Jeremiah flexed again and shot Conner a quick glance before sending her a smile. Rio called out to him and he took off running, stripping as he went, tossing his shirt aside and ripping his jeans down, glancing back at Isabeau as he did so. The material trapped his ankles and he went down, head over heels, rolling across the clearing, half-naked, tangled in his jeans.
“What the hell was that?” Rio demanded.
“I know exactly what that was,” Conner said ominously, stalking across the clearing to Jeremiah.
“Conner!” Elijah moved quickly to intercept. “He’s just a kid.”
“He knows the rules.”
Jeremiah scrambled to his feet, looking defiant. “Maybe you’re just worried because I’ve got larger than average equipment and you think she’ll prefer me?”
“Because of the size of your dick?” Conner looked him up and down and there was contempt on his face. “Sorry, kid, that’s not going to cut it. You can’t even get your pants off when you need to. I doubt you’ll be too impressive trying to perform.”
Outraged, Jeremiah tore his jeans from around his ankles and threw them in disgust, rushing at Conner. Elijah caught him and threw him away from the other man.
“Idiot. You’re going to get yourself killed. Can’t you tell when a man’s mate is in the Han Vol Dan? Have some fucking respect.”
Jeremiah stopped in his tracks and looked at Isabeau. They all did—with the exception of Conner. She tried not to turn bright red. She looked at the ground, wishing it would open up and swallow her. She turned and walked into the comparative shelter of the trees to watch as Jeremiah dressed and prepared to start over again.
Watching him run, strip and shift made her itch to try shifting. She’d been over her father’s office carefully, getting into his private papers, and there had been no mention of the leopard people. She didn’t believe that he knew. Her mother must have died in childbirth just as Conner had speculated and no one had come to claim the infant. He had relocated from the Amazon to Borneo around the time of her birth. There was a good chance her people were there. Maybe she should go try to find them.
She couldn’t go back to Borneo. She couldn’t stay in Panama. Conner was everywhere. She would have gone anywhere with him, even knowing he had brought about the downfall of her father. She pressed a trembling hand to her mouth, ashamed of herself. It was a convenient excuse, a way to keep her hurt alive. Her father had brought about his own downfall. Conner’s sin had been in seducing her when he didn’t mean it.
He hurt her pride. He was still hurting it, but he wasn’t responsible for the things her father had done. He’d used her just as she was asking him to use Imelda Cortez in order to get back the missing children. Did the end justify the means? Didn’t that make her a hypocrite?
She pressed her fingers to her temples and willed her body to calm down. She didn’t want to leave without seeing this through. She owed it to Adan and even to Conner’s mother, who had befriended her, as well as all the children who had been taken. She took a deep breath and let it out, pacing back and forth to get rid of as much excess energy as she could before going back to join the others.
Isabeau walked with her head up, refusing to be intimidated or humiliated by the group of men. Whatever she was, whatever was happening to her apparently was normal in their world and she refused to be afraid. She might desperately want sex, but she didn’t lack courage.
She watched the mechanics of the change over and over. Eventually she got over seeing a naked body and became fascinated by the actual shifting. It looked as if it could be painful, although it seemed to happen so fast as Jeremiah ran that maybe it wasn’t that bad.
Rio, Felipe and Elijah shook their heads and looked at one another as they timed Jeremiah’s run for the umpteenth time.
“Too slow, Jeremiah,” Conner snapped. “Do it again. And this time think about someone shooting at you while you’re running. You’re younger than any of us and you should be faster. You need to shave fifteen or twenty seconds off of your time.”
Jeremiah shot Conner a look of utter disgust. “Jealous bastard,” he muttered under his breath. “It can’t be done.”
Jeremiah should have known better. Conner had excellent hearing. Conner stalked across the forest floor to loom over the younger leopard. “You don’t think it can be done? Not only can it be done, you young lazy cub, but it can be done racing through the trees, not in some nice clearing like this one.”
Jeremiah compounded his sins by sneering openly. “I don’t believe you.”
Rio came up behind him silently and cuffed him on the back of the head, the blow hard enough to rock the kid. “Stop whining and try to learn something. If you’re going to be working with us, you have to know how to stay alive. You didn’t even hear me coming.”
Isabeau turned away to hide her smile. Jeremiah really was a large child, wanting the respect of the other leopards, but not wanting to work that hard for it. They were all exasperated with him. They’d been working all morning and it was becoming clear he was a bit self-indulgent and lazy.
“You said your family was from Costa Rica?” she ventured, forcing herself to keep a straight face.
Jeremiah nodded. “But I’m doing this on my own. My parents don’t need to know,” he added hastily.
Rio whirled around. He’d been stalking across the clearing, his shoulders stiff with annoyance. “Your parents don’t know where you are?”
“I thought maybe your mama raised you,” Elijah muttered. “And you were an only child.”
Jeremiah glared at him, drawing himself up to his full height and pushing out his chest. “I’m from a huge family, the youngest of eight. I have seven sisters. My father wanted a son.”
The men exchanged knowing looks.
“And he got you,” Elijah muttered under his breath.
“That explains a lot,” Conner said. “Well, boy, this isn’t home and your sisters aren’t here to coddle you. Improve your time or get your sorry ass back to Mama where it’s safe. If you stay with us, someone’s going to be shooting at you.”
Jeremiah flushed. “I’m no mama’s boy, if that’s what you’re implying. I’m just saying, my time is fast, probably faster than any of yours.”
Conner sighed. “Who has the slowest time of any of us shifting on the run through the trees?” He looked around at the men.
Felipe raised his hand. “I think it’s me, Conner.”
Conner stepped back and waved Felipe forward. Felipe glanced at Isabeau and raised an eyebrow at Conner.
“She has to learn. And she’s sure seen enough of Jeremiah’s naked ass.”
Isabeau blushed, cursing under her breath as once again attention centered on her. She was trying to fit in, whether they all believed it or not, and she didn’t need the added burden of them constantly throwing out reminders that she was female and basically going into heat like a freaking cat.
She let her gaze drift over Conner. She’d spent the night curled up next to a leopard, as warm and safe as she’d never even dreamt of being. Listening to the steady rhythm of the rain and the leopard’s heartbeat had allowed her to drift off to sleep fast, even in the midst of so many strangers. She’d felt comforted and completely at ease. Now, watching him in action, the fluid grace, the play of muscle beneath his skin, the burning eyes and focused stare, her body had gone into meltdown. She could barely keep her eyes from him. And she was acutely aware every single second why she had brought him to Panama—to seduce another woman—and that he had rejected her.
Conner cleared his throat. “Isabeau?” he prompted.
She flushed, realizing Felipe was waiting for her permission. “I need to learn how to shift as well,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant, as if she was used to seeing naked men all day long.
Felipe took her at her word, peeling off his clothes without further modesty while he sprinted. She had to admire the efficient way he stripped, a smooth, practiced motion that took only a couple of seconds. The moment he kicked off his shoes and shed his socks, he was running, stripping as he went, already shifting as he shucked his jeans and shirt, the muscles contorting as he picked up speed, so that he was leaping, covering large areas of space before his shirt floated to the ground.
Conner hit the stopwatch and walked over to Jeremiah. The kid’s mouth hung open as he stared at the large leopard in utter astonishment.
“I could barely see him do it,” Jeremiah said, admiration in his voice. “I swear, I almost think I can’t believe my eyes.”
“No wasted motion,” Isabeau pointed out, unable to stay in the background. She hurried up beside Jeremiah to look at the watch. “That’s not even seven seconds. How can that be?”
“I’m not certain I really saw it,” Jeremiah said, still staring at the watch.
Isabeau crowded closer, brushing the naked leopard with her arm. Conner growled deep in his throat and the kid jumped back. All the men stiffened and turned to see Conner’s head moving slowly, following Jeremiah’s shriveling body, gaze burning brightly and focused on his prey.
“Conner,” Rio said sharply.
Shocked by Conner’s reaction, Isabeau instinctively moved away from Jeremiah. “You can’t possibly think . . .” She trailed off, one hand going defensively to her throat, although there was a mean-spirited part of her that found the situation amusing. “He’s a kid.”
“He’s closer to your age than I am,” Conner snapped.
She couldn’t suppress her laughter. “Come on, Conner, don’t be ridiculous.”
“Hey!” Jeremiah said. “Women can’t get enough of me.”
Conner snarled, his teeth elongating, curving, his claws bursting from the tips of his fingers. Isabeau made it worse by doubling over in laughter at the outraged look on Jeremiah’s face and the other men rolling their eyes, shocked that the boy didn’t have enough self-preservation to step back farther from Isabeau and close his mouth.
“Are you saying my woman wants you?” Conner demanded, stepping in close to the boy—too close. “That she prefers you to me?”
That sobered Isabeau immediately. She straightened, her eyes going green and glowing like two jewels. “I’m not your woman, you miserable excuse for a mate.”
Everyone ignored her. Jeremiah sucked in his breath. Those lethal claws were far too close to the most precious part of his body, and Conner looked mean enough to rip body parts off.
“No, that’s not what I meant,” Jeremiah protested, realizing his mistake too late. Cats were notoriously bad-tempered with men around their mates, especially if the mate was close to a heat. He realized none of the other men had gone near Isabeau.
“What exactly did you mean?” Conner bit out.
Isabeau was very aware of the other men moving in now, presumably to save Jeremiah should it be necessary. Suddenly the situation was no longer about her. Jeremiah was in real danger from a man who had earlier rejected her advances. Whatever was driving him was real and dangerous.
She stepped close to Conner and put her hand on his arm. She could feel the steel and adrenaline running through him like a river of fire. She was beginning to understand the terrible toll of the leopard on the men. The cat’s laws were impossible for the man to ignore. They always walked a fine line when it came to their animal traits.
“I-I meant that was a great time Felipe had, and I need to work much harder if I’m going to even come close to that,” Jeremiah stammered.
“I bumped him,” Isabeau pointed out. “Please, Conner, I’m asking you.”
Conner stood for a moment, his body fighting to rid itself of adrenaline and then abruptly he turned, his arm sweeping around her, forcing her away from the other leopard, his head close to hers so his lips could brush against her ear. “That was him getting aroused by your scent. His first damn mistake.”
He took her deep into the rain forest, away from the others and the scent of aroused male that drove his cat—and him—insane.
She blushed a bright crimson. How could she not? She wasn’t used to discussing anything having to do with sex in a casual setting, and the way these men treated nudity and the heat of a female cat bordered on the mundane. It wasn’t offensive, exactly, it was just a little disturbing to know that all of them could tell she was entering into some sort of a cycle. Not just that they could tell—more than that—they were all hyper-aware of it.
“I hope it was more than my scent,” Isabeau said, trying to lighten the moment, but meaning it all the same. “I don’t want to be wanted because of the way I
smell
.”
He inhaled deeply, deliberately taking her fragrance into his lungs. She could send flames leaping in his blood without even trying, but right now, with her innocent frown and the long sweep of her lashes, he could barely keep his hunger in check. “Scent is important to cats.” He rubbed his face against the bare skin of her neck. “So is scent marking. Any man stupid enough to cross into my territory is going to have a fight on his hands.”
She jerked away from him. “I used to be your territory. Back when you were someone else, remember?”
“I remember every moment.” His golden eyes burned deep into hers. “Do you?”
She bit back a retort. She was not going to fight with him. He could reduce her to tears in seconds. She was no match for him—she never had been. “You can’t do this, Conner. You don’t want me, but you’re going to kill anyone else who does? That doesn’t even make sense.”
“I don’t
want
you?” He bit the words out, a growl rumbling in his chest. His fingers tightened on her upper arms and he drew her tight against his body, deliberately letting her feel his thick arousal. “Want is an insipid word, Isabeau, for what I feel for you. I’m not going to blow it with you because I can’t keep my hands off of you. That happened once and I’ll be damned if it will happen again.”
“You couldn’t keep your hands off of me?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know that. I knew better. Seducing a woman doesn’t always involve taking them to bed. I couldn’t stop myself, and look what my lack of control did to us.” For a moment there was naked pain on his face. “It was bad enough knowing I’d betrayed you, but to find out that before her death my mother knew what I’d done . . .” He trailed off, shaking his head. The mask—and resolve—slipped back into place. “When I take you to bed it will be because you want us there, not because your cat is screaming for relief.”