“Children,” Quinn chided us. “You need to behave in front of company.” He smirked and then added, “and everyone already knows I’m Sam’s favorite anyway.”
I rolled my eyes but piled in the vehicle along with everyone else and our gear. The fun was just beginning.
“We’ll stay in Santa Marta tonight,” Matias announced once we were all crammed in the vehicle, with me perched on top of Trevor. “Then make the journey to Minca in the morning.” He shot a glance at me. “And then you know what the journey to Dumingueka is like.”
I nodded. Dumingueka was at the very edge of Kogi territory, and their link to the modern world. It had amenities that the rest of the Kogi villages lacked and was where they journeyed to when they needed medical care or other modern interventions. Santa Marta heavily catered to tourists and was a popular coastal town. There were plenty of hotels, bars, and restaurants to keep the tourists happily parting with their money and had the reputation of being a bit of a party town. I was guessing that the whole apocalypse thing had really cut into the party scene. But what did I know?
I shifted awkwardly on Trevor’s lap as our journey wasn’t as smooth as I thought it would be. Matias cleared his throat. “There’s something else you should know.”
I groaned, because I could tell by the tone of his voice that this was something that I wasn’t going to want to hear. “Spit it out, Matias.”
“It’s the Zálzi,” he murmured. “They may have followed me to you.”
I frowned. That was the word that the Kogi used for foreigners, but Matias made it sound like a specific group that I should be familiar with. “And?” I prompted him.
He let out a breath. “And they’ve renewed their efforts to eradicate those of us who still follow the old ways. They don’t hesitate to kill those that resist converting to their cause, and they have an intense hatred of those of us who can shift. We are unredeemable in their eyes.” “This is a terrorist group?” Trevor asked with a frown.
Matias hesitated to answer. “I suppose you could call them that. They prefer to call themselves the ‘Sons of Light,’” he scoffed.
“Fantastic,” I grumbled. “There weren’t enough obstacles already.”
“Don’t take them lightly,” Matias warned. “They won’t hesitate to kill if they catch you outside of what they consider to be civilization and away from witnesses.”
Trevor slid his arm around my waist protectively. “It’ll take more than a few terrorists to bring us down.”
Matias shook his head but didn’t answer. I watched him carefully, trying to get a read on his emotions, but he was coming up blank for me. “I feel like you’re not telling us everything, Matias,” I said softly.
Matias looked in the review mirror with his eyes wide with innocence. “I don’t want to frighten you, but I also don’t want you to brush off my warnings.”
“Sam doesn’t get frightened,” Davis chuckled. “She gets violent.”
I leaned back against Trevor and tried to stay focused on Matias, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t tell what his intentions were towards us. Did he mean our entire group harm? Or was he angry about the guys coming with me? I leaned back and closed my eyes. It looked like this trip was going to be even more dangerous than I had originally thought.
Chapter 25
This was the second day trekking through the sweltering heat and humidity of Colombia. I hadn’t been surprised that Sam could speak Spanish fluently, but I had been taken off guard by how easily she spoke the unfamiliar language of the Kogi.
Sam had told us that we were going to avoid the routes taken by the five approved tourist companies, but our path would be more strenuous. She hadn’t been exaggerating because the steep trails we took were challenging - even for shifters at the peak of fitness. Trevor and Davis were taking their turn at the front of the group and occasionally using machetes to clear the way. Swinging a machete only seemed cool for the first five minutes; after a couple of hours your muscles screamed in protest at every sweep of the blade.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and tucked the small towel back in my waistband. Sam was in her human form right now, and I took a second to appreciate the way her damp tank top was pasted to her skin and how her shorts showed off the curve of her ass. She must have felt my gaze on her, because she turned to smirk.
I gave her a grin and a mock salute in return. Sam didn’t mind admiring looks, as long as the men doing the admiring were people she liked. I shook my head at the thought that I had somehow made it on that short list.
When we had set off early this morning, the sun had filtered through the foliage in bright streams of light, and we had been serenaded by singing birds. But as the day went on, the hills only became steeper, and the humidity more oppressive.
I couldn’t deny that the view was undeniably beautiful here. Giant ferns over twenty feet high grew by sparkling rivers where butterflies, parrots, and all kinds of rare creatures made their homes. The foliage was bright green, the sky was a brilliant blue, and the various wildlife presented a vivid tapestry of color. If only it didn’t feel like hiking through a sauna and being eaten alive by mosquitos.
“Break!” Mike called out once we got to the top of a particularly steep hill that had every muscle in my legs burning with pain.
No one objected, and I drank deeply from my water. Sam spoke briefly with our Kogi guide. While he had been welcoming and friendly with her, he had kept his distance from the rest of us, preferring to shoot us cold looks from afar.
“In about fifteen minutes, we’re going to come to a pool that’s perfect for swimming,” Sam said with a grin. “I vote we stop there for lunch.”
“Sounds good,” Trevor murmured in approval.
I had been surprised that he was willing to take a step back and let Sam lead this mission, mostly without opposition. He had still insisted on inspecting everyone’s gear before we set out, but he had let Sam dictate some of the items that went into our bags. Trevor had just grunted when Sam brightly told him to pack his swimsuit. We were about to find out if he had taken her advice on that.
I wiped some of the sweat off my forehead, grimacing when more appeared just as quickly. Even my scalp was sweating. I rubbed a hand through my hair, knowing it was a pointless task, but still wanting a moment where I didn’t have sweat trickling down into my eyes.
Quinn laughed out loud when he glanced over at me, and I raised an eyebrow. “Your hair, dude,” he chuckled.
Sam smirked as she looked over. “Having curly or wavy hair sucks in this humidity. But at least mine is long enough to braid so I don’t look like a crazed alpaca.” I laughed. “Your braid is bristling like an angry cat,” I pointed out.
“Enough,” Trevor grumbled. “You can braid each other’s hair later.”
Mike picked up a nearby stick and shook it off before using it to poke at a papaya tree with dangling fruit. “Anyone else need something to hold you over?”
Davis caught the first papaya that fell and tossed it to Sam, while the rest of us moved in to claim our own. The papaya here had a juicy sweetness that was undoubtedly due to being able to ripen on a tree, instead of in a crate on its way up to North America. I wiped at the juice that streamed down my chin after sinking my teeth into the fruit and savored the refreshing flavor.
“Let’s get moving,” Trevor called from the front of the pack. That man was like a machine and had tunnel vision when it came to achieving an objective. If it were up to him, we probably wouldn’t stop for swimming or food.
“Are we there yet?” Quinn asked Sam with a teasing grin as he filed past me.
Sam shrugged. “We still have another six hours to hike to get to our stopping point for today, then we’ll hit the tough part of the trail tomorrow.”
I groaned. “This was the easy part?”
Mike punched me in the shoulder lightly. “Think of it as jungle warfare training.”
I huffed as I hoisted my pack higher on my shoulders. “Wolves we
ren’t meant for this type of heat.”
Sam laughed and tossed a smile my way. “Now you know what it was like for me when we were up in the Arctic.”
The group started moving forward again, and I kept my motivation up by imagining jumping into a pool of cool water. I hope Sam had brought her tiniest bikini.
My reverie was broken when Sam stopped abruptly and held up a hand. “There’s someone on the trail behind us.”
I frowned, but before any of us could ask any questions, she had dropped her pack and pulled off her shirt.
“You’re going to shift?” Davis asked with disapproval in his voice.
Sam shrugged before bending down to unlace her boots. “The terrain is friendlier to jaguars than humans, and I hunt better in that form.” “You’re not going alone,” Trevor growled.
Sam rolled her eyes. “I’m just going to see who it is and circle around. I won’t engage them.”
Trevor grabbed her arm and held eye contact with her for several moments. They must have reached an agreement because Trevor let her go and stepped back with a nod. “Your safety comes first.”
I raised an eyebrow. I knew Trevor liked Sam more than he’d ever admit to anyone, but I was surprised he was willing to let her go into danger on her own. Most wolves had a very protective instinct for their mates and partners, and Trevor was a strong wolf with a dominant personality. His trust in her abilities spoke volumes about how much he respected her as a warrior.
The rest of us spread out in a circle with weapons raised to provide 360-degree security for our group. Our Kogi guide had looked away respectfully as Sam had shifted, but he was clearly in awe of her. My ears strained to catch any unusual sounds that would indicate that a potential enemy was near, but I was still adjusting to the symphony of the jungle.
Sam disappeared into the jungle with barely a rustle of the underbrush, and I really hoped she knew what she was doing.
Chapter 26
I crept through the jungle as silently as I could, but I couldn’t stop the birds and other small creatures from fleeing in the opposite direction. It was a dead giveaway that a predator was lurking nearby, but it couldn’t be helped. I had cloaked myself the second I had been out of sight from the guys, not knowing what I would run into out here. I moved slowly but steadily through the thick underbrush as I circled around to the point of the path where I had sensed the presence of a potential threat.
Matias’s warning sounded again in my mind. My mother had always been cautious every time we had made the journey to the jaguar sanctuary hidden in the mountains. She hadn’t ever mentioned hiding from a paramilitary group who had made it their mission to target supernaturals, but I had been young, and she may not have wanted to frighten me.
My pace slowed even further as I homed in on the small group of humans on my periphery. I wanted to get close enough that I could figure out why they were all the way out here. This was far from the easy paths that the tourists would frequent, and this route included dangerous terrain that most of the locals preferred to avoid. There was a small chance that they had come this way on accident, but my instincts told me they had followed us with a nefarious purpose in mind.
My suspicions were confirmed when I was close enough to hear their heavy boots stomping up the trail where my guys and I had just passed through. They probably would have overtaken us when we stopped for our swim. I stopped about fifty meters up the trail, hidden off to the side so that I could eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Remember to kill the girl first,” a man with a ridiculous goatee told the other two.
The blond guy scoffed. “We should take out the most dangerous ones first and take our time with the girl. No one said it had to be quick.”
The third man with a heavy dark beard scowled at both of them. “It doesn’t matter who we hit first. Just make sure they’re all dead when we’re done.”
I repressed the growl that wanted to leak out and instead climbed up a tree so that they would pass beneath me. I couldn’t hold in my glee when I saw the blond man stop to tie the laces of his boots. The other two men were quickly out of sight through the thick foliage of the jungle, and I anxiously awaited my chance. I only had one try to get this right.
He stopped again to reposition the straps of his pack, and one of his companions called out to him. “I’m coming,” he shouted back. “Fucking assholes,” he grumbled to himself.
Two more steps brought him right into my range and I leapt from the tree, digging my claws into his flesh and clamping my powerful jaw around his neck. He didn’t have time to shout, the only noise he made was a gurgle and a wheeze as I crushed his windpipe and esophagus. I held him long enough to ensure that there was no way he would be able to attack my guys.
I released him, and his head flopped down to the ground, his eyes blankly staring. That image might haunt me later, but right now I needed to stay focused on the mission. There were two armed men headed straight for my wolves with only hate in their hearts and murder in their heads.
“Jones!” Dark Beard shouted back. “What the fuck are you doing?” His voice was getting louder with every word, so he was headed back this way.
I darted back into the cover that the rainforest offered and stayed low. Dark Beard came back into sight, and I heard the safety of his rifle turned off the second he caught sight of his buddy’s dead body. To my surprise, he didn’t call out for his friend, who had to be waiting back up the trail for him. Instead, he circled the area, looking for threats. Once he was sure that he was alone and that there definitely wasn’t a black panther hiding a short distance away waiting for her chance to attack, he knelt down to examine his friend.
Dark Beard kept glancing up every few seconds, keeping his situational awareness. That sucked for me, because I needed his head down searching the body, not looking for potential threats. Of course, the best course of action for me would be to run back ahead to regroup with the guys, but my prey was right here in front of me, and my hunting instincts were overwhelming my sense of caution.
A shot rang out in the distance, and the forest was filled with the sounds of screeching birds and other small animals fleeing the area. Dark Beard jumped up to his feet and pulled his handgun out of his shoulder holster. That was a bad choice of weapon for the jungle. Handguns were usually best in short-range fights against other people, and showed he was completely unprepared to deal with my team.
Dark Beard moved forward cautiously, looking for threats as he tried his best to move quietly through the brush. But he wasn’t a panther who had trained from birth to be absolutely silent on her feet regardless of her environment. I stalked after him, using his distraction to my advantage. I could feel the guys close, but I wanted to take this guy down on my own.
The leaves of a large fern trembled in front of Dark Beard, and he raised his handgun to fire at whomever was about to come through. Would it be his buddy, or one of my guys? I didn’t wait to find out and sprinted the last few steps to him before leaping onto him from behind.
He shouted in pain as my claws dug into the flesh of his back and his gun went off, the shot going wild. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, trying to twist around to fight. But he was no match for an angry panther, and I sank my jaws into the back of his head, crushing his skull. Jaguars have the most powerful bite of any cat species out there, and we’re the only ones who regularly kill by piercing the brain through the skull.
Rich and Trevor rushed the clearing with their weapons raised, and I growled at them from atop my prey. “How many more are there?” Trevor barked out.
I shook my head silently. If there were more enemies out there, I wouldn’t still be hanging around here, now would I?
“Just three?” Rich asked.
I nodded and sauntered to the side of the trail as Mike and Davis approached from the other side. They must have circled around. Davis looked down at my two kills in shock and then stared at me. “You can bite through a fucking skull?”
I
swished my tail irritably and circled around him. I was covered in blood and other unpleasant things, and I wanted to get as far away from this mess as possible. I’d never killed like this before, and I didn’t like the way it made me feel. Firing a rifle at someone from a distance was a lot less personal, especially when they were trying to kill you. I’d done it to protect my guys, knowing that these men wouldn’t have hesitated to murder all of us if given the opportunity, but it still made me feel sick in the pit of my stomach.
“Search them,” Trevor ordered. “We need all the information we can get. Sam, can you maintain the perimeter?” His eyes met mine with more understanding than I would have like to see. I bristled at the thought that he considered me too weak to be able to handle this and let out a low rumbling growl of warning. His gaze hardened. “Well? Get moving.”
My sense of duty overruled my irritation, and I gave another nod before I loped around to slink back into the jungle. I didn’t sense anyone else close by, but I wasn’t going to take any chances. I’d follow their trail back and make sure I didn’t pick up on any suspicious scents. What other enemies were lurking in the shadows?
Chapter 27
On the third day of our hike, we passed through what I liked to call the ‘cloud forest.’ We were now high enough up in altitude that we were beyond the jungle and were now looking up at clouds swirling around the misty mountain peaks off in the distance. The landscape had changed to grass, sparse trees, and granite slabs. We could see nearby mountains with their white peaks from glaciers clinging to the very top of their lofty heights. But that wasn’t where we were headed, our destination was now much closer.
I sighed with relief when I was able to recognize the hidden entrance to my family’s stronghold. I hadn’t been here for years, and I had worried I’d have to search longer to find the entrance. There was a thick mist that cloaked the hidden doorway, and I wanted privacy before I revealed it to the guys. I was about to place my faith in them and trust that they would keep my secrets.
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