Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 118860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
That brought Lojos and Luiz instantly to their feet. Mataias glanced at Tomas. Will you need one of us with you?
Sarika should be fine, ekäm.
Mataias nodded, and the three men left the great room. Dominic waited until the ancient Carpathians had left the cave altogether before he seated Solange in the chair across from Tomas and Sarika. He took the chair beside his lifemate. Sarika knew Tomas thought it was significant that Dominic hadn’t chosen the other double chair, nor was he holding Solange’s hand.
Why is that putting you on alert, Tomas?
He is in a good fighting position, and I am not.
Do you need to be?
She had started this. Now she was uncertain what to say or do. She didn’t want the ancients to fight. She looked Dominic directly in the eye. “I don’t want you and Tomas to be at odds over something I can’t help and am uncertain of. I want to help Solange, but I’m not even certain I know how. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything and let nature take its course, but the feeling is so strong, I couldn’t help it. I had to tell Tomas, and he thought it best to tell you. But really, if you are more comfortable with us leaving, I’ll do so without continuing this conversation.”
“How do you think you can help me?” Solange asked, curiosity more than anything else in her tone. “What do you think I need help with?”
“I have nightmares, Solange, terrible, horrific nightmares of human sacrifices, boys and girls, men and women. The nightmares have increased over the last few years, and sometimes I hear chanting.” She reached for Tomas’ hand, needing comfort, uncaring that it would put him in a position of having even less of an advantage with Dominic. “I’ve come to believe these nightmares depict real events that happened centuries ago. I was there. I don’t know how, but I was there.”
Solange didn’t make fun of her. She simply nodded. “I have heard of such things.”
“I’ve traveled to most of the rainforests in the world, and I’ve never had increased anxiety or felt the differences in me until I came here. I seem to be able to read emotions that ancient Carpathian males have but they don’t feel. I can catch vignettes of their lives, even though they have shields up in their minds.”
Dominic shifted in his chair, and Sarika’s heart went crazy, pounding in fear. She didn’t understand any of these people, and she certainly didn’t understand herself or what was happening to her.
“Sarika,” Dominic said, his voice gentle. “You have nothing to fear from me. It is clear to both Solange and me that you are struggling to understand what is happening to you. It is also very clear that it is difficult to disclose this information to complete strangers. Please don’t fear me or Solange. We will take what you say into consideration, and we will not share it.”
Sarika sighed. “This is going to sound even crazier. I did my best not to intrude, Solange. I don’t want Tomas to get inside my head without my permission, so I feel extremely hesitant about taking away anyone’s privacy. It’s just that this thing inside me feels what others are feeling. When it comes to jaguar female shifters, it is really heightened.”
Again, Solange didn’t appear in the least concerned. “That’s why you stepped in to help me. Thank you for that. You were amazing.”
“I’m not quite finished, and you won’t think I’m so amazing.” She rubbed at her temples. Her head was beginning to hurt. That headache that came when her mind insisted on opening that door she never wanted to look behind. “It’s your jaguar. She’s fighting you on the baby. She’s making it hard not only on you but on the baby. A female, by the way.”
Dominic sat up straighter. He and Solange exchanged a long look. They knew the sex of the baby. They hadn’t told anyone, so both wondered how she could know.
“I’ve been fully converted to Carpathian,” Solange informed her. “I shift into my jaguar because I’m familiar with her, but I am fully Carpathian.”
Sarika shook her head. “You’re not. She’s in you, and she doesn’t know how to be what you’ve become. She has a tendency to fight you when you choose to be feminine and not strictly a warrior.”
Dominic’s eyes grew a metallic green, giving off a dragon feel for the first time. “I would know. She would know. We’ve been together a long time.”
Sarika wanted to concede she was wrong. She didn’t want to continue the conversation. She could be wrong. Maybe she had a vivid imagination. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to continue. She had a very bad feeling it was all going to go wrong.
“You would know better than me,” she conceded, and once more threaded her fingers through Tomas’.