10
DRAKE nodded to
Saria’s two brothers as he took her with him back down the narrow
path leading away from the water, but he walked carefully, keeping
them in sight until they had put foliage between them. Saria lifted
her hand toward her brothers in a brief wave, but she didn’t say
anything more, although they shifted positions, Saria taking the
lead.
Drake frowned. His
leopard was still prowling, pacing back and forth, fighting him
occasionally to get out. “You’re certain your female isn’t giving
you trouble?” He watched her closely, searching her dark eyes for
signs of trouble.
Saria shook her head,
glancing back at him. “She’s quieter now.”
Drake looked around
them. Fenton’s Marsh smelled like death to him. “Let’s get going. I
want to do this before nightfall.”
Truthfully, he wanted
Saria away from the area, although he couldn’t say the marsh wasn’t
beautiful. He could see why Fenton’s pristine acreage was the
habitat to so many wildlife species as he followed Saria into the
interior.
Flowers grew among
the darker greens of the plants, tall stalks strangely striped a
dark and light green. The blossoms resembled a golden lily with
dark splotches in the soft coned petals. Scattered among the taller
flowers was another species he didn’t recognize, each one of them
growing about halfway up the striped stalk of the strange lily.
Just as the vines tangled in the branches of the trees and wove
them together, the smaller bright-colored flowers did the same on
the ground.
Moss hung in long
veils from tree branches, and every kind of plant possible seemed
to vie for space in the thick brush. As they moved deeper, away
from the water’s edge, the foliage was even thicker, resembling a
dark jungle. Mushrooms and fungus grew in abundance. Here, the
flowers were thick carpets covering the ground beneath the
trees.
“This is like a rain
forest in here. The soil must be incredible.”
She sent him a smile
over her shoulder, immediately capturing his attention. “I’ve
photographed every inch of this land through here. I’m slowly
working my way south. I can’t find the names of some of these
plants and flowers anywhere. Like I said, no one comes here, they
haven’t for years. I’m hopin’ there’s somethin’ important to
National Geographic or one of the other
science mags.”
“Get some plant named
after you?” He watched her walk, the easy sexy sway of her hips.
She walked with straight shoulders, and that gentle sway emphasized
her narrow waist. She wasn’t fashionably thin, but rather had
curves where a man like him most appreciated them.
“No, that’s more
Charisse’s style. I just want to have my photographs paid attention
to and somethin’ like that would make me famous. I could really
make my livin’ that way.” She flashed him another look over her
shoulder and he forgot everything about his surroundings. It was a
beautiful place, but there was nothing there more beautiful to him
than she was.
“Stop it.” She
laughed softly. “Sometimes I don’ know what to do with
you.”
“I can give you
advice,” he said.
The ground was
growing spongy beneath his feet again, indicating they were
crossing back toward the water on the other side of the long finger
of land. Saria laughed softly again, but she didn’t
reply.
Drake was silent for
a moment, trying to figure out a subtle way to broach the subject
of her brothers. He kept his voice very gentle. “You know we have
to tell your brothers someone is killing using both a leopard
suffocation bite and a knife,” Drake said, wishing he didn’t have
to bring them back to the purpose of their visit to the
marsh.
For a few moments, it
had been just the two of them again, but she had to come to terms
with disclosing the information to her family. He wanted them both
on the same page. They needed allies to figure out what was going
on inside the lair. No one would talk to him, his team or probably
Saria. They needed her brothers.
“I found those bodies
some time ago and there won’t be any evidence left,” Saria pointed
out.
“We don’t have a
choice, Saria. They know something is wrong.”
Saria kept her gaze
fixed on the trail as they walked. The path was becoming thinner,
the surrounding area more hazardous, but Saria knew exactly where
she going. “It won’ be easy,” she ventured. “Remy is a homicide
detective and he won’ like that I was afraid of them.”
“Saria,” Drake said
softly. He stopped her by gently shackling her wrist and forcing
her to turn back to him. “Whatever led up to your fears was real.
One time coming to your rescue doesn’t erase years of neglect. You
had a reason to suspect them.”
“Maybe, Drake, and
maybe it was pride. They seemed so close to one another and I was
so alone and not a part of them. Maybe I wanted to punish them in
some way.”
Drake leaned
into her and brushed the top of her dirtstreaked face with a kiss.
“It’s always easy to second-guess yourself with new information,
but at the time, honey, you did the best you could. You were trying
to protect them.”
She squared her
shoulders and nodded. “Thank you for not making that worse back
there with my brothers. I know you were angry.”
He raised an
eyebrow.
She smiled and
shrugged. “Your eyes start glowin’. Really, Drake. They go gold and
then shimmer. I think every once in a while I’ll be tempted to get
you angry just so I can see all that shimmering fire.”
He bunched her hair
in his fist and brought his mouth to hers. When he lifted his head,
his eyes were every bit as golden as she’d claimed. Saria laughed
and the tension in his belly dissipated. She was back, sure and
confident. She’d been shaken for a moment, but she’d been true to
her word, and she stood with him.
“I wasn’t angry so
much as my leopard was behaving badly.”
“All of you were behaving badly. I thought my
brothers were going to kill you. And Remy nearly killed Armande and
Robert. It was very tense there for a while.” She gave a little
sniff. “I was the only one with a lick of sense.
“I’m takin’ you the
safe way around and stayin’ out of the marsh as much as possible.
This way is longer, but less hazardous, although we’re comin’ back
into the reeds, so look sharp if we go through water. What are you
hopin’ to see?” she asked. “The bodies are long gone.”
“My leopard will be
able to scent them. I want to know if there were others. It’s
possible your killer has been using the island for a dump site for
a while.”
“I don’ know why, but
I still think the first time was different than the others. There
were two boats, and I suspected they were up to some illegal
activity.”
“Two different
killers?”
She frowned, shaking
her head as she wove her way through the reeds. “No. More like that
time it wasn’t planned and the other times
deliberate.”
He noticed she kept
her rifle cradled carefully in her arms and she was very alert,
watching for alligators as they neared the reeds. She stopped at
one point and then gave an area a wide berth.
They walked for
perhaps another mile. His leopard began to settle, allowing him to
breathe easier. The terrible need to explode into rage subsided
gradually, and with it the tension drained from his body, allowing
him to drop his guard enough to enjoy their
surroundings.
The foliage had fewer
wildflowers tangled among the dense shrubbery and more trees and
large brush spaced farther apart. There was evidence of small
animals everywhere. Birds had settled back into the branches and
when they neared the outer edges of the curved property, he could
see egrets and herons wading in the shallow reeds.
Saria took them to a
sheltered cove, one where the ground was solid and trees lined the
water’s edge, shading the edge of the marsh and the reeds jutting
out into the water.
She spread out her
arms and turned in a circle. “This is where I found the second
body. It was half in and half out of the water over there.” She
pointed a distance away to a long path where the brush was
flattened leading to the edge of the reeds and deeper
water—obviously an alligator slide. “And over there.” She pointed
to a spot a good deal away from the slide where someone might
choose to picnic, thinking themselves safe from the gator. “There
were bottles from our bar lyin’ on the ground.”
He took her hand and
led her back to the interior, away from alligators and dead bodies.
The ground was solid and the trees had thick branches. If need be,
she could easily climb up one, although there was no evidence of
alligators this far inland.
“I’m going to shift
and take a look around, Saria. It may take a while.”
“I want to take some
photographs of you. Is that all right? In your leopard
form.”
“You know that’s not
a good idea.” Drake hated to deny her anything. “Even for your own
use, it’s just not a good idea.”
“How could anyone
tell the difference between a shifter and a leopard?”
He handed her his
shirt, shrugging out of it easily. “They’ll know the picture was
taken here in the marsh, honey. How will you explain a leopard in
Fenton’s Marsh?”
Saria seemed
fascinated by the muscles on his chest. She stared while she folded
his shirt. Drake kicked off his shoes and dropped his hands to the
front of his jeans. Her gaze dropped with his hands as he parted
the material and peeled them from his body. He liked that she was
fascinated. She was going to have to get used to seeing him naked
and she didn’t seem to mind, although she appeared a little
intimidated.
“Your brother Remy is
a tough man.” He tried distracting her.
She blinked, trying
to focus on his face. “All of them are.”
“This lair needs a
strong leader. And he fought circles around their appointed
fighter. He’d take any of them down in seconds.”
“My brothers stay to
themselves.”
“Isn’t Mahieu seeing
Charisse?” He handed her the jeans, desperately trying to think of
anything but sex. Suddenly sex was on his mind in a big way, and
being a man, he found his thoughts physically impossible to hide.
She was already intimidated enough by the thought of having sex
with him.
“Well, with any of my
brothers you just never know. Lojos and Gage have been givin’ him a
really bad time about her, teasin’, you know. Mahieu doesn’t say
much, but he’s been hittin’ the jazz clubs with her.”
She made no attempt
to pull her gaze away from his body. Her eyes grew big and she
raised her eyebrows. “I don’ know, Drake, you’re just a little
bigger than I expected.”
The woman could make
the devil blush. Instead of stepping back from him, she stepped
closer to him and reached toward him hesitantly, as if afraid he’d
bat her hand away. He went still. So did his leopard. Both held
their breath. Her gaze jumped to his face, burning into his, then
dropped again to his heavy erection. Tentatively, her fingers
brushed over his cock, a soft slide of just the pads of her
fingers, as if he might burn her skin—instead, she burned
his.
The breath slammed
from his lungs. Hot blood rushed through his veins to pool into
aicked, urgent need. Every nerve ending seemed centered in his
groin. Her fingers stroked over the length of him, tracing him,
shaping him, sliding lower to cup his sac. A low growl escaped, his
throat closing on the sound so it came out strangled.
“So hot,” she
murmured as if to herself. “Alive.”
“Very alive,” he
admitted, gritting his teeth. He didn’t want her to stop, but it
was torture, pure and simple.
Saria looked up again
at Drake’s face. Lines of desire were etched deep. His eyes had
gone fiery gold—like the blazing sun. She moistened her lips.
Everything about him was beautiful to her. She loved the idea that
his body was so hot and hard just for her. There was something
powerful and freeing about taking control. Her fingers played over
his body as if it was a musical instrument, sliding and stroking
and shaping while she committed the feel of him to her memory. A
single pearly drop of his essence leaked from the smooth, velvet
head.
Saria stared down at
the drop and licked her lips a second time. Her mouth watered. Deep
inside, she felt her leopard stir, and then stretch with languid
interest. The amorous cat had been driving her crazy earlier in the
swamp—something she didn’t want to admit to Drake in front of her
brothers, but now she didn’t want her leopard’s response. She
wanted this exploration to be all her. Looking up, she thought that
Drake’s face could have been carved from stone. His eyes were
hooded, heavy-lidded, his expression one of pure power and passion.
His eyes had gone completely golden with lust and unbridled
need—for her. She drank in the sight of him, her heart pounding
with daring.
“Drake.” She stared
down at his erection. “Show me.”
He didn’t ask
questions, or protest. He took her hand and wrapped it around him
like a fist. He showed her how to pump him. He felt like velvet
over steel, a fascinating combination. She wanted to spend a long
time learning all about his body, what made him gasp with pleasure
and what brought him to his knees. What put that sexy, heated
glitter in his gold eyes.
She’d read about sex,
and she’d certainly fantasized, but she hadn’t considered being
with any of the men she’d grown up with. This man with his rock
hard body, the blazing heat in his eyes and passionate nature was
everything she’d imagined. Her body felt hot and needy, her skin so
sensitive that the thin shirt hurt. She felt hungry for him,
starved to know the taste and feel of him. She wanted to make her
own claim on him.
She hadn’t thought of
herself as a jealous woman, but the thought of another woman
touching him made her want to claw with lethal intent. She wanted
to be the one to please him, to be the one he craved with the same
intensity she craved him. The need came in waves, a hot rush
through her veins pulsing through her feminine core. The deep
urgent desire was not entirely brought on by her leopard, although
she understood the feline much better than she had.
Drake Donovan was the
sexiest man she’d ever encountered and the chemistry between them
was off the charts. There was no resisting the terrible urgency in
her body. Without thinking, she bent her head to taste that silky
drop, her tongue curling around the broad head. He jerked in her
fist, swelled more. A growl rumbled in his chest and she licked
with small delicate strokes, smiling when she was rewarded with hot
pulses.
“I’m not a damned
saint, Saria,” he hissed, his voice nearly demonic.
She looked up at him,
a chill sliding down her spine at the desperate tone in his voice.
His eyes blazed with a dark lust that only intensified her ravenous
hunger for his taste. His hand moved hers to the base, wrapping her
fingers tightly around his thick erection. She let the hand bunched
in her hair guide her to her knees in the thick grass. The
impressive amount of flesh in her fist held her fascinated
gaze.
“Draw it into your
mouth, nice and slow,” he instructed. “Just like that. Easy now,
get used to the size and feel.” He threw back his head and groaned
when she obeyed. “Use your tongue, baby.”
She pulled back and
licked him, much like a cat licking at a bowl of cream. When he
pulsed against her tongue, she enclosed him in her mouth. All that
silken steel. The taste of him was feral, hot, all male. His hips
jerked and she blinked up at him again, seeing the amazing gold of
his eyes shimmering with heat.
His hips jerked again
in a desperate, shallow rhythm she immediately caught onto. She
drew him deeper, and allowed her mouth to glide back. He drew a
ragged, harsh breath in response. She heard her own moan as he
filled her mouth again, as she felt power surge through her, a dark
passion that fed the lust driving her. She needed him like this,
groaning, at the very edge of his control, while her untutored
mouth drove him wild.
“Saria.” He said her
name. That was all, a single word, but his voice was rough and
demanding, a harsh plea for mercy, a command to
continue.
He was thick,
stretching her lips, filling her mouth, hot and pulsing with life.
He tasted so male, so much dark passion, hot and delicious. She
licked at the underside of the broad, sensitive head, enjoying the
sensation and his reaction. He groaned when she took him deeper.
His hand suddenly fisted in her hair, holding her still while his
hips jerked in a series of shallow thrusts.
“Relax, honey. Just
relax and breathe. Take a breath and hold it when I slide a little
deeper. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She did as he said,
taking a breath, feeling him slide deeper until she was afraid she
might choke, but he went no further and the sensation of feeling
his heart beat in her mouth gave her an answering pulse deep inside
her core. She felt white lightning arc through her body, as if
every nerve ending was connected to her mouth.
“Flatten your
tongue.”
Even as the words
left his mouth he groaned as she complied, rubbing that sweet spot
under the broad head as he slid out. He held her head still as he
slid back inside. Again she had to fight her own reflexes not to
panic, but he was careful. He began a rhythm, pulling her closer,
letting her take a breath and pulling her head down onto him as he
thrust.
“Suck harder, honey.
Yeah. Like that. That’s so fucking good. More, honey, give me
harder. I need it.”
She listened to his
harsh instructions, following them carefully, giving herself up to
him, wanting only his pleasure, loving the sounds of his groans and
the helpless thrusting of his hips. She dug her fingers into his
hip, holding him closer, using her tongue and the heat of her mouth
to bring him closer to release. She felt him grow larger, felt the
heat and fire of him. He pulsed with life, with such erotic passion
she couldn’t have stopped herself if she’d wanted to.
His hand pued her
head down just a little farther as she took a breath, jerking in
short spurts, and then she felt his hot release pouring into her.
He moaned low and long, the sound as arousing as the hard flesh
jerking in the heat of her mouth. His fingernails sank into her
scalp and one shoulder as he breathed hard.
“Use your tongue,
baby,” he urged. “That feels so damned good.”
She lapped at him, a
gentle ministry to calm them both. She was breathing nearly as hard
as he was. She felt achy everywhere, almost desperate to rip off
her clothes and impale herself on that thick, velvet-over-steel
spike.
Drake drew her up,
holding her close to him. “That was unbelievable,
Saria.”
“I’m sure I’ll get
better,” she said, her gaze suddenly worried.
“Better might kill
me.” He brushed a kiss over her temple. “We’ll finish this at the
inn in a comfortable room with a bed. Your first time should be
special, honey.”
She wasn’t certain
she could hold out for special, but he had a point. The swamp was
no place to try to have sex. She nodded, unable to get past her own
desire. She needed breathing space from him.
Drake could tell
Saria was struggling and he cursed himself for allowing her to
service him when he couldn’t show her what making love was. He
could see she wanted to be alone and he hated that he had to
comply, to just leave her after she’d given him so much
pleasure.
“Will you be all
right?”
“I practically live
in the swamp,” she said, studying the edge of the trees. “I can
take pictures while you do whatever it is leopards
do.”
Uneasy, he shifted,
staying close to her for a moment to rub his fur all over her, in
his own way trying to reassure her before he set off. Drake
searched the entire area, crisscrossing the wild terrain, using
every means available to search out evidence of a leopard making a
kill. He had never been so frustrated—or alarmed—in his life. There
were numerous places where he scented blood and death, six to be
exact, and he’d uncovered more empty bottles from the Boudreaux
bar, but nowhere did he find evidence of a leopard. Not a single
track. Not a scent mark. No fur.
His leopard at times
was very settled and then suddenly would become so agitated Drake
feared he might not be able to control him. There seemed no pattern
to the sudden surge of temper as Drake picked his way through
several acres. Saria was at the center of the ever-widening circle
he used to hunt for evidence and he made certain he could scent her
at all times.
He knew Saria
couldn’t have imagined a leopard bite. It was fairly distinctive.
She’d agonized over writing the letter to Jake, so there had to be
truth in what she’d seen. Leopards left trails. They marked
everything. Where they’d been. Territories they moved through. It
was natural behavior and, although he was extremely strong and
controlled, he doubted if he could stop his leopard from marking.
Especially after a kill.
He retraced every
step, aware time was slipping away. He didn’t trust the marsh at
night. The lair of leopards was so out of control, it was
impossible to know what they might do next. Before anything else,
he had to keep Saria safe. He needed to get back to the inn,
shower, collect his team and meet Saria’s brothers. There was
nothing here to indicate leopard, but there was no doubt in his
mind that Fenton’s Marsh was a killing ground.
He made his way back
to Saria as the sun was setting. Layers of crimson red, burnt
orange and antique gold filled the sky, turning the reflecting
waters surrounding the tip of Fenton’s Marsh into shades of color.
An alligator, so still it appeared to be a log, sat on the bank,
just above the reeds. A slight breeze created a ripple through the
field of reeds, so that waves appeared to be lapping at the
alligator’s feet. The gator was large, at least eighteen feet or
more, a majestic, prehistoric creature from another
age.
Bats wheeled and
dipped over the water, feasting on insects, small dark bodies
against the colorful sky. The birds walking like stick figures in
the reeds seemed no more than cardboard silhouettes against the
brilliant colors of the sunset. The tree trunks reflected in the
water made it look like a painting, shimmering colors of gold and
red.
The swamp was
breathtaking as the sun came down. Saria crouched low, eye to her
camera, capturing the beauty of the coming evening in a frozen
image. Her clothes were streaked with dirt and her hair was wild,
but she belonged there in the midst of all that beauty. She took
his breath away. He could see the outline of her breast pushing
against her T-shirt, that soft inviting curve, her narrow rib cage
and tucked-in waist. As she shifted position, he admired the curve
of her butt and hips.
Saria moved with
confidence in spite of the sun going down. She was unafraid, even
though she was well aware of the dangers of the swamp. She took
several pictures, snapping quickly, and he waited patiently so as
not to disturb her. She was leopard. She would know he was
there.
When she slowly
straightened, stretching to loosen tight muscles, he shifted,
emerging naked, going for his clothes. She turned to watch him,
raising the camera to her eye again and snapping as he pulled on
his jeans.
“You
didn’t?”
“Just your face.” She
laughed. “You had such a shocked look I couldn’t resist. You’re not
the only perv here, you know.”
He loved that she was
unapologetic about enjoying his body. He found it strange that he’d
only just met her. It seemed a lifetime ago, as if he’d known her
forever, and yet each encounter was perfect and new. He had often
imagined falling in love as a slow process. Learning about one
another, the incredible chemistry that came with that first rush of
desire and then a slow, smoldering growth that was calm and sure
and steady. His experience with Saria was all of that and nothing
like that. He fell like a ton of brick, dropped right into her
fathomless dark eyes and kept falling.
He knew he couldn’t
live without her, when only a few days ago he didn’t know of her
existence. He’d been half alive, walking through the world without
seeing or appreciating the beauty of it. Saria gave him the gift of
sight. The sound of her laughter was like music on the wind,
elusive and impossible to catch, yet she’d given him that gift as
well. The trust in her eyes when she looked at him humbled him. The
way she freely gave herself to him, uninhibited, willing for him to
instruct her just so she could please was a gift beyond all
measure.
“Take us home, Saria.
We’ll get cleaned up, pick up my team and go meet your
brothers.”
She blinked, looked
away from him and spent an inordinate amount of time putting her
camera away while he dressed.en tigh/div>
Drake moved up behind her and slipped his arms around
her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Tell me, honey. If
you’re worried, talk to me. I don’t want you ever to worry
needlessly. We can figure it out.”
She moved against
him, fitting her body into his as if for reassurance. “Are you
expectin’ trouble with my brothers? Is that why you’re bringin’
your team?”
“Is that what you
thought?” He nibbled on her neck, finding the sweet spot where her
neck and shoulder joined. He could tell he found it by the way her
breathing changed. He kissed her there several times. “I want your
brothers to get to know them as human beings. We need allies in the
lair. We can’t be fighting them all the time and your brothers are
a force to be reckoned with. Remy is strong and intelligent, a
natural leader. The lair will listen to him.”
She turned in his
arms, linking her hands behind his neck. “Merci. I don’ want you fightin’ with my
brothers.”
“I doubt there’s
need. Unless, of course,” he bit gently on her shoulder and nibbled
his way up her throat to the corner of her mouth, “they try to take
you from me.”
“I think they’re glad
to get rid of me, at least until my little hussy
emerges.”
He pulled back to
look down at her. “Saria, you don’t think we’re going to have a
one-night stand do you?”
She frowned. “I was
hopin’ we’d practice a little before she emerges,” she admitted,
color sweeping into her face. “I know I can please you if you just
give me the chance.”
He framed her face
with his hands. “Baby, you have this all wrong. A claiming isn’t
just for one night. It’s not just my leopard claiming yours. We’re
a mated pair. We stay together.”
She looked startled.
“Leopards don’ mate for life. I mean, I know you mentioned that
once but I thought you were . . .”
“Shifters do.
We do. Saria and Drake. We mate for
life.” He stared down at her frown. At her stubborn chin. “Are you
saying you planned on using me for sex and then you were just going
to send me on my way?” He couldn’t help feeling a little outraged.
He was experienced. Older by several years. Worldly. And she was
going to use him and send him away. Damn it all to hell. “We mate
for life, Saria.”
She dropped her arms
and stepped back. “I didn’ understand that part.”
“Clearly.” He gentled
his voice. Maybe he’d scared her. “Did you think I was taking
advantage of your leopard?”
Her gaze jumped to
his. “Drake, I didn’t know. I’m sorry, I just have to get this
clear in my head. I thought you’d be with me and then have to
leave. You don’t live here. I guess it just made sense you’d be
goin’ away—after.”
He pushed down anger.
What kind of man did she take him for? On the other hand, there’d
been warning signs she’d thought that way and it did make some
sense. He’d ignored it because he wanted her feeling the same deep
feelings he’d already developed for her.
“Look, Saria, I know
I was selfish earlier. I should have stopped us and waited until we
were in a room with a bed so I could make love to you properly. I’m
no going to make excuses, but I won’t be a selfish lover. I’ll put
you first and make sex great for you. More than
great.”
Saria looked more
confused than ever. “You don’ even know me, Drake, not really. I’m
not a city girl and I don’ ever want to be. This is my home and I
love it. My life is simple for a reason. I had choices. This is my
choice.”
“I know that, baby. I
see you. Every part of you. Of course I know you have choices. I
want me to be one of those choices.”
She bit her lip. “I’m
not like other people, Drake. I’m just not. I can’t breathe
sometimes away from here. I do what I want. I don’ like hurtin’
others and I know if we were together, you’d eventually try to tell
me what to do and I know I would never do it.” She shook her head.
“I don’ want to end up with children, an unhappy husband and a
divorce.”
“The female leopard
is not submissive to the male, Saria,” Drake said. “She’s wild and
moody and he has to be in tune with her in order to be a successful
mate. I didn’t choose you because I thought you’d be submissive to
me. Am I a dominant male? Yes. There’s no probably, but I want a
woman to stand by my side, to think for herself, to argue with me
if she believes she’s right. I want you. It’s up to you to decide
if you want me the way I am.” He glared at her. “But you’re not
using me for sex and throwing me away after.”
A slow smile crept
into her eyes. “You drive a hard bargain. I was lookin’ forward to
usin’ you for sex. You’re very yummy.”
He gave her his
darkest scowl, not giving in to his inclination to laugh at the
absurdity of the situation. “Just remember the next time you want
sex, you’d better mean it.”
She rolled her eyes,
not impressed with his ultimatum. “We’d better get out of here. You
don’ want to be traipsin’ through the swamp at night. Not even with
me.”
Drake hid a smile.
Yeah. He liked that little stubborn streak and the challenge she
was always going to present. She had a passion for life and that
same passion would spill over into the bedroom. He followed her
back through the swamp as they retraced their steps, careful to
step where the ground was solid.
Halfway back to the
boat, he felt the snarling awakening of his leopard. The beast
clawed and raked at him, an urgent demand to be let free. He found
his amusement fading to be replaced by anger. Anger grew into rage
with every step he took as they wound their way quickly through the
rapidly darkening swamp. Who the hell did Saria think she was,
treating him like that? Use him and walk away? She was a control
freak. She needed a real man to teach her a lesson. His leopard
roared at him, fighting to set free, to . . .
Drake pulled himself
up short. What the hell was he thinking? Saria was young and
inexperienced. And afraid. He couldn’t blame her. She was only
trying to sort out an unfamiliar situation. He never would harm a
woman or even consider doing such a thing. He stopped and looked
around them. He had wrestled internally for some time as they made
their way back to where she’d docked their boat, almost as if he’d
lost track of time. His leopard subsided, giving him some breathing
room as he followed Saria into the boat.
What the hell was
going on? He needed to talk to his team. To her brothers. To really
investigate Fenton’s Marsh and figure out what was wrong with the
place. It felt—evil.
THE Boudreaux house
was somewhat small, but very well built. Mahieu escorted them
inside and Drake’s team immediately deployed close to the windows.
Remy kept the lights off, other than a few candles, and they sat
down to discuss the situation. Drake sensed Saria’s nervousness.
They’d showered—in separate rooms—and she’d been quiet since they
left the swamp. He couldn’t blame her, he was fairly quiet himself,
wondering just what had happened between them. She did sit next to
him on the couch, which he was grateful for. She fit beneath his
shoulder, his thigh touching hers, and that seemed to give her
confidence to launch into her story.
Remy and the others
listened patiently to Saria without once interrupting her. When she
finished, there was dead silence. Drake looked around the room. Her
brothers looked shocked. His team was more prepared. Jake had
briefed them before they had come to help.
“You thought one of
us had done this.” Remy made it a statement. “Become a serial
killer?”
Saria slipped her
hand into Drake’s, her fingers tangling tight with his. “I didn’
know there were any other shifters, Remy. I didn’ want to betray
any of you, but when I found the second body, I knew I couldn’t
just let the killin’ continue.”
“So you tried to mail
a letter but found it the next day pinned to the pirogue. None of
us use that, only you, so you knew the warnin’ was for you, and all
of us had access to your boat.” Remy’s voice was thoughtful more
than critical.
Drake stayed silent,
shifting on the worn couch to bring Saria a little closer to him in
an effort to comfort her. His team remained silent, deployed by the
open windows, using leopard senses to ensure their
privacy.
Saria nodded. “I was
very scared.”
“For God’s sake,
Saria,” Remy snapped suddenly, “I’m a fuckin’ homicide detective.
You couldn’t have thought it was me.”
“I didn’ want to
think it was any of you. I was afraid, Remy.” Her voice
trembled.
Drake cleared his
throat to rid himself of the snarl building. At least his leopard
had subsided, giving him some breathing room. The sound was loud in
the silence of the room, bringing immediate attention to him. All
five of Saria’s brothers stared at him.
“You knew about
this?” Remy asked.
Drake nodded. “Jake
received her letter. It wasn’t signed, and it was worded very
carefully. It implied someone was using Fenton’s Marsh to permit a
large cat to kill humans by first stabbing the victim and then
allowing the animal to administer a suffocating bite to finish the
job. Naturally he was intrigued and he sent me to investigate. At
the time, of course, I had no idea Saria had sent the letter. I
asked for a guide into the swamp and she came highly
recommended.”
Remy nodded. “That
makes sense. She is considered one of the best guides around. Even
with our leopards, she’s difficult to find if she doesn’t want to
be found.”
Saria smiled and Remy
glared at her. “That was no compliment.”
Drake brought her
hand to his mouth and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. As long
as he wasn’t the one trying to find her, he thought Remy’s
observation was a great compliment. She sent him a quick
smile.
“What did you find
out there?” Remy asked.
“No bodies, but the
scent of large pools of blood in the ground told me a number of
males have been killed out there.”
Remy pressed two
fingers to his eyes. He looked at his sister. “Where are they,
Saria?” he demanded.
Saria blinked. She
pressed her lips together. “Where is what?”
“The photographs. You
took pictures of the dead bodies and the wounds on them. I know you
did, so cut the crap and let me see them,” Remy
snapped.
Of course she had.
Drake should have thought of that. It was exactly what Saria would
have done. She would have recorded the entire scene and the
surrounding area. She would have done exactly as her brother said.
Face, wounds, everything. She was a photographer and a damned good
one. She would have needed proof to show Jake Bannaconni. And she’d
probably seen enough crime scenes to photograph them
correctly.
“Give them to him,
Saria,” Drake said. “Remy’s the investigator.”
She bit down on her
lower lip. “Remy, at two of the scenes, there were bottles from our
bar. The kind we use exclusively. And Drake found evidence of other
dump sites. There were no bodies, but he found where someone had
lost a lot of blood and the same bottles were there.”
“You went lookin’ for
more bodies?” Remy asked.
Drake nodded. “I
wanted to confirm what Saria had told us. The bodies were long
gone. The alligators took care of that, but my leopard found
several more kill spots.”
There was a brief
silence. The brothers exchanged long looks. Remy sighed. “Did you
catch the scent of a leopard, somethin’ strong enough you might be
able to recognize if you came across it again?”
Drake shook his head.
“Nothing. Not a rake mark. No pile of leaves. No scent marking and
nothing near where the victims were killed. Just blood and death.
No leopard.”
“That’s a good thing,
isn’t it, Remy?” Lojos, the youngest brother asked. “It isn’t a
shifter.”
“Could you be wrong
about the bite, Saria?” Remy asked. “Maybe Fenton’s Marsh is a body
dump, but there is no leopard involved.”
Saria made a face at
him. “You think I don’ know a leopard bite when I see one?” She
jumped up and rushed from the room to get the proof.
Remy flicked his gaze
at his younger brother Lojos, who silently followed his sister.
Drake realized Remy was uneasy and worried for Saria’s safety even
there in their home with all of his brothers and Drake’s team to
protect her.
“What is it you’re
not telling us?” Drake asked.
Remy sighed and
glanced at Mahieu, who shrugged. “The dead bodies in Fenton’s Marsh
aren’t the only ones. There have been five women that we know of
murdered in similar fashion to what Saria says is goin’ on in the
marsh. All stabbed with a strange bite mark to their throats—a
leopard bite. The first killin’ was several years ago. We think
there are more. It’s easy to go missin’ in New Orleans. We’ve had
unsolved murders of women and people disappearin’ for years, but
the bodies found were very distinctive.”
“Are you saying these
killings have been going on for years—that they’re
connected?”
“We believe so. And
if a serial killer is on the loose and no one has come close to him
before now, then Saria is in real danger. She’s alone all the time
in the swamp. Everyone knows her and knows she photographs
everythin’. If she found his current dumpin’ ground, and she sent a
letter which he managed to intercept, she’s on his
radar.”
Every muscle in
Drake’s body tensed. The thought of Saria in danger was more than
disturbing—everything male—in both leopard and
human—protested.
“You’ve been watching
all the females in your lair closely to protect them,” he guessed
shrewdly.
Remy nodded. “The
leopard bite bothers me. I doubt it’s real, but suppose someone
knows about us and is tryin’ to cast blame on us—to bring us out
into the open. We’ve married into families incapable of shiftin’
over the years. It’s possible someone born with the traits of a
leopard but unable to shift could do this.”
Drake nodded. “Our
species is capable of great cruelties. Without the ability to shift
and allow the leopard freedom, yes, it could happen
easily.”
“Saria bein’ so close
to the Han Vol Dan complicates matters,” Mahieu added. “Every male
for a hundred miles is crazy. Armande and Robert have both lost
their minds.”
“It’s a lot more
complicated than a female being close to emerging,” Drake
contradicted. “This lair is in trouble and I think you all know
that. You need strong leadership to keep leopards in check,
especially around an actual city. This lair lacks that. You weren’t
there the other night when they sent a fighter to challenge me.
Robert Lanoux broke one of the most important rules in any lair and
he went unpunished.”
“He was punished
today,” Remy said grimly.
“Yes, but you’re not
the leader of the lair, Jeanmard is. Or was. You know this
situation will only grow worse if something isn’t
done.”
“Are you advocatin’
one of us become the leader of this lair?” Remy sounded
incredulous.
“Not one of you.
You,” Drake said. “Because if you don’t, you’re going to have
murders all over the place. If you think the attack on Saria was a
one-time thing, you’re sadly mistaken. I’ve seen this happen
before. Leopards have intense drives. You have to meet those drives
or your leopard goes rogue. You all know that.”
“I have a serial
killer to catch. Puttin’ this lair back together again is a
full-time job.”
Drake nodded. “You’re
going to have to send your males out to find females away from this
place so you don’t risk the bloodlines becoming contaminated. More
than anything, that gets dangerous. There are all kinds of problems
here, Remy, and someone has to fix them.”
“Boss,” Joshua
interrupted. “We’ve got company out there and they don’t look
friendly.”