The Jaguar Star (Tales of the Were: Jaguar Island Book 4) by Bianca D'Arc (the first e reader .TXT) 📕

her toes at all times with all these new types of beings she was encountering. Particularly with the vampire. Even if the folklore had it wrong, there was something inherently scary about a being who lived off other people’s blood. She suppressed a shudder at the gruesome thought.

“Will I be likely to run into more of these…um…bloodletters, now that I know about your people?”

Ren seemed to consider as he went back to his unpacking. “Not many, I would think, though we are making strange allies in these dark times.”

“Dark times? You mentioned something about a flare up before. Is it really that bad?”

Ren sighed heavily and paused to look squarely at her. “There’s a lot you don’t know about the world. A lot most of humanity doesn’t know. In ancient times, it was different, but once the decision was made for magical folk to live in secret among the more populous humans, we did our best to erase all proof of our existence from the human record. Anything that remains is put down to legend and superstition.”

“Like the stories about werewolves and vampires,” she said, nodding. It made sense, though she never would have guessed had she not seen the reality of the jaguar people with her own eyes.

“Exactly,” Ren agreed, smiling a bit. “There’s a war going on between the forces of Light—namely us—and the forces of darkness. It’s an eternal sort of war, though our side had won the last round, and we all thought that was it. The main player on the dark side had been banished to forgotten realms from which nobody thought she could ever return. Turns out, it looks like we were wrong.”

“The big bad guy is a girl?” Katrina asked, hoping this was all a big joke but knowing it wasn’t.

“Elspeth is her name. Many call her the Destroyer. She’s fey, which means she’s the next best thing to immortal, and with her mastery of magic and legion of followers, she is effectively unstoppable, except by the concentrated efforts of the most powerful beings on our side of the fight.” Ren looked grim. “That’s how it happened before, when she was banished at the end of what humans call the Dark Ages. She caused the Dark Ages.” He shook his head and looked angry. “It’s taken humanity this long to recover from the setback she created in the evolution of their society. Magic was fading in this realm until Elspeth. It was supposed to be the time for man to emerge and create their non-magical world. Instead, she threw a monkey wrench into the entire equation and caused the chaos that has rippled out over the centuries to affect us all.”

This was even worse than Katrina had feared. “Wow,” she said softly, her mind struggling to take in all he’d revealed. “So, she’s back, and the battle is happening all over again? Only, this time, humanity knows nothing about it?”

“From what I understand of our history, the non-magical folk of ancient times were aware but really unable to do much in the battle. It was left to us—the shifters, bloodletters, fey, wood and ocean spirits, and the others—to do the actual fighting. It happened all over the world as Elspeth’s followers wreaked havoc everywhere.” Ren selected a suit out of his garment bag and hung it up in preparation for putting it on. “The guy you’ll meet tonight was there, during the last battle. I wouldn’t recommend asking him about it, though. All the old soldiers I’ve met don’t like talking about past battles with the uninitiated, and you’re a babe in the woods in this world. Just answer his questions and let him lead the conversation, that’s my advice, and that’s exactly what I’ll be doing, as well. We’re here on his sufferance, and I don’t want to mess this up for Sonia and everybody else involved in this production.”

“Oh, I’ll be careful. I know I’ve got a lot to learn about your world,” she told him. “I had dinner with the governor once, at a charity event my family was involved in, and I didn’t even tell him I voted for the other guy.”

Ren laughed, as she’d intended, and stopped to give her a quick kiss before returning to his preparations. Katrina found the dress she intended to wear and headed for the attached bathroom. After a full day of travel, she needed a quick shower before she would feel refreshed. When Ren followed her into the luxuriously large shower stall, she regretted their lack of time for fun and games. He ducked in, kissed her soundly while lathering them both up—getting her hopes up, as well—then rinsed and left her wanting. The scoundrel.

Katrina rinsed the rest of the soap off and washed her hair. It wasn’t going to look perfect, since she had little time to devote to hair and makeup, but she’d be presentable. She’d mastered the quick change in her years of having to look good as the greeter in her family’s restaurant. She was out of the shower three minutes later and working on her hair with the hair dryer that was conveniently provided. Ten minutes later, she had a dash of makeup on her face as she slithered into the dress she’d brought with her.

It was a slinky number that didn’t wrinkle and folded up small in her bags. It was versatile, and with a strand of pearls and some earrings, she was as ready for a formal dinner as she could be while living out of a suitcase. She stepped out of the bathroom to find Ren, resplendent in evening wear and stopped short. It really should be illegal to be that good looking in person.

Her heart went pitter-pat, knowing that he was hers, and vice versa. She didn’t think she could love him more, and she had the startling knowledge that the feeling went both ways. How had she ever been so blessed? Not only was he gorgeous, but he was a truly kind,