Hot Blooded

strong
man as you."
    He couldn't talk, staring at her mouth as she sucked on the fruit, her lips
sliding up and down suggestively. Juliette pulled the banana from her mouth,
gaining ground, her hips swaying, her smile flirtatious. "Are you hungry? I'll
share." She held out the banana and seemed to notice her blouse gaping open for
the first time. "Oh, I'm sorry, it was so steamy in the jungle, I can hardly
stand having clothes on. Doesn't the heat bother you? It makes me feel… soooo
hot." One hand went to her blouse as if to close it, but her fingers trailed
over the ripe swell of her breast.
    The guard swallowed hard, staring at her. She held the banana to his mouth.
"Are all the men in the jungle as handsome as you?"
    He took a bite of the offered fruit, he couldn't help himself. He was smiling
down at her, still staring at her breasts when she used the pressure syringe on
him, tranquilizing him. He was heavy, but Juliette was strong, and she dragged
him into the cover of the bushes, sending up a small prayer that no predatory
animal would find him defenseless, propped up against a broad tree trunk. She
hastily prepared the scene while Jasmine penetrated the alarm system. From her
pack, Juliette spilled a small amount of liquor on the guard's clothes, settled
the flask in his hand and removed the bullets from his gun, flinging them into
the dense undergrowth.
    Juliette and Jasmine stayed in the shadows, avoiding the open where a camera
might pick them up as they hurried through the large building. The first few
rooms appeared to be empty offices, but just beyond them, they could hear the
uneasy sounds of animals in distress. The laboratories were fairly large, each
holding several cages. They separated, glancing quickly at their watches and
blowing a kiss for luck as they took separate sides of the huge building in the
hopes of freeing as many animals as possible.
    Both had the ability to calm and control even the largest of cats. It was
more difficult when the animals had been teased and abused or tortured, but both
women were certain of their talents and they moved fast and efficiently, their
teamwork well practiced.
    Juliette kept an eye on the time as she opened cages and directed animals.
The last laboratory held the biggest animals. A sun bear, a jaguar, and a sloth.
She cursed under her breath as she saw that the sloth was beyond all help. The
sun bear had several injuries from someone poking it with a sharp instrument,
but the jaguar was still in good shape, one of the newest animals the laboratory
had acquired. She spoke softly, soothing the pacing animal, growling once low in
her throat when it leapt at the cage walls in agitation. It took a bit longer to
manage the lock and herd him out of the room down toward the entrance, using her
telepathic link to guide him. She took three steps after the cat when she felt a
tremendous draw toward her left. To her dismay there was another door.
    The door was heavy, a thick, soundproof vault with several bars and locks.
Juliette glanced at her watch a second time. She should be running to get out,
but something outside herself demanded she investigate. Praying Jasmine kept her
promise to depart and head home immediately, Juliette set to work on the door.
    Â 
    RIORDAN lay on the cement floor in a pool of blood, dispassionately watching
as it seeped toward the built-in drain. His blood looked like a thin, pale gray
trail of liquid pooling in an ever-widening puddle. It was unthinkable that he
had been trapped like this, that one of his kind could be shamed and dying at
the hands of his enemies. He was an immortal, a Carpathian male, no fledgling,
but a man of honor and skill. He lay in a pitiful heap, unable to gather the
strength needed to move. Unable to summon help from his own kind.
    His brothers would be seeking him now, wondering why his mind was closed to
them. He dared not draw another into the trap as he had been drawn. He would not
be bait to ensnare more of his kind. The enemy had found a way to poison the
blood of their people, to immobilize them long enough to drain their blood and
keep them weak. He had thought he was skilled enough to push the poison from his
body. In the past he had done so on numerous occasions, but the new poison held
him helpless and weak and paralyzed against the continual torture.
    There was no way to transmit the news to his prince, no way to warn of this
new, even more