Remy and Mahieu remained behind. They waited until the others were completely swallowed up by the brush before they approached Drake and his team members.

“Boss, do you need us here?” Evan signed.

Drake shook his head. “I’ll meet you all back at the inn.”

Joshua sent a hard look toward Remy and Mahieu, but he followed Jerico and Evan after the others.

“I’m Remy Boudreaux, Saria’s oldest brother. This is Mahieu,” Remy held out his hand.

Drake took it. “Drake Donovan. Jake Bannaconni sent me to check into some things for him. I hired Saria to guide me in the swamp and things just got out of hand fast.”

Remy nodded slowly. “I can see how it could happen, and if you’re her choice, we’ll stand with you. We need new blood here. Our lair has dwindled down to nothing. Most of us have no choice.”

“You might consider heading into the rain forest and seeing if you can find a mate,” Drake said. “Although I’m fairly certain you’ve already done that.”

Remy shrugged his shoulders. “I tried. I’m sendin’ my brothers as soon as things settle down here. We didn’ believe Saria had a leopard.”

Drake opened his mouth to snap a reply. As far as he was concerned, that was no reason to neglect their little sister, but he didn’t know all the circumstances and he honestly couldn’t be certain if his leopard was driving his wrath at Saria’s brothers.

“I do have one,” Saria said unexpectedly, her eyes shining.

Drake wanted to smile. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and brought her close to him. “Yes you do.”

“She’s a little tough to control in this place,” she added, again avoiding his eyes.

“You’ve been here before,” Drake said. “What’s different?”

Saria frowned and looked around her. “I don’ know. It’s beautiful, but it always was. More flowers and plants than I remember, but it changes all the time dependin’ on the weather and the storm surges. You can see all the water. Sometimes it washes away the top soil and other times the water deposits rich soil here. This marsh is very wild and natural. Of all the places, this land has the most diversity of life and even terrain. All of this is marshland, but, although we call it Fenton’s Marsh, it’s a huge piece of property. The land firms up the more you go inland.”

“Are you goin’ to explain what’s goin’ on, Saria? All hell’s broken loose in the lair. If Elie hadn’t contacted us, I’d be in jail right now for killin’ those two,” Remy said.

“I don’t think anyone expected me,” Drake said. “Saria needed help and I was there. Our leopards definitely recognized one another. When the other one attacked her, her leopard hid from him.”