from the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine to last them for centuries, and Mateo already compelled a Clan Society from the local Southern Ute tribe to see to the human-type needs of his small clan. With any luck, the need for a Clan Society might not be necessary in the future if he continued to find ways to live among the real ones without revealing their vampire nature.
Dawn glanced up and noticed him standing in the canopy of trees. Her instant smile warmed his heart. She began walking toward him; the small precious bundle in her arms concealed in a soft colorful woven yellow and white Indian blanket. As she entered the shaded area in the grove of trees, she pulled the blanket away from Yuma’s miniature face so his intense gaze could stare up at his father. His golden skin tone was a lovely mixture of his father’s bronzed hue and his mother’s pale coloring, but his shock of thick hair was as ebony as his eyes.
Mateo gently rested one of his hands on the top of his son’s downy head, and placed his other hand against his mate’s soft cheek. “Udaya,” his whispered. “There has never been a man more fortunate than I am, because I will be able to love you forever.”
Dawn’s misted gaze rose to lock with Mateo’s raven one as she replied softly, “Forever is not long enough.”