Saria beamed at him. “Isn’t it a jewel? Miss Pauline Lafont runs the inn now. It was her grandmother’s home first. Her mother turned it into a bed-and-breakfast and Miss Pauline has made a lot of improvements.”

“It’s everything you said it was,” Drake agreed. Mostly the house had privacy. The place was old-style elegance, an era long gone. Quiet, hidden, an inviting jewel, just as Saria had promised when he’d contacted her through her guide advertisement. “Perfect,” he added with satisfaction.

He hadn’t yet told Saria he’d rented the entire bed-and-breakfast for two weeks with the intention of bringing his team in the moment he found anything. And he knew he was going to find something. He’d stumbled onto a shifter’s lair right there in the middle of the Louisiana swamp. They were every bit as elusive and secretive as the shifters in the rain forests throughout the world—but it all made sense now.

Dke waited patiently as he was introduced to the woman whose family had owned the beautiful Victorian-style home for a hundred years. Pauline Lafont was a small woman with laugh lines around her eyes and a ready smile. He liked her instantly.

“Would you like the grand tour?” she asked graciously.

“I’d love it, ma’am,” he said, meaning it. “The house is amazing.” It was essential that he knew the layout of the house. Every nook and cranny, every hiding place, where Pauline Lafont slept and lived when she was not interacting with her guests.

“I’ll leave you in Miss Pauline’s hands,” Saria said. “But I’ll be back at dawn to pick you up.”

He was reluctant to allow her out of his sight. If the leader of the leopard’s lair knew she was close to the emerging of her leopard, he might not let her anywhere near Drake. “Can you just stay here so we can get an early start? It might be easier. In any case I’ll want to go into the swamp at night.”

“I’ve already arranged with Miss Pauline to stay,” Saria admitted, “but I need a few more things from home. I’ll be here before first light if I can’t make it back tonight.”

He couldn’t kidnap her, as much as he wanted to. Instead, he locked his gaze with hers, knowing his eyes had gone pure cat, mesmerizing, holding her to him through sheer willpower. She had to have read the hunger in him, the urgent need, he couldn’t suppress it, even when he told himself she needed—even deserved—a courtship. Even a male leopard courted his mate carefully. Bands of color widened, and heat leapt between them.

Pauline cleared her throat. Saria blinked rapidly and looked away. There was color in her cheeks.