Andrea Cremer - 03 Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer

Author:Andrea Cremer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-07-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

WE TRUDGED THROUGH the jungle, sodden and dripping. The joy of saving Nev and retrieving Eydis were muted by losing Silas. As we came around the bend in the trail where the forest dropped down toward the sea, the dive shop peeked out through the cover of branches.

“There’s Inez waiting on the deck,” Gabriel said. “She’s got those mother hen instincts big time.”

Inez’s back was to us; she was lounging on a deck chair. Miguel was sitting in the shadow cast by the dive shop’s eaves. Two more chairs were pulled up between Miguel and Inez. A woman in a bikini stretched languidly in one. Next to her, a man in an open linen shirt and khaki shorts laughed, threading his fingers through hers.

“Who are they?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “I didn’t think we had any dive groups scheduled for today.”

He picked up his pace, not running, but taking swift strides toward the figures on the deck. The woman in the bikini saw him and began to wave. Her companion stood up, pushing back his sunglasses.

Ren’s nose crinkled up. “Hang on.... Do you smell that?”

“Yeah . . . shit,” Nev snarled, glancing at the thick jungle that surrounded us.

“You smell shit?” Ethan asked. “Thanks for sharing.”

“No,” Nev said. “We smell cats.”

I sniffed the air. They were right. It was subtle but definitely there. An acrid scent like burning silk and dried sage. A growl rose in my throat.

Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Las sombras . . . no!”

“Gabriel, wait!” Ethan shouted. But the other man was bolting toward the hideout, yelling.

“Inez! Miguel!” Neither of the Searchers on the deck moved.

It happened in the space of a blink. Gabriel had just reached the deck and it dropped onto him a shape descending like an ebony cloak. The panther screamed as it leapt from its hiding place on the other side of the roof. Then it was on Gabriel, who was screaming when the cat’s claws sank into his shoulders. His cry cut off abruptly when its jaws locked around his neck and twisted sharply, breaking the bones.

“Damn it!” Ethan glared as the panther darted off the deck and into the jungle’s shadows.

I waited for the woman on the deck to scream. But she rolled over, laughing. Her oiled, golden skin blurred into a sleek coat. The man beside her took two huge bounds and leapt, hitting the roof in cat form. They vanished into the dark vines just as the other panther had. Hisses and wicked purring filled the branches above us, drowning the air with their menacing sounds.

How many are up there?

The Guardians had all shifted form. Our pack huddled up, glancing into the forest canopy. But the cats seemed to be invisible, slinking among the branches, remaining out of sight.

“We’ve got to get out from under them,” Connor said. “Stay close. Head for the house. We need a defensible position we can hold while Adne weaves a door.”

Ethan took point, Sabine and Nev beside him, while Mason, Shay, and Ren stayed closed to Adne.

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