The intruders would succeed in breaching the house. The good news was she knew the grounds now. She stealthily opened a window in the guest bedroom and peered out. There were men moving in silence around the house, surrounding it. She didn’t wait to see if one of them might be looking up.

Shift. I can slip past them easier than you can.

She’d always done this in human form. She’d played hide-and-seek with a male leopard for years in the swamp. She knew how to cover her tracks, to change her scent, to slip through humans hunting or fishing. Evangeline hesitated.

I learned from you and my mate. He has been teaching me, and I don’t get to make many mistakes without his anger.

That much was true. Alonzo’s leopard was bad tempered and mean when crossed. He wanted his female to be every bit as good a fighter as he was and he worked nightly with her. Sometimes when she shifted back to human form, Evangeline could barely move, feeling as if she’d been beaten with a baseball bat.

“Be careful. Don’t get shot.”

She stripped fast and shifted. Bebe slipped out the window onto the long, thick branch that was the beginning of the arboreal highway. She looked down and snarled at the intruders and then back at the house, clearly worried about the two humans they’d left behind.

Don’t think about them. We have to get to Fyodor and the others. They’re all that matter right now.

Evangeline couldn’t think about Emilio’s men doing anything crazy like burning down her house, especially with Ted and Ralph needing medical assistance. They had the security screens, even if they cut the electricity. There was a built-in generator.

Her leopard ran along the branches easily, heading toward the highway. Another leopard. Right there, coming onto the property, Bebe warned.

Evangeline recognized the rosettes and the way the cat moved. It was Jeremiah. Let him know we’re here.

Bebe immediately let out a soft chuffing noise. The leopard below them froze and then looked up. Bebe didn’t need her human counterpart to tell her what to do. She leapt through the branches until she could land safely on the ground beside the bigger male. Both leopards ran for the safety of the brush just inside of the fence.

Evangeline shifted, reaching for the pack. “Turn around.” The men showed no modesty, but she wasn’t there yet. She dressed hastily. Jeremiah pulled on a pair of jeans and a jacket.

“I have to warn Fyodor that he’s walkin’ into a trap. Ted and Ralph are in the safe room off of Fyodor’s old bedroom. You’ll have to . . .”