His Darkest Hunger (Jaguar Warriors 1)

Libby watched as his eyes furtively crossed over her, and she resumed her hunched over stance. Was she mistaken or had his color turned gray?

He mumbled a few more words into the phone and then quickly crossed back to where she stood, his breaths coming in quick bursts as they wheezed their way out of his lungs.

She began to feel a growing tingle of concern. The fact that he was obviously scared shitless really didn’t bode well for her.

He grabbed the rope he’d tied to her waist, and she raised an eyebrow as he tugged her along behind him once more.

She dug the heels of her boots deep into the moist earth, feeling a sense of glee as he whipped back around to face her, anxious and on edge.

“What the fuck are you trying to pull now? Do you want me to hurt you?”

“I want you to untie me, asshole. I can’t keep this pace up with my hands behind my back.”

She shook her head, trying to use the whole female in distress thing. It had worked for her many times in the past.

“Look,” she said, “I volunteered to come with you. I want my son. I’m not going anywhere other than where you’re headed, so untie my hands and we can get there twice as fast.”

He studied her, his face harsh and pinched in the waning evening light.

He swore and cursed a blue streak but yanked on the rope, pulling her closer, until she was lodged firmly against his chest. His breath was hot against her cheek, and she felt revulsion as his body odor washed over her.

Libby tried to lean away from him, but his lips found their way to the side of her neck, and as he spoke, a rash of goose bumps spread like fire across her skin.

“You try anything, anything, and I will gut you like a pig. You’ll never see your son, you hear?”

She nodded her head in silence, biting her lips in an effort to stifle the disgust lodged in the back of her throat. His meaty fingers wove their way between the tight rope and her skin, and with a swift, assured stroke he cut the rope from her waist and turned her around to do the same to the bindings around her wrists.

The relief she felt as the pressure lessened was short-lived. He pushed her along in front of him, barking orders and maneuvering her toward some destination that only he knew. Her wrists were raw, chafed, and coated with dried blood. She did her best to rub some feeling back into them, picking up the pace as an urgent need to see this night end pounded through her.

For surely there would be closure of some sorts. She just hoped she came out on the winning side of this war she’d stepped into.

They hiked through rugged terrain, and she knew if her sense of direction was correct, they were heading away from the Caribbean and west toward the border that divided Belize from Guatemala. A faint buzzing rang in her ears and at first puzzled her, but as she concentrated on the noise, she realized it was Frank’s phone. He was pointedly ignoring the summons.

They had just crested a hill when a roaring, thunderous sound reached her. Fine, wet mist caressed her cheeks, and she realized they were near a huge waterfall. Her tongue, swollen from thirst, dryly licked at her chapped lips. Fran

k was breathing hard as well and stopped for a second, reaching into his pack and grabbing a bottle of water, from which he drank deeply, not caring that a great amount trickled out the corner of his mouth and down his chin.

Libby averted her eyes. She would not beg for a drink. She was close to a water source and would wait until then to quench her thirst. She watched as the large warrior wiped beads of sweat from his face. It had been pouring freely from him since they resumed their march through the jungle, and once more she was struck by how tense he seemed.

An uneasy feeling slithered through her belly as he motioned for her to continue. Her legs carried her forward, and no matter how hard she tried, her pace had slowed significantly. But for whatever reason, Frank seemed content to keep time with her, and she massaged her side, finally acknowledging the sharp pain that had come back with a vengeance.

Her eyes were dark with anger as she shot a glance toward Frank, but he was preoccupied and his own were trained much farther away. Bastard! He was the reason her ribs had been broken in the first place. She remembered it clearly now, and scowled into the darkness as it rushed through her mind, painted fresh and vibrant with color, as if it had happened only yesterday.

He’d been pissed off over something, but with Fat Frank, there always was something. He had come to her prison, his manner loud and aggressive. At that point she had shared her quarters with another woman, a blonde who didn’t talk much.

The other woman had instigated a confrontation, and now that she thought of it, Libby was sure she was trying to force a situation that would result in her own escape. Of course that didn’t happen, and in a fit of rage Frank lashed out, attacking both of them, kicking Libby in the ribs with all his might, breaking at least two.

She hadn’t laid eyes on him again until she walked into her former prison just a few hours earlier. She was surprised to see that the blond woman was still there, defiant and surprisingly still alive.

Libby didn’t care. The mystery woman was no concern of hers.

Frank came to a sudden stop, and her mind quickly moved from memories of the past to take in the magnificent falls that cascaded down before her. She cranked her head upward, but the night was thick with a velvety blanket of darkness, and she couldn’t see how far up it went. The roar was intense, so she assumed the drop was extremely steep.

Eerie tendrils of fog slithered along the ground, fingering their way outward from the mist that surrounded the fast moving water. Libby took a step back, sensing a darkness that infiltrated the fog as if something, or someone, was using it as some sort of conduit to get to them.

It was malevolent. It was evil.

Her mouth went dry as she felt coldness creep into her bones, and her feelings intensified. She held back a yelp as the fog wrapped its long tentacles around her ankles, sliding along her legs and up her body. She took a step back as she sensed a presence, and peered into the gloom, wanting to know, needing to see who her enemy was.