“It was the stones. I uncovered them. They chose me.” The cat contemplated the answer before speaking.

“You’ll do.” The cat turned to walk into the jungle.

“Wait,” growled Paul. “What do I do now?”

“Do?” blinked the cat. “You will do as all the shaman have done. You will use your powers for great good or great destruction. You will help and protect your people or you will destroy and abuse them. You are the shaman, you must decide.”

“How will I know if I am doing good or evil?” asked Paul, worried that this kind of power would change him.

“Paul David, you were born to become Jaguar Shaman, just as I was born to be Watcher. You will fulfill your destiny and just as I have fulfilled mine.” The cat again turned his back to continue into the darkness.

“Wait, don’t go. Can’t you stay with me? What if I have more questions?”

“Would you like me to stay?” answered the black cat.

“Yes I would, very much.”

“Then stay I shall!”

The great cat leapt at Paul, pushing him to the ground. Paul felt the massive claws tearing his skin and the razor sharp teeth entering his chest. He tried to push the big cat away, but he couldn’t. Not because the cat was too strong, but because the jaguar had disappeared. Paul leapt to his feet and looked around for another attack, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. When his breath returned to normal, Paul returned to Kari, still recovering on the sleeping bag. She looked at him with love and lust in her eyes.

“Where did you go?” she asked lustfully. “Oh my God, Paul! Where did that come from?”

She sat up and fumbled for a flashlight. She turned it on and focused it on his nude form. He was covered from neck to mid-thigh with a black tattoo. It was a jaguar with yellow eyes.

“I picked it up over there,” Paul indicated the jungle.

“I like it. But I like this better,” she knelt before him and kissed his dormant manhood. It began to rise to her attention.

Kari tucked her short blonde hair behind her ears and pressed her mouth on his cock until the shaft filled her throat. She swallowed, milking his cock. She slowly slid his cock in and out until he was nearly mad with lust. He pulled his cock out of her mouth and guided her to her back. He positioned himself between her willing legs and slid his manhood deep into her hot willing pussy.

She moaned. He moaned. The jaguar growled. For the next hour they made slow passionate love. Kari came multiple times. Paul finally released his seed when the exquisite torture proved to be too much. He collapsed on his new mate, their sweat slick bodies rubbing sensuously in the afterglow.

“We should get back, before the others come back and decide to come looking for us,” Paul stated.

Kari nodded. They got dressed and packed their small camp and headed inland toward the dig site. They didn’t need flashlights; Paul’s vision was perfectly capable of keeping them safe.

The pair of archeology students arrived back to a camp filled with laughter and music. The team was all back from town and had brought the festivities with them. Paul and Kari joined the group around the common campfire that was lit nearly every night. There were bottles of Guaro Cacique being passed from hand to hand, fueling the revelry. Some of the diggers added the Guaro to their cups of punch or Coca Cola to lessen the impact the ethyl alcohol had on their livers. Others took pulls from the bottle before passing it along.

One of the California Berkley students produced his guitar and was doing a passably fine job of a litany of Eagles and Beach Boys tunes. There were two couples dancing and the rest were laughing and carrying on. Paul and Kari joined them and it was a few minutes before their presence was noticed.

“Kari, let’s dance!” urged a stocky young man from Chicago by the name of Mike Tobbe. He had been one of Kari’s unsuccessful suitors.

She looked at Paul and he just smiled and nodded. Kari thought he would object, so his permission was a bit unexpected. Mike grabbed Kari by the waist and pulled her close, intent on rubbing against her. She got her hands between them, but kept smiling as she fought to keep her distance. She glanced at Paul, hoping he would intervene.

Instead Paul was amused by the ineffective flailing of Mike Tobbe. Paul’s eyes sparkled with his enjoyment. Kari is strong enough to handle Mike Tobbe, he thought. Suddenly the gap between the two dancers was wide enough that Kari could relax a bit and begin to move to the music. Mike attempted to grab her again but Kari was able to easily push his hands away and smile warmly.

“You’re a very good dancer,” she complimented her drunken companion. “You should dance with Leyla.”

Leyla Martinez was a very nice girl, but she was both socially awkward and remarkably unattractive. She was also Mike’s fellow student from University of Chicago and his digging partner. They could go days without speaking to one another. Mike had never considered her his equal or worthy of his respect or attention. The rest of the party knew that she was a much nicer person and a far better scientist than Mike Tobbe, but nobody wanted to partner with Mike Tobbe so they said nothing. Mike turned his attention to his partner. He left Kari to find Leyla, but Kari’s hand on his arm arrested his departure. He waited but didn’t turn.

“Ask her nicely Mike,” instructed Kari. “Be sweet to her. She’s really a lovely girl. Be worthy of her affection and she will blossom into such a beauty you will count your lucky stars she is yours.”

Mike nodded dumbly and continued on his way. Leyla was sitting with a couple of the other female student when Mike approached.

“Leyla,” Mike asked quietly. “Would you like to dance with me? Please?”

Had she not been sitting down when Mike asked her to dance she might have fallen down. The tone in his voice drew her to his feet.

“Of course I will Mike. I’d be glad to dance with you.”

She followed him to the dirt patch they used as a dance floor and the two drew close, she was molded against his body as they swayed to the music.

“Nicely done,” compliment Paul when Kari joined him.

“You were going to let him maul me, weren’t you?” she replied.

“Of course not. You were more than a match for him. He never got close. No harm will come to you Kari. Not ever.”

He didn’t promise or lie. Paul stated it as a matter of certain fact. Kari knew instinctively that it was true. Whatever had happened to them in that pit, they were changed forever.

As the party carried on, Paul and Kari slipped away. They weren’t drinking and the music of the guitar couldn’t hold a candle to the music of the universe. While in the darkness, they shared a long kiss and each went to their own sleeping quarters to get a good night’s sleep.