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Authors: Christine Feehan
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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
“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
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