Chapter 13 #2
I already have this knowledge, Sarika told him.
My first memories of a Carpathian male are of Mitro and the havoc he wreaked in our temple.
It was the temple of the jaguar. The female shifters would gather to bless the crops and farms. To help our people become more prosperous, better able to handle everyday life.
Many problems were brought to us, and we helped our people.
Never once did we use a blood sacrifice.
That wasn’t the source of the female power.
You are remembering a great deal more of the past. He was careful to just make it a statement. As an ancient Carpathian, he and Dominic were both on shaky ground. Taking over a female jaguar would most likely come under the heading of “things never to do.”
If the baby is to be saved, I have to face my past and the reasons I’m so afraid of Carpathians.
The only way to do that is to examine the memories I’ve been too terrified to look at.
It obviously did no good to close that door.
The memories escaped in the form of nightmares.
That only made me more afraid. That isn’t going to help save a baby.
Tomas was so proud of her. Proud that she was his lifemate. She didn’t think of herself as courageous, but once she made up her mind to fight for something or someone, she went ahead full throttle.
What do you think happened to Solange’s jaguar? Or do you know?
I communicated with her. She recognized me as one of the three royal bloodlines. Memories of female shifters appear to be very much like your ancient lineages. You share information. We, apparently, do as well.
Tomas wasn’t surprised at the revelation. The shifters were nearly as old as the Carpathians. They were nearly extinct now, but at one time, they thrived, particularly during the Inca period. They intermingled with the people, residing together in harmony.
Is the jaguar Carpathian? Was she converted when Solange was converted?
Dominic pulled out of Sarika’s mind abruptly and went straight to Solange.
He had stayed for a prolonged period of time in Sarika and would need blood to keep him at full fighting peak.
Tomas hadn’t considered he would need blood as well.
His brothers and Luiz were outside, and apparently, Dominic had activated their safeguards.
What is it?
Sarika was becoming very sensitive to him. That was a good thing and yet not so much in that moment. She asked, and he was bound to answer honestly.
Staying a prolonged length of time outside my body takes energy. When I return to my body, I will be weak. Without blood to replenish me, I will be in a vulnerable position should I have to fight an enemy. Or fight to get us out of here.
Sarika did what she usually did: took her time, turning over his statement, trying to understand. It didn’t take her long.
It isn’t like it will be my first time giving you blood. I just did the same for your brothers and Luiz. Just do it fast, please, before I chicken out.
Knowing or not? He had to give her the option.
Not this time. Just do it fast.
That didn’t bode well for them. She was definitely at her limit, and the situation wasn’t resolved. Worse, Jasmine, Jubal and Sandrine were on their way. That hadn’t been a ruse to get his brothers and Luiz out of the house; it was a very real excuse.
Tomas did as she requested, taking her over so she was unaware.
He used the far less intimate way of taking blood—her wrist. It didn’t seem to matter where he took her blood; the rush hit like a fireball.
Her blood was definitely an aphrodisiac to him.
His body reacted, and he had to put a strict control on that, something that in the long centuries had never been a necessity.
He sheltered her as best he could from the other two in the room before closing off her vein with a sweep of his tongue. At the same time, he brought her out from under the veil of separation so she could easily function again.
Thank you, sivamet. I know that is one of your least favorite things to do.
I am coming to terms with it.
She wasn’t, though. Tomas knew she didn’t think she was telling him a lie, but she was pulling away from him.
It was subtle. He didn’t think she realized she was doing it, but he was so tuned to her, he knew.
More than anything, he needed time alone with her.
This plan of bringing her to Solange’s party planning had backfired in the worst kind of way.
It was adding obstacles to his relationship with Sarika.
That was the last thing he needed when he knew time was working against them.
“Sarika,” Dominic said. “Solange and I are unsure what is happening with her jaguar, but when I examined her, the cat was not Carpathian in the same sense of the word that she should be. She is able to go to ground, but in every other sense, she is a shifter. And not a happy one.”
Sarika nodded. “I’m aware. She feels she is protecting Solange, and she is uneasy with any changes in her. She believes Solange is a prisoner and forced to do your bidding as a woman.”
“Why can’t I connect with her?” Solange sounded forlorn. “Why would she talk to you, a stranger, but not me?”
“She fears for you. She doesn’t understand and is doing the best she can without the knowledge she needs.
” Sarika hesitated and then put her head down, studying her hands where she had threaded her fingers together.
“She recognized me. You must be aware female shifters can pass memories to one another. Some, anyway. Those from certain lineages. Yours, mine, one other.”
She didn’t look up, and that worried Tomas. He was beginning to feel a cross between desperate and alarm.
“Jubal’s,” Dominic said. “I find it interesting that fate has brought those lines together in one place. Over time, I have learned there is always a reason for the way fate shapes our destiny. The right people are in place at the right time. What they do with that is up to them, but opportunities present themselves.”
“Sarika.” Solange waited for Tomas’ lifemate to meet her eyes. “Tell us how we can fix this. You must have some idea.”
Tomas inhaled sharply. “I can take you home to rest, Sarika. We can address this problem another rising.”
“It will be too late,” she predicted, again without looking at him.
“I fear the two of you will have to sift through my memories once again until you uncover my nightmare. I want to make absolutely certain that what is inside me is used purely for good. If it isn’t, I’m walking away, sad that I can’t help, but like your jaguar, I refuse to risk you, Solange, even for your child. ”
Solange placed both hands over her stomach protectively. “She’s more important than anything.”
Not to me, Dominic said to Tomas and Sarika. I want my child to live. I will love her and protect her, but Solange must come first. I cannot survive intact without her. I would never want to live without her. Save our baby, if possible, but never make the choice between the two of them.
Tomas knew Dominic wasn’t being selfish.
He wanted his child. He already loved her.
But Solange was his world. Tomas hadn’t had Sarika long, not if you counted only from when he’d first heard the sound of her voice, but he would be just as adamant as Dominic.
Not solely because she was his lifemate but because she had become his world.
Tomas sent Dominic one look, and then he shed his body, his pure spirit moving into his lifemate’s mind.
He felt Dominic’s presence like a white-hot streak of lightning, taking his back as he deliberately sought the earliest memories Sarika had.
Ancient ones. Ones of a peaceful village where the people were farmers and potters and lived their everyday lives in harmony with the earth.
Then there was the temple made of limestone and some other material, an impressive structure.
He recognized the tall statue of the jaguar made of that other material.
That statue had somehow remained intact over hundreds of years while the temple was in ruins.
Despite the temple being rubble, it was an impressive structure, even now, but in ancient times, the way Sarika remembered it, the sacred place was an imposing and joyful place.
The massive temple joined sky, earth and the underworld together.
Tomas’ heart nearly stopped beating. The underworld. Justice had lived centuries in the underworld. He sought an ancient weapon that could be used against their prince, and from what Gustov had told him, the weapon had a chance of working.
Both Dominic and he had lived centuries, and they were very aware of how the universe often came full circle. He shared his worry with Dominic.
This could be where a piece of the weapon Justice hunts for is located. It would explain his presence. Why he has come this way and recruited vampires to be his army, even though both you and Dax make your home here.
Dominic agreed with him. Few enemies would deliberately come into our territory to challenge us. If this weapon is somewhere in the temple, it would be best for us to find it before he does.
In present day, the ruins had nearly been reclaimed by the jungle.
Thick vines and heavy brush wound around and through parts of the broken limestone.
A great deal of the temple was still intact, however.
The memory Sarika carried with her was of a temple in full glory.
Looking around, both ancients were able to recognize the thriving farms and village.
Sarika loved the people. She was very involved in their everyday life. There were other female jaguar shifters, all of whom worked in the temple.