“And what is that?” Rafe asked. The bruises on his face were discoloring fast. He’d carry a shiner or two for a day or so before they started fading. Jaguars mended quickly and it took a lot to really harm them, but Rafe looked as if he’d just taken one hell of a beating.
“There are underground tunnels, strategically designed to help move necessary jaguars to keep them away from her claws.” Naria smelled bitter as she spoke.
“Why didn’t you just tell us this?” Anna asked, turning to face her. “We’ve run together since we were cubs. Doesn’t that account for anything?”
Her back was to the male who’d smelled so concerned over Naria. Anna tried to appeal to Naria and barely managed to get her words out when Rafe leapt at her.
“What the…” Her words caught in her throat. Rafe’s powerful arms wrapped around her and a fierce growl sounded in her ear, sending chills rushing over her flesh as her spine sparked, ready to defend herself.
It dawned on her when the male behind her moved as well and swept Naria into his arms that two males were laying claim on their females. She couldn’t say if one male moved before the other, but the smell in the room changed drastically. The other males stood down, watching this new set of events as both males held firmly to their females and growled at each other.
“Rafe,” she pleaded, twisting in his grip.
He made no effort to let her go. “It appears the natives aren’t as friendly as we originally thought,” he whispered in her ear. “Breathe in deeply, my little cat. Tell me what you smell.”
She was able to turn her head and see Rafe’s face as he whispered. He wasn’t looking at her, although she was close enough to his face to kiss his cheek if she’d wanted. Instead, his expression was hardened and twisted with something smelling similar to outrage and hatred. Anna stilled, turning her attention to Naria and the male who kept her pressed against him. She breathed in the air. Most of what she inhaled was the combined scent of Rafe and her, but she didn’t miss the unique aroma Rafe mentioned.
It was the definite sour, stale smell of distrust. Why hadn’t she smelled it sooner?
“I ran with many cubs who would today slit my throat and grin as I bled out,” Naria spat at her. There was so much anger in her tone it would have been impossible to believe she had the capability to stifle those emotions if Anna hadn’t witnessed it herself. “If you’d run to Colony alone, it would have been different. But, Anna, you are running with a VicMoran. Even before we learned what our traditions had to say, your litter despised his litter,” Naria said, her words changing to hushed whispers as she stared at Anna.
“My litter?” Anna couldn’t hold back the sudden anger filling her. Naria had been her blood sister, the only living creature on the planet she’d shared all her secrets and fantasies with, even after she’d come of age and her littermates wouldn’t allow her out of the den when Colony started smelling different. There were still times when she and Naria had been able to be together. “You remember me saying to you how much I despised VicMorans?”
When Naria didn’t say anything, Anna nodded. “Remember your facts.”
“You never went against the beliefs of David and John,” Naria whispered, her tone relaxing somewhat, but her placid stare revealed nothing.
“David is dead,” Anna stated, and sucked in a breath when it hit her this was the first time she’d said those words allowed.
Not only was it obvious Naria didn’t know this, but the males about them also reacted more so than she would have guessed they would.
She glanced at Rafe when she knew he smelled the sadness and regret as easily as she did. Returning her attention to her lifelong friend, she tilted her head slightly, confused.
“I didn’t know you were that close to my littermate,” Anna said, glancing at the three males, who were standing in front of the doorway leading to the hallway. All of them had lowered their heads, as if suddenly entering mourning. “What is this?” She looked at Naria. “You said earlier you knew so much about the laws and traditions from seeing a website Rafe’s littermate had made,” she murmured, something akin to panic hitting her. What had her littermate conspired to do? Damn, she prayed she was wrong. “My littermate was going to bring the original papers back to Colony,” she said, voicing her fears but intentionally not making it a question as she stared at Naria. “You know so much about them because David howled to all of you about them.”
She should have seen it sooner. Ran was one hell of a computer guru. Yes, he possibly had hacked into quite a bit of information about what was going on up here. But that didn’t mean anyone up here could match those skills. Anna didn’t remember Naria ever spending a lot of time online. The males surrounding them were vaguely familiar, but no one Anna knew well enough to call them by their litter’s name. Naria had lied to her and she hadn’t even smelled it.
Naria stared back at her as the silence lingered in the kitchen. Emotions settled, everyone slowly accepting information they didn’t know until just now.
“I am so incredibly sorry for the loss of your littermate,” Naria finally said, struggling only a moment before the male holding her released her. She stepped forward, reaching out and touching Anna’s arm with her fingers. Her fingertips were cool and her eyes equally as unreadable as she stared at Anna. “And what we’ve had all our lives does still matter, Anna. My den has been converted into a war camp, complete with barriers in the walls and curtains designed to prevent anyone outside from hearing what happens inside. My trust is gone. Times have changed and I run only for myself today.”
The male behind her shifted, possibly not liking hearing Naria announce her refusal to consider running with anyone but herself. Anna didn’t pay attention to him but focused on Naria.
“You trust me, Naria, or we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Your power of smell isn’t so tainted you can’t tell I’ve been honest with you since entering your den.”
“True.” Naria looked as if she might say something else but instead stepped backward until she was next to her male. “It’s time to go.”
“Go where?” Rafe asked.
The male next to Naria shot him a glare that looked like a warning. Anna didn’t understand what she smelled or saw. The five of them were behaving too jumpy. They howled by looking at each other instead of with words. It was as if mentioning trust had been a ridiculous effort to suggest something existed when it obviously didn’t. Even the glances these jaguars shot at each other didn’t hold any trust.
Naria gave her a male a quick, barely noticeable shake of the head before gesturing to Anna. “Bring your male and follow me,” she instructed then turned to the doorway leading down the hall. The three males moved out of their way then brought up the rear as the males followed Anna and Rafe into the back half of the den.
“Why are we all going into the bedroom, Naria?” Anna didn’t get any of this.
“This way,” Naria said, entering her bedroom then opening her closet door. She stopped as Anna reached the open door to the closet and stared at Anna head-on. “You talk of trust and how I should still possess it. But will you trust me?”
“You demand trust without offering it?” Anna challenged. “Are you going to give me yet another reason not to trust you, Naria?” Anna kept her voice cool and didn’t break contact with Naria’s muted green eyes, even when Rafe placed his hand on her hip. She finally looked past Anna into the dark closet. It was so dark she couldn’t see the far wall inside. “You’re putting us in a closet?”
Anna was pretty sure she could close Naria into the closet before all the males behind them could shove the two of them inside.
“It isn’t a closet,” Naria whispered then turned and walked inside, leaving the door open.
Anna stared after her, her insides cramping as nervous apprehension filled her. She couldn’t see Naria any longer. No matter how she strained, her old friend had disappeared.
“Follow her,” the male behind Rafe ordered.
An
na looked over her shoulder, but the males shoved Rafe into her. She stumbled into the closet, and before she could regain her footing, she tripped and took several more steps before slapping her hand on the wall and managing not to fall.
It didn’t smell as if she was in a closet.
“Naria, the light!” the male behind Rafe bellowed.
Rafe’s arms went protectively around Anna and she gripped his wrist, aware of how damp her hand was. She couldn’t see a thing. If she weren’t able to smell Rafe and feel him around her, she would have been terrified. It was humiliating that she was becoming claustrophobic in the dark. But the pitch-blackness closing in around her consisted of an unknown, and she’d never enjoyed entering a situation without being properly prepared.
After a long moment, Naria answered, “It’s burned out.” Her voice sounded far away.
Anna wasn’t positive if she heard footsteps, especially with the males behind Rafe shifting around and their uneasiness smelling as strong as Rafe’s and hers. She damn near jumped out of her skin when something touched her hand.
Anna screamed, striking out and immediately hitting flesh.
“Ouch!” Naria squealed. “It’s me. Come on. You’re in a hallway that is going underground before it surfaces. Just follow me. There is usually a light, but apparently it’s burned out. Come on. There isn’t a lot of time.”
It was more of an explanation than she’d heard since seeing Naria. Rafe stepped into her, letting her know he agreed. Naria had just told them what was going on and they would cooperate. At least for now.
They ended up walking long enough that Anna grew incredibly tired and her feet were sore long before they ended their trek. Walking in pitch-blackness, with no ability to see even her hand in front of her face, was more of a challenge than she thought it would have been. Worse yet, Naria was intent on all of them keeping up a quick pace. Anna put one foot in front of the other, walking at a seriously fast clip, and didn’t once run into Naria. Other than all of their footsteps on what seemed to be a dirt floor, only her nose guided her.
And she smelled dirt. Lots and lots of dirt. She wanted to know how far underground they were, when had the tunnel been built? Did it only lead to Naria’s den? When had Naria gained so much power?
Anna stumbled over a rock and almost fell out of the tunnel.
She blinked a few times, moving into Rafe as he did the same, and took a moment to look around her. “Where are we?” she asked, not bothering to direct her question to anyone.
“Outside Colony.” It was all the explanation Naria offered before starting down a stone hallway that opened into a cave.
They were in the mountains—literally. Anna gulped down her next breath and detected the dampness in it. They were in a very large cave and walking again, heading deeper into a mountain.
Chapter Nine
“At least the meat is good.” Rafe leaned back against a rock, finishing off what was left of the fresh kill before tossing the bone into the fire.
Naria had guided them into a huge cave, produced food and clothing while two of the males who’d come with them started a fire in a fire pit. Once the fire burned and took the edge off of the chill in the cave, they were left with a pile of supplies and Naria’s promise to return soon.
There were quite a few jaguars coming and going from the cave. Those who were settled inside used large blankets and sticks to block off small sections for their own litter to give them privacy. Anna found blankets among the supplies brought to them, and she and Rafe created cloth walls, which gave them a temporary den to relax in and have time to talk about what had happened.
One thing was apparent. Jaguars who weren’t a part of Colony were using this cave as a temporary shelter. Anna hadn’t known there were this many jaguars living outside Colony. It had always been howled that all jaguars in North America lived at Colony, and not just by jaguars’ choice. No other species wanted jaguars roaming freely. Their race was too aggressive to be civilized around others. Or so it had been howled. Apparently another lie had managed to cover its own stench.
“Where do you think we are?” Anna couldn’t see out of their doorway, which they’d positioned close to the wall so anyone wishing to see them would have to walk along the outside of their blanket wall before entering.
Rafe sat on the opposite side of the fire, which enabled him to see outside the entrance of their den. “It was hard to tell what direction we were walking underground.”
“And I don’t know any of the jaguars here,” she said thoughtfully.
“Which leads to the obvious question. Where are they from?”
“And,” she pointed out, stifling a yawn, “why are they here?”
Rafe stared at her through the flames dancing between them. The blankets offered a thick shroud of privacy and the fire made it warm in their makeshift den. When Anna thought about when she’d last slept, exhaustion hit her even harder. Only a day had passed with one insane-smelling adventure after another. The more she tried to go over each event in her mind, the more they seemed to stumble into each other. It was hard to keep the facts straight.
Then Rafe watching her, his relaxed, large body against the rock with his long, muscular legs stretched out in front of him, created a mouth-watering picture. Anna was hungry again, but this time not for someone’s kill. She wanted to hunt this meat alone. Thoughts of moving to all fours, circling the fire slowly while keeping her eyes on him made it even hotter. She swore the flames danced viciously in appreciation of her imagination. It would be hot as hell crawling up his rock-hard body and on top of him, demanding he strip or she’d rip his clothes from his body.
“I have a feeling we’ll have our answers soon enough.” Rafe stood and stretched. The t-shirt he wore rode up his torso until she caught a glimpse of his hard, flat abdomen and the black, tight curls creating a thin line up his middle. “Why don’t you get some sleep,” he said after yawning.
“I’ll stay up with you.” She hadn’t realized how she’d slumped to the side until Rafe had spoken and pulled her out of her fantasy.
“That wouldn’t be wise.” Already he’d gone to their pile of supplies they’d been provided with and pulled out two more blankets. He moved to the side of their square den, with the fire pit in the middle, and laid out the blankets along the opposite wall from the doorway. “We’ll take turns sleeping so we’ll both be quick to hunt when needed.”
It was sound logic. Anna found herself crawling onto the bed Rafe made in almost the same fashion she’d imagined herself crawling to him. Except when she reached the top of the bed, she collapsed. To her surprise, Rafe moved over her and began undressing her. Anna arched into his touch, her skin ablaze with desire as she stared up at his steel body and enjoyed him taking care of her.
“Not now,” Rafe growled under his breath.
He knelt next to her and shook open another blanket then spread it over her. Anna didn’t move, curious for him to verify what he’d meant by what he’d just said. When he leaned back, she met his gaze and stared into his smoldering gaze. If he’d meant no sex right now, he sure didn’t smell as if that were what he meant.
“Sleep,” he instructed, lowering his mouth to hers and brushing his lips over hers.
He lifted his head too soon. Anna blinked, focused and forgot to breathe. His black hair hung tousled around his rough features. He didn’t smell, but the intensity of his eyes made him anything but a jaguar to fear. Instead she wanted to embrace him, pull him back down on top of her and give him a taste of what he was saying no to.
There were other jaguars on the other side of their blanket walls. Cubs were howling not too far away. The low voices of males and females talking carried farther in the huge cave, yet with the echo it was impossible to pick up on any conversation unless it took place just outside their blankets.
When Rafe kissed her forehead and pushed himself to his feet, Anna was sure he wasn’t moving as fast as he usually did. He was exhausted, just as she was, and it wo
uld be the honorable thing to insist he lie down with her. Her vision blurred as she watched him walk out the doorway to their makeshift den. She followed where she was sure he moved on the other side of the blanket. Her eyes moved and she strained her neck, rolling to her side when he stood at the corner of their den. Anna imagined he moved around outside, taking in all he could see and making note of who was where and what might be happening on the other side of the blanket.
Anna shifted again, once again rolling onto her back and moved her attention to the open doorway just as Rafe appeared. He stepped inside and maneuvered around the fire then once again squatted next to her. This time Anna pulled back the blanket and scooted over to make room for him.
“Huh-uh.” He was still saying no, yet at the same time moving in next to her.
Anna didn’t say a word. He could tell her no all he wanted. His mind might be arguing one thing, but she bet his body told a whole different story.
“You’re sleeping on the inside,” he instructed, tugging her back into the spot where she’d originally been. “I’m sleeping against the blanket wall. Just in case…”
“You’re my big, bad protector,” she mumbled, surprised how sleepy her voice sounded. She wasn’t that tired. At least not so tired she couldn’t make love to him. The hell with Naria or any of her males coming back to them.
“You haven’t seen big and bad yet, my little cat,” Rafe growled, his voice so mesmerizing it created chills over her flesh.
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