Wild Rain

Chapter Nine

RACHAEL wiped the sweat from her eyes and stared at the claw marks on the wall. She hadn't been dreaming. A huge leopard had been in the house, walking around as if it owned the place. It had looked at her with its eerie stare. The animal had rubbed up against the bed, against her skin, against her entire body, not once, but twice, against the furniture and had just stretched full length to rake its enormous claws down the kitchen wall, leaving behind telltale grooves embedded deep in the wood. She couldn't have imagined such a beast any more than she could imagine the claw marks.

"Just when you think it's safe to go back into the jungle," she whispered aloud, afraid if she spoke too loudly the cat would return. "Rio? Rio, where are you?"

The door was open to the night, the mosquito net blowing gently in the mild breeze. The rain was a soft fall in the distance. Rachael sat up, taking care not to jar her leg. She had more strength, but her leg was swollen and painful even with slight movement. Dragging on Rio's shirt, muttering as it snagged on her broken wrist, she threw back the cover. The gun fell to the floor with a clatter, the noise loud in the stillness of the night.

With a little sigh, Rachael fished around for it, reaching with her fingertips, trying to spare her leg until she was forced to move. There was no sound, but she felt the impact of his eyes. At once she could breathe easier. Rachael looked up to find Rio's wide shoulders filling the doorway. She was used to the fact that he rarely wore clothes in the house. That his body was as hard as a rock. That there was something dangerous and different about him she couldn't quite put her finger on. But she would never get over the sure power of his eyes.

"Aside from the fact that you left the door open and a leopard decided to visit, you have to stop taking these midnight strolls. Hasn't anyone ever told you the forest can be dangerous at night?" Rachael curled her fingers into the blanket, making a fist, wishing she could jam it in her mouth and shut up for a change. Could she sound any more ridiculous lecturing him about the dangers of the forest when he knew far better than she? It was just that she'd been so afraid and the relief of having him back safe and unharmed was overpowering.

Rio sauntered fully into the room, totally nude but as confident as if he were wearing a three-piece suit. "I'm not about to let anything happen to you, Rachael. I should have closed the door when you were alone in the house, but I was right outside." His gaze moved over her face, a moody, edgy examination. "Were you trying to get out of bed?"

She forced a soft laugh. "Rachael to the rescue. I was going to put the leopard in a choke hold if it attacked you."

He stared at her for a long moment before a slow smile spread across his face. Her heart did a funny little flip.

"What a thought, Rachael. I have this visual of you wrestling with a leopard and it's enough to turn my hair gray.

She loved his hair. Shaggy and untamed but shiny clean, like silk. "Rio, put some clothes on. Honestly, you're making life very difficult for me."

"Because I'm always in a state of arousal around you?" His words were low, velvet soft. The impact was physical. Her body simply dissolved into liquid heat.

She couldn't help but see him-unashamed, natural, alone. He looked so alone standing there like a Greek god, a statue of the perfect male, with roped muscles and penetrating eyes and a sinful mouth. She wanted to be feeling absolute lust. Nothing else, just good old-fashioned lust. A fling that would burn hot and burn out leaving only ashes and good wishes and freedom behind. It didn't help that she'd been dreaming strange, passionate dreams about making wild love with him.

How did she know she could drive him mad by simply running her fingertips up his thigh? How did she know his eyes would change, gleam like bright emeralds, hot and bright, consuming her with desire? She had seen tears in his eyes. She had heard his voice husky with passion. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, to free herself from the strange memories that were hers… yet not hers.

"While I'll admit you're more than tempting, and distracting, I'm not in shape to feel very sexy, Rio." It was a blatant lie. Rachael had never felt sexier in her life. She sighed heavily. "It scares me when you go off like that. I'm really afraid something might happen to you. It's not like I'm in any shape to go charging to the rescue."

Rio could only stare in silence. Her admission made him feel helpless and vulnerable. No one worried about him. No one cared that much if he made it back to his house at night. He fully expected to die in a fight someday and he doubted if more than a handful of men would mourn his passing, and that would be a brief salute to his marksman abilities. Rachael looked at him with the world shining in her eyes. A gift. A treasure. And he was certain she was completely unaware of it.

"I'm sorry I frightened you, Rachael," he murmured softly and shut the door on the night-closed the door on his freedom. "I had some things to think about. I went for a run."

"Yes, well, while you were gone, we had a little visit from your friendly neighborhood leopard. Fortunately it was on its best behavior so I didn't shoot it. You may notice I'm choosing humor and bravado rather than classic hysteria. Although I thought long and hard about the hysteria."

He could feel the grin forming. It started in his gut and spread warmth through his body. "I appreciate the sacrifice. I'm not certain what I'd do with hysteria. It may be beyond my coping abilities."

"I seriously doubt anything is beyond your coping abilities. Did I upset you earlier? Is that why you couldn't sleep?"

Rio crossed to the basin as he always did after his nightly disappearances, his muscles flowing like water as he moved through the house without a whisper of sound. He remembered to light a candle, knowing she liked the scent of it. The flame flickered and set shadows dancing on the wall. "I thought a lot about what you said, that I wasn't willing to tell you about myself. Maybe you were right. I love the way you look at me. I haven't ever had anyone look at me the way that you do. It's hard to think of giving that up, or taking a chance of never seeing it again because you won't look at me the same way after I talk to you about who and what I really am."

She always did the unexpected. Rachael laughed softly. "And you must have forgotten who you're talking to, Rio. The woman with the million-dollar price on her head. Has it occurred to you, I'm a pariah in society?"

"I know exactly whom I'm talking to," he said.

Rachael stretched her leg out in front of her, careful not to jar it. She had to use both hands, even the broken one, in order to ease her leg fully off the bed. Blood rushed, causing pins and needles to add to the throbbing pain. That immediately drew his attention. Rio half turned, a small frown on his face. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Just stretching. I thought you could make me one of those drinks. I'm getting addicted to them. What do you put in them, anyway? Just for future reference, you understand." She straightened her shirt, pulled at the tails to try to cover her bare thighs. The edges were gaping open over her breasts and she awkwardly tried to button it with one hand.

Rio dragged on a pair of jeans before crossing over to the bed. "The drink is made from fruit nectar and whatever fruit I happen to harvest that morning." He hunkered down beside her and reached for the edges of the shirt-his shirt. It looked completely different on her. His knuckles brushed her full breasts. He could feel warmth and velvet-soft flesh. His knuckles lingered, deliberately rubbed gently. He hadn't planned to take advantage, it just happened. He couldn't resist the temptation. He looked up at her face, his fingers curled around the edges of his shirt.

Rachael was instantly trapped in the vivid intensity of his gaze. She fell, tumbled, dropped into his gaze, leaned into him in invitation. His mouth took possession of hers, a fusing together, wild and tumultuous, neither quite in control. His fingers moved between her breasts, sliding the button aside to allow his hands to cup the soft weight. She gasped, arched into his palm, pushed closer, her body every bit as sensitive as in her catlike dream. She needed his touch, ached for it, dreamed of it. Was familiar with it. His mouth was pure male, driving every thought from her head so that she simply wound her arms around his neck and held him to her.

His lips blazed a trail of fire from her mouth to her chin. His teeth nibbled, moved lower to her throat, his tongue swirling along her skin just to taste her. Rachael cried out when his mouth settled over her breast, when his fingers tangled in her hair, when he spread a blazing fire through her body.

"Why did you have to put your jeans on this one time?" Rachael complained, her voice breathless. "Just this once, wouldn't it be all right to forget everything and just be together?" The ache and the need were raw. She heard it and knew he did too.

"Damn it, Rachael." His tongue swirled over her taut nipple. He rested his forehead against her sternum, his breath warm on her breasts. "Did you have to make me think? If I take advantage of you while you're injured and you can't walk away, how are you going to feel tomorrow when you have to hear everything I have to say?"

His hands cupped her breasts, thumbs stroking, his mouth hot and moist and filled with passion as he suckled, just one more time. His body was so full and painful he moaned, an involuntary protest against the tight material covering his erection.

Rachael tugged at his zipper, thankful he wasn't wearing his button-fly jeans. 'Take them off, Rio."

He reluctantly left the haven of her breasts to stand so he could drag off the jeans and kick them aside. He was standing between her legs, and Rachael simply leaned into him, her hands cupping his testicles and her mouth sliding over his erection. Hot silk surrounded him, gripped him, her tongue dancing and teasing. The rush hit him like a fireball, nearly blew out the top of his head. She was doing something with her fingertips, stroking and caressing until he thought he'd go out of his mind. He heard a sound escaping his throat, something between a growl and a groan, but he couldn't stop it.

"Rachael, sestrilla, you're killing me." He didn't want her to stop, but if she didn't he was going to disgrace himself. There would be no chance to satisfy her. He put his hands on her shoulders to press her back. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right." Even as he said it, even as he meant it, her tongue was doing a dancing foray over the head of his penis, teasing and driving him out of his skull. The breath slammed out of his lungs and he fisted his hands in her hair, his hips thrusting helplessly.

That was Rachael. Teasing and laughing, her breath hot with passion as she drove him out of his mind. She loved their sex life, was every bit as adventurous as he. Just looking at her could make him crazy and when she was like this… Rio groaned again and shook his head to clear it of memories. He wanted this to be here and now. This Rachael, this Rio-not the ones from another time and place.

He tugged at her hair and she lifted her head, her dark chocolate eyes laughing joyfully. His heart performed a series of somersaults. He pushed her back on the bed, lifted her leg carefully, dragging blankets, shuts and everything else he could find to prop it up for her. The shirt fell open to allow him to see her luscious body. Her skin was a miracle, soft and inviting.

"You're sure, Rachael. Be sure, sestrilla, there is no going back once we do this." His heated gaze drifted possessively over her body, drinking her in, even when he wanted her to be certain of what she was doing. Whatever past life they had together was urging a passionate and heated union. "I want this to be us. You and me and no one else. Not past or future, but the two of us in the present."

She reached her arms up for him, locked her hands behind his neck as he carefully lowered himself into the cradle of her hips. Her body was as welcoming as the look on her face. As the wonder and joy in her eyes. Rio buried his face in the warmth of her throat, closing his eyes to absorb the feel and texture of her skin. Of her heat.

"I know what sestrilla means, Rio. You are calling me beloved one. I have no idea of the language. But I know the word." She held his head to her, feeling the trembling in his body. He was enormously strong, with roped muscles, yet he trembled in her arms. It amazed and humbled her. She swept her hands over his back, careful to keep the makeshift splint from rubbing against his skin. She knew the exact line of his back, but the scars were unfamiliar. She traced each one, committing them to memory.

His full erection was heavy and thick, pressing against her moist entrance, but he simply lay in her arms, holding her to him while she explored his body. She felt his mouth move against her throat and her heart began to pound in anticipation. She couldn't stop moving as flames licked at her body in the wake of his tongue. He worshipped her, taking his time when they both were already on the edge of insanity. His hands and mouth touching and tasting until she had tears in her eyes and lifted her hips in urgent need. He was incredibly gentle, tender even, so careful of her injured leg, yet there wasn't a spot he missed on her body, leisurely feasting on her as if they had all the time in the world. His breath was warm on her stomach as he gave a series of little nips down to the tangle of dark curls. "Rio, it's too much."

"It's never too much." He breathed the words against her, his finger pushing deep into her so that her muscles clenched around him and she cried out with pleasure: "This is the two of us, Rachael. The way we're meant to be." He bent his head and replaced his finger with his tongue.

She clutched the sheets for an anchor. Her body exploded, rippling with life, with pleasure, nearly sending her off the bed. Then his mouth was fastened to hers and he was lifting her hips, surging into her. He was thick and full and thrust through her orgasm, sending shock waves of fire through her body.

"More, Rachael, take me deeper, take all of me." His voice was hoarse and he tilted her hips as he thrust deeper, wanting to bury himself inside her body, inside her sanctuary. He wanted to share her skin, her heart, her very soul. "That's right, sestrilla, more, take all of me." He could have wept tears of joy. Everything in him remembered, knew he had come home. He felt her shift, just that tiny bit, felt her take him deeper into her tight sheath. Her muscles gripped and clung and performed an amazing tango of heat and fire on his body. He found a perfect rhythm, surging deep, thrusting hard, immersing, losing himself in a paradise he thought lost to him.

He knew instinctively, or maybe it was a past life together, exactly how to please her. He knew what she wanted, what made her gasp and moan and cling to him. He wanted their first time together to be a memory for both of them. He forced his body under a semblance of control to give her complete satisfaction, driving her up and over the edge again and again until she cried out for mercy. He wanted to give her the perfect joy she gave to him.

Rachael dug her fingernails into Rio's back, desperate to hold on, to take him with her when she was flying so high. Lights burst behind her eyes. Her body shuddered with pleasure. She felt him swelling even more, growing larger, harder, exploding with life and joy, his growl of sheer pleasure mingling with her own cry.

They lay in the heat of the night, their scents mingling, their hearts racing. Rachael traced one long scar just over his left shoulder with her fingertip while wave after wave rocked her. "How did you get this one?"

He couldn't move, sweat beading his body. He settled into her, shifting slightly to take some of his weight off of her. "That one was a knife. I was pulling a sixteen-year-old boy out of Tomas's camp and the kid panicked and ran from me before I could stop him. A guard nabbed him and swung a machete at him." He nestled his face closer to the warmth of her breast. "That's where this scar came from." He showed her his arm and the deep scar running along his forearm. "I was able to save the kid, but a second guard knifed me from behind during the fight. That wasn't my most shining moment."

Rachael lifted her head enough to press her mouth to his forearm, her tongue swirling over the long scar. He tasted as if they'd just made love. "And this one?" She reached lower, deliberately sliding her fingertips over his firm buttocks to rest in the small white concave over his left hip. "How did you get this one?"

"A bullet." He grinned, his breath teasing her nipple into a hard peak. "Obviously I was running."

"Well at least you were showing good sense."

"There were more of them then there was of me. I walked into a hornet's nest that time. I was only scouting, looking for signs, and walked right into them. It seemed the right thing to do was to leave since I didn't have an invitation." He leaned into her breast and suckled, just for a moment because she wasn't opposed to the idea. His laughter was muffled. "I've improved my running times since then."

Just the pull of his mouth on her sensitized breast sent her body into another orgasm. He was still locked deep inside her and velvet-soft muscles gripped and clenched tightly, adding to his own pleasure.

Her fingertips avoided the raw wound on his hip and went to the myriad of deep slashes on his back. "And these?"

Rio went absolutely still. Even his breath caught in his lungs. He waited a heartbeat, listened to the air moving in and out of her lungs. Slowly he lifted his head to look down at her. "Those scars came from a few fights I had with a big cat."

Her dark eyes moved over his face. He could see her taking it in, accepting it. "A cat like the other night. A big leopard. Not Fritz or Franz."

"Not Fritz or Franz," he confirmed. Very gently he separated from her, easing his body from hers, rolling over to take his weight completely from her. He lay staring up at the ceiling. "A very large, fully grown male leopard."

Rachael could feel the stillness in him. The waiting. There was something he needed to tell her, but he was extremely reluctant. She reached for his hand, laced their fingers together. "Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to say things you need to say, but don't want to say, in the dark?" Her fingers tightened around his. "You know you're going to tell me, so just say it." She waited, her heart accelerating. She had a flashback of his face changing, of fur and teeth and eerie glowing eyes. The longer she lay in the dark waiting, the more she was afraid.

"I murdered a man." Rio said it softly, his voice so low it was barely audible. She heard pain, stark and raw in the ugly confession.

For a moment she couldn't breathe. It was the last thing she expected him to say. The last thing she expected of a man like Rio. It didn't fit with the man who cared for his leopards first. It didn't fit with the way he always put her first.

"Rio, defending yourself or having to defend others by taking them back from a man like Tomas is not murder."

"It wasn't self-defense. He didn't have a chance against my skills. I hunted him down and I executed him. It was not government sanctioned and the laws of my people didn't sanction such an act. I wish I could tell you I was sorry he's dead, but I'm not." He turned his head to look at her. "Maybe that's why I can't forgive myself. And it's why I live apart from the others of my kind."

A weight seemed to be crushing her chest. "Were you arrested and charged?"

"I presented myself before the council of elders for judgment, yes. We have our own laws and courts. I was charged with murder. I didn't deny it. How could I?"

Rachael closed her eyes, tried to block out his words. Murder. Murder. Hunted him down and executed him. The words echoed through her mind. Flashed at her like a neon sign. "But it doesn't make sense," she murmured aloud. "Murder doesn't fit with your personality. It doesn't, Rio."

"No?" There was amusement in his voice, a twisted, humorless, sarcastic mocking that made her flinch. "You'd be surprised at what I'm capable of doing, Rachael."

"Did you go to jail?"

"In a way. I was banished. I am not allowed to live among my people. I do not have the benefit of the elders' wisdom. I am alone, yet not alone. I am close to them, yet always apart. My people cannot survive in jail. There is only death or banishment for a crime as grave as mine. I was banished. My people do not see me, or acknowledge my existence. Well, other than the unit I run with."

She listened to his voice. There was no note of self-pity. No plea for compassion. Rio stated a fact. He had committed a crime and he accepted the punishment that went along with it. She let out her breath slowly, struggling not to judge too quickly. It still didn't make sense to her. "Are you going to tell me why you killed him?"

"Whatever my reasons are, they weren't good enough to take the life of another. Revenge is wrong, Rachael. I know that. I was taught that. I knew it when I hunted him. I didn't even give him the chance to draw a weapon so I could claim self-defense. It was an execution, pure and simple."

"Is that what you were thinking when you killed him?" There was a silence. Rio's thumb slid over the back of her hand. "No one ever asked me that. No, of course not. I didn't look at it that way, but I did know the council would either decide to put me to death or banish me when I returned and told them what I'd done."

Rachael shook her head, more confused than ever. "You hunted this man down, killed him and then returned to your people and confessed you'd done it?"

"Of course. I wouldn't try to hide something like that."

"Why didn't you keep going, head for another country?"

"I've lived apart from the forest, apart from my people, I never want to do it again. I chose this life. It's where I belong. I knew I would have to go before the council when I chose my path, yet I stayed on it. I couldn't stop myself. I still cannot mourn his passing."

"What did he do to you?"

"He killed my mother." His voice roughened. He cleared his throat. "She was running, much like I do at night, and he stalked her and killed her. I heard the shot and I knew. I was some distance away, and by the time I reached her it was too late." Abruptly he released her hand and was on his feet, pacing across the room to the kitchen as if movement was the only thing that could keep him from exploding. "I'm not making excuses, I knew better than to take his life."

"For heaven's sake, Rio, he killed your mother. You must have been crazy with grief."

He turned around to face her, leaned one hip against the sink. "There's more to the story, of course there always is. You've never asked me about my people. You've never once asked why our laws are different than the human laws."

Rachael sat up slowly, pulled the edges of her shirt together and began awkwardly to button it. She suddenly felt vulnerable lying on his bed with barely any clothes and his scent permeating her body. "I am fairly certain Tama and Kim answer to the laws of their tribe. We're all subject to whatever laws govern our country, but out here, I doubt the government knows exactly what goes on. The tribes probably deal with most of their own troubles." She kept her voice very calm, her expression serene. It wouldn't help either of them to show she was suddenly very afraid.

Rio moved. It was a small, subtle movement, but distinctly feline. A supple shifting of his body so that he seemed to flow like water, then become perfectly still. His eyes dilated wide, the color changing from vivid green to a yellow-green. At once his gaze was marblelike, glassy, an eerie, focused, unblinking stare. A reddish cast gave his eyes an evil, animalistic quality. He turned his head as if listening. "I can hear your heart beating too rapidly, Rachael. You can't hide fear. There is a sound to it. A smell to it. It's in every breath you take. Every beat of your heart."

And it was killing him. He'd allowed her to get under his skin. He'd known all along he would have to tell her the truth. Rachael had been traumatized by something in her life. She'd seen and lived with violence and he suspected she had tried to escape. He had to tell her the truth, show her the truth-he couldn't live with himself if he didn't. But his heart was being ripped out of his chest and the rage that was never far from the surface welled up to choke him.

It had taken him time to realize she made him laugh, made him cry, made him feel. She brought life to him.

Almost from the beginning she made him feel alive again. He couldn't imagine going back to an empty house. He forced himself to tell her the truth, although it was terrifying. Rio had never been truly afraid in his life, yet now he stood to lose something he never thought to have. Fear fed the anger swirling in his belly so that he wanted to rage at her.

Rachael nodded, swallowed the tight knot of fear threatening to suffocate her. "That's true, Rio. But you mistake what I'm afraid of. It isn't you. It isn't what you say. Do you think it's all new to me? That I'm so shocked by your confession? I'm not afraid of you. You've had every opportunity to take advantage of me. To kill me, or rape me, or use me in some way. You could have easily taken me to the authorities for the reward money. I'm not afraid of you. Not Rio the man."

He came closer, filling the room with dangerous power. It emanated from every pore. There was no whisper of sound when he walked toward her. He moved with the flowing grace of a large jungle animal. Ropes of muscle rippled beneath his skin. He leaned closer to her. She could hear the breath in his lungs, the low, threatening growl rumbling in his throat. Rachael refused to be intimidated, refused to look away. She stared at him with one eyebrow raised, daring him.

Muscles contorted, knotted, his large frame bent and he dropped to the floor on all fours, still watching her, never blinking, never once looking away, holding her gaze captured in the blazing intensity of his. She saw his skin lift as if something alive ran beneath it.

"And what if Rio isn't a man?" His voice was distorted, rough. He coughed, a strange grunt she'd heard before.

A chill ran down her spine. She stared in horrified fascination as his body stretched and lengthened, as fur rippled over his skin, as his jaw lengthened into a muzzle and teeth erupted in his mouth. The leopard was black with whorls of darkened rosettes buried deep in the luxurious fur. It wasn't the first time she found herself face-to-face with the beast.

Rachael recognized the fact that she was breathing far too fast. The leopard was inches from her, his yellow-green gaze holding hers. Waiting. There was a nobility, a dignity about the animal as he waited. Her hand shook as she reached out to touch the fur. The animal snarled, exposed the wicked canines, but she touched him. Connected to him. It was instinctive and the only thing she could think to do under the circumstances. "Fainting is out of the question," she murmured softly. "I've tried it and it just doesn't work for me. I've never figured out how other women manage it. If you were trying to shock me, believe me, you've succeeded beyond your wildest dreams."

Even as she uttered the words, she wasn't altogether certain they were the truth. There had been signs. She hadn't wanted to believe them. It seemed too far-fetched. Surely scientists would have discovered them by now, yet he stood there, staring at her with his wild eyes, his hot breath in her face. He was unmistakably a leopard. A shape-shifter. The thing of myth and legend.

"Why do you want me to be afraid of you, Rio?" She bent her head toward his, ignoring his snarl of warning. She rubbed her face over the dark fur. "You're the only person who ever looked at me for myself. You gave me acceptance even when I didn't deserve it. What is so terrible about what you are? I know people far more terrible." Tears burned behind her eyelids. It wasn't as if she could stay with him. "I guess this answers the question why you run around naked in the forest. You like to go out at night as a leopard, don't you?"

It was useless to hide from her in animal form. When he looked into her eyes there was no horror at his revelations. He could read sadness there. Rio shifted back to his human form and sat on the floor beside the bed. "I'm neither human nor animal, but a mixture of both. We have traits of both species and some of our own."

"Can you assume another form?"

He shook his head. "We are both leopard and human at the same time and only take one form or the other. This is who I am, Rachael. I'm not ashamed of what I am. My people are few, but we play an important role here in the rain forest. We have honor and commitment, and our elders are wise in things beyond modern science. While it's true we have to be careful to remain undiscovered for obvious reasons, we contribute to society in many ways."

There was pride in his voice, but she could see wariness in his eyes. "Tell me what happened to your mother, Rio." She could live with, be friends with and be the lover of a shape-shifter, but she could not live with a man who murdered people. She'd done that, and she would never do so again under any circumstances.

He raked his fingers through his hair, wreaking havoc so that his shaggy hair was more tousled then ever. Locks fell persistently over his forehead, drawing attention to the brilliance of his eyes. "I thought you'd run the minute you knew what I was."

Her smile was slow and more sensual than she knew. It nearly stopped his heart. "Well, I might have, but I can't exactly win any races at the moment."

Her smile was contagious, even then, when she could rip the heart out of his chest and change his life forever. He found an answering smile tugging at his mouth. "I'll admit I thought of that when I decided I'd better tell you. It stacked the odds just a bit in my favor."

"Smart man." Rachael stroked back the strands of hair falling across his forehead. "Tell me about it, Rio. Tell it to me the way it happened, not how other people saw it."

Rio felt the familiar pain, the anguish rising the way it always did when he thought of that day. He rubbed his suddenly pounding temples. "She loved the night. We all do. It's beautiful, the way the moon plays over the trees and the water. We're so much more alive. All the cares of the day disappear when we take the form of the leopard. I suppose it's a form of escape, running along the branches and playing in the river. Our people love the water and we're all good swimmers. She went out alone that night because I was working on the house."

"Where was your father?"

"He died years earlier. It was just the two of us. She was used to being alone. I'd been gone on and off for a few years getting an education, so neither of us gave it much thought. I heard the warning first, the animals, the wind. You've heard it, you know what I'm talking about. I knew immediately it was an intruder. Human-not one of our people. Few people come this far into the interior unless it's a tribesman and I could feel from the animals it was someone different, someone dangerous to us."

Rachael eased her leg onto the floor, needing to stretch out. Immediately Rio helped her, his hands gentle as he took her foot carefully from the bed. To Rachael's astonishment, his hands were shaking. "Thank you, that feels better. I'm sorry, please keep going."

Rio shrugged. "I raced after her, but it was too late. I heard the shot. Sound travels a great distance" at night. When I reached her, she was dead and already skinned. He'd taken her pelt and left her like so much garbage on the ground." He closed his eyes but the memory was there. Already the insects and carrion were moving in. He would never forget the sight as long as he lived. "We can't take chances with the bodies. We burn them and scatter the remains over distances. I did what I had to do and all the while I could feel the black rage in me turning ice cold. I knew what I was going to do. I planned it carefully while I took care of her. I couldn't bear to think about what I was doing, the burning of her body, so I planned out each step as I worked."

"Rio, she was your mother, what did you expect to feel?" Rachael asked gently.

"Grief. Not madness. He didn't kill a woman, he killed an animal. It's acceptable in society. It isn't legal, but it's still acceptable. He didn't deliberately kill a human being-and in a sense, he didn't. We're taught that mistakes can occur and we have to be prepared for them. Each time we take our alternate form, we are taking a chance by running free. Poachers often enter our realm, I knew that. I was taught that. So was my mother. She took the chance just as I do nearly every night. It was her decision and her risk. That's what we're taught by the elders, and they're right. We aren't supposed to look upon it as murder. We're taught to view it as an accident."

"I'm not certain that's entirely possible, Rio. Admirable maybe, but not very likely when it comes to one's family."

He touched her mouth. That tempting, beautiful mouth so ready to defend him. There had been no one to defend him all those years ago. He'd been a hothead, rage riding him hard. Defiance his only weapon. "I don't believe in an eye for an eye." He looked down at his hands. "I didn't even back then. I know my killing him didn't accomplish anything. It didn't bring her back. It didn't make me feel better. It certainly changed my life, yet I still can't bring myself to be sorry that he's dead. Do I wish I hadn't done it? Yes. Would I do it again? I don't know. Probably. It was like a sickness inside of me, Rachael, a hole burning in my gut. I tracked him and found his hunting camp. Her pelt was hanging on the wall to dry. There was blood, her blood, on his clothes. I learned how to hate. I swear, I'd never even felt such an emotion before. He was drinking, celebrating. I didn't even give him a chance. I didn't say anything at all to him, I didn't even tell him why." He looked up to meet her eyes, wanting her to know the truth about what he was. What he'd done.

"I think I was afraid to tell him, afraid I'd see remorse or regret. I wanted him dead and I simply ripped out his throat. Her pelt was hanging on the wall behind him."

Bile rose in his throat, just as it had all those years ago. He had been physically ill, over and over, yet he had dragged the pelt from the wall and burned it as he was taught before returning to the elders to tell them what he'd done.

"You condemn yourself for going after the man who killed your mother, yet you make your living pulling people out of dangerous situations, using your skills as a marksman to free them."

"It isn't the same thing as defending my life or the life of someone else, Rachael," he said. "If I'm sent out to bring someone home, back to their family, I believe anyone in the scope of my rifle put themselves there by kidnapping and threatening the life of another. It isn't the same thing at all."

Rachael shifted her weight, bent forward to circle his neck with her arms in an effort to comfort him. Something whizzed past her ear so fast it hummed, thudding into the wall sending splinters in all directions.