“He also said the man who approached him asking for a guide knew the traditions and honor system of the forest. I think he suspected he was of the same species as Rio.” She took a deep breath. “It could be that my brother is hunting me.”

“Your own kin?”

“It’s a possibility. There’s a price on my head. I think it best that you go while you can.”

“To trade the life of my grandson for your life? I will not. I doubt it’s safe in the forest. We’re better off here, with Rio’s weapons. If we must escape, we’ll do so when we know it’s our only option,” Delgrotto decided.

A leopard moaned quite close. She recognized the haunting call of the clouded leopard, Fritz warning her. Somehow the small leopard’s acceptance gave her hope. Rachael shoved a knife, sheathed in leather, into the waistband of her jeans. She picked up the smaller of the two handguns.

Delgrotto reached out and drew her into the center of the room, away from the windows. “Don’t move.”

She heard the soft thud of something heavy landing on the verandah. Something walked around the house, fur whispering along the railing, brushing against the creeper vines and sliding over the window. Shadows moved, dark enough to make her heart leap into her throat.

They waited. Rachael did what she always did when the tension was too much. She counted. It was a mindless, silly habit, but it worked to keep her brain calm, allowing her to think clearly. There was silence again. The wind sighed through the canopy and the rain poured down steadily. The tip of a knife appeared along the inside edge of the door beneath the bar. It slowly began to rise.

Rachael moved to the side of the door. “Here’s the thing about night visitors.” She spoke very matter-of-factly. “If they don’t have manners, we figure they aren’t worth keeping around so we just shoot them. Take your knife out of my door and knock like a normal person or I’m going to empty this gun into the wall.”

There was a brief hesitation and the knife disappeared. Another moment of silence and the knock came on the door.

Rachael signaled to the elder to take a gun and move into the shadow of the bedroom out of sight. Only when he had merged into the gray did she reach out and lift the bar. “Only one person better step through that door and you’d better step through with your hands raised.” She moved again, so they wouldn’t be able to get a fix on her voice if they came in shooting.

The door swung open slowly. “I’m not armed, Rachael.”