Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

Sandu stood as he sent out another call. Siv? Did you see anything different from where you are?

Afanasiv had taken up a position of watching the ruins from the opposite side from Petru. With Benedek in the body of a harpy eagle overseeing the ruins, they weren’t going to miss much.

Two more men coming toward the temple with packs around their necks. They’re moving at a fast rate of speed. No, there’s a third behind them. Lagging back on purpose. He’s clearly watching their back trail. This group is a little more cautious than the ones Petru reported.

Any signs of the undead? Dominic asked. He stood and signaled to something unseen in the corner of the room.

Sandu felt rather than saw movement toward the entrance of the room. For a moment, Sandu could see the shadow of a large cat on the wall, and then it was gone, disappearing once more as if it had never been. Solange followed it and then Jubal. No one stopped the human male. He was treated with the same respect as any Carpathian hunter would be treated. Still, Sandu was worried for him. It wasn’t as if the man could disappear into mist or shift into a bird and fly. He would have to find a way to keep up with the others as they moved fast through the rain forest to reach the ruins.

“Adalasia . . .”

“I know. You would prefer that I stay here.”

“I see no reason for you to come when there are so many of us,”

Sandu said. “If it is your preference, of course, you should come, but it isn’t necessary.” He was grateful that she shook her head.

“I’ll stay with Jasmine and Sandrine. The last thing I want to do is see these horrid men who performed such atrocities on Jasmine and got away with them for years. Who knows how many other women they raped and possibly murdered?”

Sandu bent his head and brushed a kiss across her upturned mouth. “This shouldn’t take long.”

She sent him a faint smile and then looked past him to Nicu. “Don’t get so smug about being Carpathian that you forget you aren’t invincible. They have those weapons, and no doubt, they actually know how to use them. If you get too arrogant, that may be your downfall.”

Nicu gave her his expressionless, deadpan look. “We are ancients, Adalasia.” As if that said it all.

Sandu knew Nicu was deliberately trying to rattle her, and it was working. She clenched her teeth at him.

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You’re getting too big for your britches, and you’re going to get your heart incinerated by that nasty weapon Jubal invented.”

Nicu looked down at his trousers. “My britches fit just fine, and as my brother’s lifemate, it is unseemly for you to be looking too closely.”

“Get out,” she hissed.

Sandu tipped her chin up and kissed her again, amusement uppermost in his mind.

Nicu and Sandu followed the trail of the others into the night sky. It was easy to see how Jubal traveled so fast. Dominic took him, and Jubal was at ease flying through the air and weaving in and out of trees at a dizzying speed. He didn’t seem to be uncomfortable with the height when they settled in one of the taller trees at the outskirts of the ruins.

Are they all inside? Sandu asked Benedek.

Yes. If the original five I saw went in, then the others have joined them. Ten for certain.

Solange leaned her back against Dominic, the very first vulnerable sign she’d shown. Why would they be recruiting after all this time? There aren’t any Jaguar women in the rain forest. All the women are gone. Juliette doesn’t live in Peru. There is only Jasmine and me.

A heartbeat went by. Two. It was Jubal who answered her while Dominic ran his hands gently through her hair.

There is Sandrine. They were told about Sandrine.

Solange froze, her golden skin going pale. There are few people who know of her existence. Who would betray a child to these vile men, Jubal? And why? What could possibly be their motive?

Hatred of all things Carpathian and Jaguar. Jubal sounded weary. Both of my sisters have become Carpathian. Joie is with Traian and Gabrielle is with Aleksei. My mother really detests that they are Carpathian, but above all else, she despises Jaguar with every breath she takes.

Sandu and his brethren were beginning to understand what Jubal suspected, and if he was right, the betrayal couldn’t get any worse. The cut was deep and it was visceral.

That makes no sense. You have Jaguar blood in you.

Yes, I do. Not just any blood. My mother is from a royal line as well. Like you, she was hunted relentlessly, and like Jasmine, she was kidnapped and assaulted. She was held for several years. I thought Rory was my father. He’s Gabrielle and Joie’s, but he isn’t mine. Both of them hid that fact from us. They went to such trouble to hide it. They never told us we had Jaguar blood in us. I think if our mother could have, she would have opened her veins and replaced her blood with someone else’s.