Elijah smelled the leopard inside the moment he was close to the door. His male rose fast, so fast it was difficult to contain him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Joaquin’s chest and arms contorting. He was already silently removing his clothes, fast, as he shifted, so they would remain intact, not shredded as Elijah’s shirt had been. Elijah signaled to stand back, to the side of the door, and he stepped aside as well.

The blast put a hole straight through the center of the door. The wood splintered around the edges of the gaping opening. Instantly the barrel of a shotgun was pushed through, moving first one way and then the other. Elijah’s boots and jeans were gone in seconds. He reached for the barrel, wrenched it from Gaton, pulling it all the way through the gap, reversing and firing blindly inside the room.

The answer was a roar of rage and Elijah knew the man was shifting, allowing his cat to take over. He jerked the door open to see Gaton at the window, his large male leaping for a tree branch. Instantly Elijah followed.

“Incoming,” Evan said softly. “The soldiers from the barracks. Stay away from the verandah. It’s rigged all the way around.”

Evan was also an amazing specialist when it came to making bombs. Few people could put together the type of charges he did, directing the blast exactly where he wanted it to go. The crew Gaton had hired were green, greedy men willing to do anything for money, but not used to the kind of war they were going into. They were disorganized and had no real leadership. The leaders were the leopards and Gaton.

“My three are on the move and I want them,” Alonzo reported.

“Coming to you,” Elijah said. His big cat swung his head around to Joaquin, indicating he go after Gaton and not kill him if at all possible.

Joaquin vaulted from the windowsill to the branch as Elijah leapt to the ground, already running to Alonzo’s aid. Eli, with the help of Joshua and Drake, would herd the five leopards they wanted to spare away from the kill zone, but Alonzo was tracking the cruel ones—leopards who had hunted humans with Cordeau in the swamp. Men who enjoyed and got off watching a woman being tortured.

Elijah’s male rounded the corner just as Alonzo’s big male brought down a tall, heavy, tawny leopard. Alonzo’s male was huge and heavily muscled. His coat was golden, with darker rosettes. He hit his target hard, coming in from the side, giving the other leopard no chance to get away. He drove him off his feet, and the other leopard rolled and tried to get up.