“We’re not going to talk about shapes again, are we?” He teased, needing to find a way to take the pain from her eyes. He ran his fingers through her hair. The silken strands were damp. “Are you going to be able to do this?”

“Of course. I can do anything.” Rachael had no idea how she was going to stand up and actually put weight on her leg. Even with Kim and Tama’s green-brown brew smeared in globs over her calf, her leg was throbbing. She was certain when she looked down to inspect the damage she would see arrows piercing her flesh. She handed him the soup mug. “I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be.”

He handed her a sheathed knife and the small gun. “The safety’s on.” He shouldered the pack, reached down for the fifty-pound clouded leopard. “We can’t leave you behind, Fritz. I have a feeling our friend is going to be feeling vindictive. You’ll have to stay out of the house.”

The cat yawned but stayed on his feet when Rio set him on the verandah. “Go, little one, find a place to hide until I return.” He watched the small leopard limp onto a branch and disappear into the foliage. Rio looked back to see Rachael struggling to her feet. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing, woman?”

“I think it’s called standing but I seem to have forgotten how,” she answered, sitting on the edge of the bed. “It’s the green gunk you put on my leg. It’s weighing me down.”

“Rachael, I’m going to carry you. I don’t expect you to walk.”

“That’s silly. I’m weak more than anything else. It isn’t that painful. Well, it’s painful because the swelling hasn’t gone down yet.”

He gathered her into his arms. “I spent all these years alone. No one ever argued with me.”

“And now you have me,” she said with evident satisfaction, settling into his body. “Do you have any idea where we’re going? I thought you said he could track us.”

“I did say that, didn’t I?” He was already moving through the network of branches, far faster than Rachael considered safe.

Despite the heavy pack and her additional weight, Rio wasn’t even breathing hard as he landed on the ground and began to jog, weaving through the trees back toward the river. She buried her face against his neck, trying not to cry out with each jarring step.

The roar started softly, a muffled, distant sound that quickly began to gain in strength. Rachael lifted her head in alarm, suddenly afraid of where he meant to take her.

11