Conner covered her hand again to still her fingers as they tapped nervously on the tabletop. “No one could have known, Isabeau.”

“Maybe, but you probably would have caught on to what he was doing. He talked instead of acted. He knew Harry and Alberto might walk up at any moment but he kept talking to me. I should have put it together. I didn’t know until he taunted me with where Suma was. I tried drawing him into the open by talking and taking little steps backward. He followed, but then he grabbed me, and when I gave the signal, Jeremiah didn’t take the shot.”

She bit down hard on her lip, the memory of that moment terrifying her. At the time, she couldn’t give in to fright, but now, safe with Elijah and Conner, and far away from Ottila, she found herself trembling. She lowered her eyes, ashamed, but determined to tell Conner everything. “And then she got all amorous on me.”

Conner straightened in his chair. Elijah took another sip of coffee. “Keep going,” Conner encouraged.

It was only his fingers on hers that gave her the courage. “He got really ugly, and then she—my leopard—swiped at his arm when he tried to force me to go with him. She marked him. He said something about it that made me think I’d done something wrong—that it was more than just protecting myself. It was the way he said it.”

Conner’s eyes met Elijah’s over her head. He lifted her fingers to his mouth again and bit down gently on the tips. “It’s all right, Isabeau. You got away. You used whatever means you could and you didn’t panic.”

“But what does it mean?”

“He has the right to challenge me for you.”

Her heart jumped. Ottila was strong. He had confidence in himself. She thought it was significant that he hadn’t shot her. She’d been out in the open. The two leopards were rolling together in a wild scramble, but she’d been the one exposed most of the time. She had a rifle in her hands and he had to have known she was trying for a shot at Suma, yet Ottila hadn’t shot her.

She leaned her head into the heel of her hand. “I’m tired, Conner. I just want to lie down for a few minutes. Maybe take a shower first. I swear those people made me feel dirty just being in the same room with them.”