“You were crying in your sleep,” Solange said. “I have exceptional hearing, too. Are you all right?”
MaryAnn kept her smile serene. Jasmine’s fingers had tightened around hers, and the young woman was trembling. “I’m a city girl. The rain forest is a little scary to me. I’d guess neither of you feel that way about it. Although I did use my canister of pepper spray on a jaguar last night when it attacked me.”
Solange whirled around, her dark eyebrows drawing down in a frown. “You were attacked by a jaguar? Are you certain?”
MaryAnn nodded. “I was very close to it.”
“Did it have a collar on its neck, or a pack of any kind that you could see?” Solange pursued. She was already hurrying from window to window, peering out.
“Now that you say that, maybe he did.” MaryAnn kept Jasmine’s hand in hers. The girl shuddered, but kept walking through the wide hall to the large, open kitchen. “I can’t remember. It all happened so fast.”
Solange scented the air again, lifting her face and sniffing. “Were you near a jaguar male? A man aside from the Carpathian?”
Jasmine gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes going wide with fear. “Are they here? On the island?”
“It’s going to be all right,” Solange assured her. “I can protect you, and Juliette wrapped the house in safeguards. As long as we stay inside, we should be fine. I’m just going to check the upstairs, make certain the balconies and windows are all closed and locked. The windows have bars, Jazz.”
Jasmine rushed to her, grasping her arm. “Don’t leave me alone again. I don’t want to be alone.”
Her young face looked haunted, and for just one moment, MaryAnn saw anguish in Solange’s amber eyes. She put her arms around her cousin and held her close. “MaryAnn is here, honey. I’m just going upstairs. She’ll sit with you and I’ll be right back. Why don’t you get MaryAnn some food? She’s hungry, remember?”
Jasmine swallowed and nodded. “Yes, I’m sorry. Of course I’ll get you food. Do you drink tea?” She watched Solange leave the room. “She’ll be right back, don’t worry,” she added.
“Of course she will,” MaryAnn said soothingly and wrapped a comforting arm around the younger girl. Jasmine had gone pale beneath the gold of her skin. “Tea would be lovely, thanks.”
Jasmine’s hands shook so much the teacups rattled, but she poured both of them a cup of tea, added milk and sank down across from MaryAnn at the table, facing the door, watching for her cousin.
“It must be difficult to let Solange out of your sight,” MaryAnn said gently. She concentrated on putting the young woman at ease, soothing and comforting, wanting her to realize she had someone she could talk to.
I’m here now. It’s going to be okay. I’ll make everything okay. You’re strong and we can handle this. Jasmine was barely out of her teens, and yet already her world was one of violence and fear. MaryAnn wanted to pull her into her arms and rock her like a baby, somehow set the world right again for her.
Jasmine nodded. “I try not to be a burden to her, but I can’t sleep most of the time and she has to sit with me.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t mind, Jasmine. It’s obvious she loves you.”
Solange might be as tough as nails, but she was loyal and loving to her family. She would fight to the death for this child, and she would use her last breath to comfort her. MaryAnn could read that much in both of them, but Jasmine was more than just afraid after her terrifying experience. She was holding something else, some dark secret that she hadn’t shared with Juliette or Solange. MaryAnn mentally stroked the girl as she would a child, warmth and caring in her mind. She longed to make it right for Jasmine, longed to remove the sorrow from her eyes and take fear and trepidation away for good.
Jasmine took a deep breath. “I’m so glad you came. Thank you. Juliette said you’re from the city and this is all difficult for you.”
MaryAnn shrugged, willing the girl to quit making small talk and come out with whatever she was on the verge of saying. It was frightening to her, and she wanted to tell MaryAnn without Solange in the room. “I wanted to come so you’d have someone to talk to. Sometimes it’s easier when it isn’t family.” It’s okay, honey. I’m here now. I won’t betray you. I’ve come a long way to help you. Trust me now. Trust me with the burden you’re carrying, and the two of us will sort it out.
“And you’ve talked to other girls, girls like me, right?” Jasmine asked, lowering her voice, glancing at the doorway to ensure Solange was still upstairs.
“What happened to you was particularly brutal,” MaryAnn said. “You have to give yourself time.” Come on, baby. Share it. It’s eating you up inside. Whatever it is, we can handle it. I know what I’m doing. You can rely on me. She wished she could find a way to convey to Jasmine that she would help, that she would never betray her confidence.
“I don’t have time,” Jasmine whispered. She ducked her head and set the cup down. “It makes it easier that you know what happened. I haven’t told anyone yet, but I’m going to have to soon.”
MaryAnn held her breath, her heart beating hard. She wanted to cry for the girl, little more than a teenager, her life already shattered. She laid her hand over Jasmine’s, connecting them, willing the girl to be calm, to be comforted. “You’re pregnant.”
Jasmine covered her face with her hands. “There’s a plant we can use after, you know, to make certain, and Solange gave it to me, but I couldn’t…” She trailed off and looked at MaryAnn through her fingers. “I already knew. The moment it happened. I just knew and I couldn’t do it.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Jasmine. Those men took away your choice and you stood up and made your own decision. Are you afraid you did something wrong?”
“It’s complicated. We live a complicated life and I’ve made it so much worse. They’ll never stop now. Those men. They’ll come after us no matter where we are.” She looked at the doorway again. “Solange…” She broke off. “It’s been so hard for her.”
“Are you sorry about your decision?”
“I don’t know how I feel and I can’t bear for Solange to be upset with me. She’s done so much already and it will be one more person for her to take care of.”
“You would keep the baby?”
Jasmine’s eyes flashed with something close to fire, and for the first time, MaryAnn saw the resemblance between Jasmine and her cousin. “I would never give my baby to them. Never. If Solange wants me to leave, I will, but I won’t turn a child over to them even if it is a boy.”
“No, of course you wouldn’t. What those men did was criminal, Jasmine.” MaryAnn took a sip of her tea and regarded the younger girl. She chose her words carefully. “Manolito told me he met one of the jaguar-men, the same one who saved my life yesterday from the jaguar who attacked me. He said that a vampire had tainted him, turning the men to commit crimes against their women. If that is so, in a sense, they are victims as well.”
“What are you saying to her?” Solange demanded.
MaryAnn turned as the woman entered the room. She moved in absolute silence, her body perfectly balanced, her bare feet making no sound on the cool marble floors. She crossed to Jasmine’s side and put an arm around her, glaring at MaryAnn.
Jasmine stiffened, alarm spreading on her face. She sent MaryAnn a quick, nervous shake of her head, not wanting her secret revealed.
MaryAnn suspected Solange already knew. She was pureblood jaguar, with all the senses of the animal. It wouldn’t be possible for Jasmine to hide such a thing from her, but MaryAnn wouldn’t betray a confidence no matter what she thought.
“Just that if a vampire is influencing the men to hunt their women, it is a terrible tragedy for everyone.” She kept her voice mild and matter-of-fact. “If what Manolito found is the truth, the vampire is deliberately killing an entire species.”
Solange bit her lip and poured herself tea. “Maybe the vampire has the right idea. If our men are capable of the things they’re do
ing, the species shouldn’t survive.”
“Solange,” Jasmine protested.
MaryAnn caught the hurt look in her eyes and wished she could comfort her. She doesn’t mean it the way it came out. She’s seen too much, been through too much and has been traumatized, too. She would accept the baby. She couldn’t assure Jasmine, even though she thought it was the truth. Solange would never turn her back on Jasmine or a child. It wasn’t in the woman.
Solange shrugged. “You know how I think, Jazz. I’ve never made a secret of my contempt for men.”
“You’ve never wanted a family?” MaryAnn asked.
“Sure. Sometimes. When I’m alone in the middle of the night, or when I go into heat.” She dropped a hand on Jasmine’s shoulder. “There’s no other way to put it. We suffer from mating urges a little more than most women, I think, but I’m not willing to live the kind of life a woman has to in order to have a family.”
“What kind of life is that?” MaryAnn asked, spooning a little honey into the tea. For some reason, she was having a difficult time drinking it. The food on the table turned her stomach. She hadn’t eaten in a long time and should have been starving, but even the fruit didn’t appeal to her.
“Giving up freedom. Being under a man’s thumb.”
“Is that what you think most marriages are like? Is that what Juliette’s marriage is? Is she forced to do everything Riordan’s way?”
Solange opened her mouth, took a breath and closed it. Sighing, she sank down into a chair. “To be fair, maybe not. It looks like it on the surface, but the way he looks at her, the things he does for her, no, I think she has just as much say as he does. She wants to make him happy.” There was curiosity in her voice. “I can’t imagine wanting to do anything for a man.”
“Surprisingly, Solange, I felt the same way for a very long time. In my line of work, I see the worst in men—much, I suppose, as you do. But we’re seeing a very small section. There are a lot of good men out there who have women they love, and they treat women with love and respect.”
MaryAnn willed her to understand and see what she was saying, because Solange was bitter and bitterness eventually ruined lives. You’re too good a woman to live your life that way, honey. She wished she could take away all those terrible memories, all the tragedy that had befallen the two of them. Solange had been rescuing female captives from the jaguar-men for some time. She’d seen too much death and brutality. There were no policemen on the corners to call. It was a life-and-death struggle in the rain forest, and Solange had managed not only to survive, but to save many other women as well.
“Maybe you’re right,” Solange agreed. “I keep thinking eventually Jasmine and I have to leave this place. It’s my home and I love it, but if we keep up this fight, we’ll eventually be killed. They already know us and our reputation.”
It was logical, but more than that, the fight with the jaguar-men colored every aspect of their life. “It isn’t the best place for Jasmine,” MaryAnn agreed.
Solange nodded. “I know. We’ve known for some time that we have to find another home, haven’t we, Jazz?” She ruffled her cousin’s hair.
There was too much sorrow in Solange, as if a great weight sat on her shoulders. She was younger than MaryAnn, and that was shocking. She looked older, her face serious and womanly rather than innocent, but she had to be only a few years older than Jasmine.
“We’ve talked about it,” Jasmine admitted, “but where would we go? Neither of us could live in a city, so close to other people.”
“Juliette said that Riordan had a house built on their ranch property for us,” Solange said, her voice ultracasual. “We might try it.”
Jasmine stiffened and shook her head mutely.
MaryAnn was too adept at reading people. Solange did not want to go to the ranch. She had such a distrust of men, and the De La Cruz main home was a working ranch with men everywhere. But it would place both women under the protection and eye of the De La Cruz brothers, all of whom took their roles very seriously. Solange was worried about Jasmine. If she knew about the pregnancy, as MaryAnn suspected, she would want to take Jasmine to the comparative safety of the ranch house.
“Have you met Rafael and Colby?” MaryAnn asked. “Colby’s younger brother Paul and her sister Ginny are living at the ranch. They seem to really love it there. Ginny is particularly wild about horses.”
Solange sent her a grateful smile. “Ginny is still young, right? I’ve heard Juliette talk about her. Eleven or twelve maybe.”
“It’s not going to work, Solange,” Jasmine said. “I’m not going to go to the ranch without you.”
“Did I say without me? I would go, too, if you did,” Solange said. “And you’re not eating enough to keep a bird alive. Eat.”
Jasmine scowled as she took a banana. “You’d go to the ranch, Solange, but you wouldn’t stay there and you know it. You’d leave me with Juliette and come back to the rain forest and try to work here by yourself.”
Solange sat back in her chair and regarded Jasmine with a sober face. “I said I’d go with you and I will. I’ll try to stay. That’s all I can promise. I’ll try to stay. I thought we’d be safe here, but if the jaguar-men know of this house and that most of the time the De La Cruz brothers aren’t using it, they’ll come for us. Maybe we should go back with Juliette and Riordan when they go.”
MaryAnn caught the underlying anxiety. Solange didn’t believe for a moment that she would be able to stay at the ranch, but for Jasmine, she would try.
“What do you fear at the ranch the most?” She leaned her chin into her palm and studied Solange’s face. Jasmine would never stay if her cousin didn’t.
Solange was silent for so long MaryAnn was afraid she wouldn’t answer. “I am not good with people. Men especially. I get claustrophobia in confined spaces. I haven’t had anyone telling me what to do since I was about twelve, and I can’t imagine living in a place with rules—someone else’s rules. I’ve made my own for too long and I can’t fit in anywhere.” She looked at Jasmine. “I don’t want that for you, Jazz. You deserve a life.”
“So do you,” MaryAnn said quietly—firmly.
“I’m not such a nice person,” Solange said, her amber eyes going flat and hard. “I’ve done things and I can’t take them back.”
Jasmine put her hand over Solange’s. “You saved lives.”
“And I took them.”
There was no regret in her voice, and none on her face, but MaryAnn could feel the sadness coming off her in waves. She was a warrior, and there was nowhere in the world left for a woman like Solange.
“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Solange said. “I made my choices.”
“And I’ve always made mine,” Jasmine asserted. “I stay with you. Here or at the ranch, or wherever. We’re family and we stick close. Juliette feels the same way. She can’t join us during the days, but she’s with us when she can be.”
Good for you. MaryAnn flashed Jasmine an approving smile. The girl had spunk after all. She wasn’t going to give up on Solange.
Jasmine flashed her a small, conspiratorial smile, and MaryAnn realized she was glad she’d come. Both women needed her. She was a born counselor, she helped people find their way and she was good at it, proud of her ability. Solange seemed more lost than Jasmine because she’d given up on life. On people. On everything.
Solange suddenly lifted her head, coming to her feet, her body still. Jasmine pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle a cry of alarm.
“It’s okay, baby,” Solange assured.
“They’re here,” Jasmine whispered. “Outside the house, and it’s another couple of hours until sunset.”
“Take MaryAnn into the safe room,” Solange instructed. “Wait for me there.”
“MaryAnn will be just fine helping you out,” MaryAnn said. “I’m not hiding from these men. If they dared come here to harm you—”
“They’ll rape and kill. That’s what they do,” Solange said, her voice hard. “We
live by the law of the forest here, kill or be killed, and you have to be prepared to do just that. Go with Jasmine.”
Jasmine pushed back her chair and reached under the table for the gun taped there. MaryAnn’s eyes widened. They’d obviously been prepared for an attack.
“I’ll take the upstairs,” Jasmine said. “You defend down here, Solange. MaryAnn, they won’t be able to breach the safe room. If we get into trouble, we’ll fight our way back to that, so leave it unlocked as long as possible.”
“I’ll stay with you,” MaryAnn said. “I know how to shoot a gun.”
“Riordan and Juliette set safeguards on the house,” Solange said, not bothering to waste time arguing with them. “Jasmine, see to the windows. Stay back out of sight. If they see and recognize you, it might make them do something crazy to get in, but if they breach the window, shoot to kill. Do you understand me? Don’t you hesitate.”
“I won’t,” Jasmine assured.
“I’ll be with her,” MaryAnn added. Jasmine looked so young and frightened. Her pregnancy made her even more vulnerable.
Solange caught Jasmine to her, stared into her eyes. “Be safe, little cousin.”
“You too.” Jasmine brushed a kiss along Solange’s cheek and then turned and hurried up the stairs.
MaryAnn followed her, but paused to watch Solange move through the huge kitchen toward the hall. The woman looked like a jungle cat, sleek and powerful and deadly. It was impossible not to admire her—or believe in her.
“She’ll get us through this,” Jasmine assured her.
“I have no doubt she will.” Still. It was always better to have a backup plan. They had to hold out until Manolito, Riordan and Juliette managed to wake and get to them. She glanced at her watch. A little under two hours. The safeguards should hold that long.
“Uh oh,” Jasmine said, peeking out the window and ducking back against the wall. “They’ve got someone out there and he looks like he knows what he’s doing.”
MaryAnn risked a quick look. The man was no jaguar; his build was all wrong. He was short and slender, his close-cropped hair blond. He stood facing the house, hands in the air, weaving a graceful pattern. She had only seen something like that once before and it chilled her to the bone. “Mage.” She whispered the word.
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