They’d put a story out about a leopard escaping from one of the upstate hunting properties. Rich men with too much time on their hands wanted to hunt large game. The animals were bred and raised on the large property and then hunted and killed. It was easy enough to claim a leopard had escaped and then attacked Siena. Her wounds certainly bore that out.

“If not Paolo or Alonzo,” Joshua said, “then who?”

Elijah inhaled again. He frowned. The scent was definitely male, elusive, but he’d smelled it before. He searched his memory and called up his own leopard. His male was good at identifying other leopards.

He moved positions beneath the deck, looking up at the very neatly made bomb. He’d seen one similar. But where? Partially shifting, just enough to allow his big male access to the smell, Elijah waited patiently. There it was. He shifted back.

“I met him at Rafe Cordeau’s home, a few years back when I went there for a dinner. My uncle and Cordeau were cementing a deal. This man was there, but he didn’t eat at the table. He prowled around the grounds. I went outside twice. Both times he circled around me, watching closely until I went back inside.”

“You weren’t introduced?” Joshua asked, as he pulled out a small tool kit.

“No, not formally, but I met him. I wanted him to know I knew he was watching me, so I walked right up to him and introduced myself, forced him to tell me his name. Gaton. Robert Gaton. Cordeau introduced us to four of his top soldiers, all of whom were leopard. They were killed on Eli’s ranch,” Elijah pointed out. “This was Cordeau’s reserve man—the one he held back. His shifters ran his army. Everyone answered to them. Whoever he is, he must be taking over Cordeau’s territory and is making some kind of a statement. This attack has nothing to do with Siena.”

Elijah felt relief when he hadn’t even known he’d been tense. Siena had been through enough and he didn’t want her to have anything more to worry about than she already did. She was very fragile. He knew she hadn’t dealt with any of it. Not what had happened between them. Not the beating Paolo had given her. Her grandfather’s death. Not the leopard attack and, most of all, not their baby growing inside her. She didn’t want to acknowledge anything between them, let alone a child. Elijah could give her all the time she needed, but she was taking the time with him right at her side.