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)
“How long have you had these dreams?”
“Nightmares,” she corrected. “For as far back as I can remember, even as a toddler. Once they’re in my head, it takes being alone and a great deal of meditation to quiet them.”
“And this amulet? Where did you acquire it?” Once again, he slid the pad of his thumb across that raised surface, tracing the features of the jaguar.
“It was something my mother apparently wore, and when my father sent me to his brother to raise, he told my uncle that she had wanted me to have it. She had made that plain to him from the moment I came into the world. He said she put it on my chest and said it belonged to me. I don’t take it off.”
“You stood up to the jaguar males, Sarika. You were afraid, but you faced them down. You travel the world and encounter all different tribes and people, even other species, and you accept them, yet you say you’d never heard of Carpathians until Luiz first told you about us. And you fear us. Every one of us. In your nightmares, were there Carpathians that harmed you or your family? Did they participate in these ancient rituals?”
Frowning, she pushed herself into a half-sitting position and then shoved at all the hair falling around her face. He liked that she didn’t dismiss the idea but rather gave it serious thought. “I don’t know. I blocked out a lot of it because it was gruesome and scary, and once it’s in my head, I can’t seem to get it out for days.”
Her gaze clung to his as if seeking reassurance. She didn’t realize their lifemate bond was already working. She trusted him whether she realized it or not.
“Now that you’ve considered it, you can let your brain figure out the puzzle,” he said. “If it continues to bother you, I am capable of reading your memories if needed to help you.” He didn’t make it an offer, just casually told her he could.
She slid back down into the hammock. “I’m so tired, Tomas. I can’t continue the conversation with a functioning brain. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You traveled for days and had a very traumatic experience. I just want you to listen to me for a couple more minutes, and then you can sleep. Can you do that?”
She nodded but lowered her lashes as if she were drifting off. He wrapped a length of hair around his fist and gave her the information as matter-of-factly as possible.
“These are only possibilities, and I hope you sleep until I come to you, but if not, you may feel sorrow. Overwhelming grief, and think I’m dead because you can’t feel or reach me. If that happens, know I am not dead but sleeping a rejuvenating sleep.”
She didn’t look amused this time, only thoughtful. She didn’t open her eyes. He continued. “You may have trouble eating or drinking. Don’t try to eat meat. Stick to fruit and water or a mild natural tea.”
“I’m not even going to ask why, but I’ll expect an explanation tomorrow.”
“You’ll get one. Just know I’m alive, and no matter what, I’ll come for you. Can you do that for me?”
“Anything to get you to let me sleep.”
There was that slight quirk to her lips, forming a half smile. He didn’t even try to resist. He leaned down and brushed his lips lightly over hers before dissolving into tiny molecules and streaking away. His resting place would be beneath the tree house, deep in the ground.
Chapter
10
She was a prisoner after all. Sarika woke two hours before sunset. She wasn’t certain how she knew exactly what time it was, but she did know. She woke uneasy, with vague memories of nightmares, Tomas taking her blood, forcing her to drink his. Of a head rolling across the floor of an ancient temple to land at her feet, face up. It was the head of her mother. Or perhaps her. She couldn’t tell the difference, only that the eyes were wide open, watching as her head was taken from her body. A roar of approval swept through the temple, and she could only look down in utter horror at that severed head.
Sarika dragged herself off the hammock, getting up too fast, her heart beating far too hard. She had to leave this place now, while she still could. If Tomas came back, or Luiz, or any of them, she was lost. She jammed her belongings into her backpack and rushed for the strange door made of vines. Just before she reached the door, she hit something solid, like an invisible wall, and fell back.
She was definitely a prisoner. There was no need to run around like a maniac checking every square inch. The Carpathians would have been thorough. She had gotten out of Luiz’s safeguards because he’d made them one way only. This weave was far stronger and went both ways, inside and outside. She couldn’t see the invisible barrier, but she felt surrounded by it. She’d always been sensitive to any item with power. She could feel the strength, and this particular barrier was extremely strong.