“Get dressed fast, the helicopter is coming. I’ll go with you to the hospital,” Jake instructed, preventing Eli from wrenching Catarina out of his arms. “Hurry. I’ll need to dress as well. The boys will clean up here.”

Elijah tossed him a pack, and Eli yanked the jeans free, dragging them up over his hips. Only then did he realize his body was streaked with blood as well. He hadn’t felt the blows. Not any of them, but of course Cordeau’s cat had scored on his male. He didn’t bother with shoes or a shirt, he reached for Catarina, needing to hold her to him.

She cried out when her side came in contact with his, an involuntary cry that made it seem all the worse. Her face was twisted with pain and her skin felt cold and clammy. Leopards were always hot-blooded and to feel the chill in her skin added to his growing fear.

“She’s lost a lot of blood,” Jake said, his voice calm as he pulled on his jeans and dragged a shirt over his head. “I’ve put pressure bandages on the wounds on her sides, but she’d already lost so much.”

Catarina’s eyes were closed. Eli bent his head to her. “Look at me, Kitten. I want to see your eyes.” He used his commanding voice, the one that always made her shiver. The one she obeyed without question.

Her lashes fluttered and lifted. His heart tripped. Tight knots formed in his gut. She was fading away from him. Instinctively his hands tightened on her, holding her to him. He bent his head, his eyes drilling into hers.

“You will not leave me. You understand, Catarina. You will not leave me. I need to know you understand.” His tone was implacable. He wouldn’t lose her. He didn’t allow fear into his voice, but it was there, deep inside, eating him up. He could barely breathe with terror edging his mind. “Say it. Say it to me right now.”

Her lashes fluttered, but she didn’t look away from him. Her gaze clung to his as if he was her anchor, and he intended to be. He knew leopards who had shared a past could eventually be so close they were psychically connected. He pressed into her mind. Used his male shamelessly to press into her female’s mind. He had to find a way to keep her with him, keep an unbreakable thread between them.

He heard the helicopter now, the whop-whop of the blades as it cruised through the air to get to them. Jake was on the radio giving orders. None of it mattered. She hadn’t answered him.

“Catarina, you fucking promise me right now. You won’t leave me.”