Carpathian 18 - Dark Possesion

her. If her best friend, Destiny, had been there, she would have admitted it aloud, talked it over and maybe even laughed at herself. But she didn't know these people. She was entirely out of her element, and it was only her intense need to help others that drove her forward.
    She'd dressed in her most comforting clothes, trying to give herself courage. Her Forzieri embroidered jacket, short and stylish in brown distressed leather, matched her boots and gave her added confidence. The embroidery on the back was too cute for words, and the linen ruffles gave the jacket an elegant renaissance look. Pairing the jacket with her Seven jeans, with their wide waistband settling below her belly button and so comfortable she barely knew they were there, and her all-time-favorite, wear-anywhere-and-look-like-a-million-bucks Vera Cristina V-neck tee with intricate beadwork in turquoise, gold and clear beads, she couldn't have looked better. Well. If you didn't count her hair. She reached up to pat it. Out of desperation, she'd managed to braid it into one very thick braid. She hadn't bothered with more than stud earrings because she figured anything else might be a hindrance. As her heel sank into the vegetation, she realized she was hopelessly out of her depth and totally inappropriately dressed. She blinked back tears and kept walking.
    If Manolito was alive, where was he? Why couldn't she reach for him after she had that horrible moment when the knowledge had hit her that a jaguar was attacking him? She had tried to stop it, throwing up her hands to catch it, to put herself in its path, screaming a warning, but no one had understood, and how could she explain without sounding crazy that for one moment she had been there—in the forest—standing between Manolito and certain death.
    Riordan and Juliette looked grim, but hadn't provided answers to her fearful questions. They had practically thrown her in the truck, Riordan almost rude. He had been intimidating, much like his brothers, but never really rude, not until now.
    As if reading her thoughts, Juliette moved up beside her. "I'm sorry. This must be difficult for you."
    "It's not my thing," MaryAnn admitted, wanting to turn around and run for the safety of the truck. She kept walking after Riordan. "But I can handle it." Because that's what she did when Someone needed help. And she wasn't about to leave Manolito De La Cruz alone in the rain forest with jaguars attacking him. She could barely breathe with her desire to see him alive and well.
    Her chest hurt, her heart felt like a stone, and her eyes burned constantly with the need to weep for his death.
    She needed to see him. Hear him. Touch him. It made no sense, but right then it didn't matter. She had to be with him or she wasn't going to survive. Although she tried hard to keep her face averted from Juliette, she was aware of the woman casting anxious glances at her.
    "He is alive," Juliette said quietly.

    "You don't know that," MaryAnn choked out. "The jaguar—" She stopped to try to regain control before speaking. "It was attacking him. I felt the claws tearing through his flesh." She pressed her hand to her stomach as if she were wounded.
    "Riordan would know." Juliette cast a swift, worried glance at her lifemate as she kept pace with MaryAnn.
    She didn't know why, but she was beginning to have misgivings about whether or not Manolito was alive. It was crazy, because the De La Cruz brothers would know if he was dead, and through them, she would know.
    "My people are jaguar. If one of them attacked Manolito, I fear what Riordan and his brothers might do in retaliation. The jaguar has always left the Carpathians strictly alone. Out here, one chooses one's battles. A single scratch can result in a life-threatening infection."
    Riordan, are you certain Manolito is alive? I am feeling grief and a terrible sense of oppression and dread .
    Juliette needed her lifemate to reassure her; she was no longer able to discern the truth.
    Riordan took a breath. He, too, was feeling grief and an unreasonable fear for his brother's life. He reached out to his eldest brother, Zacarias, the one person they could always rely on. Do you feel Manolito'? Can you tell if he still lives ?
    There was a moment while Zacarias touched Manolito. He is alive, but shielding himself. Do you have need of me ?
    Zacarias was at the ranch house with the rest of the family, and Riordan wanted him to stay there. Zacarias would not allow Juliette's