Someone was screaming. Me. I fell through endless black. I couldn’t see anything, but I felt wind rushing past me. I smelled blood. My blood.

I thrashed and flailed, trying to slow my descent. I didn’t want to die. Not yet. I had too much to do. I had to tell Eztli…

I slammed into my body so hard that my scream cut off with a startled gasp. My eyes flew open, my chest heaving. I sucked in a deep breath and screamed again. I clamped my hand over the back of my neck, hoping to stem the blood flow from Tezcatlipoca’s bite. I had never tried to heal myself. I wasn’t sure that I could, especially not a wound dealt by a god.

There wasn’t any blood pouring from gashes or punctures. I could move my arm. My spine wasn’t snapped in half.

But the largest jaguar I’d ever seen in my life crouched before me.

As soon as I looked into his mirrored eyes, he pounced.

Instinctively, I slung my arms up over my face, but he didn’t go for my throat. He seized my braid in his jaws and started dragging me down to the shoreline, like a jaguar would drag his kill.

My Blood roared immediately and attacked. Eztli’s beast leapt onto the black jaguar’s broad back and dug in with all four paws. But he looked like a stuffed toy on top of the mighty god. My alpha, who dwarfed my other Blood and made wild jaguars look like household kitties.

I thumped my fists into the black jaguar’s face, trying to find his eyes, but he ignored me as if I was as inconsequential as a gnat. Cold water splashed me in the face as he started wading into the lake.

He was taking me away, through a portal to the otherworld, as my mother had tried to do to reach her lover.

No. I won’t leave so easily.

Water closed over my head, but I was an Aima queen. I didn’t need to breathe.

I needed to feed.

I grabbed his shoulders and hauled myself closer to the jaguar god. Sinking my fangs into his chest, I punctured his hide easily. His blood filled my mouth, along with his fur.

A god’s blood.

He tasted like he smelled—copal incense, blended with smoking chocolate and coffee, as if the ripened fruits had been left out in the noon sun to dry, and then someone had lit them on fire.

Through my bonds, I felt my Blood attack. They bit and tore and shredded the mighty god, trying to force him to release me. Trying to save me.

:Stop!: I shouted through all of my bonds, even the freshly-forged bond with the god who was dragging me into the lake.

Miracle of miracles, he did exactly as I commanded.

Dripping wet and coughing up water, my queen clung to the black jaguar’s throat. His blood ran from her mouth, as well as from dozens of minor wounds we’d given him. Not that they’d slowed him down in the slightest.

“Take me back to the fire.”

Still holding her by her braid, the big cat turned and hauled her back toward the campfire we’d lit on the beach.

My queen. Dragged like a rag doll over rocks and sand. Rage bubbled up inside me, but what could I do? Tepeyollotl was the jaguar god. He’d already proven exactly how much power he wielded over me.

He sat back on his haunches by the fire but didn’t release her braid. His claim on her was clear, though he did obey her commands. So why didn’t she tell him to release her?

Worry crawled through my veins like angry ants. I couldn’t help remembering the way she’d looked at me in the vision, as if she wasn’t herself any longer. Had the mirror corrupted her somehow? Changed her personality? Was she possessed by Tezcatlipoca?

Sagging against the big cat’s chest, she dangled in his grasp. But her voice didn’t quiver with fear when she said. “Shift. All of you.”

We did as she commanded, and I watched, curious, as Tepeyollotl was revealed in his human form. I wasn’t surprised that he was a big man with a broad, barrel chest, thick arms and thighs, and long black hair that hung in thick, twisted cables almost to his waist. His skin was darker than mine, only slightly lighter than the obsidian mirror or his beast. He might be the size of a sumo wrestler, but otherwise, he looked…

Normal.

Like a man. The same as me.

Then I noticed he still gripped her braid, only this time in his right hand. He kept her head under his control.

I dragged my gaze from his powerful hand locked in my queen’s hair to her eyes, staring back at me. Tremulous. Scared, now, in a way that she hadn’t been before.

“I saw myself in the mirror,” she finally whispered, her eyes pleading with me to understand. To forgive.

For what?

Confused, I could only nod, immediately, as I moved closer to her. I would forgive anything. It didn’t matter to me, not as long as she was safe.

She dropped her gaze to her hands, gripped together tightly in front of her. “I didn’t know.”

Tepeyollotl gave a sharp tug on her hair that made her gasp, her entire body jolting with shock.

“I suspected,” she said quickly. “I hid it. Even from myself. I was ashamed.”

I shot a hard look at the man abusing her hair. Let him strike me down if he liked, but I wouldn’t back down. He’d have to kill me if he thought to hurt her. I took her trembling hands between both of mine and rubbed them lightly, trying to ease some of her fear. “My queen should never be ashamed. I don’t care what you hid. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“That’s why…” Her voice broke and tears dripped onto my hand, alarming me even more. She took a ragged breath and tried again. “That’s why I only ever took you one at a time. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hide it if you were all touching me. Surely one of you would discover the truth, and I didn’t… I was afraid…”

“Mayte,” I ground out harshly. “Nothing you could ever do or say would change our love. You’re our queen. Always. Why would you hide anything from us?”

“I didn’t want you to think I was weak. Or regret swearing your life to me.”

“Never,” I retorted fiercely, squeezing her hands hard in mine. Tepeyollotl growled softly, probably a warning, but fuck the jaguar god if he thought I would meekly allow her to believe that I would ever surrender my queen’s love.

She lifted her gaze to mine, and the fragile look in her eyes tore my heart from my chest. She wasn’t afraid or hurt. She wasn’t angry at me for squeezing her hands. And she still didn’t order the jaguar god to release her hair.

Because she liked the way he pinned her against him.

Relieved, I almost laughed, but I was afraid she’d mistake my reaction for ridicule. Instead, I squeezed her hands harder and lifted them both toward my mouth. I pried her clenched fists open, so I could plant a kiss on each palm, deliberately using my larger hands and strength to force her fingers open. “Did you honestly think that I didn’t know?”

Her mouth fell open with surprise, and this time I did laugh, though I dragged her into my arms, at least as far as Tepeyollotl’s unrelenting grip on her hair allowed. “I know every beat of your heart, my love, but I would never force you into any situation. I felt your unease. As alpha, perhaps I should have pushed you harder to face that discomfort, but I thought to let you come to the conclusion in your own time. As you’ve done.”

She buried her face against my throat. “You’re not disappointed? I’m not a strong queen, Eztli. I never will be. And now…”

This time, when Tepeyollotl jerked on her hair, I approved. I released her, and he dragged her back against him. “You’re gravely mistaken. A strong queen knows what she wants, what she needs, and she takes it, no matter what it is.”

Tepeyollotl twisted her around by her hair, forcing her to look into his gleaming eyes that glittered like the obsidian mirror, rippling with power. “If you want to take me, Mayte Zaniyah, then you’ll ask me for exactly what you want, as the strong woman you are.”