Virtue by Amy Jarecki

Author:Amy Jarecki
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: belize, cruise romance, sexy beach reads, intercultural romance, dancer romance, best beach reads, ship adventure, mayan romance
Publisher: Amy Jarecki

Chapter Fourteen

Once he got the flooded motorcycle to roar to life, Gabriel tapped his foot on the rear brake pedal, testing it. He pushed the bike fast, opening up on the straight, getting the hang of the foot brake right before the corners. His finesse on the bike improved at every turn. The road narrowed and the gravel gave way to dirt, becoming two tire tracks cutting an entangled passage through the jungle.

No matter how fast he pushed the bike, the blue car remained ahead somewhere out of sight. Had he missed a turn? No. He’d lost precious time.

When the hairs prickled the nape of his neck, he slowed the motorcycle.

I have to trust my gut.

Straining to peer ahead, he couldn’t tell how close he might be to the turn, the jungle sprung above in every direction, inviting premature darkness to the ground beneath.

Gabriel stopped beside a boulder the size of a sea turtle and hid the bike in the brush behind it.

He jogged ahead, recalling his visit distinctly. The car had turned right into the compound. A stitch in his side cramped his gut, but Gabriel pushed harder, stepping up his pace, ignoring his growing hunger. The darkness from the thick foliage above closed in upon him, but he forced his eyes to open wider. Then he saw it—fifty feet ahead the trees parted, opening to a passageway as ominous as the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave.

Gabriel slid the machete out of his pack and stepped into the concealing arms of the jungle. Edging his way to the turn, he spied the white guard shack ahead. He found the mouth of the serpent.

Now to kick Al’s butt and find Zoe.

***

In the great hall, Cocozca launched himself from his red velvet throne and paced. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her. No amount of deep breathing would calm the stirring, the awakening of his loins.

He balled his fists so tightly blood oozed between his fingers. His misery nearly exceeded the exultation of finding her—at last he’d seen the Golden Goddess. The heinous task he must perform tore at his heart. He didn’t want to do it. His duty had become an anchor dragging from his neck, the thing that kept him wandering the halls at night.

Cocozca rubbed his bloody palms against his red robe to purify them.

His mind rehearsed how he’d do it. He needed to have her just once before the life completely drained away and left her cold with rigor mortis.

As he paced, his mind clicked. The ancestors wrote, the more the sacrificial victim suffered, the more it pleased the gods.

A grin spread across his chapped lips. He would become the deity. Yes, that was it. As the chosen, he would transform into the great Kukulkan. His eyes closed and pictured the prophecy. It said the goddess would be “offered” to Kukulkan. Indeed, he was the human form of Kukulkan, and she was his.

Cocozca’s grin widened. As the chosen, he had the right to take her before the blade sliced through her luscious skin, and it would be done.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.