The change happened so fast, so smoothly that for a moment, Catarina didn’t realize what happened. Pain crashed through her body. She smelled blood. Felt it running down her back and the sides of her body. She felt the hot blast of the leopard’s breath, the weight of his body as he pinned her to the ground, mauling her. Desperately she placed both hands over her stomach, trying to curl, to bring up her knees, as the claws shredded skin right down to the bone, but the leopard held her mercilessly in place.

She was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. Rafe’s leopard killed countless women. She heard screams, horrible wailing cries of pain and fear rising on the wind. It took a moment to realize it was her voice. Her agony. His terrible claws slashed and burned through her body. She couldn’t even curl up into a little ball no matter how much she tried. There was no way to protect her head.

“You’re okay, Catarina.”

Rafe’s voice was gruff. He sounded as afraid as she felt. The weight of the male leopard was gone, but she couldn’t move. She drew her knees up under her, trying to find a way to breathe. Blood was everywhere, her body slick with it. She hurt everywhere, as if the heavy leopard had battered her, and maybe he had.

“Catarina, I need to look at you.” Rafe injected more command into his voice.

She forced her head to turn toward him, flinching with the pain of just that small movement. Her shoulder and neck felt torn. Rafe’s eyes were dark with worry.

“You can’t ever allow your leopard to leave you facing another leopard,” he lectured in a harsh tone.

She realized immediately he’d been terrified for her. Like Catarina, Rafe had feared his leopard would kill her before he could get the large cat under control. Rafe controlled his fears by going to someplace cold and barren where nothing touched him. Nothing but Catarina.

His hands moved over her body to inspect the savage wounds on her right side. “These are deep. You’re going to need stitches. Infection is a problem with this kind of wound. We’ll put you on IV antibiotics immediately. Can you move a little so I can look at your other side?”

Now that he was doing something to aid her, his tone had gone to brisk and matter-of-fact. His momentary lapse was gone and Rafe was once again in complete control.

She could barely breathe let alone answer him. Tears streamed down her face, although she wasn’t certain if she was really crying or if it was an involuntary reaction to pain. She’d never felt agony like this in her life. She didn’t know a person could live with such pain.