"That is only because you could not conjure up the image of such a charming man." He sank down onto the shelf looking pleased with himself and pulled her onto his lap, cradling her close. "I have four brothers." He pushed the wet hair from the side of her neck and threw it back in a long, wet trail over her shoulder. "Our prince sent us out so many years ago this country has become our home. I am the youngest in the family, and my brothers worry for me, all of them. Nicolas and Rafael are out of the country at the moment so you are safe from meeting them en masse. We have very close ties to a family of humans…"

"The ones who work your cattle empire," she interrupted.

"Ranch. It is large, but it is no empire. Yes, they run the ranch. They have young orphaned relatives in the United States and two of my brothers went to help them smooth the way to bring them home."

She looked up at him suspiciously. "What does that mean? Smooth the way. By using their voices with hypnotic suggestions? Their eyes mesmerizing people?"

He grinned again, softening the lines in his face. "Is that what you think I do?"

"You're shameless about it," she confirmed.

"It worked on you, and that is all that matters."

"You wish it worked on me. I just happen to like the way you're put together." She laced her fingers through his. "So you have a big ranch and live there with four overprotective brothers and a human family as well."

"My other brothers, Manolito and Zacarias, the eldest, are probably heading this way as we speak to check on me as if I were an infant."

She brought his hand to her mouth. "I'll testify you're long past the infant stage if you'd like."

"I doubt if it will be helpful. I can handle my brothers. I am just warning you that their protection will extend to you. We have to avoid them until I know you're so completely captivated by my charm, you will not run away from them."

"I live with my younger sister, and my cousin. Jasmine, my little sister, is beautiful inside and out." Juliette frowned. "She is able to shift once in a while if she is under tremendous stress, but she can't count on the ability as I do. My cousin and I are the protectors in my family. Not just in my family but for all women in our bloodline."

He was silent, waiting for her to continue. He sensed a terrible sadness and tightened his arms around her to give her comfort and support.

Juliette leaned her head against his shoulder, her hair floating on the water around them like seaweed. "I have to go back home and make certain my sister and my cousin are safe. I have a duty to my family, Riordan, just as you have one to your people. We don't have men to protect us. Our men do not mate for life, nor do they stay with us. Some of the men try to kidnap and hold our women prisoners just to be able to keep the bloodline pure. Very few of us are capable of shifting into our other form. And it will continue to become fewer and fewer. They treat these women like breeding machines. It's a horrible thing. They don't love them or try to create an atmosphere of happiness, they simply force them to produce babies."

"And what is it you think you can do to stop them?" His voice was utterly devoid of expression.

Juliette felt a chill go down her spine. She sensed his sudden stillness. She had been in his mind and there was a ruthless, merciless quality buried deep inside of him that alarmed her. "Someone has to rescue the women. I'm strong. I'm capable of shifting, and I'm not afraid of those bastards. I can protect my sister and cousin. Well, maybe Solange protects me." She turned her head to look up at his face. "They took my mother. She was held in a tiny room, and several men raped her to get her pregnant. It didn't happen immediately so they had her for a long time. It took us two years to find her."

"Juliette." He breathed her name. Her sorrow beat at him, tore at his heart and soul. He nuzzled the top of her head. "I am so sorry." She didn't need to tell him the rest. He saw it in her mind. Her mother had died in childbirth, too long neglected by the men who held her prisoner. The child had died as well, and Juliette felt responsible because it had taken so long to find her mother.

Riordan had been prepared to forbid her to assume the part of a warrior woman, but he couldn't speak, couldn't issue commands even though it might keep her safe. Her pain ran too deep. He understood the need to protect others. He understood honor and responsibility. His fingers crushed her hair in his fist. "Did you find the men who took her? You must know them by scent."

Tears burned behind her eyelids, tears she vowed would never be shed. She refused to spend her time crying. There were very few women capable of shifting and the jaguar males who had banded together were determined to possess them. She was every bit as determined that they would never get their hands on them.

"Jasmine may not be able to shift on command, but even the small ability she has places her in danger. She has other gifts to aid her, but she couldn't fight against the males if they captured her. I live with Jasmine and my cousin. Solange is my mother's sister's daughter and my mother raised her after my aunt was killed when several males tried to capture us. She fought them off, giving my mother time to escape with the three of us girls."

"So now you and your sister and cousin live in fear of these men coming after you. Why did you stay in the jungle where there is danger?"

"Why do you hunt the vampire?" she fired back. "This is our home. We're not the only women these men are after, but we have skills. After what they did to our mothers, we don't plan to just let them steal and kill other women. We know the way the men think now, and we've successfully taken back several women."

"Juliette, what you do is very dangerous. These males are not right. I have known some of the jaguar race and the men did not commit these crimes against their women. Something is wrong."

"It isn't all the men. It is only a small group, yet they are very powerful because they have banded together." She turned in his arms. "Do you understand why I have to stay with these women? They have no other protection. Jasmine and I feared the males were in league with someone at the new Morrison laboratory. Too many animals on the endangered species list were being captured. We thought the jaguar males were trading animals for help in finding the females. That was one of the reasons we broke into the laboratory."

"Is it possible a vampire has connected with a jaguar male and corrupted him?"

"I think these males have corrupted themselves."

"We will return to your family and make certain they are safe, Juliette. If you care about them, then, of course, I care about them. There is no question this practice must be stopped."

"I tried not to blame the males, I really did. Our species is dying out, but they don't care at all about the females, only that they want the race to go on." She shook her head sadly. "It isn't right. We have a right to our lives."

He kissed her temple, the corner of her mouth. "I understand their desperation. Our species is nearly extinct also." He tipped her chin up so he could capture her mouth. His kiss was gentle, tender. "I bound you to me with no thought of your feelings, Juliette. Perhaps I am as guilty as these males." His arms circled her waist, pulled her onto his lap so that they half floated in the water, her body fitting into the cradle of his hips. "I never thought how selfish that would be. In my culture, lifemates are destined and must be together for survival. It is another world now, one where our women, perhaps, are not even from the same species. I should have thought more of what you wished to accomplish in your life and less of what I needed to survive."

Juliette lay back against him, resting her head in the niche of his sternum. His hands cupped her full breasts, taking the weight in his palms, his fingers gently massaging her almost without thought. Pleasure shot through her. She thought she might never want to move again, yet his hands on her body created a molten heat that moved slowly through her bloodstream and licked at her skin.