Scent of Salvation

Chapter Thirty-Three

The next morning, Susan lay on her back enjoying the warm sunlight. The Temple’s stone walls broke through the forest like fingers poking through the sand above their campsite.

Sorin snored softly in his sleep, his face pressed into the crook of her neck.

Sleeping on the ground hadn’t been as bad as she’d imagined. Not with a hot male to keep her warm and occupied. She ran her fingers over his hair. Conditioner didn’t exist in this world, yet the strands flowed like silk.

He gave her a little lick on the neck. “Good morning.” His voice was rough with sleep.

She rolled on her side to face him. “I’m glad you’re awake. I have so many questions.” She’d been up since dawn thinking about the Temple and shifters.

Stretching, he eyed her. “So early?” He rubbed his face. “Can’t we eat first?”

“No. Who built the Temple?” The two dens she’d visited were both built into naturally formed homes with caves and tunnels. They had stairs and gates but nothing constructed.

“My people.” He rubbed his face. “Why?”

She sat up and took the blankets with her. “If your people built it, then why are there no other structures?”

“Like?”

“Houses, villages—you know, other buildings.” Nothing had changed around the Temple since the day she arrived, yet it seemed like ages had passed.

“We used to travel as packs, following the herds across the land before the vampires came. The Temple was a place of meeting and of worship. We didn’t need buildings.”

Things still nagged at her about the timeline. The shifter history sounded so similar to the Native Americans, so maybe other species would have continued along the same line as Earth? She pulled on her dress and went to the entrance of the Temple.

Sorin followed, tying his kilt around his hips.

“Your people worship a goddess.” She climbed the stairs.

“Used to.”

She spun to face him. “Then who do the vampires worship?”

“A god.”

The bottom of her gut dropped out.

“Some of them wear a cross on a chain.”

She sank onto the steps. Christian vampires? She giggled. Oh, the irony.

Sorin knelt in front of her, peering at her face. “Susan?”

“I’m all right. Just—shocked.”

“From what I’d been told, they tried to convert us but this was way before the war, during the time of illness. The priestess wouldn’t allow their missionaries on tribe lands. Many shifters still left, though, seeking help and salvation. To this day their descendents follow the vampire ways. They even live among them. Fight for them.”

“I’m so sorry this happened.” Ancestor guilt, even a dimension removed, dug deep into her heart. Nothing could change the past. “There’s peace between shifters and vampires now?”

He shrugged. “A tentative one. Our numbers grow but vampire weapons are more advanced. We are at an impasse.”

The cold knowledge of the possible future weighed heavy on her conscience. “They could destroy you.” On Earth, the settlers had tried to annihilate the Natives.

“Their food source? I think not.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” It was true. There were too many variables to take in. So their future would split from that on Earth because the vampires needed a blood source. She rubbed her fingertips where Benic had poked her and taken a blood sample. Over the last few days, she’d been too busy to wonder what he’d done with it. “How advanced are the vampires compared to shifters?”

“Ships that can cross the ocean, weapons that kill from a distance and I’ve heard rumors of a machine that travels on steam.” He scowled. “Do you think they can help you get home?”

“No.” She took his face in her hands. “No.” She repeated with more force. The steam age—she had a few decades to wait before they’d be even close. She glanced at the spot where the portal had dropped her. “I wouldn’t go.”

Sorin turned his face into her palm and kissed it.

She’d found her mate.

“Can I hunt now?” His expression appeared so wistful.

She laughed. “As long as I don’t have to skin it.” After getting to her feet, she strolled toward the abandoned building and entered. She stopped by the vine wall where she’d been entangled when they’d first met. He had petrified her.

Resting his chin on her head, he leaned against her. “Who would have guessed we’d be mated a few days after meeting?”

“Not me.” She’d been so confused and frightened faced with a living werewolf in a magical-like forest.

Sorin spun to face the entrance, dropping his kilt and shifting to feral form all in one smooth motion.

All her muscles froze. “What is it?”

He sniffed the air and crept forward. “Peder is close. His scent is on the wind.”