Jaden’s jaguar itched beneath her flesh, and she felt her canines break skin, her nails elongate, as her animal began to make noise. She forced it back. Now was not the time. She needed to keep a cool head.
The man who stood before her was not wholly corporeal, yet his power was such that she had a nagging suspicion he was of a much higher order. Like near the top.
“I am Nanauatl. Do not trifle with me, Jaguar.”
Jaden swallowed tightly but held his gaze. Okay, so he was at the top.
Unbelievable.
Only she would get trapped inside an eagle temple with Nanauatl, their sun god.
Bet Castille would love to see this.
The thought snuck into her head, and she grimaced. How the hell did he manage to intrude on her thoughts, even now, when she was about to get her ass kicked.
Jaden forced the image of Julian from her mind and exhaled slowly, wincing, as pain lashed across her cheekbone.
The blood inside her mouth had stopped flowing, and she spit out the last remnants, hesitating as she heard him make a harsh noise.
Her mind was racing, searching for a way out. Would the sun god listen to her? She decided it was worth a try to play nice.
“Look, I’m sorry if coming here is a big no-no, I mean, me being a jaguar and all, but seriously, I’ve got a good reason.” She paused, encouraged at his silence. “Surely you know what’s going on out there. The darkness that’s invading the human realm needs to be stopped, and I’m thinking the answers are here someplace.”
She exhaled slowly and cocked an eyebrow. “You know, like in the secret temple that we all know”—she pointed to the ground—“is down below.”
Nanauatl’s eyes narrowed, and an unholy light emanated from deep within his body. The effect was eerie, and the incandescent shimmer made him more sinister and definitely more threatening.
He shook his head. “It is your people, your kind who orchestrated all of this. You hunted my warriors mercilessly, killing them when they were at their weakest, when the sun was in hiding. All in an effort to steal the portal for your own ill gains.” His voice began to resonate, and his anger was an invisible force that hurtled through the air at her. Jaden opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it. What the hell could she say? He was right.
“If humanity fails to recover from the darkness that will most surely overtake them, the jaguar warriors will be solely responsible.”
A spark of anger erupted inside Jaden, and she took a step forward. She so wasn’t willing to take the blame for everything.
“It wasn’t a jaguar who tempted Azaiel from the upper realm but one of your own.”
He hissed at her impertinence, his eyes blazing, his face a macabre grimace of fury. “You will not speak his name!” the sun god bellowed, but Jaden rushed on, needing to speak the truth and make him understand.
“Azaiel made the portal for the betrayer, and she would have used it to destroy the earth.” Jaden paused, chest heaving. “That has nothing to do with the jaguars; that is all on you.”
Nanauatl roared his anger and hissed as fire burned through his eyes. The temperature inside the chamber rose quickly, and Jaden struggled to breathe as the intensity of it infiltrated her pores, sending scorching flames across her flesh.
“I will kill you,” he snarled, showing an even row of deadly, serrated teeth.
“Again with the killing.” Jaden’s eyes searched in vain, but she couldn’t see a way around him. “Seems these days I’m either going to get killed or fucked.”
If she launched her body upward and twisted just so, she might have a chance to clear the temple.
A flash of light, or rather, a shift in the shadows caught her attention. She stilled, her eyes watching the sun god warily.
“I suppose both are possible.” The sun god ignored her words. Jaden took a step back while her belly ached from the tight muscles that pulled at her abdomen.
An eerie glow began to slowly build. Something was happening, and the hair on the back of her neck tingled.
That was never a good sign. She just might be screwed.
Jaden swallowed slowly and cleared her mind, her stance loose and ready to fight. And she’d be fighting, of that there was no doubt. She just hoped she’d be giving more than receiving.
Shadows pulsated against the stone walls, the eerie glow now resembling some kind of otherworld aurora borealis. The shimmering beams of light slithered along the