“I am afraid sometimes,” Catarina said honestly. “Right now is the first time I really saw it in you. The stamp of danger that means you’ve battled and won a million times and you don’t back down—ever.”

“Why would that scare you? You’re under my protection.”

Her body jerked. She knew he saw it because his eyes narrowed and moved over her face. “I was under his protection. He told me that a million times.”

“Cat. Come here.”

Her gaze flew to his. “I’m right here.”

“Come here.” He said it softly. The command he could put into his voice was there and her heart beat faster.

Catarina slipped out of her chair before she could stop herself and went to stand in front of him. He caught her wrist and tugged her down onto his lap. His arm slid around her waist and pulled her tight against his body.

“Relax, baby. Just let me hold you for a minute.”

Another minute went by. She tried to hold out. It was insane to sit on his lap and allow this kind of intimacy. This wasn’t about sex at all. This was about comfort. Caring. She couldn’t do that with him.

“Settle, Kitten,” Eli insisted, his fingers easing the tension out of her neck.

When he did that, massaged her neck and shoulders, she turned to putty in his hands. She found herself melting into him in spite of her resolve to hold something of herself back.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered, and skimmed his mouth along her neck and then behind her ear. “Cordeau must have studied your family and realized that there was a good chance you were a shifter. Females are difficult to find. I should know, I traveled the world, all the rain forests, everywhere I knew that there were pockets of us left.”

He stroked her hair, and she fit her head more comfortably into his shoulder. He was a big man with the roped muscles of his kind, and he made her feel very safe. She knew she shouldn’t allow it, but she’d never had that luxury of safe before.

“He didn’t make any effort to spend time with you, or build a relationship. He went about his business, and when you needed a little love and guidance, he hurt you. He’s a rogue. You don’t understand that term and maybe you never should. Rogues aren’t allowed to live. Other shifters hunt them. We have our own police force for that.”

“Are you part of that?” she asked.

He didn’t answer her question. “I know I scare you, Kitten, but I’m not like Cordeau. Never like him. Do you understand?”

She wasn’t certain she did. “What do you mean when you say your leopard is hard to handle sometimes?”