Carpathian 21 - Dark Peril

would panic, or worse, throw herself into unnecessary danger to prove some point. She was experienced and read situations correctly, had endless patience and knew when to retreat without her ego being involved. She was a good partner to have. When there was need, she would be at his back—or his side—without hesitation. There was something appealing about having a partner he could count on.

    She knew his protective instincts would come into play and she accepted that as she did everything else about their life together. Somehow, his Solange had become his world and she’d enhanced everything in it, including going into battle.

    Whoever was in the barn is now in the house with Santiago Vazquez. I got a good look at him, and didn’t recognize him. I know most of the humans working at the laboratory as well as most of the jaguar-men.
    This man isn’t from around here.

    He gained the porch without alerting anyone to his presence. Someone moved around inside and he could hear a voice coming from the back of the house. The man he assumed was Vazquez answered in a louder, much angrier voice.

    “She’s alive. I was just there and she’s still alive.”

    Dominic stood on the porch, listening. They had to be talking about Marguarita.

    “You promised he would kill her if I did what you said. I’ve done everything. The slutty little cock-tease is still alive and there’s no fun to be had in this hellhole.”

    The man with the lower voice murmured very softly, but his tone carried command. “She is of no importance to us now.”

    “She was important to me. She was my in with the De La Cruz family. I tried to get her alone to compromise her, but she wouldn’t even go riding with me.”

    The man with the low voice sighed. “Her family would have killed you had you done such a stupid thing, and then everything we worked for would be gone. She’s nothing, Santiago. There are many women, and we can ensnare any of them once we are in possession of the book and the blood of the royal jaguar. Focus on what’s important here. If we get those two things, we have it all. Power. Women. Wealth beyond dreams. And the vampires, Carpathians and the jaguar-men will bow before us. We can rule where we want to rule.”

    Did you hear them, Solange? Dominic had repeated the conversation in his mind so she could follow along.

    “Damn Brodrick. He’s so fucking evil his blood is tainted now. He’s ruined everything with his sickness,”
    Santiago complained. “His mind is rotted as is everything in his body.”

    “We will find her,” the second voice soothed.

    They are mage then, she said. And they have an agenda of their own. What is so darn special about my blood? And why wouldn’t Brodrick’s blood do? They obviously have to have some kind of connection to him, and they must know he has the same bloodline.

    Somehow his depraved lifestyle of murder and rape has ruined the purity of his blood, Dominic answered.
    He had no idea how, but there could be no other explanation.

    The two men inside the house were obviously in on their plot together. One wanted the life of a wealthy rancher and the other wanted power. Santiago was more likely the weaker link, and the one whose body was possessed by the other, although Dominic was certain they were related. The two smelled like siblings.

    I will go around to the shed to see who is out there. They would not have anyone here that was not part of their plan.

    I can’t cover you from this angle, Solange objected. I can see both men in the house through the large windows, but from here I can’t see inside the shed.

    I will be in another form. He found himself smiling as he moved around the verandah toward the back of the house, a very faint stream of vapor.

    As he approached the shed, he slowed into a fine stream, nearly floating around the small wooden building.
    He could feel the force of energy pulsing from inside. The warped walls could barely contain the pulsing power trapped inside. Do you feel this?

    He felt Solange’s sharp intake of breath. Get out of there, Dominic. Don’t get too close.

    Where there had been no breeze, the rain forest floor so still beneath the canopy, without warning, the wind whipped into a frenzy, rushing at the line of trees surrounding the ranch on three sides and right toward Solange. A roar burst from the shed. Inside something blazed white-orange, shining through the cracks of old warped wood.

    Something large hit the door of