Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 118860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 594(@200wpm)___ 475(@250wpm)___ 396(@300wpm)
Jubal stood right in front of the women and children, and the insects rushed around him as if they couldn’t see he was there. A few went over his boots to attack the bubble, but not one speck of the chemicals touched him. Not one beetle perceived him as a threat.
How do we defeat them, Sarika? Tomas’ voice was calm, accepting of her evaluation. He didn’t point out that there were master strategists in the room. He believed in her and the ancient power of the jaguar. What Sarika got from that calm acceptance was that in no way did he feel superior to her. She swore, in that moment, the power in her amplified.
We will join together, every jaguar in this room. I’ll reach for others. We can destroy them. Just make certain that everyone continues to keep their shields strong.
Sarika didn’t hesitate. She moved out from behind Tomas’ body. Just the movement alone should have attracted the attention of the bombardiers, but none of them followed her. Not a single one. They swarmed around her just as they had done with Jubal.
I have had two blood exchanges with you, Tomas, yet they don’t recognize that blood in me. They sense only jaguar.
The raised face of the jaguar burned into the center of her palm. It pulsed with a rhythm she recognized, although, to her knowledge, the amulet had never sprung to such life in all the time she’d had it.
She reached for the three jaguar women, touched their jaguars with her own, and the creatures, without consulting their human counterparts, turned over all power to her. Solange’s jaguar joined them. Then Jasmine’s. Juliette’s was next. Power crackled all around her, but the bombardier beetles didn’t appear to notice as streaks of light raced around the massive room.
Finn stood beside Jubal, placing his body between the beetles and the ancient Carpathians. Luiz abruptly stepped out of his protective shell to stand with him. The boost of power was so strong, Sarika could barely contain it. How Luiz managed to suppress his Carpathian legacy, when he was truly of the De La Cruz line, Sarika couldn’t begin to fathom, but she only felt his jaguar, a powerful animal from a royal lineage. Jubal was from one as well. And Solange’s cat was perhaps the most powerful of all.
The bombs exploded everywhere so that the entire room smelled caustic and white acid was flung on every possible surface. Even Finn, Jubal and Luiz had to protect themselves from the explosions as the beetles marched relentlessly toward the ancients. They dropped down from above and crawled all over the walls and trees.
Sarika blocked out the sounds of the loud explosions and let go of all thoughts of herself. Power filled her. Jaguar power. She drew on it, pulled it to her. Jubal, Finn and Luiz gave freely of their power. She felt the difference in the male power and used it to reach out, to send for every available female shifter close or far.
Streaks of blue and white arced throughout the room, building an electrical storm. Each time the lights flashed, they became even more brilliant, zipping throughout the space from the high ceiling to strike the floor. Everywhere the incandescent light touched as it traveled, it cut through the mass of beetles, reducing them to ash.
Sarika unleashed more power, building the blue-and-white jagged electrical arcs so more and more flashed throughout the room, burning through the invaders, finding them in the trees, the ceiling, the walls, and destroying the ones on the floor. She had no idea of time passing. She was only aware of the combined power moving through her to find its way to the electrical storm.
When it seemed as if the beetles were annihilated, she changed the blue-and-white storm to piercing spears, illuminating every leaf, layers of walls and ceiling, paying special attention to the floors to ensure not a single insect was left.
Tomas caught her before she fell, her body completely drained. He simply cradled her in his arms.
“You can do the cleanup,” he told the other ancients. “I’m taking her to Luiz’s. She needs to rest.”
Sarika was more than happy to have Tomas carry her back to the tree house. She was utterly drained. She didn’t even hear or acknowledge the women calling out to her as Tomas took her out of Dominic and Solange’s home and far away from the celebration that had turned so ugly.
“This women’s empowerment business is exhausting,” she informed him, circling his neck with her arms. She buried her face against his chest. “I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“We’ll get you tucked into bed,” he assured her. “You can sleep until next rising.”
She felt as if she were floating through the clouds. If she weren’t so brain-dead, she might have been afraid as he took her across the sky toward Luiz’s tree house. She wasn’t used to their ability to carry another being as they flew. The idea that she might be able to fly after the conversion would have been exhilarating if she weren’t so tired.