Carpathian 21 - Dark Peril

them. She had seen too many women after the jaguar-men had gotten their hands on them to not realize the brutality of these men.

    “Audrey? The girls?” There was anxiety in Sabine’s voice.

    Solange indicated with her head they were waiting outside. Sabine nodded and Solange slipped out the door, her heart nearly bursting with joy. She couldn’t wait to put her arms around her mother and just hold her close. Four years of working toward this one moment and she was so close. She forced herself to go slow across that open space.

    She turned back to watch as her mother shifted. She could hardly bear to take her eyes off her mother. It was shocking to see the effort it took to shift, the gasping pain for both the human and animal. Did her mother have internal damage? Broken bones? Only that kind of pain could affect the cat. Solange tried to keep an eye on her mother as they carefully crossed that nearly open space on the branch together and made their way stealthily through the canopy toward freedom.

    As they put a good mile between them and the jaguar sentry, Solange allowed joy to burst through her.
    They’d done it. They had finally brought her mother home. She wanted to weep with happiness. The little cub suddenly squawked and shifted into human form, and Jasmine nearly fell from the canopy. She didn’t make a sound, a child already well versed in the need for absolute silence. She had never been able to hold the jaguar form for long. Her father had been human. Had she been in the village the day Brodrick had come, she would have been killed with the others.

    They waited while she awkwardly crawled onto her sister’s back and, because she was in human form and it was too dangerous to continue moving through the canopy, they made their way to the forest floor.
    Audrey had the weapons stashed in a bag slung around her neck, but still, they moved fast. Every step lightened Solange’s heart more. Her mother. She’d dreamt of it at night, waking more than once calling for her mother. She could barely believe they’d actually managed to find her.

    A sudden silence in the canopy froze her. A sentry monkey called a warning. A bird shrieked. Her heart nearly stopped. She reacted immediately, still the child but already the one most skilled. She shifted immediately and snatched the bag of weapons from around Audrey’s neck and signaled Juliette to run with Jasmine. Juliette would take to the water to keep from leaving tracks. Audrey and Solange would delay those following to give Juliette the best chance with little Jasmine to escape.

    She sank onto the ground and quickly reached into the bag to pull out a gun. Her mother’s hand on her wrist stilled her. She, too, had shifted to human form. Very gently she tugged at the weapon in Solange’s hand. Solange shook her head stubbornly, holding on.

    “Give it to me, baby,” Sabine said.

    Solange looked at her mother, taking in the bruises and scars, the misshapen rib cage, the signs of the brutality she had endured these last four years. “Go with your aunt now.”

    “No. You go with her. I’m a good shot.”

    “You can’t get all of them. Do as I tell you.” Sabine hugged her hard for the briefest of seconds. “ Never let them take you alive, Solange,” she whispered. “I love you, baby. Go with your aunt now.” She shoved Solange at her sister. “Thank you, all of you.”

    Knowledge burst through Solange. Her mother was going to fight the attackers off to allow the rest of them to get away. And she would die here. She shook her head, opened her mouth to scream a protest, but Audrey, with surprising strength, clapped her palm over Solange’s mouth, wrapped an arm around her waist and turned and ran with her.

    Solange screamed and screamed. No sound came from her throat. She heard the shots of the rifle and then the horrible sound of jaguars fighting. She screamed again, called to her mother. Again there was no sound, nothing. She couldn’t cry. She couldn’t look at anyone. The pain had gone so deep there was no adequate way to express it.

    Solange found herself rocking back and forth, holding the comforter to her, the memories refusing to recede as they always did when she recalled them. Mama, she whispered softly, I wish I had gone with you.

    Coldhearted Solange had been born that day. Her mother’s daughter was dead. She had never been able to hold her mother close again, not even her body. They had burned it and left no trace for