After he had shoved her out the door, furious at her, at himself, after he’d closed the door and locked it, leaning against it, breathing deeply to control the killing fury welling up in him, he became aware of his own body and saw the smears of her blood, evidence of her innocence.

Another surge of anger hit him, this time at himself. He should have known. She was so tight he hadn’t been certain he could get inside her when he’d first pushed into her. Had he not been savage and crazy with lust, insane with his own need, like a madman, driving into her, desperate to feel her surround him with her heat and fire, he might have noticed that he was her first.

He realized, far too late, his leopard had been welcoming. Leaping toward the surface, pushing to cement the relationship. Every trait of the leopard was mixed up with his own insane emotions, and he’d treated his own woman in a disgusting, vile way. The things he’d said to her reverberated in his head. The accusations. His temper. Everyone knew his temper was lethal. That made him angry all over again.

She hadn’t said anything at all to him. She looked at him with shock in her eyes. Shock at what he said. Shock at what he did. Shock that she recognized Marco. Shock at the realization that her grandfather wasn’t the innocent man she thought him.

He swore under his breath. She’d been beaten. Both Alonzo and Paolo were leopard. They would have smelled his scent all over her. They would have known what had happened between them. He stiffened. Her leopard had been so close to emerging. It had to have emerged or would any time now, and if she was with another male, he would claim her. Fight to keep her.

A cold fury settled deep in his bones, poured into every cell of his body. Whoever had beaten her was as good as dead. If they harmed her again, in any way, he would hunt them to the ends of the earth.

“Trey’s spotted them. The car is heading into the hills, straight for wine country,” Jake reported.

Elijah wound in and out of traffic. Fortunately, one of the advantages to being leopard was amazing eyesight and hand-eye coordination. Still, it took too long, whoever had taken her had too much of a head start. Enough that a leopard could kill or do a tremendous amount of damage in a short time.