Dark Peril (38 page)

Dominic led her to the door. They still needed to add to the protection of these people, as well as track down the neighbor. And the undead were out in force. Likely encounters meant he had to be at his strongest.

Cesaro whipped his head around as they came through the door.

“She is sleeping as peacefully as possible,” Dominic said. “I believe she has survived the crisis and is on the road to recovery. Do you know all the De La Cruz brothers?”

Cesaro nodded. “They come here from time to time. The brothers share the ranches.”

“Manolito’s wife, MaryAnn, would be a very good choice to help Marguarita through this. Perhaps if you sent for her, she would come.”

“It would give us another man to defend the ranch,” Cesaro acknowledged, knowing Manolito would come with his lifemate. “Thank you.” He bowed slightly toward Solange, as if knowing just whose idea it had been. “I will do so immediately.”

“Tell us about your neighbor.”

“His name is Santiago Vazquez. He’s about thirty and has only three men working for him. I rarely see anyone around his house. The ranch is very run-down. He needs money to build it up, and there is little money to be made on a ranch just starting up.”

“Do you have a very healthy, strong man working for you who might be willing to donate blood tonight? I have much to do and cannot go hunting.”

“I am in good health,” Cesaro said. “Please, it is an honor. You are doing so much to help us, and I am no longer afraid of the giving.”

“I accept with gratitude,” Dominic said, and stepped up to the man immediately, again not wanting to give him time to become afraid.

Solange looked down at her hands and he touched her mind even as his body felt the rush of energy the hot blood provided. She was upset that he wasn’t taking her blood, and it fed her silly anxiety of inadequacies. He reached out and brushed the pad of his thumb down her cheek. Her gaze jumped to his. He slid his mind intimately against hers.

Your blood is superior to his,
kessake
. And I would much rather take from my woman, but I have yet to walk into the camp of the enemy.

I know. It’s just that I haven’t met any of your needs. Not one. And you are always doing for me. I want to be the one who gives you whatever you need. Another woman . . .

Would never please me the way you do.

He felt the brief flicker of a smile, although she didn’t change expression. He politely closed the two puncture wounds and bowed slightly before beginning the intricate web of safeguards to add to Zacarias’s work. The ranch would be doubly protected against the undead.

“Do not let strangers approach you. Often the undead appear beautiful. If they are very powerful, they can control how they look and talk, and will often take on the form of someone you know. They cannot pick anything from your mind, but they will study those who live here and try to appear as one of them. Their eyes can give them away, and often, when they walk upon the grass, it shrivels or withers. Nature will recoil from them. The animals will be uneasy when they are near and no dog can stand them.”

Cesaro nodded his understanding. Feeling he could do no more to protect them, Dominic indicated to Solange it was safe to leave the house. They went out into the night, inhaling deeply to get the stench of fear, sickness and near death from their lungs.

They walked until they were out of sight and back under cover of the trees. Dominic took Solange into his arms and rose into the sky. She lifted her face so the wind blew over her. She was completely relaxed in his arms, trusting him to keep her safe no matter how fast or high they flew.

I love this,
she confided.
There is something very freeing in flying, like running along the branches in jaguar mode.
She laughed softly and nuzzled his neck.
You’ve given me some of the best experiences of my life.

I want to give you many more, Solange.

He loved the happiness in her voice. Whether she knew it or not, her trust in him was growing every moment they spent together. She had fully aligned herself with him. The woman and the warrior were merging. Her confidence in her appeal for him was also gaining strength. He bent his head and bit down gently on her neck, right over her tempting pulse. He was definitely going to the meeting the next rising so he could finally rid his blood permanently of the parasites and have no worries joining with her—if he could hold out.

He circled above the small ranch that lay sprawled across the rolling hills just meeting the southern tip of the De La Cruz property. Where the fields had been clean and well tended, the fences sturdy and the cattle in good shape at the De La Cruz ranch, it was the opposite here. The water hole was filthy and the cattle stood in thick mud, heads down in misery. The forest had begun to encroach, heavy vines taking down the fences in several spots. There hadn’t been any attempt to repair the fences recently, although Dominic spotted several places where the grazing land had been cleared some time earlier.

He bought land that had been worked,
he pointed out.

But he hasn’t improved it at all.

Dominic dropped to earth inside the tree line. “Shift, Solange. I will go in first.”

“I’ve got a stash of weapons close by. I’ll cover you with a gun. He’s human, not jaguar, and I’ve just got this strange feeling. I think I’m going to need my intellect to be sharper than my claws this time.”

His dark gaze drifted over her. She wasn’t really asking him, just stating her opinion. It didn’t occur to her he might decide to overrule her. He loved that confidence in her when she read a dangerous scenario.

“Hurry, Solange. We are losing too much of the night.”

She nodded and dashed away. It took a good five minutes, but she returned with a small case covered in dirt. “I think I’ll do best in the trees just above his house. Try to keep him centered in the windows or better yet, keep him outside. I should be able to cover you if he’s got company. Are you picking up more than one person?”

“Not in the house. He is alone at the moment, but there is someone in the smaller building behind the main house, and a third man seems to be in the barn.”

“I should be able to cover all three locations. My jaguar is uneasy, Dominic. There is something very disturbing to her in this place. Be careful.”

He knew it would embarrass her, but he leaned down, framed her face with his hands and kissed her thoroughly. “Remember what I said about scaring me.”

She rubbed her cheek against his like the cat she was. “No worries. Take me up to that tree branch. It will be faster than if I climb.”

He glanced up. The branch was a good fifty feet aboveground. Most people would be terrified of the height, let alone at night with little moon. The rain had begun to fall again, just a drizzle, but it would be enough to make the branch slippery. Without a word he wrapped his arm around her waist and took her up to her perch.

It was more difficult leaving her than he’d thought it would be. He
did
trust her judgment and if her cat was uneasy, something was off at the ranch. He was expecting to find a man who had been possessed, but he knew Solange expected something else as well, and for the first time he had no real clue to what they faced—or why. There was something in Solange’s blood that made it special, and he was beginning to think
they
were the ones being hunted now—and for her blood. But who was after her? The vampires? Brodrick? Someone else?

He let his breath out in a long, slow hiss of frustration.

Does it really matter?
Her voice was soft in his head, almost tender, brushing along nerve endings that felt almost raw.
It is my way of life and I chose it long ago, just as you chose your life. They are not expecting two of us. They believe they are facing a female jaguar only, and they will make a mistake—if they haven’t already.

He thought of those silver eyes. Possessing another’s body, taking over without consent and forcing the body to do one’s bidding was such a foul, vile crime. Even with all he’d seen in his long centuries, he couldn’t imagine why anyone would be willing to cross that line of humanity other than Xavier, the head mage who had started the war with the Carpathian people so many centuries earlier.

Solange’s response was reassuring. She was matter-of-fact about facing death and her calm acceptance of their way of life allowed his mind to settle to the task at hand. She was not a woman who would panic, or worse, throw herself into unnecessary danger to prove some point. She was experienced and read situations correctly, had endless patience and knew when to retreat without her ego being involved. She was a good partner to have. When there was need, she would be at his back—or his side—without hesitation. There was something appealing about having a partner he could count on.

She knew his protective instincts would come into play and she accepted that as she did everything else about their life together. Somehow, his Solange had become his world and she’d enhanced everything in it, including going into battle.

Whoever was in the barn is now in the house with Santiago Vazquez. I got a good look at him, and didn’t recognize him. I know most of the humans working at the laboratory as well as most of the jaguar-men. This man isn’t from around here.

He gained the porch without alerting anyone to his presence. Someone moved around inside and he could hear a voice coming from the back of the house. The man he assumed was Vazquez answered in a louder, much angrier voice.

“She’s alive. I was just there and she’s still alive.”

Dominic stood on the porch, listening. They had to be talking about Marguarita.

“You promised he would kill her if I did what you said. I’ve done everything. The slutty little cock-tease is still alive and there’s no fun to be had in this hellhole.”

The man with the lower voice murmured very softly, but his tone carried command. “She is of no importance to us now.”

“She was important to me. She was my in with the De La Cruz family. I tried to get her alone to compromise her, but she wouldn’t even go riding with me.”

The man with the low voice sighed. “Her family would have killed you had you done such a stupid thing, and then everything we worked for would be gone. She’s nothing, Santiago. There are many women, and we can ensnare any of them once we are in possession of the book and the blood of the royal jaguar. Focus on what’s important here. If we get those two things, we have it all. Power. Women. Wealth beyond dreams. And the vampires, Carpathians and the jaguar-men will bow before us. We can rule where we want to rule.”

Did you hear them, Solange?
Dominic had repeated the conversation in his mind so she could follow along.

“Damn Brodrick. He’s so fucking evil his blood is tainted now. He’s ruined everything with his sickness,” Santiago complained. “His mind is rotted as is everything in his body.”

“We will find her,” the second voice soothed.

They are mage then,
she said.
And they have an agenda of their own. What is so darn special about my blood? And why wouldn’t Brodrick’s blood do? They obviously have to have some kind of connection to him, and they must know he has the same bloodline.

Somehow his depraved lifestyle of murder and rape has ruined the purity of his blood,
Dominic answered. He had no idea how, but there could be no other explanation.

The two men inside the house were obviously in on their plot together. One wanted the life of a wealthy rancher and the other wanted power. Santiago was more likely the weaker link, and the one whose body was possessed by the other, although Dominic was certain they were related. The two smelled like siblings.

I will go around to the shed to see who is out there. They would not have anyone here that was not part of their plan.

I can’t cover you from this angle,
Solange objected.
I can see both men in the house through the large windows, but from here I can’t see inside the shed.

I will be in another form.
He found himself smiling as he moved around the verandah toward the back of the house, a very faint stream of vapor.

As he approached the shed, he slowed into a fine stream, nearly floating around the small wooden building. He could feel the force of energy pulsing from inside. The warped walls could barely contain the pulsing power trapped inside.
Do you feel this?

He felt Solange’s sharp intake of breath.
Get out of there, Dominic. Don’t get too close.

Where there had been no breeze, the rain forest floor so still beneath the canopy, without warning, the wind whipped into a frenzy, rushing at the line of trees surrounding the ranch on three sides and right toward Solange. A roar burst from the shed. Inside something blazed white-orange, shining through the cracks of old warped wood.

Something large hit the door of the shed hard enough to shake the entire building. The door splintered halfway up, bulging out.

Get out of there, Solange,
Dominic commanded.

Do I have stupid written on my forehead?
Half laughter, half exasperation and a dash of very healthy fear edged her voice. She knew whatever was in that shed had scented blood—
her
blood—and it was coming for her.

Dominic countered the direction of the wind, pushing it away from Solange so the creature—whatever it was—couldn’t find her by scent. The shed shook a second time as the large animal hit the door. This time the wood gave in the middle, breaking and pushing jagged shards outward.

Two men burst from the back of the house, running across the uneven, muddy ground toward the shed. The two looked exactly alike—and neither had silver eyes. Both stopped abruptly about halfway to the shed, spinning around, going back-to-back, hands raised. One spotted the tendrils of fog and immediately hissed something to his twin.

“Alistair!” Santiago yelled as the huge creature in the shed slammed into the door a third time, blasting through it. An enormous black cat leapt out, rushing straight for the forest.