In some dark part of his predator’s soul, he felt torn. The tentative bond they’d shared was swept away as the rain fell in a steady torrent. All he could do was watch her and hope she would wake again soon and rejoin their world. But to what? He would have to return her to the one that he and Maya truly weren’t part of.
Then he’d lose her—for good.
Chapter 6
Kat was still pale and alternating between chills and sweating for another day. The incessant drums were beating night and day, never letting up. Maya imagined that the hunter-gatherers, led by their shaman in the jungle, were offering healing powers to make Kat well. At least that’s what Maya envisioned, hoping some of the shaman’s magic would suffuse the rain forest and aid with Kat’s recovery.
Connor was driving her nuts as he either paced or hovered over Kat. This morning, he had seemed different somehow, as if something had passed between him and Kat the day before, but he wouldn’t tell her what had happened.
He had barely spoken to Maya, and she was glad that he had never moved Kat around so he could see the backs of her legs. Whenever he took off into the jungle to hunt for their meals, Maya applied more ointment to the angry-looking scratch marks on the back of Kat’s leg.
Maya hadn’t had a chance yet to check on the scratches today. She had been busy building a fire in their cookstove, then washing Kat’s shirt and bra and panties in the rain, and finally drying them over the stove. She had to smile at Kat’s choice of undergarments—leopard print. Jaguar was better, of course, but leopard was similar and acceptable.
She scooped the dry clothes up and was getting ready to take them to Connor’s bed to help Kat into them when she heard Kat whisper, “Maya?”
Startled, Maya dropped the shirt, bra, and panties on a chair and rushed over to Kat. “What’s wrong, Kat?”
“I’m ready to rejoin the living.” Kat was clutching the bedcover to her naked body, her skin glistening with perspiration, her green eyes clear for the first time since she’d gotten sick.
With joy and relief, Maya smiled at the woman whose face appeared tired and gaunt, her eyes huge, her hair damp and stringy. “I have a spare toothbrush and mint-flavored toothpaste that you can use to brush your teeth. And as soon as you’re well enough, we’ll take you to the falls, and you can wash.”
Kat’s eyes widened a little, and then she gave a small smile. “I’d like that. But I do have my own toothbrush and paste.”
“The falls,” Connor said darkly, stalking into the hut carrying a string of fish. He eyed Kat warily, then appeared to relax marginally. “Are you feeling better?”
“I think my knee is all healed up.”
Maya caught her brother’s concerned look. The knee hadn’t been the problem. The high fevers and the wound on the back of her leg had been the major concerns, although Connor had never managed to see the scratches, thank God. Or if he had, he’d never let on.
“She’s doing much better, Connor. If she can manage to make it to the falls in a day or so, I’ll take her.”
“She’s too weak,” he said, expressing what Maya knew would be the case.
“Then you can carry her.” Maya smiled brightly.
She knew that Kat would feel better if she could just have a clean shower. Maybe she could even swim in the river with the pink dolphins one day. Maya was dying to show Kat everything wondrous about the jungle.
He grunted, then handed the fish to Maya. “Here, make yourself useful.”
That was his not-so-subtle cue for Maya to butt out.
She smiled again and tossed him Kat’s shirt, bra, and panties. “Sure, if you’ll make yourself useful.”
Then movement in the jungle alerted them of possible trouble—men. Monkeys howled and were noisy; the birds squawked and sang and chirped, too. But the monkeys and birds lived among the trees, one with nature and its environment. Men slashed and hacked and destroyed wherever they went.
Worried, Maya looked to Connor.
“Stay,” he warned. Then he pulled a high-powered rifle out from under his bed and crossed the fallen tree that they used as a natural bridge to their lookout post.
Kat tried to get dressed, but she was weak from not having taken much more than sips of whatever soup Maya had managed to prepare for her.
“Here, I’ll help you,” Maya said in a hushed voice, joining Kat and helping her fasten her bra.
“Who are they?”
“Maybe natives, who usually are no problem. They’ll be hunting, that’s all. But maybe not.” Actually, probably not. Maya noticed that the drums had ceased to beat. And the hunter-gatherers were usually like the jaguars, moving about just as quietly and elusively. “Sometimes the cartels use the locals to transport drugs through the Amazon jungle.”
To get her mind off the men and wanting desperately to learn if Kat was experiencing any shifting urges or changes in her hearing, smelling, or sight at night, Maya asked, “Do you feel all right? Feel any… differently?”
“I just feel incredibly tired and weak. I’m sure it’s because I haven’t eaten enough.”
“Yes, you’ll also need to get some exercise when you’re feeling stronger. But you don’t feel any… differently otherwise?” Maya had to be careful she didn’t overtly say anything she shouldn’t, but she was dying to know if she had turned Kat.
Kat shook her head. “My knee feels nearly back to normal. The bruise is fading but doesn’t hurt, and the stiffness in the joint is gone.”
Maya sighed and buttoned Kat’s shirt. She was glad Kat’s knee wasn’t hurting, but that wasn’t the issue. “I like your leopard panties and bra.”
Kat smiled. “It was a joke from a girlfriend because I kept talking about the spotted cats and how much I loved them. They’ve had five jaguars born at the Palm Beach Zoo. And I was always going to the zoo to visit them. Then I wrote a couple of articles on them.”
That was a good sign. “Palm Beach, as in Florida?” Maya asked, hoping to finally learn more about Kat.
“Yes.”
“That’s where you’re from?”
“Yeah.”
“So, have you got family there?” Maya asked cautiously, praying that Kat didn’t have.
“No. I was raised in foster homes, which is a subject better left alone.” She gave a small shrug.
The family situation couldn’t be better. Maya was already feeling overprotective toward Kat, and she wanted Kat to feel as though she could talk about anything with her.
But still, important issues needed to be discussed that had to do with Connor right now. “No boyfriend?”
Kat smiled at her, as if she could read her thoughts. Yeah, she was trying to matchmake Kat with her brother.
“Connor’s shy with women, if you didn’t notice. And he doesn’t have a girlfriend.” Not that he was the least bit shy, only reluctant to really get to know a woman for fear of losing his heart to her. And then where would he be?
“Probably hard to find one who likes to vacation in the Amazon jungle on occasion,” Kat said with a small smile.
“Yeah, exactly.” Maya wanted to say that Kat seemed to like the jungle, but she figured that would be too blatant.
When Kat tried to stand, she wavered, nearly falling back on the bed. Maya grabbed Kat’s arm to steady her, then helped her into her panties. Maya’s skin prickled with fresh concern at seeing Kat still so unsteady on her feet, and she grabbed Kat’s arms to steady her again. “Are you going to be all right?”
“Yes. Thanks, Maya. I’m just a little dizzy.”
A lot dizzy, Maya thought. Not feeling totally reassured, she managed to get a good look at Kat’s scratches, or where they had been. They were all healed up with not even a scar. Maya let out a relieved breath.