Weekend Writing Warriors #SnippetSunday Queen of the Nile

​Welcome to Weekend Writing Warriors, the weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Sign up below with your name, blog and email and share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Your post needs to be live between 12:00 noon on Saturday 06/18/16 and 9:00 AM on Sunday 06/19/16. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

I've been sharing from my current work in progress, Book 2 of my Illuminati series, The Tree of Life. We just discovered that Rio, the hero is a Black Jaguar shapeshifter. He is in cat form and trying to discover who the intruders are in his jungle and what they are up to... ::Caution:: Some creative punctuation may follow to meet the requirements of the blog rules.

        ​  As soon as the men were far enough away, the cat jumped and raced after the vehicle. Sleek and sure-footed, able to move quickly through terrain where the truck must creep cautiously, it didn’t take long to find them; but once he did, he was surprised to discover their destination because he’d been to the ancient ruins many times in the past and it seemed an unlikely place to set up a base camp.
            He would have liked to get closer, but care was needed if he was going to remain undetected and gather information. Rio jumped into a tree about fifty yards from the entrance he knew led nowhere but a collapsed wall overgrown with vines and waited to discover what further secrets would be revealed. The truck parked and as he had suspected the area was quickly flooded with lights.
            Distracted by the activity of the men unloading, he didn’t at first notice Kirin because he scented her companion first. Ears back, nostrils flared, hairs bristling, his throat constricted, and only with a supreme effort did Rio manage to keep his other self from growling at the leopard brushing with casual affection against Kirin’s leg as she emerged from the darkness of the ruin.  Then the smaller cat, having sensed Rio’s presence and with no need for concealment snapped its head in his direction and growled a warning.
            “Easy, Raja,” Kirin said softly, bending to scratch the pet behind his ear, but she too looked in Rio’s direction as Roscoe stepped from the ruin and Rio’s nails dug deeply into the tree bark while he remembered the man’s remark regarding the tracking device and Rio becoming a pet. He looked at the leopard again, and was relieved to see that Kirin at least had the decency not to adorn it with a humiliating jeweled collar or bowed Velcro shirt.  She turned to speak to Roscoe as the men approached with the gurney. The cat moved forward and sat, staring at him, clearly placing itself as sentry between his mistress and the perceived threat, Rio.

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Rio, shapeshifted, Black Jaguar

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