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)
The jaguar gave an honest answer.
Even with you guiding her, that must have been such a lonely life. And frightening every minute. She must have always felt she wasn’t good enough. Would never be good enough.
The jaguar made a single sound of pain. I tried to tell her that every being needed balance, but she couldn’t hear me through her fear. And she had reason to fear. More than any other, Brodrick searched for one with her blood. It didn’t matter that she was his daughter, he would have imprisoned her just as he did the others.
But he thought he had killed all of his offspring.
The jaguar sighed. There was a massacre, she was very young, but when he questioned her, she refused to give me up. He tried to tear out her throat.
How did she survive? There was genuine interest in Sarika’s gentle inquiry. Tomas was just as interested.
The jaguar looked uncomfortable. When he tortured her to try to force me to show myself, she would position her body in such a way he didn’t harm me. He stabbed her with the point of a knife multiple times. You can see the scars on her body. But she never allowed that knifepoint to touch me.
There was admiration in the jaguar’s thoughts. Wonder that a child could be so protective that she would endure torture and even certain death so Brodrick the Terrible couldn’t get to her jaguar.
I was unhurt, and the moment he tossed her outside on the pile of dead and dying, I acted to stop her bleeding. I couldn’t allow attention to be called to her. I didn’t want them to know she still lived because they were in a killing frenzy. I just ensured she wouldn’t bleed to death.
Sarika gave the cat a serene smile. One of admiration. Again, you saved her life.
She saved mine, the jaguar corrected.
As she grew, it is clear you wanted her to have a relationship as a woman. You encouraged her to allow herself to be feminine.
Again, the cat sighed. She sank down onto her haunches and then stretched out, no longer a threat. If anything, she was in a vulnerable position. She wouldn’t listen. I don’t think she could listen. Being a woman made her feel too vulnerable. Jaguars submit to their mates. She was extremely submissive in that regard, and she despised that trait in herself. She saw it as weakness. She vowed a man would never have dominance over her.
Sarika allowed that information to sink in. Allowed the jaguar to understand what she’d just revealed. You wanted so much more for her, didn’t you?
The jaguar rested her head on her paws. Yes. There were times I wanted her to have someone else watching over her. Comforting her. I couldn’t hold her when she cried. More and more, she would stay in the jaguar form rather than her human one so she wouldn’t have to cope with so much sorrow alone.
And despite her insistence, and she probably was impatient and annoyed when you persisted, you continued to counsel her to allow herself to be a woman as well as a warrior, didn’t you? You wanted the best for her.
Tomas went still inside. Sarika had led the cat to the only real conclusion that made sense. It was the jaguar who had persuaded Solange to accept Dominic. From the beginning, when Solange had come into her teens, the cat had worked on her to be more than one-sided.
He saw that exact moment when the jaguar realized she had been the one to open the door for Dominic. He was unfailingly gentle with Solange. In public, they presented as two equal warriors. He respected her abilities in a fight and didn’t attempt to force her into staying at home and waiting for him. She fought at his side as an equal.
It is only at home that Solange shows him her feminine side. She still has trouble, even with him, and he is unfailingly gentle with her. He always allows her to choose what she will do for him when they are alone. What she will wear. When they are alone, he prefers a certain type of clothing, and she feels vulnerable in those garments, the jaguar conceded.
Does he know she is uncomfortable?
Yes. He never insists, and he always makes her feel beautiful. He always shows his appreciation of her as a woman and partner. I cannot fault him on that. The jaguar admitted it reluctantly.
Why do you feel she was coerced into becoming Carpathian? I am facing such a decision. If you don’t mind, I would like the benefit of your wisdom. Frankly, I am afraid. Not of him, he is wonderful to me, but of a species I don’t understand. Solange must have been terrified. How did you help her through it?