“Where the hell is this demon shit happening?” he asked once more as he took a step toward the jaguar.
Nico snarled, and the air shimmered between the two of them. All Julian could visualize was slowly ripping each and every limb from the other jaguar’s body.
“Boys, let’s settle down, shall we?” Declan stepped in between them. “You guys need to kiss and make up. This whole pissing contest thing is getting old.”
Declan glanced toward him, his eyes focused, yet Julian sensed the bleakness that lingered there. “We’ve got a problem that needs solving, remember? I don’t have to remind you of the consequence . . . ticktock and all that.” Declan turned to Nico. “So, you gonna spill?”
“Templo Mayor,” Finn answered instead.
“What did you say?” Julian rasped, though really, he didn’t need the eagle shifter to repeat himself. He’d heard his words clear as day.
Son of a fucking bitch. Only Jaden would head straight toward trouble.
“We’ve intercepted a few transmissions that lead us to believe something is going to go down, and the entire zone has gone hot in the last few hours.” The eagle shifter shrugged his shoulders. “We’re not sure why, but we should send a team to check it out. I wanted to run it by Jaden, but she’s not around.”
Finn nodded to the operative, Max. “Try Tank again and see if he knows where Jaden is.”
“Don’t bother,” Julian answered as he nodded to Declan. “We need to vamoose.”
“You are not in charge of our team,” Nico rasped.
Julian paused and took a moment to center the anger that was flush in his system. He and Nico were going to have it out. Just not today. “I don’t give a shit about your team. Jaden’s not in her suite.”
“And you know this because?” Nico’s voice was low, but the bitterness hung in the air.
Julian glared at the shifter. “By my guess, she left just after midnight for Mexico City, and if we hurry, we might be able to get there before she gets her ass kicked.”
Nico’s eyes widened, and his instant concern pissed Julian off. It was totally unreasonable, but he wasn’t in a reasonable state of mind.
“It’s a nice piece of ass, no? Be a shame for it to be damaged in any way.” He turned and headed toward the exit, smiling as he heard Nico’s enraged snarl follow his words.
Declan fell into step beside him. “Tell me again how this whole mating thing doesn’t matter?”
Julian ignored him, and the smile soon faded as his mind went dark.
“And why we’re wasting time sniffing after Jaden when we should be focusing our efforts on finding the portal?”
“She is tied to the portal,” Julian stated. An hour earlier, he had been ready to go his separate way, but his gut told him the path he needed to follow led to Jaden. He’d been a ruthless businessman and had learned one thing early on. Always follow your gut instinct.
Jaden DaCosta had a way of finding trouble. She’d better hope he was able to find her.
In one piece.
Chapter 13
Jaden grabbed her bag and slid from the truck, stretching out stiff muscles as she did so. She’d driven like a maniac, had made the trip in just under twenty hours. The private jet would have been so much easier, but she didn’t want her father or anyone on the team to know where she’d gone. So she’d paid cash for a rental in Playa Del Carmen and driven straight to Mexico City.
She stifled a yawn. Though she was a creature of the night, the lack of sleep over the last few days was starting to catch up to her.
The cool wind that swept across the street felt wonderful, refreshing, and she let it play along her flesh as she stared at the huge structure not far from her.
Templo Mayor.
The ruin was in the heart of Mexico City, and she felt the enormity of its power as she stood in the dark, staring at it. Moonbeams fell upon the stone, touching the surface in an eerie glow. Even from several hundred yards out, she was humbled and impressed by the magnificence of the structure.
This had been the seat of power for the Aztecs hundreds of years ago. Their culture and that of the Mayan were intimately connected to her people, to that of the eagle knights.
They’d worshipped her ancestors. Emulated their fierceness and wore their likeness in battle.