“You might consider heading into the rain forest and seeing if you can find a mate,” Drake said. “Although I’m fairly certain you’ve already done that.”
Remy shrugged his shoulders. “I tried. I’m sendin’ my brothers as soon as things settle down here. We didn’ believe Saria had a leopard.”
Drake opened his mouth to snap a reply. As far as he was concerned, that was no reason to neglect their little sister, but he didn’t know all the circumstances and he honestly couldn’t be certain if his leopard was driving his wrath at Saria’s brothers.
“I do have one,” Saria said unexpectedly, her eyes shining.
Drake wanted to smile. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and brought her close to him. “Yes you do.”
“She’s a little tough to control in this place,” she added, again avoiding his eyes.
“You’ve been here before,” Drake said. “What’s different?”
Saria frowned and looked around her. “I don’ know. It’s beautiful, but it always was. More flowers and plants than I remember, but it changes all the time dependin’ on the weather and the storm surges. You can see all the water. Sometimes it washes away the top soil and other times the water deposits rich soil here. This marsh is very wild and natural. Of all the places, this land has the most diversity of life and even terrain. All of this is marshland, but, although we call it Fenton’s Marsh, it’s a huge piece of property. The land firms up the more you go inland.”
“Are you goin’ to explain what’s goin’ on, Saria? All hell’s broken loose in the lair. If Elie hadn’t contacted us, I’d be in jail right now for killin’ those two,” Remy said.
“I don’t think anyone expected me,” Drake said. “Saria needed help and I was there. Our leopards definitely recognized one another. When the other one attacked her, her leopard hid from him.”
Remy’s eyes went ice-cold. “Who was it, Saria, and don’ tell me you didn’ recognize him. You had to have smelled him. And when he marked you . . .”
Drake felt a surge of anger at the words. He turned Saria around and raised the hem of her shirt, revealing the long marks, still red, although scarred over.
Remy and Mahieu both snarled, almost simultaneously, their leopards reacting to the sight of Saria’s wounds. It mattered little that the furrows were nearly healed and had happened some time ago.
Remy moved closer, inhaling deeply in an effort to detect a scent. Saria shook her head and yanked down her shirt, glaring at Drake.
“I couldn’t tell who it was. I don’ know why I couldn’ smell him, Remy. Maybe I was too scared. I thought he was going to kill me. I never had a leopard attack me before. I’d never been that close to one.”
“You should have come to me immediately.”
“And say a leopard attacked me? The only leopards I knew about were my five brothers.” She made the statement staring him steadily in the eye.
“You knew?” Remy asked.
She nodded. “I saw all of you when I was a kid. At the time, Pere was still alive and I watched him carefully after that. I watched all of you. It was excitin’ and scary. There were rake marks in the house some times and I saw all the signs. I’m good at trackin’.”
Remy shook his head, clearly shocked at his younger sister. “If you’d come to us, we would have talked to you about it.”
She pressed her lips together for a moment, but Drake could see she was distressed, although she quickly hid it with a casual shrug. “I thought maybe you didn’t come around me much because I wasn’t one of you.”
She tried to hide the pain in her simple, honest statement, but Drake felt it—and so did his leopard. The big cat leapt so hard against Drake, his entire body shifted position, his muscles rippling and contorting. He had to breathe deeply to keep the animal at bay. Evan had said he kept his leopard under strict control, rarely letting it loose, and only then when they were completely alone because his animal was so violent. Drake was beginning to think his cat was following suit—at least around Saria’s family.
Remy stepped back, drawing Mahieu with him. “Do you generally have problems with your leopard?” he asked in a low voice.
Had Remy sounded taunting or snide, Drake was fairly certain nothing could have stopped his leopard, but there was a note of worry there and Remy was once again looking around with wary, assessing eyes.
“No. Never. My leopard is always calm, otherwise I could never lead the teams into combat situations.”
Remy nodded his agreement. “Somethin’s not right. I can still feel it and it isn’t Saria’s leopard,” Remy said. “I don’ think it’s safe here for either of you.”
“It’s important, or I wouldn’t keep her here,” Drake said. “I might be able to make it back on my own if you . . .”
Drake sent Remy a rueful grin. “She’s hard to argue with.”
“She’s always been like that. I’ll expect the two of you back at the house.” Remy gave his sister a stern look. “And talkin’, Saria. I want to know everythin’ goin’ on, you hear me?”
“I hear you,” Saria said, then muttered under her breath, “I think the world heard you.”