Chapter Five #2
They stopped off at a few different stores to buy the supplies they needed to take on their trip before meeting up with Mateo again in the hotel lobby.
During their shopping trip, Toby had tried again several times to talk Harper out of going into the rainforest with him, but she had refused to stay behind.
Yes! Mate must come with us. We’ll protect her.
Toby was usually so in tune with his inner animal, but they’d been at odds ever since he’d met Harper. He was hoping that things would get back to normal after he’d been mated for a while and they’d both gotten used to the idea of being mated and what that meant.
Unlike his coyote, Toby wasn’t sure how he felt about Harper coming to the rainforest with him.
On the one hand he was frustrated that she was willingly putting herself in harm’s way in an effort to find Jack, but at least if she was with him, he could keep an eye on her and protect her.
If she’d have stayed behind at the hotel, he would probably have worried about her the entire time it took him to find her brother.
Reluctantly, he had accepted that she was coming, and they headed off on their journey.
Sometime later, as Mateo led Toby and Harper deeper into the dense canopy of the rainforest, the oppressive humidity and the constant buzz of insects heightened the sense of isolation surrounding them.
The path was narrow, a barely discernible trail that twisted through towering trees and thick underbrush, where shafts of sunlight struggled to penetrate the dense foliage above.
“You’ve been this way before?” Toby asked as they continued along the narrow path. Mateo nodded.
“Several times. There is much talk about treasure buried around here and a lot of people want to find it.”
“Has anyone ever found anything?” Harper asked.
Mateo snorted. “No, and I don’t think your friend will, either. The only thing to be found out here are mosquitos and a large number of dangerous beasts.”
Toby grimaced. That was another thing that he’d been afraid of. It was one thing to try to protect Harper from other shifters, but rainforests were unpredictable. Toby should know, he’d been in his fair share of them during his time working for the CIA.
“Keep your eyes open and stay close,” Mateo warned as they maneuvered through a particularly dense thicket, the air thick with the scent of damp earth. “The forest might look harmless, but it is far from it.”
Harper, clutching her backpack straps tightly, appeared to be on high alert, her gaze flitting to every rustle and chirp that sounded around them.
“What kind of dangers are you talking about?” she asked, her voice tinged with nervous energy.
Before Mateo could answer, a large spider jumped from a nearby log, landing directly in front of her before standing up on its rear legs in an aggressive position. She let out a sharp scream and stumbled backward, nearly losing her balance.
Kill it! Protect mate!
Toby quickly reached out, grabbing hold of Harper and pulling her away from the spider, which rocked from side to side as it stared at her.
Toby and Harper shared a look of alarm, and Toby started to wonder yet again if Harper would have been safer back at the hotel.
He moved Harper back further still, so they were out of jumping distance of the dangerous arachnid.
“It’s a Brazilian wandering spider,” Matteo said, keeping his voice steady. “Despite the name, they’re common here. It’s extremely venomous, but they usually don’t bother people or attack unless provoked.”
“I don’t think it got the memo,” Harper said making Toby splutter out a laugh.
He was relieved that his mate hadn’t been too distressed by the incident. Some females he knew, including his mother, would have still been screaming. Some males, too, come to that. They walked in a wide arc around the spider in order to get past it and back on track.
As they continued on their journey, the close call with the spider left Toby feeling shaken and more concerned than ever about the safety of his mate, but he quickly refocused his attention on their surroundings. Mateo quickened his pace slightly, seemingly eager to move them away from the area.
Just when Toby had started to relax and write the incident off as an unfortunate accident, the real danger reared its ugly head.
Toby’s foot brushed against something on the forest floor and as he looked down to see what he had touched, a fer-de-lance snake, camouflaged amongst the dead leaves on the forest floor, reared up in defense, its fangs bared as it made to strike him.
With reflexes honed by his shifter senses, Toby leaped back just in time, avoiding the snake’s deadly bite.
The snake landed a few inches from where he had been standing and came for him a second time.
Again, he managed to avoid its attack. After a brief standoff, the snake slithered away into the underbrush, leaving behind a trail of disturbed leaves.
Mateo, who had witnessed the encounter, looked at Toby with a mix of surprise and recognition.
“Oh, you’re a shifter,” he remarked, nodding slowly as understanding dawned. “Like me. No human could have reacted that fast.” As he spoke, a flash of amber appeared in Mateo’s eyes, revealing his own secret.
Toby nodded. “Coyote,” he said hesitantly.
Mateo’s expression relaxed into a smile, and he extended a hand in a gesture of camaraderie. “I’m a jaguar. There are lots of us in this area. It looks like the jungle has brought its own kind together.”
“It does,” Toby agreed.
“And your friend,” Mateo said nodding to Harper.
“My mate is human,” Toby informed their guide.
Mateo nodded. “Have you been mated long?”
Toby shook his head. “No time at all.”
“Ah, well, congratulations on finding each other,” he said.
“Thank you,” Harper murmured.
Toby beamed with pride that his mate had recognized their bond. “Thank you.”
After their brief conversation, Toby relaxed a little more around their guide, relieved that he didn’t need to hide that part of himself for the rest of their journey.
He wouldn’t have hesitated to shift or to use his shifter abilities if they had been required to help his mate, but at least now he didn’t have to worry about a human finding out about him.
With this new revelation, the atmosphere in their little group changed subtly.
There was a sense of shared understanding now, a bond formed not just by the journey they took together, but also by their nature as shifters.
Relieved by his escape from danger and bolstered by this newfound mutual understanding, Toby pushed deeper into the rainforest, Harper at his side, each step taking them further into the unknown.
They walked on for another couple of hours before stopping to take a break.
As shifters, Toby was certain that he and Mateo could have continued on at the same pace for hours, but Harper was human and wouldn’t have had the same stamina.
Toby could tell that she was starting to get tired, even though she hadn’t said as much.
The relief on her face as Toby suggested they rest for a while was all too evident.
They didn’t stop for long, just enough to eat a protein bar, drink some water and rest their legs.
The dense rainforest seemed to close in on them when Toby, Harper, and Mateo finally continued their trek deeper into the jungle.
The air was thick with the sounds of insects and the distant calls of birds.
It created a cacophony that made it difficult to discern any approaching danger.
Toby found himself constantly scanning the environment, his senses on high alert after the day’s earlier encounters.
As they navigated a particularly narrow path lined with thick ferns and towering trees, the sudden crack of a twig snapping underfoot sent Toby’s heart racing.
Before he could react, two figures burst through the undergrowth.
Wolf shifters. The same two men who had attacked Harper back in Fort Worth.
His coyote let out a vicious snarl that ripped from Toby’s throat unbidden.
How had the shifters found them? Harper had only known where to come because of her brother’s message.
Toby bit out a curse. Jack. Of course. He had to have told them where he was, which meant he was either working with them in some capacity, or he owed them something and their journey down to Peru was to ensure he paid them back.
Protect mate. Shift! Toby’s coyote ordered, clawing at Toby uncomfortably in his effort to break free.
With a quick glance at Harper, signaling her to stay back, Toby allowed his instincts to take over.
He and Mateo didn’t speak a word to one another, but they shifted in unison.
Toby’s body convulsed as he shifted into his coyote form, fur bristling and teeth bared.
Beside him, Mateo’s transformation into a powerful jaguar was swift and smooth, his large frame easily dwarfing Toby’s smaller build.
The wolf shifters hesitated, clearly not expecting to confront a jaguar shifter.
Their eyes darted between Toby and Mateo, weighing their odds.
But the hesitation was all Toby and Mateo needed.
With a fierce growl, Mateo lunged forward, his powerful jaws snapping near one of the wolf’s arms, causing him to yelp in surprise.
Toby used the distraction to dart forward, his smaller size allowing him to nip at the legs of the other wolf, driving him back.
The skirmish was brief but intense. The wolf shifters, realizing they were outmatched and not prepared to take on a fully shifted jaguar, quickly retreated into the thick foliage, leaving behind a trail of crushed plants and the sharp scent of fear.
Harper, who had stayed back as instructed, watched wide-eyed but thankfully unharmed.
Toby remained in his coyote form, his senses extended to their fullest, tracking the retreat of the wolf shifters until he was certain they wouldn’t return.
Only then did he allow himself to shift back into human form.
He felt a momentary vulnerability as he rummaged through his backpack for a change of clothes, his mind racing through the implications of the encounter.
As he pulled on his fresh T-shirt and pants, Toby realized just how dangerous their mission had become.
The presence of the wolf shifters this deep in the rainforest meant that the stakes were higher than he had anticipated.
Even though he hadn’t ruled it out completely, he hadn’t honestly expected them to show up.
It was clear now that he wasn’t just dealing with a simple retrieval mission.
He was up against a determined and potentially deadly foe who would stop at nothing to achieve their goal.
“Who were those men?” Mateo asked after he’d shifted back to human form and quickly pulled on a new set of clothes.
Toby sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “They’re looking for whatever they think that Cryptex leads to.”
Mateo cursed. “Fools.”
Turning to Harper and seeing the lingering shock in her eyes, Toby felt a surge of protectiveness. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice gentle yet tinged with concern.
Harper nodded, managing a shaky smile. “Yeah, thanks to you and Mateo. I didn’t expect... I mean, I knew this was going to be dangerous, but seeing those shifters, and watching you both fight them off...”
“It’s going to be okay,” Toby assured his mate, his voice carrying an edge of determination.
“We’ll find your brother, Harper. But we need to be extra vigilant from now on.
These shifters are serious about getting their hands on whatever they think Jack has found and now that they know that we’ve got Mateo on our side, they might just call in reinforcements. ”
Harper reached out, her hand briefly squeezing his arm, her gratitude evident. “Thank you,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “For everything. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“You don’t need to thank me for anything,” Toby said, his resolve hardening.
He didn’t want to make a big deal out of the situation and potentially scare his mate, but his desire to protect her was all encompassing.
Nothing was more important than that. But looking back, he realized that there had never been a moment since he’d first met her where there hadn’t been the case.
As they resumed their journey, with Mateo leading the way, Toby bringing up the rear with Harper close beside him, Toby knew he would do whatever it took to keep his mate safe and to complete their mission in one piece.
If it had just have been about the Cryptex, he would have demanded they turn back now.
His mate’s safety was more important than an historical artifact, no matter how valuable it was.
But it was about more than that now. He might not know it, but Jack’s life was in danger.
And Toby might not have known her long, but he knew beyond a shred of a doubt that Harper would never turn back while Jack was out there.