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)
“Are you having a problem with my choice of career?” she challenged. She tried as hard as she could to tamp down the belligerence, but there was just something about him that set her off.
“Do you think it was safe for you to do such a thing?”
“Is it safe for you to live here? Or any of those you say reside here?” This cousin thing wasn’t working out quite the way she had envisioned.
“You were raised in a far different environment than me or any other shifter, male or female, residing here,” Luiz said. “You’re trying to save a species of wildlife and not considering that jaguar shifters are dying out as well? Without women and children, the jaguar shifter species will be extinct in a few years.”
“Just because I was raised differently doesn’t mean I wasn’t taught how to protect myself.” She did the chin thing again before she could stop herself. Alois and Gemma always warned her that little gesture of defiance would get her in trouble someday. They emphasized that she needed to appear serene and feminine, as if she were an easy mark. They had told her never to give away the fact that she could protect herself because that took away part of her advantage of sheer surprise.
Luiz didn’t react to the challenge of her chin tilt the way several of the men had when she argued with them on the various treks she’d gone on. The men had automatically assumed they would lead, and she would follow quietly along, even in the discussions. She eventually earned her reputation for intelligence. That didn’t negate that things were usually awkward in the beginning.
The rainforest seemed to reflect Luiz’s silence. Those gold-flecked green eyes seemed to pierce right through her, as if he could see every mistake she’d ever made.
One moment Luiz was several feet from her; the next he was behind her, one arm locked around her throat and the other holding a knife to her chin. “How do you protect yourself from an attack such as this one?”
His voice was that same mild, expressionless tone. His body was relaxed, but she felt every muscle. He felt like a stone column, not a physical flesh-and-blood man. Although he held her in a very dangerous hold, she didn’t feel nearly as threatened as she had when he was standing in front of her—which made no sense at all.
“I see what you mean,” she said, because she did.
The moment she acknowledged that she wouldn’t have been able to stop him had he cut her throat that quickly, he released her, stepping away from her.
“How did you move so fast?”
Luiz’s gaze went past her, looking over her shoulder. His expression was inscrutable, but the danger emanating from him increased tenfold. One hand very gently settled around her arm, and Luiz guided her behind him. It was done so smoothly and firmly that she didn’t have time to think about what she was doing. Nor was she alarmed. She actually felt safe and protected.
A man sauntered out of the brush off to her left, facing Luiz straight on. He moved with an easy assurance in the jungle, as if he’d been born there—as, undoubtedly, he had been. He was a little shorter than Luiz and very compact, his chest dense, his muscles apparent. His hair was a tawny color, and his eyes were the rounder golden eyes of a jaguar. They held that same particular focus as Luiz’s gaze did. It took discipline to keep from wrapping her hand in Luiz’s shirt and holding on because those eyes were on her. And they were hungry.
“Percy,” Luiz greeted.
That cool tone brought the jaguar shifter to a halt. He switched his gaze to Luiz with an obvious effort, almost as if he had dismissed the threat in order to get to her. She took one step back to give Luiz fighting room if it came to that, but she remained behind him.
“Luiz. One rarely sees you anymore.”
That sounded like an accusation to Sarika. She immediately had the feeling that Percy didn’t care for Luiz—or was leery of him. That wouldn’t sit well with a man like Percy. She had been around so many men in the jungle and had learned to read body language. Percy was a man with supreme confidence. It was possible he had every reason to be confident.
Several times his gaze slid from Luiz to Sarika as if he couldn’t help himself. Each time it happened, she had a visceral reaction to that almost greedy, hungry stare. Her stomach dropped, and she wanted to flee.
Each time it happened, as if he knew how uncomfortable she was, Luiz shifted his body slightly—the tiniest of movements, but it instantly drew Percy’s attention back to him.
“I have been around, Percy. I often choose not to be seen.”