Elijah had always been a generous lover, wild, rough, but always generous. He hadn’t been generous with her. Partly anger at her for showing up with the wine. Partly his leopard going crazy. But he couldn’t blame his behavior all on his anger. He’d been lost in passion, consumed by it, and that had never happened to him before.

It had been easy, at first, to say he was furious that her grandfather had sent her to seduce him. More than furious. Disappointed in her. But that wasn’t the entire truth, and he just didn’t like admitting it to himself. He didn’t like that he had lost control with her, because a man like him could never lose control.

Elijah had deliberately kept away from her over the last couple of years, feeling like a pervert for even thinking about her, although the chemistry between them, from the very first time he’d laid eyes on her, had been the strongest he’d ever felt and it just grew stronger each time he did see her—even from a distance.

He had solved the mystery of how Arnotto had lulled his friends into a false sense of security the moment he heard Siena’s voice on the intercom. Anyone wouldn’t think twice about letting her get close. She’d said she was delivering wine. A birthday present. It wasn’t his birthday. It wasn’t even close to his birthday, but he’d let her in, intrigued to see how far the charade would go, when the hit man would actually show up and what she’d say.

And then he saw her. Sitting in her car. Eyes hot. Face so beautiful and sensual. Her lush body. He could see the naked hunger in her eyes, and there was no way he could stop himself. He was so caught up in his own hunger and lust he hadn’t realized his leopard was raging at him, driving him, savage in its need to claim its mate. He hadn’t realized she was close to the Han Vol Dan, the moment when a female leopard was ready to emerge and accept her mate.

Siena Arnotto belonged to him. He felt it when he touched her. Knew it when he kissed her. She was branded in his very bones the moment she ignited for him, a wildfire burning out of control right along with him. He hadn’t even noticed she was innocent. He nearly groaned aloud right there in the car thinking about it as he drove like a madman through traffic, heading to the hill country. He’d taken her innocence roughly. Without thought for her. He’d been so far gone that it had barely registered until afterward.