The six remaining rogue Jaguar men came out from around the temple. They were built solid, with the roped muscles of their kind. All wore loose clothing they could shed easily if they needed to shift quickly. They knew they had two of their kind covering them with weapons if Solange’s partner was anywhere around. They also had two others inside the temple watching.
Weapon secure, Benedek reported.
Weapon secure, Siv said nearly at the same time.
“I hope you remember me, little bitch,” Steve greeted Jasmine. “We missed you, didn’t we, Brett?” He turned to smirk at the man closest to him.
Jubal sent his weapon spinning from his wrist, the edges of the blades tipped in silver. It moved through the air so fast it was a blur, a silent, deadly projection slicing straight through Steve’s neck, cutting off his head so cleanly it stayed on his shoulders as the weapon retreated back to Jubal.
Simultaneously, Sandu, Petru and Solange attacked, Solange going for Brett, using her Carpathian strength and speed, driving straight at him, punching through his chest as she would a vampire. At the same time, she punched through his throat, staring him right in the eyes, letting him know this was retribution for her cousin. She let him drop to the ground and turned toward the next man in her line of vision.
Sandu rushed across the clearing, shedding the illusion of Jasmine’s body as he did so, gripping the rogue jaguar’s head in his hands before he had the chance to shift, wrenching hard and breaking the neck. He flung the body aside and tried to step around Solange to get to the last two men.
Petru gripped the fourth Jaguar man in his large hands, lifted him over his head and slammed him down over his knee, breaking his back before following him down to the ground to kill him with a finishing chop to his throat.
Two in the temple down, Dominic said.
The two remaining Jaguar men rushed at the ones they thought the most vulnerable—Solange and Jubal, both shifting as they did so. Jubal leapt into the air to meet the large jaguar attacking him. As he did so, he shifted, kicking off his shoes, his clothing ripping. He met the jaguar in midair, the two males roaring challenges.
Solange stood unmoving as the other cat attacked, rushing her, a big male in his prime, bent on taking her down with a killing bite or a swipe of his giant claws. Sandu stepped in front of her, shifting at the last moment so that the cat ran directly into an immovable steel wall so hard, the large animal stopped and shook its head, clearly dazed. Solange killed the shifter with several well-placed arrows.
They turned as another cat leapt from an overhanging branch onto Jubal’s back, the weight nearly knocking him off his feet. This was a female, and she tried for a decisive bite to the back of his skull. Jubal’s cat was large, fit and had rope after rope of muscles. His spine was flexible, and he spun, nearly bending in half, but at the last second seemed to hesitate. The female gripped him harder, raking with her claws, and once more going for the kill bite, but this time, he reared up fast, dislodging the female, throwing her to the ground.
The male attacked, driving toward Jubal’s cat’s side in an effort to break his ribs and knock him to the ground. As he did, the female also attacked, this time straight on, leaping for his front leg in an effort to snap the bone in half.
Nicu was there before she could get to Jubal, catching her in his arms and tossing her easily away from the two male cats. She sprang up and attacked Nicu, all teeth and claws. He simply caught her head and jerked hard, breaking her neck.
Solange and Sandu rushed to aid Jubal, but he didn’t need their help. He had the other cat down and had already delivered a powerful bite to the back of the skull, killing the other animal. As Jubal shifted, Sandu waved his hand to clothe him. Sorrow pressed so heavily on the man, it weighed on all of them.
“I am sorry,” Nicu said.
Jubal walked over to the female lying crumpled just a few feet away, crouching down beside her. Very gently, he buried his fingers in her fur. “She would have killed me, Nicu. Her intent was there for anyone to read. You saved my life. I know I couldn’t have killed her.” He didn’t look up.
Solange put her hand on his shoulder. “She was ill, Jubal. You know she was ill, or she never would have turned to men such as these and conceived of a plan such as this one. This had nothing to do with you. Sacrificing your life to save hers wouldn’t have done her any good.”
“That had been in my mind.”
Sandu could have told him their minds were all linked together. The moment Jubal had been aware the female was his own mother bent on killing him and that he had hesitated and even entertained the idea of allowing her to kill him, they all knew there was no other choice. Nicu had destroyed her to save Jubal’s life.