Prologue
Griffin
This isthe last job I’m fucking taking.
I sliced the machete across the foliage, chopping large leaves off their stems to create a path. Bugs buzzed and chirped, creating a symphony of music. The same sound that had roused me awake this morning. I’d taken advantage of the early wake up to get a head start on my return to my hotel. Beating the insufferable humidity had been a motivator, but it hadn’t seemed to make a difference.
Sweat trickled down my neck to the collar of my shirt. Swinging the machete again, I carved out a path, blind to what came ahead because of the thickly compact brush. Yucatán’s jungles weren’t for the faint of heart.
I’d completed plenty of jobs, and this one was no different from five years ago. Retrieve and deliver—that was it. This time, it was a small trinket dating back to the Mesoamerican era that the client obsessed with history hired me for. I’d carefully wrapped the slim artifact that weighed no more than a few pounds. Who the fuck knew what he wanted with it. As long as he paid me, I didn’t care what I was hired to find.
I swatted a cockscomb flower away; the collection of the plant thickened with every step forward. The canopy of densely packed trees cast shadows, allowing me a break from the sun.
Swinging my machete in a large arc, I hit something dull. A static shock zipped up my shoulder. The blade had embedded in a thick, moss-covered trunk belonging to a large, towering pine with branches curving up and reaching for the sky. Unlike the rest of the trees I’d seen, greenery hugged it to the point of camouflage. I tugged at the handle of the machete, but it didn’t budge, so I reached to brace myself on it so I could pull the blade free.
As soon as my palm met the moss, searing heat worked its way up my arm, spreading and spreading until I sweltered. My ears popped, and a bright light flashed, blinding me. Then I landed on my shoulder, rolling until I scrambled to grab at something to stop my slide down.
What the fuck happened?I wheezed, keeping hold of the branch tangled with a vine as I pulled myself free of the disorientation.
Pure experience made the process quick, and I took in the situation. Darkness made it difficult to see, but my eyes adjusted until I was staring at the same tree I’d tried to pull my machete free from—My boots slanted, and I froze. A glance down had me stiffening. One of the tree’s roots had become exposed from the ground beneath it crumbling away, and I was standing right at the edge of the steep fall.
Where the f . . . No, I couldn’t panic. Calm settled over my thoughts as the training from my time in the Marines took over. With a slow exhale, I swept my focus over the low-hanging branches. Stretching as far as I could, I reached up.I could grab it. I could use it to climb—Snap—The small perch I stood on gave under my weight. Dirt slid under my feet, and I tumbled.
The drop was sudden and gut-wrenching. I braced myself, but it did nothing to fend off the scrape of the slanted mountainside. It happened so quickly I had no option but to let gravity take me down. Colliding with a boulder brought a stop to the rolling fall and sent dull throbs down to my fingers.
Breaths sawed from my chest, overwhelming the sudden silence of the jungle.
Panting, I kept still on the ground, taking stock of my injuries. Other than the stinging along my arm, nothing had broken. I rolled onto my back and lifted, the sounds of leaves crunching under my feet as loud as gunshots in the silence.
Fuck, I lost my machete.
I patted my pocket to feel for the bubble-wrapped item I’d shoved in there. The palm-sized sculpture was still there. Good thing I hadn’t placed it into my backpack or it’d be shattered. This shit was supposed to be easy money. I’d been to Yucatán before. It was a quick search and return, but what happened?
Beams of blue light speared through the leaves—it was moonlight. How could it have become night so quickly? There was no possibility I’d lost consciousness.
Rolling to my feet, I adjusted my pack still strapped to my back and craned my neck to look up the steep drop. Jagged, mossy branches and verdure blocked my view. If I climbed it—no, that would be stupid without the appropriate materials. Besides that, I’d fallen more than a klick . . . I was going to have to find a clearer path back to the big ass tree.
I kept against the uneven side of the mountain-face, but it jutted out, forcing me outward. Beams of light shone through a collection of foliage, and I headed for it in hopes of finding a clear view without the vegetation in my way. Once I broke into a small clearing that stretched out the length of my arms, I looked up into the inky sky toward the origin of all the illumination.
There were two moons. The tree loomed so high up that I could only see its shadow backdropped by the inky sky.
Where the fuck was I?
Chapter 1
Soleil
I lowered behind the brush,watching the human male recline against the rustling bedding he’d sprawled out under him.
Watching him for the last two moon rotations had been interesting.Thismale was interesting. The way he held himself was not fearful, but composed, as if he’d been here before. But that was impossible; humans never escaped here alive. In my time watching him, I kept my distance, stalking the human male.
The best part of humans arriving in the Jungle was watching them acclimate, but soon enough, they all suffered the same fate.
Moons ago was when the last two humans were here. Two. A male and a female. They survived the longest. In observing all these humans, I learned a lot. About their tendencies. Their odd phrases that I struggled to understand.
Humans were tenacious despite injuries, weather, or the other creatures living in the forest. But this was not their habitat, and it showed. Their soft skin was too feeble. I knew how easy it was to hurt the thin skin when I wore my human form, which was why I didn’t bother to, preferring my fur.
I slinked under the wide fronds. The low chirps of insects continued to fill the foggy jungle.
