The jaguar sprang, its stocky, compact body hurtling through the air, claws extended, eyes focused on its prey. Riordan shoved Juliette hard enough to send her sprawling and dissolved into mist, so that the cat hit the ground where he had been. The cat whirled, using its flexible spine, swiping with large claws at empty space.
"Solange! No!" Juliette rushed to grab the cat, running her hands through the soft fur, looking for damage. There were several lacerations, a series of ragged, gaping wounds where a cat had obviously raked her side. "You're hurt, these are deep." She turned to look for Riordan, felt his fingertips brush her cheek.
She meant to kill me, Juliette. I feel it in her mind. I must go to ground. She is enraged over the taking of her cousin. You stay safe and do your best to settle her down.
She heard the regret in his voice, the weariness and pain. "Go, Riordan. I'll see you at sunset."
Clothes floated to earth as he streaked away. The jeans were for someone with longer legs and a smaller waist. The shirt would cover Solange's well-endowed body. It had been easy enough to catch her exact proportions from Juliette's memories.
"He's gone, Solange. Tell me what happened."
Solange shifted to her natural form, remaining crouched on the ground, facing Juliette. "They already had her before I reached the house. I couldn't stop them, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She shook back her heavy fall of dark hair. "One stayed behind to try to give the others a head start. Once he realized I was female, and capable of shifting fast, with a more pure bloodline, I had a very real advantage. He didn't want to hurt me." Blood was dripping from the wounds in her side. "He did this before he realized what I was. I'm afraid it puts Jasmine in more trouble. They'll guard her much more carefully."
Juliette hugged Solange. "We'll find her and take her back."
"Who was that man?"
"Not one of them. He is Carpathian. Riordan. You heard Mom talk about them before." She couldn't help the defensive note in her voice.
"He's still a man, and they can't be trusted, Juliette. What does he want us for? Isn't the Carpathian race in the same trouble as the jaguar race?" Solange took the clothes from Juliette's hands and knotted them together before tying them around her neck. "They need babies to keep their race alive."
"They at least respect women and want them to be happy, Solange. All men are not responsible for what a few have done. And there is some suspicion that the jaguar males have come into contact with a master vampire. I saw one, and if that is so, I felt how evil he was. The males may very well have been influenced by him."
"It matters little to me why they do what they do. They cannot have Jasmine," Solange said. "Get rid of the clothes and let's get out of here." She studied Juliette as her cousin stripped. "You're very pale." There was suspicion in her voice.
"I don't want to argue with you, Solange. Let's find Jasmine before we do anything else."
"We don't argue," Solange objected. "At least we didn't before you took up with a man." She studied her cousin's pale body. "A man who takes blood from others."
Juliette ignored the implication. "Is the jaguar still on your trail?"
"I doubled back and led him near the laboratory just to see if he would ask for assistance. A bunch of men are sifting through what's left of the building. It completely collapsed. Did the Carpathian have something to do with that?"
Juliette nodded. "I found him there, chained in a cell, and got him free. He was in bad shape. They'd tortured him."
Solange swore. "I suppose that makes me like him more. At least he knows a little bit of what our women go through."
Chapter 9
"The sun is burning my eyes," Juliette said, pressing her fingertips to her face. "No matter what I do they weep. My skin feels like it's blistering."
"It is. Shift, Juliette, hurry before you're a mass of blisters. We'll talk about this later." Solange looked at her closely. "You can tell me what that man has done after we get Jasmine back."
"Tell me whether or not the jaguar male went near the humans," Juliette encouraged as she tied her own clothes in knots and looped them around her neck.
"He did. He spoke briefly with them, although he didn't reveal his body to them. He was able to half shift. Half of his body human and the other half jaguar. I can't do that. None of us can."
"You come from the purest bloodline we know of," Juliette pointed out. "Mom referred to you as a princess once."
Solange made a face. "Somehow I don't consider myself very lucky. I wouldn't want to be the princess of the jaguar people." She glanced around her. "Are you ready? We have to get out of here. Those men have had Jasmine far too long." She was already shifting, fur bursting through her skin, rippling over her face while her muzzle elongated to accommodate teeth.
Juliette closed her burning eyes and reached for Riordan. Tell me you are safe.
I am deep in the arms of the earth. Let me help you shift. He sensed how tired she was, how weak. He stifled the need to keep her with him. Greater than his own need, there was hers. She had to find her sister, and he understood that. He didn't like it, but he understood it.
Juliette called up her large cat, concentrating on the shifting of muscle and bone. She felt Riordan moving within her, lending her power and strength when he didn't have it to give. A part of her wanted to weep when she felt his pain. She feared the coming separation from him, but she had to find Jasmine.
The change took her rapidly. Juliette touched muzzles with Solange and they turned together and raced off into the darkened interior. Using the jaguar's highly acute sense of smell they found Jasmine's trail immediately and hurried after her. They took to the overhead highway, the tangle of branches high up in the canopy that allowed them to travel fast and in secret.
Birds took to the air, shrieked warnings at their passing, but neither jaguar paid any attention, and after a moment the birds settled back into the tops of the trees, ignoring them. The forest had stirred to life, insects humming, frogs croaking and deer barking to warn of the larger predators.
Juliette knew the exact moment when Riordan succumbed to the climbing sun and his heart stopped beating. The breath went out of her lungs, her heart stuttered in reaction, and she was suddenly and utterly alone-bereaved, grief-stricken. The jaguar stumbled, nearly tumbling from the branches. Claws dug into bark, scattering leaves and twigs and sending the birds once more shrieking. Solange turned sharply to growl a warning for stealth. They did not want to alert any of the males that might be guarding the back-trail.
The heavy canopy protected her from the sun, but Juliette still felt the rays piercing her skin through the thick fur. Her eyes wept continually, burning in the light. None of it mattered-not her grief, not her discomfort. Not the separation from her other half. She focused on her beloved sister. Jasmine was all that mattered. Juliette followed Solange.
The trail grew warmer in early afternoon. The pungent odor of the jaguar males was easier to follow. They were taking turns, hurrying through the forest, four in jaguar form and one in human form carrying Jasmine.
In spite of her determination, Juliette found she was having trouble keeping up with Solange. Her body, even in the form of the jaguar, demanded she sleep and worse, wanted to shift back into her human form. She'd always had trouble holding her animal shape for long periods of time. She had never gone from early dawn to early afternoon and it was nearly impossible to continue.