Salvador sat up, a contented smile on his face. “I like how you rub my stomach. You have very gentle hands. As for the spots, we are what are called melanistic Jaguars. We are the same as the orange, black, and white Jaguars, but our pigmentation is different. Everyone in our clan is melanistic, meaning we all appear to be solid black, though we aren’t in reality.”
“Oh.” Mira finally managed to garble out. “Well, erm, yes. What now then?”
“Well, if you’ll kindly allow me to take my clothes back, I will relieve you of the burden of trying not to stare at my genitals.” He said, trying to smother a laugh. “I am sorry if I have embarrassed you, I forget not everyone is used to the nudity that comes with clan life.”
Mira was certain her cheeks were not only flaming but actually on fire. She tried to stop herself from staring at him, but she couldn’t help it. For a moment, she thought this getting married idea might not be so bad if that’s what he had to offer her! Well-endowed was definitely the polite way to put it. Stop it, Mira, she reprimanded herself, give him his clothes back.
Standing up, she took the clothes and handed them over to him, going over to the window to pretend she was staring out of it and not really trying to catch glimpses of his beautiful body in the reflection he cast on the glass. Mira thought her knees might actually be going weak. She braced herself against the window frame and turned as she heard his pants zipping up.
Salvador still didn’t have a shirt on, and she could see now that the tattoo that ran across his shoulders and down his back was a jaguar design. She wanted to run her fingers along the outline, feel the parts that the ink covered to see if they felt different. Mira had never felt a tattoo before and always wondered if that part of the person’s skin felt different. Clenching her fist, she smiled at Salvador as he turned back to her.
“Well, obviously I know nothing about our shared heritage so you’re going to have to give me some time to come to terms with all of this. Marriage is certainly out of the question as we don’t even know each other. But I am curious about this inheritance, what is it exactly?” Mira was hoping it was a book or some other object; she didn’t need more money, she could earn that on her own, but she would like to have something of her grandmother’s past.
“Well, it’s more of a role, as I mentioned earlier, than an actual thing. Your grandmother was our story-keeper until your grandfather brought her here. She brought most of the books with her when she left, which she should not have done, but we still have some of them. We hid them from the Conquistadors and the Spanish priests who soon followed. They are in our places deep in the jungle, where the Spaniards were afraid to go. You will hold a great position within our clan, within our community, and you will also learn the secrets that many others do not know. Let me ask you, why couldn’t you read the Spanish? Was there a problem with the ink?” Salvador was once again sitting on the couch, appearing relaxed and happy.
“My eyes kept going blurry,” Mira replied. “I thought maybe I needed to have my eyes checked. It didn’t matter what kind of light I used or didn’t use; I simply could not make the lines un-blur.”
“Ah, so you really haven’t shifted yet. As the story-keeper of the Jaguar Clan, you will be able to read the lines once you’ve shifted and undergone the induction ceremony. Only those that are officially given the role of story-keeper can read the lines. You will have no problems once you undergo the ritual.” Salvador said confidently.
“Ritual?” Mira inquired, not liking the sound of that and remembering some of the pictures of depictions of Mayan rituals she’d seen in the past; they usually involved an altar, a bleeding victim missing a heart, and a scary looking priest standing over the victim with the still pumping heart held within his fist. She wasn’t taking part in any of that, she thought.
“It’s not what it sounds like. We don’t sacrifice people anymore. No, it’s more of a spiritual journey. You’ll be given a drink to induce a trance and the spirits will escort you through your journey; however they see fit.” Salvador responded reassuringly.
“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad. So, about this marriage thing?” She asked, eyebrow quirked again.
“We’ll put that off, for now, shall we? You’re right; you need to take all of this in. I thought Angelica would have prepared you for all of this, but for some reason she has not. We cannot know her reasons now, I suppose, so we’ll just have to make do as we can. When can you be prepared to leave?” He asked as he stood up.
“I guess I’ll need a few days. I’ll have to get my passport sent down to me, and arrange a flight.”
“Ah, your mother was born in Mexico, if you can find her birth certificate, and yours, that is all you’ll need to prove you are a Mexican citizen. Do you have those here?” He paused to make sure Mira had the documents, which she retrieved from a desk her grandmother always kept such things in. She had a copy of her own birth certificate at her home in New York, but she knew her grandmother kept these types of things here too. Finding the documents she handed them over to Salvador, thinking that she’d come to trust him quickly. Perhaps too quickly?
“I can arrange for an identity card however, in 24 hours, as that will ease things. I will bring it to you tomorrow evening, if that is alright with you? Good, I’ll see you around 6 tomorrow evening then? I should really allow you to get some rest now. Thank you for receiving me and listening to me. I will see you tomorrow evening then.” He gave a slight bow and headed to the front door.
“Thank you for coming, Salvador, it must have been a long flight for you. Enjoy your own rest and I will see you tomorrow. Good night.” Mira smiled as she shut the door, wondering if the man really intended to marry her. He must be used to dating models and movie stars; women like her would be too plain for him. Maybe he felt duty-bound to the clan?
Turning off the lights in the house and walking through to the bedroom, Mira considered whether she could really take part in such a marriage. Yes, the man was beautiful to look at but could she stay in a marriage where she was always wondering if her husband would stray to find more beautiful women? She knew she couldn’t and dismissed her attraction to him, telling herself she was going to follow him to Mexico to see what she could discover about her own past, but that was as far as it would go. Marriage, affairs, and things of that nature would just have to be ignored. Clicking the bedside light off, Mira closed her eyes, falling quickly into a sleep filled with sleek black fur and emerald-green eyes that glinted in the darkness.
Chapter 3
“We’re going to start in northern Mexico Mira; we had trade routes that used to bring us up here, and this is where most of the clan members are settled now, but we’ll go down towards the Yucatan in a few days. Up here the land is more arid but a long time ago it wasn’t. The Yucatan, as you’d expect, is more tropical.” The small plane banked as the pilot brought them over the runway, aiming for the landing strip at a private airport Salvador had chartered for them. The man appeared to have some money.
Salvador had arranged her paperwork, organized a flight, and prepared everything so that Mira could focus on settling up things at work to take another month of leave, and then prepare for the flight. The whole process had taken less than 48 hours, and now she was getting her first glimpse of a Mexican city. She was a little surprised she felt no connection to the place. Mira’s whole past, her family history, had been shrouded in mystery, and now it was all being laid bare for her. She suspected that’s why she loved history so much, delving into the past might reveal something of her own history, in an odd kind of way. Now, however, she was intrigued by the place they were flying into but she didn’t feel a connection.
Salvador managed to quickly maneuver them out of the airport and into a waiting car. The driver packed away the bags and had them on their way quicker than any other trip through on airport Mira had experienced before. She watched out her window as a mixture of really expensive housing and cheaper housing passed her by with a few businesses passing betwee
n them. She was rather tired by now and laid her head back against the car seat, wanting to just rest her eyes for a moment, but too excited to keep her eyes closed for long. The car stopped at a gated compound before sliding past the opening gates. Mira’s eyes widened as she saw the house they were going into. House, she thought, more like a palace! White and almond stucco presented a cool façade on the three-story sprawling abode that could house an entire rugby team or three. The house was beautiful with cast iron detailing and scrollwork in the stucco.
She walked into the place, hoping her jaw had shut by now, and followed a maid to her room. Salvador took her hand before she went into the room and pointed to a door just down the hall.
“That one is my room, over there; if you need me just call me. Here’s a phone I set up for you to use here in Mexico as well, it’s all in English so you should be alright to use it. Call me or come to the door, whatever you wish. I’ll be back in about an hour and we’ll go down for dinner alright?”
Mira could only smile and shake her head. Exhaustion was settling in and she wanted a bath and a nap. She wasn’t sure why she was so tired; the flight was long, but that didn’t usually bother her too much. She slipped into the bubbles of the bath the maid drew for her and relaxed, wondering what was coming next. She fell asleep there and slept the rest of the night through after the maid picked her out of the water and put her back into bed. She had her first real restful sleep in days, a quiet sleep that was boring compared with the ones she’d been having lately.
Over the next few days, Mira met her grandparent’s family members; aunts, uncles, and cousins she’d never known existed, were crawling up out of the woodwork. They all immediately accepted her and treated her as though she had always been a part of them, of their lives, and she started to feel like she really did have a clan, after all. The days were filled with exploring the city, shopping, and lots of eating, and the nights were filled with learning about her family history. The elders of the clan told stories to the younger generations, and Mira listened as though she were one of the children.
One night the women gathered her up, speaking to her in Spanish that she was still having a hard time grasping, because they spoke so quickly, and took her out to the desert. A fire was lit and the men had their own circle, about 500 feet away. The women brought her a drink, and encouraged her to take a sip. She was thirsty and wanted more of the delicious nectar but the woman took the small bowl from her, telling her too much would make her sick.
The woman began to sing then, as the men began to play beautifully crafted but odd instruments, things Mira had never seen before, and Mira watched the heavens as a languid feeling began to take over her body. She felt as if she was sinking into her own skin and smiled as she let her body relax back into the cooling sand. She turned her head to the group of men, knowing Salvador was there because he was the tallest man in the group, and watched as small plants began to sprout from the desert floor.
The plants quickly became tall plants with flowers and fruits weighing down their limbs. Trees unlike any she’d ever seen before began to grow and the moonlight illuminated a variety of animals resting on their branches, safe from the creatures that inhabited the jungle floor. Mira did not find any of this strange; she simply felt happy that she was witnessing such a lovely event.
Then time seemed to speed up, and the days sped into night within the blink of an eye; people came and went, until the scenes before her eyes slowed down and a tall building grew out of the forest. She saw two people on top of a temple, speaking in a language that she’d never heard but somehow knew. Standing in the shadows of the temple she didn’t wonder how she got there, she just watched as the couple reached to the heavens imploringly then quickly turned into Panthers. Mira knew she was witnessing the birth of the were-people and watched as their lives played out before her. The couple appeared to be Salvador and herself, but the woman had the black hair of the indigenous people.
She watched, through lifetime after lifetime, as the civilization rose, then fell under the weight of rival civilizations and a growing famine. She watched as the desert encroached and the city in the jungle disappeared, blown away with time. The use of the building materials for other purposes saw the blocks removed or simply buried, until the city was finally nothing more than the spot she sat in now.
In the desert she saw Salvador shift, coming to her with the slow sensual gait all big cats possess. He nuzzled her face with his own, rubbing himself along her now lean, fur-covered body. Mira followed as she ran up the steps of the temple that now appeared again before her eyes, torches lighting the way up the steps until she reached the top. A slab rested there, lit by the torches and she rested on it, shifting back into human form as Salvador took his place above her.
“We are the chosen ones, Mira; we have to ensure our people can carry on. We shall make a child here, tonight, that will lead our people out of the darkness, into a place where they are safe and will live long into the future.” His lips brushed hers then, making her forget the hard feel of the stone slab beneath her as she lost herself in Salvador’s body, or the oddness of the words he spoke.
Mira sat up, wanting to touch his skin finally, and ran her fingers over his tattoo, noting the skin felt the same as the rest of his skin, like silk stretched over his muscles, bones, and sinew. She ran her hands down his shoulders, across his well-muscled back, and down to grasp his tight buttocks, just below the dimples in his back. She squeezed the tight muscles, encouraging him forward as he deepened the kiss, wanting to feel his hard length against her own soft body.
As the kiss continued, Mira moaned, feeling her excitement rise as Salvador’s hands roamed her body. He broke away to kiss down her long smooth neck, and she leaned back so he could have better access. Her legs dangled from the slab she was on, but she wrapped them around his slim waist as his tongue slid down the skin of her throat, to her dark, carmine colored left nipple. Her breath caught in her throat as his lips slid over the bud and his teeth grazed the sensitive skin.
Salvador moaned against her skin and the vibration sent shivers straight up her spine and into her brain. Mira spread her legs wider as Salvador moved down her body, exploring her smooth skin slowly in her trance reality. Mira didn’t even stop to wonder if this was really happening or just a trance; she just wanted to experience Salvador’s passion. His lips brushed her just below the indentation of her belly button and she tensed, not sure if the feeling tickled her or was pleasurable. He quickly moved lower, letting his tongue lead the way.
Mira’s eyes rolled up to the sky as Salvador’s mouth intruded into her most secret parts. There were billions of stars she’d never seen before, and she could actually see the Milky Way for a change. She quickly forgot the scene above her as Salvador found the spot that thrilled her the most and worked it between his teeth. His tongue flicked against her once softly, then roughly as he let his entire tongue rasp along her clit and her eyes opened wide again, her back arching as a shooting star flew over them both. She followed the star, flying into the heavens where pleasure made her body spasm and her voice ring out.
Salvador did not let her rest, instead he kissed her again as the pleasure ebbed and her breathing slowed. He stroked her tongue with his own. She could taste herself there and sucked his tongue, wanting to get every last drop of her from his mouth. Moving her hands up his neck, she urged him to continue, to make the kiss last longer. As their tongues swirled together, Mira felt the head of his cock at her entrance, slowly nudging into her. She thrust her hips up, her feet pressing into the stone slab, wanting all of him inside her quickly but didn’t break her mouth away from his. She loved the feel of his lips and the taste of him far too much to let go.
Salvador broke away from her lips; however, to stare into her eyes as he moved within her. Salvador slowed the thrust of hips against her own, watching her face as he slid into her with slow even movements. Mira could see he was watching and knew he was waiting for something but did not know w
hat. She slowed her own movements in response, watching him the same as he watched her and slowly, ever so slowly, awareness came back to her.
They weren’t on the top of a temple, there were no torches, and the people that had brought them there were all gone. She wasn’t even on a stone slab; she was cushioned and cradled by the sand of the desert, the blanket beneath her protecting her skin from abrasion. Confused, she tried to sit up, but Salvador gently pushed her back down. Her movements shifted his cock inside of her and she tensed, looking up at him. They were really having sex! She wasn’t sure what to make of that, but she did know she didn’t want to stop. This might be the only chance she had at having him and she was going to take it.
“Salvador?” Mira asked, moving her hand up to touch his beard covered face. She ran her fingers through the facial hair and up into his hair line, loving how the long locks hung down into her face. His hair was thick, dark, and silky between her fingers.
“It’s okay, Mira; I’ll stop if you want me to.” Salvador spoke to her gently. “The spirit world sometimes takes us to places we weren’t exactly expecting to go.”
“No,” she said uncertainly, then more strongly, “no, I don’t want you to stop. I want to spend the rest of the night out here with you, under this sky. Don’t stop.”
She pulled his face back down to her own, wanting this one night at least, and determined to fill her memory with his taste, his smell, his feel, and his voice. Who knew what the future held for her, but she was going to ensure she had this memory carved into her brain before letting him go again.
Making a noise and shifting, she indicated to him that she wanted to have him beneath her and she took her time, climbing over him to settle in just the right spot. She kissed his lips, his neck, his own dark-brown nipples, before sliding down to take him into her mouth. She sucked his cock, loving the taste of her own body mixed with his. She did not stay there long, however, Mira simply wanted the taste of him in her mouth for now, too greedy to let him simply cum in her mouth and be on his way. No, she wanted to feel him between her thighs, to feel his body pushing up into hers.
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