“No.” Saria turned under him, onto her back, throwing both arms around him, holding on tightly, as if she could somehow hold off the fur slithering beneath his skin and the teeth filling his mouth. His shirt ripped with the ropes of muscles banding over his body. She refused to let go, even when hot breath blasted her throat. She closed her eyes, refusing to look at his face changing, but she never once let go.

There was a moment when he wasn’t certain he could stop his leopard. Stiletto-sharp claws burst through his fingers and it was all he could do to bury them into the soft earth on either side of her head while he breathed his leopard into submission.

Her hands framed his face. There were tears swimming in her eyes when she opened them. He knew she was staring into eyes pure leopard.

“Please, Drake,” she whispered. “Don’ do what they want. Stay with me. We can fight them off.”

He had no choice. Not if she was going to cry. The real knife to a man’s heart was his woman’s tears. He bent his head and kissed them away gently. “Let’s go then. Crawl out of here, stay low and don’t move brush.”

They were both soaked from the wet ground and she shivered a little, still holding him tightly.

Behind them was an explosion of sound, a wild roaring growl and the sound of a man’s high-pitched scream of terror.

Chapter 9

9

SARIA went still, lying beneath Drake in inches of water and mud, looking up at him with terrified eyes. The noises emanating from the groves of trees around them were horrifying. It sounded as if a thousand leopards were fighting over prey. The birds took to the air again, the sounds of their cries mingling with the ferocious growls and snarls rising in volume. Branches cracked and the brush trembled as heavy bodies slammed into them.

Drake rolled off Saria and reached to help her up. She took a better grip on her rifle, dropping behind him as he took the lead, working his way back toward the sounds of the battle. He opened his shirt in preparation for the change. Soaked and covered in mud, they ran through the brush, batting at spider webs as they wound their way along a narrow trail, avoiding sink holes and quicksand until they came to the grove of evergreen trees.

Five men, all heavily armed, surrounded two golden leopards and a huge black one. Drake drew his weapon, but Saria pushed the gun down.

“Don’ shoot. That’s Elie Jeanmard and four of my brothers,” she whispered, her voice trembling a little. “The black leopard is my oldest brother, Remy. I saw him once like that.”

Drake rocked back on his heels. He had expected to have to take on her brothers, but not all together.