Lefa nodded in agreement. “I knew something was wrong, but the hatred toward your kind festered. The vampire must have planted the seeds among us. Your males stealing our women. I don’t remember ever encountering a vampire, or one who said such a thing, but I have known for some time that I was not thinking correctly.”
“He underestimated your strength. He must have chosen you because you’re a leader.” Kane said.
“At one time I was. Not so much anymore. The men are scattered, running in packs now, looking for women of our blood.” Lefa frowned, rubbed at his temples as he tried to recall what they’d been told. “I believe the vampire wants a specific woman, one of pure blood who can shift every bit as quickly as a man, fight as hard, as tirelessly. He was insistent that if we find her, that she be brought to him.” He sighed. “At the time he made it all seem sensible, but now it makes none at all.”
The leaves rustled and both men spun toward the sound. The jaguar-man slipped, toward Kane, his every movement fluid and stealthy, as quiet as any cat as he went back to back.
“There are eyes in the forest. And ears. My people are no longer trustworthy now that the vampire has gotten to them.”
Kane searched his memories for information that was eluding him. He couldn’t show vulnerability, or point out that he was seeing on two different levels and didn’t know which was real and which was imaginary. Nor did he even know if the shadow world was an illusion. Could he be walking in two worlds at the same time?
“You removed the taint of the vampire from me. Is it possible to do the same with my brethren?”
He could feel the jaguar-man stretching his mind, reaching with all of his senses to find danger. He sniffed the air, listened, his eyes moving restlessly, unceasingly.
“Whatever is out there is far from us,” Lefa said, “although others have entered the rain forest.”
Kane’s heart jumped. His lifemate. His eyes roamed out sharply seeking the white wolf out, widening the next minute when he didn’t find her. Where had she gone to? He thought worriedly. No lifemate could stay separated from the other for long and survive. They were two halves of the same whole and needed each other for completion.
Come to me… It was a command. A plea. Yet he didn’t know her face. He couldn’t fully picture her. He closed his eyes to hold his memories to him. Skin. He remembered her incredible skin, her fur, softer than anything he’d ever touched, like silk burning under his lips. He’d forgotten what it was like to desire. To lust. To think of a woman and want to sink his body forever into hers, making them one. Or maybe he’d never really known the feeling. Maybe he’d scanned so many other males it was merely an illusion until this moment in time. Now his body recognized the woman he needed, and it was demanding to be sated in every way.
“Man. You are swaying with weariness. This thing you have done for me, driving the vampire from my body, it was difficult on you.” Lefa made it a statement.
“Yes.” But it was more difficult to look into the leaves of the shrubs and ferns, the boughs lying broken on the ground, and see the shadowy faces of evil staring at him. In the numerous waterfalls and streams, eyes stared as if from a watery grave. Everything appeared to be translucent, a gray, dank veil drawn over the brilliant colors of the rain forest. The jaguar-man relaxed, the tension easing out of him, but Kane was more alert than ever. In the distance, others had entered the forest, that was true, but whatever faced him in the shadow world was still there, still waiting and watching. The jaguar-man couldn’t see or sense the other world, but he knew he was still in danger. Or maybe the shadow world really was illusion and he was losing his mind.
Because his legs refused to hold him any longer, he slowly crouched down, careful to appear to stay in control. He took another slow look around him, a small frown on his face. Why was he seeing everything through a veil, as if he were only half in his world and half in another? He plunged his hand into the soil he had slept in, hoping that it would anchor him and keep him from the shadows. Just as he’d expected, the soil was terra preta, fertile black soil found among the poorer reddish clay or white sand in the rain forest. Unlike the other soils of the rain forest, the terra preta maintained fertility. Finding the precious soil had been a deciding factor in his family’s decision to purchase the island. He took handfuls of the precious dirt and packed the wounds on his belly and sides to keep from losing any more blood. Even with the soil in his hands, the large, lacy fronds darkened in color, turned from vibrant green to a drab gray.
His breath caught in his throat as a thought occurred. If his lifemate was dead, would he cease to see in color? The rain forest was capable of overwhelming newcomers with its sheer intensity of vivid, brilliant color and raw beauty. He was at home in a place many saw as threatening and oppressive. Now, with his lifemate having restored his emotions and his ability to see in color, he should be blinded by the vivid colors, but as his surroundings fluctuated between color and shadow, could that mean she was dead? Was that why she wasn’t with him? For a moment time seemed to stop. His heart thundered in his ears, a frantic cry for his other half.
No. He let out his breath. She was alive. He felt her. Touched her mind-to-mind. It had been brief, but her mind had pushed against his.