Dark Possession (Dark #18)

Dark Possession (Dark #18) Page 3

Manolito spun around, still on his knees, his hands going up instinctively to catch the large, heavy cat as it sprang for his head. The force and power of the jaguar was tremendous, driving him down and onto his back.

Was this real, or was this an illusion like the shadowy vampires must have been?

His fingers sank into thick fur. Claws raked his belly, tearing through skin and muscle. Hot, fetid breath exploded in his face, and wicked teeth scraped along his arm as he used sheer strength to keep the beast from getting to his throat and skull. For one moment, as he lay beneath the cat, keeping its massive head from his, he felt someone-her-his lifemate-move in his brain.

Her cry of terror echoed through his mind, replacing hunger and confusion with a focus he might not otherwise have found. He saw her reaching for the cat, trying to aid him. Not wanting to risk her life, he broke the telepathic connection between them and dissolved. His body turned to vapor, streaming up and around the cat to reshape into that of a male jaguar with a broad, heavy head and a larger, stockier body the color of the darker shadows. Droplets of blood fell like mist, spattering the leaves and roots as he took the form of a rare black jaguar.

He snarled a challenge and leapt. The two cats crashed heavily together, rolling across roots and boughs, the sounds of battle disturbing the night.

Many cats used strangulation to kill, but the jaguar, with its exceptionally powerful jaw, would bite directly through the skull between the temporal bones, killing prey instantly. As the Amazon had been their home for so many years, the De La Cruz brothers had come into regular contact with the cats.

Jaguars were extraordinarily strong, with compact, muscular bodies and broad heads. Stealthy and nearly invisible, they lived a solitary life in a shadowy world of dusk and dawn. With their incredible night vision, retractable lethal claws, piercing canines and well-muscled bodies built for ambush and stealth, they commanded the rain forest, yet they were leery of fighting one another. The heavy moisture was a perfect breeding ground for infection.

Manolito's first thought was to kill in self-preservation. He was weak from hunger and already dripping precious blood. The wisest and safest course of action would be to end the battle quickly. Respect for the rain forest's strongest predator made him hold back. He and his brothers had always lived in harmony with the creatures of the forest. He would not take this animal's life if there was another choice.

He growled a warning, clearly telling the male to back off. Testing the air, he could find no female leaving scent that might give the cat added incentive to fight.

The jaguar circled Manolito's powerful furred body, showing teeth and rumbling with challenge. Hoping to subdue the animal, Manolito leapt. The jaguar rushed to meet him, slashing with stiletto-like claws even as Manolito reached for the mind of the beast. The jungle erupted into an explosion of sound as the two cats came together.

Birds screamed and took to the air, high in the canopy above. Monkeys shrieked warnings and threw twigs and leaves down on the two jaguars as they rolled in the vegetation. Boughs broke beneath the heavy bodies, scattering debris into a thick cloud around them. Manolito pushed past the red rage in the cat's mind and tried to find the spirit of the animal as he kept its lethal fangs from sinking into him.

Jaguars possessed extremely flexible spines that allowed them to turn and twist, move their legs in lateral sideswipes, even change direction in midair. And the ropes of muscles all over their bodies gave them tremendous strength. Manolito took another vicious rake on his side as he tried to focus on calming the cat.

He pushed harder, breaking through the wall of rage and found-man. This was no jaguar. This was one of the rare and solitary jaguar-men who still made their homes in the rain forest. The Carpathians and the jaguar people had always lived in harmony, avoiding one another, yet this one had deliberately attacked.

Manolito dissolved and took his human form, this time from the comparative safety of a distance away. Cats could cover amazing distances in a single leap, and the jaguar people had cunning and strength beyond normal. He stood, breathing hard, watching for any signs of aggression as the cat faced him, sides heaving, a snarl on its face.

"I know you are a man. You will die here if you continue. You cannot use my respect for the jaguar to defeat me. Why have you broken our unspoken treaty?" He deliberately pitched his voice soft, calming, a mesmerizing tone of notes to aid in soothing the cat's temper.

The jaguar bared teeth, but held his ground, the eyes never leaving Manolito's face, as if he was just waiting for one moment of weakness that would give him an advantage. And Manolito was weak. He held the pain of his wounds at bay and ignored the raging hunger nearly consuming him. The scent of blood was heavy in the air. Both jaguars had been torn, and droplets showered bright spots of crimson over the leaves. Deliberately the jaguar licked at the blood drops, to remind Manolito that he had scored.

Manolito exploded into action, ice-cold fury washing over him at the insulting taunt. He leapt on the animal's back, knees digging tightly into the banded muscle, legs nearly crushing the animal as he locked his ankles under the belly. One arm snaked around the thick neck in a half nelson to drag the head up. He sank his teeth deep into the jugular and drank. The animal tensed with resistance, but the man inside the cat form forced stillness, realizing Manolito could-and would-rip out his throat.

The hot blood pumped into his starving body, soaking into tissue and cells, and rejuvenating muscles. For a moment he was flooded with euphoria, the adrenaline-laced blood too rich and addictive when he'd been so long without and so very closing to turning.

So good. Do not stop. Feel the rush. Do not stop. There is nothing like it in the world. Join us, brother. Be with us. Take it all. Every drop.

Manolito heard several voices whispering the temptation. The buzzing in his head grew louder until it was almost painful. It is forbidden to take a life.

A cat only. Nothing to one such as you. He attacked you. Why should you give him his life when he would have killed you?

The enticement was strong. Hot, rich blood. And he was starving. The cat had attacked him first. It would still kill him, given the chance, even now, when he had spared its life.

Although he felt the difference in his body, he felt sick again, as if his stomach was cramping, which didn't make sense. Insects buzzed in his ears, loud and obnoxious, but when he wished them away, the noise didn't abate. Around him the ground rolled, as if an earthquake had taken place deep beneath the soil. His gut rolled with it.

You need strength. The cat wounded you. You need blood to heal, and it is so good. Drink, brother. Drink it all. The persuasive whispers continued.

Beneath him, the cat began to shake. The man prowling within the animal shouted something unintelligible, something human.

Human. He could not kill while feeding.

Not human. A cat. Tear its throat out. Rejoice in the power. Feel it, brother, feel the absolute power of a life ebbing away beneath your hands. Be what you were always meant to be-what you are.

What was he? A killer? Yes. There was no doubt he had killed so many times he could no longer remember all the faces. Where was he? He looked around, and for a moment the rain forest was gone and he was surrounded by shadowy forms, the stretched and knotted fingers of the dead pointing accusingly. Branches clacked together like brittle white bones, sending a shiver down his spine.

He killed-yes. But not like this. It was wrong. Self-defense was one thing. And there was justice and honor in dispatching a fallen brother when he had given his soul over to evil, but murder while feeding was against everything he believed. No. Whatever, whoever, was trying to get him to kill was no friend.

It took discipline to take only what he needed to survive, only what he needed to push past the beast's barriers and lay open the mind of the man hidden inside. He swept his tongue across the punctures to seal them and dissolved into vapor, only to reappear a distance away, taking a careful look into the shadows around him. Were those faces in the shadows, peering through the leaves and coming up out of the ground? Were vampires lurking? He shifted onto the balls of his feet, ready for anything. The jaguar roared, drawing his attention back to the danger closest to him.

Manolito forced a careless smile. "You have the taste of my blood in your mouth. And I have the taste of yours. You have information I seek. You tried to kill me and I owe you no quarter."

The cat remained motionless, not a muscle moving, eyes focused intently on Manolito.

The jaguar people were as elusive and secretive as the great cats, and like their animal part-or because of it ¨Cthey preferred the dense rain forest near streams and riverbanks. They were rarely encountered and, most likely, were stealthy enough and too familiar with the rain forest to ever be seen unless they wished it. The men, like the animal, were heavily built and enormously strong. They had tremendous night vision and excellent hearing. They were good tree climbers and strong swimmers. Little was known of their society, although Manolito knew they had bad tempers when aroused.

Before he probed deep into the brain of the jaguar, the hunter took another slow, careful look around him, scanning as he did so. The voices hadn't completely abated, whispering in his ear, urging him to kill. The shadows his sight couldn't quite penetrate seemed to hold a thousand secrets. Something slithered across the ground, just under the surface, displacing dirt as it moved. His mouth went dry.

The jaguar shifted, crouching a little lower, muscles bunching, drawing Manolito's instant attention. Centuries of hunting in dangerous situations kept his face expressionless, his eyes flat and cold and his mouth a little cruel. "Dare to attack, cat-man, and I will have no mercy for you." And he wouldn't. Not with the vampires closing in around him. He would have no time for mercy, not if he wanted to live.

The blood Manolito had taken from the jaguar-man enabled him to follow the brain pattern, push past the last of the shields to extract information. Hatred, deep and violent, toward Carpathians. The need to find and destroy them. A sense of betrayal and righteous anger. Puzzled, Manolito probed deeper. The two species had never been great friends, but neither had they been enemies. They held different values, but had always managed to respect each other's society.

There was a touch there in the memories. A dark stain. Something off. He examined it carefully. The spot was very dark in the center, but rings formed around it, lighter in color, stretching out to encompass the entire brain of the jaguar-man. The closer Manolito got to the spreading discoloration, the more agitated and disturbed the jaguar became.

The moment Manolito merged, as soft a touch as he used, he felt evil shift, become aware of him. Around him the shadows swelled and took form. Within the jaguar's brain the blemish stirred as if disturbed. He backed off, not wanting to rouse the ire of the cat any further. The animal was shaking, fur wet and dark as its sides heaved. The man was beginning to lose the battle for control of the beast.

"You have been touched by the vampire," Manolito said, his voice low and carrying the ring of truth. "I can try to aid you to rid yourself of the poisonous influence, but it will fight to keep ahold of you." And it would leave him vulnerable to attack, perhaps even from the jaguar. It was a risk, not even a good one, but Manolito felt compelled to help. The jaguar species, both man and beast, was losing the battle for existence just as the Carpathian species was. And Manolito very much feared that the De La Cruz brothers had unwittingly played a large part in the destruction of the jaguar people.

The man stayed quiet within the jaguar. Tied to him by blood, Manolito could feel his alarm. He was no young man, cocky and full of bravado; he was old enough to know the danger of the vampire, and he had been questioning what was happening among his kind for some time. The cat crouched low and nodded the broad head, the gaze shifting from Manolito to their surroundings, as mindful of the danger as the Carpathian.

In the canopy above them, the leaves rustled ominously. Clouds moved across the dark skies, bringing the promise of more rain. Already the air was heavy with moisture and the rivers and streams were swollen beyond the banks. Water poured over rocks and out of banks and made waterfalls where there had been none before. Most of the water was white and bubbling, but on the edges of the rocks, the water was stained with tannin and appeared a dull reddish brown.

Manolito took a deep breath and pulled his gaze away from the blood-colored water, and let his air out, breathing away everything but the task at hand. He had to let go of his physical body, making himself incredibly vulnerable to a potential enemy already occupied by the vampire. It was much more difficult than he expected, now that he could feel emotion and it mattered that he stayed alive.

The dark spot in the jaguar-man's brain recoiled, minute wormlike creatures writhing as his spirit entered the other man, bathing the brain in white-hot energy. Manolito heard the jaguar roar and the man hiss out a warning. Manolito hesitated, afraid of injuring the warrior.

Do it. I do not want that thing inside of me.

Manolito attacked the stain, breaching the outer rings and burning them clean with healing light. The tiny parasites tried to dig deeper into the brain in an effort to escape. As they scattered, Manolito could see to the core of the jaguar-man. The parasites tried to keep the light out of the jaguar-man's memories and hide what the vampire had done, but, unexpectedly, the jaguar-man joined his strength with Manolito's, using his well-developed telepathic abilities and their newly established blood tie.

He opened his memories to Manolito and flooded him with as much information as possible. His name was Luiz. For many years he'd worked to restore the dwindling strength of his species. Too many of their women had left, seeking companionship and love with human males rather than the careless abandonment of their own males. He'd influenced the others to follow the way of the Carpathians and mate for life, to provide a home and a family, a reason for women to stay with them. At first, many had gone along with his ideas and had begun to give up their solitary way of life, but recently, they had become divided in their thinking, as a slow, subtle change occurred.

Packs of men had begun committing terrible crimes against women. A "new order" of jaguars had begun searching for women of their kind and raping them in an effort to have pureblood children. Luiz hadn't known of the horrors, other than unconfirmed rumors, for the first few years, but now more and more men had joined the bands of marauding rebels. He feared not only for the women, but for their entire species. What woman would want to be with men who did such terrible things? He had heard that some of the women now were rescuing those in captivity. Their world had turned upside down, and Luiz had never once considered a vampire might be at work. Now it all made sense.

Vampire. The vilest creature on the face of the earth. Since when had they tried to kill off an entire species?

Manolito knew. He and his brothers had once known the Malinov brothers. Sadness crept in. The five Malinov brothers had been best friends with his family. Now it seemed as if they may have all turned vampire. The idea of losing all of them was distressing now that he was capable of emotion. With the Malinov brothers, they had spent many hours discussing how they could take over ruling the Carpathian people. The possibilities of destroying an entire species, allies of the prince, had been a hot topic of conversation. In the intellectual debate, they had devised many ways, and one had been to influence self-destructive behavior, to capitalize on a species' weakness. Just as the jaguar society had done.

When their prince had sent them out into the world, away from their native land to protect humans, the subject had once again come up. In the end, the De La Cruz brothers had sworn to serve their prince and people. Once their word was given, no De La Cruz would ever go back, given a choice. The Malinov brothers had done the same.

Manolito was careful to keep that information to himself. Just the talk of betraying the prince had been bad enough and he was ashamed. He had never felt shame before and it was an uncomfortable emotion.

You were right all those years ago. The voices whispered once again in his mind. You and your brothers should have followed your own path completely. You allowed a weaker man to reign, to lead our people down a path of destruction. Had Zacarias ruled, the Carpathian people would be thriving, not driven into the ground, hated and feared and hunted by the very people they protect.

Manolito let out his breath in a long hiss of challenge. Show yourselves. Do not hide in the shadows. Come out where I can see you. He couldn't maintain the energy to stay long within the jaguar-man's body. He had to rid the man of the taint of the vampire and get back to his own unprotected body.

There is no need to feel shame. It was a brilliant plan.

Manolito took another breath and blocked everything out but the task at hand. The voices from the shadow world would have to wait. The jaguar-man was straining to hold the beast, keep it from leaping on Manolito and tearing apart his unprotected body.

The hot white light, pure energy, spilled over the center of the dark stain with terrible purpose. Manolito focused his entire attention to the task, risking everything to do so, not only because it was the right thing to do, but because he wanted to make up, in some small way, for his part in the plot devised so many years earlier. What had only been an intellectual debate had at one time exploded into angry possibility, but Manolito thought they had discarded all notion of betrayal and sabotage. Obviously one or more of the Malinov brothers had decided at some point to implement the plan. Manolito had witnessed firsthand the attempts to assassinate the prince, and then to kill the women and children of the Carpathians. Now, it seemed, the enemy had also put into motion a plan to wipe out the jaguar people.

Manolito utilized every bit of energy to fight the small threads of wriggling parasites, burning them out of their hiding places, following them as they raced through the jaguar-man's brain in an attempt to evade the attack. It was exhausting and time-consuming work.

When he was done and returned to his own body, Manolito staggered and nearly went down. His earlier need for blood had barely been satisfied, and using such energy had drained him. Only iron discipline kept him on his feet.

Beside him, the jaguar contorted. Fur rippled and muscles stretched and lengthened. The shifting of the jaguar people was different from that of the Carpathians. Skin and bands of muscle appeared; long, dark hair with streaks of gold running through it covered a noble head. A man crouched on the ground where the cat had been.

Luiz straightened slowly until he was standing upright in front of Manolito. Like all jaguar-men, he was comfortable with his nudity, his body roped with muscles, his hair shaggy. "I apologize for attempting to take your life." He spoke with great dignity, his eyes meeting Manolito's without flinching, even as he gestured toward the blood dripping steadily down the hunter's body.

Manolito bowed slightly in acknowledgment, while keeping every sense alert for another attack. "No man is responsible for what he does under the influence of the vampire."

"I owe you a great debt for aiding me in getting rid of him."

Manolito knew better than to deny it. The jaguar-man was stiff with pride, the face edged with guilt and worry. "It must have been difficult living with such a thing when you have worked so hard to save your people from the very thing that infected you."

"I know the difference between right and wrong. Most of our remaining men do as well, but the vampire is like a disease. We can't stop what we don't see. If I go back and try to tell the others, I have no proof. I don't have the ability, as you do, to find the taint of vampire and expel it."

"If you do not, there is no hope for your species," Manolito pointed out. "Your women flee, as they should. The vampire is destroying you from the inside out."

Luiz nodded in agreement. "I knew something was wrong, but the hatred toward your kind festered. The vampire must have planted the seeds among us. Carpathian males stealing our women. I don't remember ever encountering a vampire, or one who said such a thing, but I have known for some time that I was not thinking correctly."

"He underestimated your strength. He must have chosen you because you're a leader."

"At one time I was. Not so much anymore. The men are scattered, running in packs now, looking for women of our blood." Luiz frowned, rubbed at his temples as he tried to recall what they'd been told. "I believe the vampire wants a specific woman, one of pure blood who can shift every bit as quickly as a man, fight as hard, as tirelessly. He was insistent if we find her, that she be brought to the Morrison Research Institute in order for his researchers to duplicate her DNA." He sighed. "At the time he made it all seem sensible, but now it makes none at all."

The leaves rustled and both men spun toward the sound. The jaguar-man slipped, toward Manolito, his every movement fluid and stealthy, as quiet as any cat as he went back to back. There are eyes in the forest. And ears. My people are no longer trustworthy now that the vampire has gotten to them.

Manolito searched his memories for information that was eluding him. He couldn't show vulnerability, or point out that he was seeing on two different levels and didn't know which was real and which was imaginary. Nor did he even know if the shadow world was an illusion. Could he be walking in two worlds at the same time?

You removed the taint of the vampire from me. Is it possible to do the same with my brethren?

Manolito could feel the jaguar-man stretching his mind, reaching with all of his senses to find danger. He sniffed the air, listened, his eyes moving restlessly, unceasingly.

"Whatever is out there is far from us," Luiz said, "although others have entered the rain forest."

Manolito's heart jumped. His lifemate. He was certain of it. She was coming to him. She had to be. No

lifemate could stay separated from the other for long and survive. They were two halves of the same whole and needed each other for completion.

Come to me... It was a command. A plea. Yet he didn't know her name. He couldn't fully picture her. He closed his eyes to hold his memories to him. Skin. He remembered her incredible skin, softer than anything he'd ever touched, like silk burning under his lips. The taste of her, wild and spicy like the woman herself. His pulse quickened and his breath came in a rush, body tightening unexpectedly. He'd forgotten what it was like to desire. To lust. To think of a woman and want to sink his body forever into hers, making them one. Or maybe he'd never really known the feeling. Maybe he'd scanned so many other males it was merely an illusion until this moment in time. Now his body recognized the woman he needed, and it was demanding to be sated in every way.

"Carpathian. You are swaying with weariness. This thing you have done for me, driving the vampire from my body, it was difficult on you." Luiz made it a statement.

"Yes." But it was more difficult to look into the leaves of the shrubs and ferns, the boughs lying broken on the ground, and see the shadowy faces of evil staring at him. In the numerous waterfalls and streams, eyes stared as if from a watery grave. Everything appeared to be translucent, a gray, dank veil drawn over the brilliant colors of the rain forest.

The jaguar-man relaxed, the tension easing out of him, but Manolito was more alert than ever. In the distance, others had entered the forest, that was true, but whatever faced him in the shadow world was still there, still waiting and watching. The jaguar-man couldn't see or sense the other world, but Manolito knew he was still in danger. Or maybe the shadow world really was illusion and he was losing his mind.

Because his legs refused to hold him any longer, Manolito slowly crouched down, careful to appear to stay in control. He took another slow look around him, a small frown on his face. Why was he seeing everything through a veil, as if he were only half in his world and half in another? He plunged his hand into the soil he had slept in, hoping that it would anchor him and keep him from the shadows.

Just as he'd expected, the soil was terra preta, fertile black soil found among the poorer reddish clay or white sand in the rain forest. Unlike the other soils of the rain forest, the terra preta maintained fertility. Finding the precious soil had been a deciding factor in his family's decision to purchase the island.

The De La Cruz brothers had realized the soil was their key to survival and hope. Far away from their homeland, without their native soil, they searched the rain forest and most of Brazil in the earlier centuries for something rich and rejuvenating that would aid them not only in healing wounds and sleeping, but also in giving them strength needed to maintain their honor so far from their prince and people and without lifemates to sustain them. He took handfuls of the precious dirt and packed the wounds on his belly and sides to keep from losing any more blood.

Even with the soil in his hands, the large, lacy fronds darkened in color, turned from vibrant green to a drab gray. His breath caught in his throat as a thought occurred. If his lifemate was dead, would he cease to see in color?

The rain forest was capable of overwhelming newcomers with its sheer intensity of vivid, brilliant color and raw beauty. Manolito was at home in a place many saw as threatening and oppressive. Now, with his lifemate having restored his emotions and his ability to see in color, he should be blinded by the vivid colors, but as his surroundings fluctuated between color and shadow, could that mean she was dead? Was that why she wasn't with him? For a moment time seemed to stop. His heart thundered in his ears, a frantic cry for his other half.

No. He let out his breath. She was alive. He felt her. Touched her mind-to-mind. It had been brief, but her

mind had pushed against his. Close to him, the jaguar-man stirred, bringing Manolito's attention snapping back to him. Feeling vulnerable, not knowing what was real and what was illusion, he forced his body to his feet once again, facing the man.

"Let me aid you," Luiz offered, frowning as he observed the sheen on Manolito's skin. He kept his voice low and friendly, seeing the sudden flare of heat in the Carpathian hunter's eyes. "Are your wounds so terrible?"

Manolito shook his head. He could not afford to go drifting between worlds. Not when he didn't know friend from enemy. That only put him in more danger than ever, yet he couldn't seem to stop it. One moment the forest would be vivid with brilliant colors and the familiar, comforting night sounds, and the next, it would be a dull version, the colors muted and hazy, the shadows alive with something not alive, yet not dead. He made an effort to force his mind back to the situation, to extract as much information as possible when he had the opportunity.

"Do you know who this woman is that the vampire is sending your men to acquire?"

At once the jaguar-man's expression changed to one of wariness. "I am not certain. There are few purebloods left even among our males. There are even fewer women, and only one or two of noble blood."

"My youngest brother has found his lifemate. She is jaguar. And from an aristocratic lineage. Are you referring to her?" Manolito wanted to get it out in the open. If this was some elaborate plan to recapture Juliette, Riordan's lifemate, the jaguar-men would have a war on their hands. The De La Cruz brothers would protect Juliette with their lives, and every other Carpathian would do the same.

"No one would ever be that stupid, Carpathian."

"Manolito."

Luiz inclined his head in acknowledgment of the courtesy.

Carpathians often didn't reveal their names to enemies. Manolito hadn't given his birth name, because he was being careful, but Luiz didn't need to know that.

"This other woman is in danger. Perhaps my people can help."

Luiz took a deep breath, hesitated and then nodded. "I would ask your help to aid my brethren. If I bring one to you, would you consider removing the stain of the vampire?"

There was a silence filled only by the night insects. Manolito knew what was being asked of him-a tremendous favor-yet also a huge matter of trust.

"I would have to take blood to do such a thing," he admitted. "This is a master vampire, one not so easily defeated. I could try healing without the bond, but if it is as difficult as it was with you, I am not certain it can be done." He had recognized the vampire's touch.' One of the Malinov brothers for certain. He'd grown up with them, run wild with them, laughed with and fought beside them. They had been friends.

"Perhaps if we do this quietly, we won't alert the vampire to what you are doing to aid us."

"If you wish me to help your people, I need you to tell me who the woman is so that we can put her under our protection. You and I both know your men are too far gone to turn her over to the Morrison Laboratory. They will brutalize her, force her submission and eventually break her. And if by some miracle they didn't, and they gave her to the vampire, she would be dead anyway."

"I will protect her."

"The vampire got to you once already and you didn't know. He walks among you unseen. Give me her name."

"She will not surrender easily to you."

"I do not ask for her surrender, only her safety." Manolito took another look around him. The shadows were stretching, moving closer and closer. He could see the faces in between the leaves. Skin stretched tight over bones. Black holes for eyes. Jagged, brown-stained teeth. Manolito shifted his weight slightly to the balls of his feet, readying himself for the inevitable attack. He blinked and the images faded.

"She has long rescued the women of our race and she's fought our warriors. She detests the men. She won't come in to be sheltered. That isn't her way."

"You speak of Juliette's cousin, Solange."

Luiz nodded. "There is no other like her that we know of. She is nearly as strong as any of our warriors and as good a fighter. She comes from a long, pure line that can be traced back hundreds of years. We look upon her as the future of our species. She will have nothing to do with us. I've tried to convince the others to talk with her, to try to form a friendship and get her counsel on what needs to be done to bring our women back among us. The women listen to her, but I have no more voice. Not unless we can destroy the vampire's influence among us."

Manolito knew that Solange and Juliette's younger sister, Jasmine, refused to come to the De La Cruz ranch to visit Juliette, but they had agreed to stay in the De La Cruz home on their privately owned island retreat. The island was wild and the house was protected on three sides by the rain forest. He had wondered why Luiz was on their property, not that the jaguar people didn't consider the entire rain forest their domain. They had amazing swimming skills, and the swollen rivers were never much of a deterrent.

"You came here looking for her."

Luiz shifted his gaze for just a moment. "Yes. We thought it a possibility that she might come here. We knew she wouldn't go to your ranch."

"And you knew the younger woman was with her. The one Juliette and Solange took back from your men."

"Not my men. I can't control them. I had hoped to find her before the others."

"And what would you have done with her?" Manolito demanded, his black eyes glittering dangerously.

Luiz shook his head. "I don't know. I thought I came to talk, but then I scented you, and I became very confused." He rubbed his forehead. "I began to think you were here to take our women and I wanted you dead."

"You came to the island in control, but then something happened. You had to have encountered him here," Manolito said in alarm. That meant the master vampire was close, somewhere on the island, and no one knew. Solange, Jasmine, Juliette and even his brother Riordan weren't safe. "Who did you meet?"

"Not a vampire. An old friend. He had taken shelter here and was leaving because he realized the house was occupied by the De La Cruz family."

Manolito kept his expression blank, but his heart jumped and pounded. Fear was an incredible emotion, and now that he felt it, he knew it was for those he loved rather than for himself. "Your old friend is long gone, Luiz. Avoid him at all costs. You met a master vampire, and only because he has a plan and needed you did you escape unscathed."

"You think my friend is dead?"

"If not dead, then certainly tainted."

"Thank you, Manolito, for your aid," Luiz said, and for the first time he looked defeated. His body crouched, a quick graceful move, fur rippling as his muzzle lengthened to accommodate a mouthful of teeth. In absolute silence he slid into the underbrush and disappeared.

Just to be safe, Manolito dissolved into mist and joined the low, gray vapor drifting around the tree trunks only a few feet off the ground. It was far better to err on the side of caution with the jaguar-man.

He took form again atop a boulder facing a roaring white waterfall that poured over the rocks and fell into the swollen river. He needed his lifemate. Needed to touch her. Hold her. Taste her. His hunger had returned, bringing confusion with it. He needed to warn his family of the danger lurking on the island, but most of all, he needed his lifemate to anchor him.

Where are you? The echo of his cry was in his mind, the sound lost and lonely.