Dark Possession Page 0,46

rain forest naked?"

"Sometimes," he admitted, his serious eyes studying her and the can of pepper spray she had in her fist. "I suggest you stay out of the rivers and channels. Anacondas and jaguars and other predators patrol through here."

"Thanks for the tip. I hadn't noticed or anything. Those snakes aren't poisonous, are they? Because it bit me."

"No, the danger is infection. Let me take a look."

MaryAnn inhaled sharply, everything in her rebelling at the idea of the man touching her. Shaking her head, she stepped back. "Thanks, but no. I've got some antibiotic cream I can use."

He studied her face for a long time, as wary as she was. "This island is private property. Who brought you here?"

"I'm staying with the De La Cruz family. Manolito is around somewhere." She didn't want him to think she was alone.

His eyebrow shot up. "It doesn't make sense that he left you, even for a minute."

The worry in his voice gave her a small sense of assurance. "Do you know Manolito?"

"I met him earlier this evening. Dawn is approaching, and many animals hunt along the riverways at dawn. Let me take you back to the house, and Manolito will follow when he is able."

MaryAnn searched the shadows for Manolito. She couldn't touch his mind or feel him at all, let alone see him. Where are you? I don't want to leave you. She reached out but found only a black void.

If her rescuer ran around naked in the rain forest and he'd met Manolito earlier, there was a good chance he was a jaguar-man. Juliette's younger sister had been captured and brutally attacked by the men of the jaguar species. MaryAnn took a firmer grip on the canister of pepper spray. She'd never find her way out of the rain forest, and she was terrified of being left alone, but she couldn't leave Manolito, especially since she knew something was happening to him, and she was afraid to trust this man.

"I'm Luiz," he said simply, obviously reading her unease. "Manolito did me a great service today. I simply return the favor."

"I don't want him to come back and find me gone. He'd worry." She didn't want the only person there- human or not-to leave her alone. She couldn't look at the body of the snake. She hadn't wished it harm, but she didn't want to die here either. Getting consumed by an anaconda was on her list of least favorite ways to go.

"Carpathian males worry about very little," Luiz said. "Come with me. You cannot stay alone. If you wish, you can carry the knife."

MaryAnn sighed. Carrying the knife meant getting close enough for him to hand it to her. It also meant that she might really stab him with it if he made a wrong move, and she was definitely opposed to that idea. "You keep it." She had the pepper spray and that she wasn't afraid to use.

He smiled at her. "You are a very brave woman."

She managed a short laugh. "I'm shaking in my very favorite pair of boots. I don't think brave is the word I'd use. Stupid. I'd be safe at home in Seattle if I just hadn't been the save-the-world kind of idiot I tend to be."

He started down an almost nonexistent path. She could see it had been used by an animal. Taking a deep breath, she followed, sending up a silent prayer that Manolito would find her soon. Maybe if she got to Riordan and Juliette, they would be able to find Manolito again and help him.

Luiz glanced back at her. "Can you walk with the heel of your shoe broken? I can cut them off for you."

That was sacrilege. He'd saved her from the snake, but he deserved pepper spray for even contemplating cutting the heels off her favorite pair of boots. It wasn't too late to salvage them. "No, thank you." She stayed polite, because he had to be a little crazy to think of such a dark deed.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, MaryAnn trying to keep her mind from straying to Manolito. It was difficult. Part of her wanted to rush back to where she had left him and wait until he returned. Part of her was angry with him for deserting her, and another part-the biggest-was terrified for him.

"Why are the tree frogs following us?" Luiz asked.

"Tree frogs?" MaryAnn bit her lip and glanced around, peeking through her eyelashes, hoping the jaguar-man was wrong. "I have no