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)
“Why can’t I connect with her?” Solange sounded forlorn. “Why would she talk to you, a stranger, but not me?”
“She fears for you. She doesn’t understand and is doing the best she can without the knowledge she needs.” Sarika hesitated and then put her head down, studying her hands where she had threaded her fingers together. “She recognized me. You must be aware female shifters can pass memories to one another. Some, anyway. Those from certain lineages. Yours, mine, one other.”
She didn’t look up, and that worried Tomas. He was beginning to feel a cross between desperate and alarm.
“Jubal’s,” Dominic said. “I find it interesting that fate has brought those lines together in one place. Over time, I have learned there is always a reason for the way fate shapes our destiny. The right people are in place at the right time. What they do with that is up to them, but opportunities present themselves.”
“Sarika.” Solange waited for Tomas’ lifemate to meet her eyes. “Tell us how we can fix this. You must have some idea.”
Tomas inhaled sharply. “I can take you home to rest, Sarika. We can address this problem another rising.”
“It will be too late,” she predicted, again without looking at him. “I fear the two of you will have to sift through my memories once again until you uncover my nightmare. I want to make absolutely certain that what is inside me is used purely for good. If it isn’t, I’m walking away, sad that I can’t help, but like your jaguar, I refuse to risk you, Solange, even for your child.”
Solange placed both hands over her stomach protectively. “She’s more important than anything.”
Not to me, Dominic said to Tomas and Sarika. I want my child to live. I will love her and protect her, but Solange must come first. I cannot survive intact without her. I would never want to live without her. Save our baby, if possible, but never make the choice between the two of them.
Tomas knew Dominic wasn’t being selfish. He wanted his child. He already loved her. But Solange was his world. Tomas hadn’t had Sarika long, not if you counted only from when he’d first heard the sound of her voice, but he would be just as adamant as Dominic. Not solely because she was his lifemate but because she had become his world.
Tomas sent Dominic one look, and then he shed his body, his pure spirit moving into his lifemate’s mind. He felt Dominic’s presence like a white-hot streak of lightning, taking his back as he deliberately sought the earliest memories Sarika had. Ancient ones. Ones of a peaceful village where the people were farmers and potters and lived their everyday lives in harmony with the earth.
Then there was the temple made of limestone and some other material, an impressive structure. He recognized the tall statue of the jaguar made of that other material. That statue had somehow remained intact over hundreds of years while the temple was in ruins. Despite the temple being rubble, it was an impressive structure, even now, but in ancient times, the way Sarika remembered it, the sacred place was an imposing and joyful place. The massive temple joined sky, earth and the underworld together.
Tomas’ heart nearly stopped beating. The underworld. Justice had lived centuries in the underworld. He sought an ancient weapon that could be used against their prince, and from what Gustov had told him, the weapon had a chance of working.
Both Dominic and he had lived centuries, and they were very aware of how the universe often came full circle. He shared his worry with Dominic.
This could be where a piece of the weapon Justice hunts for is located. It would explain his presence. Why he has come this way and recruited vampires to be his army, even though both you and Dax make your home here.
Dominic agreed with him. Few enemies would deliberately come into our territory to challenge us. If this weapon is somewhere in the temple, it would be best for us to find it before he does.
In present day, the ruins had nearly been reclaimed by the jungle. Thick vines and heavy brush wound around and through parts of the broken limestone. A great deal of the temple was still intact, however. The memory Sarika carried with her was of a temple in full glory. Looking around, both ancients were able to recognize the thriving farms and village.
Sarika loved the people. She was very involved in their everyday life. There were other female jaguar shifters, all of whom worked in the temple.
The Mayans were never supposed to have been in this part of Peru, yet there were three distinct ruins of temples, sites proclaiming they had lived and thrived for many years there. Tomas realized it was the jaguar. This particular tribe of people worshiped the jaguar. Where they originated from, he had no idea.