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They began to make their way up the side of a steep mountain. The going was rough and the trail they took tricky, but they kept up a demanding pace, knowing that the jaguar warriors were somewhere below, hunting and tracking. They swam through several streams and one fast-flowing river, and Skye was confident that their trail could not be followed.
Well, at least not easily.
A few hours later, darkness had indeed fallen, coating the jungle in its velvety softness. Jagger stopped just ahead of her and she came up beside him, her chest heaving after the rough climb up. A flicker of annoyance crept over her features when she noted the man had hardly broken a sweat.
He pointed a few hundred feet higher, and even though her raptor eyes afforded her enhanced vision, she was puzzled.
“I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be looking at.”
Jagger grabbed her and pulled her after him, his enthusiasm reminding her of a child who had a secret to share.
“Where are we going?” Skye knew she sounded petulant but damn it, she was tired, running on fumes, and for some reason he was irritating the crap out of her.
“This is my something.”
A flash of white drew her attention to his incredible mouth, and the smile that slashed through the night was de
vastating. Her belly did a little flip, as slowly, her eyes wound their way up to his, and she swallowed hard. The man was like a freaking god; all hard muscle and chiseled features. Why were the dangerous ones always so incredibly sexy?
“Um, your something?” God, did she have to sound like a complete idiot?
He actually laughed at that and she found an answering smile gracing her own tired features.
“My hideout.”
A lightbulb suddenly went off in her head and she studied the rock formation more closely, for the first time noticing that the shadowing was different amongst the layers.
There was an opening there!
Adrenaline pumped through her body and she eagerly followed him up toward the entrance. After climbing along a steep ledge she followed him through an opening that was only wide enough to allow one body at a time. You could literally blink and miss it.
It really was the perfect hideout.
Once inside, cool air wafted over her and she was suddenly blind from a wall of darkness. It weighed heavily on her. She felt claustrophobic and her heart rate sped up as she struggled to inhale a deep breath.
“Take it easy, breathe nice and slow.”
Skye felt Jagger’s breath on her face and was startled at his close proximity. Heat spiraled up from her belly spreading fire in a slow burn. It didn’t sit well with the intense feelings that were messing with her head. Instead of feeing reassured that such a strong ally was close by, she felt incredibly vulnerable. His fingers slid from her cheek to her shoulder and down along her arm until he grasped her hand tightly.
“You can’t see around me but the opening gets wider a few hundred yards ahead of us. Did you throw flashlights in these bags?”
“Yeah,” she whispered.
Jagger squeezed her fingers. “When we have more room, I’ll grab one.”
Skye let him lead her down the stone corridor and while grateful for the guidance, she was extremely resentful that she needed him so, and wanted nothing more than to wrench her fingers from his grasp.
She tried to clear her mind and not think about the dark, and the fact that thousands of tons of solid rock surrounded her. She did not do well in closed, confined spaces. The months that she’d been held captive at the DaCosta compound, chained like a dog in a small shack, had been some of the most trying and difficult times she’d ever gone through.
She was an eagle and was used to the open air, the sky and the kiss of the sun.
And though she’d been out in the jungles of Belize for the past two months, exploring caves of all sizes, she’d not been this tightly entombed within one before.
After a few moments the passage opened up a bit more and she was able to breathe easier. When they finally emerged into a small chamber, she pulled her hand from Jagger’s.
She waited while he grabbed a flashlight from his bag and when he flicked it on she took a few steps away from him. Ignoring the amused look that swept over his handsome features, she slowly examined the room, grateful that she was finally able to see.
To say that she was disappointed would have been an understatement.
