“Back in the forest, there’s a resort owned by the doctor’s son. Mostly leopards stay in the area because it isn’t well known, they don’t advertise, it’s mostly word of mouth. We can stay there tonight. They have individual cabins. We’ll be close enough to Jeremiah to keep an eye on him and yet still be safe. This road looks as if it dead ends, but there’s a small side road about a mile up, swinging deeper into the woods. Most of the time it’s passable. Not always after a good rain.”

The doctor walked into the room, looking tired. He drew up a chair and sank into it. “He’s going to live, but he’ll have a very different voice. And he’s going to have to do some swallowing therapy. He’s breathing and that’s what counts.” He sighed and looked directly at Conner, his eyes demanding. “Do you want to tell me what you’ve gotten yourself mixed up in? You didn’t do that to that boy, did you?”

Conner looked a little shocked. “No. I should have known it would look that way. He was attacked and I jumped in. Elijah pulled him out. You don’t want any part of this, Doc.”

“You made me a part of it by bringing that boy here.”

Conner shrugged and glanced at Elijah. “Imelda Cortez kidnapped children from Adan’s village. She took my half brother as well and killed my mother.”

“Ah.” Few things shook the doctor, but he was visibly shocked. “In that case, let me call my son and get you a place to stay. Your other men are going to need something hot to keep them going while I clean you up.”

Chapter 15

15

THE cabin Conner chose was the greatest distance from all the others and deepest in the forest. He needed to feel the safety of the trees around Isabeau. Her leopard had marked another man, and that gave that man the right to step forward and challenge his claim on her. Their species was an old one and they followed the higher law of the wild. It wasn’t Isabeau’s fault. She hadn’t been raised leopard and she didn’t know how it all worked. She didn’t yet know how to fully control her leopard. The girls living in the villages were taught from the time they were little so when the Han Vol Dan occurred, they had a better chance of keeping their leopards under control.