She staggered to her feet, her hands cupping her aching breasts. They felt too heavy for her frame. Inflamed. In need. She could barely breathe with such desperate need. Somehow she made it to the window. Her hands fumbled at the windowsill, nearly useless, her fingers bent and curved, so painful that anything she came into contact with only added to her misery. She wouldn’t leave—not yet. She’d hold out to the last possible second, waiting for Drake to come back, but she had to have fresh air.

It was late afternoon. He must have waited to talk with Pauline and help arrange for cleaners to come in. That would be like him. He would take responsibility for everyone around him. She clenched her teeth and pain exploded in her mouth. Drake needed to get to her fast and help her figure out what to do, where to go, and how to get her leopard out.

She shoved the window open and stuck her head out, gulping in the fresh air. Her beloved swamp was only a few feet away. She could just crawl out the window and find her favorite tree and wait outside for Drake. If anything happened, she wouldn’t be stripping in front of her brothers and trying to seduce one of Drake’s friends.

The heavy fohifted. She inhaled again and her leopard went wild. A male leopard stood only a few feet from her, waiting silently in the trees. Joshua. Her leopard clawed at her, edgy, in a dangerously amorous mood. Her hands went to her shirt, opening the first button before she could stop herself.

“Are you all right, Saria?”

She’d never noticed what a sexy voice he had, what a hot male scent. Saria swallowed hard and closed her eyes, trying to understand when she was so consumed with Drake how another man might suddenly be so appealing to her. She’d never looked twice at Joshua. It had always been Drake from the moment she set eyes on him. She wanted him, wanted to live her life with him. She craved being in his arms. His kisses. Those mind-numbing, hot, sexy kisses that went on forever. She lost herself in those kisses.

“I need Drake right now. Can you get him for me?”

Her voice didn’t sound like her own. Tears burned behind her eyes. She had no escape. She didn’t dare go outside where Joshua stood guard. She didn’t trust herself to be alone with another man, not while her leopard was in such a sexual frenzy. Concentrating on Drake, the taste of him, the way he looked at her with his golden stare, helped to steady her.