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)
I am relaxed. You just keep getting bigger.
That made him smile. He kissed her, his mouth as gentle as he could make it when he wanted to crush her to him. Take my blood, Sarika. Come into my world all the way.
There was no hesitation. Her mouth went to the offering he had opened on his chest, and the world, for him, tilted and spun. She made the earth move. He had never really experienced the sun, but he felt that the radiant brightness she shone over him had to rival it.
Sarika made little noises, soft moans, compelling cries, that sang through his veins like a symphony of fire. His body moved in hers. Her body rose and fell over his. They shared the same skin, the same soul. For him, it was a cosmic experience. So unexpected and beautiful.
It was difficult to force himself to stop her feeding when it felt so right and enhanced their lovemaking, but stopping it was necessary. He took over, surging into her, looking into her eyes, drowning there, feeling like they were one.
Sarika gasped out her climax, clutching his shoulders, her heart beating wildly as he found his own release. She buried her face on his shoulder. “I’m very, very fond of your ability to deal with clothes, Tomas.”
He found himself laughing. “Happy to oblige.”
She grew quiet, and he held her tighter, waiting…Twice he checked in with her jaguar. Coh was complacent. Seemingly unaffected. When the cramps began, they seemed far milder than Tomas anticipated, so mild they could have been nonexistent. Still, he opened his mind to his brothers and Luiz. They would help ease her into their world.
He nuzzled the top of her head, aching. Worried. He’d witnessed the conversion, and it was brutal as a rule. Time passed. He rocked her gently, but she didn’t seem to be uncomfortable. The conversion was taking far too long. He shed his body and entered hers to see for himself what was taking place.
Her organs were reshaping just as they should have been, but her blood was not being taken over by his. It was as if the blood cells bonded together to create something else. His were fully Carpathian, and hers appeared to still be jaguar, but their cells clung to one another.
Tomas shared his findings with his brothers and Luiz. Luiz reached out to Dominic for reassurance. It appeared that the same thing had happened when Dominic converted Solange. She was Carpathian, but still jaguar.
Tomas checked on Coh. The jaguar seemed bored with the entire business, although, he realized, she was watchful over Sarika.
Are you hurting? he asked Sarika.
She shook her head. I’m just very, very tired.
I will allow you to sleep in just a little while. I want to ensure you are completely converted with no repercussions before we go to ground.
It only took another half hour. Sarika dozed in his arms as he took her beneath the tree house, where he opened the earth and floated her down into the soil’s welcoming arms.
His brothers and Luiz met him on the tree house verandah. He explained in detail what happened with Sarika’s blood. “She seems fully Carpathian and yet at the same time is fully jaguar.”
“And you? What has her blood done to you?” Mataias asked.
“That’s a good question,” Tomas conceded. “Time will give us that answer.”
“We have to follow Justice,” Lojos said. “We can’t allow him to get to the second piece of the weapon. I have a couple of ideas about how to track him.”
“Go on ahead. I will wake Sarika in three risings, and we will catch up to you,” he told his brothers. “We can go much faster than you because we won’t be looking for signs of his passing. Keep me informed on where you are at all times.”
“I will stay here,” Luiz added. “When Tomas and Sarika rise, I will accompany them to you.”
Tomas wasn’t surprised. Luiz took his role as Sarika’s family very seriously. They were chasing after who every hunter considered to be the most powerful Carpathian alive. If they caught up to him and a battle ensued, no single hunter would defeat him.
“Are you certain, Luiz? You have much to lose,” Tomas pointed out.
“I have my duty to our people,” Luiz said. “And to Sarika. I go with you.”
Tomas gripped his brothers’ forearms, first Mataias and then Lojos. “Safe journey,” he murmured.
“Keep our girl safe,” his brothers said simultaneously.
Tomas watched his brothers leave. They had spent centuries together, looking after one another, and it felt wrong to stay behind.
“You’ll catch up soon enough,” Luiz said. “I’ll guard your sleeping chamber, and when you rise, we will be able to cover the distance in a rising. Maybe two at most.”
Tomas nodded. “Thank you, Luiz.”
He hurried back to Sarika. She was sleeping, but not as peacefully as he would have liked. Floating down into deep earth, he checked her and her jaguar again. Both seemed to be healthy. Sarika wasn’t as far under his compulsion as he thought she should be.