Starglow Basin Soto.

revenge; a most beautiful, powerful word. its single utterance a curse.

even soto understood that.

he waits for something else; something dark flies across her face like the passing shadow of a thousand crows. but there is nothing else; she mutters something and turns abruptly.

seize her, commands the low growl of the jaguar in his mind. juarez's tail lashes as he watches his brother let yet another golden opportunity slip through his grasp.

she fed me.

a laugh; derisive and rolling like the hateful clap of thunder. so?

i can't do that. it would not be honorable.

another derisive inhale, another booming laugh. how many times had juarez watch his brother fumble?

idiot. you have always been too soft.

soto looks out into the desert. legend is gone and he realizes with a start that the unhinged laughter crackling obscenely out into the lonesome desert was his own.