Hot Blooded

their voices with hypnotic suggestions? Their eyes mesmerizing people?"
    He grinned again, softening the lines in his face. "Is that what you think I
do?"
    "You're shameless about it," she confirmed.
    "It worked on you, and that is all that matters."
    "You wish it worked on me. I just happen to like the way you're put
together." She laced her fingers through his. "So you have a big ranch and live
there with four overprotective brothers and a human family as well."
    "My other brothers, Manolito and Zacarias, the eldest, are probably heading
this way as we speak to check on me as if I were an infant."
    She brought his hand to her mouth. "I'll testify you're long past the infant
stage if you'd like."
    "I doubt if it will be helpful. I can handle my brothers. I am just warning
you that their protection will extend to you. We have to avoid them until I know
you're so completely captivated by my charm, you will not run away from them."
    "I live with my younger sister, and my cousin. Jasmine, my little sister, is
beautiful inside and out." Juliette frowned. "She is able to shift once in a
while if she is under tremendous stress, but she can't count on the ability as I
do. My cousin and I are the protectors in my family. Not just in my family but
for all women in our bloodline."
    He was silent, waiting for her to continue. He sensed a terrible sadness and
tightened his arms around her to give her comfort and support.
    Juliette leaned her head against his shoulder, her hair floating on the water
around them like seaweed. "I have to go back home and make certain my sister and
my cousin are safe. I have a duty to my family, Riordan, just as you have one to
your people. We don't have men to protect us. Our men do not mate for life, nor
do they stay with us. Some of the men try to kidnap and hold our women prisoners
just to be able to keep the bloodline pure. Very few of us are capable of
shifting into our other form. And it will continue to become fewer and fewer.
They treat these women like breeding machines. It's a horrible thing. They don't
love them or try to create an atmosphere of happiness, they simply force them to
produce babies."
    "And what is it you think you can do to stop them?" His voice was utterly
devoid of expression.
    Juliette felt a chill go down her spine. She sensed his sudden stillness. She
had been in his mind and there was a ruthless, merciless quality buried deep
inside of him that alarmed her. "Someone has to rescue the women. I'm strong.
I'm capable of shifting, and I'm not afraid of those bastards. I can protect my
sister and cousin. Well, maybe Solange protects me." She turned her head to look
up at his face. "They took my mother. She was held in a tiny room, and several
men raped her to get her pregnant. It didn't happen immediately so they had her
for a long time. It took us two years to find her."
    "Juliette." He breathed her name. Her sorrow beat at him, tore at his heart
and soul. He nuzzled the top of her head. "I am so sorry." She didn't need to
tell him the rest. He saw it in her mind. Her mother had died in childbirth, too
long neglected by the men who held her prisoner. The child had died as well, and
Juliette felt responsible because it had taken so long to find her mother.
    Riordan had been prepared to forbid her to assume the part of a warrior
woman, but he couldn't speak, couldn't issue commands even though it might keep
her safe. Her pain ran too deep. He understood the need to protect others. He
understood honor and responsibility. His fingers crushed her hair in his fist.
"Did you find the men who took her? You must know them by scent."
    Tears burned behind her eyelids, tears she vowed would never be shed. She
refused to spend her time crying. There were very few women capable of shifting
and the jaguar males who had banded together were determined to possess them.
She was every bit as determined that they would never get their hands on them.
    "Jasmine may not be able to shift on command, but even the small ability she
has places her in danger. She has other gifts to aid her, but she couldn't fight
against the males if they captured her. I live with Jasmine and my cousin.
Solange is my mother's sister's daughter and my mother raised her after my aunt
was killed when several males tried to capture us. She fought them off, giving
my mother time to escape with the three of us girls."
    "So now you and your sister and cousin live in fear of