The intensity of the silence was broken by a sawing call. She was well aware that both the male and female jaguar could roar. When they greeted one another, they made a sound similar to a snuffling. They hunted day or night and killed with a powerful bite, usually to the back of the skull. The sound abruptly turned into a snarl that lifted every hair on her body. Then came the growling roar she most feared.
As apex predators, jaguars were at the top of the food chain with no natural enemies, other than their own species being a danger to them. Sarika was well aware she wasn’t the largest person in the jungle.Even if she tried to make herself appear bigger, she doubted if that would work.
If this jaguar was female and she had a den nearby, going forward could get her in trouble. It would be far better to get out of the trees. Sarika found herself hesitant to do that. Shifters were a secretive species. It had been drilled into her from the time she was a toddler that she could never reveal her true nature. Better to shift if she needed to defend herself there in the rainforest, out of sight.
It was just that…she had no fighting experience. That sawing roar was troublesome. It wasn’t a greeting. It was a clear warning. She had a healthy respect for the powerful cats, and she would never want to endanger, hurt or kill one. She also thought it would be impossible for someone as inexperienced as she was to defeat a fully grown cat with fighting experience.
She was well aware jaguars could easily climb trees and leap long distances. She wouldn’t be any safer in the water than she was on land. Jaguars were excellent swimmers, loved lakes, rivers and wetlands. They hunted in water.
“Not the smartest thing I’ve ever done,” she murmured aloud.
“No, it wasn’t.” A male voice came from the darkened interior.
The unexpected reply set her heart pounding. She had concentrated so much on the jaguar that she had no indication a male was anywhere in the vicinity. She should have scented him. Sarika inhaled deeply, expecting to find out how close he was to her, but she got…nothing.
“I told you to stay out of the forest. To wait by the river for me.” Now that voice was pure male, quiet but powerful. Velvet soft and compelling, but there was no mistaking the absolute authority.
“Luiz?” she asked. “Luiz Silva?”
“Luiz De La Cruz,” the voice corrected.
Her heart skipped a beat. Fear washed over her. She certainly knew the name De La Cruz. They were notorious in both Peru and Brazil.They owned more land than legal, their ranches expansive and guarded carefully. It was said they were ruthless. Enemies of the De La Cruz family tended to disappear.
“I thought I was corresponding with my cousin, Luiz Silva,” she said, imposing strict discipline on herself. For some unexplained reason, she felt threatened. She couldn’t say it was the voice exactly. He spoke in a low tone. It wasn’t even the words he spoke or the fact that he’d identified himself as a De La Cruz. He felt dangerous. Powerful. She hadn’t even seen him yet, but the warning that had preceded the jaguar came through just as clear. Maybe more so.
Sarika stood her ground, doing her best not to shake. The atmosphere had grown heavy. Threatening. The insects suddenly ceased their continuous noise. Monkeys screamed warnings and raced away, using the treetops.
“I have gone by the name of Silva,” the voice informed her.
She blew out an exasperated breath. He could have just said that in the first place and not tried intimidating her with the De La Cruz name. Okay, he’d succeeded in intimidating her, which just annoyed the holy hell out of her.
“Seriously? You couldn’t have led with that?” After all, if he was telling the truth and his name was really Luiz Silva, he was her cousin. She might be intimidated by the name De La Cruz and even a wild jaguar, but if he was her cousin, she wasn’t going to allow him to scare her into submission. She wasn’t that easily intimidated.
There was no real sound to warn her, not even the whisper of boots on leaves, but Luiz De La Cruz was suddenly standing in front of her, almost as if he had teleported, like in some science fiction movie. What was wrong with her? She should have been better prepared. She didn’t like using a weapon, but she knew how and always carried something on her to protect herself. She’d traveled all over the world, studying in many different, very dangerous environments. Being a conservationist had taken her into many situations such as this one, and she’d always gone prepared.
Around her waist, she had her belt with a sheath containing a very sharp knife. While she was proficient in the use of it, the blade was her fail-safe, the last resort, should she be attacked by human, shifter or wild predator.
His eyebrow raised. “If you were going to use that, you should have already been prepared. What possessed you to come all this way and meet me alone?”
She didn’t need him to ask her that question; she was already asking herself. She decided to be casual. “I travel alone to many countries and meet guides.”
He studied her face, feature by feature, with a predator’s stare. His eyes were intense, a vivid green flecked with gold, the irises ringed with amber. He had presence, appeared rugged, but there was something about him that was charismatic. Some quality that drew her to him, and she knew that same magic would work on others, male or female, he was around. At the same time, the predator in him was so strong that she knew he was far more than a man standing in front of her.
Luiz De La Cruz was mesmerizing, and that was scary. She felt almost frozen, the way one did when looking into the eyes of a large cat hunting. Her body reacted on its own, recognizing the extreme danger, yet couldn’t move. Every hair on her body reacted; goose bumps rose. She had to work to keep her heart and lungs under control. A predator smelled fear. Hearing was acute. He would know she feared him; he most likely already did.
“Do you think that’s such a good idea?”
She tried a brief smile, hoping to connect with her cousin. She was certain he was her uncle’s son. She’d never met his father or this man, but it wasn’t like she had much in the way of family. As far as she knew, Luiz was all that was left after the deaths of her adoptive parents. “Not at this precise moment.”
“You’re safer with me than you’ve ever been in your life.”
Arrogant much?She didn’t say it aloud. And she almost believed hecould make her safer than anyone else she’d ever been around—unless he changed his mind and decided she was a threat. Then, all bets were off.
“You were raised by Uncle Alois, my father’s oldest brother, and his wife, Gemma. I’m very sorry for your loss.”
For some reason, that simple sentiment had a lump rising in her throat. She choked it down. It was an odd way of expressing sympathy. Other than her, Alois and Gemma had been his only relatives. She decided to address the issue immediately.
“Yes, my father sent me away when I was not yet a year.”
