“He’ll be too busy trying to kill you,” Isabeau pointed out. “He doesn’t want to kill me, but he wants you dead. If that’s really him—and we don’t know for certain . . .”

“It’s him,” Conner said with certainty. “My cat knows it’s him. Lock the doors, Isabeau. Stay inside and keep the lights out. I’ll call out when I return, otherwise you shoot anything that tries to get in.”

She clung to him. “Please just listen to me this once. It’s you he’s after. He wants you dead. He wants you to go into the forest after him. Otherwise, why tip you off to his presence?”

“No one can predict the wind shifting like that. He was caught and he’s probably halfway to the next village by now, running like a rabbit.”

She knew better, knew Ottila had no intention of running. Her heart pounded with fear for Conner. He was supremely confident, but he hadn’t actually met Ottila as she had. The rogue leopard changed his spots continually, and she had a feeling he was hiding something.

Conner gently put her from him, leaned down and kissed her just once. Then he lifted the back window and shifted as he dove through. He disappeared almost at once into the shadows. Isabeau closed and locked the window, and then drew the shutters, making certain all of them were in place and no one would be able to come through a window.

With shaking hands, Isabeau dressed, putting on her clothes like armor. Layers of them. Underwear, jeans, heavy socks, a T-shirt, before wrapping herself in Conner’s sweater. She sat down to wait, her heart beating fast and hard and the taste of fear in her mouth. She had no idea how long she actually sat there, but she realized tears blurred her vision. She couldn’t just sit still. She paced for a while and finally opened the shutters overlooking the front porch and stood staring out, trying to see what was happening in the rain forest. She could hear the sounds of the insects and night creatures—the forest had its own music at night, but there was no disruption, no fight between leopards and no warning from the animals that leopards were in the vicinity.

By now, she consoled herself, Rio would have joined Conner in the search. And maybe he was wrong. Maybe he hadn’t really caught the scent of a male leopard—although she didn’t really believe that.