The rain slid off her fur, feeling like thousands of fingers brushing over her thick coat. Catarina sank deep inside her leopard, just allowing sensations to penetrate. Her little female was happy to run free, to give her human time to process. She ran to protect Catarina from the overwhelming grief and fear. Catarina could feel her leopard’s determination to surround her and keep her safe from everything and everyone—including the large male prowling behind them.

It’s all right, Cat whispered to her leopard. He’s giving me time. He knows I need this. He’s just making certain we’re safe.

He was. She knew she was right. Eli wasn’t trying to pressure her into spilling everything she knew about Rafe. Why then, was she so reluctant to help others destroy him? He’d just killed three innocent human beings who knew absolutely nothing about her whereabouts. He’d tortured them, and he’d kill others to find her. Bernard and Jase had nothing really to do with her. They’d exchanged a few words. But David . . . She wanted to scream with anguish.

What was wrong with her that she didn’t leap on the chance to help Jake and Eli? She had to know why, because something was wrong with her that she couldn’t turn completely on Rafe when she knew nothing—no one—could save him.

She ran in the rain, listening to the sounds of the drops hitting the leaves and the ground. There was a rhythm there that soothed her. Even within her leopard, holding herself still as she waited for her heart to slow and her eyes to quit burning, the rain reached her and calmed her.

Rafe had no one else. No one to love him. No one to care whether he was alive or dead. No one loyal to him, not without his money and fear of him. He was alone. She had felt the weight of that since she was a child. She’d tried so hard to get him to care for her. Nothing had worked—at least she hadn’t thought that it did, not when she was a child and needed someone to care about her.

Her leopard cleared a large tree trunk down across the path. Smoothly. Easily. Landing lightly without a sound. Eli had taught her how to move through the heavy brush silently, stealthily, pulling in every bit of information her surroundings could give her. He wanted her to have every advantage. He’d prepared her. He hadn’t thumped his chest and told her to stay in the safe house, instead, he’d been tough on her. Conditioning with her, running every day, teaching her martial arts. Shooting with her on the range. Using weapons. Climbing boulders.