Redemption Read Online Free Page B

beautiful here. Silent. Cold as the man he was becoming. The first year of exile was the hardest. That first year, he’d lived as a jaguar. Easier to ignore the mess of emotions threatening to overwhelm him. Grief for the girl he hadn’t been able to save. Shame because her death happened on his watch, because he’d been too naive to question his orders. Anger because he’d been betrayed twice over—first by the man who’d given the command to destroy the building, sending his men off to unknowingly murder civilians, and second by the new king who’d required a scapegoat.
    Eventually, he came out the other side and learned how to survive in the human world. Using his knowledge of the jungle and his people’s history he’d become a thief, stealing artifacts from yet to be discovered sites and selling them on the black market. When his funds were particularly low, he’d sold himself too, as a mercenary. He hated that. Among the Yaguara, he’d been a respected warrior and leader, fighting to protect his people. As a mercenary, he worked for evil men who hired him to do the jobs that were too dirty even for them.
    He didn’t like the man he was now. The lines he’d never considered crossing in the beginning were long behind him. Sophie was a line too, he recognized that. But she was also sweet and honest and good, a reminder of why he was risking everything to chase down a legend. He needed something good to hold onto—a home, a family, a purpose—before he lost himself completely.
    He settled onto the rock and stretched out to his full length. When he closed his eyes, he could feel his body locked to the mountain, the earth’s slow rotation and the fixed vigil of the stars. He let his pain, fear and hope, along with all of his tangled strategies fall to the side. He let the silence of this sacred place wash over him and, just for a moment, he was at peace. Then, a rodent scurried through the brush below him. A biting fly landed on the tip of his ear and he twitched it loose. The wind ruffled through his fur, night cool and damp. He sighed, heaved himself to his feet and began the descent.
    Halfway down, he came across a trail, the scent striking him so suddenly he jerked back and nearly stumbled. Hunching to the ground he made himself very still, inhaling deeply. Strong, but not strong enough for the other shifter to still be nearby. He’d been here, judging by the dissipation, as recently as two hours ago. If Adriano had taken this trail up into the mountains, there would have been spilled blood.
    He raised his head and looked around him, crouched over the rock where the scent was strongest and the thin grass matted. He could see the entire site from this vantage point. There was something just off enough in the signature to mark the shifter as a mutant, enough testosterone to indicate a male. A slow simmer of rage built with each inhalation. The shifter had watched them from here, sunning himself on this flat rock overlooking the camp.
    It might be nothing. He may simply have scented Adriano’s trail and been curious. It was possible that this mutant might only have heard the news that the new king was working to integrate those of half-human blood into the Yaguara. Born of a Yaguara father and a human mother, Gabriel Alvarez had declared amnesty to other mutants like himself. Adriano had been approached before, warily, by those seeking confirmation.
    He couldn’t make himself believe it though. Not here. Not now. The Bloodstone was something of a shifter legend and the damage to the site had been broadcast across the world by industrious reporters. The only reason the Yaguara hadn’t sent in a team to recover it was because of the border skirmish to the north. Stretched as they were, his brother had told him that it would be months before they could spare anyone to chase after a legend, especially when no one knew for sure if the stone truly existed. Adriano wouldn’t have wasted the time himself if