Page 35 of Blood Sacrifice

“What if he is here with someone?” the blonde replied. “Not many people travel alone.”

Technically, I travelled alone all the time as more than one witch travelling together tended to draw unwanted attention. What shocked me more than I cared to admit was the stab of jealousy that pierced through me at their lust. I had been building a divide between us to protect my heart, and yet a darkness emerged that whispered I could turn them into llamas and leave them here since they were acting like horny cows.

As if drawn by their observations, Salvator turned and looked up toward where we were located, a slow smile turning up his full, sensual mouth.

“He’s noticed you, Jen. Act natural, maybe wave at him,” the redhead instructed the blonde.

Salvator slowly climbed the stone staircase and I felt breathless, and it wasn’t due to high altitude of this place. My heart pounded in my veins as his muscular legs moved under his jeans, his messy black hair making him look like a rebel who didn’t give a fuck.

Trapped butterflies beat against the walls of my stomach, and it reminded me of when my eyes first met his outside the temple not long after I had been plucked from our home village. There was something about Salvator that scrambled my senses and left me speechless.

The two women began giggling and preening themselves, and I had never been so tempted to use magic on a human to sweep them off the side of this mountain.

Salvator sailed past the two ridiculous women, his smile making my panties feel too tight. “There you are. I got lost wandering up to the city gate.” He pointed toward the area hewas talking about. “I always forget how breathtaking this place is.”

I linked my arm through his, leading him away from the women I wanted to curse. “It’s because it hasn’t changed in so long that it reminds us of who we used to be.” I turned at the last moment to shoot a death glare at the two women. Both of them had a current relationship in their aura, and they should be ashamed of themselves and what they had been planning behind their partners’ backs.

There were stone staircases everywhere in this structure, painstakingly carved by masons to allow people to access all areas. This had been a jewel in the crown of the empire back in the height of its reign.

The dire wolves used to patrol the forests that surrounded the base of the mountain to ensure the priests who studied celestial events were undisturbed during their time here.

“I remember the first time I saw one of the star charts created in one of these observatories,” I said, bringing the past and the present together. “I had seen those constellations all my life, had used them to orientate myself in the darkness, and yet seeing them in a chart seemed so strange and clinical.”

Salvator’s lips lifted in a half smile. “Wolves never needed those maps, we knew every piece of this land in our soul.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

He nodded up to our right. “The temple of the sun.”

Four hundred years ago, we were called priests and priestesses. Today we were witches, but the groups we gathered in tended to either work in the sun or the moon. The temple of the sun was a sacred precinct that allowed us to channel energy to invoke the power of the sun.

The two of us blended in among the other tourists, walking through the remains of a civilisation from long ago. Only thiswasn’t ancient history to us, it had been our past, something we had lived through.

Salvator and I spent the next few hours exploring the site, the different structures reminding us of stories that we shared, our conversation flowing freely. We were walking through the terraces, the llamas almost running from Salvator since they sensed an apex predator prowling toward them. Salvator stopped, his spine straightening, drawing my attention to a potential threat.

“Problem?” I asked in low voice.

“Maybe,” he replied. “Maybe not. The scent in your vision from my home that was blown up appeared a moment ago.”

My fingers found his, and I chanted under my breath, tightening the spell that protected us through our amulets. Anyone watching us wouldn’t see two people standing here, but two llamas grazing on the terraces.

Salvator turned slowly to survey the area, the tips of his ears growing pointed with tufts of black hair sprouting from them. “Up there.” I followed the direction of his gaze to find a man looking about as if he had lost something or someone.

“It’s risky to use an overt spell here,” I said. “But I might be able to magically mark him so we can track him later.”

I rummaged in my bag until I found a small, zipped pouch close to the bottom. It contained the magical equivalent of a first aid kit. I selected a feather and held it to my lips, whispering an incantation that would allow it to be used as a tracking device. I set my intention on the man currently searching for us, and released the feather into the breeze. It swirled up into the sky, moving through the air currents until it reached its destination, dropping itself into the hood of his jacket.

“Come on,” I said, grabbing Salvator’s hand. “If we stay cloaked in this spell too long, people will sense a disturbance in the energy field of this place.”

We moved into a crowd of tourists, pretending to be with them for a few minutes before swapping and joining another tour group being led by a guide who was embellishing the history.

We zigzagged until we reached the exit, wandering out as if we were part of the crowds. Salvator’s height put him head and shoulders above everyone else, people moving out of his way, their instinct allowing the predator through.

We reached the village, walking down the road that had vendors selling Machu Picchu memorabilia. Salvator spun me suddenly, moving me into an outside market, his body pressing mine into a wooden column.

“Stay still,” he said into my ear, his breath fanning the side of my throat.

My heart stumbled over its beat, Salvator’s spicy, masculine scent surrounding and tempting me. The devil on my right shoulder whispered that I should lick him, taste him. My teeth bit into my bottom lip and my eyes closed as I tried to stabilise my emotions.

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