She didn’t respond, not wanting to encourage him. They both watched as the shifter faded into the deeper brush.
Is he going to follow us?Sarika found she’d been telling the truth—she was suddenly exhausted. She wanted to find a very comfortable chair and put her feet up.
Most shifters are aware of my home and know it is off-limits. He will not be able to keep up with us.
“I wasn’t lying when I told him I am tired. I don’t think I’m going to be moving very fast, Luiz,” she admitted.
“I am going to carry you. I have many things to discuss with you, and we will need the privacy of my home.”When I took the name De La Cruz, it was because I became a De La Cruz. In one of the battles with shifters, I was wounded. Mortally wounded. The De La Cruz family saved my life. In doing so, they had to give me their blood.
Sarika thought Luiz meant the De La Cruz family had given him transfusions, but that wasn’t what she saw in his mind. What she saw there seemed to be something out of a fictional horror movie. She found herself backing away from him.
He is watching, little cousin. We have to walk the opposite way and get to the heavier brush, where he cannot observe us.
She found herself complying, although she didn’t know why. If she had any sense at all, she would have run.
The man you say saved your life appears to be a vampire.There. She said it. She thought it, and now she’d challenged him to tell her the truth. She was rather proud that she wasn’t screaming.
The De La Cruz brothers are legendary hunters of the vampire.
Great. Vampire. Male shifters trying to kidnap women, and now Luiz had to throw in vampires. It wasn’t his first time. She didn’t want to believe him, but he was too matter-of-fact. There were vampires. She continued walking along the narrow trail, averting her face so he couldn’t see her expression. What she should do was get back to the river and summon a boat. She didn’t belong in her cousin’s world.
Yes, you do.
She looked up at him. Not just that soft whisper in her mind, but the feeling he gave her was one of being adamant. Certain. As if he had no doubts about her.
She looked around them when he stopped abruptly. “What makes you think that?” She kept her voice low. Sound traveled at night, but the dense foliage would muffle her words.
“You didn’t run.”
“I thought about it.”
For the first time, he gave her what could have been a real smile. “That shows you have good sense, little cousin.” He turned to face her, standing only a foot away from her. He reached to take her hands. “I am fully Carpathian, Sarika. I have my jaguar, but being a male, when I converted, the ancestors of my family poured their knowledge into me. It is as if I am a true ancient. Not as if,” he corrected. “I am a true ancient.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“That is an explanation best left for the privacy of my home.” He hesitated. “We’re going to fly. I don’t want you to freak out on me.”
Herhorriblesense of humor got the best of her. “Seriously? How canyou claim to be ancient and use a term like ‘freak out’?” Humor was her go-to when she was nervous. She wanted him to be a little insane to think he could fly, but she feared he was capable. She just didn’t know how.
“I’ll shift into a large harpy eagle and carry you to the house. It is much deeper in the interior. Once you’re inside the walls, you’ll be totally safe, even from Percy or any other shifters should they become aware of your presence.”
“Won’t Percy tell them?” She was stalling. She could shift into a jaguar. It seemed Carpathians could shift into other species.
“He wouldn’t take a chance that you would connect with one of them or that they would kidnap you.”
There was no keeping him talking. Right before her eyes, Luiz shifted with lightning speed into a magnificent—and terrifying—harpy eagle. The upper side of the enormous bird was covered in slate-black feathers, while the underside was mostly white. Striped feathers covered the legs. The head of the harpy eagle was gray and crowned with an enormous double crest.
A normal-sized eagle had talons as big as a grizzly’s claws, but this predator looked as if it could easily take down a grown man. The talons looked lethal. She couldn’t imagine being gripped by those. Still, she held her ground. Running from a man as powerful as Luiz De La Cruz was ludicrous. She might seem impetuous to him, but she weighed her decisions carefully.
The harpy eagle’s enormous wings fanned the air, creating a mini-windstorm, and then the bird rose into the air. Her stomach dropped as it flew in a circle around her and then dove straight for her. At the last moment, Sarika closed her eyes. Tight. She even pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t scream.
The talons settled around her waist, snatching her as it flew. Shockingly, he had cushioned her body to prevent the hooked yellow toes from penetrating her skin. She had no idea how he managed to do that so quickly—or at all—but he’d protected her, and that made it easier to trust that he would keep her safe on the flight back…sort of.
You don’t have a nest full of chicks you intend to drop me into so they can feast, do you?She clutched at the bird’s legs, trying to keep her grip as light as possible so she didn’t accidentally break one. The harpy eagle had a black beak, wickedly hooked, and looked like it could eviscerate her in seconds. She thought it prudent not to get on its bad side.
Did you know harpy eagles mate for life—just as Carpathians do?Luiz asked in his expressionless, casual way.
The same can’t be said of most shifters,Sarika answered, thinking it was insanity to have such a conversation while she was in a fantasy world of harpy eagles flying her through the rainforest at a dizzying speed.
