His mind raced with the possibility of Rachael’s people condemning her. She admitted her own brother had taken out a contract on her life. It made sense, although he couldn’t imagine what Rachael could have done to warrant a death sentence. He moved swiftly through the forest, ignoring the warning cries of the gibbons, still panic-stricken from the fierce fight that had ensued. Birds fluttered overhead, darting in and out of the trees. Deer crashed ahead of him, scattering as he leapt from branch to branch, occasionally taking to the forest floor and leaping over rotting tree trunks.

The wind shifted slightly, a tiny breeze where ordinarily the uncanny stillness in the air gave nothing away. Rio came to an abrupt halt. There was another in the forest close by. He recognized the scent of the leopard. The birds and gibbons and even the deer had been warning him, but he’d been so distressed over the thought of Rachael being under a death sentence, he hadn’t picked up on it.

Fortunately, he was close to his pack. The box was buried nearby, in the cage created by the buttress roots of a large dipterocarp tree. He had marked the fruit-bearing tree with a small symbol. Using his claws, he dug up the box quickly, listening now to the news of the forest. The second leopard was approaching quickly, obviously catching his scent.

Rio shifted to human form, strapping on weapons as fast as possible, his expression grim. Only after his guns were checked and his knives concealed did he drag on the clothes and attach the small medical kit to his belt. Feeling the impact of the leopard’s focused stare, he whipped around, rifle up and ready, finger on the trigger.

“You’re up early, Drake.” His voice was pleasant, relaxed, casual even, but the barrel never wavered from dead center on the cat’s brain and he didn’t take his finger from the trigger.

They stared at one another for a long moment. Drake’s form contorted, lengthened, muscles reshaping to form the man. He glared at Rio. “You want to tell me why you’re still pointing that thing at me?”

“You want to tell me what you’re doing here?”

“I spent most of the night tracking you and that rogue leopard. You, I lost, he wasn’t as good. You wounded him and that made it easier for me to track him.”

“Why?”