ISABEAU stared out the window as the car moved rapidly down the long, winding drive, avoiding everyone’s eyes. She knew they could smell Ottila’s scent on her. There were spots of blood on her dress, impossible to hide in the close confines of the vehicle. She heard Conner’s expletive when he saw the dark bruises marring her skin and the blood on her dress, but she didn’t look at him. She knew she was at her limit and just needed space. They all needed to give her space—especially Conner. Philip Sobre, Imelda Cortez and the rogue leopards disgusted her. She felt dirty and just wanted to find a good, hot shower.
The vehicle slowed and Leonardo shoved the door open. Jeremiah exploded out of the thicker forest and raced through the thinner stand of trees and brush. He was about halfway to the SUV when something heavy dropped from the trees on top of him, slamming him to the ground. Fur and teeth and man tumbled and rolled, thrashing. The rifle went flying.
Teresa began to scream and Elijah leaned over very casually and clipped her, at the same time pressing his thumb hard into a pressure point so that she slumped forward unconscious, her face a mask of horror. A roar of fury shook the SUV, and Felipe slammed on the breaks even as Conner leapt through the open door, stripping as he shifted, the vehicle spinning around and coming to a halt.
Isabeau blinked, shocked at the speed with which Conner made the transformation on the run, shedding his clothes at the same time. She’d seen Jeremiah practicing and she’d seen Felipe working with him, but it hadn’t prepared her for the actual dizzying speed. She wouldn’t have believed her own eyes had she not known the truth about the species. He shifted into a leopard so fast she wouldn’t have been able to process that he’d ever been a man.
Leonardo and Rio also jumped out of the car, nearly before it stopped spinning, but they were searching the trees for a sniper, back to back, sharp gazes examining every inch of the canopy, using their animal senses for knowledge, rifles ready.
Conner was on the leopard before it realized he was even there, swiping at the heaving sides with a huge paw, knocking the furious cat away from Jeremiah’s torn body. Elijah sprinted through the trees as the two leopards came together, snarling, rolling, flexible spines nearly bent in half as they raked and tore at each other.
“Damn it, wake up, Isabeau!” Rio snapped. “Grab a rifle.”
His voice jerked her out of her shock. She didn’t hesitate, but yanked a rifle from the open trunk on the floor and jumped down. “Where?”
“Get as close as you can to them. If you get a shot, take it,” Rio ordered.
She ran across the intervening space, her heart in her throat. Just in her line of vision, Elijah bent and lifted Jeremiah, shifting him to his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Blood dripped down his arm and back. Puncture wounds dotted his body. Elijah flashed past her and to her dismay it looked as if Jeremiah wasn’t breathing.
A blood-streaked Suma leapt, twisting, using the leopard’s flexible spine to turn in midair as Conner went up on his hind legs and anchored claws in the hindquarters, yanking the leopard down. Suma nearly folded in half, slamming powerful claws into Conner’s neck and side. Conner rolled, ramming into Suma, knocking him off his feet so the two leopards were a tangle of fur, claws and teeth. The roar of the two male leopards filled the forest.
Isabeau put the rifle to her shoulder just as a shot rang out and bark splintered from a tree trunk where Conner had been a half second earlier. If he hadn’t rolled, the shot might have hit his head. Her gaze jumped to the trees, trying to find where the shot had come from.
Instantly, Rio and Leonardo sprayed the canopy in the distance, obviously having no problem figuring out the trajectory of the shot.
“Shoot the son of a bitch, Isabeau,” Rio yelled.
She jerked her attention back to the ferocious fight between the two leopards. They were locked together in mortal combat, rolling over and over, their tails lashing, the sounds horrifying. She felt almost surreal, as if she was in the throes of a nightmare and not real life. There was no way to get off a shot and not take a chance of wounding or killing Conner.
“I’m trying,” she snapped back.
With the two bodies wrapped so tightly around one another, she couldn’t distinguish one from the other. They looked like a dizzying sea of spots, blurring as they slammed into one another, broke apart and came together again. The eyes appeared as simply two more rosettes lost in the midst of a thousand spots, except for the intensity. Smoldering fire. Shocking intelligence. Cunning. Rage such as she’d never seen.
This was the man who had killed Marisa Vega, Conner’s mother. The sheer fury of Conner’s leopard drove the other leopard off his feet repeatedly. The claws tore great rips in the sides and belly. Suma shuddered and tried to escape, but Conner’s leopard would have none of it. He seemed oblivious to the rending tears in his own body; instead, he seemed determined to literally tear Suma to pieces. It was only Suma’s strength and experience, a male in his prime, that kept him from being instantly killed. He seemed to know he was in trouble, and Ottila, who, despite the assault from Rio’s and Leonardo’s rifles, kept up his own intermittent fire, trying to aid his partner.
“Damn it, Isabeau, we’re going to get caught out here. Fucking finish him,” Rio snarled.
Leopard emotions were intense, and right now, she couldn’t see how either was going to give ground. Blood ran down the sides of one of them, and she realized after the first heart-stopping moment that this was how to identify Suma. Jeremiah must have shot him. His own blood, and that of Jeremiah, coated the fur. The red streaks were beginning to transfer to Conner’s coat, but he had nowhere near the same amount on him.
She took a breath and concentrated, blocking out everything the way Conner had told her to. At first she heard the roars, and growls, the shots, another bullet scattering leaves and dirt beside the two leopards. Then she was in a tunnel and there was only the leopard’s blood-encrusted fur and her. No one else. Nothing else. She aimed for the back of the neck.
Her heart pounded. Her mouth went dry. She was terrified of hitting Conner. The two furious leopards moved so fast, tangled, came apart, tangled again. So fast. Too fast. If she shot the wrong one . . . She took another breath, willing the bullet to go exactly where she put it, and squeezed the trigger.
Suma reared up, his eyes yellow and raging with hatred. So much hatred. She shivered as Conner took advantage, slashing at the exposed belly, ripping deep. Suma tumbled over and lay still, his eyes open, staring at her. His tongue hung out, his sides heaving. Blood bubbled around his muzzle. Conner went for the kill, sinking teeth into the throat and holding, suffocating the leopard.
A volley of shots rained down, clipping Isabeau’s skirt, throwing up dirt around her, striking along Conner’s flank so that he roared and whirled to face his new enemy. His enraged gaze landed on her. Her heart skipped a beat and then began pounding. The leopard, with one last act of hatred and vengeance, ripped open the exposed belly, turned fully toward her and lowered his head into stalking mode, his gaze burning through her.
“Calm him down,” Rio shouted. “And both of you get the hell out of there. We can’t get to the shooter. The best we can do is keep him off you.”
“Calm him down?” she echoed, feeling a little faint. If Rio had been standing in front of her, she might have considered violence. “Are you crazy?”
The leopard, covered in blood, fur and flesh torn, crouched lower and took one step toward her in the freeze-frame motion that struck fear in the heart of prey. She knew, as long as she lived, she would never forget those piercing eyes, burning with pure rage. His muzzle and face were smeared with blood, as were his teeth.
“Conner.” Her voice shook. She lowered the muzzle of the rifle and held out her hand to him. “I’m so sorry, baby. It’s over now. Let’s get out of here. Come with me.”
The leopard snarled, his nose wrinkling into a savage display. His powerful jaw opened, showing his four canines prominently, teeth used to stab and hold prey during a kill. She knew that the gap behind each of the canines allowed the leopard to sink his teeth deep during a killing bite. His incisors could easily scrape flesh from bones and the side teeth could shear through skin and muscle like the sharpest of blades.
With each slow step, that powerful jaw and mouthful of teeth came closer to her until she felt the heat of his breath blasting her face. Again she pushed aside everything until there was only the leopard and her.