I didn’t know where to start. “Juanita, how can… it be you? I never suspected anything. You don’t have a power signature and you smell like a human. How is any of this possible?”
“Of course I smell like a human.” She chortled, her sweet, high voice pinging the air. “I was reborn as a human fifty-four years ago for a specific reason. If I let my power signature show here, it would be like announcing to the world this es where I am.” She tossed out her hands, letting go of me, to simulate an explosion. “And that wouldn’t do me much good protecting you, now, would it, Chica?”
“So you kept yourself cloaked the entire time you lived here?”
“Sí,” she said. “I have been—how you say—undercover for a very long time. Since you were a bambina.”
I shook my head in wonder. “I don’t know where to start. There is so much I want to know.”
“You may ask me, but I warn you, I cannot tell you very much.” She shook her head gravely. “It would place you at too much risk. I have brought you here only to tell you a few precious things.” She put together two of her fingers about an inch apart to indicate how little she could tell me. “But I also wanted to see you once again with my very own eyes.” She brought a hand to my face and touched me, genuine happiness in her smile. “I have missed you, Chica. I had not known when I made the decision to advocate for you that I would find so much… affection for you. I have become attached. This, of course, has made it very hard for me to stay impartial. But what’s done es done.” She waved a hand dismissively and got up from the table. “I will bring us some tea and then we will chat.”
She busied herself in the kitchen and I sent a silent plea to Rourke to let him know I was okay. You’re going to find me out cold, but I’m okay. I’ll be back soon. I promise.
“He will be all right,” Juanita said, interrupting my thoughts. “He es a fierce protector for you. One of the finest warriors we have. You are one lucky woman.” She turned, waggling her eyebrows in the old Juanita way. “I sent him to you early.” She swished a hand over her head to indicate it was nothing as she continued to make tea. “It had to happen this way or I think you would not have survived. So many things to think about, all the time. They always occupy my mind.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You sent Rourke to me—early?”
“Sí,” she answered as she brought two steaming cups of tea to the table. “He was your fated mate, of course, but you were not supposed to find each other for quite some time. The future—it es always murky.” She sat down, scooting her chair closer to mine. “So I made the choice to bring you both together, because without him, I fear, you would not have made it this far. So much trouble in your short life, Chica. Es hard to be your guardian. You have made it very tricky for me.”
“You’ve been my guardian since birth? Like a guardian angel?”
She laughed, and again it was a lyrical, lovely sound, full of joy. I smiled along with her, realizing I’d missed her. I guess without knowing it, over the years I’d grown fond of her too. “You can look at it like that, I suppose, but really, it has been my pleasure to watch over you. You are the center of things in our world, for a reason. You are a changer. I chose to be reborn at the right time to make sure you survived and I take my job very seriously.” She smiled wide, like I shouldn’t be so surprised to find I had a guardian angel living next door to me for all these years.
“Jeb called me a catalyst,” I said, “but he said my birth was late.”